March 18, 2026 — Boulder Junction Access District Joint Session

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:02] All right, welcome to the Boulder Junction Access District Parking and Travel Demand Management Joint Commission's meeting. It is March 18th, 2026, and I will call roll. Kevin? Here. Robin? Present. And Rebecca. Presence. Thank you. I will turn the meeting over to Chairs Ronan and Dumichelle for procedural items. Rebecca, did you want to leave today, or shall I? whatever your preference is. Okay, so you want to start off with procedural items? Did everyone have a chance to review the meeting minutes? I did. Any corrections to the meeting minutes before we vote on the meeting minutes?

[1:04] Thank you. None here. Okay, I move to… I move to approve the meeting minutes from the December 2025 meeting. 30 seconds. Great. Can we get a vote? I… Aye. Okay, so… Unanimous? Recruitment updates. Grabby, crab, nope! Yes, I have a few updates for you all. We have a new member joining us, Sage Dalton, on the TDM side. Very exciting. We still have some vacancies. They are doing a second round, and applications are due this Friday, so if you know of anyone, I'm happy to send out the link to you all tomorrow. If you'd like to send them the link to apply, this will be the, I think, the last chance this year, so due by Friday.

[2:01] So, I have shared that with the new property management company for my building, but it has not actually been sent out to owners. I sent them a reminder today. I don't know if the city has reached out to Boom, because Boom does still manage multiple properties within the district. Was any outreach done to Boom Properties? I'm not sure. I will find out for you, though. Okay. The past 2 years, I have… asked that we do some kind of targeted mailing because of the very strict rules about who can actually occupy those property owner and representative seats. They can only come from within the district, and so many people do not Do not know what this commission is, that it exists, that they pay property taxes to support it, and… I don't know that they read anything that comes out from the city as far as other stuff that comes in there, so some kind of…

[3:07] Postcard, I think, is the only way that we're going to actually reach those people. Clearly, with two days notice, if this is the last time for the year, then that is not an option, but if we do not have quorum, moving forward, then it's going to be very difficult for either commission to… conduct business. Yes, thank you for that feedback. I will look into what we did do, and send that over to you so that you have the full run-through of what we did, and I'll also mention this to John Morse, who handles all the commission's recruiting. Alright, is… is there any budget to do outreach at that level? I'm not sure, actually, but I will find out. That's a great question.

[4:03] And then I… I know that there are limitations under what we can do under the current charter, but has the city evaluated in any greater detail of doing any charter modifications for the future to open these seeds up to renters in the district? Just to expand the potential applicants that we could get on board. I'll ask about that as well. Thank you for bringing that up. That's all I have. Cheer, Ronan. I am looking, and I don't see any members of the public with us today, unless I'm mistaken. Let me just double check real quick. There are no members of the public. Okay, thank you for checking. So, public participation, we'll be skipping because there are no members of the public either online or in person. In that case, I'd like to move it over to matters from staff.

[5:08] Great. Hi everyone, I am Regan, Economic Development Strategy Manager with the new Office of Cultural and Economic Development. I am going to be providing an update on our urban renewal efforts this evening. I'm just going to share my screen. It says, host disabled participant screen share. Apologies, one second. No worries, congratulations on your new role. Thanks, Rebecca.

[6:04] I'm gonna add you again as panelist. Okay. Can you send it to me and see if I can share it for you? Okay. Sorry, y'all, give us one moment. It's okay. We… We're 10 minutes in, we're starting to the staff participation section. It was fun little learning Zoom lessons for me.

[7:04] Bigger. Okay, I just emailed it to you. Chair Ronan, I don't know if there are any matters from commissioners, but maybe we could come back to this while they sort out. Sharing. Yes. Are there any matters? That's a good… that's a good point. Are there any… I think that you just brought up probably the biggest matter, which is recruitment efforts. It's like… I did want to bring up Matter.

[8:02] Kevin? Kevin, I have a lovely… I have a lovely person in your background. You have a lot. So, oh, okay, well, hello… It's spring break here, and so, you know, I'm trying my best to stay on mute, but… please, please feel free to have a life. That's why we're here, to make things better for our community. So, from my manner as a commissioner, like, I guess I'm always curious just on where we are with expanding our Our, our bike, our bike options? And our… our, If there's been any movement or changes in the exact mapping of where the scooters are going right now? Because I've noticed some differences around town. It seems like there's been some updates, and I just feel like it's been a while since we've gotten that report, and I don't think it necessarily has to be an entire section of the meeting, but I'd love to see the new expansion maps in real time of where we are on those two things.

[9:08] Great. I'll reach out to, our friends at Transportation and Mobility, and make sure to get that to you all. Thank you, I appreciate that. Kevin, do you have anything to add? I do, I have one quick matter, which is an old one, which is still the real valuation of the mill levy for the parking district. This is… an old top priority of the, I think, both commissions for the past, you know, at least probably 3, 4, 5 years. We briefly visited, touched on it last year and voted on a partial reduction, But I don't think we had ample time to really discuss it and strategize about it, and when we voted on it, I don't know if we really realized that it was just put up, I think maybe as a one-year or a two-year temporary reduction. And if it was a one-year, seeing that taxes are paid a year in advance,

[10:08] you know, that could have been for last year. So, And now it's off of our priority list. And so, I think that needs to be… come back, and we really need this year to put that back on our list, and really have that discussion, and strategize on that moving forward. Like, that needs to be back on the list, top of our priority, goal number one, have that discussion, and you know, come up with some, guidance and advice for Council on how to have that mill levy, set moving forward, and if we don't have any funding priorities or any way to spend this money for the parking district, you know, figure out what we're going to do with this and And have some… some guidance to move forward with. Thank you so much.

[11:00] Yeah. Absolutely, Kevin, and I can just briefly respond to that. I've been in the room listening to some of these conversations, so I'm not an expert, but I've been you know, following this discussion, and I know there has been a temporary mill levy reduction in place, and I think that this conversation will play into the urban renewal update I'm about to provide, because that will inevitably have impacts on the future of the GIDs. Tonight's conversation is really just, like, kicking off this discussion… discussion. There haven't really been any key decisions made, but I think it's… A good opportunity to tie that into this… into this discussion this evening. Sure, and that's great. I just want to keep it all in kind of what we've always said, that, you know, taxing these property owners, and especially the retail property owners that, you know, we've always felt like that's really held back the district here, and so I think that's important to keep in mind as we move forward with the, you know, any of the other borough or anything else as we, you know, move forward into other initiatives.

[12:10] Kevin, I personally appreciate you keeping it on the agenda. And are the… is, Rebecca? Yeah, sorry, I understand that Kevin feels like we didn't discuss all of the options, and it did seem like the… the result of it only being a one-year temporary was… less impactful than what this commission was hoping for, but we did do research into this, right? So the entire point of when it was increased for the parking district from 5 to 10 originally was to pay off that parking… the city's portion of the parking garage that has been the case. for a while now, we are restricted in how these funds can be used. They cannot be transferred to the general fund or anything like that, so there is…

[13:03] No purpose in continuing to collect this level of… funding revenue that can't be spent on anything, and… what else from that? I think that that's the main thing. So I would like a more permanent… solution long-term, rather than revisiting this every year, moving forward on this. Property values are going up in the district, so even as we reduce the mill levy, the district is still earning more revenue because we've brought in additional properties. As the district has gotten built out, those properties have increased in value, so it's a complex formula, it's not so simple as, oh, we reduced it from 10 to 5, now we're pulling in less… less revenue, we're probably still pulling in quite a bit. We do need a more permanent solution.

[14:02] All great points, Rebecca, and I think that, if I'm correct, we maybe only have 4 more meetings scheduled for the remainder of the year. Yes. So, we need to get this scheduled, and just, like. have the discussion, because we've been doing this for years. And, like, we try to remember all these great points of why we're having, you know. A tax for… without any real reason, or real spending. you know, any strategy to spend these, spend these dollars. And so, we gotta have the discussion, and I asked Dan. Help us, to get this scheduled, and, help us, you know, schedule that discussion here within the four meetings that we have before the end of the year. And for staff, I would like to point out, right, that this is not a TABOR issue. The district under its charter already has the capability to… to raise and lower

[15:00] from 0 to, I believe, 30 mil levy, not that we would ever go that high. So lowering it for a much longer term, or permanently until an event happens that requires it to be raised does not mean having to go back to the voters if it's under 20, I believe. Okay. And that, that should all be within the charter. Documentation. Thank you all so much for emphasizing and elevating this. I'll definitely let Mark and Elliot know. I wish they were here this evening, but they're not. When they're back from vacation, I'll elevate this to them and make sure we get it on an agenda this year. Thanks so much! Is the staff now ready to proceed with their presentation? Yes, thanks, Melissa. Thank you for your patience this evening.

[16:07] Alright. So, I've already stated this, but just want to acknowledge again that, a few of my colleagues, as well as our consultant, Pioneer Development Company, which I'll outline in a couple slides here, they weren't able to join this evening. So I'm stepping in and gonna walk through this update for you all, and just want to note that I'm still getting up to speed on some of the details of Urban Renewal myself. So, just appreciate your patience in advance, and if there are any questions I can't answer tonight, I'm happy to follow up, gather your feedback, and relay feedback to the broader team. So, just wanted to preface with that, and Tonight is really intended as an informational update, and like I said, kind of an early conversation as we begin exploring urban renewal. We can go to the next slide.

[17:02] I keep thinking that I haven't. It's a lot of time solved that. So, just starting with a bit of context to frame this conversation, this work really builds off of Council's 2024-2025 priority on economic development and the implementation of the updated economic vitality Strategy, which highlighted several challenges, including economic stagnation, flattening sales tax revenues, and Declining commercial property values. Urban Renewal is one of several key tools the city can use to support reinvestment. It sits alongside other tools that we're actively exploring, including a downtown development authority. We're currently working on exploring formation of that in the downtown area. As well as metro districts, and other economic development programs. Next slide.

[18:03] So, just a kind of a quick 101 to help frame things. So, at a high level, urban renewal is a state-enabled tool used to support reinvestment in areas where conditions, often referred to as blight. make development challenging. And it's important to note here that this is not about individual properties, it's really about area-wide conditions. And those conditions are often tied to the public realm, things like unsafe or inefficient street networks, poor pedestrian infrastructure, or inadequate utilities. They can also factor into things like floodplain constraints, environmental contamination, code violations, or deteriorating structures. But it's really about area-wide conditions. We're looking at, collectively, what… what an area, what the existing conditions are, not individual properties.

[19:08] And in general, these are conditions that are preventing sound development from occurring. And in many cases, those challenges translate into a financial gap in the developer's pro forma, especially when significant investment or infrastructure or site preparation is needed. That's where urban renewal comes in. It helps bridge that gap by funding public improvements, like streets, utilities, parks, sometimes affordable housing. So that private investment can move forward. Next slide. The primary tool used in urban renewal is tax increment financing, or TIF. A helpful way to think about TIF is that it is not a new tax. Instead, the existing tax base is frozen once an urban renewal plan is adopted, and as redevelopment occurs and property values increase, that new tax revenue, the increment, it's called.

[20:10] Is reinvested back into the geography of the urban renewal area. And that reinvestment is what helps fund the infrastructure improvements needed to support redevelopment. In urban renewal areas, increment revenue can fund public improvements for up to 25 years. Next slide. And this slide just visually illustrates that concept that I just described. Again, the key takeaway here is that only the new growth in tax revenue is captured, that new growth beyond the base, and it's reinvested locally for that defined period. Again, in urban renewal, that's typically 25 years, sometimes can be less. Next slide. So, Boulder has used urban renewal in the past. You may have heard of BIRA, Boulder Urban Renewal Authority. It's been used for a couple major projects, such as the Crossroads or 29th Street Mall, as well as the St. Julian Hotel at 9th and Canyon. Those urban renewal areas have since expired, so it's different now

[21:22] is that the city is revisiting whether there are new opportunities where this tool could support reinvestment, particularly given current economic conditions. Next slide. So, an update on where we're at. A couple weeks ago, Council appointed a new bureau board, expanding it to 13 members. This meets updated state statutory requirements. Importantly, the board now includes representation from other taxing entities, like the county and the school district.

[22:00] And that matters because urban renewal, and specifically tax increment financing, affects how future tax revenue is distributed. So those partners, it's important that they, they are part of the process. Next slide. This slide outlines the step-by-step process for considering a new urban renewal area. So first is a condition study, which evaluates whether an area meets the state's statutory blight criteria. If those conditions are met, the next step is developing an urban renewal plan. This outlines the goals, potential projects, how tools like TIFF might be used. Importantly, the plan must align with adopted plans like the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan and any sub-community plans. That's to really ensure that it reflects broader community priorities, not just a single development proposal.

[23:04] The next step would be an impact report, which evaluates how TIF would affect other taxing agencies, and helps inform coordination and potential intergovernmental agreements. And if everything moves forward, designation of the area would initiate that 25-year TIF period. And throughout this process, there are multiple layers of review and approval, including the Bureau Board, the planning board, and ultimately, it would go to City Council. So, there are really opportunities for public input along the way, particularly as plans are developed, and brought forward for consideration. So, I guess just emphasizing here that overall, this is a multi-step, highly structured process with several checkpoints before any renew… Urban Ren renewal area is formally established. Next slide.

[24:02] So, the city has brought on Pioneer Development Company. They are a firm based out of Durango, to support this work. They bring extensive experience working with urban renewal authorities all across the state of Colorado, particularly in providing that technical analysis And strategic guidance at an early stage. Their role is to help the city take, a really data-driven approach, including conducting conditions assessments to evaluate whether areas in Boulder meet statutory criteria. Evaluating financial feasibility, so whether urban renewal tools could realistically help close development gaps. And then supporting the development of potential urban renewal plans, if the City chooses to move forward. We are working on a conditions assessment for Boulder Junction Phase 2, and we anticipate bringing the results from that assessment to the Bureau Board, likely in early April for initial review.

[25:09] There's interest in exploring this area in part because we're seeing increased development interests, including concepts like the proposed Pearl Arts District, which reflects a broader vision for mixed-use arts-oriented redevelopment. At the same time, as is often the case in areas where urban renewal is considered, there may be infrastructure needs and site constraints that are creating a gap, floodplain issues, making it difficult for development to move forward on its own. So this work is really about understanding what are the barriers in that area? Do they meet statutory conditions? And whether urban renewal is an appropriate tool to help address them. So… Just want to emphasize, you know, this is… we're really in the early stage analysis. Bringing that report to Bureau in April is a first step in review and discussion, not a decision point.

[26:11] Next slide. So, this slide is really just meant to flag things that we would need to work through if this work moves forward. If an urban renewal area were created in Phase 2 of Boulder Junction, we would want to look closely at how that interacts with the existing GIDs in the Phase 1 area. At a practical level, the questions we would want to start thinking through are things like, how does Phase 2 development connect to existing TDM and parking programs? Does it make sense for these properties to join existing districts or be structured differently? How would we approach mobility and parking across Boulder Junction as a whole, rather than piece by piece?

[27:02] And whether there are infrastructure needs where urban renewal could help, rather than relying solely on district funding. Again, of course, none of that is decided. These are just kind of the coordination questions we would want to work through if this work advances. We've also had some early conversations about what it could look like to have a more unified district structure in Boulder Junction, so that would naturally be part of this analysis as well, as well as the conversation about the parking mill levy. This is where we would likely lean on consultant support to help with the financial analysis, the stakeholder engagement needed to evaluate the different options. And importantly, we want to be mindful of the fact that property owners in Phase 1 have been contributing to these districts over an extended period of time, and make sure any future approach is thoughtful about those existing investments and equitable moving forward.

[28:03] Next slide. So, again, the Bureau Board, they're going to start meeting in early April. The Boulder Junction condition study is underway. We expect the Board to review that during their April meeting. If things progress, there could be council hearings later in the year, but again, still very much in that exploratory phase. So, I'll pause there, I'll open it up for questions and discussion, and again, if there are any questions I'm not able to fully answer tonight, I'm happy to follow up and bring that information back to you all. Robin? I have an unfair question, given what you just said. Okay. that we are… I… I appreciate that you mentioned something that's my initial concern, which is that the district has been paying into certain funds, so if there's any kind of…

[29:10] of change in the district. making sure those funds that are already in savings and so forth stay within the district of the people who have been paying for them. I guess I'm gonna put out there that that is my biggest concern going into this conversation. I think that I love the fact that we're looking at this. I… I don't fully understand, and I'd love more information, this just might be my own ignorance of the topic of how urban redevelopment works. When we bring in people from the city. The county and the… and what was, like, the city? Okay. Yes. Then… are they all given an equal vote on how… on how we designate things a blighted area, or what possible concerns? How does it structure, like, what percentage of people from Boulder Junction, for instance, would be represented

[30:05] In making decisions like this for the district, and how… where it would end up. Yeah, well, the only decision regarding… so the decision wouldn't be on the structure of the GIDs at this point. It would just be on forming a new urban renewal area, and that's up to the city and bureau. So Bureau and City Council make those decisions, but there are points throughout the process for public input. I had another thought on that. I have a question. Follow up on that. No. what's… what… Metrics and what methods we'll be using to contact the public to make sure they're fully aware to participate in those public hearings. Yeah, it's a great question, I know, at least for step one, if a conditions assessment is facilitated and an area is studied to determine if it meets that light criteria, every property owner within that boundary that's studied would be notified via a mailing. Beyond that step.

[31:14] again, I'm still learning. I don't know what the contact points would be, but I'm happy to get that information for you. Totally fair. I just wanted to go on the record, those were my particular points of concern for So that can be addressed later. Absolutely. Rebecca? Alright, I have a few items. First of all… Robin, my understanding, right, is that if they were to join into the existing districts, that they would have to pay pilot fees for the last 15, 16 years, that… Phase 1 has been paying, right? So, every time we add in a new parcel into the district. They have to make a pilot fee. I don't remember if you were on the board. I believe you were when we talked about whether or not we could discount that for nonprofits. We could not do that legally, right? So, that should be a catch-up for that side, but that is also a deterrent. That is why we do not have identical

[32:20] boundaries between TDM and parking, because parking is really expensive and nobody wants to join it, they also don't have any benefit from doing so. Right. So I don't think anything that's coming from the study would necessarily get rid of that, at least under current Set up. However, if they have their own commissions, and that is, you know, maybe one of those possibilities that you presented, we… are having trouble recruiting for these two, right? Adding one or two more, even if it's just a joint one for that… for the east side of the railroad tracks, is not really sustainable, right? That… it's just… we're just complicating and exasperating the problem that we already have about recruitment.

[33:05] So, that would almost definitely need a redo of how we approach that. I personally do not support Phase 1 people paying into any additional parking structures on that side, right? Like, that… I do not believe that that is a burden that we should take on, and you see that we've… we've continued to pay beyond the actual lifespan of… of the loan that we had for the one that we have paid off. So, that… that is something that, at least for me, would be, a line in the sand of… of we should not do that. If we are looking at any kind of funding structure on that side, then we are looking for areas to improve connectivity between the two sides of the district, Phase 1, Phase 2. If there was things that we were going to look at to improve the overall district of that, then I would… I would recommend that the study also look at connectivity, specifically widening the underpass between, underneath the railroad, whether that means funding a new bridge for the railroad or

[34:18] Using two of the… the pass-throughs so that you have… You know, one-way traffic through each one of those pass-throughs so that you can have better connectivity, but some kind of thing there that makes that a better… experience going back and forth, and also a safer experience for people that are maybe moving through at speed on scooters and bikes. On that side as well, on the side of the railroad tracks, that embankment up to those businesses. is… is just dirt, right? So anything that we could do to actually make that a more usable space, with ramps for ADA access, stairs, going up, and even any kind of community outdoor space that is more natural than the plaza.

[35:08] Helps neighbors connect, and makes it more usable both for employees, employers, and residents. So, I don't know if that was 4 or 5 things, but that… is my run-through. Any… any questions on those ideas? Not from me, that was really helpful, thank you. A couple quick comments from me, too, before we wrap here, is that… but a lot of exciting things here. 100% support, Burea, BJ2, Pearl Street Arts District, a lot of good things for the community. What… what I think is more troubling, and what I don't support. Again, is using these reserves of… taxing that we've done here, especially within the parking district, that we've continued to do with no strategy and no real reason, and built up these reserves and say, I hope we're not building these reserves to say, oh, let's build in BJ2 and use the reserves of

[36:15] taxing the property owners from BJAD1, to then spend those reserves in BJD2 or elsewhere. I think that's unequitable, and I think that's super concerning, and I hope that's not being explored. But, on its own, I think PGAT2, as its own district. Pearl Streets Art District, Brewer overall, super exciting, good for the area. But even more the reason that we have to have these discussions, it's super unfortunate that we haven't had them in years past, but we can't just keep taxing these property owners in BJ1, use them to fund further expansion, for, you know, BJ2 or elsewhere.

[37:04] Thank you, Kevin. Yeah, using the reserves from BJAD 1 is… that is not being contemplated for BJAD 2, so I apologize if I, implied that in any way, but thank you for elevating that, and I'll make sure that is certainly part of the conversation moving forward. Okay. Yeah, great, thank you. And in fairness, I don't think you implied that. I think we all just want to make sure that it's not implied somewhere else. Okay. Right, I think that's been a concern. It has been brought up before about… when we talk about combining the district, then it's… when you combine the district, then you combine the finances, and then everything becomes malleable as far as, you know, we have this money, let's go spend it. And we continue to tax these properties, and we don't have anywhere to spend it, and if we develop new properties, then there's someplace to spend it, and all of a sudden, we find ourselves in this Unequitable situation, as it's been referenced as. So, anyway, good conversation, so thank you.

[38:07] Thank you for the… Great. Well, thank you so much. Thank you so much, staff, for that informative, and especially since y'all are not leading it and you're filling in, you did a great job. Appreciate that. God. We… we already did matters from commissioners, but I want to double check and swing back around and see if anybody did not get a full hearing of what they want to bring up. Kevin? Oh, good to hear. Great, thank you so much. Okay, with that, I am seeing that it's my job to say our next meeting is May 20th at 4 p.m. Mountain Time. And hopefully it's not just parking again, hopefully we have some friends, and we do some great recruiting, we have some new people. Rebecca?

[39:04] I saw you came off of mute. Oh, sorry, I was just going to ask whether or not the new TDM commissioner will be seated by then, right? Usually they swear in in March, is that correct? Yes, they should be at the next meeting. They're doing their orientation next month. Fantastic. Thank you so much. So, great, we're gonna have some new friends next month, and we all look forward to that, and with that, I believe we can adjourn. Thank you, thank you, Steph. Thank you. Thanks, Steph, thanks all. Thank you.