April 11, 2024 — City Council Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:51] Great. And Mark Wallik is not with us tonight. So I think we're just waiting on Taiisha.

[1:13] Think she was having trouble finding the link. Okay. Should we reach out to her or do you think she's got it now? [Music] I think uh we need to try to get it to her phone to her phone. So, let me happy to send that to her. Is is her number ending in nines? Uh 9999. No, we have a call in. Just wanted to make sure Chris is sending to her as well.

[2:02] Thank you. It's always my biggest fear not being able to find the link. that me before. Okay. Looks like she's in the lobby. Welcome Taisha. Can we go ahead and start recording, please? All right. Good evening evening everyone and welcome to the to the Thursday March

[3:00] 11th 20 I'm sorry it's April 11th April 11th special meeting of the Boulder City Council. We go ahead and call us to order. Can we do a roll call, please? Yes, sir. Thank you. We'll start tonight's roll call with council member Adams present. Benjamin present. Mayor Brackett present. Council member Folks present. Marquis present. Shuhard here. Mayor pro Tim Spear present. Council member Wallik is absent and council member Winer here. Mayor, we have our quum. Thank you, Alicia. I'd like to start off uh asking if we could amend the agenda, please, to add an item 1B, a debrief on the power outage on April 6th and 7th.

[4:01] So moved. Second. Motion to second. All in favor, raise your hand. That's unanimous. The agenda is duly amended. So we can go right into item 1A which is the space science month declaration presented by council member Benjamin. Wonderful. Thanks Aaron. Uh really appreciate that and appreciate the opportunity to read this year's uh space science month declaration. In December 1968 and it's kind of appropo because we just had a solar eclipse. Uh but in December 1968 the astronauts of Apollo 8 were attempting to be the first humans to leave low earth orbit and circle the moon roughly a quarter of a million miles away. It was the fourth lunar or orbit that astronaut William Anders took a picture of Earth rising as seen from the far side of the moon. This is arguably one of the most famous pictures ever taken. Many historians attribute the galvanizing force of establishing Earth Day on April 22nd to this infamous um and now famous Earthrise photo. It

[5:01] was truly the first time we saw our planet surrounded by the emptiness of space. And perhaps more importantly, we saw the fragility of our home as the atmosphere appeared as nothing more than the skin of an apple. The environmental movement as we know it today was in large part created by humanity's pursuit of the cosmos. For over 60 years, our home of Boulder, Colorado has carried on this legacy of space science and helping forge countless new discoveries, technologies, and industries. The University of Colorado Boulder often carries the distinction of being the number one NASA funded public university in the country. CU Boulder has also prepared and graduated generations of students that go on to make lasting contributions to these combined fields of space science around the world. While Aerospace is Boulder's number one employer while building many of the instruments and technologies for the most well-known and consequential spacecraft orbiting telescopes ever assembled like the Hubble Space Telescope, the spe uh Kepler space telescope, World View 1 and 2 spacecraft, the Mars Reconnaissance

[6:01] Orbiter, and the now very famous James Web Space Telescope, just to name a few. Accompanying ball are numerous other aerospace and defense contractors that make huge contributions to our national security. Boulder host hosts more than half of Colorado's 30 plus federally funded research labs including Noah, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, LASP, the Laboratory for Atmospheric Space Physics, ENCAR, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, also known as NIST, and so many others. It is estimated that Boulder Space Science Community generates over a billion dollars for our stakes economy. Spanning unimaginable scales of space and time from that of quantum physics to the origins of the universe and everything in between. Boulder is home to worldrenowned scientists, researchers, administrators, and staff that continue to expand the knowledge and new frontiers. As such, Boulder stands out as one of the but a few cities around the world that lay

[7:01] host to so many of these industries and researchers. It is often joked that one can throw a rock in town and likely hit a scientist, which is a testament to the reputation of our city of Boulder. We, the city council of the city of Boulder, Colorado, declare April 2024 as space science month. Thanks for that, Matt. And we'll now go to our agenda item 1B, which is our update on the power outage of April 6th and April 7th. And Mary, I will turn to you to uh talk to us about that, please. Thanks so much, Mayor. Um, so as everyone knows, we were faced this weekend with a significant challenge with very little warning. At about 700 p.m. Friday evening, our joint office of disaster management received word for the first time that Excel Energy might proactively shut off power in parts of the city and county to prevent wildfires due to forecasted wind. The next

[8:01] 00 a.m. the next morning when we were informed that the shutdown would occur 00 p.m. Despite the fact that we had few details, we knew our community would need our support and we activated a core group of city and county employees to begin messaging what we could and start planning ways to address the impacts we knew would follow. the impacts uh as we heard from Excel and we reached out to them, we will say that a total of 35,593 customers in the city of Boulder experienced a loss of power service between Saturday, April 6th, and Wednesday, April 10th. The maximum duration of loss of power within the city was 2 days, 20 hours, and 10 minutes. This includes 292 separate outage events with each separate event ranging from one customer to 3,17 customers. Excel had over 500 field personnel restoring service starting Sunday at

[9:01] noon when the wind event stopped working through the night both Sunday and Monday night to restore power as efficiently and safely as possible. and Excel is currently working to provide a map of the impacts for community. I want to highlight some areas of concern and and highlights of some of the truly amazing efforts by city staff. Transportation and mobility staff supported the EOC, our emergency operations center on Saturday to Tuesday and began running 12-hour shifts to help address needs across the organization. Many traffic signals in the city were impacted and our team took great efforts to prevent crashes by prioritizing signals needing restoration, working with police on traffic control and rolling out generators at key intersections to light up dark lights. Our team worked with Via Mobility Service to secure seven buses to evacuate manufactured mobile home communities and other areas due to potential structural damages caused by

[10:01] the winds and to transport residents without power to and from hotels, shelters, and essential services. Thankfully, these services were never needed. Transportation maintenance staff worked through the weekend to remove tree branches from private vehicles parked on public streets and to keep multi-use paths clear of debris and groundwater. The police department was also very active during the outages. In the first several hours, dispatch logged more than 230 requests for service. And as it became clear that outages would last overnight and through the weekend, the department called in extra officers to increase patrols and allay business concerns about potential breakins. I understand that there was only one breakin throughout the period and it was a rock thrown through a liquor store with a case of beer taken. And considering the options and the opportunities that lay before us, I actually think that's a really great outcome. As for the Boulder Fire Department, the

[11:01] entire wildland division was on duty all weekend and extra staff were brought in for potential structure fire response. Additionally, the fire department responded to several people stuck in elevators during the first hour of the outage. Throughout the outage, the team worked to assist people who were dependent upon medical equipment that ran on electricity. The Boulder Shelter for the Homeless was operating under critical weather protocols on Saturday, April 6th, which increases shelter capacity to 180. Upon learning about the impend outage, the shelter team gathered supplies and worked to prepare to be able to continue operations. HHS director Kurt Turno was heading home from volunteering at the Ponderosa Habitat for Humanity project on Saturday when he got word of the pending outage. We had been working with our office of disaster management to procure a generator for the shelter. But when Kurt learned that they did not have one yet, he brought his own personal generator to the shelter to help restore power. And

[12:01] he helped it hook and he helped hook it up. On Saturday morning, HHS staff worked with the Office of Disaster Management on a plan to provide emergency sheltering and hotels in case any city or county resident in MA in manufactured home or affordable housing faced severe wind damage and was forced to vacate their home. Staff were on call 24/7 from 3 p.m. on Saturday through 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Fortunately, very few incidents were reported, though hotel shelter was provided to two community members with medical medical equipment reliant on electricity. Parks and recreation facilities on Saturday saw several facilities lose power, including Flat Irons Golf Course, Stacio Ballfields, and the East Boulder Community Center. The golf course and reservoir closed on Saturday afternoon for safety due to high winds. The golf course resumed operations Sunday morning, working offline thanks to creative thinking and operations by golf

[13:01] staff. The reservoir resumed operations Monday morning and is still assessing damages due to wind. Power was restored to the East Boulder Community Center late Sunday evening and the facility reopened Monday morning. Parks and Recreation and Facilities worked together Sunday evening to ensure proper startup of pool equipment while aquatic staff took an additional lifeguard duty so our community could still swim during planned open hours. Members of the city's communications and engagement department came together with county public information officers early Saturday to amplify the limited information we had from Excel Energy and to share resources that were being established to help community The team as usual during large-scalees emergency leveraged the blog on the office of disaster management website as a primary tool. Every post that was made in English was also made available in Spanish. This was a first in our history of crisis communication.

[14:01] Our engagement team engaged in direct dialogue with our with our team of emergency response connectors to learn the situation on the ground in each of our five manufactured home communities and in San Lasso. Through an active group text through the weekend and a team meeting on Monday, we were able to more quickly understand which communities had power and which were impacted by the outage. We also confirmed our concerns that many families threw away a week's or months worth of our of their limited food budget. We were able to share more widely information in English and Spanish about food assistance organizations and the opportunity to replace SNAP benefits. One of the most critical responsibilities we perform for community is providing safe drinking water and processing waste water. This infrastructure must remain operable at all times. Utilities team members staffed the EOC, adjusted operations at our Betasso and 63rd Street water treatment facilities.

[15:01] Hydroex shut down the hydroelectric plants that were connected to the deenergized electric lines and the Batasa water treatment facility moved to a generator for power. The utilities team faced a different situation at the water resource recovery recovery facility, also known as a wastewater treatment facility. At about 300 p.m. with the preventive shutdown, utility staff alerted us to an emerging concern. Power redundancy to this critical facility is covered through two substations. With power from both substations down, the facility had stopped operating. This facility needs continual power to process waste water coming in and prevent raw sewage from flowing into Boulder Creek. In most situation, there is little if any room for overflow. We were able to prevent a spill through two strategies. Quick-thinking staff realized that they could divert overflow into a storage tank that happened to be empty because of construction. This

[16:01] prevented any effluence from entering the creek. Secondly, I and our office of emergency manager director Mike Chard were able to initiate conversations at the highest levels of Excel. Fortunately, the company understood the risk from this unintended consequence and quickly worked to re-energize one of the two power sources. This impact from any spill would have had long lasting consequences to community both from an environmental and a health perspective. We've received some questions about our resilience strategy at this facility. And I will say this, emergency power for water and wastewater facilities can be achieved through on-site standby generators or separate power feeds from separate substations, all of which are accepted industry practices recognized by regulators. The city has a history of investing in backup emergency power options for our critical water and wastewater facilities. We have an on-site generator at our Batessa water treatment plant,

[17:00] which has been upgraded as part of our capital improvements program project subsequent to the 2013 flood. We are currently performing major capital improvement program updates at the 63rd Street water treatment plant where a new larger on-site generator is being installed. The city's strategic approach to back up power for the wastewater plant has been a separate power feed from two separate and independent substations. That's in large part because the magnitude of power needed on the magnitude of megawatt power, not kilowatt power like that utilized at our botassel plant, is so large. The city entered into a 2006 agreement with Excel and invested $140,000 into Excel system to create this dual power feed. And we pay $1,300 per month to reserve capacity in the Excel system for sole use at this facility. If Excel's future strategy will continue

[18:01] to include deenergization, we will certainly create a critical vulnerability for the city. And so we will be carefully evaluating emergency power options for this plant, starting with coordinating closely with Excel to evaluate the backup power arrangements we already have with them. We will also contemplate backup generators of our own, recognizing that the power demands are higher and more complex for wastewater treatment facilities compared to water treatment and such on-site backup generation would not be as easy or practical to achieve. Again, we need to first evaluate the backup power investments we have already made with Excel. In closing, I want to lift up and celebrate the amazing work of city staff from so many departments and to our county and community partners to address the impact from this public safety power shut off event. I am so so amazingly proud of our staff and their dedication to this community. And mayor, although I

[19:01] wasn't at CAC, I understand that the invitation has been extended to our Excel partners to um come to council next week. We have sent that invitation out there. Um we do not know who will be joining us, but we believe and expect that they will be joining us on the 18th. And with that, I finish my update and send it back to you. Great. Well, Ner, let me just give an extraordinary thank you to to you and every member of city staff who worked so incredibly hard on keeping our community safe and our facilities running. It it truly was an extraordinary over and above effort with very little warning and just extend my absolute heartfelt gratitude from myself, I think all of council and the community for that extraordinary work. Well, I think many of them are listening, mayor, and we will certainly um extend that to the rest of the folks who are not here. Um but I will say that as usual, when there is an emergency, staff come at the ready quickly and

[20:01] without question. They are amazing. No question. I think we could make an action movie out of the the weekend's events. You know, Kurt run there with the generator in tow, you know, just just in time to keep the lights on. I couldn't make this up. And but I'll I'll just say uh we look forward to having an Excel representative at the meeting next week and there we can talk about the what I would characterized as the severe lack of timely communication and coordination on things like the critical facility protection uh that you described at the wastewater treatment plant and um and also another so I look forward to that conversation because it's a really important one. I was glad to see the PUC opening an investigation into the event uh yesterday. Um, and last thing I'll say is Nuria, thanks very much for addressing the potential resiliency increases at the wastewater treatment plant as we may be entering a new world here and have to re-evaluate our options. So, thanks so much for that. Um, any other thoughts? I see Taish.

[21:01] Yes, good good evening everybody. I just wanted to echo the appreciations and I'm very much looking forward to returning to the conference room uh next week and I'm hopeful and I'm excited to hopefully have um Excel representatives in person. Thank you. Brian, I have some kind of longer comments, but I can read the room as we want to get through this. So if I if you just indulge me to say uh thank you Nura. Uh you had fingers in so many holes in the dyke and with you and staff and there was um a lot of thing as this was unfolding over the weekend not a lot was clear but I do think two things were clear. one is you were not getting the basic level of engagement that we needed but also I knew that you had it under control and uh even learning now um it's just incredible that we didn't suffer tragedy with the wastewater treatment facility hospitals homeless shelters

[22:00] large number of people part of vulnerable groups um so in any case I'll just leave the comments w with gratitude for you and say that I look very much forward to talking um in more detail that Ryan. Okay. Uh seeing no other hand raised, just a final enormous thank you again for the incredible response and applause. And uh now we can move on to our consent agenda if we could please. Alicia, Alicia, you're muted. I've been having that day all day. Um, thank you and good evening again everyone. Um, our consent agenda is item number two on our agenda tonight and it consists of items 2 A through 2D. Any um comments or questions about the

[23:00] consent agenda? I I have something said Nicole maybe you'd like to highlight um item 1 C. No pressure. Sure. I would be very happy to. It's uh it is given how long municipal judges tend to stay, it is rare to be on the council, they gets to hire a new one. And I am just so thrilled um that we have Judge Khan stepping into this permanent uh municipal judge role. And um Judge Khan, thank you so much. And uh we we are really grateful to be able to keep working with you in this role. um excited to see uh what you're bringing to the community and the way that you're supporting the city as you step into uh the not interim municipal judge role. Thanks for that, Nicole. Yes, because when we adopt the consent agenda, we will be officially hiring uh Judge Jeff Khan as our pres permanent presiding judge, which we're very excited about. Jeff, did you want to say a word or two? Oh, I'd love to. Thank you, Mayor. And I

[24:01] wanted to thank both you and Mayor Prom Spear for kind of the the process that you all had put together and councelor Shuhard for the work. And also want to thank David Bell. He did just an outstanding job in the way that he managed this process with Heather Gance and the recruiter and kept me apprised of what was going on throughout the process and it was u impressive to see him do his work in such a a nice nice and professional way. So I wanted to thank him. There's a few other people I'd like to thank. I really would like to thank Devon Kiss Kelly who's been a great support as we've worked through the last nine months of being an interim presiding judge. I also would like to thank Judge Cook who really set our course with our our court in such a great way over the last 20 years. She's been a great mentor to me and a great supporter for our court and we are on a a great path because of the work that she's done. So, I wanted to to just mention that and thank you all so much for putting me in this position. As

[25:00] you know, I I have lived here for about three decades and so this is my hometown and it is an honor and a blessing for me to be able to to be the judge for this town and to try to help solve some of the issues that that were presented in a very humane way. So, I really appreciate the confidence that you all are placing in me. Thank you, Paul. Yeah. Um, just hearing Judge Khan's thanks. I just wanted to thank uh first of all you all for dealing with the interviews and everything. Um, thank uh our former council member Juny Joseph uh now representative Jenny Joseph and um my colleague Ryan Shuhard for helping with the committee. Um also there were a number of staff involved from uh multiple departments and so I just want to thank all the staff too um in addition to David Bell uh the folks who were critical in doing some of the initial interviews for us um so that we didn't have to um use up all of your time to get to a finalist. Um so thank you so much everybody who was involved.

[26:00] This was a great process. We'll be documenting it so that um in 20 years it'll be a little bit um um straightforward for the for the next group. But um Judge Conhan, I really hope that we don't have to do this for a long long time. Thank you. I have one can I say one more thing? I I got a chance to watch your your management team at the retreat and then watch what they've done over the last 72 hours over the weekend at least. And it is really impressive. The people who who are working in this city are really an impressive group. And it was exciting for me to watch them at the retreat and to see the work they do. uh Nura is just top flight and uh Teresa of course is a great leader. We just have great leaders throughout this entire comm community and I'm really excited about working with them. Absolutely. Our city staff are world class. There's no question about it. Well, thanks again for all that Jeff and Judge Con. So glad to have you on board in the permanent role. And with that, perhaps we could have a motion on the consent agenda.

[27:06] Motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. Great. We've got a motion and a second. Uh, could we have a roll call here, please, Elisha? Yes, sir. Thank you. And congratulations again to Judge Khan. We'll start the consent agenda roll call for items 2A through 2D with Council Member Benjamin. Yes, Mayor Brackett. Yes, Council Member Folks. Yes, Marquis. Yes, Shuhart. Yes. Mayor Pro Tim Spear, yes. Council member Winer, yes. And Adams, yes. Mayor, the consent agenda items A through D are hereby passed with a vote

[28:00] of 8 to zero. Thank you, Alicia. So, if we can go to our public hearing now, please. Yes, sir. Our public hearings are item three on tonight's agenda. and 3A is the second reading and consideration of a motion to adopt ordinance 8627 designating the area as shown in exhibit A to be known as the Civic Area Historic District as a historic district under chapter 9-11 historic preservation BRC1981 and setting forth the related details. Thank you, Mayor. And I understand before we go to Marcy, we're going to go to our director of planning and development services, Brad Newan. Good evening, council. Thank you uh for that introduction, Nuria, and pleasure to be with you this evening. Uh I just wanted to uh share with you a little bit of the historical perspective of this application coming to you, which seems

[29:01] appropriate given topic. We don't do a lot of districts uh in the city. They're a fairly rare thing. Um, so they come up very rarely for consideration and and of course there are not many of them. I think the last one and Mars will probably correct me in her presentation was maybe a good 15 years ago. So we um you know recognize these are rare events and and I I dare say no one sitting around this virtual table really has gone through this process. Uh we are here um just uh a year and a half almost two years ago uh which ironically was just after I started. Uh coming back to you at your request you had been uh looking at uh a separate request for the band shell and the potential expansion of that and the decision was made by that council at the time to uh have that looked at more expansively. Uh there was a scenario which we would be bringing that forward as staff. uh ultimately the applicants you'll uh recognize as being

[30:01] uh applicants this evening uh chose to submit an application but the the result of uh analyzing and bringing forward a district uh or the state. So thank you for your time this evening and uh I will turn it over to to Marcy who is very much our expert on this and uh who we appreciate for the work that's been done. There we go. All right. Thank you. And good evening, members of council. I'd like to begin with an acknowledgement that this city of Boulder is on the ancestral homelands and unseated territory of indigenous peoples who have traversed, lived in, and stewarded lands in the Boulder Valley since time in memorial. We honor and respect those people uh the people of these nations and their ancestors. We also recognize that indigenous knowledge, oral histories, and languages handed down through the generation have

[31:02] shaped profound cultural and spiritual connections with the Boulder area lands and ecosystems. Connections that are sustained and celebrated to this day. We recognize that those now living and working on these ancestral lands have a responsibility to acknowledge and address the past, which is what we are doing this evening as we discuss the potential creation of a historic district. Historic preservation is not just about celebration. It is also about acknowledgement and recognition. In this application, we will do all three. Some of the history we are going to discuss today is painful. And we approach this with the intent that we as we collectively understand about our past it will help us shape our future. The quasi judicial um hearing begins with going through the process. So first council members will note any exparte contracts and may ask questions after each of the following steps. We will begin with a staff presentation followed by the applicant's presentation. The

[32:02] hearing is then open for public comment and after the last person speaks the applicant will have an opportunity to respond to anything that was said. After that, the public hearing is closed and council will discuss and uh deliberate. A motion requires an affirmative vote of at least five members to pass and motions must state findings, conclusions, and a recommendation. Finally, a a record of the hearing is kept by staff and I'll turn it back to you, mayor, for exparte contacts. Thanks for that, Marcy. Uh, does anyone have any exparte communications they need to disclose? Raise your virtual hand if so, Matt. Um, yeah, I just want to disclose that um I have had um exparte communication with a current board member. um that communication was just really more focused on uh uh validation of points made um and receipt of information sent

[33:01] about uh the matter before us. Um in spite of that, it this won't impact my objectivity and my ability uh to evaluate this on its uh on its terms. Thanks, Lauren. and ter. Yeah, I have a asked um so let's see. I had a conversation with a member from the NAACP um to understand prior to us getting the clarifying email um to represent their stance more clearly. And I have also had a discussion with a planning board member to um understand uh their uh board's recommendations around this item. Um but again, I don't think that will inhibit my ability to be fair or

[34:01] impartial uh related to this hearing. Sure. I had a discussion with a landmark board member that was just in general about landmarking and historic districts and also the receipt of an email and I'm sure that won't affect my decision tonight. Uh Teresa mayor at this point it might make sense for me to wait until all exparte communications are disclosed. Right. We'll keep them coming. Ryan, I also had a brief conversation with a landmarks um board member asking for some clarification about their their their input uh won't affect my objectivity or ability to be fair or partial. Right. I'll call upon myself. Uh two nights ago and I was at an arts reception and there were three people here there there who had sent emails to us on this topic and uh each of them

[35:01] expressed similar sentiments to what was in their email. I think they were all in favor of a a pause on the designation district. I was uh listened but was non-committal. Did not offer any input back to them. Um and as I mentioned it was similar content to what was in their email. So and I believe I remain fully impartial despite that. Seems to be everybody. Uh Teresa. Yes. Can each of the members um who disclosed a an exparte communication confirm that you understand that you may only consider items that are on the record during this public hearing, which means the material presented here and the material in your packet and then further confirm uh that you will only consider those materials in reaching your decision this evening. Everybody who just disclosed can unmute and say yes. Yes, I confirm. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Thanks, Teresa.

[36:03] And with that, Marcy, I'll hand it back to you for your presentation. All right. Thank you. All right. So the criteria for your decision this evening is found in section 9116 of the Boulder Revised Code and that is whether the designation meets the purposes and standards in 911A and 9112 of the Boulder Revised Code in balance with the goals and policies of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. Looking at these two code sections, section 911A defines the purpose of the historic preservation chapter, which is to protect and enhance buildings and areas of the city reminiscent of past eras, events, people, or architectural styles, and to develop and maintain appropriate settings to enhance property values, stabilize neighborhoods, promote tourist trades, and interest, and foster knowledge of the city's living history. Section 9112 provides the type of designations council may pass, including

[37:01] a contiguous historic district containing sites, buildings, structures, or features having a special character and uh historic, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value and constituting a distinct section of the city. And the third portion of the criteria for your review asks whether the designation is in balance with the goals and policies of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, which sets a vision for future development and preservation in the city of Boulder and Boulder County. As the designation of a historic district is complex, the following questions may help frame your discussion. First, does the proposed designation meet the code criteria? And if so, does council have comments on the proposed ordinance language, including the boundary, district name, and character defining features, as well as alterations? And third, does council have comments on the draft design guideline framework? The options in front of you this evening are to approve the designation, modify

[38:00] and approve it, or deny the designation. If the application is denied, a substantially similar application could not be submitted for one year. So, what does historic designation mean? At its most basic level, local designation recognizes and protects areas significant to Boulder's history and guides how an area changes over time through design review of exterior changes. One common misconception is that once designated, an area is frozen in time. However, it is often a question of how an area changes, not if it changes. While the existing historic districts are some of Boulder's most iconic places, overall only 3% of properties in Boulder are historically designated. The benefits of designation include eligibility for tax credits, grant funding, possible code modification, staff assistance, and a bronze plaque. The responsibilities include design review for any exterior changes. And our program reviews anywhere from 150 to 200

[39:00] applications a year for uh designated buildings. In 2023, over 90% of landmark alteration certificates were approved, 5% are in review, 3% were withdrawn, and just one application were was denied. We're often able to come to a consensus. And in the rare case that the landmarks board denies an application, the decision is subject to count uh to review by the city council. For this specific application, the proposed historic district includes five designated landmarks, which means exterior changes are reviewed through the LACE process, and the general design guidelines help inform how sites change over time. The area is also within the non-historic and interface area of the downtown urban design guidelines, which means larger projects outside of the park and landmark boundaries are reviewed by the design advisory board. If designated, historic preservation design review would extend to Central Park and the public spaces between the

[40:00] landmarked buildings and the changes would be informed by district specific design guidelines to address the unique characteristics of the area. The design advisory board would not review projects within the historic district boundary or the park, but would uh continue to review those areas outside such as the parking lots uh currently in the east book end. Here are a couple examples of projects that require historic preservation review like demolition and new construction and permanent installation of interpretive signage or artwork. There are also many types of projects that do not require a review, including emergency repairs, work within the ditch easements and the seed dot right ofway, and temporary installations. And to just emphasize that point, if the historic district is designated, work within the ditch easements, there's two ditches within the boundary, would not require landmark alteration certificate review. The application in front of you this

[41:00] evening began back in 2021 when the city uh received a request to expand the boundary of the band shell. The landmarks board uh voted to initiate that process and in 2022 voted to recommend for the expansion. At that time the city council chose not to expand the boundary but instead gave a nod of five for staff to explore the creation of the historic district in 2023. In January of 2023, together with the parks and recreation staff, we began to scope the process, including the development of the cultural landscape assessment for Central Park. An update was provided to PRA, the landmarks board, and city council in April and May. At the end of May, a historic district application was submitted by three historic preservation organizations. And in July, the landmarks board voted to initiate the designation process. The applicants agreed to extend the time requirements in the code in order to provide the necessary time for community engagement, coordination with departments, and completion of the cultural landscape

[42:01] assessment. We undertook that work along with the development of a draft design guideline framework through the end of 2023 and began this year with the board and council review phase. Knowing this would be a complex application, we identified the following objectives to guide our work. First was to ensure we follow the code requirements. We also recognize the opportunity and the responsibility to tell a more complete history of the area and gather community input. Next, and unique to this application was the coordination across nine departments, three dish companies, three applicant groups, and C dot. All of this contributes to our main objective, which is to provide city council with the material needed to make an informed decision. Our colleagues in communications and engagement have been a critical part of the project team and helped define the level of our efforts to be a consult for the general public as we asked and considered their feedback on whether they support the designation. A consult level with the

[43:01] community connectors and residents as we sought advice on racial equity strategies and an involved level for key stakeholders including the department representatives and applicants as they helped in the development of the design guideline framework. And while the application came from three historic preservation organizations, it is staff's responsibility to conduct conduct the public engagement required in the code. Even with an extension, this meant a compressed timeline, and we knew we had to be intentional with the time and resources we had. I'd like to acknowledge that this application is the first historic preservation project to use the racial equity instrument to help advance racial equity through this process. It informed the engagement and helped identify the opportunity to correct harmful narratives and tell a more inclusive history. Staff also found that the evidence found evidence that harmful narratives were used to justify the displacement of residents and this finding is acknowledged in the history presented as part of this process. Our engagement objectives included sharing

[44:01] information about the area's history and proposal, gathering feedback broadly and from historically excluded communities, and collaborative collaboratively developing the design guideline framework. I appreciate the coordination across the many departments and agencies and would like to thank the community connectors and residents who provided feedback on the racial equity strategies. Those conversations influenced our team to lean into the research and be very intentional with our language and how we tell the history of a place. The connectors agreed to participate in a dry run of the walking tour and their perspectives will continue to influence our approach to the work we do in the future. Walking tours occurred in October and the applicants agreed a free created a free self-guided tour through the pocket sites app. The project team created an interactive story map which has been viewed over 1,800 times since the end of November. And media coverage has included articles in the Boulder Community Newsletter, Daily Camera,

[45:02] Boulder Reporting Lab, and the Channel 8 news segment. Since February, council has received 49 letters about the district. 28 are in support, eight are support with conditions around the name and the boundary. 11 are in and 11 are in opposition of the district. Additionally, an online form has been available since the end of August and asks whether people support the designation and to share concerns, questions, or comments and upload any photos they have of the area. As of April 10th, 84 people have responded with divided results. 49% are in support of the creation of the district, 33 are in opposition, and 18% are insure. We heard many different viewpoints and have captured the main themes here. We recognize this is not a statistically valid survey, but rather snapshot opinions. Those in support shared that preservation is a valuable goal for our city and that it's good for business and

[46:00] tourism. That this area represents the best of Boulder and that there is an opportunity to acknowledge and learn about the impacts on historically excluded populations, especially previous black residents, workingclass poor, and indigenous peoples. Those opposed to the creation of the district shared, "This area needs redevelopment of programming, not further preservation and restrictions. That we need civic spaces that meet the needs of our community today. And that it is not worthwhile to pursue a district until issues of unhoused and public safety are addressed in the area." And those who were unsure expressed worry that significant public resources would be spent here with little return, that they would support the designation if the use of current buildings could be reimagined, and that they are worried that unless the challenges with the unhoused and substance abuse on site are addressed, the positive impacts of a historic district cannot be realized. Moving to the board actions, I'd like to um thank board members Andrew Bernstein, John Decker, and Kurt Nordback for

[47:01] attending this meeting. uh tonight to represent PRAB, the Landmarks board and planning board. They are available at the end of um after this presentation to answer any questions if council members would like to hear directly from the boards. As the proposed district includes Central Park, uh we provided PRAB with updates throughout the process and provided an opportunity for feedback. On January 22nd, PRA reviewed the application and the four members present agreed they do not support the designation. Their main reasons include a lack of understanding of a unifying element that would explain creating a district, lack of support for additional protection and outsized input by one city board given that the buildings um bansshaw and some of the areas of the park are already protected by designation and disagreement that potential benefits of designation outweigh the added process time and expense of a district. As required by the code, the landmarks board makes a formal recommendation to

[48:01] city council and they held a public hearing on February 7th. The board voted 4 to one to recommend designation of the area to be known as the civic area historic district and made additional motions for council to consider the historic district name, boundary, period of significance, and the integrity of park design. Those motions include considering naming the district to commemorate those who were displaced during the parks development and other exclusionary actions and policies by the city. Considering expanding the boundary to include block 11 to recognize the historical significance of displaced uh residential area and its importance to this site of Boulder's first black community. Considering expanding the boundary to include the southern and western banks of Boulder Creek. Considering expanding the period of significance to a date that includes the residential period and considering recognizing Mstead's plan as being intact, recognizable and significant to the historic district.

[49:01] Planning board also has a formal role which is to report on any potential land use implications for the designation. All six board members were present and the majority expressed that there would be minor land use implications and that some members believed that the benefits of uh to the community provided by historic preservation and the ability to tell a more complete story outweigh the land use implications. Some members recommended including block 11 to actively uh recognize the residents and businesses that existed before central park in the municipal area was established. And one member was concerned that the district would limit the ability to implement substantial changes like a new new built structures in the open grassy areas of Central Park. And another member recommended council be cautious when considering approval as designation may make future changes more difficult. Turning now to the history of the area. Our intention is to elevate stories that have been ignored or dismissed in the

[50:01] past and to tell a more complete history of the area. As we mentioned at the beginning, historic preservation is not only about celebration. It's also about recognition and acknowledgement. The proposed historic district is located between Canyon and Arapjo with uh Broadway and 13th bisecting the district. It includes five individually landmarked buildings including the Penfield T uh the second municipal building, the Banshaw Atrium, Duchon Bay Tea House in the Storage and Transfer Building. It also includes Central Park, the 13th Street and Sister Cities Plaza, Boulder Creek, and the public spaces in between. We will talk about the original platting of the area as block 11 uh which you can see on the map is between uh the library and uh of the 11th street bridge. Block 12 which is the location of the m the municipal building and block 13 where central park is located today. Canyon used to be called water street and Broadway used to be named

[51:00] 12th street. Uh the history of this area extends much beyond the establishment of Boulder which was founded in 1859 in violation of the 1851 treaty of Fort Laramie. The Creekide land is sacred and an essential part of the ancestral homelands to indigenous people who have lived on and traveled through them since time in memorial. Boulder has an archival silence or gap in its historical record for the indigenous perspective of history. We acknowledge that a majority of archival materials focus on the perspective of white and European settlers of the Boulder Valley. The city has recently embarked on an ethnographic study in collaboration with tribal nations to better document the history of indigenous people in the area. Until that is complete, we will begin this timeline with what we know, which starts in the 1870s. The first snapshot of this area comes from the 1890 Samanborn fire insurance

[52:00] map. Broadway was a main thoroughfare and the railroad ran along Water Street. We know that the houses were constructed here as early as the 1870s and both black and white working-class families lived here. It is notable that many of the residents were owned by single or divorced women, which was uncommon at the time. We also know now the name of Molly Gordon, who is one of the first black women to own property in Boulder. She lived in the area from at least 1884 until her death in 1904 and owned her property outright starting 1890. In 1894, Boulder experienced a catastrophic flood. Looking at the census records, we can see that many people, including Molly Gordon, chose to stay and rebuild in the neighborhood, demonstrating great resilience, which was again tested a few years later by another flood in 1897. A greenhouse and a house in the future location of Central Park survived the floods. By 1900, more houses were

[53:00] constructed along Water Street. Another long-term resident was Jenny Johnson, who lived in the area starting around 1900. As a black woman, she had few employment opportunities. She worked washing laundry, but also started a cleaning business from her home, which she advertised in the newspaper. In 1906, the year of the storage and transfer building was constructed. About 20 families lived in the area. A gas works was constructed where the tea house is now located, and commercial buildings were located along Broadway. By 1908, the Colorado and Southern Railroad had constructed six rail lines along Waller Street. The railroad purchased the entirety of block 12 in 1910, displaced the residents, and constructed a substation. Mrs. Johnson was one of the displaced owners. She moved one block west, and was one of the 17 black residents residences residents documented in the 1910 federal census. At this time, all but one resident in

[54:00] this neighborhood was black. Between 1918 and 1922, 10 out of 13 homes in the neighborhood were uh bought through taxdeed, a mechanism where property could be bought for a small portion of its value because owners were delinquent on the property taxes. By 1922, just nine residents remained at two properties. Jenny Johnson at 1034 Walnut Street and George Huff and his family at 1042 Water Street. Jenny Johnson continued to own her property until the city forced her to sell in 1928. The residential buildings and outbuildings were all demolished by 1928. The image shown in the lower left was taken in 1919 for the city manager at the time. It's an image of the rear of 1042 Water Street, including the outbuildings. Residents George Huff, Emma Verge, and John and Emma Bay, and four of their children are pictured. This image was used in newspaper articles from 1921 until 1928 alongside

[55:03] language that dehumanized the residents and justified the need for their displacement. This me misleading picture has been the most frequently used images when talking about the residents displaced to create Central Park and has been part of the prevailing narrative for the last hundred years. And through this work, we are working to change that. Land acquisition and development of Central Park in Boulder's Municipal Center was guided by the Boulder City Improvement Association, BCIA, a community group whose stated purpose was the improvement of Boulder in health, growth, cleanliness, prosperity, and attractiveness. The BCIA um excuse me uh the BCIA received advice from Frederick Law Olmstead Jr. in particular on flood control measures in the area but also on plantings in general design.

[56:00] The design for the parkland of long Boulder Creek was refined in plans developed by the Mstead Brothers firm between 1917 and 1923 and published in 1923 in the improvement of Boulder Creek in Boulder, Colorado. A number of failed attempts at municipal funding resulted in reducing the scope of the improvements. BCIA volunteers attempted to complete the work Olmstead suggested, including planting trees on and perimeter vegetation and grading paths through throughout the park. A second phase of municipal area and park planning began in 1938 influenced by Saku Dbor. Dbor suggested Central Park as the location for the bandell which was constructed in 1938. Central Park became a focal point for social activities typically based around music, education or religion. The adjacent streets remained largely commercial and industrial. Both Homestead and Dubor suggested the location of the city hall in this area and the municipal building was

[57:00] constructed in 1951. During the 50s and 60s, formal events were organized by Boulder clubs like the Elks, Women's Club, and Boulder uh American Legion in included memorials to uh pioneers in singalongs. From 1961, the area became the center of municipal government with the construction of the public library near 9inth Street, the expansion of the uh municipal building and a mall designed to connect them, the addition of the police substation to the municipal building, and subsequent construction of the Midland Federal Savings and Loan Bank branch in 1969 created the geographic location for the establishment. counterculture activist uh advocates saw the municipal area as a place of confrontation and the municipal area became the site of political protest and civil discourse. The connection between the public spaces and surrounding buildings continued into the 1970s with the adaptive reuse of the city storage and transfer building into a public art center.

[58:02] The area continues its public function as the site of the farmers market, festivals, concerts, and other planned community activities and spontaneous gatherings in response to local, state, and national events throughout the year. Overall, the history of this area is layered and complex, and it tells a unique story of Boulder's history, both positive and negative. Next, we will move on to what is the meat of your decision tonight, which is this uh analysis of the criteria for your review. As a reminder, the criteria is found in the Boulder Revised Code, which asks you also to consider the balance with the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan goals and policies. In 1975, the landmarks board adopted the local significance criteria for district landmarks, which is intended to help uh determine whether an area is eligible. And then for the two aspects that is that are not in our guidance,

[59:03] it sorry Joanna will your computer. There we go. uh for the two aspects that are not in our uh code or administrative regulations, we look to the National Park Service for guidance and that will be the assessment of the integrity in the boundary. So looking at section 911, uh the historic district designation of this area, uh staff finds would protect an area that is historically, architecturally, and environmentally significant to Boulder's history. The proposed district includes an area with a history that precedes the founding of Boulder, has documented residential and commercial uses from the 1870s until the 1920s, includes Central Park, an urban park formally established in 1924, and includes five surrounding municipal buildings constructed between 1906 and

[60:00] 1998 that represent a progression of architectural styles. Designation would stabilize the neighborhood as physical changes are reviewed to ensure their compatibility with the area's historic character. And designation would foster knowledge of the city's living history through research and sharing stories of Boulder's history through virtual and inerson activities. There are a number of Boulder Valley comprehensive plan policies that are relevant to this application. I'll highlight just a few. Um there are more in the memo. Leadership in preservation encourages the city to designate eligible city-owned resources. The role of the central area identifies this area as the primary activity center of the Boulder Valley. Sensitive infill and redevelopment is relevant because the area is anticipated to redevelopment to redevelop in the future. And this policy identifies the need for that infill development to be sensitive to its surrounding context and for the city to

[61:01] consider using tools such as design guidelines and the role of arts, culture, historic and parks and recreation amenities specifically reference the value of historic features and park amenities to the city's tourism, economic vitality, and community livability. On balance, staff considers the proposed historic district to be consistent with these additional policies and supports the community's vision as divi uh defined in the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. Moving on to the significance criteria beginning with historic significance. The area meets the criteria for historic significance for the public function of the area as a symbolic, political, and municipal center of Boulder's local government and as the site of numerous social, cultural, and political events and for its significance as the his in the history of Boulder's park system development and its contribution to the social and cultural life of the city for over a century. The use of the park

[62:01] reflects the community over time. Following its con the construction of the band shell in 1938, Central Park became a focal point for social activities typically based around musical, educational or religious events. During the 1950s and early 1960s, the events became more nostalgic with memorials to pioneers, hugfin day, and singalongs. In the 1960s and 70s, the area was the site of rallies, protests, and experimental theater. And under recognition of authorities, um many of the existing landmarks are also eligible for listing on the state and national register. The area meets the criteria for architectural significant as it includes multiple significant works by notable architects, landscape designers, builders, and urban planners including James Hunter, Glenn Huntington, and Hobart Wagner, Frederick Law Olmstead Jr. and Sako Dubour. It is a it has a

[63:00] unique architectural identity representing a progression of styles that provides an eclectic municipal character unique to Boulder's history, location, and climate. And third, the area meets the criteria for environmental significance for its planned and natural site characteristics, including the spatial relationship of the civic buildings in Central Park, Boulder Creek, and the Boulder Slooh, circulation paths with the park creating a relatively flat central green area, mature trees, including two state champion trees, uh, planted in groves and lining the perimeter of the park, and the views towards the flat irons. The area is an established familiar and prominent visual feature of the community due to its location near prominent thorough affairs. Next, we move to assessing the area's historic integrity, which is the area's ability to convey its historic significance. This piece is not written in our code, but as a certified local government, we look to the National Park Service for guidance.

[64:01] Our approach um to the integrity analysis included researching the history of the area, reviewing the findings of the uh cultural landscape assessment, multiple site visits and comparison of historic and current aerials planned and photographs, use of the National Park Service uh guidance and then consultation with state and national registered historians at History Colorado. Uh and that was for guidance both on the integrity and determining the boundary. So, uh, PNDS staff agree with the cultural landscape assessment findings that the 1923 to 1937 period of the park design does not retain integrity. Uh, and I can go into um, more detail if needed. Um the design of the park was substantially changed by the introduction of the band shell in 1938 and its seating in 1950 which interrupted the distinctive circulation pattern of diagonal walks that form a

[65:00] central green. Little remains in terms of the material and workmanship of this period and the art deco bandell has significantly altered the feeling of central park and is it is a prominent visual um feature visible both within the park and from the surrounding area. Overall, the park today does not retain the physical features to convey the integrity of association with the early park design by the Mstead Brothers Fern. However, staff considers that the area does retain its integrity to the 1938 to 1974 period of development. And to highlight a few key points, its setting of an urban park surrounded by the unique municipal buildings retains its historic character. Located on the prominent intersections of Broadway Canyon, 13th, and Arapjo, the area is centrally located and is a familiar visual feature of the community. The district's uh workmanship is evident in the integration of the art and architecture of the Duch Tea House, the high quality of masonry in the

[66:00] construction of the atrium and the municipal building, and the construction of the band and its seating. Overall, the district retains integrity to convey its association with the design of the park. during the 1937 to 1974 period and the numerous social, cultural, and political activities that occurred within the park and the surrounding public spaces. Staff considered that the changes to the park and public spaces, including the introduction of and improvements to the Boulder Creek path and the realignment of paths within Central Park, do not detract from the overall setting and feeling associated with the district's historic significance. Similar to integrity, we look to the National Park Service for guidance in determining boundaries. The landmarks board and staff recommends the boundary as shown on the screen in that it contains the significant concentration of contributing buildings and sites which include the five designated landmarks in Central Park. Utilizes Canyon and Arapjo as visual barriers that break the continuity of

[67:01] the district. follows the rear of the existing landmark boundaries of the contributing buildings along 13 to recognize the decline in concentration of the contributing resources to the east and the southern boundary follows the midline of Boulder Creek, a contributing feature and visual barrier. The original application proposed including the parking lots along 14th Street. Those are not included in the recommended boundary. The landmarks board made additional motions to consider the historic district boundary, including expanding the boundary to include block 11 and to in extend the boundary to include the southern and western banks of Boulder Creek. The area of block 11 suggested for inclusion in the expanded boundary was outside of the original application and therefore did not receive the full research and analysis for historical significance, integrity, and boundary determination. Staff does not recommend expanding the boundary at this time as additional study would be required to fully evaluate block 11. Staff

[68:01] recommends maintaining the proposed boundary described uh previously on the on the previous slide. And note that the ordinance could be amended at a later time to change the boundary of the district as was done for the downtown and Mapleton Hill historic districts. Next is the consideration of the name of the historic district. The Landmarks board has adopted guidelines for names which recommend basing the name on the original or later use unusual architectural characteristics or a commonly accepted name. The Landmarks Board and staff recommend the name Civic Area Historic District as it reflects a commonly known name of the area and encompasses a broad history and significance. The landmarks board voted to recommend that council consider naming the district to commemorate those who were displaced during the parks development and other exclusionary actions and policies by the city. Staff considers appropriate names for the proposed district also include the Water

[69:01] Street Historic District, Boulder Creek Historic District, Central Boulder Historic District, or the Civic Area Historic District. So now we're moving on to um the final piece of the presentation which is the design guideline framework. The framework includes the intent and the scope of the design guidelines, a preliminary table of contents and guiding principles. Staff chose to propo to postpone the development of full design guidelines until after a decision was made on the designation. The intent of the framework is to provide direction for reviewing alterations and for the development of district specific design guidelines should the district be designated. Um so the intent goes into what is the purpose of the guidelines? How would they be used? The scope of the design guidelines uh includes anticipated types of changes such as additions to historic structures, construction of new

[70:00] buildings, public art, and redevelopment of the portion of the east bookend that is within the proposed boundary. The guiding principles were developed collaboratively with the technical advisory group comprised of city um staff and uh members of the applicant group and um these are meant to guide the development of of district specific design guidelines um as kind of the the direction uh for those. The first and I'm paraphrasing here is to ground the design guidelines in the secretary of interior standards for rehabilitation which is the foundation for all design guidelines in our program and to ensure the life safety and accessibility align the design guidelines with existing management practices and this reflects the complex management layers uh across the nine departments. The idea is to align where we can with existing policies and management practices. Identify the area's character defining features in the design guidelines. And

[71:00] fourth, the area should serve as an inclusive place where all feel welcome. Encourage installation of educational elements to share the full history. Encourage artwork and align that with existing policies and encourage a vibrant mix of uses in the east bookend through adaptive reuse and creative info. To summarize, the area meets the designation criteria based on its architectural, historic and environmental significance and the area retains its historic integrity. The recommended boundary encompasses significant features and the recommended name civic area historic district m meets the naming guidelines. The design guideline framework establishes the intent, scope and guidelines and six guiding principles. And with that, staff in the landmarks board recommend approval of the historic district. With that, I am happy to answer any questions you all may have.

[72:02] Marcy, thanks so much for that very detailed and thorough presentation, extremely well documented. Thanks for your incredible work uh on this. And so, we now have an opportunity for questions for staff. And then after that we'll go to the applicant presentation. There'll also be an opportunity for a question for the applicants. Lauren. Yeah. I was wondering the design guidelines seem relatively vague at this point and I'm wondering what do you see their role being in terms of what would they be protecting us from? um and what kind and what exactly are they preserving? Thank you. Yeah, thank you for your question. And we um intentionally kept the guiding principles vague and more direction and even when design guidelines are fully developed. They're not meant to be a checklist of of u for review but more

[73:02] informs how an area changes over time. So there's a lot of change as you can see anticipated in this area and so by using the guiding principles that kind of sets a direction. Um there isn't specifically anything in there to prevent it from it's more about looking at the area as a whole and informing what kind of change would be um appropriate and and sensitive to the historic character of the district. So, how do you see those being different from sort of the set of guidelines that and um that's going to go into the redevelopment plan for this area because we're already going to be sort of considering what future what the future of this area looks like and coming up with sort of a unifying strategy. Sure. They would have more of a historic preservation focus, right? They would be

[74:01] grounded in the foundation of the Secretary of the Interior's uh standards for rehabilitation that talks about repair rather than replacement, not creating a false sense of history. But then also the district specific guidelines would go one step further than our general design guidelines to address the unique character. And one of the unique characters of Boulder's municipal center is that there is an eclectic variety of architectural styles. And when those buildings were built, a very modern and forward-looking design was chosen. And so rather than repeating one, you know, historic style over and over again, which would create kind of a cohesive architectural um character, the character here and what would be recognized in the design guidelines would be how do we encourage that spirit of a forward-looking innovative uh uh style but that is also sensitive to the existing uh character

[75:00] and landmarks. Thank you. Marie, do you mind taking the presentation down so it'll be a little easier to see? Thanks. I get um Tina, Matt, and Tara. Um thanks. And this was incredibly helpful. Um just to get a better understanding. Um following on a little bit with what um council member Folkarts was asking, it says in the sixth guideline to to consider adaptive reuse and creative infill. What would you what how much time could that add if we're thinking about the process that's being embarked upon by the um the civic area redevelopment? How much time would that add as they start proposing other possibilities? Like would it does it go through concurrent review with the historic group and landmarks or does it go on a separate path? Does that make sense?

[76:01] Are you talking generally about the civic area phase 2 uh yeah development of the plan or the implementation of the adaptive reuse and new construction after the plan is adopted? either just I'm just wondering how those will interact if it's going to be that they have to create a plan and then it gets approved or is it going to be something that would happen together? Sure. The sequencing as we see it is that if council designates this district, we would embark on creating those district specific guidelines by the end of this year. And that would align then with the civic area phase 2 uh process because um design won't begin until early 2024. And so those would be um kind of concurrent processes and then the landmarks board will have a role in uh reviewing changes whether that's to the five existing landmarks if the district isn't designated or broader than that if

[77:00] the if the district is designated. And then looking farther ahead for uh adaptive reuse or infill projects that would likely be um reviewed by the landmarks board which usually is a two to four month process with the opportunity to call up that decision by city council. Um and just to note that in the east bookend the parking lots are not proposed to be included. So, the redevelopment would uh happen in the 13th Street Plaza. The adaptive reuse is kind of the more likely scenario with the existing buildings along 13th. Okay. Um and then just to the there's so much great history. Um, I was wondering if there was an effort to reach out, and I know this is a long shot, but in my community, they were able to do this with a similar situation to the descendants of Jenny Johnson and to um the other woman that you uh named,

[78:02] Molly Gordon. I would love that to be an outcome of this effort. um we were not able to do that in the time that that we've had, but that would be um that would be incredible if that uh were a result of this process. Okay? Because that was um I'm sure most people are familiar with Bruce's Beach in Southern California, but part of that process did include communication with the Senants to make sure that um how they resolved the issue had their voice as a prominent voice in that process. Um so that's the other thing. Um, and then if this were to be designated a historic district, 13th Street is used for a lot of different things, would there be any short-term impacts to how 13th Street could be used? Use? No. If there are physical changes that are permanent related to that use, like a like a covering or um embedding art in the sidewalk, that would go

[79:00] through the review process. But historic preservation doesn't regulate or restrict the use of a place. It's only the intersection is only if there's a permanent physical um connection to that use. And I also want to correct what I said um earlier about the civic area phase 2 project and we do have colleagues from the parks department um to speak to that if you have further questions. Um but the design for the civic area phase two will begin in early 2025 uh through 2024 is the engagement. Okay. Thank you Matt and Ter. Thanks Aaron and I appreciate the questions from uh Lauren and Tina um on that. Um I have two questions and one is I I'm trying to understand the impacts of sort of the integrity analysis in the sense of you know pre-1938 it the integrity doesn't sort of meet muster on terms of that analysis but from 38 to 74

[80:00] it does and I'm wondering that by picking that time stamp does that impact one what we're preserving in time and or um who or what we are honoring um that may came before that because I'm wondering like do we are we locking ourselves into time here in what we're going to focus on on landmarking and historically preserving. Um because I'm thinking of, you know, many of the historical injustices came way before 1938. And I'm worried if we're focused on that chunk of time. Are we not in a position or or or lessening how we can honor and recognize and bake that into to the area just because it predates that sort of integrity analysis? That's a great question. And the period of significance does have um its purpose is really in the design guidelines and reviewing changes. Was this building or this um change here within the period of significance or is it non-historic outside of the period of significance? That's usually changes

[81:01] made in the last 50 years. Um, I do want to clarify that in our memo, the correct period of significance for the overall district is 1906, which is the date of the storage and transfer building to 1974, a date 50 years in the past. The integrity analysis for the park uh cuts it off at the 1938 date. Um, so I think also I heard in your question is are we still able to um share this history and recognize it as significant if it's outside of the period of significance? I think we can do that. I think the period of significance um comes most into play in reviewing changes over time and saying was this here was it present during the period of significance or is it a later change that's not historic. So, I appreciate that and that sort of leads into my next question which which is sort of um you know what we want to try to preserve and um overall I mean if

[82:03] if we were if we were to say that this does not if we were to not go down this path of historic pres of the historic district but then we're doing the area the civic plan does that foreclose us from actually doing the historical work you know in terms of the learning and the understanding of those historic injustices and the and the and the issues that occurred and gaining that knowledge and building that into our plan or or are we only able to produce that work and honor that the right way only through going through a historical district process? Yeah, I am not a gatekeeper for telling our community's history. And there are two uh guiding principles in the uh civic area park plan that speak specifically to celebrating the history of the area and integrating that into the design. So I think there are ample opportunities in the civic area phase two to elevate these stories, tell a full history and

[83:02] to um to also implement not just talk about it but but have something on the ground to to reach a broader audience about what happened and where. Wonder I appreciate that answer. Thank you. Thanks Marcy. Okay. So my first question is I noticed we just brought forth our priorities and one of mine which was happily accepted was the connections and I know one of the things that I've been thinking about is lighting. Um, and so one of I noticed that lighting was something that the landmarks board is going to now be uh would you say in charge of deciding or how does lighting affect things in terms of the landmarks board and our redesign of that area? So the landmarks board would be one layer of review. City council would be the ultimate decision maker if they denied the proposal or if they approved it. You could still call that up. Um,

[84:00] lighting was a big component at Shiitakqua, which is a national historic landmark a couple of years ago because there was a cultural uh cultural resilience and safety tax uh measure that was passed that funded the lighting up at Shiakwa. And then we were reactive to say, well, there's never been lighting up here. What's an appropriate way? So, in that case, we formed a a working group. We developed design guidelines. it they it goes into the character of um the kind of camp-like character of Shiakwa and those lights those 13 poles that are that are now there are very sensitive in in terms of this um historic uh place by including them in the district specific guidelines on the front end we would have a more proactive approach to thinking about well what kind of lighting is appropriate here in the civic area. Okay. So my next question is this is what I also asked for at the retreat. It's a big decision. So tell me what are

[85:02] the negatives? What are the cons? You gave a great presentation about a lot of the pros but putting on your con hat. What would you say especially in light of the fact that we have um a lot coming up for that area in terms of design in the next few years? Sure. and and as I shared with the community engagement summary, we heard a lot of diverse opinions and and what's yours though? Well, um that is or do you not want you don't have to answer that if you want to? No, I I mean I I think generally generally in the field of historic preservation um the uh perspective is that historic designation would stifle change or stifle creativity. My personal opinion is that more creative outcomes can come when you look at what's already here and wonderful. What do we want to carry

[86:00] forward? Um and what do we want to leave behind? I am not the best person to ask about the cons of historic. Let's ask parks. Can they say can they talk about I see Teresa's hand has gone up. If we could hear from her, please. Yeah, I can certainly appreciate uh this conversation and uh the desire to have it. I I will remind council that the decision before you is whether the information presented meets the criteria and um one of those considerations should not be staff's opinion about a particular uh item. And so just that's okay, but just wanted to remind Are we allowed to hear from parks about their uh more detail about their feelings? I will offer that the three uh representatives of the board that um made an official recommendation including Proud Landmarks board and planning board are here this evening if you'd like to hear directly about their deliberation.

[87:00] So Tara, if you'd like to request the parks board representative to present a summary of their decision, you're welcome. I would. Thanks, Sarah. I would All right. So, if you can I think that's um Andrew Bernstein. Thank you. Sorry, I'm gonna adjust my camera, which I realize is now pointing down. Um it's nice to be here with all with all of you. Um uh the parks advisory board spoke about this issue back in January. Um we we're of course appreciative of the work that's gone into evaluating this issue and has gone into um presenting the information to to our board and the other boards involved and the city council. Um it was our strong opinion it was it was unanimous among the members of our board who were present at the meeting where this was discussed that the park that the the landmark district should not be expanded. Um it's our opinion that um

[88:02] the individual structures are already landmarked and that of of course is a correct decision that we agree with. Um we didn't see um anything in the the park itself that was um that was so important needed additional protection beyond it's already there. Um, and most importantly, we we are um very interested in the future of this park and very interested in working with the parks department staff to see how it can be improved and redeveloped and better utilized uh as part of the the next phase of of our redevelopment of this of this district. Um, and we don't want the creation of historic district to um in any way delay or complicate the um the important work of improving this park. very much for representing the board and offering that perspective, Andrew. Appreciate that. I will note as well, you have upstaged Council Member Shuard with your multiple mics in the background versus his just the one. So,

[89:02] nice to glad glad to be of service. Hey, I think right now we've got Taiisha and Ryan que. Uh, yes. Hello. Um, I'm going to say off camera, I'm in transit almost um on my way home. So I wanted to ask about the um whether there was any conversation with the arts commission and specifically those who are doing performing arts um and their feedback on just the band shell, the functionality of the band shell. Um, I would say that's, you know, one of the concerns that I have is, um, just the functionality and integrity of that band shell to to do the things that it needs to do. So, I was just curious if, um, there was any comments or um, discussion by the arts commission and particularly and specifically those who are in the performing arts.

[90:00] Thank you. Uh we did hear from members of the arts community especially in the last two or three weeks or so and um uh but we didn't have specific conversations with those groups as part of this process. The uh Huntington the Glen Huntington Banshell is already an individual landmark. So there's no difference in terms of the design review um that would be be required uh if the district is designated and um you know historic buildings, historic places do need to be relevant uh in order to be preserved. So again it's how does it change not if it changes um that our design review for the bandell already exists through that designation. Thank you. Um and also just point of clarification, we do not have the full history or more history beyond 1890 of our indigenous,

[91:03] right? The history of the indigenous peoples we do not have at this point, but the city is working on an ethnographic uh study in consultation with the tribal nations. And so we look forward to looking learning more about that history in the future, but right now we um unfortunately don't know that history. Okay. I just wanted to confirm that. I did see it in the slide. I just wanted to make sure that I I before I designate something historical, I wanted to just make sure whose history are we um whose history are we um preserving? And again, as African-American, it's wonderful to see um the efforts around Water Street. And I can also say um I know that that there there are more are ancestral and current um indigenous and tribal. And so thank you for that clarification. Aisha Ryan

[92:01] Ari, thank you for such a great presentation and for being such a good shepherd um of the of our our history uh in so far as the history is history that we that we have. Um, I just had one question sort of maybe a dummy question as a non-speist um about the method of of of looking at the historic excuse me historical integrity. Um, and just when I when I take it all in, uh, and I look at the map looking down and I think of this as a landscape, it is so chopped up by pavement, um, and cars with significant more vehicle traffic and noise than I, um, I'm sure was present in the the various periods we've talked about. Um, Broadway, one of the biggest arterials in town is is blazing through it. There's 13th Street, the perimeter of this canyon, one of our other bigger arterials, um, right where

[93:00] traffic is accumulating and then zooming to get out of town. Um, this is does this doesn't seem consistent to me with with thinking about what was what was going on in the periods of history we've talked about. And I'm just wondering from a a practitioner perspective, do you um is it not is there a point at which there's you do look at that and you say, you know, there's a there's a area ratio that that does become a factor or do you just not ignore do we just ignore it or is it just subjective? Maybe we don't we just don't see it because everybody's used to it. How do you think about that? This is so chopped up and fragmented by um by cars and pavement. Yeah. Um, well, I would say that it's curious that our municipal center has always been bisected by a major thoroughfare between the the municipal building across from a park and some of the early designs had a monument on access in Central Park from the municipal building, but it still crossed

[94:00] Broadway, which was one of the main thoroughfairs. And then along Water Street, there were four rail lines going through. So we think of canyon as being loud now. It was loud a hundred years ago as well or even in the 1960s when those those rail lanes were taken out. And so we do look at the general pattern of what's the urban street grid. Has that changed over time? And um a lot of that still uh still exists today though the modes of transportation have changed. the general layout of the historic district as you look at the the aerials. Um much of that remains intact. Okay. Thank you for that. Just a quick followup then for as I think about about the the criteria then. So I hear you that the the Yes, this is this is a consideration from like kind of a grid standpoint. It it there is some integrity. Would it also be um c could somebody else evaluate it and say well that's different like it's different now. there's the the the type of traffic

[95:01] the um the impact on the humans moving around are different. Would that be a fair evaluation for somebody who needs to look at this and make a decision like could you come to that conclusion you know with and with be within like a professional kind of a standard. Yeah. And um these are good questions. I I think that you think about transportation in any of the districts in um in Boulder, you had the street car line going up Ninth Street to Shitakqua. A lot of transportation was horse and buggy and then early automobile, etc. So, from a um history of like infrastructure, it's changed across the entire city in terms of um street paving. A lot of the streets weren't weren't paved until the 1950s and 1960s. So, a historic district doesn't have to be a step back in time with dirt streets and boardwalks and things like that. I think the um that's the overall character in the seven aspects of

[96:01] integrity contribute to this historic feeling is the feeling of this place still here without it having you know being a time capsule of going back in place. So, you know, cars and scooters and um bicycles are in every historic district, but I wouldn't say that detracts overall. Um a highway going through, you know, going through the historic district would certainly change a potential uh eligibility of an area, but the overall use and the different modes of transportations would not. Okay. So, I guess I'm not sure. And my question is would it be would it be appropriate for an evaluator to to look at this and say well in my view actually it is quite it is quite different there there this this lacks historical integrity that that like would that be a a potentially appropriate evaluation or am I hearing you say like actually no like that a rational practitioner? No, no, no. Yeah. So,

[97:00] you're not talking just about transportation o over time, but more of like integrity analysis. It is more of an art than a science. And different professionals can come to different conclusions about whether an area has integrity or not. So, I think reasonable professionals disagree all the time about whether this has integrity. Got it. Okay. Thank you so much. Yeah. All right. I'm not seeing any other hands. Last call. So we will now go to the applicant for a presentation. Let's give the applicant a chance to talk to us, please. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. Great. Um, this is Leonard Seagull and I'm going to share my screen. Um, and hopefully we'll get this rolling. So, all right. Can you see my screen? Yes. All right. Thank you very much. Um, hello city council members. Thanks for

[98:01] the opportunity to speak to you on behalf of the applicants for the proposed historic district tonight. We value your commitment to representing the interests of historic preservation within the overall picture of city government. It's been benefiting citizens of Boulder since the first preservation ordinance was completed 50 years ago. We also want to thank the preservation planners for the in-depth recommendation report and a very thorough process over the past nine months. The planning staff has done a great job in detailing how the proposed district complies with all the city code criteria to qualify as an historic district. My presentation will introduce other information to demonstrate that designating this historic district is the right thing to do for Boulder. I'm confident that you have an open mind and will consider my comments and the public testimony from our supporters. And I'm trying to advance the slides, so let me see what's going on here. Here we go. Thank you. Um, uh, the applicants

[99:02] have three requests to the council. That you vote to approve the proposed historic district as outlined in staff report. that you vote to accept the landmarks board recommendation to include the design features of Central Park as an integral element to the district. And finally, that you vote to expand the district boundary to include the historic area west of the municipal building, the importance of which I will describe later. The idea for this historic district, as you've heard, started in 2022 with the city preservation planners who recommended making a portion of the civic area into an historic district, including all the land area of Central Park. Since then, this applicant team has been cooperating with the city planners for feedback from staff in the preservation, planning, and development, parks, and wreck, and community engagement departments. We have received helpful input from the community connectors, right relationship Boulder, the NAACP, the Museum of Boulder, the

[100:01] Chamber of Commerce, and the downtown Boulder Partnership. We've also heard from neighbors including the Tea House, Bim Mocha, and Mustard's Last Stand. Organizations that utilize this area have given us feedback, too, including the Farmers Market, the Dairy Center, and the Boulder Ballet. Everyone acknowledges that this area is the historic heart of Boulder. They recognize that the civic area has historic, architectural, and environmental significance. Some people have concerns that this historic district would limit future changes in Central Park and the area on the eastern edge along 14th Street. I'll focus now to respond to these concerns. It's important to remind you that historic designation does not freeze a property. Instead, it informs the owners of the historic qualities that are of importance. This historic district will not delay or prevent future changes in this area despite what you may have heard from other sources. Preservation inspires thoughtful modifications to properties through a review process

[101:01] based on established guidelines. It's crucial to designate this district now so that the preservation planners are definitely included during the ongoing process to redesign the civic center. We don't want to repeat the situation like in 2015 when the design for the civic center proposed eliminating one of the defining features of the park, the landmarked Huntington Banshel just to extend a bike path. As you are well aware, there are also plans to develop housing and other community uses along 14th Street. The creation of this historic district will not prevent that development either. The district boundary doesn't include the developable parking lots along 14th Street. The concerns expressed by the park and recck board and some business groups about the historic district preventing development in the area show an overestimation of the power of the preservation ordinance and a lack of understanding of it. This antagonism

[102:00] toward the district designation also reveals a distrust of the effective system of checks and balances within the city government that has been operating successfully since the preservation ordinance was started in the 1970s. The 10 existing historic districts and their public parks have regularly been modified with the routine process of evaluations and reviews by the preservation planners in coordination and communication with other city departments. This designation will not hold up the process of making improvements to this area. Last year, as Marcy said, 90% of the reviews by the preservation planning department were decided within two weeks. There is plenty of evidence in Boulder that the designation of this historic district will actually improve the quality of the future developments planned in and around this area. Many developments in town have been positively influenced by the high standards and design character of the

[103:00] nearby historic landmarks and districts. This historic district will bring more visitors and money downtown. Historic tourism is real and has brought millions of dollars to the Boulder economy for decades. This historic district will be recognized statewide and nationally. It will provide access to preservation grant funds and create positive media publicity for Boulder. If you vote to approve the designation of this historic district, which meets all the criteria of the preservation ordinance, you will reinforce the validity of historic preservation in Boulder. However, if you vote against this district, it will demonstrate that the city government doesn't value the history here or take seriously the city planning documents supporting preservation that are listed here. I want to reinforce a couple of the additional recommendations to you by the landmarks board about the scope of the proposed historic district. First, we want you to recognize that the

[104:01] historic design of Central Park still has integrity and should be considered when new plans are proposed to modify the park. The parks and recck department self-authored a cultural landscape assessment report of Central Park, which demeans the integrity of the park and the validity of the proposed district. In this way, they can justify making whatever changes they want to the park regardless of historic significance. However, several national authorities have verified the integrity of the original design concepts, including the Mstead Network and the Cultural Landscape Foundation. In these next few slides, I'll show you those existing original design features, comparing the park in 1938 with today. The Mstead design concepts are very much with us now with a buffer of trees along 13th Street and Canyon Streets just as originally laid out. The original open lawn areas that are very versatile in use are still in place.

[105:02] There are fewer trees by design on the west side of the park to frame views to the flat irons. Finally, in the original plan, there is a civic structure north of the irrigation ditch which was later built as the band shell. My point is that the landscape of Central Park has as much historic design character as the architecture of the tea house. When changes are proposed, they should take into consideration how they will impact the historic design features of the park. This sort of review is what this district will enable. We also support the landmarks board's unanimous vote to propose the expansion of the historic district to include property to the west of the municipal building in the area known as block 11. Research by the preservation planners has already identified that this area was one of the very first places where black people were allowed to settle in Boulder. Many of them were displaced to

[106:01] make way for the new civic center. The proposed district is unique and significant with rich stories of habitation going back thousands of years. There is evidence that indigenous people, most likely the Arapjo, lived along Boulder Creek. By the early 1900s, many of the residents in block 11 were workingclass women. Some even owned their homes. As Marcy pointed out, the historic district will showcase these underrepresented histories, especially if you vote to expand the proposed boundary to include the block 11 area of their former homes. Older Colorado prides itself on being inclusive. However, a 100 years ago, the civic center area, not just Central Park, was created by displacing the mostly minority residents here. The creation of this district will bring to light the stories of discrimination at the time of the founding of the civic center. If you are truly championing diversity, equity,

[107:00] and inclusion, then you should vote in favor of this district which embodies the complex story of the formation of Boulder, including racism. Some people are asking why create an historic district when most of the properties are already landmarked. Aristotle gave the answer 2400 years ago. He said, "The whole is more than the sum of the parts. This district designation would officially tie together and honor many of the significant stories of the evolution of Boulder all in one location. Our applicant team asks that you take advantage of this rare opportunity to create a legacy for the citizens of Boulder by voting to designate this area as an historic district tonight. you can help to change the general perception of this area from one that is shunned to one that is treasured. I'll be happy to answer any questions you have now or during your deliberations. Thank you very much. Thank you for that, Leonard. Council, any questions for the applicant?

[108:08] I guess I'll I'll just call myself and ask one. Um, Leonard, appreciate you uh explaining that you that you all support the inclusion of block 11 in the historic district. And just to call it out, um, I believe your proposed boundary also excluded the parking lots on the eastern side. Those were originally in the proposed boundaries, but do you all also support the removal of those parking lots from the boundary? Yes, we absolutely support that uh exclusion of those parking lots and um we've um talked with um staff and um business leaders about that and have agreed to that wholeheartedly. Great. Thanks for that. Uh Ryan, I do. Thank you, Lena. Thanks very much for this and to your um whole team and and um folks working on this. I um have I've heard a lot of of uh really good ideas about advancing um historical

[109:02] preservation in general in the space and I'm just wondering if you could um uh think give an answer to let's say it's not we don't go ahead with this what what stands in the way of you know nevertheless um as we redevelop the this the space in this area um to provide things to memorial memorialize our rich, diverse, and troubled history in the past and to, you know, continue to do that as we redevelop the um the area. I guess sort of a big question. Maybe maybe there's like some think pros and cons or I don't know. I'd be curious to hear what you think about that. Um well, the pros are that it um it unbburdens the parks department from being able to do uh with a free hand what um they desire to do. So for them that is a pro. Um and I tried to point out that that's also a con for uh potentially uh displacing historical

[110:03] character of the park like was proposed in 2015 when the bandell was proposed to be demolished when it was already a landmark. So I would say um the the primary benefit is it makes sure that your um highly intelligent and uh cautiously diplomatic uh preservation planners are uh at the table um to lend their expertise to make um the the design changes um proposed even more informed. I'm an architect. I believe that better informed clients result in better informed design and I think having the the um the preservation planners at the table because this is a historic district is the right thing to do and the best thing to do for the decision- making. Thanks, appreciate it.

[111:02] Yeah, this a really quick question. Uh I can't remember whether the benches at the band shell were landmarked or not. Yes, the the benches of the band shell which were built about 15 years after the the shell it was um itself are landmarked. Thank you. Seeing no other questions, uh Leonard, thanks again for the presentation. Thank you very much. And just hang around. Uh you do have the opportunity to rebut if you would like at the public hearing. Uh, okay. With that, I'm going to go ahead and open that public hearing. We've got 16 people signed up to speak and each of them will get two minutes. And Elisha, if you could go over the public participation guidelines, please. All right. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Elicia Johnson serving the city of Boulder as your records manager and city clerk. I'd like to go over our

[112:02] public participation at council meeting guidelines for your convenience. The city has engaged with community members to co-create a vision for productive, meaningful, and inclusive civic conversations. This vision supports physical and emotional safety for community members, staff, and council, as well as democracy for people of all ages, identities, lived experiences, and political perspectives. For more information about this vision and the community engagement processes, please visit our website at bouldercol.gov/services/productive atmospheres. The following are examples of rules of decorum found in the Boulder Revised Code and other guidelines that support this vision. These will be upheld during this meeting. All remarks and testimony shall be limited to matters related to city

[113:01] business. No participant shall make threats or use other forms of intimidation against any person. Obscinity, racial epithets, and other speech and behavior that it disrupts or otherwise impedes the ability to conduct the meeting are prohibited. Participants are required to sign up to speak using their name they are commonly known by and individuals must display their whole name before being allowed to speak online. Currently, only a audio testimony is permitted online. Again, thank you for joining us tonight. We're happy you're here and I'll turn it back over to you, mayor. Thank you, Alicia. All right, we'll go to our speakers. As I mentioned, you have two minutes each and our first three speakers are Patrick Aor, Pac Sich, and Joseph Stanick.

[114:08] There you go. Uh, good evening. Thank you, Marcy, Claire, and Aubrey, and the Boulder Landmarks Board for a comprehensive analysis of this district. I also want to thank the city staff for the yes recommendation in your packet. And finally, uh, to Lens Seagull for presenting a compelling story. This week, I've been in five different renowned communities in the United States. All five of them have historic districts and rely on historic tourism to survive. Santa Fe, what an amazing art scene, but it also has the challenges similar to Boulder. It has challenges of a displaced population of both the Hispanic and Native nations. What a great opportunity for a sister city. Bandelier, the PBLO nation. You can literally walk through history and yes, you don't change it and you don't

[115:01] talk about putting monuments up there. You preserve it. Los Alamos represents our nuclear age. And I'm calling you from Woodstock, Illinois. You might know it as the movie where Bill Murray did the Groundhog Day. I own the Woodstock Stock Exchange. And I believe that I'm walking the walk in historic preservation. But finally, the most important community is my historic beloved Boulder, where last week I took my brother's family to Chiakqua to go sledding, the tea house for lunch, and we spent the afternoon visiting the local stores on Pearl, specifically the local ones, Peppercorn and Liberty Puzzles, and of course, I went to coffee at Trident. Historic districts are good for business, education, our community. Boulder Civ Civic Historic District is the glue that combines all five historic buildings and the park into one cohesive understandable story. The creek identifies our native nations. The ditch

[116:00] represents the ar our agricultural community. Block 11 with the history of our displaced black community which should not be erased from history. Each of these different buildings tell a story of our collective history. Thank you. Patrick. Now we have Pacch, Joseph Stanick, and Katherine Bar. Okay. Uh, my last name is Sheets. Uh, I was surprised to learn that people claimed our central park had significantly changed from Mstead 100 years ago. I have two databased experiences for you to show their claim is untrue. First, my grandparents moved from Durango to Boulder in 1920. We have five generations, grandparents, parents, us, children, and grandchildren who have regularly used the park for picnics and events. Had any major

[117:00] changes occurred, we would have known about it and raised one hell of a fuss. Our family knows the integrity of the park has continued to today. And you have the opportunity to historically designate it to continue this hallowed tradition for generations of Boldrites who have not even been born yet. Second, I professionally document landscape uh persistence and change in the United States and Latin America. I distinguish human-caused changes from inadvertent ones, those caused by natural forcing, and interpret the interactions among them. It is easy to determine if major changes have occurred over the century by detailed comparison of Olmstead's park with actual conditions today. I took his map to the park, examined it closely, and found that the majority of the park area is reassuringly intact. Historical designation does not obiate

[118:00] minor changes and adjustments. It does protect against major and dramatic changes that threaten its integrity. You have the opportunity tonight to do that designation to keep it in the center of our functioning community. And I personally want to be available to any of you to walk the park with Mstead's maps and let's take a close look. Let's test it. Let's not just assert, let's use the data, walk it, see it, appreciate it, and decide the right thing. Thank you. Thank you, Pace. And apologies, your name was misspelled in my list. Now, we have Joseph Spanic, Stanic, and Katherine Bar and Franches. Good evening. I'm very pleased to have this opportunity to meet you all online and to speak. I am Joe Stanic and my wife is

[119:03] Carolyn Holmes Stanic. We live at 720 11th Street in a home that is twice landmarked. It's a historic family home. We have a a longtime connection to the Central Park neighborhood and we strongly support the proposed historic district in this civic central area. My involvement in the neighborhood centers on the sister cities and the establishment of the tea house. They are a tangible manifestation of Boulder's commitment to peaceful relations in our community and beyond. I believe the proposed new historic district would expand on this work to create bridges of understanding among diverse populations. The buildings and park areas illustrated an almost continuous timeline of the history of Boulder. The district would educate about the stories of disenfranchised people in this area,

[120:00] including indigenous people, black Americans, and impoverished citizens. The writings on the wall of our Tate Municipal Building says it well. Promoting peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation. one individual, one community at a time. Two of the buildings in the proposed historic district manifest this promise of peace. The municipal building with its sister city's plaza and the Duchamp Bay tea house from a former Soviet country to jigstan. These structures contribute to our history to peace and support the arts for tourism and for business. Their linkages with the other properties in the proposed historic dis district would create an even more powerful message of hope and peace. Boulder is very fortunate that the city has been a good steward of the properties in this

[121:00] neighborhood. Creating historic district there would reinforce the city's commitment to peace, diversity. Jose, your time is up, but thank you very much for your testimony. All right. Now we have Katherine Bar, Fran Sheets, and Kristen Lewis. Hello. Hello. We can hear you. Okay. Um, I'm wondering if you can see this list of uh before I start speaking, can you? It has this list that I put up on. Okay. So, I you the the council can look at this while I'm speaking. Uh my name is Katherine Bar. I'm a preservation architect who moved to Boulder in 1988. The list of city supported landmarks on the screen speaks to an amazing Boulder

[122:02] preservation success story. Various city councils over the years have honored and protected cityowned buildings by landmarking them. Preserving the historic identity of Boulder while encouraging change and growth is one of the many reasons our city is held in high regard in Colorado and nationally. This evening you are being asked to continue and expand this legacy of success. The pro the proposal before you is to create an historic district that includes five already landmark structures highlighted in red on the screen. They are located in and surrounding Central Park with its more than 100year-old trees. Some have wondered if establishing an historic district would prevent any changes in the park as our community needs and aspirations evolve. That is emphatically

[123:02] not the case. This historic district will give a cohesiveness to the area, enable transparency and cooperation as the design process for the east book end moves forward. The downtown historic district on Pearl Street, landmarked in 1999, is a busy, vibrant, commercially successful area where new construction and alterations have been added to many of Pearl Street's historic buildings. At the February 7th Landmark Board designation hearing, a request was made by Boulder County NAACP to expand the district boundary to the west and a request that the name be changed to the Water Street Historic District. I support these changes and close by thanking you for the work you do to keep Boulder a very special place. Thank you, Pepp. Now we have Fran Sheets, Kristen Lewis, and Scott

[124:00] Hullwick. I got to shut this down. Can you shut it down? Hi. Can you hear me? Yes. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, great. Let me just just just one second. Okay. Okay. I think you still have an echo. Shoot. We do. You might turn your um speaker volume down. We can still hear you from the microphone, but it might eliminate the echo. Is that better? Yeah. Okay, great. Because I can't hear you very well at all. Um my name is Fran Mandel Sheets and I've lived in Boulder since 1974. I'm a former member and chair of the landmarks board. Many of us have been

[125:00] working in support of this historic district designation for two years, and it's impossible to encapsulate all we've learned in two minutes. But I would like to remind all of Boulders's us all of Boulder's preservation ordinance and of the preservation plan. The plan is recent, written in 2013, and revised in 2019. The preservation plan says Boulder's history contributes to the city's environmental, social, and his and economic sustainability. And the plan helps maintain a high quality of life. The plan says, I quote, "The district as an entity should show character, interest, or value as part of development, heritage, or cultural characteristics of the community, state or nation, be the site of historic or prehistoric events that have had an effect on upon society, or exemplify the cultural, political, economic, or social heritage of the community?" unquote. What place in Boulder better meets the city's own requirements? To designate this area now will make for

[126:03] better insightful, sustainable, and creative development. By giving preservation a place at the table, it shows Boulder not only lives by its progressive reputation, but is still on the forefront of change. As a community, we stand by our heritage, our quality of life, while meeting current needs. Historic district Districts make for better community. Districts offer people further understanding of where they live and work. They offer opportunity to participate, to have a voice, making the whole community stronger and inclusive. Please designate the heart of Boulder tonight. Thank you so much. Thank you. Now we have Kristen Lewis, Scott Hullwick, and Steuart Ward. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. My name is Kristen Lewis. I'm an architect for 25 years. My office has

[127:02] been located nearby on 14th Street. My walking commute is along Boulder Creek through Central Park. I have experienced over many years its decline and resurgence and feel it is definitely the heart of our city. Much of my practice has been on individual landmarks or in historic districts. There have been there has been mention of additional delay the extra review will impose on future proposals in the civic area district and the important structures are already landmarked. So a district is unnecessary. In fact, delays associated with design review are minimal and are offset by the exchange of information generated by them. The discussion of context and important features is beneficial to the applicants as well as the community. It helps to reinforce our sense of place. At the start of design process, knowing there are some district guidelines will

[128:00] greatly inform future applicants. An individual landmark is usually an island. an individual landmark in a district is much more impactful because of the supporting environment and will be an opportunity to tell the story of Boulder. Um, and I just want to mention as a design professional looking at the original Mstead park design, I'm impressed how much the original plan is still intact. The Mstead firm was instrumental in providing groundwork for some of the most important features Boulder has to offer. We can thank Olmstead for the idea of a linear park along Boulder Creek, establishing view corridors in their civic park design, citing the municipal building, and suggesting other civic structures. In addition, the firm suggest suggested establishing parks throughout the city, saving the mountain backdrop, and addressing flood issues. I urge this council to strongly support the historic district designation proposed by the landmark board. The

[129:00] civic center is our heart and designation is a wonderful opportunity to preserve and inform about our past history as we embrace the future. Thank you very much. Thank you. Now we have Scott Hullwick, Stuart Lord, and Bob Mle. Can you hear me, Mr. Mayor? Yes. Thank you, sir. Uh, good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members, my name is Scott Hullwick. I'm an attorney in specializing in water rights at Burm Lions Gatis PC in Longmont. Our address is 515 Kimbark Avenue. I'm here tonight in my capacity as councel for the Boulder and Lefthand Irrigation Company, the Boulder and White Rock Ditch and Reservoir Company, and the North Boulder Farmers Ditch Company. Each of these three companies is a mutual ditch and reservoir company under Colorado statute

[130:01] and each was formed prior to Colorado statethood. The companies own separate vested water rightites that divert from the north bank of Boulder Creek at a location just east of the current Broadway Street Bridge and within the proposed historic area designation. The ditch through which these water rights are conveyed is owned and operated by the companies and also the owner of the water rights decreed to the Smith and Goss ditch and the McCarti ditch which are private ditches. The ditch runs east from that diversion headworks through Central Park and the existing Box Culver under 13th Street where it then passes between the Dashambi tea house and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. The separate water rights continue down ditch for use throughout the city and the county. The city uses the ditch and calls and refers to it as the Boulder Slooh for storm water management. And the city is a shareholder to each of the three companies using its sharewater for

[131:00] municipal purposes including irrigation of the city-owned open space lands. The ditch companies wanted to make sure that the city council knew how appreciative they were of the collaborative efforts by the city and by the public works department to help craft protective language for the ditch company's easement and property rights through this process and agree that the language and in particular section five of the proposed ordinance works very well for the ditch companies as it did when we did the dashi ordinance several years back. Thank you for your audience and I appreciate your time. Thank you. Now we have Stuart Lord, Bob Muckle, and Lynn Seagull. Ladies and gentlemen of the city council, my name is Stuart Lord. Can you

[132:00] hear me? Yes. I am an executive member of the NAACP. Imagine a Boulder where every step you take is imbued with the rich tapestry of history. Where every corner tells a story of resilience, struggle, and triumph. Picture walking through Water Street Park. Where the echoes of the past mingle with the whispers of the present. Where the spirit of our ancestors beckon us to honor the legacy. If you choose to make a decision, we urge you to consider the recommendation put forth by the landmarks board. We were heartened to hear and see that they embraced our desire to include block 11 and naming the park Water Street Park. This decision is not just about preserving buildings and landscapes. It's about honoring the lives and experiences of Boulder's first black settlers. Even if the decision that you make today

[133:01] is not in favor, we want you to imagine. Imagine the possibilities. Imagine the pride of future generations as they stroll down Water Street, knowing that the city had the courage to embrace its history and pave the way for a more inclusive future. Today, as you deliberate on this crucial decision, we ask you to envision a boulder that celebrates diversity, embraces its past, and strives toward a better tomorrow. Let us seize this opportunity to create a legacy of unity, understanding, and progress. Thank you for your attention, and let us move together with courage, compassion, and wisdom. Thank you. Thank you. Now we have uh Bob Muckle, Lynn Seagull, and Dan Corson. I'll ask like everyone has uh can you

[134:00] hear me? Yes. Thank you. So uh so thanks city council for this opportunity to uh present to you. I'm Bob Muckle. I'm the immediate past president of historic Boulder. I want to start by thanking the staff uh the preservation staff for the work that they did on this project. Um I don't know many how many hundreds of hours they spent on this uh both on research and outreach and um I I really think they're to be commended for the excellent work. I read a lot of staff reports in my 16 years on the Lewisville City Council and this is a very good one by any standard. So thanks to the staff. A number of you filled out a questionnaire that we sent out from historic Boulder to candidates in the last election and the majority of you actually said that you would support this a district like this. I'd say what's what has changed since then is that we know it's even a better district than we thought at the time

[135:00] because the re of the research done by the staff and it really is an opportunity to tell the uh story of underprivileged groups and displaced groups over time uh really supporting the city's diversity, equity and inclusion goals. So I've heard the argument that we don't need a dis the district uh that it'll just add bureaucracy and slow down processes. I urge you to think about that differently. It's not a city's job to be efficient. It's a job it's its job to provide services and to meet the needs of all the citizens and make good decisions. In my eight years of mayor as the mayor of Lewisville, I learned the best decisions were the ones that were the most collaborative and the most inclusive. Voting for this district won't prevent change. It probably won't even slow down change, but will bring the voice of preservation to discussions about the future of Central Park and make for better decisions. Could you do this without the district? Maybe, but

[136:02] it'll be better with the district. Thanks very much for your time. Thank you. Now we have Lynn Seagull, Dan Corson, and Andrew Grant. I do not see Lynn online, but Lyn, if you are here, please let me know by using the raise hand function or reaching out to me in the Q&A box. We'll come back to her if she comes back. So, we have Dan Corson then. Got it. Okay. Thanks. Besides my years on the Boulder City Council, I've had a career in the field of historic preservation. My experience tells me that this area would qualify not only as a local historic district but also a national one because of its historic significance. I want to assure you that the historic district designation of this area including Central Park will not prohibit additional development. You can see that in what has occurred in other districts with city ownership, namely Shiitaka and downtown Boulder. In

[137:02] Chiakaco, recent alterations have included improvements to the playground, contemporary dark sky lighting, a structure for trash recycling and compost, a restroom structure outside of the auditorium, kiosk, and solar panels on two cottages which the owners requested. The Ranger Cottage was built in the 1980s, years after the 1978 designation. Downtown was designated a national register historic district in 1980 with local designation coming lady. Later, the landscape elements of the Pearl Street Mall have and uh the solar panels on the courthouse were approved through the city's landmark program. As you may know, the state of Colorado has an initiative through the governor's Colorado 150 commission to designate 150 new historic sites associated with underrepresented groups by the time of the state cesentennico sesquentennial in 2006. our civic center area historic district whatever it's called would be an excellent addition in line with that initiative by including

[138:01] block 11 in any designation our central park has some similar similarities with central park in New York which was a swamp a swampy area it flooded we have a creek that flooded um lots of buildings have been built including as late as 2020 uh structure to commemorate the leaders in the civil rights movement um but in New York they're also considering a way to commemorate within the park the displaced persons which included an African-American settlement similar to what we're proposing this evening. The council's message to the community by approving this historic district will be that any changes to the area will honor this historic core of the community. Thank you very much and sorry I went two seconds over. Appreciate that. Now we have Andrew Brandt, Daniel Howard, and Aiden Fletcher. Uh, good evening, council members. Uh, my name is Andrew Brandt, and I'm here to speak in favor of your vote to adopt

[139:00] the historic district in downtown Boulder. Um, I've already submitted a lengthy essay stating in detail why this designation is so important, why the history that's been uncovered during the investigation into this area raises major concerns about Boulder's past mistreatment of its earliest black residents, and why I think you should support designation as a way to counter that historic injustice as an explicitly anti-racist act. So, I won't try to summarize what I've already sent to you. Instead, I'd like to make this point. There's nothing in the landmark designation that says that the historic district has to be the same as it was a hundred years ago. There's also nothing in the Boulder Revised Code that says a designated district may never change in the future. Adopting this designation will not hinder the beneficial development of the park. It will not mean that parks and wreck cannot mow the grass or plant a tree or, god forbid, build a public restroom in Central Park or make modifications to the grassy area next to the main library. The irony is not lost on me that the arguments

[140:01] against designation in favor of development mirror the words of those people 100 years ago whose actions destroyed this community. There is no question that this area has special historic value. We should not decide which history is written and which one is erased. And my greatest concern here is that a vote to deny this designation will just perpetuate the systemic and institutional racism that led to this community's eraser in the first place. So, I believe that you will do the right thing and vote in favor of designation, and I certainly hope that you do. Thank you so much. And thank you to your conscientious look into this process. And thank you to the historic designation staff, the the landmarks board for their work on this. Thank you. Now we have Daniel Howard, Aiden Fletcher, and Tim Blass. Uh, thank you. Uh, thank you, city

[141:00] council. I am in a complicated position regarding this historic designation depending on how the history of this place would be told. To first re reiterate, I already agree with the parks and rec board as it's unclear the value of historic district preservation in this context, especially given the already existing landmark status of multiple buildings within the area. In any case, I'm in concerned about the intention to maintain Frederick Law Mstead's vision of the space. Though I do currently value the rich history here in the present public benefits of a park space he design that mitigates flood risks. I worry solidifying Mstead's visions and likely visas his plans was enacted in that area. For example, the Lions Club donated $20,000 to to fund improvements of the park in 1938 while the same time funding a nearby community pool which only allowed white people to use it. to highlight Mstead first vote in his improvement of Boulder report referenced in your packet that our object is in all cases to achieve order with a capital O. If possible a supreme instance of order which will be beautiful. At the time order meant racial order and thus the creation of the park was the result of an intentional effort to displace people of color and marginalized groups as you already learned were housed there earlier in earlier presentations. So I

[142:00] leave you with a choice. If you feel this district furthers telling the stories of the dis of this displacement so we build Boulder community can confront that history meaningfully and be better for it then this is a worthwhile district to preserve. However, if this district is meant to maintain or even celebrate Olmstead's vision and further exclusion of low-inccome and racial minority people in our community perhaps by complicating the creation of housing or adaptive reuse of properties within or abiding this area then I would amend this proposal toward centering that that uh narrative or outright deny the application. I will leave you with a quote from the opening keynote at Boulder Saving Places Conference a few months ago, first written relating to the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act. If the pres if the preservation movement is to be successful, it must go beyond saving bricks and mortar. It must go beyond saving occasional historic houses and opening museums. It must be more than a cult of antiquarians. Must do more than reverse a few precious national review of few precious precious national shrines. must attempt to give a sense of orientation to our society using structures and objects of the past to establish the values of time and place. So let us not be a cult of antiquarians

[143:00] and preserve the value of a place in its stories. I hope your vote today moves towards achieving this goal. Thank you. Thank you. Now we have Aiden Fletcher, Tim Plass and Nick Forester. Good. Good evening everyone. My name is Aiden Fletcher. I am a sophomore at CU Boulder at the Le School of Business. The latest report from Colorado Preservation Incorporation, which was funded by the state and provides insights into historic preservation, revealed that in 2015, 21% of tourists visited historic sites. This marked a significant increase from the previous year, 2014, where the percentage of heritage tourism was 16%. While the next report isn't expected for a couple more years, it's reasonable to speculate that this is a positive trend. Assuming a conservative estimate that the percentage remains steady at 21%, it can be inferred that approximately $29 million of Boulder's $137 million in

[144:03] retail sales tax revenue from 2022 likely came from heritage tourism. This $29 million figure is compelling evidence to prioritize and expand Boulder's preservation program, recognizing its potential as a powerhouse for revenue generation. Boulder's most popular tourist destinations, as evidenced by online searches and visitation, include Chiakqua Park, Pearl Street Mall, Desambe Tea House, the Farmers Market, BM OCA, and the Creek Path. Many of these attractions converge at the Civic Center. Additionally, architecture and design enthusiasts enthusiasts represent another type of visitor. As a member of this group, I can confidently attest that these visitors will act actively seek out homemstead sites, establishing a new historic district as the potential to attract even more visitors to Boulder, leading to increased sales for hotels, restaurants, and shops, job

[145:00] creation, and a boost in sales tax revenue. Thank you. Thank you. Our last two speakers are Tim Plas and Nick Forester. Hi, my name is Tim Plass and I live at 655 Maxwell Avenue and I'm speaking to you tonight in support of the creation of the Civic Area Historic District. The application clearly meets the criteria for designation. The staff presentation, the exhaustive packet for the item, as well as the presentation from historic Boulder establish that the historic district requirements are met. I think the proposal is of particular significance because the city is the owner of the property and it's an issue that it's near and dear to my heart because I served formerly on the landmarks board, the planning board, and the city council. Um, so what happens to the city properties um is is important to me. Leading by example is hugely important for the integrity of the preservation program. Uh, the city needs

[146:00] to walk the walk. To do otherwise will set a poor example. If the council decides not to create a historic district when presented with a clearly eligible resource, I ask you to consider what message that sends to private property owners with historic properties as the city moves forward with implementing the preservation plan. The mandate for the city to be a leader in the pres in preservation has been memorialized in multiple planning documents, including the comp plan. Let's honor that commitment. So, I ask the council to be the leader that our planning documents envision and that and to approve the historic district that's before you tonight. Thank you so much. Thank you. And I see we have Lynn Seagull back now. So, we'll do Nick Forester and then Lyn Seagull as our last speaker.

[147:05] Nick, your mic is open if you'd like to unmute. Nick, looks like you're still muted on your side. Uh, let's see. How about we go to Lynn and then we'll come back to Nick. Yeah, Lynn here. Yeah. Um, I hardly support this historic district. The economic revenue to the city will be high for keeping this space. Um, I'm passionate about saving buildings. Um, very upset lately about a 30,000 square

[148:00] foot one that is was going to breeze through the LDRC and luckily made it to the LB and another one that was taken down. But this is a whole district and it's very integral to Boulder and it's the center of town which is like the most important space and having a lot of development there without the borders that have been established um does not do anything but increase homelessness in Boulder. And having this space there will actually benefit homelessness making it less making the community more with more vitality. Um so let's see regarding other issues um the you know the central part of it the farmers market the all of the things that it draws to bring to the city cu being nearby um uh it's it's what's curious to me is why

[149:04] this has been debated so much h why wasn't this just a matter of fact that this just happens a long time ago. Um, and as far as this the discrimination and the past of the history of it, it's ironic that a lot of homeless or lowincome people lived in this area. And the best way we can remember it now is to change that hopefully because some things are are not good to have in our society. And I'm passionate about stopping development, which only increases homelessness, the illusion of affordable housing, the low-income housing tax credit, bribes by the federal government that just makes homelessness worse, and this is something that will make it better. Lyn, your your time is up, but thank you for your testimony. All right, let's go back to Nick Forester.

[150:04] How about now? Is that Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Great. Thank you. I um I share the concerns of all the people and I appreciate the work that city um staff has received from the planning staff and from so many in the community. And uh I simply come from a perspective of someone who's excited about the range of possibilities for the development of the east end of the civics plaza. And uh and again I I feel like there is an opportunity to have a little more community engagement and respect the master plan that would ultimately allow for some more involvement engagement around how this part of Boulder, which I absolutely agree is the hub of our town, will ultimately be developed and and um or preserved. And again, I'm a I am a fan

[151:01] of historic preservation. I've lived in West Boulder for decades, and I appreciate the efforts of everyone behind this. I simply question the timing and whether or not there's been an opportunity to get enough community engagement and to respect the process of largecale planning behind the eventual highest and best use of the east end of the civic plaza. So, uh, my question is, is there an opportunity given the fact that these buildings have already been been designated as historic as has the band shell, is there an opportunity to introduce another layer of civic input as we finish the uh, planning for that east book end? And that's my that's my comment and my concern. Thank you. Thank you. All right, that's all the speakers we have signed up. So, I will go ahead and close the public hearing. And the next step in the quasi judicial hearing process is to give the applicant

[152:01] a chance to rebut any of the testimony from the public hearing if they so choose. Uh, Leonard. Yes. Thank you very much. Um, and thank you everybody um for all the opinions that were voiced tonight. They're all beneficial for this process. Um, I did want to uh reach out to two people um to address some concerns. Daniel Howard brought brought up the concern about Mstead and um order and uh casting uh doubt that um Mstead was a racist and um uh first of all there's no examples of that in Boulder. In fact, of the five parks that he initially proposed for Boulder, one of them is current day Emma Martinez Park, which is located right near the Little Rectangle, which is the primary African uh American and Latino community. So, it was in the heart of a working-class um in minority neighborhood. Um and um I did attend the

[153:00] CPI conference and I did um it was held in Boulder um for the second year in a row. Um and um the cult of antiquarian umism came up and uh historic Boulder actually had a a presentation to talk about how historic preservation is relevant to respond to issues of affordable housing of sustainability of equity diversity and inclusion and many other things that we and the city have been working on for years um in Boulder. So we are not antiquarians. We are uh progressiveminded people and we are hoping that um this district will help point the way for um uh demonstrating progress and and helpfulness. And then um Nick Forester um I appreciate um his work over the years in creating um his his world um of uh um Etown and um and

[154:00] community engagement is something that everybody wants and that by including this as a historic district and making this happen, it gives an opportunity for the public to weigh in on conversations about changes which are allowed and in fact historic preservation doesn't um limit the uses of buildings. Um adaptive reuse is one of the major benefits that we see happening with old buildings and old properties. Um one case um an example that didn't get um a fair share for public um review was the demolition of the Harvest House, a major large uh historically significant place. So, we believe that creating this historic district will give the public more of an opportunity for the kind of discourse and engagement um than it would if it didn't go forward. Thank you very much. Thanks for that. All right. So, I'm

[155:01] going to bring it back to council and I'll just say check in if anybody has any clarifying questions just if we can keep those narrow and focused though if they do exist. Yes, Nicole. Thank you. Um, and thanks so much to everybody for the presentation and for speaking. Um, my question actually, I think this is probably just such a recent question. Just want to make sure I'm fully understanding and check my understanding about what we're about to do. Um, because we don't have too many of these policy judicial hearings. Um, if I'm understanding correctly, we cannot consider whether we agree or disagree with the criteria. We are just deciding on whether the criteria are met or not. Is that correct? Yes, that's exactly right. Um so uh an opinion that you disagree with a particular criteria uh could be taken up perhaps sometime later at a legislative time. Um but right now you're simply applying the the evidence of the hearing before you to those criteria that are

[156:00] established in the code. Tina and then Tara. Yeah, I think and maybe Nicole's question is going to help me a little bit. So, um, just in terms of my thinking because my question is a lot of this for me is about the the story and the history of Boulder and elevating that history in a way that's um, highly accessible to people throughout the city of Boulder. And I'm wondering in this when we and because the history has been a a lot of this conversation, but that history doesn't exist and there hasn't been that investment made into the storytelling that we need. Is it fair to ask whether there's a budget baked into this to guarantee the storytelling piece? Let's see. I guess Teresa might look to

[157:01] you, but I think you could ask that question for followup, but that that would I don't don't believe that should be a part of the decision that's made the criteria. Perfect. That's Thank you. Jar, is it fair to ask Teresa, if we do don't do this tonight, can we push it off until after, uh, we reimagine the civic area? So, procedurally, um, there are a couple of options in front of council. You can have a motion and vote tonight. You could continue a public hearing to a date certain in the future where you will consider this. However, the code does require that you take this decision up within a specified amount of time. And um I'm afraid I don't within 75 days of the date of any

[158:03] decision of the by the landmarks board, you all have to have acted. So you wouldn't be able to continue this um for for many months or even a year if that were the case. Um well proceed procedurally an option would be to deny which would then foreclose another application for a year. Um after which time a new application could come forward. And so I think those are just laying out each of your procedural options. That's what those are. So I guess in other words, tariff to do something like what you described that would require denying the the application at this time with with the possible possibility of it coming back sometime in the future. Think Terry, does that answer your question? Okay, that's that's all the questions I got. Um T, if you don't mind. There we

[159:01] go. Um, and so yeah, just to the as we've just heard, but I'll just remind everybody that what's in front of us is uh whether or not uh this proposed historic district meets the criteria uh in our code for the designation of a historic district. And so that's what we're considering tonight. And I will now open it up for council discussion. Um who would like to get us started? Lauren, I apologize ahead of time. This is a little bit lengthy. Oh boy. So, I commend staff for their use of the racial equity instrument in this process. I also appreciate staff's recommendation to approve, but in the future, I would appreciate more support in coming to our own conclusions. This means including both pros and cons, particularly related to the design criteria to the to our decision criteria. Sorry. For the three main questions we are

[160:01] asked to weigh in this decision, I have the following comments. When considering would this de designation protect, enhance, and perpetuate a property reminiscent of past eras, events, and persons, I find this historic district is not necessarily beneficial in preserving and transmitting this important heritage. The structures in this area have already been landmarked and are not in need of protection. The city owns the land and should elevate the stories of historically marginalized populations regardless of this designation and historic preservation has been used to perpetuate injustice. Because of this, I have concerns that the stories of displacement and disregard for both people and our natural ecosystems will not be equitably captured and conveyed. the structure of our historic preservation process, the kinds of information that are typically captured

[161:01] and the ways it is conveyed are not conducive to telling these stories equitably. In regard to the question, does the proposed application develop and maintain appropriate settings and environments for such buildings? I find it telling that there is disagreement about the boundary we are talking about, the time period we are preserving and the heritage we are trying to capture. All of these have evolved during the application process and different parties have come to different conclusions on these elements. Given the original Olmstead plan was altered, I don't find the landscape maintains historic value in its own right. Because of the lack of unifying character in the built environment, I think that any set of design guidelines will be difficult to administer. I worry that the ambiguity they create will create an opportunity to attack and postpone changes that would be beneficial to our community

[162:02] under the guise of historic preservation. and that this will be used as a tool by those who have traditionally benefited from historic preservation to maintain the status quo. Given the need for improved infrastructure such as bathroom facilities, noise mitigation for the band shell, wetland restoration, and the need for more engaging outdoor placemaking in this area, I find that creating a landmark district would not help with the enhancement, but instead give one point of view disproportionate power in upcoming discussions around the changes and adaptations needed to better serve our community. In regard to whether this proposal is in balance aligned with the goals of the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan, I find that it is not. Of particular note to me was a map that includes potentially eligible historic districts and takes up a and shows those as taking

[163:02] up a large portion of the downtown area. This location is noticeably missing from that map. Under 2.31 historic preservation tools, it talks about using the proper tool to address the specific needs of a unique area. And given the lack of unifying historic character, I do not believe that this is the proper tool for this specific area. I strongly support the city continuing the work it has started in capturing and elevating the stories that are not traditionally captured or celebrated by historic pro preservation. And I would support pursuing the renaming of block 11 as water street park. But I do not find this proposal in line with our guidelines for establishing historic district designation. Thank you.

[164:01] that. Well, that's that's a tough one to follow. Uh Lauren knocked that out of the park. Um and and conveyed much of what I was going to say. My the area for me that was that I'm I'm that's problematic for me is uh BRC9-11. Um that question B on enhancing property value, stabilizing neighborhoods, and promoting um uh tourist trade and interest. I I'm I'm struggling how we're going to get there um with this district um and and the nature of you know the buildings are already protected and so what we're protecting are blades of grass and I'm struggling with how that meets the standards um that that that are set forth in both the voter revised code and the comp plan. Um so um but Lauren I I can't say much more. Lauren uh did an outstanding job laying out that that that argument and that perspective and I appreciate her for saying that. Uh that Nicole and then I'm gonna call in myself. Um ditto to the comments uh to Lauren's

[165:01] comments um plus one to many of those. Um and I really appreciate the work by staff and the applicant here. Um I do find that the criteria is not met um for me because I don't find this district to have a special character and distinct section of the city due to the incomplete history and significant changes to the design and due to lacking integrity. So um thank you again for uh the work and um I I will be voting now. Now I see Taiisha is in so Taiisha you go and then then I'll call on myself after that. Sorry Erin. Thank you so much. Um again I echo um the com comments of my colleagues. Um, and I actually wanted to give a thanks to um, Council Member Folkarts for the recommendation around um, designating Water Street Park, which I um, didn't even think of as an option. So, I appreciate um, putting that on the table as something that I can support wholeheartedly. Um, but I also, again, um, you know, if we're going to tell the

[166:01] history and make this historic, I I would be remiss if, you know, I am, um, you know, I know what it's like to be erased. And so, it's wonderful to get Black 11 and and have that rich history of of of, um, African and black Americans here. Um, I will say though, again, you know, to Daniel Howard's comments, they were not there because they wanted to be. It was a swamp. So if we did um include block 11, that is not in the character of what it was. Um and therefore I would rather support water park and the opportunity to um you know envision other ways that we can honor um the rich history and diverse history that we have here. I'm also hopeful to have more indigenous voice um and tribal voice in these conversations and um and so therefore um you know I I would not be able to support this in totality but I would be I'd be will I would be willing to consider after uh we have um you know

[167:02] done the work with with the civic area and um had more engagement in our both our tribal and indigenous um community and um um ancestral stores of this land. Thank you, Aisha. All right, I'll call on myself and then Ryan and Tina. Um well, Lauren, you did an extraordinary job there with that analysis of the criteria is extremely well documented. I I'm not going to agree with your interpretation though. Uh forgive me, but um I did I do feel like actually staff's analysis of the criteria was really detailed and spot-on. An enormous amount of work went into getting to this point and an enormous amount of analysis uh which you know we we saw documented in Marcy's presentation. I particularly loved the story map. Yeah. I I thought that was so compelling as a way to learn about the area and I remember in in going through that um I was thinking about whether this should be designated as a historic

[168:00] district and found um you know the information in that really compelling. uh much of that history has been erased and I agree with my colleagues that there are multiple ways of acknowledging that but I feel like the designation of this district as the water street historic district would be an excellent uh way of um both offering some level of preservation and review but also acknowledgement of the kind of rich history um much of which no longer has visible remnants um if we particular if we include block 11. Um, so I I I think the the criteria analysis by staff was was spot on. And I think if we designate this as a district, we can take all of those materials um that have been created as part of that and roll it into the designation of the district and then um roll that out in interpretive format um into um into the Central Park area. uh which I think would make for a really compelling story for about the the past both the the the written past and the and the erased past uh that we could

[169:00] then make visible to our residents going forward. So I would support the creation of the district. Uh okay, I got um Ryan. Thank you again, Marcy, for leading us through this process and synthesizing and presenting so much. I'm so impressed by your work. Um, and I also uh really appreciate the novel use of the racial um equity instrument here. I'm also very grateful for so many people coming together to contribute so much love and research um to this um and I would um so leave it at that. Um, no matter what we do, we should be very thoughtful about memorializing our rich, diverse, and troubled past here. Um, and so much so many ideas and and research have come together through for this process that whether we go forward or not with formal landmarking, we we've

[170:01] hopefully can channel this as much as possible. Um and so I have concerns. I um I when I look at the the question of the goals and the balance of B the BBCP um I just think in the in the you know we we've already started a process of thinking about what can the future of this area look like? And some of the comments that city council provided staff in I think it was December um was to to reimagine this space to modernize it so that we can create a model for accessibility that will reduce the the need for vehicle miles um and car dependence. And I um I think that that that foreclosing options, which would certainly be part of this, is is in in conflict with um uh with with trying to do that. And um I I also think kind of ironically some

[171:01] of our greatest levers to return the the neighborhood area to a place that is more human centered, calmer without such a large throughput of vehicle traffic. We will have the most chance to do that if we start with greatest set of options um first. Um, and so what I I don't see in the analysis is how to how to think about that opportunity cost. Um, but I think it's absolutely material and um, it's our job to be thoughtful of. So that's my first concern. My second concern is on the question of historical integrity. I just think, you know, we have I I know that we're doing the best we perhaps can at this point, but I just I just feel like I'm hearing a a selective reading of history um with a selective representation of who's telling the story. And um I um yeah, leave it at that. I guess I

[172:01] would also I think this was sorry I think this maybe Warren I thought made an excellent point that the um the perimeter and the area of this is seems to be changing as it goes or or what's up for consideration and I just it just feels a little bit muddy that this is a um an intact coherent um integrity of history and I do I you know we talk I don't want to go down too much of a rabbit hole on transportation but I um I I I don't think that the that the level of automobile throughput that is that is transsecting and bisecting and and cruising around this whole space making it hard to hear difficult to in some cases feel like it's even comfortable to be there. I don't think that is that is a historical um representation. Um so I from a historical integrity standpoint I have challenges. I would also just say I would like to acknowledge the board the board members um who have weighed in on this and and suggested challenges. Um so

[173:02] I I'm going to be a no. Um I I do though separately want to just emphasize that that um that you know I've heard some people say that that we have to get this right in order to create such a a good space that's good for tourism and visitors. And I agree with that. And I think the way to do that to do that right is is to is to to not restrict our options from the beginning, but to give this to I guess it's um parks and rec director Ali Roads team um to continue on with the process of considering our full set of options taking in all the input here given that the city owns the land. I this is we are not in an imminent um risk of of losing losing history. So city owns this property. What we do do then is collect the best set of recommendations, incorporate into design, ideally have historic pres planners at the table if we can do that. Um, and and do our best to bring this um not only to memorialize our important and rich history. Um, but also to bring

[174:00] it to a calmer and more more human humane space that is more in keeping with um times of the past at least at least to some of us. Thanks. Thanks, Ryan. Right. Um, I'm not seeing any other hands raised right now. I mean, I'll just say it it's sounds like this probably doesn't have support, but it's been a long enough process I feel like it's it's worth um making a motion on this if people would indulge me on it and then we can just uh have have a vote um and and go on from there if that's all right. So, I will go ahead and move to adopt ordinance 8627 designating the area as shown in exhibit A. Um it uh including uh except adding the block 11 area to be noted as the water street historic district as a historic district under chapter 911 historic preservation BRC1981 and setting forth related details any seconds all right um so much I guess that's that's the end

[175:02] of that then no vote Um, okay. Well, I'll just I'll just say um I mean Teresa, right? Correct me if I'm wrong, but that that ends it, right? Without a second. There's I think we have to. So, procedurally, I I don't know how you could take a motion forward without a second. I I I do believe the code requires a yes or a no. Would I Chris Reynolds? you have to vote to deny. You're not going to vote. The city council um options are approve, approve with modifications or deny. And so got to take one of those uh one of those actions tonight. And good evening, council. Thank you. Yeah. Um so in other words, it doesn't have to be a motion to approve that then loses. It could be a motion to deny that wins, right? Would anyone else like to put a motion on the table?

[176:01] Warren, I move that we deny ordinance. Someone remind me of the name or number. It's 8627. 8627 and related details. And um Chris or Teresa, do we need an outline, a finding of facts to accompany that? So, mayor, the finding of facts can be developed over the next 45 days. Um, certainly we'll use the record from this uh to bring back some findings of facts for the approval of the council. Very good. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Got a motion and a second. Um, I know that we need further discussion. Uh, Elicia, could you do the role, please? This is a motion to deny. Yes, sir. Uh, the motion to deny

[177:00] ordinance 8627 will start with you, Mayor Brock. No. Council member Folks, yes. Marquis, yes. Shuhart, yes. Mayor Pro Tim Spear, yes. Council member Winer, yes. Adams. Yes, I didn't hear. Council member Adams. I heard a yes. Okay. Yeah, she said yes. All right. Thank you, Benjamin. Yes. All right. The motion to deny ordinance 8627 is hereby approved with a vote of 7 to one. All right, I think that finishes that out. I would just like um Lauren, I'll

[178:00] go ahead and call on you and then I'll say a few words. I did just want to clarify, you know, some of my comments around the memo. I really really appreciate the amount of detail and I think that the the work that has gone into this is not for not you know I think that there is a lot um of opportunity for us to bring forward this information um and to continue this research. I on my comment about the memo, it was just that under the um decision the our decision criteria, we only received um information in support of the criteria and I would really have liked to see both pros and cons regarding the criteria. Thank you. Thanks Tina and then Matt. Yeah, I I just wanted to thank all the people who worked on this and um reiterate how valuable the the education was for me from the different boards,

[179:02] from the group in the historic group um area and how critical what I learned tonight and through this process and through reading the packet will be as we evaluate future options for this area. I also don't I I absolutely agree that this is the heart of Boulder and it's a critical area. It's an area of connection. It's an area with a rich history. It's a troubled history and a racist history. Um and I hope to see that elevated in any um future changes made to the area. And I also hope we'll all be partnering together and um sharing this information and getting feedback through that process. So, um I am excited about the history of the area and also am um encouraged and and assured that the other the five buildings have already been landmarked. Um and who knows, maybe we will designated as a district in the future uh after we go through the parks and rec process. But I really appreciate everyone's feedback and all the um

[180:01] valuable comments that were made. Thanks, Matt and Tara. Uh oh, sorry. I appreciate the comments that have come before and I just want to say that I don't think this shouldn't foreclose the uh work about the rich history that's there. In fact, I think it should be just the beginning of of a lot of great work that we need to continue and any work we do in that space needs to be putting that history um both the the good the stuff we celebrate and the stuff that makes us uncomfortable um at the forefront of that work that we're doing. and and um you know at some point I think that there's an opportunity for um this historical district plan to to get a little bit more time in the hopper and build a much deeper rich history so that we actually have a real clear sense of what we're protecting, why, how, and for whom. Um and and I think that can come at a later date. So um but I I think we can build on the work that's done here and I don't think it means that in any way we start over. I think this is just the beginning of some great work to come

[181:01] in this area which as Tina pointed out is the heart of our community. I agree with uh what Matt said, but I also want to say that I learned so much about the history of this area. It was incredibly It was fascinating. It was reading everybody's opinions and the rich history and the knowledge that's here in this community was also um really magnificent. I will say though that for me I'm going to agree with Matt on timing and depth and it doesn't foreclose the future and I'm really looking forward to the events that we're having for Central Park should we rename it which that sounds like a great idea and um which I support and also the museum is having events which I'm also really looking forward to. This whole process made me even more excited about all the events that we're going to have this year celebrating our city.

[182:02] Thanks, Nuria. Just a quick comment, member uh mayor and council to say that um we as staff I know we're hearing you and wanted to confirm and reaffirm that this is just the beginning. We are hearing your comments. This work is not going to in vain. This is just the start. Not only are we hearing the comments of the work that has been done, but the work that is yet to come there. There are and have been um ancestral and indigenous voices that we want to bring into the conversation as well. We know that. But there is a rich rich history that frankly Marcy just thankful to you that you have brought up and lifted up that were really important um to to raise invisibility and we just really appreciate that as well. So know that we hear you and that we will continue to bring this forward. So wanted to just say that out loud and thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that Nia because I was I was just about to say well first

[183:01] of all to thank the staff for the amazing work and Marcy just you did a phenomenal job with this you and your team. I'm just so so grateful for all of that in-depth work and all the knowledge that we've gained and all the history that we've surfaced. And I know we just have we have to make sure and that while this designation isn't happening that that information and that knowledge is stays elevated and we continue to educate the community about the rich history that we know about and that we don't know about about this area. So just wanted to give you a huge thanks again. Um and as well I wanted to thank our board members who stuck with us uh tonight. I appreciate you joining us. It's been kind of a long evening so thank you for doing that. Um, and then the applicants also poured a huge amount of heart and soul and work into this. So, wanted to acknowledge that and recognize that as well. All right. And uh, with that, I think we can close this item um, and move on to our next matter item

[184:00] if we could please, Elicia. Yes, sir. Thank you. Our next item on tonight agenda is item number four, matters from the city manager. 4A is the vision zero action plan update. Thank you. Uh and tonight's discussion comes at council member Shuhart's request, but we know that city's vision zero efforts, efforts aimed at ensuring that no one in our community is killed or seriously injured in traffic crashes on our streets is shared by each and every one of you. And unfortunately, I'll say that the request really came after the tragic crash that killed one of our own community residents, 90-year-old Virginia Nolton when she was crossing the street at Broadway and Alpine. Tonight, you'll hear about the progress on the Vision Zero action plan, updates we'll be doing this year to some of our internal signal and crossing practices, a monumental safe streets for all grant, and how Vision Zero and CAN work hand inand to improve traffic safety. And you'll see in the analysis of crash data

[185:01] that the work we are doing is having and will continue to have a positive impact. Vision zero is a unifying priority for the city and we so appreciate your desire to lift that priority up as we saw as we were talking about that at the council retreat and in this um session in this matters item tonight. So with that, I will hand it over to our transportation and mobility team for the presentation and we are going straight to Devon. Good evening, council. Thank you very much. And uh it's my understanding the city clerk's team was going to run my presentation. Thank you. Well, good evening council members. My name is Devin Joslin. I'm the city's principal traffic engineer and thankfully like my dad, I'm also a night owl. Um, but it's been just over a year since I presented the Vision Zero Action Plan to you. And I'm here tonight to highlight transportation and

[186:01] mobility's tremendous progress in that time implementing the Vision Zero Action Plan. Since it is late, I know you might be interested. Um, the presentation should take about 20 minutes. Uh, next slide, please. I'll hit the highlights of each of these areas related to vision zero. In particular, I'll illustrate how the many work efforts within transportation and mobility are aligning to achieve a safer transportation system, both with anticipated near-term and longerterm projects. As you are likely frequently reminded, all of our work is grounded in the sustainability, equity, and resilience framework, particularly the objectives of a safe and accessible and connected city. In addition, the citywide strategic plan includes priority actions in support of achieving vision zero with within the SAR framework goal area of safe. Next

[187:00] slide. I'll now provide some history about Vision Zero within the within the city. Next slide. Boulder has been actively tracking and using crash data to inform and prioritize safety improvements for many years. The first edition of the Safe Streets Boulder Report was published in 2012 and summarized crash data from 2009 through 2011. Vision Zero was adopted in the 2014 transportation master plan and reaffirmed as a top priority in the 2019 TMP. Since 2012, transportation and mobility staff have prepared a total of four additions of the Safe Streets Boulder Report and two Vision Zero action plans. The most recent action plan draws upon all lessons learned from prior efforts and incorporates many national best practices for reducing crashes. It

[188:00] include it includes actions for the 5-year period from 2023 through 2027. I'll talk more about the action plan later, but these next few slides will give you better context about the crash trends in Boulder and how we are making progress. Next slide. This slide shows the past 15 years of crash history from 2009 through 2023. Total crashes have continued to decrease from the highest total in 2016. There was a 45% decrease in total crashes in 2023 compared to 2016. On average over the past 15 years, severe crashes account for approximately 2.3% of all crashes that occur each year. Severe crashes are those that result in serious injury or a fatality. The next few slides will provide additional context about how crash

[189:01] trends are tracking and how Boulder compares to other Front Range cities. Next slide. When comparing the most recent three-year crash data to crash data from 2018 through 2020, we see that five of 10 areas of concern decreased by five or 5% or more while only one in 10 areas of concern increased by 5% or more. That was crashes involving people riding a motorcycle. Thus, although the total number and total number of severe crashes occurring each year has held relatively steady, progress is being made in reducing severe crashes in many key areas of concern. Next slide. This slide shows that there has been a 30% decrease in total crash rate and a 12% deere decrease in severe crash rate in 2022 compared to 2018. when comparing

[190:01] crash rates calculated against million vehicle miles traveled. Next slide. This slide indicates that based on 2022 crash data, Boulder had the second lowest total and severe crash rates per 100,000 people among 10 of the most populous front range cities. Boulder also had the fewest fatal crashes with one, while the other cities had at least five or more. While zero remains the goal, this illustrates that Boulder is closer to achieving zero than many other front range cities and that the work we've been doing has had a positive impact. Next slide. I'll now provide an overview of the vision zero action plan. Next slide. This slide illustrates how the transportation and mobility and council work plan priorities such as the core arterial network remain one of our main

[191:00] strategies for achieving vision zero. The review of crash data indicates that arterials are where 67% of traffic crashes resulting in death and serious injury occur. Because most severe crashes are happening on our busiest streets, we couple connectivity improvements with vision zero safety improvements on the core arterial network to make the most of our limited resources and turn the dial on the top crash patterns. The relationship between vision zero and the core arterial network is a long-term commitment that spans multiple years infused in our multi-year capital improvement program and departmental work plan. Action three of the action plan specifically commits the city to implementing capital projects by 2027 to improve safety and comfort on the following CAN corridors that are also part of the high-risk network including Baseline Road, Iris Avenue, Arapjo Avenue, and Folsam Street.

[192:02] Additionally, the action plan identifies proven safety countermeasures such as protected bike lanes, protected intersections, and setback multi-use path crossings at candid as candidate treatments along these core arterial network corridors. Using crash data to guide decisions paired with a proactive approach is what will get us most efficiently and quickly to zero. It was the action plan that paved the way for the city to apply for and be awarded a monumental $23 million safe streets and roads for all grant, the largest grant of any kind in the city's history. Next slide. The vision zero action plan incorporated a systemic safety analysis. This national best practice focuses on identifying the most common crash types, identifying the proven safety countermeasures that best mitigate each

[193:00] of the common crash types, then prioritizing implementation at locations where crash patterns are present or at locations with the highest risk and potential for crashes to occur. Through much of our past Vision Zero work, many intersections with evident crash patterns have already been addressed. The systemic safety analysis turns our focus to proactively installing proven safety countermeasures at key locations across the transportation system, prioritizing high-risk network and core arterial network corridors. Proactive implementation aims to prevent crashes before they occur. Next slide. This map shows where the core arterial network corridors and the high-risk network overlap shown in blue. The high-risk network was developed as part of the action plan as a way to prioritize and organize the implementation of actions to achieve the

[194:01] greatest impact in the shortest amount of time. While the high-risisk network accounts for only 7% of all city streets and 35% of arterial streets, crash data indicates that nearly half of all fatal and serious injury crashes are occurring on this small part of the transportation system. The three priority CAN corridors, Baseline Road, Iris Avenue, and Folsam Street are on the high-risk network as well as other CAN corridors that are active in planning, design, or implementation. Managing risk and mitigating crashes on the high-risisk network will have an outsized impact on reducing fatal and serious injury crashes in our city. For this reason, many of the actions within the action plan are structured to focus first on the high-risisk network, then other locations across the transportation system. Next slide. This slide provides an overview of the current action plan along with a highle

[195:02] summary of the implementation strategy and timeline. The plan consists of 20 actions divided into four categories. Nearly half of the actions focus on implementing engineering solutions. The plan also includes actions focused on enforcement, education, and evaluation. graphics later in the presentation will is illustrate how the action plan is anticipated to come to life and transform our streets over the next few years. Next slide. In 2024, staff are working to advance eight vision zero action plan actions. These actions will all work together to comprehensively update our internal department practices around traffic signal operations and pedestrian crossing treatments as well as the use of automated enforcement. In addition to consultant assistance that will look at best practices nationwide as well as be contextualized

[196:02] by the crash landscape here in Boulder. The guideline and practice updates will also involve a stakeholder group to represent the lived experience and expertise of our community. Based on the outcome of the practice and guidelines updates, we will also proactively identify locations in need of retrofit or future upgrade and work to identify funding sources and prioritize implementation of enhancements. In combination with future updates to the design and construction standards on staff's work plan in 2025, the city continues to think ahead on how to be responsive to the state of practice in transportation and proactively prepare for continued systemwide improvement. Next slide. Work is underway on all 20 actions contained in the vision zero action plan. Nine actions slated for 2023 or

[197:00] 2024 initiation are on track to be completed or have already been completed. Work has been initiated on the remaining 11 items with later time frames and all are anticipated to be completed. There are no actions for which work has not yet begun or that are anticipated to be delayed or not completed by 2027. Next slide. I'll now highlight the city's monumental $23 million safe streets and roads grant and how it accelerates progress and commits transportation and mobility to delivering safety improvements within the 5-year grant time frame. Next slide. In December 2023, the United States Department of Transportation awarded the city with a monumental $23 million Safe Streets and Roads for All grant. The city received an approximately $3.2

[198:01] million demonstration grant and an approximately $19.8 million implementation grant. These funds will significantly accelerate implementation of key actions to eliminate severe crashes. Projects will be in design over 2024 through 2025 with implementation and construction phases occurring between 2026 through 2028. As mentioned before, the core arterial network and vision zero action plan implementation are intertwined. The CAN initiative lives on through the funding commitments we have secured through award of competitive external grants such as safe streets and roads for all and the Dr. COG Transportation Improvement Program. Segments of two can corridors, 30th Street and Arapjo Avenue were funded for implementation under safe streets and roads for all which secures a path forward and and timeline via the grant-f funed activities over the next 5 years.

[199:02] The projects funded with the SS4A grant are shown in the map on the slide and include the following. The demonstration grant involves conducting an evaluation of the safety of various geometric configurations and traffic control options for right turn slip lanes. It provides funding for us to modify 16 slip lanes and measure the effectiveness those changes have on things like yielding compliance, user comfort, and before after crash history. Staff will be working to identify the locations to be included in the study this year. Projects for the implementation grant are toi are divided into three categories. Intersection treatments, pedestrian crossing treatments, and multimodal arterial treatments. The nine locations for pedestrian crossing treatments include two locations along North Broadway, two locations along Folsam Street, two locations along 28th Street and 30th

[200:00] Street respectively, and one location along Pearl Street east of 28th Street. With respect to multimodal arterial treatments, there are three main areas of focus, including Arapjo Avenue from Culver Court to 33rd Street, the intersection of Arapjo Avenue and 30th Street, and 30th Street from Pearl Street to diagonal highway. The intersection treatments funded through the SS4A implementation grant correspond directly to locations identified in the vision zero action plan. The projects will install proven safety countermeasures to mitigate the most common crash types occurring at these locations. Next slide, please. These next slides illustrate how Boulder's safe system approach is carried out on projects, how we're being nimble to more quickly implement and evaluate safety improvements, and dive deeper into illustrating the transformation and changes to the

[201:00] transportation system that can be expected in the coming years, particularly because of the alignment of the action plan with the core arterial network and the safe streets and roads for all grant. Next slide. One of Boulder's vision zero guiding principles is to practice a safe system approach. This approach recognizes that people make mistakes that can lead to crashes. The human body has limited physical ability to tolerate crash forces. The responsibility for making the mobility system safe is a shared responsibility across all road users and stakeholders and requires personal responsibility and all parts of the system must be strengthened and properly maintained to multiply the impact of interventions and provide a safety net when any one part of the system is deficient. Next slide please. You can see the city putting this FHWA

[202:02] safe system approach into action with our work on the baseline CAN corridor efforts to date. We started work on the first CAN priority corridor baseline road in 2022. We accelerated our project development process to implement safety improvements last year while we pursued grant funds through the Dr. COG transportation improvement program for more permanent capital intensive improvements. In just under a year, we conducted a design and community engagement process and installed the first use of of the concrete tall curbs in the United States. We worked with a local artist, Talia Parcell, to incorporate public art. This project is a model for how we are approaching the project development process for subsequent priority corridor efforts on Iris Avenue and Folsam Street. It's important to note that we are pioneering a project development process

[203:00] through the CAM priority corridor efforts that happens in months, not years, to set us up for leveraging our limited local funds to pursue the external grant dollars that achieve highquality infrastructure for all ages and abilities. While garnering funds and awaiting their availability are on timelines determined by agencies like Ced, Dr. COG and FHWA. We are accelerating the project development and community engagement phases of our work to be ready for those opportunities and speed overall implementation. Next slide. Another design approach that we are excited about for future efforts is the interim protected intersection we put in as part of baseline phase one. Using striping and delineators, we changed the operation at the baseline road Mohawk Drive intersection for this

[204:01] interim phase of the project. Also, intersection tightening at side streets were installed with striping and delineators. In phase two, we have grant funding to harden these elements or make them more permanent with concrete like you see at our first protected intersection at 30th in Colorado. This phased approach allows us to observe how the new designs are operating and inform the permanent design. Next slide. To get a sense for our overall accelerated approach to project development, let's take a look at where we started with CAN implementation and where we'll be in 2028, just four years from now. This map shows the overlay of the CAN corridors on the high-risk network. The high-risk network is shown with yellow highlight and the CAN corridors where they overlap in shades of blue on top. Segments of the core arterial network that have existing enhancements today are shown in light

[205:00] blue. Segments that are the focus of current and future project efforts are shown in darker blue. For context, we are also showing in thin gray lines the cross town bikeways or the key continuous bike routes that form the north, south, and east west spines of the low stress bike network. These principal routes utilize a combination of existing off- streetet multi-use paths and on street bike facilities like protected bike lanes and low traffic residential streets. The CAN will not only help us address vision zero improvements for all modes along our busiest arterial streets, but also close important gaps in the overall bike network. Next slide. We've talked a bit about vision zero spot improvements coming to various corners of the city through our vision zero action plan action and SS4A funded projects. But here, let's look at what our system will look like in just four years due to the department's success in

[206:02] acting quickly to secure external funding after the CAN was established by city council in 2022. By 2028, most of the CAN network will either be completed, shown in light blue on the map, or funded for design and engagement, shown in pink on the map. For example, Iris and Folsam will have design complete by 2025 and 2026, respectively. The city may have even secured funding for streets like Iris and Folsam by this time or have implemented the first in a series of phased improvements. Only the small segments shown in dark blue may not have a path forward fully determined. And staff will be continuously working to identify opportunities to secure external funding for design, community engagement, and implementation, leveraging our limited local dollars. Staff will also be considering quick build projects similar to those implemented with baseline phase

[207:01] 1 to close some of these gaps. In some the CAN will bring corridor level transformations to these streets in record time amplified by the spot location vision zero action plan related improvements. Next slide. Let's take a quick look at the 30th Street CAN corridor, most of which falls along the high-risk network, as an example of how important it is that the core arterial network and vision zero action plan work together to quickly implement the safe, comfortable, and connected network we envision. And let's think about it again from the perspective of our bike network. As you can see on this map, there are not a lot of direct and reliable north south connections for people biking. Thinking again about the continuous connectivity of our cross town bikeway spines, it's more than a mile between the existing Foothills Parkway crosstown bikeway to the east and the 19th Street

[208:02] cross town bikeway to the west. The north end of the 30th Street corridor connects to adjacent neighborhoods via the Wonderland Creek path while the south end connects to Williams Village and the Table Mesa Park and Ride. Between those segments, 30th Street, shown in yellow, is a four-lane arterial with a 35 mph speed limit and 5-ft painted bike lanes. It connects to many major destinations including CU East campus, Scott Carpenter Park, 29th Street Mall, Boulder Junction, and the Orchard Grove manufactured home community. Next, let's look at how we are making progress in different segments of 30th Street. Next slide. By 2024, we'll see the completion of multimodal improvements along 30th Street south of Arapaho, shown in the green segment in the middle of the map. Next slide. By 2026, we'll see completion of a

[209:02] protected intersection at 30th and Baseline. And by 2027 through 2028, we'll see even more segments completed through the North 30th Street project, the 30th and Arapjo protected intersection project, and the South 30th Street project. Staff will continue to pursue funding for implementation of the remaining segments in yellow on the map as we move forward. Next slide. As mentioned before, implementation of the action plan will amplify the corridor level transportation, excuse me, the corridor level transformations through the CAN initiative. And action three of the action plan specifically focuses on several CAN segments for implementation by 2027. This map illustrates how the specific action plan improvements funded by the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant relate to the core arterial network.

[210:00] Many crossing improvements will follow along CAM corridors and large segments of both 30th Street and Rapjo Avenue will receive corridor level multimodal improvements through the SS4A funding. Also connecting people improving their access to daily destinations and opportunity is a big part of this story here. living at within one mile of SS4A funded improvements are over 20,000 older adults and youth over 22,000 people of color 3,400 car-free households and over 6,000 people living with a disability and over 45,000 members of Boulder's essential workforce. Next slide. Another vision zero guiding principle is to use a people focused, datadriven, actionoriented, and interdisciplinary approach to carrying out the four E which consist of engineering, education, enforcement, and evaluation. These next few slides show how we are

[211:02] thinking beyond engineering solutions. Council adopted resolution 1342 on December 7th, 2023, designating the corridors where automated enforcement can occur. In the first quarter of this year, staff has worked to install and activate two new red light running cameras at Canyon Boulevard 15th Street and 28th Street J Road, as well as enable automated speed enforcement using the existing red light running camera at Broadway and Pine Street. Staff are in the process of prioritizing additional corridors for deployment. Next slide. Last year, we initiated a shared micromobility safety and courtesy education campaign in tandem with the citywide expansion of shared escooters, which are operated by lime. The city also collaborated with regional partners, including Boulder County and Boulder Valley School District, to create education materials for

[212:01] school-aged children around ebikes. This year, staff will expand on this initial campaign push to address safety and courtesy for all microobility users with an emphasis on electric mobility, including privately owned ebikes and e- scooters. Future messaging will be data driven and incorporate the learnings from our vision zero initiative per actions 14 and 15. Next slide. While three upcoming dates with transportation and mobility council agenda items are shown on this slide, I'd like to also remind you here that council will review the capital improvement program as it goes through the annual budget process and that we are planning to bring all can corridors that have policy decisions to council council such as Iris Avenue which is planned to come before you on June 6th. We're always happy to provide additional progress updates on grant implementation

[213:00] and future CAN and vision zero updates to keep you well informed. That concludes my presentation. Thank you very much, Devin. Thanks so much for all that that great information and for sticking with us uh late here. Fortunately, I'm also a night owl. Takes a little bit of the edge off, but still late. Um questions uh for Devon on the presentation. Ryan, Erin, how how do you want to do format here? If I have um question, if I have any anything to say, questions or comments, just do it all at once or Well, um they're not specifically asking us for any feedback, but we can certainly offer comments. So, I might just say let's start with questions and then follow up with any comments we have. Okay. Thanks. Um so but just if I okay I'll get to the question but I just want to say thank you um to Natalie Devon and Valer and team um for for your work on this for your work last weekend with power outage. Um, and I just wanted to acknowledge this was originally, as I think Nuria said, a a plan discussion

[214:02] for before the retreat in order to help us understand if we would need to work wrestle with a work plan item on around vision zero and um with Natalie and team, the work you gave to brief us with the hotline memo, which was March 31st. People don't have that. That was a very rich document with a lot of information about um details written down. So, thanks for that. and um we ended up not needing to have a discussion about um really doing a council work plan item because so much is going on. So um I just wanted to thank you for that and say having been close to this team's work over the last few years, you are in a completely evolved and different place than a year or two ago in terms of the breadth and pace of the things happening. So um so thank you for all that. Now I have a hard question or two. Um, so get I don't know if it's possible to show the slide, but you have the you had the the serious injury slide from 2009 forward. It was in the 50s. It's

[215:00] kind of still in the 50s. So vision zero is of course both death and serious injury. A lot of times people forget that serious injury or life-changing injury is is an integral part of this. So if I have that right, that um serious injuries haven't really we have not seen much change in outcome. It's been kind of flattish, a little bit noisy, but basically flat. Um what are we doing anything now that that we expect will lead to significant changes in the in the coming years um that would lead us to believe that the trend line is is going to change and if so what are those what are the strategies or things that should make us think that um we're going to depart. Thank you for that question and I'll just um draw your attention to those those slides that were up front and we we really put those in there to provide context and um what we might have failed to acknowledge is that really nationwide crash trends are increasing in many many

[216:00] areas uh particularly those crashes involving pedestrians and other uh vulnerable roadway users. But Boulder is is bucking that trend and we have seen progress in reducing those types of crashes. Um so although that total number of severe crashes looks like it's been holding steady, I think we've been making great progress in certain key areas over the years. And our strategy now as I outlined is really um it's really dialed in now to a point that we are um you know attacking with surgical precision the crash the crash types that we know are happening or that are most likely to occur on the network and the industry I think has evolved to give us better tools um that we are confident will more more rapidly reduce those crash types. Thank you. Um, two more questions if I

[217:00] could. Um, the first one is, um, thank you for accelerating. I acknowledge that. And also, what stands in the way of moving faster? Do you need more staff? Uh, do you need council to do more? Um, what stands in the way of deploying even faster? Yeah, I mean, that's that's a lot to take in. Um it's kind of a whirlwind after that after that presentation um to to really see all things that we're focusing on from so many angles. And you can see that we're coming at it not just from the engineering approach, but also from those other angles. Um, and it's really all geared toward building that that redundant system that will allow for um people to make mistakes and and not lose their life because of it. Um, but Natalie, I don't know if you want to offer any guidance um directly to Council Member Schuard's question.

[218:01] Yeah, good evening Natalie Slair, director of transportation mobility. Um, appreciate the question, Ryan. I think um you know there's always the desire to do more more quickly. Um, and I think one of the things that it's important like I kind of go back to as a touchstone is a lot of the work that we're doing um, historically has taken us decades to do. These types of corridor projects are usually 10 plus year um, projects and uh, the fact that we're able I mean baseline is we're going to basically finish baseline in a three-year timeline. Um, and some of these other corridors may see that same pace. So, I think that is a pretty huge shift and that's probably record-breaking for most of um the United States. So, if we can continue to keep up that pace, then I think that that um will be great for our community. And the way that we'll be able to do that is by leveraging regional grant

[219:01] dollars, state grant dollars, and federal gr grant dollars because um as you all well know, our local funds can't um make all this possible. So, we'll need to continue to seek funding to be able to stay on the pace that we're moving, which is um pretty pretty quick. Yeah, I I can maybe add just a few other things that came to mind. Um you know, one is as I mentioned toward the end, we are going to be bringing the corridors to you and we we would look to have your guidance on trade-off decisions as these corridor projects advance. Um, but the other thing I think to highlight and and point out is the great work that Carl Castillo and team do um at the state capital. And I think there are ways that council can continue to um continue to lobby at the state level for legislation um again that really is geared at helping strengthen areas beyond the

[220:00] realm of engineering. And I think there are some things in the current session um that Carl and team have been tracking um that we would much appreciate your support on. Thanks. Okay. My final question is just actually on that subject. So what do you what do you need from council to be successful? Natalie, this might be for you in general. What do you what do you need from us? Um yeah, so a couple things. I think I think Devin makes a good point about the um the legislative session. There are a lot of transportation focused bills this session and um and you all are kind of plugged into that work and there are opportunities where there will be more funding available to help our communities implement vision zero and um our transportation goals. Um and additionally I think as it as it comes through our project development process, council's going to be very involved in each of these corridors. They're going to come forward to you. Um, Iris will be

[221:00] coming to you in June for an update and you'll continue to hear about Iris and then more of these corridors will be coming to you. Um, and so just staying in engaged on some of these policy discussions is going to be super important as we move through the ones that have significant trade-offs um, associated with them. And I think the uh, the most important thing is to really focus on the outcomes. I know there was a lot of discussion about that at the retreat, but really the work that we're doing uh there there is project development process that has to occur and we're doing that work or engaging with community and that takes time um because there are significant trade-offs and then at the end of the day it's the outcomes that are going to matter and so that's where where we really need council focus is on those outcomes. Thanks Natalie. Erin, that does it. But could I just say thanks um and also um I I understand council is um is going to be a big factor in providing sufficient

[222:00] public support and helping to explain to the community Boulder that this is we're doing this in the service making the the whole system work better and that this is this is um something that if people have questions about they should come maybe see us or buy invite people to see me. But um we have staff out there that are doing evidence-based work um be best practices and any of the hard questions should come to council and I I stand for these for this all this as fast as possible and um I guess personally say but invite people to come talk to me if you have questions um about you know the need the need for this and um just thank you Natalie and team for your work. Hey uh team and then Nicole. Yep. Um, I just had a quick one. Uh, and thank you for doing the education around um, ebikes for our youth in the city. That was something that, um, I think people had a lot of concerns about with safety. Um, my question is in the increase in the motorcycle crashes, is that, um, traditional motorcycles or would it include

[223:00] ebikes that are motorcycles that aren't quite ebikes? If I'm making sense, there's the Does that make sense? Yes. And I believe in this case um all are tracked as as motorcycles, but I would need to confirm with the police department on that to be 100% certain. I know there are specific um regulations around the engine size. I think if it's 50cc and up on the engine, it's it's essentially classified as a motorcycle. Um, but it's my understanding that these these are what you think of a motorcycle of in the in the traditional sense. Thank you. Sorry. Did you say Nicole? Erin, sorry. Yes. Yes, I did. My computer is cutting out periodically. Um, I just want to say first of all just thank you Devon for the presentation and

[224:00] um just kind of kudos and and great work. I think you know we're seeing so much success um in terms of you all bringing in grant money and things like that um to build up our vision zero plan and I just I appreciate it and I think um it speaks to the quality of the work that's being done. So thank you. Um I just have one one kind of quick question. you showed the crash rate per capita um and that we had the second lowest um crash rates and the fewest um fatal crashes. Have we always been in that spot or is that something that has changed over time or have we not looked at how we compared to other cities previously? That that is a great question. I don't think we've outlined it in this uh specific of detail before, but I do recall seeing a few years ago that that Boulder was on the on the good end of the numbers. Um so we have been a leader in this area among our peers um for at

[225:00] least the recent recent history. Is that it, Nicole? Matt and then Taisha. Uh thanks Aaron. Um one I this is I mean this is kind of we're heading into the place of like you know the holy grail of great work here. Um and um I I'll get to some kudos in a minute but just great presentation and and love where this is headed has been headed um and the pivot the department's taken and is just the aggressive nature in which it's tackling these things. My question centers around that crash data. I'm wondering do we have any sense of um are the crashes or or a fraction of them that are local border residents or uh people that are are are just you know transiting in just temporarily or tourists. Do do we have any sense of who are engaging the because it makes me think about messaging and education and signage and

[226:03] what people may or may not be accustomed to. uh like if our rules are sufficiently different than other places and they come here then they're making mistakes based on habit. I so I'm just sort of wondering do we know that data and and if we do does that maybe change what our prescriptive solutions are for various groups that may be um disproportionately contributing to the crashes that that is not something that we've actively tracked in the way that you're suggesting but I think that is a a very valid suggestion to possibly begin diving even deeper into the data to gain some of those insights. appreciate that your representation. Thank you. I just um my my it's primarily comments of appreciation. Um uh and and um just having this additional information because I've read

[227:00] it. I met with Ryan about it on the campaign trail. Um but to have the information reinforced um and especially a couple of months in it really is just very helpful to ground things especially um once we you know we had our our retreat and um you know in preparation for that I was asking like well you know what do we do you know what about all these things here like they're still not done and and they said no no no there's still momentum they're still going to be done and and we're still committed and it's still a priority and so it's just um wonderful to see that and I look forward to continued reporting in frequency See, going back to some of the things we talked about in the retreat of just, you know, having a cadence so we're not waiting for something, but really, you know, um have a regular um check-in on on some of this work and and so any challenges that can arise where we can be of help. Um and then just a a general question because again, questions are my love language. Um and I know that what the scope of this all is um but I would be remiss if I didn't bring up our sidewalks. So, who deals with the safety of our sidewalks? And I

[228:00] again I'm just thinking from particularly our disabled community and just you know you know there aren't deaths but there are definitely lots of injuries and disruptions to the ability to live independently. So I'm just curious um where where that conversation is happening um and if it can potentially benefit from the incredible work um that's done around this effort. Thank you. Yeah, thank you for noticing that. You know, it really isn't just the roadways, right? It's this entire system that we're talking about and it's the sidewalks and paths and really all the connections across the system. Um, so the sidewalks really are the responsibility of of the transportation and mobility department and it's primarily uh my colleagues in the capital uh projects division that deal most closely with um sidewalk repair and curb ramp improvements. I'll just add to ask because Oh, sorry.

[229:01] Yeah, I can just add so we have an annual sidewalk improvement program in our capital improvement program. So on an annual basis, we're kind of chipping away based on our limited resources at improvements to our sidewalk network. Um and we Valerie, do you want to speak just to for a minute to the ADA transition plan um and the opportunities there related to sidewalks? Right. Sure. Um the department had undergone an assessment of um you know accessibility considerations around our transportation system. um and then the pandemic hit, but we are picking that back that work back up again. Um and we will be um putting in place an ADA transition plan that will consist of several action items that will help us um better address the needs of people living with disabilities in our community as well as our aging community and and our elders. So, and I just offer this because again I know a couple of years

[230:00] ago um the council had the opportunity to do a mobility tour in wheelchairs and I had the opportunity to do that the destination stewardship council around Wonderland Lake and they took us Toeer and the crew around into the neighborhood down to Ly's and I it was an eyeopening experience of how um challenging that was um and you know just the the I I had no idea um how uh um the sidewalk maintenance and how critical that was. And I'm grateful to know that that is on your radar screen. I'm sorry obviously for the disruptions of COVID and the pandemic and all of the ripples effects, but the fact to know that that information exists, that it's there um and that it's on your radar screen and so I had no doubt, but I just I hadn't heard people talk about it. So, thank you for for for that. And again, I just um really appreciate um thinking about not only our people with disabilities, but also the anybody um who has u mobility issues particularly um as we have what seven times um 65 and

[231:04] up in our community as we look forward. So, thank you and I look forward to updates on that and especially going back to Ryan's question about um are there ways that we can can support right um you know that that this aspect as well um all those who are are moving around our city in whatever mode that is. Thank you. Thanks, Chair. I only have comments. Are we good for that? Uh I Well, if I got one question then then we can go to comments. So, uh, so Deon and Natalie, you know, there was a dazzling array of projects underway and, you know, we have that enormous $23 million grant and, um, we have to get it done in the next few years. I just want to check in on on staffing, like how how are you all accommodating this enormous raft of projects that that you've got in the pipeline? I'm happy to take that one, Devin. Um, yeah, we are we are doing okay. I think

[232:02] we have started to look at how we can phase this work into our existing staff resources. Um we this year had the opportunity to add a couple FTE in both our planning and engineering side. Um and so we're hoping we're able to kind of remain stable over the next few years to be able to do this work. A lot of the work um that happens as things move into construction really rely on outside consultants, right? Um it's but we do need staff to manage these projects and and some of the design work we'll also be doing inhouse. Um but we have amazing staff to do a lot of that work. So, um we'll be shifting things to make it work and hopefully won't need big increases in staff resources. Great. It's good to hear. I look forward to seeing you implement all of these great projects. Okay, so uh looks like that's it for questions. If we have any

[233:01] final comments, uh now is your chance to offer them. Uh but maybe we could keep them brief given the lateness of the hour. Uh Tara, it is late so I'll be brief, relatively brief. First of all, I want to thank Ryan because you asked for this, Ryan, and this was great. Why did I doubt you? No, I didn't doubt you. Um, the next thing I want to say is thank you to Devon. That was an incredible presentation. But I I don't know if you remember when I first got on council and I questioned you and I I wrote you an email. I said, "Why do you have to do this and in my usual way?" And you said, "Because it makes people drive slower." And I'm like, "It does make me drive slower." And ever since then, I've been really paying attention to a lot of what you've been doing. and to be a part in this way, you know, things that at first you're like, why? Um, but I think being what I can say is being on council now when all this great stuff is happening is so exciting. It's exciting to be a part of this change.

[234:02] And so, Natalie, I know, you know, we're always like, can you do more? Can you do more? But you, you're what an incredible department and a great presentation. And I was really excited to end the night on this and really happy that I don't have to be depressed about 30th Street and that there's hope. There's hope for 30th Street. That's what I got to say. Any others? Ryan, did you get your comments in earlier? I think mostly maybe if I could just underline that um you know this is a presentation about safety and safety this is one of the city's biggest areas of of safety kind of challenges and it's more than that it's about inclusion in terms of making a a network that works well for more more people to travel in different ways and also to um you know Taiisha council member Adams talked about um it being a hazard or sidewalks can be a hazard so part of the problem

[235:00] is hazards. The other problem is isolation when you don't give people ways ways, you know, better choices with how to get around. So, it's that and this is climate this is this is climate action in one of the most important ways. So, I just wanted to um recognize that this is there's a lot going on here um beyond just the kind of you know the phrase of vision zero. Um, and I just to reaffirm that, you know, I think cities where these things move fast on and and and and serve their community the best are ones where political electeds are saying we have to do this. And just, you know, this is for the community. We're going to do this and stand by it. And I just would ask, you know, my I'm addressing my colleagues now to say, you know, we're going to we're going to be looking at at reallocating space in more equitable ways, and that's going to require some disruption. And I just um hope that we can all remember how excited I think the virtual Romeo seems to be today um when those discussions come up and we need to um do some change management and um yeah help help our staff move forward. So thanks thanks for everything now

[236:01] that well seeing no other hands uh raised I'll just what Ryan just said was fantastic and agree with it and Ryan thanks for asking for this presentation because it's important to elevate this incredibly important work. see how much of this going on and how much of a difference it's going to make for safety and the the lives of our residents. So, huge thanks again to Devin and Natalie and Valerie is here with us from the transportation department as well. I appreciate all the amazing work that you all are doing to move things forward for the the city. And with that, I think Alicia, I think we're at the end of our agenda. Am I right? You are correct, sir. Any final thoughts? We can finish before 10. All right, seeing none, I'll go ahead 55 p.m. Thanks everybody and have a great night. Night.