December 21, 2023 — City Council Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[7:00] at the same time the spirit of the holiday season provides an opportunity for affirmation and renewal regarding our commitment 21st has been designated national homeless persons Memorial Day by the National Coalition for the homeless and the National Health Care National Health

[18:09] all right everybody have some patience with us please the audio is out on the live stream so we're going to need to just sit here and wait patiently before I reconvene the meeting I mean like when the tech is usually usually just

[19:05] mayor it appears sound is fantastic in that [Applause] case I will reconvene the meeting of the uh Boulder City Council and we will go to open comment so Brenda if you could go over our public participation guidelines prior to open comment beginning please sure good evening everyone my name is Brenda ritow I am a member of our communication and engagement team and um our role in your meetings this evening is to read our public participation guidelines share folks um Point folks to where they can learn more about the process that we went through to reach these guidelines um so I will read those quickly and then we can move forward the city has engaged with community members to co-create a vision

[20:00] for productive meaningful and inclusive Civic conversations this Vision supports physical and emotional safety for community members for staff and for council members and supports democracy for people of all ages identities lived experiences and political perspectives for more information about this vision and the community engagement process we use to reach it please go online to Boulder color.com go and in the search bar type productive atmospheres the following are examples of rules of decorum found in the boulder Revised Code and other guidelines that support this vision and these will be upheld during tonight's meeting all remarks and testimony shall be limited to matters related to City business no participant shall make threats or use other forms of intimidation against any person obscenity racial epithets and other speech and behav behavior that disrupts or otherwise impedes the

[21:01] ability to conduct the meeting are prohibited participants are required to sign up to speak using the name they are commonly known by and individuals online must display their whole name before being allowed to speak currently only audio testimony is permitted online in-person participants are asked to refrain from expressing support or disagreement verbally or with Applause with the exception of your support for our declarations traditionally support is shown silently through American Sign Language Applause or Jaz thank you and we may move forward thank you for that Brenda all right we've got eight people signed up to speak in person and two remotely so if you can come down as your name is called and you'll have two minutes to speak our first three speakers are Michel Rodriguez Tom mayor and Evan rabits hi guys Michelle I'm going to go pretty

[22:01] quick tonight um I want to thank everybody that came out to the homeless Memorial that we had on Tuesday evening um we memorialized 54 of our homeless second I wanted to say ly seagull I'm ashamed of your behavior I couldn't believe that you brought your pathetic domenic rant to our homeless Memorial to talk about property tax and acted like you were going to be homeless and and took that time from us next I want to say I went out this morning to do Outreach as I often do on Thursdays um a community Court connector I had a very concerning incident and I needed taken care of Officer Keith styman senent a gentleman that was irate over to me to have me connect him for some reason with the District Attorney's office I didn't understand what was going on it it quickly became a little bit hostile and very uncomfortable when this man was yelling across the crowd getting resources to officer styman as to why

[23:01] you sent me to this girl and he says I didn't I was talking about somebody else very quickly after that I was approached by an investigator and a person a district attorney I think from the District Attorney's office I was served the summons to testify on the gentleman that you guys have let loose on a $500 cash Bond Devin chifus he's known to have stabbed one of our El ly in the park across the street so now they've got me subpoena and you have officer Keith styman standing there saying she files frivolous reports she does this and that I'm like are you kidding me and then I looked up over at these people from the District Attorney's office because they were also talking loud and they did this blatantly in front of my crowd of you know all the people I live around everybody that would know or have something to do about this man getting stabbed or the one who did the stabbing but he's now put my life in

[24:00] jeopardy I need it addressed thank you Michelle now we have Tom mayor Evan rabitz and Andrew O Conor my name is Tom mayor I live in Boulder Colorado I work with the Rocky Mountain peace and Justice Center I am also an anti-zionist Jew which you may see from the letter I wrote in the paper today if you happen to have read it I am here because of my intense concern about the slaughter taking place in Gaza about 20,000 gazan people have have been killed most of them civilians many of them women and children this is about 1% of the Gaza population if you prated that in the United States it would be about 3 million people we at the Peace Center are appalled by

[25:02] the by the behavior of our own government in enabling this Slaughter the majority of the people in this country favor a ceasefire we have submitted a proposal for a ceasefire to this Council we were asked to withdraw it in favor of a of a unified proposal to submit to be submitted to many cities on the Front Range in the next few weeks and we will submit it at that at that uh time you know I know it is not common for this city council to take positions on Foreign Affairs but I might remember remind you that 20 years ago we got this Council to submit to make a statement against the Iraq War now since our federal government is in the hands of a cabal which is interested in perpetuating a genocidal Massacre we

[26:03] think it is the duty of local governments to speak out against that and in fact some local governments have already passed resolutions to do that so I know it's unconventional but we think it is the duty of this this Council uh to make such a resolution thank you thank you now we have Evan ravitz Andrew O Conor and James Duncan Amen to that last meeting Doug Hamilton asked you to finally fix Boulder's lethal homeless policies which have landed you in court he said quote complexity is the Refuge of the powerful don't overthink it say no to analysis paralysis set goals and deadlines experiment and be okay with failing but Rachel friends hope for legal homeless Camp to open by December 7th is still

[27:02] not even a hint of a plan so more deaths frostbite drugs Hospital expense Etc then retired physician Charles Clark told you quote the children are hungry because many Boulder businesses don't pay a living wage I'm tired after all these years of subsidizing Boulder businesses by having to care for their workers because Boulder businesses championed by the chamber have deliberately underpaid their workers he said to raise the minimum wage now let me add that the rent is too damn High the rental assist that the city state and feds fund from our taxes ends up in the pockets of a few like Mega developer Steve tibo Steve owns a whole museum of classic cars in Longmont just that one

[28:00] 100,000 squ ft building of his could house all 800 homeless folks in the entire County each with over 125 Square ft another greedy landlord Governor polus has promised to veto rent control the only way around the governor is a citizen ballot initiative thanks to the city of Boulder our online petitioning which will make initiatives easy here still doesn't work right let us solve the problems you can't or won't thanks Evan uh now we have Andrew O Conor James Duncan and Elise mordos um good evening and Merry Christmas my name is Andrew J o Conor and I represent myself and many members

[29:00] of the Boulder Community and like a friend said I represent Christ against Satan I strongly denounce the Israeli Massacre of Palestinians the bind administration's complicity in the massacre and the Zionist bias of the mainstream media in the city of Boulder and I call for a ceasefire close to 20,000 Palestinians have been killed with 70% of them being women and children the vast majority of gaza's 2.2 million people are displaced and an estimated half face starvation Israel commits war crimes every day and has embarked upon a CA campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide similar to what the Nazis did to the Jews in Germany the ethnic cleansing mass murder genocide and apartheid as well as L theft and colon colonialism by Israel are

[30:00] subsidized by American taxpayers at 10.5 million a day many Palestinians seen Netanyahu and Biden as hitler-like figures and the ongoing ethnic cleansing as a genocide as is their Holocaust I want to thank Jonathan thoron and Boulder parks and re for doing the right thing and removing the Flyers containing false Zionist propaganda that constitutes hate speech against Palestinians from the kiosk on Pearl Street I also want to thank the Boulder City attorney's office for helping me and for doing the right thing thank you all right our next three speakers are James Duncan Elise mordos and Aaron Brooks just to we can keep have everyone stay

[31:01] silent in the chambers please it would be much appreciated James uh good evening Council thank you for your service yes James Duncan from Boulder in the spirit of Captain Silas Soul who refused orders when uh firing upon the uh San Creek Massacre if I can affect if I can help affect a ceasefire 10 minutes sooner that means one child more lives and keeps all its limbs there's horrific graphic raw video footage of civilians who've burned mutilated from military explosives photos of dead children and babies from military strikes journalists who reveal these uh are being killed at an unprecedented rate right years ago it was the photos of Abu gra and the collateral murder video published by Julian Sange Ricky leaks that was a major turning point that ended that pummeling Chelsea Manning and Julian Sange brought back humanity and helped end that the Iraq War now it's from

[32:03] Wikileaks that we know of Israel's intent to keep Palestinian economy on the brink of collapse and the people teetering just above a humanitarian crisis also Wikileaks revealed Israel's strategy wanting to keep Hamas to continue governing so they can deem 2.3 million people 2.3 million civilians a hostile entity worthy of collective punishment such as this massacre of innocent women and children recently among 60 journalists killed so far was an open assassination but we've seen how the US prosecutes journalists whistleblowers no one embarrasses the the US without paying dearly in prison it was also by by Wikileaks that the the CIA secretly plotted to assassinate Julian Assange Assange did not steal any or leak any government secrets he never committed any crime on the contrary he

[33:00] published and exposed war crimes and high level political corruption ceasefire in Gaza release humanitarian publisher Julian Assange thank you thanks James we have Elise mordos Aon Brooks and Ron forer I'm Elise maros um thank you for your time today I want to discuss a pressing issue uh newly elected council member Taisha Adams anti-semitic slurs and uh liist statements on her Facebook account she calls herself an educator uh intersectional environmentalist Earth tender uh connector yet her social media is full of anti-israel pro Palestine and Hamas propaganda which she only started doing after the November election specifically her first promo her first post promoting anti-israel anti-zionist rhetoric is dated November 27th six post that day alone 14 thereafter 20 over 24 days this is a large increased tell tells me that she probably did this on purpose to withhold her opinion on

[34:00] Zionism in Israel to better her chance of getting more votes on the election um she not once condemned hamas's nove October 7th terrorist attack and in fact she has a post that claims that Israel lied about the beheading of babies which she writes as a black African-American I cannot turn my eyes heart and my mind away from what is happening in Gaza for the record I have no idea what her black africanamerican identification has anything to do with the conflict and why Gaza deserves her attention more than the atrocities inflicted on Israelis and sends a wrong message to our community that this war has anything to do with race and ethnicity and that one side deserves our attention more than the other she also shares posts to say the Zionist controlled media and uh government right here um and israelies are colonizers these statements validate and normalize anti-semitic tropes that adversely impact every Jewish Community globally including Boulders Boulders home to 20,000 Jewish people make up about 10% of the population just this past weekend harash Shem had a bomb threat there were six bomb threats along the Front Range okay these types of

[35:01] statements contribute to that um she she's instead of spending her time on local issues which is what she should be doing instead she's spreading these types of statements um she's also now Del lays on to monitor Boulder nebula uh nebulous pro project which I think she doesn't have the um knowledge to uh manage your time is up thanks and I'll I'll just note um that there will be a chance for council members to respond any public testimony after open comment has concluded uh we now have um Aaron Brooks and Ron for offer good evening my name is Aaron Brooks I live in Boulder I stand before you today to address a matter of great importance the fundamental re right to free speech and ensuring all all residents are free of anti-Semitism in our community recently it has come to my attention that there has been a controversy created by one resident surrounding the posters on Pearl Street depicting Israeli hostages taken by Hamas in Israel the public spaces on Pearl Street in Boulder have

[36:01] historically been designated as as spaces for free expression allowing our community to share diverse viewpoints and engage in open dialogue this is protected by first amendment by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution regardless of one person's individual opinion I find it troubling that a fellow Community member demanded the removal of these posters I found it f i find it further troubling that the Parkson communication the Parkson Recreation District or department remove these posters due to the demands of one citizen in a county of 330,000 people without checking with the city council first if they had done this they would have learned that the council's position on this is that political speech is protected by the first amendment of our Constitution and Pearl Street is a Town Square where people where paper materials can be posted and the council doesn't seem to have any interest in probably cannot legally make any content-based decisions in addition we cannot compromise on the principle that have always made Boulder a beacon of inclusivity and respect this right of

[37:01] free speech extends to all regardless of their um of their opinion let us remember that our strength lies and our ability to engage in conversations fostering an environment where diverse voices are heard and understood not in demanding that our council do things just because we individually demand it upholding the the values of free speech is not only a legal obligation of this Council and of this community but it is also a testament to the rich cultural fabric that is defined Boulder throughout its history it's actually a big part of the reason that I move my family here I urge the council to Never back down to bullies who expect you to do something that impacts our entire Community just because they thank you our last in-person speaker is Ron Fort Hofer and then we'll go to the virtual ones okay I was told that Ron was present in person

[38:02] Richard oh Richard is here is Richard for here I apologize I had the wrong name Richard you're up thank you uh my name is Richard for I want to Second the remarks of Andrew Connor Tom mayor and James Duncan I am the author of two meticulously researched books on the Israel Palestine history uh using sources such as Israeli Prime Ministers Chiefs of Staff the heads of shin B the Israel Security Agency and mosad uh at one time I was a rabid defender of Israeli policy and then I did something rather unusual I studied the history I've been to Gaza I've been to the West Bank and I want to say that what as as Despicable as some of the actions as Hamas are they're no different in many ways to what the iron and St Stern gangs did in the 1930s and 1940s the Palestinian people have been under incredible brutalization for 75 plus years this was a predictable event

[39:00] that happened on October 7th I have very close friends from Gaza thank God they're not in Gaza my friend R whose father was a judge and they hate Hamas but her father was a judge their family home was bombed the family had to go out onto the street they're living on dirt they had one bottle of water for the family and other people 20 people had one bottle of water for 3 days and they had no food until her father found some tomatoes this is what is happening to real people in Gaza and Israel could stop it Israel could make peace they've always been able to make peace and have never made peace contrary to what people will tell you that's Israeli hasbara so my request is that you make some kind of a statement or at least take this into consideration for future statements or resolutions thank you very much thank you so that brings our inperson speaker to a close we have two virtual speakers that don't seem to be present Dylan Williams and Ron for offer so if you could raise your hands or let us know if you are present but we're going to go to

[40:00] our one other virtual speaker which is Lynn seagull you need to create a resolution to defend Israel and to end the occupation there are this is a local issue there are localities throughout the United States doing this and I am in fear of my life that we will have many other 911s after we've what we've done in complicity with Israel in Gaza um so please I want to I want to live I want to survive and we can't do this to people I love Israel get this I love Israel that's why we need to end the occupation and defund it um you need to say no on

[41:01] 3E which is 5691 the development peacock development there's 16 houses nine of them are basically market rate and six of them are permanently affordable that's not the right proportion for us to have more affordability in Boulder that's what I was trying to say that Michelle called me out for I was trying to say that the more that we do these kind of develop M the more homeless that we are creating and that is the root cause of homelessness in Boulder and um the other issue is three which is the the 3E is don't Annex that property and 3H is the site review which depends upon the annexation I believe um the other thing here is I had some stuff stolen from me in the municipal building I thought it was homeless people but 2 months later later finally I find out it's a city employee who has not been

[42:00] prosecuted and so there's basically no law in Boulder and I agree with Michelle on this issue of this uh $500 PR Bond on this guy that was stabbed somebody um this is this is going your time is up Mayhem okay all right appreciate people coming out to speak and speaking with us tonight so uh I will now turn to uh City staff so uh Nua or Teresa if you'd like to offer anything in response to open comment thank you mayor I think I'll start if you will and and want to First address um uh Miss Rodriguez and know that I'll be following up with you uh on the incident you mentioned today um I want to say to miss Eagle uh and certainly it's something that we have shared with Council we had a bag taken um from the mun building it was as the investigation has concluded uh unintentional We are following up and closing that out and attempting to make

[43:02] M seagull whole and again we apologize if that happened uh the bigger issue as we have heard today um and and I'll say that I'm going to limit my comments to um the role that staff has played as um Mr Brooks has mentioned um I it is not appropriate for me to comment on the current conflict um in the Middle East but I will say that Council first of all had nothing to do uh with the removal of those posters um I appreciate and respect the First Amendment and we'll probably hear more about that from our City attorney staff I believe inadvertently took those posters down uh for those that have read um a hotline post to council I take responsibility for that I apologize for whatever that may have caused and have clarified that we will not be doing that again whatever speech is appropriate we believe as a City in the power of free speech um and that will not be happening again so we

[44:01] apologize for the part we have played in it however inadvertantly thank you for that nura Teresa did you have anything thank you mayor I do uh first I want to be clear that the city attorney's office has absolutely no question about the fact of First Amendment protected speech on the mall on the kiosks that is absolutely a public forum and that's an appropriate place for for discourse and dialogue uh I also want to clear the record up and I want to be crystal clear about this the city attorney's office when contacted by Mr ' Conor first told him verbally that this was first amendment protected speech and second did so by email and so that is the aid that this city that this uh City attorney's office provided was to make a clear statement about the law thank you for that and then I'll turn to councel uh to

[45:00] see if anyone has any comments about open comment did I see Mark first I'm going to read you an email that Mark Walla got in his city council inbox on December 15 it said 6 million Jews did not die in the used quotation marks Holocaust nor were there any crematoriums most died of starvation there were no gas St there were no gas Chambers simply delousing this email is written by one of tonight's speakers Andrew O Conor why am I reading this well first of all it like all emails written to and from city council are public record but also because I want our community to know including the press that there are people that believe that either there was no Holocaust or that it was overinflated and also because I have

[46:00] been told personally lately that I'm exaggerating how much anti-Semitism there really is right now another of our speakers wrote this in the Daily Camera published July 18th 2023 robust condemnation of Zionist colonialism is imperative for curtailing the spread of anti-Semitism well here's the thing we've had plenty of robust condemnation of so-called Zionist colonialism and for the record I find that offensive but I'm not going to go into that right now but I promise you that this robust robust condemnation has not curtailed anti-Semitism in fact anti-Semitism has exploded the US US has seen more reported anti-semitic incidences since October 7th and in any two months in about 45 years when the Anti-Defamation League started keeping such statistics there were 2,31 anti-semitic incidents reported in

[47:02] the US between October 7th when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel and December 7th according to preliminary data released by the Anti-Defamation League the ADL thinks it might be double that since so many incidents are not reported because Jewish people are too scared The figure is a staggering 33 7% Spike compared to the same two-month time frame in 2022 where there were 465 incidents documented and it's even higher on college campuses I will end with the worst anti-semitic Trope that I've seen in a long time there were some signs held by some prop Palestinian demonstrators with a star of David in a trash can and the words keep the world clean which has become a commonplace sign at rallies and on social media media around the world since October 7th the German words uden

[48:01] fry free of Jews and uden clean of Jews are terms the Nazi um of Nazi origin to designate an area that has been cleansed of Jews during the Holocaust can you imagine how chilling it is for Jewish people to see these signs worldwide can you in conclusion it is my belief that city council should do the work of the city and in fact this is our this is in our city council rule book and procedures in regards to international issues we have many problems that need to be addressed in our city and I will continue to work hard to help solve them with my city council colleagues with City staff and with Community for instance helping stop homelessness drug addiction mental health challenges skyrocketing rents and housing prices this is what we are asked to do by the voters and this is what I intend to focus on unless pushed otherwise thank you thank you Tara Mark did you want to yes I

[49:02] did you know the first amendment protects the right of free speech even speech that is historically ignorant morally vacuous and casually anti-semitic we've seen a good deal of that kind of speech recently and even tonight in their desire to demonize Jews in Israel we've been treated to a number of speakers including our own genuine Holocaust Den none of whom even recognized the events of October 7 as the precipitating cause of all that followed so let me put a little perspective on those events adjusted for population differences between Israel and the United States The Savage and bestial Butchery of 1200 Israelis in a manner that would make any normal human wretch is the equivalent of an event that killed 48,000 US citizens that that would equal 16 16

[50:00] 911s I may well be the only person in this room who walked through Ground Zero less than an hour after the towers fell I know what 911 looks like 16 911s is beyond comprehension had we experienced a Calamity of this magnitude what do you imagine our response would have been and the moral relativism we have seen so frequently is on on this subject is breathtaking I have sat on this Das for four years I recall very little testimony on the oppression of the Wagers by the Chinese let alone the destruction of the Tibetan culture I have heard nothing about the brutality of the Russian invasion of Ukraine or the destruction of Venezuela by an armed kleptocracy I have heard nothing about the many conf conflicts in the continent of Africa which have left hundreds hundreds of thousands dead and millions starving now the entire moral outrage is

[51:01] safe for Israel which despite its many obvious faults is still the only country in the Middle East in which a woman can serve at the highest levels of government including prime minister in taking these stands and being so oblivious uh those speakers Stand Tall with both Iran and Russia congratulations now here's an experiment you might try if you have a little free time walk down the streets of Tel Aviv with a sign proclaiming that you a proud member of the lgbtq community you will be undisturbed now try that in Gaza City within an hour you will be beaten arrested or dead the bad news is that the easy anti-Semitism of some of tonight's speakers has become more prevalent and has created a sense of fear and apprehension in the entire Jewish community it is unlike anything we have experienced in our lifetimes the good news is that the

[52:02] anti-Semitism that we've seen will be opposed and ultimately defeated by the entire Community working together we will not cower before the few extremists and we will not let ill-informed hateful and anti-semitic views Prevail to quote the poet Dylan Thomas we will not go gently into that good night we are we are American citizens we are Jews and we are here to stay this is not 1932 thank you folks I understand the passions here but if we can stay quiet please in the audience would anyone else on Council like to speak and I'll just TAA I would offer you the opportunity which you don't don't feel any pressure to take but if you wanted to anybody else um well I I will speak to

[53:00] say that I know that my uh new Council colleague Taisha Adams uh has the best intentions for a better world um here and and um and across the world so um so seeing no other no other hands raised I will um thank folks uh we are not I don't think it is the place for the Boulder City Council to weigh in on the conflict in the Middle East on the substance of it but I deeply appreciate the strong passions uh for the tragedies that we're seeing overseas and want to respect you for coming here and expressing your opinions on those and with that um I will close open comments and uh no we we do not we do not have additional opportunities for public speech at this time so uh Elisha I would turn to you to take us to the consent agenda please all right sir thank you our consent agenda is item number three tonight and it consists of 3 a through 3

[54:02] l okay does anyone have any questions or comments and I'll just ask folks as you file out if you could just um stay quiet please we we would appreciate it any uh questions or comments from folks on the consent agenda or per I thought that I had signed up on the zoom and for some reason if you could speak to the city clerk about that please mayor before people leave I'm sorry someone may have left their scarf in the front row I'd like to make a motion to pass our consent agenda second we have a motion and a second um any comments on those or I'll just ask Elicia to do a a roll call vote please please and and if we can have quiet in the audience

[55:07] please all right everybody if we can have quiet and deorum please in the room I like her she needs to come in folks we can have Qui you know I'm just going to recess this for a moment while uh all folks file out and I see the police

[56:40] and bring us back to order and uh we have a motion in a second on the to pass the consent agenda if we can have a roll call please Elicia yes sir thank you we'll start the roll call for the consent agenda items 3 a through 3 l with council member fuls yes marquist yes

[57:03] shoard yes mayor Pro Tim spear yes council member wallik I Wier yes Adams yes Benjamin yes and mayor Brockett yes the consent agenda items 3A through 3A through 3A 3 a through 3 l are hereby passed unanimously thanks very much if we can do our call up check-ins please yes our Tongue Tied there for a moment thank you for your patience there a little bit of an intense evening here all right our call up check-ins are item number four on tonight's agenda 4 a is the use review to allow for the gerro monor elementary school to replace the former Harmony preschool at 30 990 15th Street within the residential D real estate re zoning District proposal

[58:02] includes a request for a 25% parking reduction to allow for six parking spaces where eight spaces would otherwise be required this is reviewed under case number l I'll just congratulate jeram mon aaur this is where my kids went with when they were little and so this is a nice expansion to see yes Taisha thank you I I did have a couple of questions so um just for the those who aren't aware um I co-founded a school for pregnant and parenting teens and their children which was An Early Learning Center and one of the issues that we had was parking for the volunteers and so I just had some Curiosities again I'm fine with reducing but just making sure that that consideration around there's usually a very heavy volunteer component to the work it's not just the four staff

[59:01] members so that's one piece and then the other is I was curious why there's only five temporary parking storage things I feel like that might not be enough also I've noticed that when people are are transporting youth in their Caravan cargo things that it's harder to park those so you need to have more space between them so again just curious if there are opportunities for additional bike storage um and then also just how we are addressing the volunteer component thank you thanks uh I think I see Chandler van Scott popping up Chandler are you able to answer those questions um yes hi Chandler van Scott planning and development services um there is a requirement in the conditions of approval that they provide uh the code requirement for bike parking and at the planning board hearing um the applicant indicated they're planning on providing way more bike parking than the minimum code requirement um just voluntarily so we are expecting uh 10

[60:02] maybe 20 bike parking spaces at least um as far as the volunteer opportunity I'm not sure I understood the question there I'm happy to restate um often times for uh Early Childhood there are not sufficient funds to make sure there's so many um staff to cover and support and so often times um there's a heavy Reliance on volunteers and so I noticed that there is sufficient parking for the staff but there weren't any conversations or considerations on how volunteers um will um potentially impact the neighborhood or the surrounding neighborhood uh if they were doing the parking thank you um yeah that wasn't really a part of the conversation the school didn't indicate that they were going to be using a lot of volunteers um the request for the 25% parking reduction was to provide six vehicular parking spaces um

[61:01] they have three at most staff members uh at a time there during the day and they use the a drop off system for the kids so they don't anticipate more than three cars being there um most days so clation there sorry so we do not have any data on um um for example the average number of volunteers that work or support them or we have do we have any any information on um just the the volunteers and if there's additional traffic that comes in that wasn't discussed for the um full-time Park uh full-time staff thank you and do you mind if I cqu or add a bit to that TAA and CH in your answer um I'm just wondering if you can address I think I may remember that there was some potential for parking overflow at the um main campus sen if you might address that as part of the answer yes technically we're not allowed to really count that um okay because

[62:02] it's a separate property and it wasn't included in this application um the fact that you know both properties are um owned and managed by the same school would indicate that yes there is opportunity for overflow parking at the main campus um but we couldn't really count that in our calculations as far as the parking reduction or the required parking goes and but that did that answer your question your main main question um it does I guess the um parking lot is how are we considering volunteers when we are doing these allocations in addition to the Staffing thank you it's a great Point um any any further questions from here okay um seeing none then thanks and if we can go to 4B please yes sir thank you item 4B is is the site review for the development of the site located at 5691 South Boulder Road with 15 new homes on the western

[63:02] half of the site and one new home in the general location of the existing currently vacant single family home at the East End of the site the project proposes six of the new homes are currently affordable middle inome cottage homes approximately 13,000 ft each three of them as market rate attainable cottage homes 1,300 to 1,500 ft each and six of them as market rate single family detached homes 2800 to 2900 Square ft each with detached adus this is reviewed under case number l2020 d58 thanks any questions or comments on on this one Mark um uh assuming we go forward on this at what point is is the um the affordable uh affordability of the middle income homes going to be locked in so we uh

[64:03] have the Assurance of we're getting the product we're agreeing to chandel is this for you again and um yeah I can answer that um so the annexation agreement has Provisions requiring um the units to be affordable uh they're also deed restricted so um the the city basically has the um control over the actual deeds and pricing of the affordable homes um so it would be really before sale of any of the units I I guess my question is when are the deed restrictions executed and recorded um that I might have to look into and get back to with the affordable housing I'm not sure exactly when they're recorded um it would be I think following certificate of occupancy for the units I think maybe Kurt fber could address that

[65:01] question Kurt Council Kurt Fern with housing Human Services uh thanks for the question mark So typically there's a uh an interim Covenant that's put in place um at the beginning of the project um and then when the uh the homes are closer to completion a permanent Covenant is put in place which is in place prior to the sale of the first uh first home thank you yep anything else Mark no anybody else any interest in calling this up uh seeing none uh then no seeing none then we can move to um 4C please yes s thank you 4 C is the consideration of a landmark alteration certificate application to construct a perimeter wall and fence with other hardscaping at 946 Spruce Street a contributing house in the Mapleton Hill historic district pursuant to section 9-11-18 of the boulder Revised Code

[66:01] 1981 question comments or desire to call this one up going once going twice not seeing any uh that brings us to the end of our callup check-ins so Elicia if we can do our public hearing now please yes sir our public hearings are item number five on tonight's agenda 5A is the consideration of a motion to approve amendments to the boulder got to flipped the page my apologies to the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan referenced as the bbcp land use map related to Boulder Junction Phase 2 implementation thank you n I'll hand it over to you thank you so much mayor as uh staff gets settled we're gonna go to Christopher Johnson to give us a little bit of an overview though I know that the topic of Boulder Junction phase two implementation has come to council before so hopefully I've bought you some time KJ to settle

[67:02] in you did a great job thank you all right just one moment while I get settled up here um clearly I did not give you enough time 30 more seconds I would have been there uh well um good evening city council uh my name is Christopher Johnson I'm the comprehensive planning manager uh I'm joined here this evening with senior city planner Christopher rangos um and we're we will um discuss the uh Boulder Junction Phase 2 implementation this is really just the first step of implementation after an amendment to the transit Village area plan that uh city council approved back in September uh go ahead and go to the next oh I got the next slide myself look at that um so the objectives for uh this evening I will begin with just a brief uh context and overview of this uh of the project um for Boulder Junction of phase two and then Chris will um carry

[68:02] you through the rest of the presentation more specifically to the item that's before you this evening for the updates to the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan land use map uh so we'll go through the presentation we will open uh the public hearing and then city council will deliberate and take action on the proposed updates to the land use map really the key question before you this evening is to to um review the criteria associated with uh comprehensive plan land use map updates and to um evaluate whether or not city council supports the changes to the map um to bring the amended Transit Village area plan into alignment um with the uh with the comp plan so as an overview uh of the phase 2 uh Boulder Junction project Boulder Junction itself is Rel is centrally located within the city uh it's bound on the west side side uh roughly by 30th Street North by Valmont Road Foothills Parkway on the East and then the BNSF

[69:00] railroad and pearl Parkway to the South uh there are two primary phase areas within Boulder Junction phase one is generally west of the rail line and phase two being east of the rail line um since 2007 uh there has been a adopted area plan that really established the vision for this particular area and it's called the transit Village area plan uh it EST estblished the desire for Boulder Junction to become a lively and engaging uh area with range of uses attracting a broad range and diversity of people uh describes the future of the area as having a Charming chaos uh and so a bit of um funkiness going on there uh and should incorporate city-wide and neighborhood scale public uh spaces there's an emphasis on sustainability walking biking and possibly carfree areas uh within the Boulder Junction uh uh neighborhood uh since 2007 there's been approximately 1,400 homes that have been created within the phase one portion so on the

[70:02] west side of the rail line uh 300 of them are permanently affordable uh in addition to uh a wide range of office commercial and Hospitality uses that have been developed over the past 15 years or so uh the RTD bus station and Depot Plaza was completed uh and operational host uh they was hosting five Rapid Transit bus routes prior to the pandemic uh there are several major transportation and flood control projects that were also completed within phase one including the junction Place Bridge and improvements to Goose Creek uh and then importantly there was also new oops I'm sorry flip the wrong way um there were new uh governance and Regulatory structures um that were also uh put in place so there are two general Improvement districts that are in place in this particular area there was a new form based code Boulder's first pilot of that that was established as part of the phase one area as well and then there's

[71:00] a couple of ongoing projects that are still uh in progress the um fire station number three that you're probably aware of is under construction the pocket park along Goose Creek there is U planned to go under uh design next year and then Construction in 2025 and there are two separate rail studies uh currently ongoing one by RTD and another by C do um that could finally bring the RTD or the rail station um to fruition at sometime in the future so the vision of the transit Village area plan continues to guide the future of Boulder Junction today uh however there was broad agreement uh from the prior city council uh to re-evaluate the plan after 15 years as we were starting to move into implementation of phase two uh so the phase 2 project was identified as a council priority project back in 2022 and then our comprehensive planning team uh spent this year uh and initiated the project in January and as I mentioned

[72:00] completed the amendment to the transit Village area plan in September uh over that year we engaged a broad contingent of stakeholders in the community through a variety of different formats we had a number of different focus groups uh including Community connectors that actually lived in Boulder Junction to provide um that insight and expertise a number of different open houses and online questionnaires um site tours and several board and Council updates throughout the process and from these conversations there were several key themes that uh ultimately emerged for the phase 2 area and were um established in the in the um Amendment earlier so there's a desire to allow much greater flexibility for residential and mixed use outcomes than what was originally anticipated in the transit Village area plan uh desire to see enhanced support for existing new local and small business businesses um prioritizing pedestrian and bicycle connectivity over vehicular con uh connections as well as incorporating

[73:01] more tree canopy and Landscape areas to really balance uh the higher intensity development and overall there's really a uh a desire to embody this creative Entre entrepreneurial and funky spirit that we find in Boulder so as a result um we developed the phase 2 Amendment over the last year it focused on changes uh to the land use section Transportation connections and the Urban Design and character within um the area plan and it was reviewed by planning board in August and city council then in September uh August 22nd was the approval by planning board September 21st here at Council and now that that has been approved we're moving into this very first step of implementation um which is to update the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan land use map to reflect those changes to the land use uh plan that we made in the amendment Amendment um planning board has reviewed the land the proposed land use map changes and they approved those on November 21st and we are hopefully uh

[74:02] going to complete the process with you this evening so at this point I will pass it to Chris rangos to walk through the approved uh land use recommendations from the plan and then the proposed land use map changes um that would be part of this item in front of you good evening council members my name is Chris angles I'm a senior planner in comprehensive planning and we'll start with the land use changes that were approved in the recent Amendment this map that you see here shows that land use plan the amendment focuses mixed use Transit oriented development or mut OD which is that big pink swath both to the north and to the South um but in particular to the North near the future rail station site into the South where change is anticipated to occur a little bit earlier in the Redevelopment cycle these areas are anticipated to be mixed use Transit oriented neighborhoods rich with amenities and services we'll move on to mixed use industrial or mui it's it's the gray sort of polka dot Swatch right

[75:00] in the middle of the map here and this is applied along the old Pearl Street area where many light industrial and service uses currently exist and where a more eclectic interaction of uses and structures is envisioned in the future Parks Urban other or PK um the green sliver right there again in the middle of the map is applied to the city owned Parcels along the Goose Creek Greenway which is a Landy designation intended for Public Lands to use for a variety of active and passive recreational purposes and as a minor cleanup item I do want to point out that there is a very small area of osdr or open space development rights it's kind of hard to see on the map but it's a very small sliver just just north of where that Pearl label is there and this is an existing um Scenic easement so again very much of a cleanup item um that we're applying along Pearl park right okay so again that was the recently appr approved land use plan um from the trans of Village area plan the the phase two Amendment and now we'll jump into the actual bbcp land use map

[76:02] updates and we'll start here with the existing bbcp land uses for the phase 2 area and these uses include light industrial Community industrial and open space other designations or Oso and here are the bbcp land use map updates that staff are proposing to align with the land use plan approving the phase two amendment that we just recently talked through but when can map changes occur and it's essentially defined in the bbcp that land use map changes may occur at any time concurrent with adoption or amendment of an area plan and do require approval by both the planning board and city council and to be eligible for a land use map change the bbcp also ident identifies the criteria that must be met I'm not going to walk through each one of these as we'll use these as the basis for the rest of the presentation and the analysis so the first criteria to consider here is if the proposed change is on balance consistent with the policies and overall

[77:01] intent of the comprehensive plan and tbap as is the case with all of our area plans is intended to implement the policies of the bbcp at the local level and the phase two Amendment offers a myriad of opportunities to move bbcp policy towards action and implementation the proposed land use changes will enable the implementation of the key PB bbcp policies that you see on the screen okay the second criteria that we'll take a look at is if the proposed change would not have a significant cross-jurisdictional impact and City staff have coordinated planning efforts with all outside agencies and there are no cross-jurisdictional impacts of the proposed land use changes that cannot be accommodated the third criteria is the proposed change would not materially affect the land use and growth projections that are the basis of the bbcp the phase two Amendment does include changes to the previously assumed land uses and that does result in an increase in housing units in

[78:01] population that is greater than the 2015 bbcp projections however this overall growth does not materially affect the basis of the comprehensive plan meaning that it is consistent with bbcp policies and is within the capacity of established or planned Municipal services and Capital Improvements over time the fourth criteria is does not materially affect the adequacy or availability of urban facilities and services and these changes are anticipated to result in gradual Redevelopment over roughly a 20-year horizon or so and will not materially affect the availability of urban facilities or Services Redevelopment will be accommodated through increased Revenue associated with additional growth and development that will fund Urban facilities and services in the area in other words development as is always the case will be expected to pay its own way which is in line with bbcp policy 122 the fifth criteria is would not materially affect the adopted Capital

[79:01] Improvements program or the CIP and future support of capital Improvement projects that would support the envisioned mixed use neighborhoods in Phase 2 may be necessary and will be further analyzed in future implementation steps however the proposed land use map changes before Council this evening would not materially affect the currently adopted CIP Sixth and final criteria hopefully the easiest one is um would not affect any area 2 or Area 3 Boundaries and all of these land use changes are in area one thus no area two or three boundaries are affected and I'll begin concluding by also briefly touching on alignment with the city's s framework and fundamentally all of our actions at the city must be consistent with the city's s framework in addition to the bbcp several objectives are addressed by the land use changes specifically those in the livable goal that deal with housing types affordability and the prevalence of 15-minute neighborhoods these changes also support our transportation and transit system in

[80:00] the Vitality of our local economy and diversity of businesses a quick note on public process KJ kind of talked about what the public process was for the phase two Amendment um this was a much smaller public process it's essentially mandated by the city Charter that we have to send a 30-day notice um of the proposed changes and that was done and mailed to all property owners in the phase 2 area and at they notice was also mailed to all Property Owners whose property is within 600 ft of a proposed land use change and we really received minimal input mostly just general questions um about next steps speaking of next steps um here's what uh The Next Step looked like for continued implementation of Boulder Junction Phase 2 so over the next year or so staff will be looking to update zoning and regulations to guide Redevelopment identify major infrastructure needs explore District sustainability opportun unities and develop phasing and funding plans and finally evaluate existing General Improvement districts and programs to support Mobility local businesses arts

[81:01] and culture the recommended motion this evening on this agenda item is a motion to approve the proposed changes to the bbcp land use map for the phase two area of Boulder Junction and I'll keep the criteria up on the screen should city council um need to reference it as they deliberate or ask questions thank you thanks very much Chris and KJ appreciate the informative presentation we have any questions for City staff yeah I got Matt Mark Tina um I think I got Matt first Matt first yeah all right thanks Mark um for one I appreciate it um I'll maybe get to some gushing comments later for all the great Outreach but we'll come back to that um uh two questions I have is is you sort of mentioned next steps of sort of infrastructure needs there's been one glaring one that's been been pretty obvious and that's the the sort of trestle project with the boulder slew and so obviously there's probably going to be others a slew of others hey you

[82:00] see what I'm there you know um that's good I appreciate that um hang on that one for a minute right um so I'm just curious since that one's already been identified and others will come about where is that in an update and and where does that fall in the prioritization in our general CIP just because it it is kind of an elephant in the room certainly for the southern side uh of of tvap 2 question uh your mic your mic is off thank you um for the reminder good question Matt thank you um the uh so what you're referring to is the um there is a flood uh area there at The Trestle where the boulder slooh crosses underneath um uh crosses underneath the the rail line there and it causes some flood plane issues uh particularly within the southern portion of the of of B ER Junction Phase 2 so basically the area south of pearl Parkway um we have had ongoing conversations uh both with

[83:00] the property owner and also coordination with our utilities department as to um uh progress on that uh basically what I can share at this point is that um you know those lines of communication are open uh we have not necessarily identified exactly when that would fall into the Capital Improvements program and and who would be responsible for paying for that uh whether it's a joint responsibility or if it's paid for entirely by the city or by the developer um one one thing to note is that while um that southern portion is within the 100-year flood plane currently that doesn't necessarily um eliminate the possibility of residential being constructed as it stands today certainly um there are challenges you'd have to raise the you know the level of uh where that residential use can be located to bring it out of the flood plane things like that um but it does not restrict residential uses uh as it stands today um and so there are ongoing conversations about when that um uh

[84:00] Improvement flood Improvement could occur and there's also some Downstream effects as well so that that's all part of the consideration as well that if that were to be improved that would also actually bring a few other Parcels further Downstream out of the flood plane as well well I appreciate that update and um I would say just given that housing is a general priority for for has been and I think we'll continue to be that um maximizing that housing potential and thus having the SLO be a Lynch pin to that I think is something that I think would be pretty critical so whatever we do kind to keep that going um the other question I had was with regarding to sort of your overall mutd and just general clarification and this might be helpful for certainly helpful to get this clarification and things invol for myself but maybe also some of my newer colleagues is what does mutd disallow in terms of General use I know we're going to get into the weeds here but there are some concerns about what could be done given how broad that is and what maybe can and there's been ongoing sort of questions about property owners and other tenants there on some of those broader issues in terms of recreational facilities or or or entertainment and

[85:01] things like that so just so if you could clarify those things just so we know going forward yeah um so for for example so the mutd the mixed use Transit Orient development land use um is uh probably if I can't think of another more sort of uh flexible and Broad uh land use category so it it really allows for a full range of different types of uses from residential to light industrial to Service uh retail commercial obviously um also included in those areas um for the most part we uh you know we looked at that and we wrote the complimentary Place types that are you know somewhat of an additional overlay to the land use that's within the area plan itself to be as Broad and flexible as possible um uh we as you mentioned we will be getting into much more detail in terms of what zone districts uh which is really what ultimately governs use uh within the city and and what zone districts would be most applicable or are there

[86:02] possibly new Zone districts or modifications of existing districts that need to occur in order to meet the policies and the goals of the plan uh I will say that there are um ongoing conversations currently in the East Boulder area for the implementation of the East Boulder subc commmunity plan where we're actually already diving into a lot of those questions which is you know a similar character in terms of existing uh sort of office and light industrial and service um uses that are slowly you know evolving into a more mixed use and residential type of neighborhood so we're already starting to kind of unpack some of those questions um through that process that a lot of that's going to carry over and be able to be applied here as well great got mark and ntina um can you highlight um for me where the light industrial areas are and are those areas uh restricted to light industrial uses or do they also

[87:00] accommodate housing uses yeah and I asked that because this is a matter of of uh market economics housing is always going to crowd out uh plumbing supply stores right right so we uh so right now you know light industrial and service type of uses would actually still be allowed throughout um the entire area within either the mixed use Tod or the mixed use industrial zones or land uses um it is as as written certainly those uses would be um perhaps more appropriate within that mui area within the sort of central um portion of phase 2 but they certainly still would be allowed uh within mutd um we do recognize that um as the sort of Market is changing and the market dynamics within the city that residential is going to be more generally more profitable and and from a Redevelopment standpoint than the plumbing supply store for example so we

[88:00] are looking at um uh at what types of programs and other kinds of um incentives or other requirements we can build into some of those zoning changes that I was referring to to councilman Benjamin uh about how do we ultimately if an area is redeveloped do we replace a portion of that light industri land uh you know with with new space that is sort of built to an industrial um uh framework uh or other kinds of ways that we can encourage the the continuation of those kinds of uses even as the area evolves but as currently constituted are there any such areas where those light industrial uses are protected um from Housing Development Housing Development obviously is a is a critical uh comp component of our development strategy but at the same time I think people will uh be unhappy at the prospect of having

[89:01] to go to Longmont uh to get a uh a plumbing fixture uh or to um get their Auto serviced um so and as I said there is no way that a light industrial use is going to uh persist um when much higher uh more profitable uses are permitted so I'm I again I'm asking you is is are we doing anything today to make sure that we do have those services for our community uh and not have them driven out um by uh condos and Tow houses and and uh um and apartment buildings M yeah well the the item that's before you this evening would not have a direct effect um immediately on on those types of uses because the the underlying zoning that exists there today will still remain after you know after this evening um and

[90:00] we have not yet um you know proceeded into that process to evaluate the zoning that applies there um currently and what modifications may or may not be um you know be appropriate so um right now we have not identified specifically any areas that would be reserved for or specifically identified for those types of uses um those will be part of future conversations as we get into more of the regulatory structure yeah well I urge you to do that as uh um no light industrial use can withstand the profitability of housing as a use for piece of property I see a potential colloquy over there Lauren well I just thought I might ask a question that is might help clarify that so we could as we look at zoning districts include a zoning District that would protect industrial uses in future stages of this project right and these

[91:00] designations do not preclude that as an option that is correct yes thank you thanks Tina yeah and I had a general question and um forgive me not new colleagues because you might have already gone over this but um in the descript descriptions from the 2007 you talk about a creativea chaos in a diverse um group of people living there with different incomes how did we do with that in the first 1,400 homes that we built what does it look like and how close did we come to that Vision yeah that's a great that's a great question um so overall um approximately I think it's 22% so not quite 25% are permanently affordable within that phase one area so out of the 1400 there are 300 units that are permanently affordable um the I will say that certainly through the process we've heard some concerns about the architectural character within phase one and that it feels um you know fairly

[92:00] sterile and incorporate and cold um one of the things that we really dug into on the phase two side of um of the railroad track and through this you community process over the last year was really hearing and and understanding the desire to maintain um some of the some of the funkiness that's over there now there's a very wide range of uh different um building types and and certainly different uses that exist on the phase 2 side and I think there is a concern that it it it could ultimately evolve into something more similar to what's on phase one which feels a bit sterile um the one the one difference I would I would point out is that within phase one um a lot of that area prior to Redevelopment was was vacant land or it was the poed motor s sites so it was large you know areas of surface parking essentially um and much of it was owned by the city so there were opportunities to partner with Boulder housing partners and other affordable housing uh developers to deliver the affordable

[93:00] housing and we at the same time we were also dealing with a relatively Blank Slate from an architectural standpoint whereas on the phase two side the entire area is already developed essentially and there's um it's going to happen and evolve over a much longer period of time and more incrementally so I think uh from an architectural stando point and sort of the urban character of what that's going to feel like um it's not going to all feel like it was built in the last 5 or 10 years there's going to be a a wide range of age of buildings and types of buildings over time more so than what we see in Phase One okay thank you um and I would just be curious over time to continue measuring how we're doing that and if we really are track attracting diverse different types of people to the area um the other question I have is um when you're talking about increasing the the green space or the and the tree canopy in the area how is that um how could that be visualized especially in the

[94:00] context of sort of the nature-based solutions team and the and the tree effort that's going on in the city yeah well a couple of thoughts there um so we do have uh thankfully our our department and and particularly our comprehensive planning division we have regular check-ins with our climate initiatives team and and we talk about um the nature-based climate Solutions program and a lot of the work that they're doing uh currently um I think we recognize that one of one of the defining features that is perhaps missing from the phase two or the phase one area is that um there is not a lot of tree canopy over there and it does feel pretty hard and cold and and there's a lot of concrete so one of the things that we'll be looking at um as far as next steps when we move into um actually defining Zone districts in um and really kind of the Urban Design character of phase 2 is is doubling down on how we can um Implement tree canopy and cover along streets Scapes um create smaller uh open spaces and public

[95:01] gathering spaces as part of indivi individual projects um you know the city does not own a lot of land on the phase two side except for the Goose Creek Corridor so we're going to have to have uh other tools and mechanisms to create those public spaces and get those out of out of Redevelopment than what we were able to achieve on phase one with the depot Square Plaza and then the pocket park that's going to be developed in the next couple of years and then and actually I forgot to ask one question with the prior um part is do we see a lot of people walking the neighborhood now uh during the day and at night I I only drive thereby a little bit and I I don't but I'm I'm not there enough to know yeah it's um it is a really difficult thing to be measuring right now I think for a couple different reasons uh one is that um the particularly sort of the 30 Pearl development which is right on the corner of 30th and pearl Parkway is just now reaching completion so there's it's still an active construction site so

[96:00] there's um there has not been a lot of time lapse of um you know people really living there and occupying that neighborhood and and really making it their own so I think that's that's a challenge is that it's even though it feels like it's substantially complete it's actually still ongoing um also the pandemic and and the the um elimination of RTD bus service is is a huge impact um that's that's really had an impact on uh ground floor retail spaces um there obviously there's there's no Transit service there right now RTD is um has committed to bringing back two of the lines um but that's the timing of that is is dependent upon um you know their their driver um shortage and and and actually getting people to be able to you know to service those lines so um I would say right now it's probably pretty quiet um but I think that if um if RTD service and other Transit service is able to come back um and we continue to sort of live into this post-pandemic world um give it a few more years and I

[97:01] think it'll it'll feel a lot different okay um because again I think we have some issues with activating space and so especially when we mix in industrial uses I'm trying to get that mass of people there so that people feel safe at night and um it does feel like an active environment would be great yeah great point I'm going to call que okay um question so this is a little bit off topic I know Mayo loves that but not that much um can you just tell me is there any plans in the work for adding greens space uh Urban canopy to tvap one right now not that I'm aware of other than what may be incorporated into the pocket Park area that's the one area where you know we still have a lot of opportunity um to to implement that um I will say that also again a lot of those Street Scapes are are relatively new so the tree canopy that is there is still very

[98:00] young um and it's going to take time for that to you know to fill in I know there are recently completed um uh you know sort of private streets and walkable streets um you know kind of Festival areas alongside the um the residential and Office Buildings that were just recently completed those contain a number of trees so I think over time they will fill in but as as far as I'm aware there's not any additional uh you know streetscape tree canopy that's that's envisioned currently and is there any way to even have that you know that area that is supposed to be this square that nobody hangs out in that one is there any way that we as city council can even change that or is that like a done deal since we're talking about a done after this uh uh I would have to look into that I actually don't know who the underlying property owner is I believe that's still city land there um so so I do you know

[99:03] it's possible um we would have to obviously be um you know vetted and included as a capital Improvement um project and and uh implemented through the CIP um because there'd be an awful lot of concrete that would have to come up first okay Nicole you have a question I just had a a really quick question it's a little bit of a colloquy on um council member Mar's Point too um around the the feedback about it being kind of sterile architecture stuff like that did that come from the people who are living there or did that come from people in other areas of town or do we have a way of knowing that uh that is a great question um I don't have a clear answer to that actually because I we didn't you know we did uh gather some demographic traffic data and some of our surveys and things like that but I don't know how um detailed we got in terms of you know locations of of where people were providing their comments from um I do

[100:01] think that you know at least through some of the community connectors that and and others that were part of our focus groups that um part of the group we call the daily user so they were people that either lived in the area or worked in the area I think in general they were actually fairly satisfied with it um and uh you know I I think there's also um there's also a bit of uh just challenge related to some of the architectural uh pieces as well and and again I think as the tree canopy does grow start to help break down maybe the scale of some of those buildings as you're walking along I think it's going to continue to feel and and kind of evolve into a into a different place over the next five to 10 years yeah that's been please yeah that that's been my sense just being over there um that the people really enjoy it and there's a beautiful Community emerging especially as more of these buildings are are coming up um it's it has been something that folks who've moved in there uh in the last year or too have really enjoyed it as as I'm hearing it so um anyway and

[101:03] you know and I was one of those people who often biked by or drove by and thought Oh My Gosh these buildings they look so so sterile but but it it really is a wonderful community and I've been joking with some of my friends lately that I might go join them over there yeah and I'll just throw in Nicole anecdotally that's been my experience as well that when I talk to people who live there they generally seem to be a fan and when I hear criticisms it tends to be from people who are living outside this my anecdotal experience I I had a question for you all so you mentioned that uh going into 2024 we're going to be looking at implementing zoning changes and in the late 2024 time frame after we passed these land use changes if any of the property owners came in early mid 2024 before we finish that zoning work would they be able to ask for a zoning change that conformed with these new land use uses well they they could conceivably request a Zone District that you know already exists for for example mu4 which

[102:01] is our mixed use 4 district and and um is generally applied um along the rail line in the phase one area so allows for you know fairly significant intensity of both residential or office type of uses um they could come forward with a request for for that District at this time there are some required Transportation demand management um limitations associated with that particular Zone District so they would have to meet those High TDM standards uh or they have the option of also joining uh the general improvement district as a as an alternative to that uh to manage the T the TDM requirements um we part of kind of the next steps into 2024 is going to be working with Chris Jones and Community Vitality um to really evaluate those Improvement districts and how they're operating currently and um what an expansion of those districts maybe looks like onto the phase two side is there a reconfiguration of those districts to provide uh slightly

[103:00] different Services than they do today those are all kind of questions that we're asking ourselves that we'll be evaluating um through the next year uh or so to understand um but if if your um hypothetical property owner wanted to come forward and request a Zone District um that was still in progress we would probably you know request that they wait for that process to to continue and and be finalized before we would approve a zoning change for anything new or different so it would be recommended to wait but they could ask if they if they really wanted to that's correct and you mentioned the general Improvement districts do you know do those have to be contiguous or could somebody in sort of the middle of phase two join the G that's on the West Side that's a Brad Brad might know that answer to that question uh good evening Council Brad Mueller director of planning and development services they do not need to be contiguous interesting okay thanks any other questions Lauren so if an applicant came forward

[104:00] to do a zoning Amendment would that be a discretionary process or would that be a um administrative process uh the zoning change would likely well the zoning change would likely be tied to and again I'm showing my ignorance of our development review um process so it's too bad Charles isn't here maybe Brad can resoning is always a public hearing before playing board and yeah that's what I thought and and I would suspect as well that um the resoning would likely be tied to an actual project it would be tied to a site review because currently the form based code does not apply to the phase 2 area that's another thing we're going to be exploring of course um and so if someone were to come in before any of those changes were made it would it would follow our standard site review process perfect thank you and then I also wanted to mention that I believe Ryan has some questions Ryan I don't see your hand up

[105:01] did you have questions hi Aon sorry I wasn't sure if you could see me I I have just a comment is this be time for comments or should I wait let let's do the public hearing first and then and then do comments if you don't mind very good thank you any other questions seeing none uh I will go ahead and open the public hearing we have one person signed up to speak uh so you will get three minutes and Lyn seagull the floor is yours Capital Improvements projects always happen you know in the afterthought and what my concern here is with that unlike what some people said growth does pay it away its way no growth doesn't pay its way um and you have to meet with a bbcp jobs housing balance um jobs add different kinds of Demands for housing then

[106:01] houses add different kinds of jobs and then you know and the the more housing you get the more lowend paying jobs you get to create the housing and to service the housing right right but with jobs it's different there's a different Dynamic um there's generally more high-end jobs in Boulder which fills in the high-end housing market in Boulder which drives up the cost of housing in Boulder and creates more demand for lower-end housing to keep the jobs housing balance balanced am I making any sense I hope I am um because it's it's it's really kind of simple but it's sort of complex in a

[107:01] way and it seems to me what what's not happening in the equation is that we're really determining how many jobs are Arisen out of any given um type of a use versus how many houses of different you know levels high low medium middle you know middle are created from a h from a housing project and then you need to apply the two to make the jobs housing balance function but I somehow maybe I'm just stupid but it seems like I I'm not seeing where that equation is taking place and where that quantification is is entering the

[108:00] discussion um I really appreciated um Mark's discussion about Plumbing you know like how are you going to have you know as you drive up the cost of everything whether it's jobs or housing then the commercial and the availability of stuff gets so priced out of town and I completely agree you shouldn't have to go to Longmont and I think the best thing to do is to really watch about growth period until you can get a handle on this and that would be what I'm suggesting is like a micro quantification ly your time is up but thank you for your testimony all right that was our Lynn was our only speaker so I will now close the public hearing and bring it back to city council for a discussion and I've got uh Ryan queued up for the first comment and then I'll look for others um just just a short comment um

[109:01] thank you Christopher and Chris uh I would like to compliment you and the team for your work very supportive of this and I have a comment uh which is that zoning for mixed use Transit oriented development is based on an idea that we have great Transit and unfortunately calling Transit doesn't just create Transit so um just want to put a marker here that the city has a duty to pair Zoning for Transit with being proactive about securing resource strategies that are needed to put good Transit another non-car option in place I'm guting we have an action item here um as we go both for city council and staff keep in mind that as we go forward with our city council strategic plan planning and as City thinks about its strategic planning um that we're moving forward on making Transit happen inel thanks very much for great thanks

[110:02] ran Matt yeah don't forget Front Range passenger rail just got a big shot in the arm so we'll see that hopefully before we're all um underground or in the stars um my my comment is really just more of a a great compliment kind of following where Ryan was terara and I were fortunate enough to be a part of a great Outreach uh event um at motorad um where a lot of tenants and property owners were present and I just want to compliment since KJ was sort of taking the lead there just how professional you were but also managing a lot of concerns from people who thought didn't know what the future was going to hold about their livelihoods and uh you know where if they were going to be pushed out or whatever and I just thought that the way you handled it and gave them a sense of confidence in the process but not also giving them a false sense of security really made them feel like they were heard but also that their input was was helping steer Us in the right way and as a result I I mean I don't know if I speak for both of us but we didn't hear really much objection from those tenants

[111:01] and those Property Owners to the direction we were going and many of whom do have that industrial use um and so I just want to compliment on the process that that just about everybody that had a major stake in it was feeling right about the direction we were going so I think it was an exemplary work and kind of a model of that kind of Engagement going forward so Brad your team KJ a great job because I think the product uh shows of that great work so thank you any other comments I can yes Lauren um yeah I appreciate the work that has gone into this uh particularly maintaining the flexibility um and listening to the community I hope this will be an excellent example of how we can transform industrial areas into Transit with Rich and sustainably focused foced um neighborhoods and I'm looking forward to seeing how to the Creative Solutions you come up with for some of the tricky problems that we're going to face in

[112:01] this area so thank you for this work and for your continued work here I'll just call on myself and Echo those uh words of thank you and praise and this is fantastic work and this you know we we take one step at a time right and it was really it was exciting to adopt the tbap uh phase two uh updated plan uh earlier this year you all did phenomenal work on that good to see this moving forward and I look forward to the next stages to come in maybe about a year is so it'll be good look forward to a um exciting new future for this part of town not seeing any other hands perhaps someone might be interested in making a motion could we get the motion language up on the screen please I'd like to to make a motion to approve the proposed changes to the bbcp land use map for the phase 2 area of Boulder Junction second Motion in a second any

[113:01] additional comments seeing none do we need a roll call on this Elicia all right let's do it thank you sir we'll start the rad call on item 5A the amendments to the Boulder Valley comp plan map with council member Marquis yes shoe hard yes mayor protim spear yes council member wallik yes Winer yes Adams yes Benjamin yes mayor Bron yes and council member folin yes the amendments to the bould valley comp plan map related to The voer Junction phase two area is hereby approved right on you unanimously thanks again for all your hard work on this so that is our final agenda item of the night um so does anyone have any uh

[114:02] final thoughts or comments before we wrap up up the meeting yes Mark just a a question we received an interesting snow and ice response review um and I was wondering is is that something we're at some point going to discuss at Council because we're talking about some reallocations of of how our services are delivered and I since nothing creates more complaints for us um then our performance as uh with respect to snow and ice not even the Middle East um I would uh you know although I think pot potholes might give it a run for potholes are close yeah but um you know I I get the calls all the time it would be good if we discuss it I think as a council to see what what changes are are forthcoming and and how we're going to be dealing with that right thanks so much for the question and um I I believe there is a lot of interest uh in

[115:00] community about the topic um I'm not quite sure more than potholes however um we are certainly happy to do so uh I uh will happily talk um to staff about scheduling that I may remind Council that we are well light this year very very heavily scheduled in the coming uh few months and we will try our best to try to figure that out if that is the will of council and and certainly we can bring um some suggestions to CAC can I can I clarify or do you mind is it just that uh my understanding is that we're still Gathering feedback about proposed changes we're not making any proposed changes any changes anytime soon yes I assume that that would be after we finish our gathering of feedback that Council would like to hear more about that thanks ni I think too that um and council member seart you you may remember better than me but I think tab discussed this very recently too and there was a presentation at a recent tab meeting about it too um so if anybody is curious about it um I I remember being

[116:01] very impressed though I cannot tell you many of the details right now but I would encourage uh people to go and watch that tab meeting as well I just don't remember which one it was I think it was November maybe October sometime recently I don't recall the date myself but I am happy to send that link along to councel great and Ryan I saw you put a comment in but if you could just verbalize that so it's on the record please sure thing yeah I was yes I was uh I saw this come through as a transportation Advisory Board member I may have been October is um I recall that yeah it was an item that discussed uh or it was a it was quite a quite quite a body work actually that believe used the same amount of investment assumption to kind of reoptimize how we do the work and so there was some different routing some strategies very impressive and um I I don't know how look at it but um I I liked it and if somebody were to watch the tab uh presentation on it which is

[117:00] public they get a good sense they're doing very good well we'll keep this in consideration for future meetings after the Outreach is concluded yes Taisha thank you and this is in relation to the next round of Outreach so um I noticed that the um report indicated that there were 600 views for the Spanish page but then there were no um survey responses in Spanish they didn't receive any so again I just was a an interesting curation correlation that there are 600 people that viewed the Spanish page but there's no responses in Spanish so that was just something that I wanted to flag and then as the engagement continues I'm excited to hear more from our disabled Community as well as our aging and Elders thank you so much great points all right any other final thoughts for the evening oh yes I sorry did yes well um so I'm still new here so I was I didn't

[118:01] realize that the Declarations for Quanza we're not going to talk about that at all I'm just still getting used to where these where items fall on here and whether we're going to speak to them or not so that's just a growth area for me in general and I apologize um so that was one thing just curious about the Quan of piece and are we going to talk on that or the there some declarations that are read and others that are approved without reading and so the ones that are at the end of the agenda are the ones that are approved without reading ah okay so when I see it down there I should just assume that that is not going to happen without then it's not brought up as an agenda item unless and in moving forward if it if I see that then I can make a request at some time perhaps at a CAC meeting ideally I would imagine U but again just helpful to to know and just want to wish everybody Happy Quanza which is something I me and my family celebrates as well as other non African Americans um I also wanted to um bring up the um and thank the city staff for um The Many Many meetings that

[119:00] we've had or not many but few meetings that we've had very quickly uh following a very powerful and moving um homeless Memorial ceremony um on Tuesday and again apologize for not reading that uh email that we got on December 7th about the closures of our library so it was at that moment I was made aware I thought it was just the one and and I didn't realize the extent uh and the impact that that was going to have and so um I want to thank you naria for responding so quickly and and um thank you mayor Brockett for the conversations that we've had thank you Kurt for the conversations that we had it was very helpful to know the level of Engagement that the city had done um in in communicating with our partners um it also was helpful to have just a a general understanding of um our our faith communities what they've done in the past the types of Partnerships that they're looking for um as we move forward collectively towards those shared goals um I also learned um about

[120:00] the some of our history in responding um when there are extreme weather um situations uh and so I just had a question for when we talk about our Homeless Solutions and some of the other opportunities that intersect um specifically around the emergency Operation Center um um and what can be done um as we can anticipate continued um extreme weather events um in addition The covid Recovery Center so again I was excited and grateful to hear that we can mobilize quickly when we need to um however I was sad to see that we didn't have a deeper and richer contingency plan this time around for those additional days and it also raised the issues around just generally when things are are closed for our for the holiday and so I know we have the day Center coming um but it's not here yet so I'm excited to work with my colleagues the staff and partners um and again just

[121:00] have questions around how can with the expertise and experience that we have to mobilize quickly how do we turn that into an actual contingency plan so thank you so much thank you council member Adams I'll say for your interest and your um willingness to have conversations with a variety of Staff as you can see most of our issues can be cross- departmental um and we will I'll make note of that as well I know we're going to have several conversations in the next few months related to homelessness and there are lots of questions there and we know that we have our own gaps in community we are not alone in that and learning and continuing to grow and think about what else we can be doing and how else can we engage our County Partners Our Community Partners our faith-based partners or something that we want to continue to lean into so just want to thank you for your questions and your curiosity thank you thanks for that TAA Final Call for thoughts seeing none I will gavis closed 58 p.m. great meeting y'all well

[122:17] done