April 2, 2026 — Boulder Urban Renewal Authority Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:00] here. For those that don't know me, oh excited to see everybody there here. For those that don't know me, uh my name is Nuria Rivera Vandermide and I have the great privilege of serving the city as city manager, but more importantly, you are here and I am so excited that you raised your hand to be um part of our newly revised um bureau representatives. Uh and I will say that our uh urban renewal authority uh is really exciting to sort of revive in a way as a city has really started to think about um uh economic development in super exciting ways. Uh we know how important it is to support our business community um across the city and frankly supporting our business community supports our city finances. So I'm all for it. Uh a little bit two in one here. Um, but before we start, and I just want to appreciate your uh time, we have to get you sworn

[1:00] in. So, let us do that. Uh, and I I don't know if we talked about some um instructions, but we're going to ask everybody to uh insert your name when we put the um oath of office slide, I presume. Um and we will uh we will move forward. Council members usually lift their right hand. So I will uh ask that we um think about that as we're moving forward. But uh I will as as I say I I will ask you to say your name and then I will continue with the OO office. Does that work? CAO. Does that work for you? >> Great. >> Yes. So I state your name. >> Anya Richmond, >> Chrismon, >> Har Winer, Chester Harvey,

[2:02] >> Catherine Bean, >> William. >> Is that all our folks? >> Uh, no. Michael and Jay. >> Great. >> Carla, you're muted. Okay, now Carla grades go on your sound. I'm gonna mute myself unless I'm

[3:01] talking. >> Great. Great. >> Well, if we've gotten everybody, >> do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America and of the State of Colorado and the charter and ordinances of the city of Boulder and faithfully perform the duties of the office of a member of the Boulder Urban Renewal Authority, which I am about to enter. We get some affirmations. >> I do. >> I do. >> I do. I do. >> Love it. >> You are all duly sworn in. >> Yay. >> Thank you so much. >> Um really do appreciate the time that you put into this. I know that um we benefit from your time and your expertise and the wisdom and so just can't um thank you enough for sharing that with us. Uh and with that I think uh Mark I will pass it on to you. >> Great. Thank you Nura. And just echoing

[4:00] appreciation um I know um everybody's coming in with a little bit different degrees of background knowledge on uh urban renewal and what you might be doing uh on this board. So, we're going to cover some very brief um uh context slides uh and then Alex from our city attorney's office will take you uh through a little bit more of the details of the role of uh bureau and urban renewal in general uh and give you a little bit of a preview of of what we'll be doing together in the months and years ahead. So Selena, I think we're ready for the presentation and you are joined as you see um in with many faces um our city staff members supporting this effort. We do have a slide coming up where you'll get a chance uh to uh to meet them. And you know what, Selena? Actually, before we get going, I it'd be great if

[5:01] everybody could introduce themselves, and we might as well go around the room since it's the first time we're gathering a little bit easier when we're in person, but um I know I've seen your names and interviews and uh application materials, but it'd be great great to put a face with with each name if we wouldn't mind um going around the room. So, I'm Mark Wolf. I'm one of our assistant city managers. uh excited to support um this uh this board. Um and I'll just go around uh how I see faces on the screen if that's okay. Uh Chris. Well, good afternoon everyone. Uh my name is Chris Mann and happy to join you all today. I live on 15th Street here in Boulder and have uh a little bit of background with urban renewal authorities, but um here to learn and excited to be part of the group. >> Great. Uh Anya,

[6:02] >> I'm Ana Richmond. I live in the Whittier neighborhood. My background is economic development and uh clean energy. So looking forward to supporting this organization. Right. Chico. >> Hi, I'm Wimia. You may call me Chico. I have a background in property taxation. So, I'm looking forward to getting the learning more about onaban renewal. >> Katherine, >> I'm Katherine Bean. I live in North Boulder up near Lies. I'm a local real estate developer with experience in market rate housing, commercial, and a lot of affordable housing. >> Tara, >> did you say me? >> Yeah. >> Hi, I'm Tara Winer. I'm on Boulder City

[7:00] Council. I actually started my first foray into city government was the bureau many, many, many years ago. might be the longest serving member in the city's history at this point. No, even though there was a gap, Chester. >> Hi folks. Uh my name is Chester Harvey. I live on North Street. Um and I have a a training in urban planning. I largely study transportation systems and urban design. Um but do a lot with uh urban development. Um, I work with a research center in Maryland called the National Center for Smart Growth. Um, and we uh do a lot about how transit systems impact uh urban development uh in the DC area. >> Great, Carla. >> Um, I don't know if I still have the

[8:00] echo, so I'm going to look into that. But um Carla Grabart, I also live in North Boulder, have 50 plus years of experience in senior management roles in uh media companies on the business side. Basically, how you make money through the media business, which has changed a lot over the years, but is still fascinating to me. So that's my major skill set. I'm going to go back to mute. >> Sounds good. And Michael. >> Hi, Michael Leazy. I've lived in Boulder in the New Huland's neighborhood since 1993. Um, I retired four years ago as executive director of Urban Land Institute Colorado and got a lot of um, a lot of knowledge I think rubbed off on me, but I'm not professionally trained in urban renewal or urban design or

[9:01] architecture or any of those things. And this is all this is my second stint on Bureau. I was on Bureau in like 2004. So, I'm back. >> Welcome back. Uh, our team real quick. Uh, Selena. >> Hi everyone. Selena DTO. I'm an administrative assistant here at the city manager's office. >> Jennifer. >> Hi, Jennifer Penso. I'm economic vitality manager with the city manager's office. >> Rean. >> Hi everyone. Can you hear me? >> Hi, I'm Rean Brown. Um, I am the economic development strategy manager with the city of Boulder. Nice to meet you all. And last but not least, Elliot. >> Good afternoon. My name is Elliot Labonte. I am the economic development finance manager. >> Super.

[10:02] >> Did Alex introduce himself? >> Go ahead. Yeah. >> Oh, I'm sorry, Alex. Go for it. >> That's okay. And everyone's going to hear from me again soon, so you don't really need to hear a lot from me right now. But I'm Alex Phips and I'm with the city attorney's office. Looking forward to working with everybody. Great. And noting that Stephanie has been trying to get into this meeting and we've been trying to ping her to promote her to panelist and so we're still still working on it here. Hopefully she will join us soon. Okay, thanks for that. Um know took a little time but good to uh meet everybody more officially. We'll jump in the presentation now. We can skip forward to slide five,

[11:02] please. All right. Um, so Nuria mentioned this at the beginning. um our efforts in urban renewal and uh essentially reinstituting or expanding this board uh is one of many different strategies that we've been looking at in the economic development space. Uh in uh 2024 uh the 2024 and 2025 uh city council dates are a little off. Um the the city council establishes a priority economic development uh and uh really looking at our commercial uh areas and the connections between those uh commercial areas. And so those two strategies really uh led us uh to develop a a whole bunch of different tools in this space including updating our overall uh economic vitality strategy. um looking into ways that we could address uh commercial vacancy, broaden our small business support, uh and expand our

[12:02] economic development programs and tools. Um the that latter piece, the the tools are one of the really important things to how we think about the health and vitality of our commercial areas. Uh and uh urban renewal is one of those tools that has been available to us as a city and as you'll see uh we've used a couple times, but uh only twice. uh over uh a very long period of time. And so uh in order to to uh get to the point where we could consider uh using urban renewal again uh we had to uh get up to compliance with a state law uh that uh dictated the number of commissioners and uh some of the specific seats on bureau. So we worked with council and the existing uh board uh in late 2025 to make those uh changes uh and that is long story short how we led to um this recruitment process and seating a whole

[13:01] bunch of new members. Uh so uh what uh the other piece of information that you should know is the only other recent actions of Bureau um in addition to those uh bylaw amendments uh were to allow us to begin doing some work as staff on behalf of Bureau. And you'll hear a little bit more about that as we go. Next slide. Uh so the city's role here um is really to provide uh staff uh support to to urban renewal. Um urban renewal sits that the Boulder urban renewal authority uh sits as more of an uh an independent or outside entity. uh but we as city staff can provide that direct support to the function. Um in order to better support this and and other uh economic development tools, strategies, programs, uh we did some internal restructuring. Uh we restructure a couple different uh functions. uh the department of what was

[14:02] known as community vitality and our economic vitality function in the city manager's office and formed a new office of cultural and economic development that um we are just into a few months uh started in in January uh where we had the opportunity to really lift up our arts and culture as an economic driver truly is that in our city and also think about how we can uh better equip our city overall with the tools needed did to really address some of the economic challenges that we are facing. You see some of our core um areas of of focus there. Um one of them in support of uh bureau. Next slide. I will not go uh into all of this uh but I I think it's helpful to set the context of what what an urban renewal authority is um what it does and kind of its full authority which Alex will go

[15:02] into in in more detail here in a minute. Um we do have a couple economic development financing tools uh that are uh available to us as a city. We currently uh have several general improvement districts uh that that we use. Those are directly managed by the city. The city council um is seated as the the board essentially of those general improvement districts. Uh we do have a a downtown uh bid or business improvement district, also known as the downtown managed by the downtown Boulder Partnership. um that is a little bit more um at arms length from the city, but the city still uh approves the the annual budget and makes appointments to that board. Um you have probably seen uh news related to the city's exploration of a downtown development authority which is similarly a downtown focused uh tool. CBD is uh central business district uh not the alternative. Uh and

[16:01] what that would be is um another financing mechanism but would be more at arms length uh from the city and serve um independently. Uh and so that's something that is currently in uh process that may be posed to voters in that area um in November. And then urban renewal is another one of those tools available to us again a little bit at arms length from the city but managed by the city. And we'll get into the the mechanism um that is used to essentially finance redevelopment uh for for that tool. Uh relevant to one of the areas that we are looking at uh is uh metro districts. something the city currently doesn't have, but council will consider a regulatory framework uh to allow the creation of metro districts uh in a couple weeks. Next slide. So, I won't go into too much detail here

[17:00] as Alex will give you uh more of the 101. Um urban renewal is aimed at revitalizing areas. That's the simplest way uh to put it. um there has to be certain criteria met in order to to qualify for urban renewal that we'll talk about. Um but essentially um fast forwarding through all the steps that we need to take in order to determine that um the mechanism in order to to um revitalize is tax increment financing or or tiff. Um, and I'll explain that in a little bit more detail, but essentially what we do is freeze the existing tax revenue or the existing base revenue that is um going to all of the different taxing entities and any new tax that is generated from new growth or redevelopment uh goes directly to the urban renewal authority and is managed by uh this board. Uh and so what what why that is important or powerful is that um we're capturing that increment

[18:00] over 25 years which can be a big dollar amount that we're able to leverage uh meaning we could borrow against uh to invest in public improvements, invest in specific projects uh to get the type of uh investment, the type of redevelopment that we're seeking. We do have a history of doing this in the city. The most recent uh is the St. Julian hotel site. Um, so neither one has been active in a while and I've already mentioned that the governance uh changes. Uh, we will have represent uh representatives from the county and school district. Um, those uh appointments are in the process of being finalized and I believe both will be joining us on April 30th. Next slide. So again, I know some of you are familiar with this tool, but um it took me a few times listening uh to to Rean explain this uh to try to get to a point where I could pass the knowledge along. Um so tax incremental financing, you'll see that dark blue base tax level. So

[19:02] that's the existing property in any one area. And that that property, the existing property will grow in value over time. the tax on that existing property um that would go to your school district, the county, the city, that will continue to flow to those taxing entities. That doesn't change even in an urban renewal area. But within an urban renewal area, as new development comes in, so redevelopment, new investment in some way, that is that is new new value that can be taxed that would go to those underlying taxing entities. instead gets deferred and goes to the urban renewal authority for that area where we can then take that increment or that light blue bar and reinvest it into that area. And so that happens over that 25-year period um that that I mentioned. Uh so that is our goal essentially if we

[20:00] create an urban renewal area is to create that increment, create that redevelopment uh and new investment and essentially try and uh uh sp um spur new development or other public improvements that support that development within that area. Next slide. That is the end of the overview from uh my end. Happy to take any questions off the top of your head. Otherwise, I know um Alex uh will be jumping into a little bit more of the detail. >> Mark, I have I have one question. This is Chris. Um how is that future value established? just high level. I'm sure there's lots of details, but >> yeah, it's a good question. That new value is established by the county assessor.

[21:00] >> So, there's typically a a formula that they use. We'd be working very closely uh with them to establish the difference between what is base um revenue versus uh new new increment. >> Thanks, Michael. Um yeah, I was wondering if um the geographical area of influence of Bureau is established um for example in Boulder Junction, potentially downtown uh maybe some of the older urban areas or is that um fluid or can be amended over time? >> Yeah, Alex, I lean on you. I believe it's contiguous with the the city limits. We could consider any authority, any area within city limits. Is that true? >> That's that's correct. And Michael, I believe you were asking about the two earlier um locations as well. We do have slides showing the general geographic outlines of the project around what was called the Crossroads Mall and the St.

[22:01] Julian 9th and Canyon development. So, those are coming up. But if you do have any specific questions about the exact geographic boundaries of those, we can definitely send you more information about that so that you can have a concrete idea of where they are. >> Yeah, I think that's good for now. Thank you. >> Okay. Well, if there's no further questions, I'll jump into the training part of this presentation. Um, and I'll apologize in advance. This is a lot of information. We're going to move very quickly because there is a lot of stuff to cover. Um, you do have these slides in your packet. Of course, you can always reach out to city staff. We're happy to talk to you about any of these concepts, give you further information. Um, and of course, we will talk about this in future meetings. So, don't feel like you have to absorb everything at once. But I would emphasize, please pay attention to the open meetings and kora issues in particular u because those are very important concepts here in Colorado. So with that, Salona, could you move to the

[23:01] next slide? So just to give an overview, and Mark did a lot of this already. Vera currently consists of 12 commissioners. You're serving staggered terms, but those will eventually convert into five-year terms. Um, and we need a quorum of seven members to take any action. We'll talk a little more about that here in the future. Um, 10 members of the bureau are appointed by the mayor and that's approved by the city council here in Boulder. One is a Boulder County representative, one is a Boulder Valley School District representative, and as Mark said, they will be hopefully joining us soon. And Bureau's role is really to facilitate targeted investment and revitalization efforts in various parts of Boulder. Uh, and that's going to support a healthy and sustainable economy. Next slide. So, now we're going to talk about open meetings. Um, Bureau is subject to the open meetings law here in Colorado. uh business must be done in a public meeting. Any gathering of three or more

[24:00] members of bureau to discuss business or take any formal action constitutes an open meeting and I want to emphasize here that that is not just when all of you gather together. There's also a concept serial meeting or roundroin meeting. You may hear something like that where you send a email or a message to someone else trying to create a consensus around taking action or discussing business. that can also be considered a violation of the open meeting. So, also please do not do that. Um, we are happy to help facilitate a discussion about future agenda items or anything else about scheduling or other issues that you may need to to bring to our attention. Um, please refrain from engaging in any discussions of formal business outside of actually noticed meetings like the one we're having here today. Um, an agenda will be posted in advance of any meeting date that'll give the public notice of the items that will be considered in that meeting. No formal action can be taken outside of a public meeting as I just mentioned and no action be taken on topics that are not properly noticed on the agenda. City

[25:01] staff will assist you in preparing those agendas. So please bring any issues to us. We're happy to discuss what might need to go on the agenda and how we can prepare those. Um after the meeting, minutes will be prepared that'll record the votes and the other formal actions that are taken in the meeting. And you'll have an opportunity at your next meeting to review those minutes and adopt them. We actually have that on the agenda today. So, you'll get to take a look at how that process works. Next slide. One exception to the open meetings law is an executive session. Um, so while meetings do need to begin in public, bureau may enter executive sessions to discuss certain specific topics that are identified in the statute. Uh, those topics include receiving legal advice on specific legal questions. Those are matters confidential under state or federal law. Developing strategy and providing direction for negotiations, discussion of purchase, sale or lease of an interest in property and personnel issues. Um, so this is not an exhaustive

[26:02] list of every single criteria. And each of these items do have some nuance to them. So if you have an issue you think may be appropriate for executive session, please bring those to legal counsel. We'll happy we'll be happy to discuss that with you. Um because there are nuances like I mentioned if you're discussing issues with legal counsel they need to be specific legal questions. Just including an attorney does not create justification for going into an executive session. So we need to make sure that we do have the appropriate basis for that before you do attempt to enter executive session. And again we can talk more about that when the issue arises. Next slide. Next, I want to talk about open records. This is commonly called Kora. You'll hear a lot of people call it that here in Colorado. Um, the Colorado Open Records Act applies to Bureau and that means that all of your records could be accessible to the public. uh that

[27:01] includes documents and emails that you send or receive. You know, emails between you and city staff, between each other, anything that's related to bureau of business may be available to the public under Kora. Um this also could include emails sent from your personal accounts, text messages, electronic chats like Teams or Slack, other style of digital communications. And regardless of whether the record is in electronic or physical form, if it relates to Bureau of Business, it's likely subject to Kora. So that's the major takeaway that we want you to have today. The discussion of Bureau of Business is what justifies producing that record under Kora. Now, there are some exceptions to this as well. Uh confidential documents and legal advice, those could be withheld, but Kora has very specific requirements for what can justify withholding a record. Um, if you have questions about that, we're happy to talk through it with you, but I would operate under the assumption that any

[28:00] message you send or receive could be subject to Kora, no matter what, as long as it is related to bureau business. Next slide. One specific thing for over and renewal authorities here is that bureau commissioners and their immediate family members are not permitted to acquire any interest and that's a direct or indirect interest in urban renewal project or any property included in that project. Also, you're not allowed to have an interest in a contract for materials or services to be used in connection with any of those projects. Um, if you do own or control an interest in property that's included, you must disclose that interest and you must not participate any further in discussions of that project unless the full bureau board determines that that is not contrary to the public interest. Um, so if you do have an interest or you fail to disclose that interest, existing interest, that can be considered misconduct in office and may justify removing you from the

[29:00] Bureau of Commission board. Um, this is a very confusing section obviously because you may or may not be aware that you own property in one of these areas until you find out about the proposed area. So, if you feel that this applies to you, please reach out to city staff. We'll be happy to discuss this with you. Um, we can talk with you about how we can bring this to the full bureau board and either have a vote or allow you to recuse yourself from any of those discussions. Um, so again, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about that and we're happy to talk through that with you. Next slide. So, as Mark mentioned previously, we do have many members of the city staff working in administration here for bureau. I wanted to outline these specifically because they are provided for in the bylaws. Uh, Nura is the executive director of bureau. City attorney's office of Boulder is your legal counsel. Mark will be serving as the secretary h when Nuri is not available. Nuri is also the secretary

[30:02] under the bylaws. Um Selena is going to provide operational support as she's doing right now wonderfully. Um and there are other city managers staff that may be involved. So again, feel free to reach out to us. We're happy to assist you with whatever you need and uh we are your legal counsel so you can ask us questions and attorney client privilege will communicate will cover your communications with us. Next slide. So this is the first of those plan areas. So Michael, as I mentioned, there is a rough diagram here. Uh may or may not be easy for you to see. So again, we are happy to provide any further detail about this. This is the St. Julian project um and not Canyon. And next slide. This is the area that was the uh Crossroads Mall. This is now the 20 knot street shopping district. Um you can see that there in the center is a much larger area. Um next slide.

[31:02] And there are additional plan areas that may be considered by bureau. Um the process for that will be bureau will propose a plan area after receiving a condition study. Uh the planning board will consider that and determine whether or not to make a recommendation to the city council and ultimately the city council will need to adopt that plan area in a p after a public hearing. Next slide. So an overview of urban renewal. The goals of urban renewal are to spark investment in areas in need of revitalization and blot removal. Colorado statutes use the term blot and blotted area very frequently here in the uh urban renewal context. And that describes a wide variety of different kinds of urban problems. And we're going to go through some of those here in a minute. Um but they can range from physical deterioration to environmental health and social and economic issues that create problems in a certain area of a city. Um the definition of blotted

[32:01] area is very large as I mentioned. Um and there is a procedure for determining a blotted area and outlining a plan area which we will go through generally now and much more detail in the future. Next slide. So, as I mentioned, there is a very extensive definition from Colorado law. I'm not going to read every single one of these, but we do have these in your packet. The determination must be that at least four of these factors exist to justify determining an area is a blotted area. So, you'll see they run from being a slum to blot layouts, unsanitary and unsafe conditions. Um, and next slide. You'll see they continue on through, you know, defect defective title, uh, buildings that are unsafe, environmental contamination, and other issues about health, safety, and welfare affecting citizens of the community.

[33:00] Next slide. So the characteristics of what would occur in a urban renewal area that tax increment financing as Mark mentioned would be captured from the rise in property value due to investment in that area and state law allows urban renewal authorities to pledge that tax revenue for you know bond repayment and other types of debt so that they can make investments in the defined plan areas. Um, urban renewal plans are established by city council after they've been prepared and approved. Um, but city council has to vote to adopt these plan areas. So, your actions will not be the final step in the process. Uh, condition studies will come to you determining where areas may justify being determined as blotted area and outlining possible uh, geographic boundaries that may be subject to an urban plane area. And then when that plan arrives at the city council, there are eight factors they

[34:01] must consider before they determine whether or not to approve the plan. Next slide. Here again, large list. I will not read all of these because we are time constrained, but I want to point out that these first uh conditions are feasible methods of relocating both people and businesses that are in the affected area. Next slide. These conditions are more about making sure that the public hearing is properly noticed and that the timeline has not been too long of a period from the public hearing, the initial public hearing until the adoption of the plan. Next slide. These conditions obviously are concerned about property being included in a previous plan that was rejected. Um and also making sure that the urban renewal plan conforms to the general plan for the city as a whole. Next slide.

[35:05] And these final conditions make sure that the maximum opportunity for rehabilitation or redevelopment of the area exists and adequate financing is lined up to accomplish those goals. So, as I mentioned, all of these are in your packet. I realize this is a lot of information, so we don't expect you to absorb it all right now. But feel free to review these. Um, and we're obviously happy to discuss any of the blotted area factors or the eight factors for city council consideration anytime you'd like to discuss those. Next slide. So, BURA is governed by bylaws. Um, the bylaws are generally the operating procedures of Burea. um they are subordinate to the state laws that control all urban renewal authorities but as long as they are in accordance with those laws bureaus bylaws will control how meetings occur and what takes place at the meetings. Um they

[36:01] justify the regular order of business when you have a regular meeting. They provide the manner of voting and they also specify how you can go about amending the bylaws. The amendments of bylaws either require a motion in one meeting and then adoption in the next meeting or publication at least 10 days in advance of the meeting where you propose to amend those bylaws. So you can't just change the bylaws. For example, if you wanted to change them today, we would not be able to do so. Um just want to make sure everyone's aware of that process because it is a little more deliberate than just a simple motion. Next slide. So we wanted to give you some basic uh overviews of meeting procedure. Quorum is necessary for any action. As I mentioned earlier, you must have seven members present to take action. Um you'll need to elect a chairperson and a vice chairperson and we can talk more about that here in a minute. Um but the chairperson will be responsible for conducting the meetings. Effectively think of that person as the one running

[37:01] the meeting. Um they will be deciding on disputed motions and any kind of parliamentary disputes and they also will be recognizing the other members who wish to speak or make motions. Um they als any other member needs to yield the floor to that chairperson so that they can make sure that the meeting is conducted appropriately. Um you as a full board may consider regular meeting dates. Right now, we have been proceeding with special meeting dates, and that's totally fine. But you may consider in the future that it justifies having a regular meeting date. That's something you can adopt. You'll need to do that by resolution, and we can explain how that will work. You may also adopt specific parliamentary rules like Robert's rules of order, Bob's rules, which is a Colorado Municipal League version, very simplified, um, or other simplified procedures that justify the way you proceed in a meeting. Next slide. Now, I wanted to give you a little bit of an overview for motions because we

[38:01] may need you to make a motion or two here in this meeting and some in the future meetings. Um, the first step would be that a member would address the chairperson and ask to be recognized. Once the member is recognized, they can propose their motion. Um, for example, I move that we have ice cream at the next meeting. Sounds like a great motion, right? The motion must receive a second even if it's a wonderful motion. Um if no one else seconds that motion and it does not move forward. But once it receives a second, the chair will state the motion and they will ask if there is any debate. That's the opportunity for other members to discuss the merits and you know demerits of that possible idea. So we have a motion in a second to have ice cream at the next meeting. Is there any debate? At that point, the chairperson will recognize those members and ask them to speak on that motion. Once everyone has had an opportunity to speak. Then the chairperson will need to

[39:00] call for a vote. Um once the vote is called, the chairperson will count the yays and nays. Obviously, if it's unanimous, then they won't need to count the nays. But again, you know, if it is a disputed motion, there will be a tabulation to determine whether or not that motion passes. Then the chairperson will announce that the motion has passed. This is basic practice. Obviously, there can be more detailed parliamentary steps that occur. But for most motions, this will be the procedure that you follow. And I want to emphasize again that you will need to be recognized by the chairperson, particularly when we are conducting meetings in a virtual format like this. Um, it's very important to make sure that you are recognized before you speak, that you identify yourself, and that you clearly communicate your motion or your vote or whatever else it is that you're trying to communicate because we are all sitting here on Zoom and it is very difficult sometimes to follow what's occurring and we want to ensure that you do get your opportunity to speak. Um, so next slide.

[40:02] And now we have a a short opportunity for questions. And so if anyone has any questions right now, I'm happy to try and touch base on those. If you have a more complicated question, feel free to reach out to city staff. We'll be happy to assist you. So now I'll take a look. It looks like someone has their hand raised. Chester, I believe you have your hand raised. Yeah. >> Yeah. Thanks. Um, so given like Mark's second in the chat, um, could you explain how we interface with the chat in terms of recognition or official motion making or seconding? Is it basically part of the conversation or is it a side conversation? >> I would strongly encourage you not to use the chat for official communications like that. Um, the primary reason why we don't want to do that is because you're not visible to the public when you are typing that in the chat. you know, depending on the meeting settings, the public may be able to view that or they may not be able to view that. We also can't verify that that is what you are immediately trying to say. You may have tapped that into the chat a few minutes

[41:00] previously. So, there's a lot of problems with using the chat for that kind of communication. Um, however, let's say your audio cuts out and you want to let us know that or for example, you didn't hear the last thing that was said, you could put that in the chat, you know, but again, I would strongly encourage you to, as you just did, raise your hand or try and communicate in some way so that we can have the audio and visual of you communicating and make sure that that is actually you and we actually understand what you're saying. If that makes sense. Sorry, I wasn't setting a very good example. >> Sorry. Sorry, Mark. Mark works for us. Not don't don't do >> I'm used to all chats being uh discoverable in open records, which is another important part of that as well. >> That and that's a great point, Mark. Obviously, even if you do top something in this chat or you send me an email during this meeting and it's not something you say in this public meeting, that still may be subject to

[42:00] Kora and many other, you know, requirements may apply to the communications that you're sending. So, please consider everything you're doing here as if the public has an opportunity to see it and hear it and understand what's going on. Okay. Again, if you have any other questions, feel free to reach out to us. I know that was a lot of information. You do have those slides in your packet, so feel free to take a look. Um, and I believe now I'm going to pass it back to Mark. >> Sounds good. >> We do have a couple um a couple things for you to uh act on. Um, At this meeting, uh we will need you all to elect a uh chair and vice chair. Uh and then um we'll move into the approval of the meeting minutes uh from our last

[43:02] uh meeting that we had with our uh board uh which was in December. Uh and then we'll just do a very brief uh preview of next steps. So, um I believe unless Alex corrects me on the procedures here, um we would ask uh for uh a nomination uh for a chair. Um and if there are multiple nominations, then we would uh take a a little bit of a straw poll uh at that point to uh see if we had a majority for a chair and then we'll follow the same procedures for vice chair. Does that sound okay, Alex? >> Yeah. Again, if if more than one person uh puts their name forward and you'd like for us to give you a moment or two to speak about yourself, that's absolutely fine. We'll just want to make sure that everyone has the same opportunity. >> Super. And as you're thinking about that, um

[44:01] you chairperson will certainly have staff support. So, um you know, anybody that um is interested in kind of helping us organize meetings, um we will certainly be there um in support of you as well, Mark. >> Yeah. >> Um if nobody see, let me lower my hand. If nobody else wants to do it, I'll do it. But I I'm on city council, so I wanted to give um other people a chance if they want to, but I'm not sure if people want to. >> Sounds good. Well, I see Chris's hand. Let's see what Chris has to say. >> I was just asking a clarifying question. Are we looking to nominate others or are we nominating ourselves if we are willing? Uh >> you can do either. >> Either. Okay. Thank you. Yep.

[45:05] Michael. >> Uh, well, I was thinking it'd be ideal to know everybody a little bit better, but it just occurred to me that I know Katherine Bean, and she's really a strong leader and a wonderful professional in this field. So, I'm going to nominate Katherine Bean as chair. >> Second. >> Katherine, do you accept that? uh nomination, >> you know. Um Michael, that's incredibly kind and terra too. Thank you. Uh my hesitation is around the conflicts of interest and owning property. I just want to make sure I'm in the clear in that because I do have ownership stake in um a couple properties that I believe may be within the district. And so I just wouldn't want the chair to be

[46:00] having to recuse themselves. So I wanted to get some clarity on the uh on that. Well, I could I don't know exactly which district you're referring to and we can definitely talk with you more about the geographic boundaries of of whichever area it is. Um what I would say is generally there are two possible outcomes. you can recuse yourself from discussion when that specific plan area is being discussed. And to be clear, it's the plan area where you own property, not anywhere within, you know, the possible realm of of our action here. Um, but you would recuse yourself from just that specific discussion of the planaries. So, those two plan areas that already exist, there's not a lot of things happening with those. You know, Mark, correct me if I'm wrong, but that would be the only scenario where you would need to recuse yourself. Um, alternatively, the procedure is that you can bring that ownership interest to the full commission here, the full board of

[47:00] commissioners, and have them hold a vote as to whether or not they feel it's in the public interest for you to participate. So, the commission may find that, you know, they don't feel that you owning one piece of property in an area that is not, you know, significantly under action, uh, does not pose a risk to the public interest. And if you get an affirmative vote there, then you can continue to participate. Um, so there are two different pathways where that can be handled. >> Thank you. Uh, I I just worry a little bit too not knowing what future areas might include. Um, that I I just don't want to further complicate things. That's that is my concern. appreciate that, Michael. Go ahead. >> Yeah. Uh, I'm not going to throw out my nomination, but I will apologize to Katherine for putting her on the spot. That was pretty spontaneous. And again, she's the other than Tara and a few

[48:00] other people. I I don't know the folks on this board. I'm just wondering if we could actually table this into a meeting where we all get together in person and get to know each other a little better. And um I don't know if that's possible because maybe we have to have a chair before the next meeting, but that would be my preference. and Tara would be great chair, but I understand that she might feel a little conflicted in her role as city. >> I'm not conflicted, but I want to give other people the opportunity. >> Well, that's very generous of you. >> Yeah. Um Anya, I see your hand. Alex, just curious if is the board able to table this uh until their next meeting or do they need to at least appoint someone to serve in that role for the next meeting? So the bylaws don't prohibit tableabling it. Although they do specify that this should be the meeting where the chairperson is elected. So I don't think it would legally be adopted at the next meeting. I think the issue would be we would not be able to take any further action until we do have a chairperson and a vice chairperson elected. Uh so if you do

[49:02] that today then at the next meeting things can move much more smoothly and we will have someone in place who will already be ready to move the meeting forward. I understand that may not be what the commissioners want to do. I don't think there's a legal consequence there. It will just be a lot more, you know, stage setting before we can actually take action. But I don't think it's a legal issue if you want to table it. >> So, a quick clarifying question in the bylaws article 2 section two it says the mayor shall appoint the chairperson for the first year. Does this not count as the first year since we're kind of reconstituting or clarify please? >> Sure. So staff's interpretation of that before when the the appointments were being made was that that applied to the initial formation of bureau not to this current reconstitution. Um and so out of abundance of caution I

[50:01] believe that was the recommendation to the mayor was not to make a designation at that time. So, what I might suggest is um I'm going to now put Tara on the spot. Would you be willing uh if someone nominated you to serve uh for this meeting and we could put this item back on the agenda for the 30th and then you all will know each other a little bit better and maybe do some thinking about if you are interested in serving and we can do this again on the 30th. Is that okay? For anybody that's thinking about it, it would be awesome if you've already been chairing other meetings and know how know the general Robert's rules or I don't know who Bob's rules are, but I'm very interested in finding out. >> I will send you a copy of it.

[51:01] >> Great. Because Roberts is a little much for me. But sure. I mean, >> in case Tara's not already nominated herself, I would nominate Tara. >> Thanks, Jester. Great. Can we get um a show of hands for Tara as your chairperson for this this meeting? >> Hi. >> Great. Thank you. >> This meeting or the next this meeting? This one right now. >> Yes. You are now the chairperson and the next agenda item is the consideration of the approval of the minutes from December 18th, 2025. So I will let you take that away. >> Great. Can you put the text in the chat?

[52:10] Okay. Um, we're now going to talk about approval. Give me the exact text mark. I've never even led a city council meeting ever. >> What? >> Yep. I I think you'll just go for it. >> Yeah. We'll we'll need a motion to approve those minutes. >> Okay. We need a motion to approve the meetings from the December 18th, 2025 U bureau meeting. Um, does anybody want to make a motion? Let's see if I can actually see somebody here. >> I see Ana's hand. >> Okay, great. Ana. >> Uh, Anya. So, I >> My bad. I'm sorry. >> A motion that we approve the meeting minutes from December 18th, 2025. >> Anybody want to second? >> Second. >> Awesome. Okay. The December 18th, 2025

[53:02] meetings are approved. Do you want me to take um a hand vote, Mark? >> Yeah, we need to hold a hold a vote on that because >> Yeah. Okay. >> I have a question. Sorry, I wasn't in attendance at that meeting. So, >> typically I would um abstain from that vote. Is are there people here who are at that meeting who can approve this? >> No, just me. So way the way we would normally handle that in a situation like this where you have a major turnover of the board is you have staff present that were present at that meeting that help prepare the minutes. Um we can testify to you that those are an accurate reflection and answer any questions you may have about the events. And so after we have answered your questions adequately and provided any evidence you may need to show that the minutes are an accurate reflection of the events of that meeting, then you can decide whether or not you'd like to vote to approve those minutes. >> Great. Thank you.

[54:00] >> Sure. >> Okay. Any questions about the meeting minutes from December 18th, 2025? And I don't how can I change my screen so that I can see everybody? Gallery maybe. Okay. Chris, >> uh, I just have one question, Alex. Are the meetings an accurate reflection of what transpired at the last meeting or the minutes? Sorry. >> And I believe the staff members that are listed on that on those minutes should be here. They can speak. I don't want to put words in their mouth. I was not present at that meeting, but I believe Jennifer and Mark were present. So, I would turn it over to either of them to give you that affirmation. Yeah, they I they're they're an accurate depiction of what went on and the conversations that went on during that meeting. Would you agree, Mark? >> I would. Thank you. >> Okay. Also, everyone say hi to Stephanie

[55:00] Chan who hi Stephanie. She entered. Okay. Any other questions before we vote to approve the minutes? No other questions. Okay. Everybody who wants to approve the minutes, just raise your hand. And I see everybody's hands are raised. The minutes are approved. All right, Mark. What's next? >> Great. Um, it last is the report of the executive director, which I'll be taking on behalf of Nuria. And it is just one slide. And when we wrap that up, um, maybe we can pop up the oath office again. and Stephanie, if you don't mind, um, when right before we're done, just introducing yourself to the group and we'll get you sworn in officially as a board member. So, um, our report is short because we've covered a lot of stuff already today. Um, and Alex already covered the requirements for new areas, but I'm just pointing out these three bullet points.

[56:01] the condition study, the urban renewal plan, and an impact report are all necessary documents for for this board to review. And so if we consider any urban renewal, new urban renewal areas, you'll be diving into the details of all this stuff provided information ahead of time. Um, so on and so forth. uh that recommendation, the conversation, any recommendation you make will be reviewed by planning board and city council if it pertains to a new urban renewal area. And I mention all of that because um there is one area uh that we have initiated a conditions assessment which is that first um that that first study, the first requirement uh in the second phase of Boulder Junction. I'm not going to go into detail in that today. Um, but you will be getting um, a lot more information about those areas and other potential areas where we're looking at urban renewal across the city. And to be clear, um, the condition study is an

[57:01] early step. We don't know yet whether or not urban renewal is the appropriate tool in all of these areas. Um, this will be our our first step in in assessing that. you all will be a part of that discussion and helping us uh analyze that information uh before we we move towards establishing any urban renewal area. So a lot of steps to go more information to provide you uh but that is our likely next topic coming up soon is looking at those potential areas and getting a little bit more information to you on Boulder Junction. Chester, >> thanks. Um, if we wanted something added to the agenda for next meeting, would we go through Tara on that or would it be useful to talk to you Mark? Where what's the procedure? >> Yeah, that that's a good question. I typically um agendas could have a section for uh requests for agenda items. Um, and I think we as staff would always be open to suggestions just depending on kind of what is currently

[58:01] scheduled and and all that good stuff. Would it would it be possible in next meeting to get staff's perspective on the Kaiser versus Aurora finding uh which was a I guess a state level court case around how tax increment financing has changed in 2024 I think it was. >> Yeah, happy to work with Alex and um we could we could provide the board with some information. >> Thanks. >> Anything else Mark? >> That is it. Maybe we can um Oh, thank you, Selena. Just noting uh April 21st there is an in-person boards and commissions orientation. So, that'll cover some of the materials Alex provided on open meetings, open records. Um there will be some other information that is important. So, look for that um meeting in Outlook. Uh and then our next meeting will be April 30th. That is what we call a hybrid meeting or um we will have an in-person location. So certainly

[59:01] um that is uh the the preferred but we will also have a Zoom link that if you're not able to make it in person um you can still participate virtually. Uh Michael, you are muted. >> Still muted. >> You're you're muted. Michael, I'm sorry. Um clarification, we just elected Tara for one meeting and we'll elect a chair at the next meeting who could be Tara or someone else. >> Yes. Okay. Thank you. All right. And before Tara we adjourn, if you don't mind, um love to introduce Stephanie and uh guide her through the oath office if that's all right. Do I have to do something? Yep.

[60:01] >> So, if you want to just introduce yourself first and then um I'll help you through the oath of office hearing. >> Okay. Sorry, I had trouble logging in. Um but I'm Stephanie Chen. Um and I just live here in Boulder in the Goss Grove neighborhood. Um yeah, just looking to contribute. >> Great. We are happy to have you and this was recorded so if you need to catch the first part of the meeting uh that will be available to you. One of the things we did is swear in all of our uh commissioners. So if you want to just read this uh on the record uh while raising your right hand uh enter your name in the blank uh and then you'll be officially on board. >> Sure. Um, I, Stephanie Chen, do solemnly swear affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America in the state of Colorado and the charter and the ordinances of the city of Boulder and faithfully perform the

[61:01] duties of the office of a member of the Boulder Urban Renewal Authority, which I am about to enter. >> Super. Thank you. All right, Mayor Prom, we are done. >> Okay. Um, thanks everyone for coming. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you and I'm going to adjourn this very first bureau meeting for 2026 at 3:04 p.m. >> See you all soon. >> Thanks everybody. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. See y'all.