September 19, 2024 — City Council Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

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[30:00] unsafe and required to be vacated by 6 PM that day this notice resulted in the temporary displacement of approximately 60 student renters at least 13 of whom will need to find new permanent housing CU is working to support students and provide resources to help them navigate this abrupt and significant disruption and I've also reached out to see you personally to see if there's any assistance they need on Tuesday September 17th the city received a temporary court order preventing additional enforcement of the safety closure which we will be complying with as long as it remains in effect but also on Tuesday we filed a not a notice of a motion to dissolve that temporary court order preventing enforcement of the safety closure at Ash house this motion will be held in Boulder County district 00 a.m. tomorrow the building code exists to ensure that minimum safety health and quality of life standards exist for all rental housing and all community members

[31:02] I recognize that this has been a difficult situation for the students involved as they work to navigate the situation on top of a new school year and all the changes that come with starting a new semester as an organization we are committed to protecting the life safety of these students and holding the property owners accountable for the apparent violations please know that we are looking at all possible options that include civil penalties revocation of license and other possible changes thank you thanks for that update N I appreciate it not it's of great Community interest and I'm glad we're watching out for the students safety above all okay with that we can now proceed to our agenda item 1A which is Ruth Wright declaration presented by council member Marquis Ruth please come on up and audio is back

[32:00] on Hallelujah hi thank you for being here is it not on is that better it's technical difficulties [Music] hello we is having I don't know my other microphone

[33:06] okay is that better all right um so I have the privilege of reading this declaration for Ruth Wright day on September 6th 2024 which was your birthday whereas Ruth Wright has been a warrior for the natural environment of Boulder since moving here with her husband Ken in July of 1957 and whereas very few legislators and policy makers in the history of Boulder have had the vision to promulgate unique and even untried ideas that benefit the community years into the future and whereas Ruth was one of the key leaders of the ballot initiative to successfully put the residents's desire to purchase green belts for Boulder AKA open space on the ballot in 1967 and has been a champion of open space

[34:00] issues ever since and whereas in 1971 while a law student at the University of Colorado Ruth wrote the 55 foot height Amendment for Boulder as a paper for Professor Steve Williams that is so constitutionally sound it has never been challenged in court and whereas Ruth served 14 years in the Colorado State House of Representatives for house district 10 and six years as minority leader and whereas Ruth has continued as an extremely active citizen serving on and testifying before boards and commissions for water quality and environmental and flood safety measures for the last 60 years including her very recent work to publicize and correct the deadly dangers to people navigating waterwise ways with lwh head dams now therefore we the city council of the city of Boulder Colorado declares

[35:01] September 6th 2024 Ruth's 96th birthday to be Ruth white day so so the B presidents of Boulder May honor her on this auspicious day thank you so much for everything you've done you set an extremely high bar thank you thank you thank you so [Applause] much hold it okay want to turn around and face the group okay well I guess I have to thank the citizens of Boulder for this in addition to the city council but they had to do it formally so I just want to say that the day of my birthday which was SE September 6 uh and I became 96 years old was the best birthday I have ever ever had thanks to so many people people who had the idea like my friend

[36:02] Gwen and uh Julie Marshall uh who wrote editorials for the Boulder Camera for years and uh the staff they went to the staff and see how they could possibly handle it in the Parks and it turns out that that where it took place which was North borderer Park and that lovely facility there it's charged they charge people for using that of course except it's only up through September 30th so or uh anyway the the the day that a few days later it was already free so thank you very much for having this facility for me thank city council uh uh free and it was absolutely gorgeous day as many of you will remember blue skies and Greenery and so forth and I thought this is the boulder that we love so many of

[37:01] US citizens love and every city council member over the years has loved the city of Boulder and done the right things for it open space so that we're surrounded by open space instead of instead of uh uh the whole valley being filled with uh uh development and you come up Davidson Mesa from Adams County where everything goes and come and you look at that gorgeous Valley and it's all green and it's Agricultural and people are still using it in agriculture sometimes it's the original farmers and then you go to the city and you look at the mountain backrop and it's the flat irons the famous flat irons and from there you can see the Rocky Mountains and they still have snow on it I just was there up in Davidson Mesa a week ago and looking there I think we live in heaven as nice

[38:03] as a place as could be I would never ever ever think of moving and I'm sure many of you share the same thing you discovered ber Boulder and said this is where I want to spend the rest of my life so I need to thank you citizens and all of the staff and all of the various people who have served City and who were elected uh FRS of the council for keeping Boulder the way it was so many years ago and people are just amazed when they comeo War Davidson Mason see all that green field and sometimes they ask well how did that happen or else they think it just happened like the students I'm sure think it just happened little did we know that we had a f fight for that and that we had all that cooperate

[39:01] cooperation and so I want to say that that I think undoubtedly was the best birthday I've ever ever had and over with like two or three days notice 75 people showed up I don't know how that all happened is were they you know got infected or some said there must be something going on and there was so it was a fabulous super successful event from beginning to end and I'm sure their people thought they would just come in and say hello they all stayed you stayed you stayed to The Bitter End until it was finally over and the sun was setting and so forth we had a call it a day and to have it called Ruth wri day was unbelievably special and I immediately wrote to all my children and

[40:02] grandchildren and let them know the honor I received from my hometown thank you so very [Applause] much well thank you Ruth for everything you've done over the years which is so incredibly much for our community we're in your debt all right um we now have item 1B which is Hispanic Heritage Month declaration to be presented by council member Adams and Norma if you'd like to come up as well please thank you thank you all right um National Hispanic Heritage Month is recognized from September 15th to October 15th and it is a time to honor the invaluable ways

[41:01] Hispanic and Latina Americans have shaped our community celebrate our diverse cultures and help toward or work towards a stronger more inclusive and more prosperous Society for all the Hispanic heritage observation began in 1968 as Hispanic heritage week under President Lyndon Johnson recognizing that five Central American countries Co Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras and Nicaragua celebrate their respective indeep Independence days on September 15th while Mexico celebrates it on September 16th in 1988 the week was expanded by President Ronald Reagan to cover a 30-day period to celebrate the contributions of Hispanic and latine people to the United States and those American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain Mexico the Caribbean South America and Central America the act of

[42:01] recognizing and celebrating the contributions of Hispanic and Latin individuals is important however it can be difficult to adequately and accurately do so when we examine the complicated history of their of the many diaspora between Spanish colonization the transatlantic slave trade and the forced seizure of indigenous lands including these Hispanic and and Latina Americans have known many homes and traveled many paths people with ancestry in Spain and the countries that today form part of North South and Central America and the Caribbean include indigenous peoples and also the descendants of African enslaved by European colonizers and force forcibly brought to these lands we acknowledge that that capturing these complex histories and identities as only Hispanic and latine oversimplifies the

[43:00] history and neglects the richness of these of our people as individuals and as Community Hispanic Latin and Latin America are all foreign names placed on the people and the land of this continent we recognize and support the movement for self-determination and decolonization efforts of indigenous peoples we encourage all residents visitors to acknowledge and celebrate celebrate the many contributions of Hispanic and Latina people in enhancing and influencing our City's character their talents cultures values idea labor new and old traditions reflect the Multicultural multi-ethnic customs of their communities while adding their own distinct and dynamic perspectives to the city of Boulder we recognize Hispanic and Latin community members in leadership positions throughout a myriad of organizations including in the Arts

[44:00] Science Education nonprofit business and government we the city of the city council of the city of Boulder Colorado declare September 15th through October 15th 2024 as Hispanic Heritage Month and we invite our entire Community to share and participate in the celebration this month including the boulder Sombra School the Colorado Brazil and the festival desel Dalal at uh shiaka all happening this over this weekend please take this opportunity and all year round to come together in unity to celebrate this significant month and its peoples thank you thank you Norma for coming and we are very very grateful no now you're going to be removed um and now and now we would like to take a moment

[45:00] for um our representative a board member from the Latino chamber of Boulder County who um has agreed to accept accept this declaration and to share some words hello everyone what a big honor thank you Council Adams for this recognition so my name is Norma King I was born and raised in Colombia I work at the H office of sustainability of Boulder County and also proudly member of the board of directors of the Latino Chamber of Commerce it is an honor to receive the proclamation of the Hispanic heritage man from Boulder City councils and the city's manager Office on their their behalf this act raises the visibility of the Latino chamber an organization that works toward a stronger more prosperous and more inclusive Society for all encouraging eon iomic development for minority and small business owners thank you so much

[46:02] and K El [Applause] Deana thanks so much for that Norma and for joining us today appreciate it okay item 1 C is National Suicide prevent prevention month declaration to be presented by council member benman and also uh Jen if you'd like to come up and join that on stage or on the Das September is National Suicide Prevention month and it's intended to promote awareness and share Suicide Prevention Resources with the goal of learning how to help those around us and how to talk about suicide without increasing the risk of harm Suicidal Thoughts can affect anyone regardless of age gender race sexual orientation

[47:02] income level religion or background according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control more than 49,000 people in the United States have died by suicide in 2022 in the US suici suicide is among the top nine leading causes of death for people of the age of 10 to 64 and the second leading cause of death among people aged 10 to 14 and 25 to 34 not only does suicide tragically take lives but it is also devastating to its victims loved ones local organizations like Rise Against suicide are on the front lines of an important issue that many feel uncomfortable discussing during due to the stigma surrounding mental illness and suicide rise is a nonprofit organization that funds therapy sessions for atrisk youth struggling with suicidal ideation in the Boulder Valley school district and the St vain Valley School District the fact is ignoring conversations like these perpetuates the stigma against mental health and can put those at risk in

[48:01] Greater danger due to the lack of support National Suicide Prevention month reminds us that every member of our community is silently facing their own challenges we encourage all community members to take the time to check in on the well-being of their family friends and neighbors and to offer support it can be hard to find Hope in challenging times but luckily hope is contagious a simple phone call message greeting or hug can be enough to change someone's day and could save a life we the city council of the city of Boulder Colorado declar September 2024 as National Suicide Prevention month and urge all community members to take cognizance of this event and participate fittingly in its observance and with us is Jenna clinchard from Rise Against suicide to say a few words thank you for being here yeah thank you um and thank you everyone for being here and and um sharing this moment with us I always um

[49:01] like the hug by the way that's my preference during the day because I think um hugs can bring us all together so I'm truly grateful to be here tonight to accept this on behalf of Rise Against suicide um and Rise is deeply thankful for the invaluable partnership that we share with the city of Boulder um we extend our sincere appreciation to the city of Boulder for acknowledging the pressing issues our city faces regarding youth suicide and really suicide as a whole in general in our community um their proactive steps to ensure that individuals grappling with Suicidal Thoughts receive the necessary support and Care are truly commendable we eagerly anticipate our continued collaboration this year as we address the challenges of Youth suicide in our community thank you thank you thank you so much we a hug thank you for everything you're done

[50:01] thank you thanks so much for being with us here Jen and for the important work you do in this extremely important area thank you okay now item 1D is I'm going to invite RTD director representative Lynn Ginger to come up and speak to us about rtd's de bruing balot measure welcome Lynn great thanks thank you mayor Brockett thank you members of the council I appreciate you having me here we are at RTD in the middle of a uh very important ballot issue I am the RTD director for this District basically Boulder Lewisville Superior Lions up to the mountains up to the Continental Divide and um but tonight I'm here sort of separately through the campaign uh to talk about ballot issue 7A and urge your support I'm gonna have a little test

[51:01] afterwards because council member Marquis has now heard this three times in the last 24 hours so I think she could probably probably give it but in uh in June the RTD board referred a ballot measure to ask that the exemption of rtd's funding from uh the Taber cap the Taber growth limitation be extended in 1999 voters uh funded s certain rail projects and said that that RTD would be exempt from the growth limitation through the time that we pay back the bonds we'll be paying back the bonds this year and will become subject to that I think you all know that what happens if you hit the Taber growth limitation is you have to start refunding money now RTD probably won't be refunding every year but it in certain years when when we have a recession or uh the sales tax is is down

[52:03] we could start to refund so for instance in 2009 after the recession or in 2022 after the pandemic we probably would have had to refund 50 to $60 million what does that mean to RTD and to the service we give you is that we probably would have to start cutting service we recently um had have announced and I haven't heard the details yet but I believe for the board will be seeing uh return of service uh more than we've been able to do starting in January and I'm looking forward to that and obviously arguing for the service we have here as well um we also were able to make our zero fair for youth program permanent this year it's only funded by the state for one year that's what they can do so losing those funds would make a difference in that this year we were also able to uh lower

[53:00] all our fairs and um we we went from Regional fairs even from Boulder to Longmont Boulder Denver other places that were $550 it's now $2.75 if you're over 65 you can take the bus from Boulder to the airport for $135 so screaming deal right what does it mean for for people who would get the money back well first of all how do you figure out who gets the money back for a sales tax we have not RTD has not figured that out yet I guess we're hoping we don't have to because visitors business visitors tourists a lot of other people pay we had three million people in the RTD District so assuming we could figure out who gets it maybe it's two million people people would get in a year when we we RTD it's refunding $50 million people would get a check for $25 it's not like the money coming from the State it's a very small amount RTD and public transit overall is very

[54:03] important to meeting the city and states and regions goals of taking care of the people who need it most people who have disabilities seniors youth um others that that can't drive and need that people with low incomes that that can't afford to own a car and uh we're also also public even though um electrification is is a big part of meeting our Region's goals for climate and air quality public transit is also a big part of that too so I believe you will be getting a resolution coming your way in the next couple of weeks and I am asking that you Endor that resolution to support it I know several of you have had a chance to talk to have endorsed individually Metro mayor's caucus representing all the mayors has endorsed the boulder chamber the Northwest chamber the Denver chamber many uh environmental groups and disability

[55:00] groups and others have endorsed it and in addition one of the big things is getting the word out rtd's ballot issue goes to the very bottom of the ballot and it's going to be a long ballot so if for those of you and I know some of you do send out a voter guide or a newsletter if you'll please remember ballot issue 7A and urge people to vote for it we appreciate it Happy to answer questions thank thanks so much Lynn for coming to us and explaining all that any questions for director Ginger yeah mat um thank you for being here um how long would the de bruing uh go into effect for it's it doesn't have a sunset okay does and we did we pulled twice in in April well we asked two questions in a poll in April one was with a 10year Sunset and one was um without a sunset we had Grace support 68% of people said that they would support it without a sunset 70% said they would support it with a sunset so

[56:01] we decided we don't need the sunset we hope hope at least they were close enough that we could go ahead and put it on great thank you there's no need for you to look over your shoulder okay appreciate it thanks anything else all right not seeing any other questions so we'll be coming back to this at the end of our meeting no need to stick around I can text you let you know how it goes but appreciate you coming and talking to us thank you all very much all right take care all right it is now time for open comment so Elisha if you can go over our public partic participation guidelines please yes sir thank you and good evening everyone and again thank you for being here uh we'll now go over our public participation at city council meeting guidelines 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

[57:01] 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 bouldercolorado.gov Services productive D atmospheres the following are examples of rules of theorum found in the boulder Revised Code and other guidelines that support this Vision these will be upheld during the meeting participants are required to sign up to speak using the names they are commonly known by and individuals must display their whole name before being allowed to speak online currently only audio testimony is permitted online only one person at a time at the podium unless an accommodation like an interpreter is required our remarks and testimonies shall be limited to matters related to City business no standing in

[58:01] or otherwise blocking the aisles no participant shall stand or hold items such as signs or Flags in a manner that would block the view of another person no participant shall make threats or use the form of intimidation against any person we ask that you not affix items to the podium or deis or walls or other surfaces of of the chamber signs Flags or other items used to communicate must be held by one person when displayed ofinity other epithets based on race gender or religion and other speech and behavior that disrupts or otherwise impedes this meeting will not be intoler in-person participation participants are asked to refrain from expressing support or disagreement verbally or with sounds such as Applause or snapping with the exception of declarations traditionally support is

[59:00] shown through American Sign Language Applause or jazz hands thank you for listening and again thank you for joining us thanks for that Elicia so we'll do our in-person participants first and then go to the virtual ones I understand that Judy nog and Barbara Gordon have both switched to Virtual so we'll get to you under that section each person will have two minutes to speak if you are in person I'd ask as your name is being called to come on down towards the front and our first three speakers are Steven hell Alexi Davies and Sarah Napier hello um Steven heidell gos grve neighborhood I'm here to speak um for iris of the new um making the protected bike lane I think it's really important especially with the tragic events of Monday where one of our residents Julian heraly was killed by a motorist she was cyclan on 36 even though it's outside of Boulder City Limits she was a boulder resident um I think she was a massage

[60:01] therapist and um so it just shows that paint that we have currently in iris is not safe for the cyclist um so if you cyclos use it because it's probably just a really dangerous environment um I just returned from a 3-we bike tour in the Netherlands and I never once saw any engineering like that where there's four lanes of traffic and a three-foot bike gutter pretty much um so I call on you to do the politically right thing and let the iris project go through staff has done a great job with engineering and with feedback from the community thank you thank you now we have Alexi Davies Sarah Napier and Robin koopy hi Alexi Davies community Cycles good evening uh Boulder City Council let's not delay the iris recommendation

[61:02] recommended alternative and keep the momentum in attaining a complete safe comfortable and direct Network this Council and the prior Council made the core arterial Network a work priority to to meet Boulders Vision zero goal iris is high is on the high-risk Network and the proposed alternative will make Iris safer for drivers cyc and pedestrians thanks to staff um for the progress on can including the iris redesign staff has been engaged in extensive Community engagement over the past year which shaped this project and Community engagement will continue throughout the upcoming design phase of the project I urge you to M to maintain momentum by avoiding delays in the iris recommendation this will ensure continued progress toward our goal of a safe comfortable and direct Network throughout out Boulder plus it'll prevent potential delays in the concept

[62:01] designs of the upcoming 30th Street and fome Street redesigns which are scheduled to begin shortly thank you for your work thank you now we have Sarah Napier Robin kuy and Melinda cassen eyes up here please thank you pay attention to me pay attention to the people that have been talking to you for over a year we are tired but when a white woman gets up here that looks like me that graduated from the University of Boulder with a degree in dance and Neuroscience and that slightly screams at you maybe you'll pay attention why is that I came in dressing like this alone you paid attention to me why is that the minute my friends show up you stop paying attention why is that just freaking say it you are racist because if you were actually were good white people you would be paying attention to what is happening in

[63:01] Palestine for over a freaking year but you have not I was here a year ago I said basically the same thing I'm going to say today we are tired we are crazy we are mentally ill we care about the environment we care about abortions all these things that you right liberals say that you care about that are doing absolutely nothing about we care about so why the hell are you sitting in your chair every single week every single day not doing the bare minimum thank you for putting your body on the line to stand up for a person of of uh marginalized Community but you're not actually paying attention do you know what the chance we shout on the streets are we talk about the Philippines because the United States Empire also affected

[64:01] them you would know that if you came out to a protest you would also know that Judaism and anti-Semitism and what is going on are totally we are telling lies about that every single freaking day wake up we are tired thank you your time is up your time is up so if you could sit down please right quiet quiet quiet in the audience please quiet in the audience please all right I'm going to have to call a recess if this doesn't calm down all right last last warning here okay I'm going to call a recess

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[69:19] all right I'm going to gabble us back to order and if we can have quiet please our next three speakers are Robin Kuby Melinda cassen and Michael Mills good evening if you can pull that mic in towards you yeah good evening my name is Robin q and for the past 35 years I've lived at JM 28th Street and I'm here to comment on two topics first is the annexation of the property at 2801 J as I wrote in an email I sent to all of you I support the annexation in general and affordable moderate housing on that site in particular but as a longtime Boulder real estate attorney

[70:00] I'm concerned that the annexation agreement as written especially section 17 related to the required public benefit may not result in the simultaneous construction of the market rate and affordable housing as has been represented among other things section 17 allows the applicant the opportunity to get dedicate a part of the land for affordable housing to the city but relieves this particular applicant of the requirement that she pay the Delta between the value of that land and the fee she would pay under the cash andl option under the um inclusionary housing ordinance I also have concerns about the favorable density considerations that are reflected in section 25 of that agreement as it is a very prominent site that will likely stand alone for at least a decade um I'm here because I want to ask you to review the annexation agreement carefully especially 17 section 17 and section 25 to ensure that the um public

[71:00] benefit of affordable Andor middle income housing actually comes to fruition on this site I also want to encourage you to call up the IRS the iris Transportation Improvement project this is as you all know this is a very controversial um project especially in North Boulder I think it deserves a full hearing I don't think that the while staff and others have done a great job I think that this is should be done by full Council um with a full hearing and with the opportunity for the community to hear the various members of the council's position on this thank you very much thank you now we have Melinda cassen Michael Mills and Harry buddas sarta right hi I'm sorry um I I also came to give input on the iris proposal my husband and I cycle across Iris at

[72:02] 19th Street several times a week during the warmer months though we don't really drive very much on Iris we have lived for 17 years a few blocks from fulam um the part of fulam that was narrowed permanently or that was stayed narrow from four to three lanes we drive there fulltime and we when it's warm I'm taking a different view I would ask Council not to just accept the staff recommendation I read the analysis um I appreciate the work they did I would ask you to consider two things first with regard to the data the vast majority of cycling and pedestrian accidents car cycling accidents occur at the intersections Broadway fulam and between fulam and 28th to me that means there a mismatch between the proposal and um the proposal to reduce Lanes across the

[73:02] whole way and the um the solutions that would actually support safety um which would be to do something at the intersection at the intersections having lived through the falam Fiasco and I don't believe any of you were on Council when that happened please don't do that again um the reporting recently in the camera and bould reporting Labs suggest the city faces real budget challenges to me this suggests that you guys have an opportunity to Pivot and look at a solution that focuses on the intersections making the intersections safer um as opposed to doing something that's bigger at least at this point let's see whether we can make the intersections safe um thank you thank you now we have Michael Mills Harry buddhis sidarta and Judy no not Judy she's later Su pranis after

[74:02] that good evening council members I'm a member of tab speaking tonight on my own behalf I'm here to urge you not to call up the iris Avenue seep which would further delay implementation of this needed Transportation Improvement project as someone who has seen the detailed work and thoughtful analysis by City staff I can confidently say this project will make Iris Avenue safer for everyone the travel impact for drivers will be minimal at well under one minute for the vast majority of trips meanwhile the safety benefits are immense Iris currently functions inappropriately like a four-lane highway cutting a barrier through our city the reconfiguration will make left turn safer for drivers create a refuge for pedestrians crossing the streets and encourage more cyclists with protected Lanes these changes are necessary for creating a balanced safe Street for all users further delay only

[75:00] increases the costs and risks more tragic accidents we've lost too many lives due to unsafe Street designs and it's time we acted decisively to prevent more I also want to emphasize that this decision shouldn't be held up by the kind of technical debate that staff has already answered thoroughly trust the expertise of those who have analyzed this project this is the right path forward when staff competence is questioned on Iris it's often with reference to falam but iris is different different staffers a very different Road much more time for proper analysis and with 10 more years of experience with road diet success across the country concerns about frustrated Iris Avenue drivers cutting through side streets such as grape and Calia are not realistic such routes would not save drivers time drivers who are used to speeding on Iris May object to these safety improvements but they just need to slow down thank you thank you now Harry budus sidarta

[76:03] supran and Gary sprung and good evening council members uh thank you for this opportunity to address all of you my name is Harry buddhis Dara I am the former executive director of Asian Pacific Development Center I'm here to address all of you about the recent anti-asian hate crime that happened in Boulder uh um ever since Co in 2020 we all know that there has been a sharp increase of hate crimes against the Asian Community not just nationally but also locally in Colorado we have heard and seen instances of our community members being physically assaulted their businesses vandalized online harassment and numerous reports of people being spit in public and being called derogatory names like China you know the uh the the China virus go back to you came from things like that so that's why we always appreciate it when our allies and our government agencies

[77:02] respond forcefully to stand by us so I would like to take this opportunity to thank council member Wier for her bravery and courageous action in stopping that hate crime I am sorry that you got hurt council member and I'm glad that the perpetrator has been arrested and charge I would like to thank the the city manager for your forceful statement condemning the incident and I also want to thank the District Attorney's office for their investigation and their decision to file numerous charges of hate crimes in this case as my friend Tron Wills has eloquently stated earlier on this is an issue that's affecting our community we encourage everybody to continue standing up with us to keep on being our allies keep on reporting and speaking up the only way to solve this issue is by all of us acting together so I just want to say that thank you thank

[78:00] you now we have Su prant Gary sprung and Kristen Marshall hi I'm suan executive director of community Cycles making sure our streets are safe for people of all ages and abilities to walk bike drive and take transit is one of the most essential roles of local government your serious commitment to the can and eliminating traffic injuries and fatalities is to be commended as we have seen with the recent fatal on Broadway with the crash that killed Magnus white and with the crashes that have killed and so and injured so many of others in our communities commitment is not enough we need to actually build safer roads I would like to point to Tina Dam's excellent letter to count sent to council yesterday to answer many of the questions that have been raised City staff have done an incredible amount of Outreach on this project this is the most public Pro Outreach on any project I've seen in my very long Transportation career including giant new Turnpike in sections we more than 2000 individual comments were received through more than

[79:01] 35 public events staff presented over 900 pages of comments to tab there was more than ample opportunity for everybody to be heard the seat memo shows that 13 Alternatives were considered before they narrowed it to the final four and then alternative B this is an incredibly thorough process with no pre-ordained outcome the city's Engineers are highly skilled obviously very thorough professionals let let's trust them to study all the possibilities and make the best engineering decisions the road will be much safer of all users but also but also looking only the handful of users there today is ridiculous cyclist there today is ridiculous that's like saying we shouldn't build a playground on an empty dirt lot because no kids are there of course there are no cyclists it's dangerous and it's not just because somebody may be taking alternative circuitous Roots it's because most people choose not to bike at all even I have number of friends who say they won't ride their bikes in Boulder because they don't feel safe unless there's a multi-use path or protected bike lane these are women who other who

[80:01] just drive around town instead of biking even though they own nice ebikes and could and would love to use them because they don't see enough dedicated facilities thank you very much thanks staff staff did a wonderful job thank you thank you now we have Gary sprung Kristen Marshall and Ria yum I live in the Milpa neighborhood just north of Iris Avenue every time I want to ride my bicycle downtown or walk to the North Boulder W Center or stores on on Alpine Avenue I must cross Iris Avenue it is a perilous Crossing I often wonder if I might make a mistake that will be my last mistake the city is now building a new flashing Beacon for the 15th Street crossing but this will not sufficiently improve safety because there will still be two westbound travel Lanes often the driver in one lane will stop for me but drivers in the other Parallel Lane don't

[81:02] stop because the first stopped car blocks them from seeing me if you change this Crossing to just two travel Lanes one in each direction that cor that Crossing will be safer another way that Iris Avenue's current configuration affects me is when I'm driving my car out of my neighborhood to visit places East I go south on 6 to Iris and must wait at that intersection for conflicting cars in four travel Lanes with a center turn lane and only two travel lanes that left turn would be much safer American cars and trucks kill 40,000 people a year a primary cause of this debacle which we strangely tolerate is the design of our roads Iris Avenue was widened to four lanes with maximum throughput of car as the primary goal safety definitely did not come first if

[82:00] we are ever going to improve our safety reduce carbon emissions and transcend our addiction to automobiles we must change our streets to put Safety First the current Boulder City Council and the previous Council decided to put Safety First and several um on several of our arterial roads your staff did a long and careful process to accom accomplish that goal I support their preferred solution and would urge you to endorse it thank you now we have Christen Marshall ran Yom and Pete olison thank you for this opportunity not everything that is faced can be changed but nothing can be changed till it is faced those words were written by an

[83:00] author who knew the importance of speaking up of reaching out and writing it down does anybody know his name any guesses it was James Baldwin I urge that the Boulder City Council join other City councils across our nation in calling out for a lasting Israeli Gaza ceasefire we need to speak up we need to speak out some members of this Council have said that the war in Gaza can not be a part of the

[84:00] agenda I disagree war is a local issue we are part of not a part from the rest of the whatever the world let's reach up for our responsibility thank you thank you now we have uh ranum Pete olison and Michael L Desma salum my name is and I would like to speak to you a little bit about some of the recent updates that came from the icj which basically says that every nation has the right to put sanctions on Israel for the genocide that they're committing right

[85:01] now in Palestine Boulder invests $1.6 million in the genocide right now that is a lot of money that you could put into fixing the roads to make space for these cyclists to make the road safe for them you can actually build homes that are public housing for the vulnerable population here in Boulder you can actually cancel student loans for 50 students every year $1.6 million that's a lot of money that you can put in our communities people who don't have access to health care people who are scared to go see their doctors because they don't want to see that bill the second thing I want to talk about is to make this community inclusive for all

[86:01] the same way we want our Asian uh peers to feel comfortable here I would love that same energy for our Muslim and Arab Community because every time I come out in Boulder not the community the police harasses me can you believe that they come after me asking me what am I doing in this Street aren't I a normal citizen can't I go Drew my groceries or maybe go see Boulder Boulder Marathon or is it because of the skin of my color or something that I'm putting on my head right now that warrants that question mark thank you um and if I could ask the folks in the audience uh to put the um flag down uh we do not allow signs or Flags larger than 11 by 17 in council

[87:00] chambers you did that because thanks I appreciate you doing that okay our next three speakers are Pete olison Michael lezma and then I understand Barbara Gordon is in the room if we can have quiet please um good evening Council uh my name is Pete Olen I live at 16th in Iris uh I've been my wife and I have lived there for 25 years so we have a front row seat to Iris Avenue um as you know iris is slated to be restricted to two lanes while we support the goal of improving safety for all we believe this project has been flawed from the start many residents including myself are concerned about combining cyclist with a heavy traffic volume such as Iris we've engaged in open houses provided input advocating for bike pass to be

[88:01] relocated to alternate streets there's a strong feeling in the community that the city is pursuing its own agenda and not fully addressing the concerns raised by residents including cyclists feedback from letters to the editor and social media indicate that many in the community are dissatisfied with the limited four options given I'm asking the Council to pause the project and take the following actions number one revisit the design and explore Alternatives that shift cycling traffic to safer and less congested streets just as large commercial aircraft are separated from smaller slow moving aircraft we should apply this principle to Iris number two conduct an independent environmental impact in traffic study by qualified impartial engineering firms the public deserves trans transparency and these results should be integrated into the design process we need a thorough examination

[89:00] of the consequences of reducing traffic to two lanes not just for residents like me but the surrounding neighborhoods they will feel the impact given the disparity in traffic volume 20,000 cars per day and 150 bicycles per day it seems unlikely that increasing cycling or pedestrian traffic will offset the increased in carbon number three maintain Iris with four traffic Lanes as it currently States time's up but you're welcome to email us the rest of your comments all right thank you um we now have Michael L Desma and then Barbara Gordon hi my name is Michael adma I'm a member of the community Cycles advocacy committee and a founding member of neighbors United of South Boulder Boulder's first um strong towns local conversation and I'm commenting today or tonight on Iris there are two debates on Iris the one that we are having about

[90:02] whether reducing the number of vehicle Lanes will produce catastrophic delay and the one that we should be having about whether 50 seconds is too much delay for the safety benefits that road rebalancing always confer on drivers cyclists and pedestrians the former debate hinges on a technical question that staff can answer in fact there the only ones with proper training analytical tools and data sets to answer that question correctly the fact that the community has worked itself into a lather trying to resolve this question this technical question as a matter of public debate is an indication that a lot of us really don't know what goes into that modeling and too few of us trust the people who actually do and so the fact that we persist in this debate at least impliedly in consults the competence and professional Integrity of our City's Traffic Engineers as a community we need

[91:00] to do better and as council members I hope you will lead the way by refusing to call Iris up for more of the same unproductive debate on a technical question that City staff have already answered and with respect to their integrity I hope you'll speak out affirmatively against the false narrative that road rebalancing was pre-ordained for Iris and any competent traffic engineer would at least consider a road rebalancing for Iris and the fact that alternative B keeps winning with our transportation experts staff and tab is not evidence of Foul Play It's instead evidence from most trustworthy sources on this subject that alternative B is just better thank you thank you our last inperson speaker is Barbara Gordon yes hi I'm Barbara Gordon I live in North Boulder I've been here for nine years can you hear now yes um live in

[92:01] North Boulder here for nine years and my first time speaking at city council because I'm wantan to voice my opposition to the iris road diet um I've been reading I recently sent Council a letter along with many links to some very cogent Daily Camera op-eds describing opposition along with some constructive suggestions as an alternative to the road diet I think for people who are up here saying that 20,000 cars a day merged into two lanes versus 4 will not cause major traffic disasters I think it's totally realistic I'm not an engineer admittedly I'm a lay person but I do have read um many good Alternatives and many good um opposition because of safety issues

[93:03] because of the way it's designed and I think given the opposition I would really ask City to re-evaluate take a step back um I was encouraged to read Mark Wall's recent piece in which he suggested maybe some incremental problem solving because the intersections seem to be the areas that are most problematic so maybe addressing the intersections reducing speed but taking incremental steps and seeing if those problems solve before spending at least $5 million when so much of the community is opposed and um you know I don't have any new ideas for ours but I do want to say that a lot of the community is opposed and I think for very good reasons um I time's up but thank you okay we're

[94:00] moving to our remote speakers our first three are Martha roskovski Tila duim and Jennifer ho hi can you hear me yes oh good Martha rowski I live at 18 South 31st Street in Boulder um I am here to ask you to not call the iris project we have spent two years of public process on this project and really deep really intensive really thoughtful Pro um public project process um I saw a cartoon recently where the first panel it was a speaker and a whole bunch of people in the audience and the speaker said who wants change and everybody was like yeah we want change the second panel was who wants to change and nobody wants nobody wants to change and I think that's part of what's happening on iris is people don't want

[95:01] to have to change how they interact with that road objectively the road doesn't work well it is not safe for people walking people biking it's not safe for people driving but I hear like just all this concern about change and I understand that but I think this is a change for the better this road will work better for everyone using it it will be safer and I'm hoping that Council will take leadership and actually change the road um I work in the transportation field and I will say that both from the professional analysis by City staff from my work with Federal highways and us do and having watched hundreds of projects like this roll out across the country iris is a really good candidate for this kind of treatment this is what we should be doing on Iris because when you look at our crash history when you look at where people

[96:00] need to bike safely in order to get places it's arterials that we have to tackle and so this is a perfect project and I just thank Council for leading on this thank you now we have Tila duain Jennifer ho and Foster Goodwill good evening Council duim chair of your tab but I am just speaking uh on my behalf tonight on my own on Monday as you heard Julian herle was killed at the intersection of Broadway in North foth Hills Highway she was 36 and riding her bike into town when she was struck by the driver of a pickup truck now I don't know if Magnus White's family can see the crash location from their front door but I am certain their next door neighbor can in another 10 pedal Strokes Julian would have been counted as the city's fourth traffic related fatality for Boulder this year two weeks ago a high school student and a middle schooler were both using flashing beacon crosswalks on Baseline Road in Lafayette when they were struck

[97:00] and injured by caress drivers they were hurt one intersection apart in two different incidents less than 24 hours apart both kids are alive but I assure you they are not fine none of the roadways on our core arterial Network are fine everyone has been studied for years and we know they have systemic problems unfairly burdening our most vulnerable Road users traffic violence is not an abstract rare thing and addressing It Is Not Mere inconvenience it is an ongoing source of trauma that reverberates across our community and frightens people away from busy roads like Iris or Baseline and turns daily travel into an arms race where the only sane seeming choice to get around is in a multi-ton steel vehicle that will protect you from everyone else I want to thank several leaders who have helped make the case for a better vision for our city including the changes in vision for Iris council member shuar you worked tirelessly with Alex Weinheimer on Tab to articulate the necessity of wrestling with our most dangerous roadways council member Benjamin you and council member

[98:01] friend were champions of the Court arterial network from the beginning council member spear thank you for your many hours attending Tab and defending Transportation policy issues here and elsewhere I thank this Council for reiterating its supportive C this spring Natalie Stiffler thank you for being the ideal leader methodical measured and transparent in your approach for this project Valerie Watson is the unflappable and Studio defender of staff's hard work which is critical to the health and vibrancy of Boulder and mayor Brockett thank you for your steadfast support of projects like this now and in the years to come youve all done Boulder proud testimony I I'll cut you off even if you're in the middle of saying a nice thing about me we try to be uh fair with these things um so now we have uh Jennifer ho Foster Goodwill and Charles Brock hello everyone um hopefully you can hear me yes yes great my name is Jennifer hoe um I am a

[99:00] professor of ethnic studies at the University of col of Boulder and I also um direct the center for humanities and the Arts I'm not here representing um my employer but I am here at the invitation of some Asian-American activists from Denver and I come to you as someone who has specialization in Asian-American studies um I am heartened to hear that hate crimes um were were I suppose charged even though quite my own personal politics I would say around um placing maybe a little bit different but actually what I wanted to share was a resource so um something that my Center has done through an external Grant is to develop a 3-week course on Asian-American History and identity which we are calling an anti- um racism toolkit and I've also co-developed a series of courses on corsera and by the way these are free as well as the other resource um to talk about and advocate

[100:00] for anti-racism and I guess what what I will say which I wasn't planning on saying is that I'm hearing a lot of pain um from audience members over the issue of Palestine and Gaza and Israel I know it's a lot of pain that is torn apart the community and I just want to say that Palestinian Americans are asian-americans and I think the toolkit and these resources as well as the resources of the University of Colorado Boulder could be something that is useful in partnership with the city of Boulder um and it's something that I'm very grateful to Mayor Brockett for since he participated in one of our events on Monday so thank you very much thank you our next three speakers are Foster Goodwill Charles Brock and Judy nog I do not see Foster online tonight okay then our last two speakers are Charles Brock and Judy

[101:03] nog uh members of council good evening uh my name is Chuck Rock and I live in the Newlands neighborhood I use Iris Avenue frequently uh both biking and uh driving I've already sent you a written message with some of my detailed comments regarding why I feel that the iris Avenue project should go forward tonight um I do want to thank this Council as well as the previous Council for your uh past support of the core arterial Network concept and the projects that have been implemented to dat such as Baseline um I feel like we're really now on the way to a complete Network um and network is a key thing here of our materials that are connected together that together provide a safer uh more Equitable more pleasant and uh probably even more efficient uh system than what we currently have um given the extremely extensive public Outreach by Transportation mobility department and

[102:01] their really I think exhaustive analysis of Alternatives including traffic modeling emergency response times Etc I think it's really unlikely there will be any new facts or findings that would be brought forward if you were to call the project up for future discussion um you'll just basically get more of the same comments um we'll know your position based on the vote to call it or not to call it up so I don't think that's an issue um I do want to ask you to vote against calling it up tonight for further discussion and allow the project to proceed I think we shouldn't delay and we should just let Transportation staff get to work with the detailed designs and finding the sources of funding that are needed for what I feel like is a really essential project um thanks for listening and uh thanks for your service to our community thanks our final speaker is Judy nog

[103:00] am I on yes okay thanks please call up Iris there are still questions people who oppose a road diet are equally interested in safety for all they simply don't believe that a road diet is the answer findings from staff omitted information that opposes a road diet that additional information was sent to weeks ago and can be resent for example the info about the underpinning traffic numbers ignores two critical points one current Peak traffic data and C Dot's 25% projected volume increase on the diagonal the peak traffic numbers shows that traffic on Iris at fome and at 19th during peak hours exceed excuse me federal guidelines with the Threshold at 875 vehicles per hour Iris at falam has 1095 and Iris at 19th has 997 at peak hours these facts are significant bicycle involved accidents on Iris occurred at intersections crosswalks and

[104:01] driveways yet protected bike Lanes leave those open of course while there is ample evidence that speed mitigation and changes at danger points are helpful what does that have to do with protected bike lanes and a road diet setting aside the extensive information what about common sense why intentionally make vehicle travel from diagonal more difficult for work workers who can't afford to live in Boulder and for Shoppers who could go elsewhere why make gas emissions worse from idling traffic why make neighborhoods and the bicyclist who prefer those neighborhoods less safe why make driving so much more difficult with delays from frequently stopping Vehicles why not just enhance the adjacent B bike lanes that the city itself already designated can't the city's limited funds be better spent thank you so much I'm shocked I have time left over thank you all right that that brings to a close our open comment appreciate all the speakers who came out to speak

[105:00] tonight and I'll turn to City staff to see if you have any responses thank you mayor um first of all to Jennifer ho if you're listening I'm intrigued to continue the conversation so know that I'll be reaching out actually um because I'm very interested in in learning a little bit more and talking to you um to and and I w't won't address the conversation about Iris because I know you're going to have that conversation uh shortly here uh there was one comment made by um the young lady that I feel compelled to address because it concerns me when I hear um any comment about being harassed by officers I want to say first that I believe we have an extraordinary police force I think we have men and women who do really good jobs but when they and if anyone does not I also want to hear about it we have mechanisms to do that and we want to

[106:00] hear those complaints we have a mechanism to file a complaint if anyone if anyone feels harassed we want to hear about that um there is online an online form uh you can do that anonymously and there is a way to do that if you ever feel harassed you or anyone else in our community it is not okay um you can speak with our independent police monitor we have a police oversight panel and while I lift up our police force because I do believe our men and women of the force do really good work in community I also do not tolerate any AC inappropriate or harassing and we have mechanisms for that so if you do if you have been harassed please let us know we want to be as accountable as we can be thank you thanks for that if we if we can have uh quiet in the audience please uh quiet in the audience

[107:01] please um Teresa do you have any responses no response from me mayor thank you okay and I we understand you're not feeling well I'm sorry to hear that I hope you feel better soon um any Council responses question or followup question from Matt and then Tina I had a question um there was a speaker who brought up the J Road anex and I'm just curious in a proc from a process question uh when or or is there a plan for that to come across uh our table and do we know when that is and where is that in the process and how are we involved in that going forward I believe that is coming before you on November 7th yeah I'm uh specifically flagging the same thing and thank you for the speaker uh for coming um the idea of uh having an option between just land that's buildable and actual units is interesting I want to learn more about that during this process very good anything else uh yes

[108:06] TAA as you know council members are allowed to um respond to any comments that are made by our public during public hearing and that is not uh considered re um whatever the word is there it is see we all work together to finish the sentence anywh who um again want to acknowledge and thank all of those who have come and continue to come and speak and remind us all that we are indeed interconnected and as Lila Watton says if you have come here to help me you are wasting your time but if you understand something I'm going to remix it sorry lla um but if you've come because you understand that your um your future your life your present um is tied up with mine let's do it together I apologize lla but you get the sentiment um and so I also just want to say we hear you um

[109:01] and I don't need to look at nobody I'm talking to y'all I already talked to them I'm talking to Y all to let you know that I am hearing that we are listening um and that we and as the novelist sister city representative um I had the honor of meeting with some of the representatives uh mayor as well um from our nobl sister city and specifically uh a representative or a member from uh living in the Oscar refugee camp in nablas um they have asked our support on specific issues and um although we are not able to find the collective will um to even discuss international issues at this time uh I am excited to be able to offer something that we can tangibly do and so if there is interest by anybody who can hear the sound of my voice right now please contact me at Adam T at

[110:01] bouldercolorado.gov um we have um opportunities to provide support around uh medical equipment for the health center and for the ambulance we also are looking to um host uh cultural events as we clearly see that there's a cultural misunderstanding and miseducation um and uh hey I'm spent 25 years in public education I'm very aware of how that system is used and the opportunities that we have as a collective to course correct our Collective memory on how we got here um I also had the opportunity and I want to honor and thank our public library for hosting the jaipore International Film Festival or sorry International literary Festival where our closing speaker uh was Dr abish Who wrote this wonderful book I shall not hate um he is a gauen doctor whose three daughters were killed by IDF or iof

[111:03] forces um and still stood there and said I shall not hate and so anger is a positive hate is not I can't do anything about hate but anger we can do something with so I urge you if you are interested in film festivals book clubs ways that we can dance music really the culture and Intercultural exchanges as well I also want to ask about um how we can continue to support our human relations Council who I know are considering not necessarily um you know this specific Topic at this specific moment uh but recognizing that they too have a role to play and there is an interest there as well um and on that note we have a very robust and exciting um list of all of these different commitments around human relations uh but we have very limited monitoring tracking and Reporting so I am hopeful and eager to work and I know our city manager and the teams are

[112:01] working to figure out how we can better um track Monitor and Report uh also as a former inaugural member of the Boulder Police oversight panel um I too urge to please please report I can't do anything we can't do anything um and you know again um the best apology is changed Behavior uh and so thank you again for coming um I too am also interested in that J Road piece and um I just want to end with some words from uh Dr Dr abish Who just reminded us that uh Palestinians are ready for the challenge to start from zero with dignity and rights uh and I leave you with uh liberty and justice for all liberty and justice for all thank you all right thanks uh if we can have quiet in the audience please quiet in the audience um any other comments from Council Members seeing none we can go on to our

[113:01] consent agenda please Elicia yes quiet in the audience please okay quiet quiet please quiet please quiet in the audience please we're going to have to do a recess we don't get quiet in the audience all right this is a last warning if you're not I see people heading out the door though okay I'm going to call a recess

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[124:46] all right we're back in all right Elicia are we ready to go back live I am ready sir and getting there for you okay just say the word all

[125:01] right next on tonight's agenda oh sorry just a second gav's back to order Elicia if we could do our consent agenda please okay our next item which is item number three on tonight's agenda is our consent agenda and it consists of items 3A through 3K any uh question or comments on the consent agenda Tina yeah I just had one question on G around the curbside cutouts um do we have the same uh regulations around idling uh for those 15 minutes and is there signage around that I confess I'm going to have to phone a friend I do not know is there a friend who knows Chris can you take this one yes yes Chris Agland principal planner with Transportation Mobility thank you yes um I am not aware of any idling um regulations that we have um that

[126:01] would probably be a better question for our city attorney's office um and not aware of any signage that we have in the city with anti-idling messaging well and this is with leaving a motor running while you're waiting correct correct because I okay because I saw some signage in front of the North bould D Rec Center that has some uh don't leave your car running messaging that's not a technical term but yeah I'm sorry I was not aware of that one okay all right well I'm just curious about that since we're extending the time to 15 minutes and I I know we all try to do the to keep not keep engines running and so I'm just curious about how that works but back to you yeah yeah it's perfect and I I see Janet Michaels from the city attorney's office has also turned on her camera Janet do you want to address that you can also get back to us on this too um you know in in the interest of time I'll we can get back with you thank you is that all right Tina yes thank you

[127:01] Nara thanks anything else or a motion perhaps I move to approve the consent agenda second got a motion in a second can we do a roll call please Elisha yes sir we'll start tonight's roll call for the consent agenda items 38 through 3K with mayor Brockett yes council member fulkers yes Marquis yes shuart yes mayor Pro Tim spear yes council member wall have a long last yes Wier yes Adams yes and Benjamin yes the agenda is hereby approved unanimously thanks so much can we do our callup check-ins please yes sir our callup check-ins are item number four on

[128:01] the agenda in 4A is the iris Avenue transportation Improvement project Community environmental assessment process any question comments or desire to call this up Ryan jumps to the front there I have a few comments um first there was a reference to a memo from Transportation Advisory Board uh chair Tila Dam that addressed some questions uh from council member Wallock hotline and also covered some wi ground I'd like to request that that be entered into the record for this meeting if that's possible perhaps so that we can see it in the next minutes is that at least I'd like to make that as a as a request um so that's the first thing and then on to the maybe some substantive things so um staff has been converging on making major improvements to Iris for safety and connectivity for at least Le around the last decade uh we can see this in the highrisk network report the low stress bike and walk Network report the Safe Streets reports Vision zero action

[129:00] plan uh and so what we're doing about iris is part of a long-term plan to improve our Citywide system uh which has been developed both through staff and with feedback from multiple councils and so today where we are is that we have um an extensively developed proposal on Iris which has involved Community engagement that has been intensive to say the least 2800 people um over 50 representatives from business over 27 uh Community engagement events and an approach that has been designed to advance equity and drive representation and one of the findings that I found um most important is that while some people are understandably skeptical about disrupting a street that is important to them just as many people are saying that the existing condition isn't working and that they are asking us to use public resources in a way to provide a greater balance of needs for people including those of all different ages um so as part of this we've seen a a process that

[130:02] in which we have gone from 13 design options whittled methodically down to one um we've seen an engineering study using standard methods which has confirmed traffic volumes make this a good candidate for a project and based on the findings we've seen staff add to the list of things to do to man AG for uh off streets that might have have impacts and so there's a time for planning there's a time for doing and I think this is a time for us to do I vote that we move forward now I think it's important for a few reasons first uh doing community engagement for transportation projects is literally our staff's expertise they have completed the work they're giving us a recommendation without a reservation so we should rely on their expertise and trust it second staff has precious skills they also have precious resources month after month year after year our to-do list on these projects grows we should take unnecessary weight off our staff's

[131:00] shoulders and get the work done and ask them to to move forward and the final thing is that people continue to die and be mmed in our streets uh we don't know exactly where the next tragedy is going to be but we do know the kinds of places that it happens and we know that Iris has risk factors so every week we wait is a week that people are bearing unnecessary risk and access continues to be denied um so that's thanks for listening I just want to make one final um point which is um last night Tila provided the memo that um has been referenced she gave a very comprehensive perspective answering a lot of the questions that she's heard and one of the things she gets at is the matter that no matter how proactive and robust of the work of Staff when it comes to the work of transforming her streets the questions they always just keep coming and this is a big reason that we have not moved as quickly as we could have um in recent years in the city so as we think about the long list of potential

[132:02] improvements in our future Beyond Iris I would be interested in staff looking at ways to streamline these procedures to find ways to do more um with our with our resources and less time I know today is not a day to take any action on that but I do think this is a vital moment to recognize the power of this team and to plan for the future that we want thanks Ryan I see that Teresa has her hand up yes thank you mayor I just wanted excuse me I just wanted to clarify for the record that Miss Duan is speaking on her own behalf as a resident um of the city and not speaking on behalf of tab thanks for that clarification Teresa mark thank you uh first to feel better that sounds like a very bad cold um with respect to the Redevelopment virus I wish to call it up so that we can conduct public hearing on the matter

[133:01] we've received a virtual flood of emails on the subject pro and con hundreds of them and the concept that we can be so generally sensitive to and focused on community participation but not in this case is both surprising and inconsistent to me on a council that literally spent two hours discussing Community engagement with respect to the bould Boulder Valley comp plan the message we would be sending here is we care about engagement except when we don't when we find it inconvenient and when we simply don't want to engage with contrary voices I think that's not worthy of this or any other counsil there are many people who believe that this is not the right solution to Iris that it will not achieve its intended goals that it will create unintended side effects and that the entire project is too costly no matter how it is funded I believe those

[134:02] people should at least have the opportunity to be heard thank you thanks Mark um does anybody one else want to advocate for a call up or yes Tina or any other position yeah I'll U make some comments um first I really wanted to lift up uh what one speaker said about how most emails I received all shared concerned about safety of all people using the road and it was a really a shared value whether or not you were supporting changes to Iris and um I thought it was great that we had that shared value pretty consistently throughout the one year of Engagement um if you recall this engagement started when I started campaigning a year ago and one of the first events I went to was at Foothill Elementary and then I went to another event at I believe Coline Elementary um and and I think there was a third one as well so there has been tremendous engagement um the

[135:02] other piece is just making sure and reflecting on this engagement process about why we haven't made as much progress in the types of emails we're receiving in that 12mth span and how can we do better for the next project to hopefully convince uh more people and I hope the way that is is that the iris changes are a success and so I think staff has done a huge amount of work on this project um I'm putting my trust in our city manager who manages our staff and who stands behind their recommendations in terms of the vehicle travel times that won't be impacted and the notion or the the or the um prediction that there won't be backups into Broadway or into the diag um and I'm I have faith that the studies were done uh well and they also Ed Consultants I do have a couple of concerns in general for future projects

[136:02] um Public Safety and evacuation should always be a huge concern and so I know that that came up through the engagement process in the future I would like to see that part of sort of the initial piece and I also want to be continue to realize that Iris as an evacuation Road May may it it we may want to think about how we develop around Iris in terms of the people that need to use that road to evacuate so when we think about changing the numbers of people living in areas that will need to evacuate from to the west to the east I'm hoping we conduct um studies that can model that and make sure that there's a safe way for people to exit um I also want to uh bring up another issue around the sidewalk particularly in the southern side the can um from what I understand the core arterial network is an idea where the cars or I'm sorry an idea it's a strategy where cars and bikes and

[137:00] pedestrians all travel well together um but separate uh we have a commitment to plow the um the biking and the cars but we don't have a commitment um I think for the city to plow the sidewalks and one and I think that's still relying on property owners that have a 24-hour window to do so so one question I have is whether in core alterior networks moving forward if we include a budget line item for the city to clear those sidewalks so all three modes are supported in poor weather um so with that I I don't uh think we should call it up I know that the city will work hard to make this a success for all the users and I also know that if there's an unintended consequence that they'll address it but hopefully that's not the case thanks thanks I got Matt and then Nicole well first I'm looking at a bunch of amazing staff and so one thank you

[138:01] for sticking through a little turbulent beginning but um you guys deserve an immense amount of credit for this work um not just for the technical work which is exemplary but most importantly for putting yourselves as staff out into Community to answer and respond to so many questions for such a period of time um that is not something we usually ask of Staff usually we are that interface with Community to let staff do the hard work um but you guys took that um bold step to really be out in community and I thank you for that I also you know am sorry for some of the licks that you get for that um by community and and some of the negative comments that get stated um so I wish we could be there as a council to help defend you more often and that's certainly my commitment to you guys but great job um this engagement is second to none I I I don't know what we could do more here to get us to where we are um so I I think a callup is sort of an exercise of futility um you know there's discussion about things that were pre-ordained when council member friend

[139:01] and I presented the can proposal to our Council colleagues a few years ago the only thing we had pre-ordained was that we were choosing to actually prioritize safety that we were moving beyond talking about a vision for zero serious crashes and serious injuries and fatalities and moving to actual actions and that was the only thing that was pre-ordained is we're not talking anymore we're doing and I think staff has risen to that challenge and I appreciate them for that so um it it's critical that we continue to move forward and and set the precedent that when we act and we're dealing with technical stuff um we basically asked staff hey can you make our aerial safer and staff has delivered those answers to us and I think it's important for us to take those responses and run with it and challenge them with the next question how do we make the next street safer and the next one um and so I think for us not calling this up sends a clear message that um staff has risen to the challenge We Trust our expert expert staff and we're willing to defend their decisions and their great work going

[140:00] forward thanks Nicole thank you um I agree with many of my colleagues here um you know I think folks have been heard and if you've been emailing us if you came to speak to us tonight we have heard you and we have also um heard from the folks who've been engaged over the last year um I do not think that a public hearing would um provide us with any new information that we have not already heard in the past year um anything that would uh lead us to a different confusion and or sorry a different uh conclusion um uh but um you know I know it's really it's frustrating to be on that side where you feel like you haven't been heard um I have been there a number of times myself and I don't know um that there is a way to make that better better um other than than um just seeing it be a success as council member marz said um I you know the engagement here um was was it was this was a really

[141:01] strong process uh staff invested a lot in it um the data analysis was very thorough and intentional and as my colleagues have said we have extraordinary staff who are experts in their field and we are so fortunate to have them here so I really do feel that it's okay to move forward I don't think that we would gain new information from a public hearing um and moving forward I think this uh the thorough engagement that we've done over the past year and starting earlier is really uh the gold standard um for how we should move forward in the future because it does give us a chance to hear from um everyone in our community uh including those you know who have the time um to come talk to us and uh email us at toward the end of the process um but we engage thousands of people and I just want to respect that engagement too all the folks who could not be here tonight um to speak to us or did not um have the time to email us in the last couple of weeks um so I I agree with council

[142:02] member Mark was that the best way to show that this process is okay and that we can move forward this way is to make this a success and so godp speed to staff um hope that you know this um this goes well and I I know you'll let us know if there are any issues so thank you so much for all the work thanks for that and I'll just note that council member Wier has switched to Virtual participation uh her husband just had surgery so she's needs to be with him in his recovery um anybody else uh I can call on myself real quick um I do not have a desire to call this up I do uh we have done very in-depth engagement as Nicole just noted um I went to a number of the events myself and um also agree that we have been listening um very carefully to all the feedback that we've gotten so uh your comments of all kinds have been received for sure and I've certainly been thinking about them carefully as I know my colleagues have as well I do want to give a very large shout out to our city staff for doing an extraordinary job in

[143:00] this analysis I read the seep multiple times it's a very detailed document and um it shows a very high level of high quality analysis and so when you go through all of that and there's a very clear recommendation and it's based on quantitative criteria um then I listen to that very seriously and so um in in reading through that that seat very closely and listening to our staff recommendations and don't see the need for any changes to this plan I think it's extremely well done as it stands um and then just want to thank my my colleagues for getting us to this point so Matt and uh and council member friend for bringing the the can program uh forth as well as with the help of Ryan from Tab and Alex at that time um as well and just a real quick um personal anecdote note I am um almost I'm generally not one of the 150 people a day biking on Iris I bike around North Boulder all the time uh but not on Iris and I did to make a point I'm almost done Tara give me a

[144:02] second um now I have to go on for two times longer because you you interrupted my train of thought um anyway so but I I did it on purpose a couple of weeks ago and I'm not going back again until this project is done and I'll be going through alternate routes because this is not a good streak for biking there I'm done anybody else okay um so we heard a desire from one person to call it up um Mark if you want to make a motion you're welcome to or it's it's pretty clear where the uh majority sentiment is on this I don't think like the motion is a useful thing okay all right so I'm hearing not a desire to call this up from a majority of council so um thanks again to staff for all the amazing work on this and it's um fantastic

[145:00] job okay our uh how about our next check-in call check in please Elicia Dearing the headlines all right our next call up check in is item 4B it is a landmark alteration certificate to construct a 17 foot by 17t Greenhouse at the property north of 200 Gardia Lane in the shiaka park historic district this is referenced under his 2024 d132 any questions comments or desire to call this one up I'm expecting lengthy speeches on the part of each council member no oh yes there we go Lauren um I just wanted to appreciate the landmarks board for their thoughtful comments um um and conditions of approval very good all right seeing no one else we can move on from that and go

[146:00] to our matter from the city manager please yes sir our Matters from the city manager are item number six on tonight's agenda 6A is the commercial area update it is connections and Analysis thank you so much uh am mayor and to frame up this uh exciting issue I'm going to ask assistant city manager Mark wolf to kick us off thank you Nua good evening Council Mark wolf assistant city manager we are very excited uh to provide an update on this project tonight and to take the opportunity to highlight uh much of the great work that has occurred over the past several months in April Council set a priority for commercial area connections and quality of life improvements while you all were all very supportive of taking a a medium and long-term approach in how we ensure and promote commercial area vibrancy you asked us to take a really hard look at shortterm beautification and connection efforts on the hill and

[147:01] the surrounding area in a moment I will hand it off to our friends from Community Vitality Chris and Matt but I want to recognize and thank all of our contributing departments to the work accomplished this year uh as we will explain in further uh detail uh parks and Recreation Transportation Mobility planning and development services and Community Vitality have all engaged in meaningful work ranging from median and tree well cleanup to crosswalk painting to wayfinding much of this work uh was on staff's work plan but we hope the prioritized and focused coordination and collaboration is noticeable in the results and the work is not done as we mentioned last week uh the city managers recommended budget includes a $1.4 million proposal to continue streetscape improvements on and around the hill in 2025 the so-called District analysis as

[148:00] we'll explain is also exciting from the standpoint that we know we need to sustain the momentum and further support commercial areas across the city uh we believe this is perfect timing to expand the tools in our financial tool belt expanded use of General Improvement districts exploring potential tools like Downtown Development authorities Urban renewal and others can help us make critical investments in anything from Parks to housing transportation and other this analysis will lead to specific recommendations in the next six to eight months and I also want to recognize this this the implementation of any new strategies can't be done without our external partners and recognize patina swigger uh from downtown Boulder partnership who has hung with us this evening a key partner uh here in the downtown and the last thing I want to point out is that the this the Synergy of this analysis and some of the future work um is very related to many other initiatives it's a key element of our Economic Development strategy which we'll talk about in a new format next uh

[149:01] week and also we'll be instrumental in uh the city's long-term Financial strategy as well um these gentlemen will talk a bit about uh how this relates to the boulder valelly comprehensive Plan update um and others so very excited about this work but just really wanted to emphasize that uh we weren't uh resting over the last several months a lot of great work has been done and we're excited to share what work is ahead Chris uh thank you Mark that was a very comprehensive overview we're going to give you another comprehensive overview um so let's move on to the next uh slide but we're first going to start with some background I know that we have a a couple new council members uh since the last time you've heard from me um that uh we want to do some background on both our community vitality 's role in our commercial districts and some much Abridged history of uh Boulder's commercial districts uh then I'll hand it over to Matt shansky who's going to go through the current uh pending and

[150:02] pending work items that uh Mark mentioned um and then we've got of course questions for Council and some next steps next slide so maybe in the interest of time it's a much Abridged much AB bridged version of the the history of our commercial areas over the decades I think in sharing this history it's important to first acknowledge uh an often UNC uncomfortable fact that um our community and our commercial areas were founded on land that was inhabited by um uh indigenous peoples and then of course as our Visions for our downtown commercial center evolved over time um we had our first African-American uh some residents who were displaced by uh changes in our commercial area is um of course when you think about downtown Boulder um before the Advent of the car in the proliferation and autoc Centric culture um our downtown and our

[151:02] community really grew Around The Pedestrian and mass transit we had a train that ran frequently between uh Boulder and Denver the in urban railroad um you can see here in this first image at Broadway and pearl um and maybe what you can also see is maybe B Boulder's very first park and ride um as folks were uh using transit to get uh regionally we also had a robust street car system that ran all through our historic neighborhoods of course as the automobile came more and more on the scene um in the 20s and 30s those street car tracks were torn up the train service um ended a number of years later and we found our community adapting to uh huge population increase um with Baby Boomers and uh new Labs coming to town that had a lot of new jobs our population doubled in a very short amount of time um and a lot of those folks came with cars um and decisions were made at that time that had major

[152:00] impacts particularly in our existing commercial uh areas in downtown and University Hill um you think about the Crossroads Mall that was at uh 28th in Canyon that was all unincorporated uh Boulder County we didn't have a plan for how our community was going to uh grow and evolve and that led to the 70s uh where the very first Boulder Valley comprehensive plan was established and this community decided that we needed to think better about how we're going to grow and and what kind of community we wanted to be and so thinking from the 70s through the 90s a lot of decisions were made uh a lot of legacies we heard uh from Ruth right today uh legacies were established that we've all inherited and now we are the stewards of those legacies so from the 70s through the '90s uh thinking about the creation of The Pedestrian Mall in the downtown making decisions that would bring uh our our residents visitors back to the downtown um after major impacts over time um and

[153:02] a decline in that area that's also when our first general Improvement districts were established on University Hill and downtown um from the 90s to the 2010s we learned a lot over those first number of years where we were building a lot of parking thinking that we could park our way out of our uh commercial uh Vitality challenges and we learned over time that actually it's better to invest in other modes of transportation so in 1989 downtown Boulder was the very first contract uh uh ecopass program in the region where we provided through funding from downtown district and a general fund to support Universal bus passes for all downtown employees because we know that while it's expensive to Pro provide transportation benefits uh to our community it's still cheaper than building more parking and so that's been part of the Legacy that's been building over the past many decades and then we learned a lot of lessons from that we saw Behavior

[154:00] change we saw a 50% uh mode share of of single occupancy of eagles in downtown 50% of folks coming to downtown from the 990s till now have been finding a way there in other modes of transportation in the the last 20 years we've learned from those lessons and reapplied those lessons in New emerging districts like Boulder Junction um and so while as you heard from Mark this work is a partnership across many departments Community Vitality has the fortunate role of being a key player in how we are managing our general Improvement districts and and providing these Services uh in our commercial areas next slide um so in our unique role in partnership with the many departments across the city we've established three strategic pillars in community Vitality these are in service to of course the the guidance of the S framework um we focus on cultural vibrancy so we house the office of arts and culture and the office of special events our district Vitality work revolves around the

[155:01] management of our general Improvement districts downtown University Hill and Boulder Junction and of course access for all is making sure that the folks who want to participate in cultural opportunities in the community and folks who want to um uh engage in Commerce in our key commercial areas have all types of ways to get there if they're choosing to drive we do provide services for them um but we um also want to make sure that anybody and everybody um is able to ACC those spaces and we don't again find ourselves in a time where the proliferation of an automobile is taking up valuable space that could be used for cultural engagement and economic um activity next slide so we have a number of Divisions within Community Vitality um that I want to thank uh a number of folks who are here today first Matt shansi he's our senior manager of cultural vibrancy and District Vitality so he oversees our district management functions um as well as the office of arts and culture and the office of special events we have a number of Staff

[156:00] members uh in the audience who are on his team uh and a couple of interns this is their very first city council meeting so um they're now very much considering a long uh life in public service um I'm I'm glad we were able to have a a very positive environment for you for first city council meeting you're welcome we also of course have our parking and access uh working groups led by uh Christine Edwards she's our senior manager of operations and maintenance and then Business Services they're the ones that make all the the money work and that's led by our senior manager of Business Services aliot leonte next slide so again in our district management function there are four districts uh that Community Vitality Vitality is currently responsible for downtown through kid uid on the hill and then two overlapping districts in Boulder Junction next slide these General Improvement districts were first um envisioned in the boulder or sorry in the Colorado State Statute and then

[157:01] enabled of course um in the boulder Revised Code as a home rule Community um and the purpose of GS is to focus on Capital Improvements of public facilities and maintenance of those assets um again first and foremost it was largely focused on um surface parking lots that then evolved into our mixed use parking garages um it's paid for through property taxes uh of property owners within the boundaries of those districts and of course as a triple net lease town that means that the businesses who are paying the leases in those commercial spaces are the ones that are paying the taxes to make these districts possible um they are governed by a board of directors which so happens to be you um whenever you form as the board of directors of kid or uid or bad and you're making decisions as that board not actually as city council so just a kind of an interesting Nuance with how GS work um the the G GS of course have the ability to condemn properties operate um facilities generate Revenue

[158:02] off of those facilities and issue bonds to help pay for new uh whatever the the the next vision is of how we want to leverage those resources for the future so over time we've been able to build operate maintain now seven mixed use garages and two surface slots so six of those garages are in or near the downtown district we have 100 spaces in the garage at Boulder Junction um we are managing in the districts over 2300 parking spaces we also um uh maintain replace um install all of the bike racks uh in downtown as part of our access for all component um of course we also do manage the on street parking infrastructure um wherever we have paid parking which I forgot to mention in the MCH Bridge we've been charging for parking in downtown in University Hill since 1943 um as a way to uh address the the impact of automobiles um we also manag the the

[159:00] camp program the paid parking component of the camp program at chiaka we uh as part of our responsibilities so we've taken on other things we we managed the commercial kiosk on Burl Street mall and other improvements that have been happening in the downtown to improve quality of life uh in the districts we manage um and of course having the office of arts and culture they also have a number of assets um that uh public art assets that we are um responsible for throughout the city next slide so this leads us to where are we at today what are the challenges that we are are contemplating in the problems that we're trying to solve and want to acknowledge that that your retreat in April you established a key priority related to connections between our commercial districts primarily um or with a an emphasis of course on the the connection between the hill and downtown we want certainly want to leverage um the the conference center the Limelight The Moxy and and the long um amount of

[160:01] planning and work that's been going into how do we transform um the economic Vitality of the Hill district specifically and so there's a lot of work that's been going on that we want to uh share a little bit more with you and then of course new work that we're contemplating and this is where I'm going to hand it over to Matt um who's going to tell you more about all that that great thanks so much Chris um so I'm going to discuss three work areas with you that address the city council priority the first one uh Matt I think you want to get a little closer closer my voice not booming enough thank you okay so um the of the three work areas we're going to start off with the sort of now projects these are the District of vitalization and Investments that we do and those um projects are really Central to the ongoing work of community vitality and the work that we do in our annual work plans that really answer the uh question about connections between and quality of life in our districts all of our divisions have a role to play in this um as caretaker of our general Improvement districts the work on

[161:01] beautification capital projects asset management and Associated programming in our districts is a central Focus to our work projects that directly relate to the city council priority uh you'll hear us repeat um something over and over again Chris already mentioned it I'm going to mention it again this work relies on really strong partnership with our other City departments and in organizations in the community um this includes planning and development services Parks and Recreation transportation and Mobility facilities and Fleet um downtown Boulder partnership the hill Boulder Merchant Association University of Colorado uh the vision for the vision for um CV's District revitalization Investments efforts is about advancing all of those District priorities through our investments and to do that it really requires strong collaboration and it's with all of these partners and lots of others so that's really key to the things that we're going to show you um for instance um there's projects that are completed or underway that directly

[162:00] relate to this work um the idea of both the beautification the efficiency and use of the districts as well as the programming that makes it Lively and so I won't show go through you know each of these seven there was I think a total of 29 in your packet that are are sort of uh on our list but I didn't want to call out a few on the top row there you see the Boulder Junction icons that's a project that's almost complete to create some place making and wayfinding assets for Boulder Junction and then District activations um you see a picture there of our collaboration with the roots music project who brought the um um oh my gosh On The Rise Music Festival to the hill there's going to be one more I hope you come to Boulder Junction on September 28th and see the last of those performances um District activations um are are about that activity it's also about um some of the Arts Investments that we make and we have a new project that's coming to the East End of pearl coming up soon with some painted ader de

[163:01] chairs so there's a lot of Investments that enhance that and I wanted to call out Regan Brown who's with us um you've heard from her about a year ago about University Hill revitalization she manages a lot of this programming and uh brings it about and we'll be happy to answer questions about that at the end um but also um the garage concrete repair perhaps not as exciting on its face as some of these others um but Christine Edwards and her team have working on this um garage concrete repair is a lot lot more than just adding structural Integrity to the garage and taking care of those assets it's all about making a a beautiful Gateway as the access the city because for a lot of people this is their first footfalls in Boulder and we want to make that a beautiful environment too so there are a few more contributions to commercial areas um coming up in our work plan I'm not going to read all of this list to you and again you have more in your packet um I we do want to call out uh one the University Hill streetscapes investment project which is part of the city

[164:01] manager's 2025 proposed budget it's an investment that will enhance the streets with new infrastructure improvements um Community vitality and transportation Mobility departments will be collaborating on this and it may include jout drought resistant plants artistic elements upgrades to alleys sustainable irrigation systems there's a lot in there that we can expect from this project next few years to to bring some new life to University Hill so we've had some projects that are completed underway we also have some that are coming up I wanted to highlight um and um there are things that are across departments so Community Vitality plays a supporting role in a lot of these things but all of our uh many of our departments do have projects that affect our commercial areas um and I wanted to I'm not going to read through these again uh there's there's a lot of great projects going on I do want to call out the Boulder Valley comprehensive Plan update um that's going to play into the next work areas

[165:01] that that we talk about um but many of these projects are included in a cross departmental collaboration called All Things downtown in which several Department directors and project managers can get together and make sure things align don't overlap and we're working together on on on the same efforts so that was what's happening now I'm going to move to what's happening next in the near future um as Mark mentioned we want to go through this District analysis in order to really understand um what comes next to get to the answer of what we should do next we have to study the conditions in our commercial areas and from that understanding come up with recommendations for governance and finance tools that'll help us achieve our near-term priorities the improvement district analysis will address some structural solutions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of governance and financial tools in the current and potential Uh current districts over the next few years the scope of this is going to start with a review of existing

[166:01] policy and strategy we're going to conduct uh supplementary research and engagement if that's needed but with that analysis then um and um understanding that um the community voice is important to to that analysis we're going to be mindful of overlaps with other projects and take advantage of Engagement that that's already going on um understanding the uh the uh um engagement and the the communities uh um desires for this uh these commercial areas right now um we're going to uh come up with individualized tools for each district and a near-term action plan this is going to be useful in developing um the action steps that we need for developing the 2026 city managers recommended budget so we're really using that as our deadline to get this in front of you and what we will be producing is uh to understand what options are made available through state law in these improvement district

[167:00] scenarios things like Downtown Development authorities Metropolitan districts we're going to talk about this again in a second I've got a little chart for you but there is a handful of things that we can do within the existing structures of GS and other structures in order to rebalance and make sure that everything is operating as efficiently as we can for the next next few years so we plan to kick this off in the coming months and as I said we have a deadline of this uh integrating with the budget cycle we're also mindful of State deadlines for taxation changes or for ballot initiatives and so we're going to have all those recommendations with those deadlines in mind um we don't anticipate extensive engagement on this project instead we're relying on existing policy and strategy this is important so we don't duplicate work we're not overburdening burdening the community with survey fatigue um that said we do expect that we're going to consult with our district commissions work closely with subject matter experts our stakeholders in the community um making sure that our assumptions are

[168:00] correct and that we're ref finding the strategy to get the best tools we possibly can so we told you about now and we told you about next and this is into the future um when we think about um the the city council priority for commercial areas connections and quality of life uh we think about the work that we can do into the future and and you saw that in the timeline that there's these really generational priorities that come up and so we want to have the opportunity to Think Through what are the enormous challenges that are in front of us that we can solve uh things like the evolving economy after the pandemic and New Opportunities like the new hotels and Conference Center on the hill um we wanted to take this take this as the right moment to have those conversations and thoughtfully consider the future and what new priorities will guide our commercial areas in the long term we plan to study each existing district and potential districts that have been named in things like the comprehensive plan area plans and subc commmunity plans and take a long-term time Horizon

[169:00] in a project that we're calling the boulder commercial areas blueprint the blueprint is a strategic document it provides recommendations and actions items for staff intended to implement vision and goals in the S framework the sustainability equity and resilience framework as well as policy Direction in the update of the boulder Valley comprehensive plan so to do this we must first build that great foundation and that's going to be built on the great outcomes of the updated comprehensive plan we're going to support our partners in planning and development services they take on extensive research data and engagement projects for the comprehensive plan and those quality outcomes are going to feed the blueprint with the foundation the study of other Vision strategies and documents across our organization plus supplementary data engagement as it's needed will produce the priorities for each district that those next generational priorities the blueprint will conclude with um the recommendations for improvement district tools necessary to

[170:00] achieve those priorities so when we talk about those tools um it's good to have sort of uh uh context for that we show you this slide um not so much for the data but just to Pro provide that context it shows a a moment in time for a general Improvement districts based on 2024 assessments by the county the details and the potential for improvement will be S subject of future conversations as this project continues we wanted to show you now to demonstrate that important point that there's a wide variety in the way that the um options available for uh Municipal Improvement districts can be deployed across the city some of these are in Balance some of them are not we want to talk about what the balance is for the long term and this is closely related but distinct from what you saw in the district analysis it it's about um making sure that for the immediate future and our priorities right now that these things are in balance and then looking at them for the long term and just like I said um in the last section in the blueprint um we're looking at all

[171:02] the options that are available again this is more for demonstration the details are going to be coming out you're going to get sick of seeing this but um it's important because we have some options that are provided and we want to make sure that we know what the right fit is for long-term health of the Improvement districts so the um the blueprint is going to establish um priorities for the districts and then on analyzing that and um establishing that for the community what are the tools that are most appropriate for the Financial Health and the long-term vision of what we should build and program in each of the districts so the timeline for this project is going to follow closely with the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan because that's the foundation of what we're going to uh study um it's early in the process we're still scoping and creating a charter for this and so there will be more to come on exactly what the timeline is exactly how engagement will

[172:00] play out but I think it's critical again to understand that this is an integration with existing projects and making sure that we're building off of great foundations so here's a summary uh reminder about what's at the center of this is um the visions and scopes for the three three important Community Vitality work areas as they relate to the council priority for commercial areas um the work happening now for district rization and Investments work area next for the Improvement districts analysis and in the long term for the boulder commercial areas blueprint so we'll see if you have any clarifying questions for us before we go on to the council question and before we do that Chris I just want to make sure that uh covered everything and your start I'm ready all right all right they're ready for questions do anybody have any questions Tina I had one question about the Mills

[173:03] um table that you showed that had the property Mills do those I think we have a cap at some point do those count toward our Mill Levy cap that's thank you for the question um so there are M caps for certain districts and that that sort of no Revenue uh impacts labels where it looks like Mark has some uh clarifying that he wants to do for that question yeah I think council member Marcos you're referring to this the city overall uh Charter cap it does not these are U Authority above and beyond okay so we it won't affect any other Mill efforts that we do or other okay that's correct y um I have a word choice question um I see you use the word blueprint is this a new word choice in replace of the uh

[174:01] hated and now no longer chosen to be used master plan terminology I'm just curious because I like blueprint so I don't know if this is you know are we are we pivoting to some more choice and appropriate terminology thank you for the question Maybe do we need an ordinance for that no but we are definitely trying to steer away from a word that is historically inappropriate thank you for that Ryan your mic's on did you have okay right I'm not seeing any other hands row there we go Taisha thank you so much this has been very helpful um to learn more uh about this process I was curious it said access for all and I was just curious what of the indicators of success are related to that particular um component of our of this effort thank you for the question I did see some some gesturing from um Matt on

[175:02] that but certainly it's altruistic there was a time when the conversation around the goals of the GS was around accommodating people who could drive a car um and so the conversations evolved over time in how we invest G uh resources into not just infrastructure that's attracting a certain mode of transportation but everything from cultural activations I'd say that the work that we did with Boulder social streets was uh tied to a desire to create opportunities for people from many different Graphics to Graphics to to come to downtown Boulder and so thinking about um the melan and funk festival that was a much loved Community event last year that U Matt I know is working with the team to make sure that we can have things like that again so it's certainly something that guides not just our infrastructure decisions um but the the three pillars of the department uh making sure that we're not just focusing on uh one type

[176:00] of person one mode of transportation one demographic of of people in the decisions that we're making and the work that we're doing okay I'm specifically talking about people with disabilities though so what are the metrics of success there is it curve Cuts is it more I'm just trying to unpack when we use these terms I'm just hopeful that we can be like oh it's this this or just you know how do we know we're doing well or how how we know what we doing better in that particular area thank you for the clarification so of course uh in our access uh for people with disabilities we make we we do um have a number of handicapp parking spaces for folks who are able to drive um and uh our work to uh provide Transit passes does not discriminate based on ability we don't manage infrastructure in the public right of way so much so that's not necessarily our realm but we do as Property Owners uh in uh the city we we

[177:02] do need to make sure that all of our facilities are are 100% accessible we do have a relationship with the center for people with disabilities we do engage with them in in our work and we will continue to engage with them in our work they're a great resource uh to have um and then um also we do get questions around parking pricing and and uh considerations in that realm um in the assets that we manage um so certainly some possibilities in that realm um but want to yeah certainly assure you that that is a demographic that is part of our consideration to make sure anybody right regardless of ability is able to participate in our community right um and you know many have heard me say training without accountability is violence and so um in this instant I'm just hopeful that we can come up with some tangible metrics of success around that so that we you know in addition to feedback we just know like these are the things that we can point to to say um

[178:00] these are the Investments that we've made to to make it more accessible for people with disabilities I think that's something I I'm hopeful for and then lastly um the question around energy and water um and you know again just I look forward to Future we're moving towards the fiscal notes and just thinking about some of the financial impacts and then I'm also just hopeful about just more information around um water and energy thank you okay I got Lauren and then back to Tina um how do we decide in the commercial District revitalization what projects get funding thank you for the question so um a lot of what you heard about already was uh very you know reactionary and tied to

[179:02] things that had already been uh funding have been already accounted for from we need we we have maintenance budgets to maintain medians so the resources got deped to do so we have resources to do activations in our commercial spaces and so knowing that this was an immediate need we uh targeted uh for those types of improvements that's why they're they're not transformative right we we pivoted quickly using resources that already been allocated the work that's coming in both the district analysis and the blueprints certainly are envisioned to um uh consider more transformative projects I'd say the University Hill uh streetscape improvements is on your list of projects that you're considering in the in the budget process right now that incorporates a number of of uh items that we want to make progress in in helping the hill look better and operate

[180:00] better and so that will be an opport a key opportunity for a large ticket item to translate into uh near-term transformation on the hill and if if I could add to that um we've got uh four great boards and commissions who we consult with on this and help advise on representing the community on some of these decisions and um so that that's great input and then as we look into those transformative projects in the future um engagement is going to be key in making sure that um the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan and our other foundational North Stars uh give us the feedback we need and if we don't we'll go back and ask yeah so with that board feedback are we presenting multiple projects that the boards can choose between or is it mostly just around projects that are planned and the way in which they move forward Matt if I I might um so the the process for developing General improvement district budgets is the same and follows the same process as the city's budget and so um Community Vitality puts

[181:01] together their budget proposal that includes all of the general Improvement districts those proposals are considered comprehensively with all of the needs across the city and and we look at the general Improvement districts as a tool uh to fund those projects and and so we you know think creatively on how to do that we receive input your boards are advisory to you as the board of directors for those General Improvement districts and ultimately that package is brought forward in the city manager's recommended budget so you all then through the budget process review those projects annually thank you and comments are later or correct they've got questions for us in a minute perfect thanks Tina another clarifying question then I got ran after that yeah I was just wondering um are our parking lots ever completely full like for major events and stuff like that yes thank you for the question Thanksgiving just kidding

[182:01] um uh parents weekend um is a big weekend for us Memorial Day weekend is a big weekend for us of course the average utilization of our facilities is usually around 50 to 60% on average um of course our facilities were also built not just for today um but the the modeling that led to the the construction of our our garages was modeled after complete buildout of allive downtown and complete buildout of all of Boulder Junction so it's also important to to caveat that as we're contemplating uh something like the St Julie and the Civic pad development they're not building any new parking they're going to be intensifying the use in that space the garage that is beneath it was intended to accommodate that uh expanded use as an example subject to the land use approval process of course Brian hi then I have to ask a a followup on this one what percentage of the time is is parking available otherwise I

[183:01] could say what percentage of the time is it not full 99% of the time 98% of the time maybe not to put you on the spot it was a little bit a little flippant because I think understand that generally there's a very few times that it's full but I could be wrong so I'd love to hear yeah I don't have the exact percentage the what percentage of the time but yeah just like any transportation facility there are peak times and experiences and then there are at certainly at night time there are there are times where the that resource is not being uh very heavily utilized so absolutely so it size it size for Peak demand and that's what just defines what we see thank you um I'm curious about the um any consideration that um staff has done I guess that's across all three of the um initiative areas on the the the policies that might be available to encourage smaller vehicles vehicles to use our

[184:00] resources or space more efficiently um I think some cities have have played around or are trying parking pricing that is somehow linked to mass or size maybe Montreal maybe Washington DC I'm not totally sure this may be like too far out there but I'm just curious have have there been any discussions around I guess like this this this being something possible that we could look at uh thank you for the question I do know that Boulder is known for the smallest parking spaces uh across the Front Range so uh maybe a little bit of a um impact there of course we do partner really closely with our friends in transportation and Mobility because it does take uh many uh decisions on a variety of level to how do we transform INF structure to encourage different modes of transportation because really as a being uh having been involved in the parking conversation through my career in transportation and now in this role in community Vitality it's you know

[185:00] there are folks whose responsibility whether it's SE do or Local transportation they deliver the cars um and we have to store them so uh we don't have control over every step along the way of when folks are making their purchasing decisions but certainly an interesting question and something we can contemplate in our ongoing Partnerships great okay I guess I'm thinking like pricing specifically pricing strategies where you you know somebody with a larger vehicle using more the city's resources would pay more um so sounds like maybe we haven't looked at that yet um but perhaps we could I guess that's my comment um great okay thanks all right why don't we move to questions for Council great so we really have one question for you it's an little few different parts but um we wonder if you have any feedback on the vision and scope and um recommendations for how the three Focus areas could best meet the commercial areas effort specifically your priority for connections between

[186:00] and quality of life in our commercial areas and thinking about those in those three work areas the district vitalization and investment program The District analysis and the boulder commercial areas blueprint thanks any feedback for City staff or just a thumbs up that they're on the right track right okay just two thoughts sort of on the transportation um transportation land so one thought is um there are more and more thinkers um uh seeu um I think at enr that are that are imagining this a future with with as battery electric technology emerges we can make Vehicles smaller and specifically in in towns so if you think about the in Town transportation system distinct from the inter city one and we can fundamentally move really small Vehicles like neighborhood electric vehicles the people might know the Polaris has a gem

[187:01] 6 for Gem 4 gem 6 anyway there's other kinds of these vehicles that can step down the costs the sizes and the costs of of vehicles um but it doesn't it doesn't happen unless you have transportation and a safe Network in a safe place to move them around and um obviously there's a lot of lock in in any City with our current system so I guess my thought would be um this is our downtown core we're talking about we're a really forward-looking City if any city in the country is really leaning into this the future of small battery electric vehicles that give our residents a chance to save money um and become climate more climate compatible I think it's us so my first point of feedback is I would love for us to think about future scenarios where we're making the more accessible and to encourage these these Ultra small Vehicles M think is an easy task more of a visioning exercise to start thinking about it um so that's that's the first thing um and then secondly kind of

[188:00] related I'm just thinking about what an amazing resource we have with our all the assets we control from the parking garages to the sidewalks to do bike parking and to also be at the leading leaning Edge I think it's really exciting a lot of the um the infrastructure we do have with the inverted use really best best practice in a lot of a lot of ways um and still I hear people say I'm I'm afraid to take my bike downtown and um I I think a a goal I would like first to have is that nobody says that anymore that somehow we we overcome that through a combination of um you know hardware and services and education um I think part of that is probably more inverted use the short-term parking and and more places but also with these parking garages we have we have um the opportunity to create Laboratories for for more long-term parking you know using Innovation um trying different things to to give people bike lockers bike storage in ways it's this longer term um and I'd love for us to be a laboratory and show

[189:00] the the nation The Way Forward on that so those are my thoughts thanks anything else Tina Matt Lauren TAA yeah thanks for um giving so much information to the work that's going on and just following up a little bit with Ryan's comment about bikes I saw at um the whats up Boulder and East Boulder a bike lock that has a chain attached to it that I think you're piloting and I thought that was such a great idea to not even have to bring the lock with you it just made it really convenient so thanks for starting to look at those different ways of um biking access overall I don't have a lot of feedback I'm really interested in hearing from our partners at visit Boulder and the boulder downtown group as well as the hill um but I'm I'm I'm very um delighted that we're looking at these connections and we didn't give these priorities very it hasn't been very long so I feel like we've made a lot of progress quickly it's exciting um also uh colleagues if you haven't done a

[190:03] tour of all the different District types um I did that in Denver I spent about six or eight hours uh with director Jones and I'm learning about the different formats the cfax uh improvement district the rhino the arts district and the 16th Street uh revitalization and it's really good to see how those fit and um to compare because you can sort of Imagine where Boulder might learn some things so this is great thank you Matt first I mean this is really good work I I say the part I'm actually most complimentary of is um how to creatively find the funds in as our city manager is wearing this word out saying constrained hopefully we will be done saying that word in short order um but in those constrainted environments still finding those resources and creatively using them to make those Investments I think is is fantastic so credit to the whole team for not giving up and lifting up those stones to do that um because even

[191:01] when things are tight budgetarily it's almost when you have to lean in to those uh uh commercial Investments um to make sure that we're striving for good business and that people want to be in those places so um thank you for that my one um sort of ask on this or recommendation kind of dovetails a little bit with what Ryan was saying about EVS which is if I recall there's no EV charging on the hill if I recall um I'm not sure there is and so the question is okay so if we're investing and trying to improve that area it makes sense that we want to try to have some EV EV charging infrastructure there and I know CU has that parking lot across from the sink so there's some Partnerships maybe to be had but I but I look at that and then also think about how are we enhancing the charging Network downtown and in our um uh General Improvement districts um so I think those are things that I think as we look at what the Future car share is when we can so when we're doing a resurfacing maybe we're also looking at well let's maybe add two maybe two to

[192:00] four more charging stations in that particular garage so constant investment and expansion of that as the car share of EVS continues to increase we want to keep Pace with that um so I think that would be helpful when we have these resources but otherwise great work thank you Lauren and then Taisha thanks um I appreciate the direction towards more of an overall plan um because I agree that some of the projects that have been getting funding it does feel a little halfhazard what is getting funding and um and I have questions about sort of cost versus duration of Impact versus area of impact um but I think that having this blueprint will probably help um structure that better for me particularly in the downtown area I have really a strong desire to see our

[193:02] bike Network improved I think that um while we have a lot of great multi-use paths that take us in and out of the downtown actually getting around the downtown is often problematic in terms of having to bike in the street or you know just with the number of sidewalks that are closed to biking and so How We Do Better signage um and have clearer Pathways around that I know that's not probably entirely in your department but um something that I hope we will continue to think about that with that and also once you get to that destination the bike parking locations I agree with um h there's just so many places in our downtown area that don't have many of them and are probably not going to be seeing the kind of renovation that would require them to be installed anytime soon so how do we help facilitate that

[194:03] um and then just as we look at projects going forward how do we make sure that we are focusing on things that are low maintenance and durable Investments so that they don't just look good when they're installed but for years to come I would say that sidewalk painting doesn't rank high on my list there cars drive over it and take it out pretty quickly anyway except in small locations thanks thanks TAA thank you so um I am very excited uh about the blueprint or portfolio model model um I just am very concerned about these uh disjointing between the districts so it just really be helpful you know as we move towards this blueprint model I'm excited um because right now it doesn't feel you know like a Continuum and um

[195:03] yeah so I look forward to that um I strongly encourage us to think about energy generation as much as possible um whether that be our the top floor of our parking garages or some mechanism where we are generating as much energy as we can um through um as by any means necessary anytime we um have all of this new build that energy needs to come from somewhere and I would really love us to not have to replicate nimi Tendencies um the other thing is uh although I appreciate Denver's efforts I would be remiss if I didn't lift up The Chronic gener gentrification uh displacement of African-American uh I don't even call it Rhino I still call it points um and uh I also would be remiss if I didn't lift up Cherry Creek which also used to be an African-American neighborhood before the dam and then it was beautified air quotes and now barely any black people live there so as we're thinking about

[196:01] all of these improvements I'm hopeful that we can also think about making sure that they're at a price point um that addresses some of the affordability issues that we know uh will continue to escalate and be a problem so those are some of the things that I will be looking for and I'm also looking for a report that was gener generated in the 40s or 50s I have to look it up um from Denver where they talked about race relations and they they actually identified some of these issues around um you know Community districts and and all of the things that we're talking about right now potentially um and so um unfortunately that data was available and yet those councils still made decisions that disproportionately impact uh in impacted uh marginalized communities so again there is a reason that Boulder is so white um and it's not just economic uh but I think and I'm grateful to work with all of you to do our part to do better thank you thanks Nicole yeah um I just um following on those comments a little bit I just

[197:01] really appreciate um the grounding of the blueprint in the SC framework um and the intention around um incorporating the racial Equity instrument I think this is a a tool that the more we use it um the better we get and the more inclusive our Community become so I just appreciate the way this is showing up and all of our strategic work and um here as well one of the things that I you know I'm looking forward to um what comes out of this process especially around the blueprint um is thinking about the cultural activations and how we are broadening the cultural activations to include more than um more communities and subcommunities than we are right now um so council member Adams was mentioning the disability community and it just made me think about how I don't know that I've ever gone to an event downtown that was specific for the disability Community or in some of these other ones and there's certainly subc communities within that so I just am

[198:01] really excited about that opportunity that we have to think about how we're um broadening some of these um activations and really making downtown a place for uh everyone um and one of the thoughts that uh came to mind and you know as this seems appropriate it um I know we are um getting better of of incorporating Community connectors in some of our bigger projects especially the Strategic um projects and I also think about our human relations committee and um some of those other groups as we're connecting with other groups if they have some other thinking around you know ways that we can um create this this uh area for everyone uh to be a part of so thank you I'm looking forward to this work and we appreciate U seeing what comes next I actually have a follow-up question that was spurred by tisha's comment around energy which is um how are we coordinating if at all with the the potential electrification in downtown you know there's that Excel

[199:01] natural gas line that needs to be either replaced or made obsolete is that being woven into these other uh efforts thank you mayor for the question we do work really closely with our team and climate initiatives and our partners at the uh downtown Boulder partnership um so following that conversation really closely Community Vitality isn't necessarily in the lead in any of those components but certainly something that we are following in in our support of uh commercial spaces in the downtown and beyond great glad to hear it I would just add to that too just another partner is transportation since they're in the room and to the question that council member Benjamin posed about electrification of EV and Chargers that I know that transportation is following that closely we've got opportunities that are already planned in the future so you'll be seeing that integrated as we move forward can iaqua awesome do what you like just kidding um I also forgot to talk about ebike Chargers so I just want to throw that in

[200:00] there sorry thank you okay great well I don't see any other hands raised so I'll just add a quick comment on on my own to say thanks so much phenomenal work really looking forward to seeing what comes out of this and I'm particularly intrigued about the improvement district analysis I don't know that we've taken a holistic look at that in a long time so I'll be very interested to see what you all come up with so thanks to the very large uh multi-departmental Team who are working on this and thanks for being 15 at night and with that thank you I think we're done with that agenda item all right well um I'm required by our rules and procedures to do a time check we've got two items left they're scheduled for a total of 15 minutes are we good okay we can do this Elisha if we could go to our matters please yes sir thank you we can do this next on tonight's agenda is item number eight Matters from the mayor and members of council 8A is the council discussion concerning whether to support the 2024

[201:00] ballot measure regarding the exemption the RT I mean the re reg Regional Transportation District RTD from future Taber refunds and maybe I'll take this one um so the intergovernmental Affairs committee unanimously recommended we take a pro position on this and so I wonder if we could just do a straw poll without a lot of discussion is that right yes okay all in favor of supporting the ballot measure raise your hand okay that's unanimous and then what that means is that um City staff will draft a resolution for us to approve it on consent at our next business meeting on October 3rd I believe it is item 8 B is our Council disc discussion on whether to hold the October 10th special meeting in person please note that this was converted from a study session Nicole you brought this up at CC do you want to speak to this yes I happy to um so basic thinking

[202:02] here um is that this is a a fairly um a topic that we've seen a lot of um Community interest in um I think there is still you know questions around how this is going to um move forward that we'll be discussing at the public hearing and so it seemed like an opportunity um for folks to come and talk to us in person um assuming staff would be okay with one more um inperson meeting that month great and staff I assume this has some impact but it's accommodatable if it certainly is and the earlier we know it which is this is great to have a conversation today is it's much better but we can certainly accommodate that great and I'm happy to take a couple more comments but we could also do straw on this pretty quickly too did Mark Dy hand do you want to get your mic on there I don't have any documents with me refresh my recollection as to what the topic is on October 10 that would be the minimum wage

[203:01] increase person great um yeah and personally I'm fine either way but I'm all in favor of having it in person all right that's we're going in person very good yes it's still a special meeting though right so kind of follow a special meeting format thank you um maybe uh Teresa could clarify that this is a a waving of the special meeting rules so that you can be in person would that be accurate yes that's exactly right um so at the top of the special meeting what you could do is move to suspend the council rules of procedure to hold the meeting in public okay in person rather excuse me great okay no need to elaborate Teresa save your voice all good we got it thank

[204:01] you yeah okay great so that settles that um okay that was like three minutes instead of 15 great job everybody um and so that brings us to the end of our agenda um any final comments before I gavis closed no yep Brian I just wanted to disclose that that at our meeting two weeks ago September 5th I inadvertently missed our consent vote so there was an 8 Zer vote uh I was in the bathroom it's a little silly it's a little silly but I've had at least one person say like what happened and there was there was there was ballot initiatives on that vote and so I I would have voted yes I'm in full support of the B initiatives I'm very excited about them um just wanted to make sure that that's clear for everybody thanks thank for clarifying the record all right I will go Lauren no okay no oh I was just going to say that they were those initiatives were on more than one um consent agenda so I believe that you are on the record for those votes just from a different meeting in

[205:01] case people wanted to look it up good fa Point all right I will go ahead and gav 20 p.m. thanks everybody although although Ryan we absolutely assume the worst and and I'll actually note we're 5 minutes ahead of schedule