Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:00] okay and then you know you can zoom in in and out like this too

[1:12] all is you

[2:12] muffin ear muffin muffin no I won't no so I'm going SK with like my daughter like put on your muffin dang itute you heard much about the storm supposed to get

[3:09] one thing I read that some of the coun looking historic SNS e yeah that's what I was too uh I say 6 to 12 I'm always thinking 12 to 18 it starts and then it keeps going that's how the last one to for

[4:37] all right moment of levity so uh what kind of shoes do frogs wear they are open towed kind of got to be there for it did you hear about the red and blue ships that collided sadly all the sailors were Marooned

[5:06] I I would thank you for that Matt but I don't know that I can offer thank you for jokes that that terrible so all right it is 6 PM uh Elicia do are we ready to go on channel8 all right I'm going to go ahead and get us started so I call the Thursday no November 7th 2024 regular meeting of the Boulder City Council to order at Lea if we could do a roll call please yes sir good evening Council and good evening our attendees we'll start tonight's roll call as usual with council member Adams TAA yes Benjamin here mayor Brockett yes present council member fols present Marquis here shuart here mayor Pro Tim spear

[6:07] council member wall present and Wier here mayor we have our core thanks and I'm just hearing from council member spear who's participating remotely that she can't see or hear any oh she sees Chambers now okay and Nicole we're just calling your role and hopefully you can come out and say present so if that's for Nicole I am present thank you ma'am okay great well um before we get into the business maners of the meetings I just want to say a couple of words um just because um in chatting with community members of the last couple of days I've definitely heard some worry and concern um since the election from a number of community residents and I just wanted to say on behalf of the city

[7:02] government that we're all in this together like the city has each and every one of our backs here all of our residents reg regardless of their identities or backgrounds and whatever's coming next um we're getting through it together and I know I have the partnership of the city manager of the City attorney all the city government and city councilors in that so we're going to get through whatever comes next and Nicole did you want to say something yes yeah if I can just have a minute to do so um I know as you said mayor a lot of people are still processing the election results and um a lot of folks in the community are feeling some fear and uncertainty about what happens next um certainly not a comfortable situation for many in the community especially all of those whose identities were targets of hate and fear during this election um The Immigrant and the trans communities in particular and I just want to acknowledge some of the people who are doing double work this week supporting and advocating for others while they're also processing

[8:01] their emotions um starting with the city staff who are here tonight and those who've been working all week in our city to keep us going um the workers who've been showing up to help meet our community's basic needs and the community leaders and nonprofit staff who are supporting all of those who always suffer the worst consequences from oppression and the local Advocates who are continuing the fight for a justing compassionate future I just I really appreciate um all the extra work folks are doing and just wanted a chance to say Thank you so thank you appreciate that Nicole all right so our first item of business is I'm asking for a consideration of a motion to um I'm sorry to a motion to amend the agenda to remove item 3D which is a consideration of a motion to approve the 2025 council meeting calendar and reschedule that to the November 21st regular meeting so moved second for Mark okay motion um and a second all in favor raise your

[9:02] hand okay that carries did you team did did you have your hand up no okay that's fine carries a to1 um all right so next we have item 1A which is the transgender day of remembrance declaration which will be presented by myself and I'll invite luia Magic from Rocky Mountain in equality to come join me for this transgender day of remembrance November 20th 2024 transgender people in Boulder have long been and continue to be valued and important members of our community transgender people are often discriminated against in the areas of housing employment and Healthcare social stigma a lack of comprehensive

[10:01] Protections in welcoming spaces and Erasure limit this community's ability to fully Express themselves access services and hold equal rights under law on this day we honor transgender people whose lives were cut short in Acts of transphobic violence in addition to the threat of violence transgender people often have inequitable access to income employment adequate Medical Care housing food and acceptance in public life moreover these dispar I ities are compounded for our transgender community members of color black and Latina transgender women are murdered at disproportionate rates and face a uniquely complex system of discrimination and violence today we honor transgender people in death for the fullness of their lives and identities their Joys their contributions to the community and their connections with their loved ones the city of Boulder welcomes and Embraces our transgender community members and will continue to uphold our shared values of inclusion equity and

[11:01] belonging by creating an inclusive community and not tolerating acts of violence or discrimination against transgender people the city of Boulder will continue to advocate for transgender cultural comp competency training expanding programs to support transgender people and providing access for equal representation of transgender people in the decision-mak processes of city government of note in 2022 our esteemed Partners at Rocky Mountain equality championed leg legislation to mandate demographic Health data collection thanks to their work this information can soon be used to address Health disparities across spheres of sexual orientation gender identity disability status race and ethnicity as implementation moves forward the city will align our data practices with the state so that we can better understand and respond to the unique me needs of all our community members on November 20th of each year we honor the memory of transgender people who have been murdered because of their identity and

[12:01] acknowledge the level of extreme violence and fear faced by transgender people nationally and internationally and so we the city council of the city of Boulder Colorado declare November 20th 2024 as transgender day of remembrance and I'll just say uh before I pass along the mic to Luciana this is an area of particular personal meaning for me as um I have trans kids and other trans family members and I see the discrimination and the challenges that they face on a daily basis um and so I'm so glad that you could be here with us and Lucen if you'd like to say a few words yes thank you so much um everyone and also thank you esteemed members in the city council um it's an honor to be here especially during the times that we're living in right now to be able to accept this declaration and also to continue to push forward in the work of the resilience of our community and to continue to show that and showcase that to the world um and also our local communities here so thank you thank

[13:03] [Applause] you all right we now move to open comments so Elicia if you can go over our public participation guidelines please all right thank you again good evening everyone we will now review the 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 staff and Council as well as democracy for people of all ages identities lived experiences and political perspectives for more information about this vision

[14:01] and the community engagement processes we ask that you please visit our website at bouldercolorado.gov servicesresume Revised Code and other guidelines that support this Vision these will be upheld during this meeting participants are required to sign up to speak using the name 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 all remarks and testimonies shall be limited to matters related to City business no standing in or otherwise blocking the aisles no participant shall stand or hold items such as signs or Flags in a

[15:01] manner that blocks the view of another person no participant shall make threats or use other forms of intimidation against any person we ask that you not AIX items to the podium or deis or walls or other surfaces of the chamber signs Flags or other items used to communicate must be held by one person when displayed obscenity other epithets based on race gender or religion and other speech and behavior that disrupts or otherwise impedes the meeting will not be tolerated and lastly in-person 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 shown through American Sign Language Applause or jazz hands again thank you for for joining us and thank you for

[16:01] listening thanks so much Alicia all right we're going to start with our in-person testifiers each of you will get two minutes I'll call three names if you can start moving towards the front as your name is called our first three speakers are James Evans Rob smoke and Evan rabbits so James is first and I'll just mention um I will keep everybody strictly to that two-minute uh limit in the interest of fairness is James here uh not seeing then Rob smoke is up next um hi um my name is Rob smoke I live in

[17:04] Boulder I've lived here since uh 1986 more or less uh two phrases I want to throw at you real quick uh not NE neither of which are Pleasant the first is moral injury and U the second is empathic distress and I I think if we were you know if we had a group discussion we could go into depth on what that means but what it means to me is and what I know it to mean from experience is that there are people in our community in this city who are suffering because of the genocide that is occurring as we speak in which our government is disregarding and funding and support recing just as we speak just as we speak

[18:03] tonight and just as I'm speaking here there might have been individual civilians in Gaza who have died from Force starvation or from the bombing and because we do have some reliable sources some very reliable new sources and because we have every literally every human rights organization every humanitarian organization and the UN and World courts recognizing that this is the occurrence occurring happening right now in our world it's really incumbent on all of us to not be silent silence itself is action it's negative action it's doing exactly what the perpetrators would prefer we do do nothing and I could talk about politics but it's about people here who are suffering as well as the people and thank you Gaza who need help

[19:01] thank you thank you now we have Evan ravitz Eiden alce and Michael RAB so it turns out that genocide is bad politics and joyous genocide disgusts people Harris happily proclaimed she'd be lethal and laughed as she told Oprah that she'd shoot to kill any house Invader Jared paus smirked and giggled at Gaza protesters last December Boulder is grooming Junior genocide promoters our representative ngus votes everything for Israel gave Netanyahu dozens of standing ovations and is the assistant Democratic leader keeping other Dems funding the genocide and former council

[20:03] member juny Joseph now State Rep is co-chair of the so-called a Aerospace defense caucus the caucus represents war profiteers and so-called Homeland Security which is spying on us I emailed her and got back propaganda about the great consumer byproducts of War emitting emitting the main byproduct weapons given to police departments to attack protesters and kill black people like juny and Joe now we learn that Boulder has invested about 30 million or $300 for each Boulder Rite in companies making stuff Israel uses to kill besides Caterpillar tractors destroying Palestine this includes Microsoft and Cisco which along with IBM which Boulder invested in until recently monitor

[21:02] everything in Palestinian phones to track harass and kill them IBM's work for the Nazis made extermination of Jews much faster and more efficient you'd think they wouldn't repeat their complicity in genocide but these Tech will do anything thank you for your testimony now we have ezdine elai Micha RAB and Ryan Bennett do we have ezine here then I guess we're going to Michael stop the genocide condemn Israel good evening my name is Michael RAB I'm a boulder resident and a revolutionary for free Palestine I'm here tonight to

[22:02] ask city council to pass a resolution condemning Israel's Slaughter of the people of Gaza and demanding that the USA stop sending weapons and bombs to Israel the whole world sees this genocide it's been going on for 13 months Israel has murdered more than 100,000 human beings Israel is blocking food and humanitarian Aid to the men women and children of Gaza people of Gaza are starving to death most countries have called for a ceasefire the United Nations has voted for a ceasefire and to provide humanitarian Aid to Gaza and here in the USA more than a 100 cities have passed resolutions calling for a ceasefire and an arms embargo on Israel here are

[23:03] some of the uh points to consider in your resolution condemn Israel for bombing civilians condemn Israel for blocking food and humanitarian Aid to Gaza call for Israel to end its blockade of Gaza and release the two million Palestinian hostages in Gaza call for the USA to restart funding of unra and immediately send food and humanitarian Aid to Gaza call for Israel and the USA to pay reparations to the Palestinians and begin a massive rebuilding plan for Gaza thank you thanks for listening now we have Ryan Bennett John boan and Michelle Rodriguez

[24:01] good evening thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all tonight my name is Ryan Bennett I'm a South Boulder resident and today I'm representing can you get into the mic please oh yeah sorry uh my name is Ryan Bennett I'm a South Boulder resident and I'm here tonight representing the reimagining reimagine South Boulder Rec Center advocacy group our group fundamentally believes that having a full service Rec Center in South Boulder is a pivotal part of a healthy and dynamic Boulder Community and as a result we have two priorities one is to reimagine the South Boulder rec center to become a community hub for health and connection and wellness in the community and two is to ensure that the current South Boulder re Rec Center remains functional until a new South bow Rec Center is complete now our group we've assembled nearly 200 supporters that are passionate and really believe in this Mission and we're channeling our Collective efforts to ensure that we can have a positive impact in the process moving forward um we we look forward to um having

[25:02] really constructive discussions we've already met with park and rec staff and other key stakeholders in the community and we genuinely believe we can be a collaborator to help achieve a great outcome for the community now I'll say as part of uh the assembling of this group what's really stood out to me is The Passion of the group heard so many stories hearing about a neighbor whose now grown children learn to swim at the South ball the rec center or someone describing how they transform their health by being able to create uh a daily routine of going to the South Bower Rec Center there's so many Amazing Stories over the last F 50 years of what this Rec Center has done and so as we look forward and we move forward thinking about the process and what we can do to help I'm really proud of the opportunity to be part of an advocacy group that can ensure that the South Boulder Rec Center has another 50 great years of having a positive impact on the community and I look forward to the chance to partner with this group and many others to make that a reality thank you for your time thank you now we have John boan Michelle Rodriguez

[26:01] and MaryAnn Gaton hello my name is John boan I'm here also to talk to you about South Boulder Rec Center or sbrc and its importance to South Boulder I've been going there for almost every day for decades and one of the main groups I see is retired folks uh women and men Sprite a slow in good health not so good health many I see day after day some use the aerobic machines others the weights others take glasses but maybe the most numerous at least it seems to me because it's my favorite are the swimmers there's the gentleman who was a doctor in Vietnam think of that the woman who made her Mark in Southwestern archaeology the physics and Engineering profs atmospheric scientists and more all in their so-called golden years they swim laps to stay healthy to extend their lives but it's even more than that during covid when SBC was shut down many

[27:00] shifted to the Lewisville Rec Center they've told me about what a great facility that is but how it just doesn't feel neighborly folks don't get to know each other they arrive they swim they leave in contrast at the SBC there's a Vibrant Community feel and strong friendships that have developed solely because of this facility people hang out at the pool catch up plan activities together and so despite its condition these folks have come back to the SBC and they're very happy to be back Fairview High also uses this pool kids show up day after day filling the locker rooms and bleachers with their rockus chatter they go through monster workouts that have really paid off uh Fairview has had some of the best swim teams in the entire State think about how important this is for teenagers they learn the value of exercise teamwork commitment Devotion to their teammates and goals they're not isolated and on their phones they're present in the moment face to face I can tell you a lot more stories but my point is for so many residents the sbrc is a key part in what

[28:00] makes South Boulder a wonderful place to live grow up and grow old now the city's evaluating sbc's future this reimagine SBC group aims to collaborate with the city in this effort we have a lot of ideas and we want to help time out but thank you for your testimony all right now we have Michelle Rodriguez Maryann Gaton and Celeste Landry okay got to make this quick I'm respectfully asking for further conversations regarding these concerning things one being the homeless shelter admitting that they're spending 80% of their funding on Staffing um they've relieved three of our major um major peer support this week for lack of funding supposedly also um we had a a confirmed 30 minimum people turned away from the shelter starting Tuesday night in addition we have this extreme weather

[29:01] criteria um before I read that I want to also talk about feet forward folding with $363,000 worth of monies and assets to run the last year and a half and them merging I have concerns about that extreme weather when conditions meet the criteria Below in the city of Boulder has the has the necessary resources the city may also open an extreme weather shelter an extreme weather shelter will only be activated when conditions are consistently expected to last a minimum of three nights and there is a forecast of consistent daily high of 5 degrees or below when accompanied by heavy precipitation or forecasted blizzard heavy wind and excess of 30 m per hour or 70 mph gust or extreme winter weather watch warning or a forecast a consistent nightly low of zero or lower borderer County and all roads will help staff any future extreme weather shelters all forecast are to be provided 48 hours in

[30:02] advance and confirmed to to be in effect I need we need some answers we got to do better than this Memorial is 00 the homeless Memorial we be be memorializing average of 50 people a year for the last four or five years I invite you guys all to come you know where it's at it's right across the street December 19th at 3 o'clock thank you thank you now we have maryan Gaton Celeste Landry and Mak Kohl's hello I'm Maran Gaton and a North Boulder resident good evening city council I'm here representing North Boulder Alliance as you know our group has been advocating for a safe and thriving Community for all while we appreciate the attention that you and the Boulder Police Department have been given to our concerns we feel the city needs to do

[31:01] more to ensure safety of our neighborhoods when North Boulder Alliance presented to you in May um our analysis showed a 40% increase in major crimes in North Boulder from 2022 to 2023 our analysis today shows a 90% increase in Major Crimes from 2022 um to 2024 with a 47% increase in menacing 97% increase in assaults 197% increase in obstruction of officers in August of 2024 um two months after the day shelter began operations a high record of 180 or no just 80 major crimes were reported that is in comparison to 28 major crimes in August of 2022 since the opening of the day shelter neighbors have w fires being set public urination

[32:01] defecation public intoxication open drug use um we've had large groups of people passed out blocking sidewalks for several hours especially on the weekends when the day shelter is closed local businesses and residents have uh reported increased property damage vehicle vandalism bik thefts and disturbances we urge the city council to act swiftly and collaboratively to address these growing public safety concerns we strongly advocate for the establishment of a police substation up in North Boulder a substation would act as a deterrent and improve response time and enhance safety thank you all right now we have Celeste Landry mck and Kohl's and C brescoll good evening my name is Celeste Landry I'm a 30-year resident of Boulder and I'm speaking today as an individual not representing any organization

[33:01] today's consent agenda includes a policy statement on regional state and federal issues one issue not listed that mayor Brockett for instance has mentioned is proportional representation for council elections I've got copies for you of a Littleton city council letter to the Colorado legislature the letter asks the legislature to quote consider adopting and implementing additional alternative voting methods unquote Littleton like Boulder has its County clerks coordinate its multi Municipal elections right now Colorado county clerks will only coordinate plurality and instant runoff voting elections Colorado revised Statute 17-13 allows for both instant runoff voting and proportional ranked voting for municipalities but this year when the town of superiors home roll Charter commission asked the Boulder County clerk if they would conduct a proportional ranked voting election the

[34:01] county clerk's response was nope we don't have to do that our city Boulder received a similar response when we inquired about an instant runoff voting election a few years ago but council member Benjamin and I and others worked with the legislature to get enabling legislation so that the county clerk would run our new mayoral election whether or not you add this topic to your policy statement I am requesting that the Boulder City Council send a similar letter to the legislature so that proportional rank voting can be an option for Boulder again I'd be happy to offer my expertise to write such a letter and my second request is that you schedule a study session on proportional representation Portland Oregon just used proportional rank voting this year to elect its council members thank you and James Evans just showed up thank you all right um so James we'll get to you

[35:00] in a minute um our next three speakers are Mak Kohl's C brescoll and Aram binham hi am Mak KS I live at 17th in Mapleton appr propo of the mayor and the mayor prm's comments at the beginning uh new responsibilities have fallen to the states and the cities the counties to protect people that are essent to the economic and social fabric of our communities and yet vulnerable because of their immigration status we cannot leave this to the vulnerable people to defend on their own next I want to say a excuse me a word of thanks to the city council to9 people you work incredibly hard you make yourself available to all of us the breadth of issues that you face face at any one meeting like the 864 page packet

[36:02] for tonight is just stunning you receive more than a thousand email every month you prepare for meetings like tonight by working your way through these huge packets and talking to all of us it may be hard for you to appreciate this but the overwhelming majority of the residents of this community are grateful for your work as voters we place the governance of the city in your hands and you're doing a great job we know this because look at the vote on two of the issues that you referred to us for our for our votes people have voted to increase the pay of council members this is the Applause for a job well done people voted to give you executive sessions this is an expression of the trust that people have in how it is that you handle the issues for our

[37:01] community with all the C cacophony and dysfunction in our federal system and our national Politics the people of Boulder have let you know with their votes that they are very grateful for your your time is up but thank you so much all right now we have C brescoll arinum and then we'll come back to um James Evans name's can you hear me hi my name is Chrissy brell and I live in South Boulder I'm here on behalf of the reimagine South Boulder rec center community group is many of you know the South Boulder rec center with its exercise equipment basketball gyms and Community lap swimming is the heart of Table Mesa and the broader South Boulder Community but this is no surprise because it's smartly located in a large neighborhood that's heavily populated with seniors and kids who are groups with great need for the indoor lap swimming and basketball gyms that the South Boulder W provides and because uh the rec centers next to Southern Hills at Fairview means Fairview swim team can

[38:02] practice next door instead of having to travel for daily swim practices and it's also why the Mesa swim team which is a kids summer swim team had flourished at the South bould d w now I know many seniors and also parents of school age kids have already reached out to you about the importance of neighborhood laugh swimming so I just wanted to share a personal anecdote about the South Boulder Rex basketball gyms one of my kids is now a middle schooler at Southern Hills and he regularly stops by the re on his way home from school to play pickup basketball he not only plays with friends but also plays with people in the community whom he wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to meet the basketball gyms are a safe neighborhood place where he gets to ex where he gets exercise connects with friends and has unstructured fun because of this I'm grateful for the South Boulder rec center and believe it is now and can become even more so a powerful antidote to the digital screen filled World our kids are growing up in this is just one of the many reasons why I'm exced excited for the opportunity to collaborate with parks and wre and you

[39:01] all to improve upon what's already great about the South Boulder recre Center and to reimagine what more it could become thank you for your time and thank you in advance for your support thank you our last two inperson speakers are Aron venham and James Evans okay good evening genocide Democrats of just one slide today to show what the city is profiting from though I again send do of you links illustrating how caterpillars armored bulldozers are being used to murder and oppress Palestinians Lebanese and attack hospitals and un agencies um just today or yesterday there was a report of a bulldo are desecrating a body pal of the Palestinian after an Israeli attack on ton just outside of our sister city of nais which is the source of the image you see on the right right there um and encourage you to read one of the

[40:00] articles I sent you which is about a Israeli soldier that committed suicide after witnessing the horrible things he did from behind the seat of his bulldozer and GSA I appreciate the rare Dignity of response from council member schuchard last time I spoke um about the city's 5.5 million still lent to caterpillars so they can continue to make these weapons used to crush drag and M Palestinian bodies but I have to point out the incoherence of this response which again uh claimed that the reason the city cannot act as a lack of resources $5.5 million in genocide money or $30.3 million in money for other companies profiting from apartheid and illegal occupation is what I would call an excess of resources problem I'm not asking you to research and attempt to articulate whatever warped sense of justice around Israel Palestine you have that allows you all to continue on in silence and in action

[41:00] all you have to do is see these images look how these bulldozers are being used recognize it's wrong and sell the damn bonds as your SRI policy dictates bam $5.5 million to put towards homelessness crisis or whatever else the city needs I'll even do the work for you I bet you I can find you a bond with a better rate as good a credit rating that is not in a or entity that is profiting from genocide if you give me the details on caterpillar time is up but thank you for your testimony all right um now we'll go to James Evans no worries all right can you bring the mic over please yes absolutely good evening

[42:00] members of Boulder City Council my name is James Evans or as I'm commonly referred to as ragas the Black in the community and I'm here once again to speak on behalf of Boulder's homeless community and to address the impact of current policies on our most vulnerable residents current policies towards homeless individuals camping around Boulder are deeply concerning rather than being provided aate adequate resources we are treated as a safety and sanitation issue something to be managed and not supported sanction campaign was discussed over a year ago by this city council and a study was conducted conducted in January 2024 Again by this city council and yet here we are in November with no progress these approaches erode trust and only deepen the challenges we face as a community tonight we are on the edge of one of the worst winter storms boulderers seen in a while and in talking with officer Steinman today from the hot team I learned that all roads has yet to offers offer any warming Center Services out of 160 beds more than 100 are reserved leaving fewer than 60 for a lottery

[43:00] system that fails Everybody by my estimates over 500 people will be on the streets tonight facing injury and God forbid death Boulder provides just enough services to look supportive on paper and not enough to make a difference the result is that homeless people are pushed from place to place weekly those those few who get house are often placed outside of Boulder reinforcing the feeling that the city doesn't want homeless people whether they are current currently homeless or recently housed this Fe this feels intentional the lack of affordable housing and and housing subsidies sends a clear message if you don't meet a certain income level Boulder ain't for you if Boulder truly wants to make a compassionate be a compassionate inclusive City it must do better we need real actionable policies sanctioned camping affordable housing that is accessible housing subsidies that are available and people aren't pushed out of a community that they call home thank you I see the last five seconds somebody

[44:00] else all right we're going to go to our virtual speakers now and our first three ones are Leslie glustrom Lyn seagull and adelene Marquez hi this is lesie please proceed uh thank you very much and I council members thank you for doing this I'm sorry can't be there tonight my name is lesie glustrom I live in Boulder and I usually love to come and watch you I appreciate you all so much especially now as we think about the future of our country and uh the hard work you do taking on the issues before our city whether I agree with you or not I'm just so grateful to you and I'll be honest I'm also really proud because I watch you all do democracy uh oh I'm gonna cry I watch you all do democracy in a way that I believe it should be done where you can really have civil discourse You

[45:00] can disagree but do it in a in a reasonable fashion at least to my experience just and then as you know I do a lot of work on climate change I spent 20 years at the Public Utilities Commission I'm immersed in several big fights right now but as you know we Face a decision in 2025 and I come when I can just to help you and remind you and remind the rest of the community that we do have an offramp on our EXL franchise in 2025 and as we work on climate change one of our goals is to Electrify everything we can and run it off of clean electricity we've made a lot of progress but when you're playing Monopoly prices for all aspects of your energy life you know it's not going to work out well as it turns out so the question becomes are there better deals to be had and as I show up when I can when I get selected to speak we'll talk more about it well we have communities all over Colorado who have had the

[46:00] ability to do what we might call go shopping for their electricity and they've worked with other providers other than for those that were Excel wholesale customers they've gotten much better deals and so we want to kind of think about our options and 2025 will be a chance for us to do that so again I want to thank you all so much and I apologize that I can't your time is up but thank you for your testimony right now we have seagull adelene Marquez and Jessica sneesby yeah um my house is getting an energy retrofit for lowincome and I'm really really distraught about the way they're doing it 12 years ago I got into a fight with uh uh David hashimi with Energy Smart at the county and it was over an energy retrofit thing where you give them a hundred bucks for an energy

[47:00] audit and then they advise you out to these vendors and one of the vendors was dumped and I asked him why and I was not told and I asked the vendor and it was because they were requiring them to uh do a solar install on a day that would have put them at risk for liability and damages so I couldn't trust the city anymore now they're the city and the county are giving me this thing through care and they are actually putting me up in a hotel to get me out of my own house where I don't I don't want to go to the hotel and the homeless people need the fraking hotel right 30% down in funding and 30% up in clients what is going on with you people you know they're trying to get me to move I can move my refrigerator out to access this new heat pump water heater in three minutes to move the others they're putting a a hole in my living room wall with a door in it for access

[48:02] on the other side is an entertainment center that's 2200 pounds and is immobile hasn't been moved in 25 years but they say oh a refrigerator can't be mov I can move my refrigerator out in three minutes this is fraking unbelievable I don't care about their restrictions of designated space for an appliance I'll tell you what an appliance is that 2200 squ foot thing okay on Gaza absolutely agree with the guy EXL yes 1840 and 1844 do not take those perfectly good buildings down time is up but thank you for your testimony now we have adene Marquez Jessica sneesby and L Gonzalez support students see can't hear

[49:04] you can you hear me now yes um I am here to press you again to pass a ceasefire resolution um free Palestine this is a local issue like my peers have stated we ask you to stop investing in caterpillar cut all ties with corporations that are making a profit off of genocide and see you students stud have asked the same from their University who contracts with lock heat Martin RTX Le Harris Sierra Nevada Corporation NSA um and their students are facing academic freedom um being threatened recently the C regions put a disgraceful motion redefining the Arabic word intifa um which means to be shaken or shake off as an anti-semitic word since then there has already been an adoption of racist and anti-arab definition of anti-Semitism among the um

[50:01] CU members this is unacceptable CU Boulder is silencing students to protect war criminals two students were banned from campus for protesting locked Martin and face heavy student code of conduct charges um I ask you to press them to drop those charges um all of this has been going on while North Gaza has ongoing bombardment um and you should stand up for Humanity because the way that Israel disregards the United Nations and is committing the most heinous hate crimes without any end in sight isn't going to stop until they are pressed for a until the US does an arms embargo and stops funding this genocide and cuts ties with those corporations that are profiting North gasa is getting zero Food Water Aid in they are being starved to death burned raped bombed you you name it um we've

[51:01] been talking about this for forever please stand for Humanity um and listen to what others have said as well thank you our last two speakers are Jessica sneesby and laa Gonzalez good evening everybody my name is Jessica sneesby and I'm a student at the University of caro law and I have lived in Boulder for about 5 years and I'm speaking today in my personal capacity I appreciate the chance to comment comment on the construction ongoing at the intersection of Jay and County Road 119 for the Colorado 119 safety mobility and Bikeway project um first I want to express my support for the project and the overarching initiative of safely and sustainably connecting Boulder to Longmont through the corridor um but I have concerns about the current setup of the lane closures and the detours because of the construction of the project when you're heading East on J Road and into the intersection the transition away from the closed Lane is rather abrupt and in

[52:00] my judgment without enough indication for drivers to adjust smoothly um and this is especially challenging at night because the roads are poorly lit which can make it difficult to navigate um the sudden Lane shift especially when it's a road when folks are frequently driving 35 or more realistically 40 miles per hour um the intersection itself without any construction is already complex being a double intersection and um the sudden changes only add to the confusion of drivers um after watching the webinar from August on the project I learned that the corridor represents the highest crash Corridor for motorists and the second highest for cyclists in Boulder um and an anecdotally that makes a lot of sense to me and with the snowy and iy weather approaching this setup becomes even more concerning so I urge the council to consider implementing clear more gradual Lane shifts or prompting the construction team to do so and I also think it's warranted to add additional light sources at a minimum for the duration of the construction um these adjustments would greatly reduce

[53:00] confusion and ensure that the benefits of this project are not compromised by any short-term safety risks during the construction thanks so much for your consideration thank you our last testifier is laa Gonzalez you hear me yes okay good afternoon council member Adams good afternoon Council member fkers and to the rest of Boulder Sher Council settlers I am here not to actually ask you for a CIS fire or an end of the occupation because you obviously want nothing's going to change your mind but I am here to make sure that it is recorded in history where you stood during this current Holocaust that is being paid by $1.6 million of or taxes without our consent I am also here to make sure that it's on the record that you you are complicit in genocide not not just by those 1.6 million uh dollars of for

[54:01] taxes that you refuse to divest but also the 5.5 million incorporate bonds issued by caterpillar that you're investing on and like um one of the previous speakers said that is violating the social responsible investment initiative that it's on your Dam manual in your guidelines so you guys need to get educated on that that is your job you got an increase in wages so not only are you stealing more taxes of or dollars but right now you should be familiar with the SRI and you should know that you are VI violating this law you are also violating domestic and international law by refusing to divest the $1.6 million and the 5.5 million dollars that you have in this bonds of caterpillar caterpillar um this things have been used to demolish the Palestinian body and Wier you need to please listen because you're always on your phone when we're speaking okay so listen pay attention because that's your job to listen to your constituents if you even if you don't agree with us and

[55:00] stop your smile because you're not supposed to be smirking at us okay that's also going to be in the record and I'm going to make sure and that's going to be your legacy that your grandchildren know where you stood in this current Holocaust that your grandchildren know that you did not care about the Palestinian people and you did not care about the people that come talk to you every single week and you only [ __ ] smile [ __ ] Netanyahu [ __ ] Israel de to Israel what's up and de to and all right thanks thanks to people who spoke and I'll just um call out um that I would we're done with open and comment for today but I would appreciate if people not uh make personal attacks on Council Members or other members of the community in their in their testimony uh at least in the future I'll turn to staff for responses thanks so much Aaron uh mayor um appreciate as always uh folks that come out and share their perspectives with us couple of follow-ups um uh with regards to um the previous to

[56:03] last speaker on the transportation issue um that particular uh 119 issue is actually C Dots jurisdiction but nonetheless we want to make sure that we get those comments to S do and we will pass those along to our partner so just make sure that um we want to make sure that we will send those along um to Michelle just thanks as always for sharing your comments I not heard about some of the information that you had brought forward today so we'll be following up um with all roads on some of those so thank you um there's a lot of conversation today with our South Boulder rec centers and want to thank everyone who spoke about that we can see the passion we understand that we have heard it and mostly I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the acknowledgement that you've been speaking with our parks and Rex folks we know they too are very passionate about it uh we know it is a valuable resource for community um we we know that there is a future uh

[57:00] for recreation in South Boulder we hear it we know it we know that it is also disconcerning when we can't say for sure what that's going to look like and how we're going to pay for it but know that we know and we want to work with Community about what that looks like so please stick with us please continue to imagine with us um follow our future of recreation centers project sign up for updates and know that we will be continuing to engage with you as we think about about um what that future holds so um continue to work with us on that as we move forward um I'll say too for our um partner about North Boulder Alliance thanks again was a pleasure to walk through um with you as we were looking at that quite a few months ago um a couple of things on that I think Council you have seen that we um shared kind of a quick update um on that in our IP um we're going to be continuing as that memo says to take a look at Trends it's a little too early to see what all of the impacts are we will be continuing to look at what the updates are that

[58:00] there have been recommendations about a substation there and I'll say that um and I know that uh Chief Redford isn't here today he's had another event um and um which is uh always fine for our department heads uh there's not a need for all of them to always be here with us at every council meeting um I say that for good modeling for everyone um but I will say that we have been thinking about a variety of substations around the city not just at North Boulder as always it is a matter of capacity and of need we've been thinking about the university we've been thinking about North Boulder uh I want to give Chief redr the opportunity to be thinking about um where that makes the most sense and then we have to think about resourcing both in location and in funding and in Staffing um there is a thought and a plan um that he is thinking about and thinking about how that may work with some of his other um colleagues around the organization and if there is something to share and when there is something something to share we will certainly do that with Council and with Community but know that it is a

[59:00] consideration on the table um the other thing that I will say that we um are continuing to talk with our partners at Boulder County um not all of the area that we have uh concerns with obviously are within our jurisdiction um I actually have another meeting with our uh County partner um tomorrow by phone um to see if we can continue to partner with how we respond um to some of the area um that are in County jurisdiction um and with our Sheriff Partners as well and so we're continuing to press upon that um to make sure that we uh have better tools at our disposal on um property that may may not be in the city's jurisdiction so again just know that we are continuing to look at that we will continue to work um in Partnership um with our community and it continues to be on our radar as we maneuver forward so thank you appreciate all that n y Teresa uh quiet

[60:01] quiet in the audience please nothing from me thank you mayor okay great thanks um any followup thoughts before we conclude this I got Matt then TAA thanks for everyone's open comments we appreciate hearing from you and I wanted to respond to a question with regards to our extreme not respond but get a answer from our staff with regards to extreme weather shelter we are in a winter storm morning for 7 to 14 Ines by Saturday morning so I was just wondering uh where are we at and and what is our current sort of posture towards getting something like that up and running uh with this winter storm thank you so much I I know every time we have uh cold weather that is uh of course um of interest to all of our community I'm going to ask Kurt fobber our director of um housing and Human Services to come up uh and share what we've got planned

[61:03] is that uh Kurt Fern hobber housing and Human Services um so one of the changes that was done from last year is uh we increased um the beds to 18 180 um last year they only happened on uh extreme cold weather nights now we've increased that uh that number for every night um so it doesn't give us that flexibility to go higher but it increases our capacity on each night um in this weather condition um well we've also opened day services so it's basically open 24 hours a day but only through Monday through Friday so that weather um if it goes through the weekend the shelter would be opening during the day um on the weekend as well so just to be clear there's no we're not we're not providing any e any extra beds

[62:02] given what we do normally given the impending critical weather that's correct okay of them are already reserved is that it okay TAA yes all right thank you very much for all of your comments um I especially appreciate um those of you who continue to come um and ask for ceasefire or some kind of action towards the monies that we are given um that we are giving um through our tax dollars one second tsha we can't have blocking of the aisles for Fire Reasons if you can please get out thank you uh no worries um and so I did have an opportunity and I want to thank our finance team I did have a chance to meet um with members of our finance team who are very um helpful in helping to me helping me to understand um what our

[63:00] actual policies are and unfortunately um yes we the city is invested in caterpillar Financial Services Corporation however when we looked at the policy um there is a exclusionary language for that prohibits us to invest in weapons except for those that are deemed for National Defense defense that is how we are not in violation unfortunately um oh I I'm just going by the rules but I appreciate and again we're not allowed to have back and forth and I literally had the same reaction because based on the video footage of what I'm seeing that's in violation of US policy um however our investment policy allows us to invest in corporations that are Contracting for National Defense and unfortunately caterpillar is my understanding is Contracting under the offices of National Defense so I just

[64:00] wanted to lift that up as something however I would like to implore our counil our fellow council members to revisit our social investment uh policies um because again it's not in what do we do when defense is not in line with our own policies um and as we look to another our next Administration these kinds of of concerns are going to um continue to potentially be an issue as we have seen um in the previous administration where uh laws were broken um by the government in the administration and thus would compromise um you know our Fidelity um and our legal responsibility so I do want to lift that up as a current and future concern and I appreciate um our um constituents to hold us accountable um as especially since we just had a declaration on trans lives we had uh indigenous people's day and then not to

[65:02] extend that um when we have direct relation is um unfortunate so I did want to acknowledge that I also want to acknowledge South Boulder and again I agree and appreciate the coordination with um the parks team but again I just want to lift up um just the Incredible cost of keeping that open um and again we're again we're talking about costs um when uh and so again I just wanted to remind folks it's not an aesthetic issue it is really an age issue and we need to figure that out and the cost is going to be rather extensive um and then North Boulder I was actually planning on asking for us to just talk it it is an information item um where we did receive an update on the North Boulder um day Services Center and I was planning on lifting that up for conversation later so I will do that at and I'll address that issue at that time boom boom boom thank you so much thanks

[66:03] Lauren thank you um I just wanted to confirm our funding for all roads continues at the same level next year as it did this year is that correct that we are and yeah our funding and KK correct me if I'm wrong our funding certainly continues um at our levels and um in fact I think we have um slightly augmented is that correct so the operational costs are uh similar next year to this year however uh the day services will be open for the full 12 months next year versus a partial year so there's additional funding there uh from the general fund however several grants have been brought in which will supplement additional what

[67:01] services which many have already begun related to day services so when looking at Sheltering services and day Sheltering our funding is actually increasing last year to this year okay um in terms and and I know that that's not true of the County's funding um and I believe when we got that information there was also a discussion of beds being cut do we know how the shelter is going to be dealing with those cuts yet or how many beds might be cut from so I know that uh when the shelter received the news from the county that they were uh receiving I think it was approximately $300,000 Less in resources they were looking at ways to um looking at trade-offs of different impacts of that um and I know they had have considered

[68:02] beds um I have not heard further um how they are with that discussions with the county or with the impact on the services um we have been encouraging them uh and working with them to um for for that impact hopefully not to come to fruition thank you will you let us know when we have Clarity on what that will look like absolutely thank you um I also wanted to ask about the construction safety on C dot the 118 um I know we have construction standards are would C dot be required to follow the city's own traffic control and construction standards or because it is a state entity is that different I'm going to have to phone own a friend and ask Valerie to come on

[69:03] down hi Valerie Watson interm director transportation and Mobility um they have their own standards that they follow but we coordinate very closely with them on projects like this and are happy to follow up with them and see what the um uh current traffic controls are and and look further into what the Community member was reporting tonight perfect thank you I think I had one more um um with the South Boulder Rec Center um n you mentioned the future of recreation um I know I looked at the questionnaire that was out a little while ago and that wasn't totally satisfying in terms of what my options were or ability to give feedback can you maybe speak to what the next steps are for that project or um what sort of the full scope of that

[70:02] project looks like um I know that um some of that data is going to be collected um as part of that questionnaire uh I'm sure I can certainly put that out in hotline as I get some additional information from Parks and rack um but the goal of that is that it will help inform renderings cost estimation an overall funding strategy and we will put that out both on the website um and we will bring that forward to council but it is just early right now but we're hoping that will help prioritize types of services types of needs as we move that forward um but we will bring that forward uh to the public and to you thank you okay looks like that's it no Ryan and Tara thank you um thanks everybody for being here many maybe most of you you come here frequently and spend a lot of time with us and um the uh election on Tuesday in a way

[71:03] makes me appreciate you even more that you're here and um are bringing forward ideas that we're working through and in many cases I'm not necessarily agreeing with but um we're working through this process of learning and doing our best and I'm grateful for you to be here I hear you continue to hear the perspective around Israel Palestine and caterpillar um I I'm not in a different place on on any of that today um and I want to express some solidarity with my colleague Tara as somebody who is sitting up here with the television cameras rolling and people talking at her and if you picked on me I might I might blush too I don't know I don't know what I would do but um I don't think think the comments directed at individuals about how they're comporting themselves up here are very helpful um

[72:01] and I do look forward to continuing to hear more um on the on the policy and and the ideas thank you thanks for that Ryan ter thanks Ryan South Boulder Rec Center what is your group called The reimagine I had the opportunity to walk around um the lake with one of your members and it was fantastic I was able to reimagine one of the reasons why I wanted to be on Council was had my love for parks and especially that Park and so I'm very excited for the future and thank you for coming each one of you for speaking and for putting this issue on the Forefront of our mindset you really appreciate thanks for that Tara I also had the chance to walk around and heard some fantastic ideas so looking forward to that process of engaging with the community around the future of that area all right um seeing nothing else we will go to our consent agenda please

[73:00] Elicia sorry no please don't please don't you're not cannot engage all right I'm going to give you a warning to please stop all right we're gonna do a recess here in just a second all right we're recessing e

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[78:05] all right I'm going to gavel us back in from our recess and um turn back to Elicia for our consent agenda please yes sir thank you our consent agenda items consist of items 3A through 3C item D was removed and a continuation through 3E to 3K any questions or comments in the consent agenda I get Lauren Lawrence first um I had a question for Ali roads for item um f for the re revocable revocable license agreements um around Wonderland Lake Park um I just had a question about how I I noticed that we're not charging um a fee for these revocable licenses even

[79:02] though these are encroachments of private property onto public land and I was just hoping you could um explain how we got there um and if we have any concerns around that setting a precedent for oh a future action or maybe Teresa Tate or Mark wolf could answer those question I was just not good evening Council Mark wolf assistant city manager just noticing ner wasn't in her seat I think Allie's online and we also have the project manager Regina ellner who I believe is available for that question council member fuls I'm open whoever makes most sense to answer it thank you Regina's here we're gonna let her take it although I love Mark running to the de and take it and kind of think we should just let him but Regina's here and she'll be able to answer your question good evening Council um thank you for that question I appreciate it my name is Regina ellner

[80:01] I'm the senior manager for natural resources for Parks and Recreation and I've been managing this project since its Inception um I just wanted to share with you all um so this project was really uh fashioned as a pilot project for us because we hadn't um previously done this kind of holistic encroachments work across a a property and so we were really viewing this as a a pilot um and that is part of the reason we decided not to uh charge any fees with that related to that and that's also why we don't necessarily have a concern about the precedent because I think moving forward as we think about these kinds of encroachments across other City lands um that would definitely be part of our lessons learned and something that we would likely shift and change in the future thank you for that um I do want to flag that I I appreciate all the work that has been done on this but I will be

[81:00] voting against it because I think that If This Were A different kind of encroachment say a tent on public land we would not allow that to stand um and so a fence um fencing off private a public land is private um to me I think that this should go farther in terms of um protecting the public realm for the public thank you right I had Mark and TAA and Tina question on oh followup maybe Mark if you can hold on a second Tina yeah um just a quick followup was there widespread awareness that the property owners were encroaching on public land uh again elner thank you for that question um we became more and more aware the Wonderland Lake Area was um

[82:03] developed there aren't a lot of property fences adjacent to the public property so over a a course of a number of years there were questions about whether improvements were happening on private private property or public property and so we engaged in this process to look at the those property lines uh holistically to identify where they were um where there might be these kinds of encroachments um we did work with the we sent out mailers at the beginning of the project to notify all of the adjacent Property Owners uh that this work was happening so they were all made aware of the project as at the very from the very beginning and I guess my question was more do you feel that most Property Owners knew that they were encroaching on a public land or do you think some were weren't aware or they had purchased a property that had already encoded and weren't made aware of that at the time of purchase I I would say the vast majority

[83:00] of folks that I spoke with had no prior knowledge they did purchase the property with the condition that it is um and had no prior knowledge that they were encroaching on to that public property um thank you and I I just I have some friends who live up there and and uh they were all a little bit surprised and and I think the process has been great in terms of clarifying because there are some interesting trails and and uh boundaries um and so I I personally think that it's when you're not aware that you're doing something in this particular case not having a fee does actually make sense to me um but you know regardless of how people vote just thank you for helping me with that question mark I uh I apologize in advance I'm going to be betraying my ignorance here because apparently I was not here when we discuss the area three planning Reserve Urban Services study so my first

[84:02] question is what does it mean uh to accept that study is it an endorsement or is it simply a I mean I I don't know what that means I think we got Brad coming down to come on down yes good evening council members Brad Mueller with uh planning and development services uh we also have Christopher Johnson and Sarah horn who uh have worked on this online uh I will let them clarify it but I I'll just preface by saying that the comprehensive plan that defines the process uh a three-step process for urban for potential urbanization of the planning area Reserve um is vague on that on what that actually means and if I can ask one of them to speak further on that point sure thank you Brad Christopher Johnson uh comprehensive planning manager good evening Council thanks for the question

[85:01] um council member wck so the the acceptance of the urban Services study is is essentially just acknowledging that that work is complete uh it isn't uh the the urban Services study is not intended to be a um a you know give any sort of Direction regarding policy it is it is essentially just a technical study to determine you know what the range of possibilities could be out there uh and related to that the the potential impacts in terms of off-site infrastructure improvements costs those kinds of things so it it is essentially just acknowledging if you do accept it tonight that that step would be complete and then um that would allow for the public hearing to occur next week that we have on the calendar with uh a joint hearing with planning board as far as what the um the next steps would be okay because I as I as I look at those infrastructure costs I um I am shocked

[86:04] um and that you know the concept that we might undertake a billion doll um infrastructure expense you know for that money we could we could pay for the entirety of the $300 million of capital expenses that uh we are unable to pay for today um the $300 million that that are backed up in terms of flood mitigation projects um we could have the most robust um uh uh Wildfire resilience program in the nation and I'm looking at this and going we're doing all of this to um develop you know this this acreage and and it strikes me as a misuse of our our energies and our funds do you mind if I pop in here Mark what's that do you mind if I pop in here you may absolutely

[87:01] pop so definitely hear your concerns just wanted to mention we mentioned the public hearing that we're having next week I think that is the form where we'll be considering these issues in more depth that we'll be hearing from the public about it and then we'll also be making a decision after that public hearing about whether to proceed to the next step in the process and if we say yes to that we'll have to deal with these issues if we say no to that that's kind of off the table so I think that's going to be a great opportunity for us to Wi I am happy to defer this to next week when I will say the same things okay very good did you want but sorry I would just I would like to pull it from the consent agenda and have us vote on it um I have some questions I have some questions I can kind of do that now not so much questions that's why I'm G to say no but um it's actually not about that it's about the the technical study itself and I really appreciate Christopher that your use of the term we

[88:01] are acknowledging that it is complete and so one I want to thank you Brad for the opportunity for our conversation around um some of the issues around the level of completeness um and specifically some of the concerns that I have around the lack of any kind of wildlife or habitat analysis um as a part of this as well as some of the tradeoffs that were indicated um related to our water use um in addition the report specifically says that the long-term Water Analysis does not include considerations related to the Colorado River Basin or wildfires in addition the energy component talks about all electric but there is no indication about how water will be used for the generation of

[89:00] electricity and where that water is going to come from I also wanted to just lift up we as Leslie gam and I apologize if I mispronounced your last name um reminds us that Excel Energy um that contract is about to come up and so um again just municipality and and energy um and so that was also in my level of completeness lastly um two more things one is the employment formula um and it was my understanding the employment formula um was not inclusive of some of the um New Workforce issues related to generative Ai and the impacts that's going to have on jobs across the socioeconomic spectrum and then lastly and one of my biggest flags is the lack of a agricultural component again I know this is about our city services but I just think it's very interesting that we are talking about open space and parks and commercial and residential but we're not talking about where people are going

[90:01] to grow food not just buy food but grow food um and so for those reasons I would like to pull it off the consent agenda and actually have us vote on it thank you do you have any responses to anything I said yes I certainly can or if the corre the protocol is so I'll I'll defer to the I wanted to hold space were really gracious about like answering these questions that I had and letting me understand that um you know just some of the reasons why these considerations were not in the 1996 guidance that we have thank you yeah I'm happy to speak to that now if this I just would love our colleagues and and audience to hear yeah absolutely we we appreciate and acknowledge that um any study is is going to have limitations and especially I I appreciate apprciate your acknowledgement that this is working within the framework that was defined uh in the in the 90s as a way to determine

[91:02] uh what policy makers future policy makers your your very s um would make a decision about to open this area for urbanization or not uh the good thing about the three-step process is it does open up the opportunity to pull in this uh feedback and and incorporate that into the stages where there is decision making uh to elaborate on Christopher's uh response this is simply an acknowledgement that the study was done and um and then next week would be the period at which the public hearing talks about whether to engage this needs assessment which itself would be uh a Year's long process in which some of these kind of questions can be defined and put into the future groundwork for a potential land use or subc commmunity plan for this area which is the step three um those are important considerations we talked a little bit too for the benefit of others about the non city services and uh the potential

[92:01] implications around that whether it's School service or Postal Service or uh commercial Waste Service electrical power others as well um so so it's important to consider all those items and you know those are mechanisms that come with the further planning process um just elaborate real quickly too uh on council member Wall's uh statement about the billion dollar I do want to very briefly clarify that most of that would be captured through the developers impacts or development impact fees and we can we can answer those questions uh as we do prior to any hearing if if folks want to contact us prior to next week and just another question um for you just wanted to clarify that if we and again one that we are we are voting on the level of completeness that's number one and number two we are voting and if we don't feel it's complete then it doesn't go to that next stage we would we would cancel the hearing next week um and then the other thing is if

[93:00] we did say no we wouldn't necessarily have to wait 10 more years there would be another opportunity to revisit this at the next Boulder Valley comp plan update in five years in five years that's correct thank so I'm just going to pause on process here um because we don't often pull things from the consent agenda but uh for Teresa from a process standpoint could we say right now pause for a discussion on this item and have a separate vote on it and then finish out the rest of the consent agenda or would you recommend something different um so typically when an item is pulled from the consent agenda you discuss it after a motion for the rest of the consent agenda um it it seems to me you're well into this discussion and so um the rules provide that that if you want to suspend your rulle rules or the City attorney makes an interpretation of the rules um that you can do that so I guess my interpretation

[94:00] in this moment would be you're pretty far down the road yeah might as might as well finish up sounds good so with council's uh consent then we'll just now continue this pause uh discuss this item and then have a vote on it and then proceed with the rest of the consent agenda can I have a point of order question um did I hear our City attorney that we would have to vote to suspend our rules to engage in that discussion Now versus waiting at the end um I gave you an interpretation I think that would allow you to move forward at this point Thank You yep okay well if if you don't mind so we're going to uh discuss this for a little bit and then have a vote and I'm going to go ahead and call in myself because I also had a question around this item um Brad which uh we highlighted a little bit before but so we have four scenarios that were presented for the analysis a b c and d and they had different amounts of residential and Commercial and park space all those kinds of things but just wanted to confirm that those are not prescriptive right we can mix and match those different scenarios as we Mo if we

[95:01] move further down this process is that correct yeah that's correct uh mayor Brockett and um to maybe elaborate on that a little bit uh really all of the different are elements of the scenarios are variables that could be um uh reviewed and that's the benefit of a study as as staff primarily uses this moving forward in order to uh support any policy decisions in the future we're able to go in and look at these models and say well actually if we pulled this lever on that level and you can mix and match those up to the hundreds but uh fundamentally that's right okay yeah thanks for clarifying so we're not going to look back on that and say well we have to do one of these four and I'll just put a comment for the record that when we had this conversation in our study session I had um requested that we have an analysis with less commercial space and you all did that was done in scenario D which was fantastic ftic but not in the other scenarios so I just want to reiterate my point that um if we do move forward with this I would in general like to see less

[96:00] commercial space in a heavier til towards residential yeah thank you for that feedback and I think we also will parse what that bucket encompassed uh which was things like institutional uses and others great I'm sorry mayor I see uh KJ you had a comment you might want to make on the yeah thank thank you N I did just want to maybe Circle back too uh mayor Brocket question around the scenarios and that um they they really are intended to be nothing more than just points upon a spectrum for us to do the math to figure out what um you know what the potential impacts would be they they are not representative of a option or an alternative or a desired policy Direction they are simply just the inputs that that allow us to actually do the calculation so I just um wanted to make sure that that was clear understood thanks KJ and then just while I have the floor I'll just make a a quick um advocacy point that I hope to

[97:00] see us accept the study tonight and move forward with the public hearing next week where we'll have be able to have a full consideration uh with the public of the issues and whether we want to take the next step in the process uh because it it is a uh not a permanent decision but a five-year decision if we were to vote against this tonight thanks so just a clarification are we talking about the study right now or we yeah yeah we're discussing about whether to approve the study or accept the study okay but we could so if I have a question for instance like I was surprised to see in option D that we would start impacting our water supply that we we may have to have more frequent water shutdowns would would doing this study in the next steps would we be exploring how pursuing a dense option in this area might affect our ability to develop other areas of Boulder would it affect the water resources for other places just from the more holistic thing which is great that this is part of the bbcp

[98:01] so we can answer that question but what when does that discussion come up yeah I I think I would answer that in a couple ways certainly any new development or in this case uh contemplation of new development in the context of a a single area uh gets looked at in the in the overall picture of Service delivery and service Capac capacity so so that would certainly be done but the benefit of having this study too and and to build on what Christopher was speaking to is those kind of known entities identified at this stage allow us to then talk about what tradeoffs exist or what solutions to those kind of potential problems might exist uh bear in mind because of the step uh step one step two the time that that would take step three um and then just the pure process of of of individual Property Owners seeking annexation we really aren't talking about a scenario where vertical uh

[99:00] development is likely before like 2035 so it it's the time that it takes to kind of answer ask those questions and then answer them any other comments before we move to a vote Lauren um as you know I have concerns about how this Services study was done and I don't think that these concerns were adequately addressed um but with hesitation I will vote to accept this study even though I continue to draw a significant issue with using City average data as a baseline for possible future development because if you look at our water usage per capita over the past 20 years we have seen significant declines that probably is because new code requirements require more efficient use of water and things like that and I don't feel like this adequately captures that um and so

[100:03] while it does present a ballpark of possibilities those all have each possibility is still problematic in the same way um but I will trust that future phases of this project will be more thoughtful in how we are using the data that we have as a city because as I understand it we do have data around what the water usage is for newer construction but it was not included in this um but but that trust is thin so thank you um and yeah I hope we will move forward with this got Nicole thank you um and just thank thanks to staff for the additional time and discussion tonight um I just had a question so this is a a priority left over from the last Council this was one that one of the few that carried over um and you know I think things often change

[101:03] in hindsight as we're seeing where things are finishing up and my question um for uh KJ or Brad is really you know is this stat in stone forever like moving if we approve this needs assessment are we moving forward with these numbers and that's all we'll ever do or is it something that will be open to change at Future stages of the project so that we can incorporate some of these other concerns um and any new information or new technologies or things that we're getting along the way yes thank you for the question and we we certainly uh what the short answer to your your question uh council member uh mayor protim is that these are absolutely not set in stone and and to elaborate on Christopher's comments early this is not a policy statement it is not a statement of preference uh it is a a Continuum that is chunked into sections called a c and d uh but really represents many points of variability

[102:02] that can be managed and thought about uh moving forward on any land use planning U certainly appreciate the concerns um council member that you bring uh council member ferz that not all issues were addressed um we we did our level best to to incorporate those but understand that maybe that uh didn't hit the mark exactly but but also uh appreciate the fact that this is iterative and that we'll uh take those comments to heart um from several of you and and the good feedback and recognize that that leads into uh future opportunities Nicole was that it okay TAA um just a quick question around the 1996 um criteria what how does that get updated or that really the Crux of my conern conc ER is that that criteria again that was created when I was in college I'm 50 now um has not been

[103:02] updated in light and in response to our current climate um you know issues and and climate reality and water reality Etc and so I was just curious again um you know is the Boulder Valley comp plan process an opportunity to revisit that criteria does it require an ordinance like what is the you know again I I'm I hear the faith and all the things but to me my concern is is that we're going to go down that road and then get the analysis about wildfires and the Colorado River Basin and then we've wasted a year which was at the same time that we are planning you know two other huge plans for our community right well I'll ask Christopher elabor to elaborate but I'll just briefly preface it by saying that the comprensive update at Plan update is an update of the whole plan and the plan does consist of uh land use guidance maps of policies of City values of um of the rules and

[104:01] engagement including this one so anything would be fair game for amending through this process no I'm talking about the so that would include this 1996 and no one has previously said hey y'all let's take a look at this 96 thing yeah not to my knowledge uh Christopher might have a little better history on that well we did tweak the rules at the last major update for the area 3 play so it was looked at somewhat eight years ago all right and again I just um I really am challenged by the criteria and I'm incredibly concerned um about the amount of effort that is going to be used over the next year in light without having this this type of data thank you sure Christopher can you speak any more to the 1996 uh setting of The Rules yeah I think I I can just provide maybe just a little bit of context I think it was 1990 maybe 1990 when it was initiated but 1993 maybe if I have the dates

[105:00] correct is is when the planning Reserve area the 500 Acres on the north side of town was actually identified as as the planning Reserve there was a study done to determine you know where the where the city could expand at some point in the future um the procedures themselves of the identification of you know what what does it take to unlock the the plan Reserve those procedures there were procedures established at that time but then those evolved a bit and then uh mayor Brocket correct it the most recent sort of three-step process that really defined the urban Services study to get the technical information then this community needs step which is what we'll be talking about next week and then ultimately something called a service area expansion plan which is step three which is essentially the equivalent of a subcommunity plan um that sort of three-step process was established in the in the last major update to the to the comprehensive

[106:00] plan thanks all right sing new other hands let's go ahead and go to a vote Elisha should we do a roll call on this one what's your thought what is our what is required uh that would be your preference sir if You' like can we make a motion first I'm just trying to figure out how we're going to do it first so I'll go for a roll call so then was anyone like to make a motion on the side I'll go ahead and make a a motion to pass the consent agenda uh no this is for just this one oh just this one oh because we didn't separate it on the after so item Three G that's right we we're all out of whack AR we ask so I'll make a motion to pass consent agenda item 3G because I didn't remember and I don't know if I missed it a motion to remove it from the agenda that's why I was doing a full motion we didn't remove it we I think that moment is passed okay I was going to jump in there but I did look to the City attorney for guidance on our next step at that time but you're right there was not a motion but I think

[107:01] we did effectively pull it from the consent agenda so now we're having a vote on it separately so we have a motion for item 3G do we have a second and the motion was made by council member Benjamin and the second was made by second second all right thank you all right we'll start the motion for the vote on item three G with council member shuart yes mayor Pro Tim spear yes council member wall no that was a nay sir I'm sorry thank you Wier yes Adams no Benjamin yes mayor Brockett yes council member fuls reluctantly

[108:00] yes marz yes consent agenda item 3G is here byp passed with a vote of 7 to2 thanks so much all right so now for the rest of the consent agenda did anyone have any questions or comments on any of the rest of it um I'll I'll just uh calling myself and just um making a I appreciated Lauren's um raising the question about payment on the Wonderland Lake area but I did also very much want to appreciate the huge amount of work that the parks department has put into this over the last two years it's been a can of worms um that is now been addressed very thoroughly so appreciate um all of your work on that so anybody would anybody be interested in making a motion on this I move to approve the consent agenda we got a motion second second okay we got a motion and second can we have a roll call please Elicia all right sir thank you the

[109:02] motion to approve the consent agenda as amended that include now items a through c e f and H through K will start with mayor protim spear yes council member wall yes Wier yes Adams yes Benjamin yes mayor Brockett yes council member fols yes but no on item F duly noted thank you ma'am marz yes and shuar yes and I'm also no on F thank you sir so the consent agenda as amended previously listed is hereby approved with the duly noted NOS to item 3G

[110:01] unanimously those were to F I believe not g ah three F that is true thank you I was trying to keep up if you'd like to go ahead Matt thanks for the opportunity um on item I which regards to the uh serving of alcohol um on our OS P Agland I just wanted to sort of make a comment that in in doing so that's it's a great thing for us to do for our Farmers but my uh just a comment on that we work to streamline the event process for them as well much like we're trying to do in other places um lower that barrier of entry and uh make it as easy as we can to have community events on our Agland dually noted thank you all right can we go to our first uh call up checkin please yes sir and thank you everyone for your patience on that one our Callum check-ins or item four on tonight's agenda 4 a is the concept plan review and comment for the Redevelopment

[111:01] of 1840 and 1844 fome Street The Proposal includes demolition of the two existing office uses and Redevelopment of the site with 183 dwelling units including Studio one two and three bedroom units for a total of 16,29 square ft parking will be Prim primarily located below grade this is reviewed under case number L 2024 000029 thanks any questions comments or desire to call this one up I am not seeing any and I don't either I will just note that I thought the planning board had some excellent comments and feedback on this and I hope the applicant will take those to Heart uh so I think we can move on to the next one please yes sir thank you next we have item 4B on tonight's agenda it is the consideration of a site review application for a 2096 squ foot third

[112:03] story Edition at 20404 Street within the downtown 3 dt-3 zoning District The Proposal includes the construction of a third story and a 100% vehicle parking reduction the applicant has requested vested rights this is reviewed under case number l224 d009 any questions comments or desire to call this one up Lauren I had a question about what the path forward for this would be after this and if historic or landmarks board will be looking at this at all given its proximity to a historic building or part of it good evening Brad Mueller planning and development services we have Adam buer on the uh line to be able to believe answer that

[113:00] question and he's an attendee perhaps somebody can promote him to panelist is anybody able to promote him great thanks Adam just uh let us know if you need uh a repeat of the question yes this is Adam Olinger city planner if you could repeat the question for me please I was just asking what the path forward next steps are for this project if it will be going through any more review processes for instance with landmarks board thank you um this would be the final approval if this item was not called up uh it did go through landmarks review it obtained a landmark alteration certificate to uh perform the work that

[114:01] was approved by planning board back over the summer thank you yeah I I guess the comment that I will make is that I appreciated planning board's comments particularly Kurt um related to kind of the complicated Aesthetics of the Upper Floor um for me it's particularly the black metal material um doesn't feel very in line with the rest of the structure and kind of um doesn't seem like it fits very well with the um adjacent historic structure sure but I don't know that I have the power to hold them to that at the moment well you'd have to call it up and we'd have to be a make an amendment to the S

[115:01] review approval but you could go on record as making a formal request I would like to go on record as making a formal request for the applicant to just review that um material choice for the upper level um uh wow my brain is gone residential un um the edge of the roof okay and that just to be clear that does not have binding Authority but they maybe perhaps they will consider that Tina did you have something yeah I I just had a really small question about um the tree that I think the applicant is asked to add a tree or two is that is that am I understanding that correctly yes as exists there are uh limited tree spaces along Spruce Street along the north side of the property the applicant would be filling in the existing uh beay tree grates with uh

[116:00] finding trees okay and is that typical in properties that are the downtown that the property owner pays for those that uh I don't know about maybe Brad can answer the typicalness but with this project this was uh something that came through and was deemed necessary and adequate by a landscape architect yes uh those are required as part of code requirements okay and is this a net New Living unit or just in addition to an existing residential unit this would be a new living unit currently the building is just a two-story office building yeah I just you know I'm I'm really excited about this application I think it's a really good use of an existing structure to add a residential unit with a setback um and so I hope I hope that uh I think this is a really great idea for adding and activating our downtown space so um you

[117:00] know I hope it's successful thank you any other comments on this one seeing none no interest in calling this one up either so can we move to our public hearing please all right so thank you T public hearing is item 5A and it is the public Hearing in consideration of the following items related to a petition to Annex a property at 2801 J road with an initial zoning designation of residential dmix rx-2 first we have the consideration of a motion to adopt resolution 1355 which is setting forth the findings of facts and conclusions regarding the annexation second item is the second reading and motion to adopt ordinance 8659 annexing to the city of Boulder the property and the third

[118:02] item is the consideration of a motion to change the B Boulder Valley comprehensive plan land use map designation of the property thank you so much and with that I'm going to pass it directly to planning manager Shannon Muller all right good evening council members can youall hear hear me okay great thank you I'm Shannon Mohler with the city of Boulder planning department and I'll be taking you through the staff presentation tonight um so again tonight's uh item we're considering is a bbcp land use map change and annexation and initial Zoning for the property at 2801 J Road the purpose of tonight's proposal would be to allow the property to be annexed and have a land use designation um to allow it to be developed for future residential development so we'll take a quick look at the review processes history of the site some context summary of The Proposal and the staff

[119:01] analysis so again this proposal involves two review processes the first is the bbcp land use map change this requires action by both planning board and City Council planning board unanimously approved the land use map change at their meeting on August 27th the second item is the annexation and initial zoning this uh requires a planning board recommendation and city council decision uh planning board unanimously recommended approval of this item at their August 27th meeting with a couple excuse me with a couple of amendments which were included in the annexation agreement um and then uh it will be city council decision tonight so in terms of public notice the property was posted and notice was sent to Property Owners per code some public comments were received on this item these included concerns regarding transportation and traffic density compatibility with the area um some comments were also received in support

[120:01] of the permanently affordable housing and these written comments are included in the packet here's a quick look at prior reviews that have happened on this property as far back as 2015 there's been applications for a concept plan a prior bbcp land use map change requests that was withdrawn an annexation in review also applied for and withdrawn most recently in late 2022 and early 2023 there was a concept plan on the site and that was considered by both planning board and city council um at the time a development plan was submitted that included a bbcp land use map change to mxr and um an annexation and initial zoning of rmx2 were proposed and those are consistent with what we're looking at tonight that con plan also included a layout and images of a potential design it had 84 dwelling units and included both market rate and affordable housing it provided

[121:02] fee simple Lots with private streets um a concept plan is a time for identifying key issues and concerns some of the items that were noted at the time included regard concerns regarding the location of access that was taking access across a neighboring property to the east there were concerns about compatibility uh of the design um some design concerns identified by staff as well as a number of traffic and transportation concerns shared by neighbors um the feedback from the planning board at the time was supportive of the rmx2 zoning and wasn't concerned with the specific bbcp land use designation but was more concerned with the future design city council chose to call up the concept plan at that time and supported both the mxr land use and the rmx2 zoning as always a concept plan review doesn't result in an approval or denial but is meant to provide feedback to the

[122:00] applicant team So based on that feedback the applicant chose to move forward with the land use map change and the annexation and initial zoning that we're looking at tonight if these applications are approved then the applicant would come back for a future site review application that would involve a detailed review of a specific design proposal so next we'll look quickly at the site context here you can see the property is at 2801 J it's currently an unincorporated Boulder County just Northeast of 28th Street and J Road it's a 4.58 acre property and the annexation would also include annexation of 28 Acres of J Road RightWay here you can see the property includes an existing church building parking lot and a telecommunications Tower facility the area is surrounded to the north and east by some low density single family and unincorporated Boulder County Rural

[123:00] undeveloped properties so here you can see some neighborhoods identified um here are just some photos of the area north of the site some rural unde undeveloped areas the intersection of 28th and J at the bottom our examples of some homes in the area and on the right side are a couple of um public buildings the C ogue and churches south of J Road here are a couple of City plans that are relevant to this property on the left you can see the large uh Park property owned by the city that's ways north of the site in the planning reserve the park is planned for future long-term needs uh with no current development plans on the right our transportation plan calls for a multi- youth path that would connect through the site which is shown in green uh the trans portation plan uh identifies that path that is intended to connect up to that Future Park space to the

[124:00] north um so here you can see the subject property is located in planning area 2 of the bbcp this is the area now under County jurisdiction where annexation to the city can be considered um the property is also adjacent to Area 1 which is the land in city limits as well as area three the planning Reserve as we spoke tonight the city is in the process of Performing that Urban Services study the existing uh bbcp land use for the property is public which reflects the current religious assembly use and the applicant has proposed mxr mixed density residential land use designation this designation is intended for developments that provide a substantial amount of affordable housing a variety of housing types and densities and could allow between six to 20 dwelling units per acre here you can see the existing zoning on the property it's in unincorporated Boulder County right now

[125:01] so the zoning is our our rural residential across us36 in the city there's a mix of residential zoning districts including rl1 rl2 and rr1 the proposal includes an initial zoning designation of rmx 2 residential mix 2 which is intended to accommodate a mix of residential densities the city's intensity standards allow a density of up to 10 dwelling units per acre by right with additional density bonuses available up to 20 units per acre total which can be requested through the site review process the density bonus requires the site review criteria to be met and for increasing percentages of affordable housing to be provided in order to achieve those higher densities up to a maximum of 20 unit units per acre this zoning also requires a mix of housing types be provided that could be something like a town home a duplex a Triplex or other housing

[126:03] types so moving on to a little more about the specific proposal so again we're looking at the mxr land use and the rmx2 zoning and annexation as part of the review process for these items the applicant and staff negotiated an annexation agreement that would apply to the site and future development so during the review process a few items were clarified and incorporated into the agreement the first item of note was requiring establishment of a new dedicated site access via dedication of the Eastern 30 ft of the property as a new public right of way this is to ensure that the impacts of the transportation improvements to serve this property are not a burden on adjacent properties in the county and it ensures that Public Access is available to properties to the North in Area 3 should that property ever be brought into the city for future development the agreement also clarifies uh the transportation improvements that

[127:01] the city can require at the time of future Redevelopment it establishes some compatibility standards to address the relationship of this site to surrounding areas and it creates important standards for meeting community community benefit requirements where it requires 30% permanently affordable housing and the proposed agreement ment also ensures that a site review process is required in the future and incorporates some flexibility and options for the project in that process to ensure that this proposal remains financially feasible so I have three slides of annexation agreement terms so bear with me going to go through these first ones here this has to do with infrastructure and existing conditions on this slide um here you can see that there's several RightWay areas that are required to be dedicated these include along J Road along uh excuse me yes along J Road in a couple of areas um to add to do some

[128:03] cleanup as well as provide enough space for future streetscape improvements um it talks about the future public improvements that the city can require to jrad and us36 it talks about some flexibility for a future multi-use path that we can either require to be constructed or can request for um money to be paid for that and held by the city for the city to build it later and it again requires the dedication of that 30 feet of rideway along the Eastern edge of the site um this agreement provides for the allowance for existing uses on the site to continue um the existing Church would be allowed to remain until the site's redeveloped and the existing telecommunication facility would be allowed to remain uh per the existing lease that's on the site and lastly it um provides for the city's typical requirements uh requiring the property

[129:00] to be connected to our Wastewater utility and payment of standard fees here on this slide is a summary of the community benefit requirements that are in the proposed agreement so consistent with bbcp annexation policies um this requires a provision of community benefit for properties that have substantial development potential the agreement requires at least 30% of the new dwelling units on the property to before sale permanently affordable units either through construction of units or through conveyance of prepared Lots cash andl is not an option for meeting this requirement the agreement also includes construction standards for those affordable units things like minimum size parking design quality pricing requirements to ensure that the proposed units meet the city's gold goals for Middle income affordable housing and also just ensures that folks that own the affordable units have the same access to amenities as folks that

[130:00] own a market rate unit here on slide three is a summary of the required compatibility requirements density calculations and some Provisions for flexibility that were included in the agreement starting with design and compatibility the agreement requires a future site review this is to ensure that the future design be reviewed through that process it it outlines standards for the design of the 30-ft rof way along the Eastern Edge it requires um limitations to the number of stories for buildings along the eastern and Northeastern property lines and requires sloped roof forms this is to provide for additional compatibility with the Residential Properties nearby in the county and lastly the property would be subject to these uh design requirements and not to any future adopted area plans or design guidelines so long as a site reviews submitted prior to 2027 this was to allow the

[131:00] applicant a period of relative certainty while their design documents are being prepared next moving to density calculations so through the review of this annexation the applicant agreed to the dedication of that substantial portion of rideway along the Eastern property line so in acknowledgement of this and in light of the fact that the site layout and the street layout is not yet known for the property the agreement allows for the density of the site to be calculated based on the size of the site that exists today rather than the calculation being reduced following those right-of-way dedications and this is intended to acknowledge that important right-of-way dedication that's been agreed to as well as support the financial viability of The Proposal which is dependent on providing enough market rate units to support providing those affordable units and the last item is that the agreement notes uh excuse me I'll jump down the last item is that the agreement

[132:00] notes that there are certain modifications that can be requested through site review um it allows this proposal to request a modification uh to request private streets and request solar access modifications for zero lot line development such as Town Homes all right so at its public hearing on August 27th as I mentioned earlier the planning board unanimously uh voted to approve the land use map change designation um the planning board also recommended uh approval to City Council of the annexation and initial zoning uh the planning board recommended two changes to the annexation agreement they recommended to strike the requirement that would have required shared usable open space to be located near the Eastern property line um they wish for the location of usable open space to be determined at the time of site review they also um recommended reducing the maximum market rate unit size that's in

[133:01] the agreement uh reduce that by 500 square feet um and they felt that this would be more in line with the bbcp policies so staff and the applicant did incorporate these amendments into the final annexation agreement that's in the packet tonight um in terms of future reviews again the site would need to come back for a f future site review where it would be reviewed against the site review criteria as well as the annexation agreement and would then proceed forward with all of the technical reviews so lastly just moving into a quick summary of the staff analysis that was in the packet staff reviewed the proposal against State annexation statutes and found that the application is consistent with statutory annexation requirements staff reviewed the proposal against bbcp policies and found it to be consistent with many annexation policies in particular housing related policies where the proposal creates opportunities

[134:00] for permanently affordable housing supports a mixture of housing types and requires integration of affordable housing on the site staff reviewed the bbcp land use map change um that's proposed to update the land use map designation from public to mxr staff found the proposal was consistent with the criteria for the land use map change as listed on this slide this includes consistency with bbcp policies ensuring there are not cross jurisdictional impacts um ensuring that it doesn't material affect land use growth projections adequacy of urban Services the CIP and doesn't change the area 2 three boundaries and lastly a zoning District must be established when a property's annexed so again staff reviewed this presuming that the mxr land use designation would would be approved the mxr land use designation again um provides for um is intended to provide for affordable housing a variety of

[135:01] housing types and density between six to 20 units per acre so the review of the proposed zoning found that um The Proposal will help uh achieve the affordable housing um stipulations of that land use it provides a density in line with uh what's called for in that land use designation um and generally the rmx2 zoning District as described in the packet has typically been used for annexations where a substantial amount of affordable housing is proposed so staff found the proposed rmx2 zoning uh with its emphasis on affordable housing um was consistent with the uh mxr land use so that concludes the staff's presentation and we have these three recommended motions of approval and I'm happy to take any questions before I turn it over to the applicant thanks so much for the presentation that was very thorough and

[136:00] well explained questions for City staff I've got one but Matt you go ahead uh yeah my question centers around um and this interesting provision about cash andl is not an option for meeting the community benefit requirement this that's usually not something it seems a little non-standard for how we normally operate when we're dealing with affordable housing uh requirements so just sort of curious as to maybe why that was was done and Matt do you mind if I add to that question please because I've been wondering that too and been wondering so there's the two options that are provided for them constructing the onsite affordable or um deeding the lots to the city and my question and concern is would the deeding the lots to the city provide an kind of equivalent or better affordable housing benefit to the city as if they constructed or if we did cash andl which is sometimes done some maybe you could elaborate on on all those things is that right for add-on be my follow uh thank you for those questions Kurt Fern hobber I support housing and

[137:00] Human Services um so uh annexations are one of our have been one of our best tools for getting home own affordable home ownership and um it's it's uh it's very common for us to not allow cash andl within annexations and the reason for that is that it it um it it uh forces a particular outcome that we're looking for and the the two options that are in front of you are two options that we we likely wouldn't get on a development uh currently within the city limits so to shift uh to to to aon's question um so the uh if I'm correct the question is there there's two options there which one do we prefer how does that relate to or would they both provide a similar affordable housing benefit to the city yes so they they would both provide um

[138:01] 30% um affordable housing as a as a minimum they would both provide um home ownership um what we have found is that uh developments um that occur after annexation sometimes struggle uh to complete the affordable housing components and having two different options gives the the developer um a further Choice uh in in how those will be accomplished um uh land dedication is an approach which is currently part of our inclusionary housing ordinance and in this case providing um this number of units uh or I'm sorry this this number of lots as an option is a significant opport Unity uh for the city that we don't we don't often come across and um we have also been I think this annexation conversation has probably

[139:01] been going on for I think about fiveish years and um uh during that time our uh Boulder mod facility has also been completed and we have uh shared potential designs with them along the way um so there's also uh partners ships or possible Partnerships there it also gives the city um while the city would would own the land our our department would have um opportunities to look at um different approaches to accomplishing that so having control of the land um I think is critical um versus Simply Having the developer uh making those decisions and just to follow because Kurt and I had a conversation earlier today but one thing that you highlighted was the value of a finished lot versus bare land so maybe you might address the um benefit from that sure and I think you know some people in in first reading

[140:00] were concerned about simply a dedication of land but a um a a buildable lot um uh um has a lot to it more than just the land um the the the developer is paying for this process right now they'll be paying for the entitlements um of the uh for underground infrastructure and um those costs are included in that dedication um of that land which significantly helps um in sort of the um Financial approach to accomplishing that housing thanks for that Mark did you have a followup um would would it be correct to say that that if we receive a dedication of the land the the cost to construct the units will be our responsibility is that it could be our

[141:02] responsibility however um if you look at the um what that is offset with is the sale of those units so those units are at middle income prices and so that that there's a cost recovery um in that approach as well is that going to be a full cost recovery uh we don't know at this time um but um currently um the cost to build without the development in land cost is relatively close to uh middle inome prices um however this will be a few years in the future as well um and uh um we'll know more through a site uh plan uh application as well because it as I look at it it seems to me that if if the owner um does a conveyance of the

[142:00] Lots um my guess is he might well have a tax break um a tax deduction that he can claim for that dedication and in effect shelter some portion of his income um from the sale of market rate units by doing so and offload to us the responsibility and the expense for um actually constructing them in which case he's if that is correct um his financial obligations are relatively low uh ours are higher and we have Market risk uh in the sale of the of the units um and I'm I'm I'm wondering whether that's really a substantial Community benefit so I I wouldn't be able to

[143:00] comment on the tax advantages to the developer um I would see that as a as as a cost to the development I think that's how other developers have approached it um uh however I think in the what we have looked at looked at is that the um the the benef the community benefit um is substantially higher than if it were in the city and going according to the inclusionary housing ordinance and and what will be our source of funding to build those units um it would be um our affordable housing fund um it we could also bring in a developer like thistle who would get a construction loan um as any other developer would and recover that through the sale of the units or do potentially a partner would

[144:02] say with Habitat for Humanity who would bring volunteer labor to and perhaps some other Financial Resources that's correct and I think what we're seeing now with with those types of units is that the cost is pretty similar or slightly lower than the middle inome price SC have we even done an appraisal of what that land um might be valued at um so that we have a sense of the the the dollar value of the community benefit that we are receiving uh I'm not aware of a an appraisal that has been done um but I think if you looked at um uh um other affordable housing developments um that I'm I'm more familiar with which would be projects like BHP would do which would be rental higher density um land is typically about $100,000 per door um the development costs are probably another 50 to 70,000 per door on top of that so

[145:02] it's a it's a pretty significant um portion of the cost of um providing van housing okay thank you okay any other questions seeing none if we could invite the applicant to come up and give a presentation short person adjustment are we ready good evening mayor and members of council my name is Margaret Frey and I'm the developer and applicant for this annexation request at 2801 J Road I own

[146:01] and live in a house in Newlands here in Boulder I think we all believe in the overarching benefits of mixed income communities certainly we need middle income and missing middle housing here in Boulder at callup Council unanimously supported the concept plan that led to this annexation application with mxr land use rmx2 zoning as well as the density compatibility and the plan that we presented at concept some of you may recall the concept plan that we presented would work from a development perspective and bring Community benefit to Boulder by providing as much for sale middle-income family housing as possible as we understood from housing staff at the time of the concept callup the 34 permanently middle-income for sale units proposed in our concept plan equal the total for sale permanently middle- income units in the city of Boulder we're back before you tonight seeking your approval of our annexation

[147:00] which is supported by staff with mxr land use and rmx2 Zoning this is an annexation without a site review and once annexation is approved a site review application will be submitted we used the concept plan as a guide for the annexation negotiations to make sure we could accommodate planning board councel and staff requests and still fit in the housing we increased the open space and centered it to uh to create a gathering area created vuna like paving at the Streets between the largest open space areas to further enhance The Pedestrian fi and added a 30-foot R of way at the East while not included in the annexation agreement the updated plan shows how we can preserve the density with almost twice the required open space while accommodating these requests the annexation agreement before you for approval preserves the ability to reach the level of density presented in the concept plan to provide the greatest amount of deed restricted and missing

[148:00] middle inome housing the agreement requires the housing be for sale we've agreed to dedicate a 30-foot rideway at the East edge of the property so the city can eventually have a collector street that travels North from J road to the planning Reserve we will build a portion of this collector that runs along our property where we have deeded the right of way to the city the annexation requires 30% deed restricted middle- inome units combined with an additional 10% to meet the requirement in rmx2 Zoning for the density bonus this is a total of 40% restricted middle- inome housing we can build the restricted housing simultaneously with the market rate housing or we can deed the land for the restricted housing to a developer like habitat and after installing the utilities curb Gutter and streets build and sell the missing middle market rate units this is a solution we came up with in conversation with Boulder mod and the housing and Human Services director the holiday neighborhood deployed a similar

[149:01] strategy in our discussions with habitat for example they have expressed a desire to use the new modular home facility they might have other projects in their queue when we begin ours and so they may start building after we begin or simultaneously if their pipeline allows this allows the missing middle market rate unit to come online without delay after learning about some of the challenges in the holiday neighborhood at concept plan we talked about the possible benefits for homeowners from a fee simple structure which can provide lower Reserve costs by allowing homeowners to do some of the required maintenance themselves such as painting holiday was also adjacent to rural land when annexed and was deemed compatible with the surrounding context to address some of the challenges to the affordable housing homeowners who live in Holiday This annexation agreement provides for fee simple ownership with private or public streets staff agreed to calculate the density for the unit per acre calculation prior to the

[150:00] dedication of streets or ride of way that is on the gross land area this means it is possible to make the streets public and preserve the density with a fee simple structure the public Street opportunity further lowers cost to the homeowner and with flexibility in the street forms the fee simple and public Street approach can lower cost of development to help keep the missing middle housing accessible it also helps better integrate the community in the overall fabric of the City by eliminating the boundary between public and private we appreciate that staff did this and they seem willing to make the necessary Street modifications in site review to preserve a parking plan without parking lots and to have the streets be public while preserving the density the annexation agreement allows up to 2 200 ft for the market rate units of unless the total number of approved units drops below 78 in which case the maximum allowable unit size is 3,000 ft planning board supported these numbers and this is an example of what is needed to keep

[151:02] a development viable when density may be reduced the annexation agreement provides for the satisfaction of all Transportation fire utility and drainage requirements as well as off-site Street improvements and utility connections all of which will be worked out in more detail in site review the city can elect to have us build a portion of a proposed multi-use path or collect our contribution for the cost to build it so they can adjust the location as they work through the development of the planning Reserve although Council unanimously supported the mxr land use at concept callup initially staff did not to satisfy staff that the compatibility requirement was met for mxr land use we agreed to limit the housing to two stories on the easternmost edge of the site and the East half of the northern Edge where the site abuts the planning Reserve we also agreed to sloped roofs the 30-ft rideway for The Collector Street can accommodate Street forms that avoid the need for parking lots and also

[152:02] provides some front door parking for the deed restricted middle-income housing tonight we ask you to approve the annexation agreement once the annexation is approved the final design will be worked out in site review and you'll see it again we hope all the work done with staff in the annexation negotiation process to preserve the density intent of the concept plan will help expedite the site review process once annexation is approved so we can get to building this housing as soon as possible I want to speak about the timeline we submitted a prea for this concept in March of 2022 a concept plan in August of 2022 which was called up and heard in February of 2023 we submitted an an annexation application in April of of 2023 and after 2 and A2 years we are here tonight while we believe there's a lot in the annexation agreement that should help expedite the site review process we

[153:00] know it could be up to two years in site review before we can file for Tech docs then for permit Etc that's another minimum of three and a half years of process and equates to at least six years until construction can begin and a decade or more before these units go up for sale this seems like a very long time to make housing reality when facing a housing crisis we're happy to answer questions and we really look forward to your comments thanks for that Margaret point taken on the length of time things take here in the city of Boulder any questions for the applicant I'm what Lauren I was wondering if you could provide a little bit more detail maybe I mean I remember when this came um to us for concept plan review and it has been a

[154:01] long time um if there are any specific hurdles that you faced along the way that we should be aware of I would be interested in knowing that um also if you have any thoughts about ways in which we can streamline the process moving forward um I would be interested in hearing that as well although that might be a good offline conversation or an email to counsel giving us all that information but fair enough um yeah I I mean I'm happy to um send an email be I'd be happy to do that I will say a couple of things um I think it would help for staff and Council to talk about compatibility and what that means because there was a disconnect in this process it cost us seven months um so I think council's the policy makers but staff are The Gatekeepers and

[155:02] they both feel a big responsibility and obligation and so I I think that would be a beneficial conversation and to get some clarity around that are you still trying to be compatible with the rural land in the county that you're adjacent to before were you coming to the city are you as uh was commented I think by the planning board when we came up for concept are you trying to be compatible with what you're Vis envisioning for the future to address housing so I think that would be that would that would probably help everybody all of us that are involved in trying to collaborate um and then you know the these processes I develop in a lot of different municipalities and this this is this is only uh San Francisco and Manhattan compared to this town so I would encourage you to find ways to um you know I mean staff would know

[156:00] better than I would what what what that could be um I know in some places you're given an opportunity to get in the room with everybody on staff who makes a decision about a different aspect of your it's it's like a pre meeting that you get to have and you get to talk about it and work through things and you get a lot of great information that saves you a lot of back and forth so maybe something like that um and I I appreciate those thoughts I mean We Are Tonight considering this specific application but I'd love to hear follow up with an email with you know we're happy to do that we we'll we'll we'll we'll put some some thought into it appreciate that we got something else for you for Mark a few mon moments ago you um uh made a comment about um something that threatened the project viability how do you define that well I'm a small developer I um I have to get

[157:01] a bank loan to do what I do uh so the viability really depends on the numbers and I I I heard your question earlier um uh to Kurt you know about the um deeding of the Lots as a put goes to the constructing so so if if if if it's okay I I I have a couple things I could say that might help you better understand how we got there um one thing is it's hard to find a uh if in I don't have an embedded construction arm I'm a developer here I I do in Virginia but um there are you know people here in town who have both they develop and they have then their own embedded construction arm I think for them it's probably a lot easier to uh build both market rate and either middle income or affordable homes um and and and do it in a way that uh they can

[158:02] afford to do it uh financially so we have been talking to Habitat um and we have been talking to the inclusionary housing folks you may remember Michelle Allen and it's been many many many years that we've been trying to get this project to fruition um and uh so for us we envisioned a partnership with a thistle or a habitat or uh maybe um housing Partners or someone like that who could build the affordable piece that that's what they do that's their Bailey Wick they know how to do it they have uh and we actually used in the concept plan a a a program from Habitat to design those those that piece of of of the concept so um that's why that's in there and I can tell you given the cost of land here in Boulder that by the time we get utilities connected which is

[159:00] there's a couple of options for that on this site but It's Tricky and it's expensive and it's it's it's not and there's then there's offsites which are you know right-and turn lanes and left-hand turn lanes that are not on our land which is an unusual uh cost to this particular Endeavor and um so at the end of the day um Kurt was spoton when he said the cost that goes into uh bringing the utilities in we're bringing them into the site we're putting the roads in we're doing the curban gutter we're grading the the land and getting it ready to build it's it's a lot of expense so it's not it's the land is is very valuable and I I think his estimate was low on a perd door you know cost uh if you add it all together so I do think you're getting a significant amount of community benefit particularly when we add the 10% um for the density bonus that we'll be seeking in the rmx2 so that's 40% that's

[160:02] 34 uh restricted uh middle income either homes or Lots um and as he said you know the goal of building the homes whether you do it as the developer or whether you do it as the city or whether you do it with habitat is to be able to sell them in my my conversations with habitat they said they can build those homes and break even they can sell them to recoup the cost of the construction so and they're and they're not not for profit so so that's why um you know I'm not a not for profit and so that's why it for me as a as a small developer that that that was a a very helpful uh way to ensure that we really had a chance to to do this very good all right Tina yeah it's been a long process do you regret uh starting this project in

[161:02] Boulder I love Boulder um no I I I try not to have regrets I mean there are things I regret some things that happen this week I regret um but uh no I I I [Music] um there are certain things that people attribute to the personalities of developers and one of them may be that nothing ever happens fast enough so um it's part of my practice to work through this process and uh I've been really grateful this round at the U level of collaboration that we've gotten from particularly Kurt and inclusion are housing Michelle before him Sloan Shannon um Hela everybody you know has um would I have liked that to happen

[162:00] faster sure um so I I think one of the other Perils of of the timeline is that the market turns in different directions and so it it can really imperil getting this housing online for us you know we're taking bigger and bigger risk the longer and longer it takes but this is the same for the city you know because you you really want this housing and you're really investing so do I regret it no do I do I hope that we can move through the next Parts a little faster sure okay fair answer all right I think that's all we got for you uh thanks for that Margaret and uh we're now going to move to the public hearing so we have two people signed up to speak one in person and one virtual we'll start with our inperson speak speaker which is Robin QB when she can get to the mic well now I can feel like I'm gonna be Debbie Downer here but um my name is Robin QB I've been in a lived in Boulder

[163:02] for almost well for more than 40 years and I've been a real estate attorney here for 39 years and so um I am supportive of this project and I'm supportive of there being affordable housing on the project and 40% or 30% whatever would be awesome I am the person who raised this issue regarding the um compliance with the exclusionary housing um uh ordinance and this dedication option and so what I would like to point out to you folks is that some point in 2024 and I think it's this spring that you guys added a new Option within the exclusionary housing ordinance at 9 section 91310 B3 which allowed for the dedication of the land but it also required that there be a payment of a Delta if there was any between the value of the portion of the land that was going to be

[164:01] contributed to for affordable housing and what the developer would pay through the exclusionary housing ordinance that's what that your statute the ordinance says so my complaint here is kind of twofold one you have removed mov D for no apparent reason that obligation to pay the delta in this case and two that language in the dedication portion of the statute of the ordinance allows the developer to just dedicate the land to the city and the city has the obligation to take it there's nothing in there about agreements with somebody else so if despite all the best efforts of everybody there's no habitat that's going to come in and be able to do this which frankly Miss Point represented at an earlier meeting for planning board that it didn't look like the schedules were going to work for that but in any

[165:01] event she may very well be able to find somebody who can co-art can partner and do that construction but there is nothing in the agreement that requires that to happen so that's what the concern is that I'm raising and is this an exception to a brand new ordinance part of the ordinance that you folks want to undertake at this time and will it be something that other developers who may not have the history and some other things that Miss FR has you know will they want that same thing and so that's really the issue I'm raising here and is this going to be a conscious decision that you folks make and if so what's the basis for that here so I'll shorten anything else time I want to say tonight because I think it's been covered in all kinds of other ways um except oh no I do want to address one other thing her her comment about the compatibility oh no my time's up so we're done all right thank you um and

[166:00] our one online um testifier is Lyn seagull where's my timer oh there it is yay uh Dare I ask if that's inclusionary housing not not exclusionary housing I guess I don't dare ask that doesn't someone in this room know if it's inclusionary or exclusionary housing oky do well that means nobody knows much of anything do they um the last thing we need in Boulder is more housing no annexation no zoning changes where's the services yeah that's very funny isn't it

[167:00] Tara um you laugh at Gaza and you laugh at this too uh I'm glad you've got a good smile on your face it looks very nice at least um we've got CU South we've got the Millennium we've got geological services or geological GSA the McKenzie Junction project the housing in the middle of three highways um Pelos Hundai diagonal Plaza Coburn Macy's yesterday last night we had 7770 Broadway which used to be many years ago when you were children um Mark Ren trying to get it to be the homeless shelter well it was just given up to the developer from 40 units to 170 we do not need more housing it does

[168:00] not relieve housing to give across the street from cuu more housing at 777 Broadway um and it takes away our valuable resource of the Hobie Wagoner architecture of this this space and the only sister to the other project that is demolished at Broadway and Baseline on the southwest corner Western resource Advocates water and land fund so we've got nothing left for people to come to here except if they want to do housing tours to see all the new housing developments um we've also got planning Reserve coming up soon right this is a housing [ __ ] storm a housing fun best this is not okay the more housing the more jobs the more jobs the more housing the more housing the more jobs the more need for services services that don't pay good so then we need more

[169:02] middle- income housing low-income housing which we don't have so stop already stop thank you all right so I'm going to close the public hearing thanks to the people who came to testify um and bring it back to so city council for a discussion of the three potential motions in front of us I will note that the program is called in inclusionary housing um but who would like to um open up our discussion followup question L I had a follow-up question for Kurt um and that was around about how much our typical middle inome uh housing units cost the city to create it's already on uh thank you for that um so I'm gonna I'm gonna shift slightly

[170:00] I'm trying to answer this but um so one of our our our most successful program right now um for creating middle- income housing and we create I think we're creating seven units this year we've been creating about five per year is we purchas um market rate um Condominiums we um put resources in them to bring them up to higher energy standards or um you know different needs that they may to to get them up to a a good um construction standard we turn around and sell them at a loss um at a middle income price um those units are um um costing us I think it's about 50,000 $180,000 per unit um so that's sort of the Delta

[171:00] between the cost of that approach and the and the sales cost um so even if we weren't even if it wasn't entirely cost neutral to develop and sell this housing it would still be um by far the most affordable way for us to do middle income housing that we've sort of had an opportunity to do in a long time that's correct and then I'll I'll say one more thing so when our uh inclusionary housing ordinance was um uh updated uh almost two years two years ago we had a study done um on um sort of that question and um the study at that time um showed that uh for developer it cost about 300 to $400,000 per unit um to create middle income um housing um that's the Delta of the

[172:02] loss thank you and if I could make one more statement quickly quickly um so uh through through an annexation um annexation is an agreement between parties um in inclusionary housing ordinance um can work as a base for working off but it inclusionary housing ordinance does not apply to annexations thank you okay um I can get us started if I don't see anybody's hand raised so I can get us going here I'll just say um I am in favor of the proposal currently in front of us and the the three motions that we've got here um I appreciate the long road that has been followed to get to this point um I do want to appreciate U Miss QB's activism on this point because I did do a deep dive into the um affordability of this project because of that and had long conversation with carton several emails back and forth uh but have been convinced that the the lot dedication

[173:01] provides a kind of sufficient and equivalent affordable housing benefit since it's the finished lots and actually would tie in um incredibly well with our new Boulder mod um modular home factory production and our partnership with Habitat for Humanity which I hope could be utilized here so I think uh we haven't had integrated affordable um and market rate ownership projects hardly at all in town I live in the holiday neighborhood which is the last time we got a significant um project like that it's a phenomenal way of living with that kind of mixed income um affordable and Home Ownership so uh really excited to see this move forward and hope we can approve this tonight yep Mark I am also going to support this because of the need for the housing but I would hope and expect as we move forward that we that we get an analysis um of what we

[174:04] are how much we are out of pocket um on the full expense of building this house after receiving a developed lot um less the expected Revenue we would see from um selling it um I know that Boulder housing Partners uses about $400 per square foot um for the hard cost of its construction um that means if you're building a 2,000 square foot home um your hard cost is going to be $800,000 I know that's not the number we're going to sell it at because that's not going to be supported by the 100 to 120% Ami so you know we are we're going to have a gap on every unit that we sell um and in effect what we are doing

[175:03] is transferring that loss uh and that expense um from the developer to us and I'd like to know how much it is um so that we can be knowledgeable about how much we are going to have to eat in terms of you know developing this as middle income housing at those Ami levels I think that that's something that's important for the council to understand um and so I would hope that um as we see hopefully we'll see more things like this but when we see a a development project of this type I'd like to see what the numbers look like um so that we as members of council can say oh okay it's going to be X number units it's going to be a deficit of of Y per unit and we're going to be in the in the whole um Z dollars and and we're

[176:02] going to have to find either somebody else to build it who will assume that deficit or we're going to have to fund that deficit because that goes back to the issue of Are We receiving adequate Community benefit um and it's also something we can compare to the value of a finished lot and and what is the value that we're receiving by getting that so I I you know I'm a little uncomfortable with the um degree of analysis that we've received I'm going to support it anyway because we need the housing so badly um but you once I saw that there were two Alternatives uh in terms of what the developers permitted to do it was always clear to me that only one was going to be only one road was going to be taken we were never going to get developed

[177:01] homes um because um there's a loss with respect to those homes and either the developer is going to Bear the loss or we're going to Bear the loss and the developer appropriately and and um uh uh not surprisingly is going to ask us to bear that loss so um I would like more information when we do a project of this kind i' like to understand what it is that we're um not um getting and uh what it is that we have to pay for going forward thank you thanks Mark duly noted Matt like to ahead and make a motion if that's right great we're going to need three of them but you can get started with one as long as I can say and and nope don't put the end in there but Tina can we get the language on the screen too when it's

[178:00] ready well you'll have the chance after the motion is made yeah all right let's get going um all right I'm g go ahead and make a motion to approve the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan BV bbcp land use map change for the property located at 2801 J Road from public public Pub to mixed density residential mxr second okay we got a motion in a second either if you want to comment on the motion at hand I'll be real quick I I think this project has a lot of promise and it's been a long time coming and so thank you for sticking with it um and trying to get us uh to the home stretch she'll just say that what we're going to do with the area three planning Reserve this is just a a a taste of the type of density and housing that we're going to be doing in that area overall so I'm glad we're we're getting getting started here um I just had a comment or a question whether we could consider specifically asking the county to use some of the DB 2B funding for this

[179:00] project specifically because it's County City uh through an annexation so maybe they can give us an extra bump to to support this particular project great idea we got a motion a second on the table should we do a roll call here please Elisha yes sir thank you the roll call for the boulder Valley comp comp plan update we'll start with Council I'm I'm sorry mayor protim spear yes council member wallet yes Wier yes Adams yes Benjamin yes mayor Brocket yes council member vulit yes Marquis yes and shuart yes the comprehensive Plan update is hereby approved unanimously do you want to keep rolling or I'll roll it on all right second

[180:01] motion I make a motion to adopt resolution 1355 setting forth findings of fact and conclusions regarding the annexation of approximately 4.86 acres of land generally located at 2801 J Road and including areas of public Street to the city of Boulder second got a motion a second I just want to pause make sure nobody else wanted to get in on the comments here before we finish out our motions voting not seeing any then if we can go to the vote vote please Elicia yes sir thank you the vote for resolution 1355 will start with council member wall yes Wier yes Adams yes Benjamin yes mayor Brockett yes council member vkrits yes Marquis yes shoard yes and mayor Pro

[181:01] Tim spear yes resolution 1355 is hereby approved unanimously you're onor roll that all right for the trifecta uh I make a motion to adopt ordinance 8659 annexing annexing to the city of Boulder approximately 4.86 Acres of land generally located at 2801 J Road and including areas of public street with an initial zoning classification of residential mixed 2 rmx2 as described in chapter 9-5 modular zone system BRC 1981 amending the zoning District map forming a part of said chapter to include said land in the above mentioned zoning district and setting forth related details second motion a second vote please Elicia yes sir thank you we'll start the vote for ordinance 8659 with council member Wier

[182:00] yes Adams yes Benjamin yes mayor Brockett yes council member fuls yes Marquis yes shueh hard yes mayor Pro Tim spear yes and council member wallet yes ordinance 8659 is hereby approved unanimously fantastic all right I got a couple council members who' like to make a couple remarks Lauren and then tar um I just wanted to thank you for sticking with it I think this is going to be a great addition and um you know previously on Council we have really struggled with how we bring forward middle- inome housing um it's a very difficult product to kind of make the math work for us so I really appreciate the contribution that this

[183:00] will make um to that program for our community and I look forward to hearing more about your thoughts about streamlining this process thank you one of the reasons why I am smiling tonight is because of this and we've waited long time and it's been a long road for Middle inome housing and I know last Council we really tried hard thank you for sticking with us like Lauren said I'm going to pretty much ditto everything Lauren said and just tell you that I'm just happy I'm it's a weird thing to say you're thankful I guess a lot of people would say oh don't say that to a developer but I really am thankful that we found a way to make this work and I'm looking forward to it so thanks again like Lauren said thanks all right well with that congratulations all right it has been a long road appreciating your perseverance and looking forward to the next steps and seeing happy families move into those houses one

[184:00] day all right that concludes our public hearing so if we can have our matter from the city manager please yes sir the matter from the city manager item number 6A on tonight's agenda and it is the discussion and appointment ointment of a council representative for the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan that is referenced as bvcps subcommittee thank you so much Alicia and uh before I um throw it to our director of planning and development services Brad just want to thank all those who are able to attend our Boulder Valley comp plan kickoff uh last month uh really successful and really um happy to see so many community members there as well as uh many of you but for now we are thinking about a representative to join us in that work so Brad take it away thank you n and thanks for the acknowledgement on the kickoff it was a great event uh process subcommunities have been used in the past for larger

[185:02] projects such as CU South it's been used several times in previous updates to the comprehensive plan uh it was Mo used most recently by my recollection at least in the boulder social streets uh I think council members uh Benjamin and and wner were part of that it is a uh a technical overview um probably dry in that regard uh to just review what staff has put together as the planned um processes that are associated with uh in this case the comprehensive Plan update uh there are four bodies that will ultimately uh review and need to approve the same uh comprehensive plan version approximately eight months from now uh the planning board uh yourself eles the County Commissioners and that the uh County Planning Commission uh so one recommended or one representative is uh sought from each of those groups and I'm here tonight to uh ask for the same from

[186:02] Council and happy to answer any questions great and we had expressions of Interest via hotline uh from myself and council member Benjamin and I think we're going to arm wrestle here is that what the way it's going to work um no I'm happy to defer to to Matt um I put myself y yes I did send a hotline this afternoon was it not received am I not good at hotlines awesome I did send oh sorry we we did not we did not receive that why and all the stuff okay uh do you want to speak up now TAA um you know I I you know put my hat in the ring one cuz I realized that um I love process I just I just love it it's my favorite thing um and I am excited about

[187:00] the opportunity to learn more um not just about the process but also um you know in in that experience um to um strengthen relationships across the other piece for me is I don't have um I lost one of my Council appointments ments because the Rocky Mountain I'm sorry the Rocky Flats um stor chip council is dissolved so I have more time um than I had previously and just wanted to be of service for this really critical and important role um in addition um the expertise that I bring is um expertise as an equity specialist on processes and protocols as well as on strategic planning at the state level um you know uh um inclusive of just those processes and protocols so um again I I I know that there and I thank you Brad for the conversations that um you know we will as a full Council have an

[188:00] opportunity to review those prestes and protocols so if I'm not selected um I can still weigh in at that time appreciate that um well I will be stepping back um kind of regardless um sounds like we got um ta and Matt putting their names forward here um I will will say having served on a couple of these process subcommittees um myself is that they are um uh not the most exciting meetings so it's it's definitely a service rather than an um I frankly I'm grateful to not have to sit through all the meetings but point of clarification how many meetings are there like what I didn't get a sense of frequency and duration yes we are uh I am anticipating Maybe four or five throughout the 18 months maybe a couple at the beginning one in the middle couple As We Lay out the hearing

[189:01] process um I guess I don't know if anybody has any further thoughts or this is a a vote kind of a thing well as as delightful as the prospect of physical combat might B um for our entertainment values uh I would either suggest that a they they sit down and try to work it out or B I'm going to suggest that seniority should play a role in this one and I would probably be supporting well probably I would be supporting Matt just because of that seniority but if you want to Duke it out we have space yeah do you all want to talk about it offline we we just heard ta me just now so we haven't a chance to have a dialogue up to this point um you know I'm I'm hearing the seniority piece I'm slightly persuaded but um at the same time

[190:03] um yeah I'm I'm interested so I put my hat in the ring and that's how that works thank you laor this is a clarifying question for Brad the so you mentioned kind of at the end that these meetings are about the sort of technical aspect of like how to get through the process at the beginning are they more about public engagement or are they still going to kind of focus more on just the nuts and bolts of procedurally how this moves forward um I I would say the combination of the two the nuts and bolts of uh engagement but then also the hearing process so we um as part of uh the overview to the update presented a preliminary engagement schedule um one of the first things this group would do after orienting would be to just re-review that which has been you know

[191:00] slightly modified since we initially brought it to you um and it's multicomponent uh obviously and and just going through that I would probably do a mid uh process checkin like I indicated which would be mid of mid next year and then as we imagined the um series of hearings between the four bodies in uh spring and summer of 2026 uh I would imagine this group getting together again to just lay out the sequencing of that um answer question fine with um stepping back I do have a thing around just um our um appointments and um mine extends to the end of 2026 so I me it would you know if there is a a change in in representation then there would may be some concerns around continuums and continuations so that is

[192:00] something to consider um I'm happy to serve as the second chair and so perhaps that's a way that compromise so I can still stay engaged and involved not go to the meetings um but um in in the event that I you know would need to continue on um um and you know I can do that so that's uh what I'm offering but I am actually very still interested and again I just have concerns around um the exclusive nature of planning and my experience and those of other marginalized people in this process thank you so TAA thanks for that offer so perhaps we could um designate uh Matt as a representative and yourself as an alternate if in the event of Matt not attending a meeting you could attend an his dead and if he chooses not to run or is unsuccessful in his re-election you could take over from him at that time okay how's that good okay thank you for that I appreciate it hopefully only the former is one that's taken up um so

[193:01] appreciate that and I just appreciate the graciousness from you may brck and you council member Adams I thank you for that appreciate it Tina yeah I just think um maybe there'll be other opportunities where people with less tenure can start gaining the institutional knowledge that that surrounds this process so if there are ways that staff sees just to sit in maybe on one meeting on engagement or one meeting um just to be an observer uh maybe that would be good for all of us okay so it sounds like we've got council member Benjamin as a representative and council member Adams as an alternate thank you for your time and consideration appreciate it all right we got one thing left yes sir that one thing is our item 8A matter from the mayor and members of council it is the discussion to reaffirm the SE commitment to Vision zero Ryan you want to take the take this away and I know we can be relatively brief about this right I'll try Okay

[194:01] colleagues I would like to propose that we make an official show of support for the breath of work uh that our staff are doing on our vision zero initiatives um and and through that not just make our street safer but unlock Freedom um for a lot of people who need it including kids people with disabilities and pedestrians um so I I I'll be try to be brief but I do need to outline this given the procedure that that I think this requires um so the purpose of this is to give the work that our staff are doing the greatest chance of success I have talked with um with staff and I think the best way to do this is a resolution so I'm going to ask for a notify vote for a resolution to craft the language and I'll propose to briefly just explain explain the the the contents of that um and I'd like to acknowledge we do have Valerie Watson interim director for transportation Mobility back there who's been waiting um this whole this whole meeting to be here um if she's needed so um I'll just do a quick uh there's a few

[195:01] things just to point out and then I'll see if um staff want to respond and then invite any other feedback from um from colleagues um so just a few points of background uh as you may all well know Boulder is leading the pack in Vision zero initiatives um from a national perspective persective in a lot of ways um we're at the Forefront uh in terms of the breadth and the rigor of what um what what what is what is known to be possible uh among cities um but it is incredibly challenging work it's incredibly challenging uh nationally it's incredibly challenging here and there are concerning Trends including this last year um Colorado had the most pedestrian deaths this is in the the remembrance for road traffic victims declaration in your packet it's in p 859 um so there's just basically four things and I I just want to be thorough so this is clear and take any feedback so there's there's four items I'm just going to give you four issues and then I'm going to give you the proposed language that goes to the measure or the the summary of The Language so issue one

[196:02] staff is making great progress on V Vision zero initiatives and we have a ton of built environment safety enhancing feature or projects in the pipeline include calming separation automatic enforcement but the severe trash crash Trends are worsening so the proposed resolution idea is do we authorize staff to move forward with initiatives these initiatives expeditiously streamlining and being Innovative about community community engagement um when we can while taking no shortcuts with Equity or otherwise in order to be productive with time so that's the first idea uh the second idea is uh okay start with the issue so issue is the city has a lot of plans and practice and works that deal with Transportation there's big ones including the bbcp the climate Action Plan and there's more tactical ones like signals practices these all significantly affect and are affected by streets Street safety so there's two

[197:01] proposed ideas that that we that we resolve one we assert that Safety First is our policy in and around Transportation just as we commonly do elsewhere in the city um and this would be a way for for Council to officially endorse the vision Zero part of the Strategic plan that um that came from um Nua back in the spring and then the other part of this is to reflect that our body knows that vehicle speed vehicle size and exposure are the primary drivers of risk in our streets and those factors need to be addressed in our plans that impact them so that's the second one uh the third one is that the The Chronic structural nature of dangerous streets is driven by economic ICS and other forces that are Regional Statewide they're National and these are factors that Boulder doesn't control directly but that we Comm meaningfully influence so the resolution concept is that we make a statement of significant

[198:00] need and support and commitment for Trans transformative Vision zero policies from the standpoint of us as elected officials to appeal to our inter agency partners that staff on the ground can speak to this has new significance after Tuesday uh finally the fourth one is the science and practice of Safe Streets is going through a period of real Evolution right now we could talk about that but I'll just leave it at that the resolution concept is that we assert to be proactive about incorporating the latest understanding into our approaches and being open to changing methods and conventions towards the outcome of making system based improvements I'm sorry that's a little bit high level we could get into the details but that's that's the idea so these are the the concepts that I would propose we um with out of five put into language that would then come back to council um and before I stop I'll just um address a few things that I think you might ask one why is this important quick just if you can do super quick on this bit okay um why is

[199:01] this important um evidence from around the country shows that having elected officials stand up for it matters um why is it so easier straightforward this is a f affirming work that's underway adds no new work and it will not create discussions about trade-offs um um why now there's concerning Trends and um there's a few others but Aon I can see your body language so I'll leave it at that um I did want to be thorough because I as I said I do propose that with your permission we'll move forward with language and I would want that to be have Fidelity to um what you want to see so with your permission Aon could I ask if um staff want to and I'm sorry to cut you off a little bit I just know it's getting getting late and we're past our meeting a lotted amount of time so I think you're getting your points across extremely well I think we're getting good sense of what you're looking for okay I'm so I'm done would it be appropriate to ask if nura wants to respond in any way uh well I'm happy to but first I'll ask our interm director of Transportation Mur ability to come on down since Valerie has been patiently

[200:00] waiting with us come on down Valerie good evening council members uh Valerie Watson and director transportation and Mobility oh a little closer sorry um so yeah you know um thank you um for the opportunity to speak to this and for taking up this um this item tonight um you know council member shuart has shared the concepts with with Nur and I that he spoke to tonight um we really appreciate it that um you know we're generally comfortable with the areas of emphasis that he's lifting up um also just very appreciative of um of the council member's desire to lift up all of the really sophisticated and impactful work that the city has been doing um for a long time around Vision

[201:00] zero and we continue to do um and that's all in service of you know um achieving our community's vision zero goal so really appreciate that and um you know we're aware that the council member is not trying to to add to the Department's work plan or you know change our Focus around all the work that we're doing with our vision zero action plan our core arterial Network initiative um so yeah appreciate that um and certainly we would want to consider any changes to these Concepts um that might come out of the discussion tonight from what the council member has previously shared with us um but what was shared um is certainly aligned with um all of our ongoing efforts um you know we've made a lot of progress with vision zero um when you comp comp us to Pure cities especially we still have a lot of work to do um we need to address our most vulnerable Road users um people walking in bicycling they're over represented in our crash data especially with severe crashes um so you know we believe in our

[202:02] work that one death is too many on our streets here in Boulder and vision zero is Within Reach so thank you again for the opportunity to speak to that tonight um and here for any other questions you might have I'll only add to that and I always appreciate um I take my direction on all things transportation and Mobility from Valerie so uh did owe all of that but I'll just say uh council member Shu hard that I uh a appreciate you sharing this in advance uh your your Concepts I think are a lift up all of staff's great work and I just appreciate that I think our staff has done a tremendous um job in doing advancing so many of um our goals and frankly we don't do that alone we do that in conjunction with you we do that in conjunction with tab we do that in conjunction with our Community Partners and so it is a joint Collective effort uh in that regard um but it also represents a sense of urgency as we were moving forward and a call to action to all of our partners we do not do this in

[203:01] a vacum a vacuum but we do this with our regional Partners as well and as the concepts as you have outlined them also think about what are the things that are coming down the pike that are Beyond transportation and that maybe some of our departmental partners have added levers to add to this and so um as we uh take your Concepts and try to put words to them um uh if uh it is the will of council we will um be thinking about that moving forward and so we wait to see what council decides thank you thanks ter Lauren um you mentioned that this was aligned with staff goals but I was curious if you feel like this will um help with efficiency or streamlining or feeling that you have the concrete backing of Council in order to do things in a efficient manner thanks for that question council member fartz um certainly we are always

[204:02] looking to opportunities to find um external grant funding to do the transformative work we do on our corridors and so we're always trying to um work towards those timelines when we know when Cycles are coming up and it's really important for us to be able to um work efficiently and um you know hold the processes that we need to um but also to prepare for those opportunities and so um having this affirmation of of council support as a body is really um it's helpful to um bring that Clarity when we have Community conversations about the work that we do um the processes that we have um and and I would say the ansers yes thank you I got Mark and then Tara uh I I appreciate um what council member Shad has done um I do have a

[205:00] suggestion you know I've only seen this language uh about an hour before the meeting um would it be possible for us before we make a definitive decision to have an opportunity to to look at it and see if we have any comments or we want to do anything a little differently I mean I'm inclined to support it uh if push comes to shove but I would love to be able to reflect upon it a little bit um before we take that step has I think thanks thanks Mark yeah so the proposal is to ask for out of five on the the concepts and then it would come back the language would come back probably cons I think can consent no I can Mo with that but I think you might also have an opportunity to reach out oneon-one to share some of those thoughts and language I got ter Nicole Tina um this might have nothing to do with it but while you're up here I I'm curious how we can actually get people to drive 20 miles an

[206:00] hour I just want Sor go I'm G to call it technical foul don't answer that question I'll call you about that and I'm our one in one just expect that question all right Nicole thank you and thanks Ryan for bringing this forward um I thought I heard Valerie say that this um would not require a significant amount of staff work and so I'm wondering if this just process-wise is this an out of five or is this us just agreeing that yes Ryan go forward draft your resolution talk to us um and you know we we um either approve it or talk about it at a future meeting our city the attorney has thoughts thanks for the question uh this is appropriate for a KN of five um as it will take some resources not a lot of resources but some um and so uh we would

[207:00] appre we would appreciate a not of five before we move forward thank you um and just just to clarify then and sorry it's I'm two hours ahead my brain is a little tired um so basically what we're saying is that this may help staff um and it is minimal work on everybody's end is that right that is correct thank you Tina yeah following up a little bit with that I just would like to get some clarity around what really changes if we pass this resolution what is the gap that we're that we're filling um and just ensuring like I it's really hard not to think of Iris but um would change the way we would have approached Iris would be a good question for me to answer if a Community member asks um so you know does it make a change with something like that um the other thing is I'm not a a big fan of resolutions for long-term

[208:00] work um I prefer resolutions that are responsive to a situation and I could imagine a resolution coming after Tuesday um I would rather see these Concepts in our Boulder Valley comp plan whether it's a lasting document it's referenced every time we think about land use and the interactions in our community um but if we if we want to do the resolution now I think that's fine but I think we should expire it and then commit to putting it into the bbcp where it's a lasting ideology resolutions get lost in our resolution library and when you're gone no one will remember it at all and I can point to many from the Boulder Valley School District if you're not convinced so I well it's it's just a thing so we do these resolutions we forget about them we need this somewhere lasting it's a good reminder of the ferality of all of our work to could could I just respond on the the first point what are we trying to do I

[209:01] didn't maybe do the best job in the four issues in which I tried to outline the problem in the in the proposal but on the iris one um this this is a um an acknowledgement that that there are probably more streamlined ways than to have 30 plus Community meetings to do a mile stretch of road and to do that in a way that is robust tells the story about where we're going but it is not us telling staff how to do it but rather that we trust you to do this in a way that meets modern standards meets your professional approach let us know if you need help so it it is a way to give staff the the uh the confidence that we will back them in their professional judgment feel free to if you wanted do okay good well I'm not seeing any other hands so um we're looking for an out of five Ryan I'll just say I appreciate you bring this forward and appreciate your points about that when elected leadership shows support for programs like this it helps accomplish them more expeditiously and more effectively so I'll call for a show of hands to see if

[210:00] there's an not of five raise your hand if you're interested I got I got everybody um so that's a yes so we'll move to the next steps and look for forward to something on consent before too long thank you and thanks Valor is it too late to add flying cars to that resolution no no flying cars and yeah and I'll just say Valerie thanks so much for sticking it through to the end with us on this matter really appreciate your time did you have something TAA we are done with this item so we're wrapping up the meeting but if you'd like to say something thank you um I just wanted to thank the staff for the report on the North Boulder um day Services it was very helpful to get that additional information I do have a question and I understand that um Chief Redfern is not able to be here um but you know there I did have some questions around some of the meetings that I know that he's been engaged in around the C with the county and Sheriff's Office um I also would love to get more um

[211:02] information around the timeline for some of the things that you had shared during in response to public comment specifically the substation um and you know when is the next time that we're we're going to be talking about this so just so the community knows that it's not just you know next year but and that's why I actually asked for this to even be an item but it got pushed to the an IP item unfortunately um I can certainly um it depends on what questions you have I I mean I don't know what questions you have about the meetings with the county and the sheriffs but if we have that we can certainly um get back to you on what those were and give you some updates well I know there were just some tensions around you know who has the authority to do what jurisdiction and what exactly and I certainly um in my conversations hopefully tomorrow and as we continue to sort of figure out I know I'm having a conversation with um the County Administrator we're working some

[212:02] of that out in terms of um can we notice can we how do we jointly um try to um do some enforcement on County land where they do not have a camping band how do we address them of those issues so we're we continue to try to work some of that out um so as that gets resolved um certainly we'll come back to you I can't give you a timeline but know that we are trying to do that expeditiously um I will say that we are um in terms of the substation those are not fast conversations because they require resources they require money quite frankly um and they're not Silo to North Boulder um as the chief is thinking about um what does that look like across the city there are I don't want to speak for him and I don't want to speak too publicly because there are a variety of things but he is thinking about the city and he has not

[213:00] actually shared this entirely it has not been vetted with his leadership team and across um his department but he has been thinking about ways in which to deploy um across the city in various ways um and partnering frankly with uh various departments so it's not just in his if you think about to reimagining Public Safety you'll recall that there was a notion of um holistic governance because it is not always just PD that responds to issues right and so part of his conversations with his Department colleagues are is it not just PD who's available but also who else can be there from Department So speaking to Department colleagues so it is not perhaps just de BPD who is deployed across the city but are there other components of city folks who are in Partnership there in tandem so those conversations are ongoing um I'm pleased to say that the chief has almost warned me that they are almost uh fully staffed

[214:00] and that I should probably expect a staffing request next year um per the reimagining plan and so we'll see if that is true but as that as that Staffing component is fully done then there are opportunities to deploy differently and with that comes space and with that comes how do we pay for space and where do we pay for space so all of those considerations need to come together uh and as we go through that and figure out what resources we may or may not have that doesn't happen in a week but it's certainly as that moves forward my commitment is to let you know as soon as we can I cannot commit to having that happen next week or next month but know that it is on our radar to try to bring it out um as quickly as we can it because we know it is not just an urgent need for Community but I know it is on the chief's mind as well I I definitely appreciate that and again I'm keep Rising this because this is an issue of coexistence and if we want to

[215:01] make sure that we are able to serve all of our community members then we need to address these escalating crimes and other issues that they're identifying it's not going away it seems to be getting worse and so my concern um is that you know we are compromise you know that there could be a backlash to trying to provide services for our inhouse community because we're not able to ensure that those neighboring communities um you know will have the same level of safety as other parts of our community so I just am very mindful um about that and then as far as the substation I love us but I I you know I I reflect back on when we asked for safe and supportive streets or sorry what was it not safe and supportive it's the um camping you know sanction camping there it is sorry thank you transitional Community thing and we got that report and it was like the gold standard of

[216:00] like you know F my larger point is is I appreciate the substation I know he's thinking thoroughly about what it would look like but I'm just curious like what could an interim look like right like even just leasing for a month right just I I just am looking for the shortterm as we are short-term Solutions as we are trying to um create long-term Sustainable Solutions so I just that's the balance so what I'm hearing is we are committing a lot of time resources to a long-term strategy and I appreciate that but what I'm not hearing is what are our shortterm commitments to um to community members and who are still being disproportionately impacted in the North and I appreciate that I I think I think for those of you who know me I I am not one to let perfect be the enemy of good ever um so I'm not just thinking about um long-term we do we have done some short-term stuff we have added patrols we have been looking at we have

[217:01] deployed cameras differently we're thinking about different um a variety of different interventions but that doesn't solve right the longer term issue um and we're continuing to look at what those Trends are we knew that calls would um go up as more services and the day Services now expanded hours we are looking and continuing to look at Trends because at some point we think that will stabilize um we we have seen some of those crime stats go down the further you go out in the radius and the closer you go out some of those numbers are growing so we're we're paying attention to that um and we are looking at what are those I'm not just thinking about longer term in terms of like we must own a building we are thinking about leasing we are thinking about whether the library may be a place to have a substation we are thinking about what could that look like in different configurations and if we think about your example which I think is a really good one about sanction encampment it

[218:00] took us we didn't come with those examples about the bronze standard and the gold standard overnight it took us quite a few not I wouldn't say months I I would say it took years to have the conversation about whether we were G to think about sanction encampment at all um but I hear the continued desire and sense of urgency and know that we share that we are not wanting to not address those issues and we continue to work in partnership with our neighbors um in North Boulder because we know that it is a concern and we want to make sure we're addressing it as well we can but he that I certainly appreciate that and I just want to say there is nothing I I did not mean to indicate that y'all were not responding in the short term I'm just saying that those interventions are not resulting in a decrease and so what are the additional things that we need to do in the interim so again I just want to I did read it it was impressive and I I acknowledge and commend all the work that has been done so certainly yeah appreciate that Taisha because there have been some alarming Trends with

[219:01] increasing crime up in that section so uh good to hear that short-term and longer term things are being worked on appreciate that good enough on that all right with that then I will go ahead and gav US closed here at 9 34 p.m. good evening everybody e