September 6, 2023 — Environmental Advisory Board Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:18] Sorry. Have a good joke. Yeah, I better be in weddings and just looking for like Badger. It's impressive, considering I knew, because my Dad has.

[1:06] That's well. So there are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary as well, especially without expecting a base 3 joke. You lost me. Alright. I'm gonna hit record. So we can go ahead and get started. And okay. sorry. It's already recording. Look at that. I was smart enough to auto report. Okay, are we ready? Yeah. You can call it to order whenever you're ready, and then I'll go over the protocols. Go ahead, Kevin. All right.

[2:00] See if I can find my mouse again. Sorry. Here we go. Well, let's try that again. Sorry I've got to figure out a better way to navigate this. And if you're watching us and joining us online, my apologies for the slogan's here on multiple screens, and sometimes that gets a little challenging when they're so far apart. Yeah.

[3:03] there we are. Yeah. One day it will be smoother. Okay, alright, Hi, everybody. My name's Heather Cindy. And I'm serving as a technical host for tonight's meeting. Thank you for your grace and patience. As we all adjust to this, I want to say, new platform that is really just being back in person. dealing with tech and in person at the same time. We're all learning, and we appreciate your understanding with any technical issues that may pop up today. 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 board commission members as well as democracy for people, all ages, identities, lived experiences and political perspectives. For more information about this vision and the community engagement process. Please visit Boulder, Colorado for its left services for us less productive pipe and atmospheres.

[4:00] The following are examples of rules of decorum found in the Boulder revised code and other guidelines that support decision. These will be upheld during this meeting all remarks and testimony shall be limited to matters related to city business. No participant shall make threats or use other forms of intimidation against any person. obscenity, racial epithets, and other speech and behavior that disrupts or otherwise impedes the ability to conduct the meeting are prohibited. participants are required to sign up, but to speak by using the name they are commonly known by, and individuals must display their full name before being allowed to speak online. Currently, only audio testimony is permitted online because we do not have registration for open and public comment. Tonight you can indicate you would like to participate by using the raise hand function. The raise hand button is in the participate in the participant box which could be found in the menu by hovering over the top or the bottom of your screen and then clicking on the participant icon. When the box opens you will see the raise hand button at the bottom. By clicking that button you can indicate, you would like to participate and open our public comment.

[5:04] If you have joined us by phone, you can press Star 9, raise your hand. Public comment. Yeah or not. We can. You know what? We're sorry. I mean, the agenda will be the you remember, also broke. Yeah, we just have them read it out loud, or we can read it, and you can repeat it, whichever you prefer thickness just really quickly. So the Board understands. We do this upfront that way. You have 2 additional voting members. Though, we don't have anything that you're really gonna be voting on tonight. It's just the the way we kind of manage the passes.

[6:12] So part of you. I just placed 2 blank boxes will be for you to sign and then we just save those for our records. Do you mind reading them? And they can repeat it together. It's like synchronizing alright. So they're in there, and you can just pause their own name. Alright! Let's start. Aye. alright your name, Davis. to suddenly swear that will support the Constitution of the United States of America. I'm upset of Colorado.

[7:00] Sorry about that and the charter and ordinances of the City of Boulder. and says that the city of Oakland faithfully performed the duties of the office of a member of the Environmental Advisory Board. which I am about that's it document Dated and greg, I can help you sign that pens usually help today, you know, there is possession Day. Right? There is there a date. I don't alright congratulations

[8:18] Jackie bazaar's applause. like a cited alright, let's move to the next item, which is the approval of the minutes. So I like to make a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting on July twelfth. and second, the motion. Thank you. was out of breath. And now let's move on to public participation. We have one public participant. Tori but they have not indicated that they'd like to participate. Tori, if you would like to participate, just use the raise hand function and we'll call them not seeing a raised hand.

[9:02] So I think and move on. Okay. I'm excited will be the discussion items for today. Starting with the University Hill General Improvement District update. So if it's okay, this up a little bit for the board. just so. Everybody is a little bit familiar with the process for tonight. So we have a couple of informational items. There's not a lot in terms of any votes or really specific feedback that we're seeking from the board tonight. But is is you recall. We've been going through this process of looking at the council agenda, looking at the items that councils making recommendations under providing feedback to staff, and one of the items was some of the real revitalization efforts. senior project manager and community vitality is gonna be providing an update on a couple of items that she carried forward. Really successfully, and by that to city council about a month ago. And then your second item is going to be a discussion about the city's policy agenda or policy statement

[10:13] problem. Cassie was our senior policy manager for the city. He'll be joining us and a little bit, and the intent of that one is to give the Board a an understanding of how the city goes about formulating this policy statement that they take to city council. This outlines really the platform from which departments really work on policy related items, whether we are advocating for against particular legislative item or any particular regulations. We use that as our backstop to think about our policy guide, so to speak. And so Carl will be here to talk a bit about how he goes through that process as a of updating that on an annual basis. And then he hit some high points that he thinks are really relevant for the board to either understand or potentially provide feedback before he goes to council. So those are the 2 big informational items. It's gonna be a lot of talking at so apologies for that. But it's a lot of rich conversation. So if you have questions, obviously one way, I don't need to say anymore. I'll pass it over to you and let you let you roll.

[11:15] Are you gonna be sharing screen if you don't mind. Okay. but nice to meet everyone. As Jonathan said, I'm Regan Brown, I'm a Senior project manager with the city's community vitality department. So for those who are unfamiliar community vitality. We oversee and manage the city's special taxing districts. Which ultimately enhances economic vitality within the city attracts diverse businesses and visitors to our key economic centers. We ensure access for all. So making sure that folks are able to access these key economic centers getting to and from and then, lastly, we also held the office of arts and culture and special events.

[12:06] So we get a lot our 3 pillars access for all cultural vibrancy and then district vitality. They're kind of intertwined. So thank you. Heather but yeah, I'm excited to provide you all with an update on our efforts related to University Hill commercial area revitalization. We went to City Council for a study session on August tenth, presenting our recommendations for implementing broad revitalization efforts. In the near term on the hill. as well as some longer term efforts that really focus in on redeveloping the Fourteenth Street Service parking lot located within University Hill commercial district. So I'll essentially just be sharing the same presentation that I delivered to council a little more condensed, hoping to get through it in 15 min or so.

[13:11] So I'll go over a background of the hill, including some key issues that we're seeing today. Key considerations that helped inform our recommendations next steps, and then I'll open it up to any questions you only have. Sorry I'll I'll talk to you guys. You can go to the next one. So I'll just start by providing some brief, notable characteristics of the University Hill neighborhood at large for those who might not be familiar. They know, dates back to the late nineteenth century. It's full of rich history and qualities that really make it unique to other areas of the city. It has a really rich music history, especially in the 19 sixties, when there were a lot of entertainment venues and concerts that drew large crowds to the area

[14:06] it's known for its innovative and vibrant spirit, especially given its proximity to the university. And then, lastly, it connects to really large populations. So we have the Cu student population. And then we have a fairly large residential community adjacent to a small 3 block commercial district. So it's really unique in that way as well. Looking over the next slide. And so that's small. 3 block commercial districts. It's the University Hill General Improvement District. This is also pronounced Yugid Acronym. It's one of boulders, special taxing districts. And usually in some of the key sites that I'll be referencing here. Are later on the map on the left hand side. So it was established in 1 70, at the request of property owners who wanted to tax themselves in order to purchase land that could provide customers with additional parking spaces.

[15:06] One of those parcels of land is the Fourteenth Street Service parking lot, which I'll be re referencing and is the only remaining general improvement district owned lot in the commercial district. You did recently sold other parking assets, the Pleasant Street lot to facilitate the development of the Hill Hotel And as many of you know, there are several develop new developments underway on the hills that includes the Hill Hotel, and then the Cu Conference center which will inevitably have a large impact on the district. But even in the face of this rapid growth you do has been experiencing the state of economic stagnation for several decades. and we've heard continuously from community members that they've expressed concerns of feeling unsafe residents have described limited act access to a diverse retail. Mix and then a connectivity to and from downtown and within the district as a challenge as well.

[16:08] Give us 1 Si just got a message saying that people online are unable to see the screen. Okay, let me just try to close a few things and try that again. See what else from here. Player. Sorry. and if it's easier for me to join the Zoom Meeting, I can also control the slides. Let me know. Try to put it on Florida. Can you? Do you mind confirming if you can see that or not? Please stop sharing and reshare

[17:10] about now. and try one more option I can. Unfortunately, if I try to move it through the other screen, not everyone will be able to see it, so we can try it side by side view. If that's not going to be too distracting. Okay, is that any better?

[18:03] It's a part of it. Still, only seeing part of it. Okay, they said. That's better. Alright, awesome. Need me to repeat anything. Okay, we can go on to the next slide. Then. Alright. Now, I'm gonna dive into some key issues that we're seeing on the hill. And I'm gonna start by going over the current regulatory conditions. So you should have a set of ordinances that are really unique in comparison to the rest of the city. And those key regulations are displayed here on this slide. I'll start with the one on the left. due to concerns with alcohol over consumption. City Council adopted older revised Code 9, 6, 5 B. In October 2013. This requires that at least 50% of any eating places. Sales on the hill must be from the sale of food. So there's no requirement related to this in the rest of the city.

[19:15] And then these same establishments, so restaurants that serve alcohol must close no later than 11 PM. Unless grandfathered in. and it's 2 a. And the rest of the city. and then going to the one on the right hand side. So in 2015, Boulder revised Code 9, 6, 3 B. Was adopted to address the concern that the economic environment strongly favors student rental housing within Uji, making it difficult for other diverse land uses to compete and really pose a threat to the vibrancy of the commercial district. So in August 2014, Council passed a temporary moratorium, which was then extended in 2,015, and subsequently changed to restrict all new housing within use it to be permanently affordable.

[20:05] So in summary, the hill is a lot more regulated compared to the rest of the city, and we've heard from many businesses that regarding the ordinance on the left hand side, but this is actually fairly difficult to achieve, because the restaurant industry does really relies heavily on the sale of alcohol as their primary source of revenue. And I do wanna note here, this is something that's come up since the study session that the planning department is currently working on ordnance changes which I'll streamline review processes for restaurants within our neighborhood centers. This is all part of an effort. The 15 min neighborhoods concept. So meaning our basic needs can be accessed within 15 min via walking, biking, or by transit so given that this coordinates change, would group all our neighborhood centers under the same on umbrella in terms of review processes for restaurants. It would eliminate that 50% food requirement and that 11 Pm. Closing restriction on the hill. So the first reading for this is going to council on October nineteenth. So we'll be really curious to see how that plays out.

[21:18] But one other thing I wanna know is that there has been a lot of pushback from community members on this topic. It's pretty contentious. Given the history of alcohol over consumption on the hill. So the planning Board is actually recommending that the hill be removed from this orders change. I don't. and recommends that Council direct city staff to engage in a deeper public engagement process before changing any regulations on the hill related to business requirements. Give me the next slide. Safety has been an ongoing challenge within you, Jen, and the broader hill area. My hill reinvestment working group, which was formed in 2015, pursue a Hill reinvestment. Strategy is placed a lot of attention on the issue of safety.

[22:08] But the commercial district so really struggles with challenges related to safety and crime. We've heard from local business owners. They they've expressed their frustrations around certain behaviors occurring in front of their storefronts and elsewhere in the commercial district, including handling public drug use, etc. So, and just enough a couple of recent efforts, to try to mitigate these challenges. We received a pretty generous contribution from See you to provide an additional $45,000 annually to expand the ambassador program on the cell. And for those who are not aware, ambassadors provide cleaning, safety and hospitality services downtown and on University Hill. and then it's also important to mention just some other improvement efforts. We did a landscaping project at the intersection of Thirteenth and Pennsylvania this past year, and we work really closely with the Hillboulder Emergence Association, on activation and business support and retention efforts. But even with these efforts there are still a lot of improvements and opportunities

[23:19] and go to next. Another key issue that we're facing on the hill is related to you. Just fund health. There's limited capacity to fund general improvements within with the district's property tax revenues, which amounts to significantly less than any boulders. Other special districts. Youtube relies heavily on the general fund in contrast to our other special districts. So the General Fund transfer helps offset. You did expenses related to general fund activities such as the Eco path program, and the administration and maintenance of the On street parking meter program.

[24:03] some funding strategies that have been raised in discussion to tackle this issue include establishing a downtown development authority which could help fund general improvements and additional programs. And for those of you who are unaware of downtown Development authority. Dda, for short. is a strategy used to revitalize commercial districts and can provide for a variety of funding options, including millage impacts, increment financing for public improvements in commercial districts. and there also continues to be interest in the possibility of establishing a business improvement district on the hill that could provide long term operating dollars to support operations such as cleanliness and activations. And the last thing I'll say here is, there are a lot of trade offs to be considered related to the reinvestment of the Pleasant Street Loss Sale proceeds, so, as I mentioned earlier, we sold Pleasant Street Law to help facilitate the development of the Hill Hotel delayed reinvestment of those funds which are currently sitting in savings. Earning interest

[25:12] really only prolong so limited access due to the decrease in parking spaces and redevelopment of the Fourteenth Street lot, which could ultimately result in additional property tax, retail lease or parking revenue but according to our current budget assumptions. Reinvesting those funds in 2025 would actually result in a negative fund balance for you, jet by 2,027. So again, it's just really important that any revitalization strategies need to take the fund help into consideration. We really want to maintain a healthy operational district next slide alright, and then business retention challenges the commercial district on the hill. Really tears heavily to the student population, and it struggled for decades to attract a diverse mix of uses

[26:06] as it stands today, there's a 14% commercial vacancy rate. and the business mix is depicted on the right hand side here. so as you can see, there are a lot of restaurants, but also personal care, services, convenience, stores. There's retail, such as smoke and skate shops, etc., kind of catering to that student population, as I mentioned. And some points comparison that I want to call out, not necessarily apples to apples, but the retail vacancy rate for the entire city of Polar in December 2021 was 4.7 in the United States vacancy rates across the retail sector hit an average of 4.4 in the second quarter of 2022. So again, not really apples to apples just given the dates of those data points, but, as you can see on the hill, 14 vacancy rate is quite high.

[27:02] We can go to the next slide alright. I won't spend too much time on this slide, but I do just want to point out that you just been the focus of a lot of studies over the years. Some notable ones outlined here. The University Hill sub area plan. This was a sketch plan building, a vision for the community based on needs around public safety, connectivity, economic growth. 2,011 Urban Land Institute Technical advisory panel program. We've been awarded this opportunity for the Hill twice now, and I'll dive into what that program is briefly on the next slide. For those who aren't familiar. It's Uli Tab, for short. The purpose of the you elect happened 2,011 was to assess revitalization strategies for the district. But this was again over a decade ago. So it's a bit outdated. The Central Broadway Corridor design Framework 2017 is a guiding document recommending urban design improvements along Broadway, including how to better connect the hill to downtown

[28:07] and 2021 we contracted with economic and planning systems Eps to undertake a feasibility study for the Fourteenth Street lot. This ultimately resulted in recommending a primary strategy of pursuing market rate housing on that site which, of course, faces important limitations. Given the current regulatory environment and the healthy ordinance related to permanently affordable housing. And then, in 2023 in June. We again convened with the Ui tab, in which I'll outline key recommendations from their findings later in the presentation and go to the next slide. Okay, thanks. So I'll just spend a brief moment here going over exactly what you like. Tab is, since it really does speak to our recommendations. It's an opportunity that provides a matching grant from Dr. Cog to support 2 studies into Denver Metro communities.

[29:06] The program provides Awardees with a panel of volunteers with Uli expertise to help us work through a pressing and typically land use related challenge. It's valued at over $20,000 and ultimately provides communities with recommendations addressing their problem statement. So in our case, we asked the panel to address challenges we're seeing on the hill through the redevelopment of the Fourteenth street lot, but also broader strategies. Recognizing that tackling A lot of these challenges on the hill requires a multi pronged approach and go to the next slide alright, and I'll just briefly kind of tie it all together before diving into the recommendations, because it's important to understand why we're tackling this work now. based on a lot of community and stakeholder feedback, that city staff was received. We understood that a lot of the previous studies are either outdated or maybe took a bit too narrow of an approach on specific elements of the district. So we really wanted to revisit broad strategies. For the district, which was kind of a catalyst for engaging with Uli that Ui panel. Again, in 2023

[30:23] As I mentioned, the district continues to struggle with some of these economic and social challenges that I've outlined from business retention to safety, to funding sustainability concerns. The tap brought up a really great point. That I love repeating which is the once the hotels are complete, people are gonna exit the lobby and decide to go right or left whether it's downtown or to the Hill commercial district. And so we really wanna address these challenges and make the hill more welcoming as we start to see this influx of visitors. And on that note, we see an opportunity to invest in strategies that complement the new developments underway. So rather than waiting to see how they impact the district, let's be proactive and and leverage it as an opportunity to implement complementary strategies.

[31:14] And then, lastly, it's just, it's time to respond to an increasing community desire to see positive change. So really special place for a lot of people has a rich history and some important part of Boulder's character. So wanna act on that now next slide. we can just go right to the next one. So we've identified a lot of key considerations that will help guide our work and decision making around specific projects, the first being long-term fund help for you, Jid ensuring, we develop a financial approach to the long-term viability of the district Parking and access ensuring people are able to access the district, whether through an increase in parking availability or other forms of transportation connectivity.

[32:01] Getting to the hill, whether we're providing better connection along Thirteenth Street or another mode is a key consideration. And then, lastly, economic vitality and resilience. It's important that any strategy contribute to long-term or positive growth. you can just go right into the next one. So our recommendations, again, were derived from our most recent convening. From Ul Uli. The panel presented a lot of these recommendations that I'm gonna outline here, and they take the form of 2 approaches. So one approach focuses on these broader revitalization strategies. Which we'd like to implement in the near term and other the other approach is narrows in on the longer term Fourteenth Street lot redevelopment strategies. So the 3 categories that our broad revitalization recommendations fell into include understanding and establishing a district identity connecting and activating the district

[33:03] next slide district identity, we want to use this as an opportunity to understand, establish, and promote the hills, identity to the city at large. We like to take time to engage with the community to better understand the hills identity given that it has evolved, and there are a lot of upcoming changes to the district. And once identified, we want to leverage those characteristics and promote it's the city in a way that will make it more identifiable and more attractive to visitors. and beyond enhancing the district identity, the hill would benefit from improved pedestrian way, finding to help create that sense of place and community and help folks navigate the district within. go to the next slide connecting you. Jid is another recommendation. So this suggests improving connectivity to better integrate you did with the broader community improving connectivity along Thirteenth Street in particular, aligns with suggestions from other city plans.

[34:07] making the hill easier to get to and improving navigation within is a need and an opportunity that we've heard repeatedly. You can go to the next slide. So this map was created by the panel from Uli, and it really helps visualize how the hill can be better connected to the rest of the city, including to downtown. So, as you can see, they suggest improved entrances along Thirteenth Street and on Broadway with kind of that direct, identifiable connection from Pearl Street all the way to Chautauqua. And we we want to explore this further. I mean, what does improved entrances really mean? We don't really have the answer to that yet. I think one of the intent is to bring on a planning and design consultant to really help us better understand what that would look like. But this is kind of just a high level idea.

[35:03] You've got the next slide. And then, lastly, we want to activate the district we're partnering with the Hill Holder Merchants Association on some upcoming events. But we really see an opportunity to expand on that leveraging and building on the hills creativity and energy potentially revitalizing positive night life in the neighborhood and implementing other events, maybe doing some alleyway improvements. As well go to the next slide. and so now narrowing in on our the Fourteenth Street lot. So these recommendations take the form of 2 different directions which include maintaining you did ownership or oversight and then in building a structure on that parcel of land, or alternatively selling or leasing a lot to a private developer. So looking here on this slide, this suggests that we sell, or at least a lot through 100 year, land leaves to a private developer in which the city would determine what could replace the existing surface lot and some potential outcomes identified in the tab

[36:12] with example. Photos on the left here include a boutique hotel club in Community hub there are really a whole array of options. For that site. and then revenue from the sale of the lock be used towards an endowment as a way of offering you the long term financial sustainability slide and if we maintain oversight, there were 3 recommendations. At the top outlined. One is the maximum parking garage option, which could be a 3 level parking garage structure providing additional 150 parking spaces. the other is the parking with retail, which presents the opportunity for a large retail tenant, such as a grocery store in the middle there and then, lastly, on the right hand side, a parking garage with retail and faculty housing, so this could be an opportunity to partner with Cu while addressing some of the retail and parking challenges that we've seen on the hill

[37:12] go to the next slide. So in summary, we recommend that prioritizing broader strategies in the near term would benefit the district, and if that it will enhance district vitality, it'll generate that positive economic growth. While also providing you did with an opportunity to adapt to a lot of the on upcoming changes. With the new developments and also give staff time to focus on creating a broader district. Wide strategy that will help inform a reinvestment strategy for the Fourteenth Street lot down the road. You can go to the next slide. So lastly, I'll just outline some next steps. Here again we went to council, presenting essentially the same information. On August tenth we received a lot of support from council for these efforts. And our recommendations especially related to tackling some of the regulatory barriers that exist within Eugen

[38:11] and although it's not directly outlined as a recommendation in the presentation. One of our questions that we post to counsel during study session was whether they'd like Staff to explore changes that are unique to the hill. And so during that meeting the majority of Council members express support for removing the ordinance particularly related to the 50% food sale requirement, and that 11 pm. Closing time on the hill for restaurants. And there was a lot of support for the broad revitalization strategies as well, especially as it relates to activating the district. And enhancing that sense of place. And so next steps just in summary, include facilitating coordination among other city departments.

[39:02] Successful revitalization on the hill really require us departmental involvement. So that would be an immediate next step. We also like to develop in our feet secure planning and design consultant services to again help us identify feasible and actionable projects that can be executed in the near term that speak to connecting, activating the district. And then, of course, any revitalization efforts will involve broader community and stakeholder engagement as we move through this process next slide. So that was a ton of info. But hope it makes sense. I'm happy to answer any questions. We're not looking at about 15 min for questions. So maybe 3 min each. Okay with you guys. I guess much for the decision

[40:09] questions just to get to have more information about it. out of the 50 food requirement work. I think that a lot in Kansas, which is a very religious state. Alcohol needs to be

[41:02] the blades. The regional blade like the bottom. Right around here 50% of the menu should be pulled, which can be whatever you know. little snacks, and then 50 or the rest can be like actual alcohol, which is what they want to sell right, but they're no tracking on how much they sell. It's just the menu at any time restaurants or or these establishments could be asked to hand over their receipts for the last month in total, that they had to provide them in X number of days. So I think it's time I got the impression. It's a bit of a random search. Yeah, I think enforcement is a random search. I think, on the restaurant side, if I take a shot. I assume the intent behind it would be at a certain point, restaurant owners have to stop selling alcohol, because then they would hit more than 50% of the revenue being alcohol, and so they just could not sell alcohol anymore. Given that the intent of the

[42:02] the the intent of it, was to limit the sale of alcohol, the over consumption of alcohol. That would be my guess is just that it's on the restaurant owners or the manager on shift, or whatever to be keeping track of sales. And what percentage of that is alcohol or percentage of that is food. And if it's getting to imbalance, if the city can call for random search of their audit that they stop selling alcohol. Yeah. And that's very likely we're we're exploring. Yeah. I'm sorry if I missed it. Did you touch on what? Because in the 14% vacancy rate. yeah, I think I think there are a lot of factors there. I mean, business retention has been a challenge on the hill for decades. And I think II think it just struggles as a district. Again, there's kind of these 2 competing populations to see you student population and and the residential community. And for a while I think it's been been a bit contentious. And again, the the commercial district really caters to that student population.

[43:12] yeah, I think it's a variety business rental prices within that district compared to others that are. Is that a rent date like is a rent? Is that included in the? That's a good question. From what I've heard, I I think they're a little less than downtown, but I need still up there. I would have to do a little bit more question. Thank you again for the really comprehensive presentation that was fantastic. Thank you. So one of my questions. I guess stems from you've actually looked a lot into

[44:04] struggles with accessing the district, whether it be by car or bus or bike walking, and obviously a big barrier to biking and walking is the fact that it's on the hill. do you know how much control we would have over like ebike station placement? Or if you wanted to rent a bike just going from the downtown area up to the hill is that potential pathway? Towards increasing that accessibility without flooding the area with cars. I mean, we have a great relationship with the cycle. And so I think it would just be a matter of working them and kind of identifying documents up there. I don't know which ones currently exist, but certainly a possibility. And there's a great bus network on the hill, too. So kind of promoting that. Okay.

[45:00] yeah. And then I think at 1 point in the packet. It it kind of talked about recognizing that there's a multi-use trail on one side of the street, but it's obviously on the campus side as opposed to on the retail businesses side. is that part of the conversation at all of making. probably not making both sides multi use trail, but kind of the connection between the 2 sides of the street. I'm not sure that would be primarily housed in transportation mobility. But that's good question. That's something I'll certainly take note of bring back to them. So again, this is a cross departmental effort, so awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Alright. Thank you again. So get a lot of information that I see applies for the City Council to make the decisions. But being the Environmental Advisory Board just begs the question of what aspects of

[46:02] climate, or you know. city's Climate Action plan are included in that. and also like in regards to that. you know, parking in a conference center that I've heard all several 1,000 people that I can't remember the numbers off the top of that I thought it was several 1,000, so I'm thinking. 150 more parking spaces this lends to, you know, like people see you, you want to see events. They're going to be using that parking lot. Maybe. you know it, doesn't it? It makes it more difficult to find parking in that space. So one of the things I had read a few years ago, actually was some sort of study about some sort of like gondola system going from the Conference center to downtown. I haven't heard that it's moving forward. However, connection from downtown to the hill has been an ongoing conversation.

[47:13] Part of the conversation. I don't think. No, it's it's one of the things that has been talked about and reared up. I think every couple of years it's another conversation in terms of accessibility, moving people to and from the downtown area to the hill, and I think, depending on your point of view there, if there are different schools about them, whether or not that would be a wise investment whether or not we need to look at other alternatives like our. It's another conversation, the most

[48:11] seamless solution, I guess. So, if that's something that that the Board wanted to bring back up as a potential option. And there's been a lot of analysis on whether or not that would be a good option for older or not, and then there will continue to be analysis on just better connection from the hill to downtown. I mean one of the broad revitalization strategies is better connecting those 2 neighborhoods. And so we'd love to bring on a consultant to explore actionable projects for that. Yeah. So I guess, coming back to what climate, action and the shifts are included in any new developments. I don't know that I can answer that. All I can say is that any initiative or project that we execute it will align with boulder sustainability and resilience, framework and plan. And so

[49:09] it's certainly an important question, and one that that will be considered in any project that we implement. I don't know. I'm pretty sure of questions. So it was a very comprehensive presentation. Thank you for that. I know you're not looking for recommendations. But in in in this case, yeah. I specifically around the Fourteenth Street lot, adding a hundred more parking spaces is not going to fix the parking situation like with downtown. There's so there's what 2 garages, plus a number of surface lots plus a whole bunch of street parking, and it's still short on parking. and so given the close proximity to campus and the relative shortage of like

[50:01] amenity resources on campus for students that are living in dorms. I think it would be great to see and encourage more like grocery store and making it a not just a like college student bar place that help us need a grocery store as when I was as a student. But we lived on campus, so I didn't have to like. Rely on you help. But if I had been living in dorms I would have been pretty screwed for walkable amenities that are not specifically geared towards like that sort of junk food aesthetic of college and so any steps that could be taken in any renovations that could to encourage a, you know, wider diversity of accessible identities for students. I think it's a big one, and then that would encourage you. That's car traffic. And yeah, help make this space feel safer

[51:01] if there are more stores than convenience stores at smoke shops. Absolutely. I mean, I think that's wonderful. Be back in in so 15 min neighborhood concept, II have grown up in one of those, and it has made like so much, you know. Yeah, it's simpler, and it's so nice not have to drive 30 min to go to the grocery store. And that is something that I think we should be encouraging, especially for students. because they're so sort of limited in their space that they can access so encouraging their ability to have access to that is, I think, huge. And so I'd love to see a a bend in that direction if possible. Great, thank you so much. Yeah. With all this work.

[52:01] create a zipper rather than a divide these 2 large populations. And so that could be a really great strategy. And then I just have one question, on the budget and the use of funds. The biggest line item was to be purchasing and access. What what is me? Say more about what that is on the use of funds for exist. So there's like the revenue you get from party leaders or whatever. Now and then there part of an access item periods. Hi! See from that I'm gonna have to get back to you on that one. I'm not. I don't want to miss speak. Track. Yeah, I have an idea, but I don't. I don't know. I don't want to be incorrect there. So I can certainly circle back. Yeah.

[53:08] thank you. Yeah, absolutely anything else. Actually, one more question give wrap, or the picture you showed that was connecting Pearl Street to the hill. Is that a car path? It's just that welcome. Yeah. I guess the biggest question for me is just ultimately. I would like to hear in a presentation personally to this Board to have something about what initiatives, what what are you doing specifically to help the city move towards

[54:10] her Brazilian and Standalone the future? Or, if you have anything on University Hill Conference Center Hotel. No, I mean, I'm slightly disappointed. It like, even see you environmental center, it's just a other basic building. you know. And so if we really want to move towards this climate action. What are we doing? So II don't. I don't know. Well, there is the, you know, energy billing curves which have been. They'll be updating this year. And they're gonna come to us actually, next month. Plenty new developments love to follow up here to the building codes, for example. that seems to reduce the environmental impact of new developments. So well, that's kind of like.

[55:07] hey, Mike. looking for someone. Let me do that every day. Yeah, thanks. Greg, I appreciate you raising the question. And I'm gonna take a swing at this a little bit, and I just want to encourage you to think about specific tactics that you might think as good candidates for this particular area. And I think this around was describing one way we can think about this is, how do we deal with our existing billing stuff? Right? So there is new construction, and we have one of our aggressive codes in the country when it comes to new construction, even though we don't signal that gases disallowed the way we measure performance and new construction really, essentially forces all gas and fossil fuels out of the design of the buildings. At certain levels has to be net 0. To begin with, we will be talking with the board next month about updates to the energy code, and how we're really using that not to just keep turning the dial on efficiency, but really starting to get the outcomes that we want in terms of the performance, or miles per gallon from our buildings. And there's the other piece which is

[56:15] thinking about embody carbon within buildings as well. So where are those high value points where we can really address emissions in the way we build our buildings, and then thinking about the reuse, deconstruction reuse of those buildings ultimately at some point in the future. So there's kind of how we manage our buildings, how we construct our buildings. But there's a whole lot more. I think, that you're signaling in terms of how we integrate the and I really wanted to appreciate Green's comment about this is a multi-departmental approach. So I would not assume that this is community vitalities. job to think about solving. What they do is they reach out and work with other departments, including mine, to say, how do we integrate some of the objectives that we are trying to push forward in terms of natural cooling strategies. How do we think about improv services and thinking about our ecosystems, management, thinking about transportation and density, and all of those kind of things.

[57:06] And so it's, it's always not. It's not always evident when it shows up in the staff memo. And talking about the development that those things have been contemplated. But that's how we do our work in the city. But I guess I wanted to encourage you if if you think about the presentation you just heard. and there are opportunities that you feel like maybe missed. I heard some good ones around. Some of the transportation alternatives and options that we should probably stress but if there are others, let's talk about those, because I think now is a great time to think about how we integrate those but long explanation. But I just wanted to give you the assurance that it's we don't work in isolation in these various departments who really think about how we work together. So yeah, and actually speak on that point of, like the article I had read way back a while ago about the gondola idea. had me starting to think about it, and I came across a company called Swift Rails

[58:03] instead of a gondola. It's it's a rail system. And I've actually called them, and just to talk and find out about stuff. And and it's the type of thing that if they developed it from, say, the hill to downtown would be expandable easily. To go either farther north or south, on Broadway or out towards one month, or whatever like, it's the type of thing that could grow into something that would be move people quickly, especially for a conference center that I read was 2,000 people. you know. So is that a thousand more cars coming into. you know. Help. then cool. Thank you so much for coming and giving this presentation. Yeah, thank you all so much. Really great feedback. I left some of my business cards here. Want to reach out. Any questions. Come up? Yeah, thank everyone. Thank you again. Thank you.

[59:12] Would you like I don't need to do much more of a tea if I think I gave you a little bit of color of what this presentation, but I certainly wanted this. Give a warm welcome to Carl Castillo. I've worked with, and I'm Carl for many, many years, actually, since I started with the city. And Carl is really a thought leader in thinking about how we really design our policy to the city, and he is incredibly well connected, and I'll call on him pretty regularly. in my department, as we think about the policies that we want to pursue again at the Federal level in many cases, certainly at the State level. And he is a great champion for our work. In this space.

[60:10] And so again, I think the intention here was to give you all an update on a the policy statement and how that's shaping up. But more of the process that I think currently shepherds throughout the various departments before he takes that to city council for ultimately their adoption doctrine, approval. Okay, so anyway, I'll turn over to you, Carl. And if you want me to discuss about you a little more unfortunately, in advance

[61:01] numbers online. I've been doing for all of you. So any event will be talking a little bit about new stuff as well. Thanks for putting that online. As Jonathan said. The chief policy advisor. Essentially, it's primarily intergovernmental affairs. So helping the city coordinate a variety of with other cities. Other counties stay regional organizations. But federal government and a lot of times it has to do with that, because advocate policies that can influence our community for for better. So today wants people what that looks like from an environmental perspective. Hopefully, testing on the interest that this board has excellent I'm actually going to get a copy of this and and hand it out to you. I actually had copies of the current policy status before. I may have a kind of walkout at my office. Bring it over handed over to you. It'll be good for you to have

[62:05] This policy statement includes the principles that Council is giving us advance direction to support. So there's like 60 or so principals. It's broken down to like high level principal and then more specific samples. Actually, II apologize. Those are position principles as well, which are like fundamental ones, like equity. And when collaboration things of that nature, the position, or the ones that I have to say, there's about 64 high level ones and have examples. We also identify certain priorities, what we're gonna focus on greatest expansion. And it's it's really well, I think, the next time when you allow us to. Otherwise it isn't as easy for me to have someone else use the the Powerpoint slot.

[63:02] okay. So purpose of the policy statement, the reason we do this is because we are often given the opportunity to advocate. And we want to make sure that we're doing so on behalf of the city council. So it's if if some cities actually go to the conditions. As so, this is not pretty proactive. So be general enough to just say what might come, but specific enough so that it's so that counts. Those require online. So that so with the policy statement, is that allowed? Well. hmm! I don't know. I'm realizing it's such a hard

[64:15] control. so like, I said, we advocate for many different bodies. These are some examples of the bodies that we advocate for the ones that I'm the the one that I'm most with. The city is advocating at the State capital. So on legislation. So that'd be great. I primalist, this presentation won't be this

[65:00] entire time. Okay, so how do we do this when we do it, we, with a general assembly, comes to an end. See that that's the primary foreign work policies were made. We then start reviewing, but past, and we make revisions proposed provisions to the to the 2,024 policy State. I will be convening Councils Committee, which is made of 4 Council members on October eleventh, and they will then provide some comments. apartments. Jonathan. I just had a meeting today. Another idea. So I I'm basically the one who wanted the ideas come to. And it's not already in the policy statement. And if it seems like something council would be interested in supporting. Then I added to the proposed draft before they actually put in

[66:03] adopt it. So this year they were scheduled to to provide it. Put on October 20, sixth. and then I bring back the final. Here's what I heard counsel, including everything else that went into it. And they will hopefully improve it on October. actually, it's gonna be, it is wrong. It's gonna be early November. And then we have this policy statement, booklet. And we 2 things. One, we we all use it so that we know what we can advocate for. And it's basically a way to make sure that we have uniform positions. and, secondly, we give it to our legislators and give it to other policy makers who are interested in knowing what's your position that way that the bright least they can know that other cities interested in this issue. Let's call them up. Let's bring them to the table on these issues. And then we revise it at least once. So once the session begins.

[67:01] there's always bills that are introduced. We have a few more things that probably. So, for example, last session was huge. We didn't know that was coming. So in February. Now, knowing that there's this gigantic brand new spell that we know that you'd be interested. Here's the proposed position that we brought you in our Governor's committee, and we asked that you amend the policy statement to allow the city to engage in that bill. So that's just an example of the kind of revisions that we make. We can actually provide the policy. What have you? Just as matter of course, a month, twice a year. I'm already anticipated that this group would probably like to have some ideas. So I'm just letting the timeline so obviously 3 now, and late October will be wonderful to get any ideas and I'll be taking notes through this presentation.

[68:06] Next slide, please. Alright. So the advocates team consist of the staff member. It also includes our strategies also have Brett and question from Smith, thought Andrews, representing us in Washington, DC. And then, finally, we have our city council. For that matter, we have all city officials Jonathan certainly included that are capable of advocating the one thing that they all have in common with is they coordinate based? Make sure we have that uniform message so that we're not having different interpretations of the policy statement, says but frankly depending on who's gonna be the best maybe someone like totally matters. So the

[69:16] city has the presence of at the capital in terms of testifying on. That also has a process in terms of the meetings that occur between Committee Europe. So having one on one meetings with started in February, for example. or with the Coalition partners next slide, please. So like I said, there's a lot of advocates, and there's a lot of experts, and these are some of the ones that are mostly involved. Climate initiatives. Perhaps not as surprised is the department that I wrote with the most generally speaking, Mental Health Behavior Council.

[70:17] but these are examples of departments that are primarily representing, although all departments, you know, could be Hr issues could be an It issue will often have some policy leads next slide, please. And then recognizing that we are just one city. We are leveraging our ability to work and be affected by working with other coalitions. Some of these collisions and and organizations that we actually created. So, for example, CC, 4, Ca, the color communities for climate action. I'm sure you've heard about their background. Created that I have years ago or so, and now they have about 40 or so local government members. They have their own lobbyists and policy team. And

[71:13] so that's an example of the extreme where we say we want to create an entity on this specific issue climate and make sure that we have greater power and trying to be effective versus many others that are already in existence. Week which has existed, I think, for 100 years. Now national native city, metro, mayor's caucus. All of these have issues that may very well pertain to climate Northwest. There's in commission. Coalition is more about transportation. but, as you know, of course, transportation. And then these are examples of what about friendly? What allows us to be most most effective partners? These are

[72:16] great examples of once that we work there next slide, please. So what I did is cut and paste from the table of contents. The positions from the 2023 policy team that needed a climate change and community resilience. That's what you see here. And as you can see, it's across the board. for example, a variety of very interesting issues once a number of them, I think, would be a surprise to you. not going to read them out to you. But if you just take a moment to scan through those. Each one of these will then, on those that page 3, 7, 8, 9, have a more detailed position.

[73:00] with examples that part I couldn't bring into the Powerpoint. Like I said, I'm gonna give you a copy of this. So the policy statements a policy statement. If you can go to the next slide, please. There's also a section on regional environmental quality, natural resources, the difference being obviously climate has to do climate. This environmental issues, such as air, clean air, ozone, that is related the climate. And in this section we're talking about those issues that have primarily a regional ecological air quality, water quality concern. So again, I highlighted the 3 positions that I thought were most interested in script, although perhaps all of these would be next slide, please. Okay. So what to expect in 2024, frankly. I actually had a meeting this morning with Jacob Smith from to get his his input because I don't quite know what to expect.

[74:04] In terms of climate and initiatives. Forward. So these are some of the ideas that were shared with me. The first one I was very well aware, which is that the land use sale will come back in some form, probably in pieces, as you will recall, it was very broad that do it, you know. preamp in cities, and and require them to allow 80 news and eliminating occupancy standards, and allowing think about reason up so many single family to boughtplexes, having greater densities and transitory the corridors and and more so very significant. Our counselor was supportive, at least the majority of our council supported, but it took on way too much, and and the bill did not pass so A a rare loss for the Governor, I would say, and we will come back with

[75:02] When I say land use Bill 2.0. It's probably land use bills 2.0 point 1.2 point 3, because they're gonna break it down. So they're some issues like, for example, requiring ad use requiring making cities allow for ad use. It's gonna be a bill in it of itself. It might be time with occupancy standards making it more controversial. But that will make it more pass, more likely to pass. There's gonna be a bill on transit increasing transit funding that's making it easier to then build more density in these areas that will now have more transit funding for transit. So obviously an example of bill events, transportation, and very much of environmental concern as well as affordable housing, because that is only the goal of the Government seeking, and I will say that his primary objective was.

[76:03] let's address our affordable housing crisis by getting rid of artificial constraints on the market. If we allow the private owners the property to build especially in more areas, greater variety of housing options he also recognized. And this is also a really important way to achieve our greenhouse gas objectives, and it's important for our transit to make our trances successful. That is important for equity and inclusiveness. So but it was driven by affordable houses. So I think that will continue to be the primary objective in this next session so big, really interesting. And see how that comes forward, and and how we get involved from the climate and and others

[77:02] community choice energy. Again. Sure, you're aware of this other than to say that having studied the issue. because previous previous legislation that came out of boulder and other applicants within border supported this study. No, this community choice energy possibility settings concluded. Now there is a serious attempt to to that pass information that would enable CC, so essentially cities would then have the option to partake in community choice energy, be able to buy energy directly from wholesale and to wheel it or basically have it transmitted on excel power lines. So they basically be required to allow cities to use those power lines for a fair cost. Whereas right now they would be low to allow us to have those correct contracts.

[78:06] So obviously, we support choice who doesn't support choice? It's that being said, it's not going to be easy. So the bottom line is a lot of people. A lot of the energy at the state on the environmental front is working with excel. And so the idea is very much let's get itself could be as rest as possible. Carbon emissions by 2030 they have to be at least 80 that they are going to release an even more impressive model. So there are. Those are set, are concerned about this. Legislation would be a distraction. destruction for excel. Because they are trying to meet their more aggressive portfolio resources.

[79:02] Perhaps a distraction from local governments who might choose to focus Cce implementation. So Boulder is supportive of it. So that's that's not gonna change. But you all need to know. After our headlines at this bill we will be fighting. And in any event, should this bill pass it'll take a while before there is the actual ability for cities to to take advantage of it, you know. Talk to Jonathan today so it could be 3 could be 4 years and even then that would be beginning the contracts between a a city, and the the renewable energy providers on Bill Financing has been talked about for many years. So the whole idea being that you want to buy some improvements for your home to make it more efficient, or to go to add renewable energy. So we're

[80:04] what what have you that's been talked about is returning emerging technologies for the fascinating area which I thought about last year. So our our energy office really interested in making color leader. Things like hydrogen hydrogen fuel trucks, for example, doesn't really make sense to put hydrogen in your your passenger vehicle little easier when you have a large large truck and the standard fueling station and the larger capacity storage fuel. I recall what was being talked about. Here is a lot of times we're we're growing wells to to get oil and gas

[81:02] and along with it. or even after the case, he could go in there and get heat from these these people that are already drilled and basically stop support direct air capture. Just return to the atmosphere. Of course, big challenge is. are you using more energy than your are you putting more of a problem? Or you are using more carbon than your sequestering and how expensive is it? But those policies and providing funding so that we can be

[82:09] part of this revolution of of different sources of portable energy as we're up as well as different ways of addressing climate. And I know this brings up a bunch of issues. I'm sure this is something interesting to you. I understand. That there is an increased challenge with interconnect charges that utilities excel. Particular is charging to connect somebody might wanna put solar panels on, and they may be that final call that makes they'll have to make expand and expansion in their investment of infrastructure to handle that additional load that would be coming. And so there is issues of how do we ensure that there's a good partnership and an incentive to have this local

[83:04] early generation not be discouraged because of the infrastructure limitations, while I'm recognizing that, of course, Excel does need to make sure that they have need special infrastructure. So you know what is the right balance that make sure that we can incentivize this generation. And while meeting, excel space bills on air quality and zoom production. There was a an effort that the county took a lead on last year, and they had a lot of equity issues. That included, that did not pass. Oh, zoom production is is another one that is issues that that text so many boxes. I mean, it is an equity issue those who have more help, those who live closest to to the sources of of pollution, whether it's stationary or mobile sources. It like, I said, it's a climate issue. It's

[84:05] health. probably a few others fantastic. So that's something we're gonna be tracking. We have a staff roadmap is now due for the rules and effort under way to revise it. I'll run that 2.0 and our our staff round tables to share our ideas and how it should be expanded. Not quite sure what that's gonna look like. Yeah. Pretty important, powerful back pretty clear that it broke things down. Different sectors of our economy transportation buildings, oil and gas. and what have you energy? And what is the percentage reduction that will need to be me reach one and but by when and and that's actual strategies on how to get there. So taking that to the next level 2.0. It's gonna be obviously really important for us to be involved with

[85:11] for that and for all of these. Frankly. most of these we'll be working closely with CC. Fourc. Again, that climate coalition that we are we work with and are very actively partnering with them both in terms of helping to give them ideas, but also to learn from them the various information that they obtain because they had policy most attending these meetings and leave when we need to and participate all the time. Finally, wildfire mitigation resources. I understand that this would be an issue that would be again. Address. Last time, I think I told us group to one of the biggest challenges we had was

[86:10] that we wanna cut down the trees as need be to avoid the disastrous wildfires. But we are limited in doing so, because for certain days it's not safe to countries. Now. It can lead to an unintended wildfire for our days, where our air quality is so poor that the last thing people want to do is to allow more air pollution generated. That we said there was a need for the third constraint is, there could be days that are just too windy. or other factors that would make it undesirable to have a controlled version on that day. And yet we have to find a way to do it. So we need to partner with the Department of Natural resources

[87:00] whether it's regulatory, whether it's better communication? So that we can get out there and get in front of these things as needed. And not let a ozone pollution date prevent us from doing what's necessary to protect 100, if not thousands of homes and individuals? So how do we strike that balance? So those are some of the the topics that I know of? I'm eager. That concludes my presentation. I'm eager to hear what you might know in terms of things that are coming forward, or what questions you might have about these ideas or anything else you'd like to learn about in terms of how we go about advocating externally. And again, we talk about policy advocacy when I speak about that, it's not what we're asking our customers about policy. It's all the other entities that are influenced

[88:00] and apologies for such a disorganized presentation upfront. So guys, we're half an hour from the 80'clock mark. So that's gonna allocate 15 min for discussion again. 3 min each discuss. Okay. let's all start. II believe in that cardboard capture make sure you mentioned I seen some some of those proposals what I work. so. But I feel like that's more of a Federal issue like. because that will be more of a Nsf push where the Federal Government will be doing create some initiative and then provide the funding for all the academics to go and develop these technology. So I don't know. I mean, I'm really curious about it. But II don't know, like I don't see the State of Colorado, or you know the city of Boulder, or like a big push. Yeah. So, for example, a few years ago there was a push by the National Nuclear Security Administration to mature the development of these metal pounds

[89:11] which they're important for certain applications. And it will like, you know, in their laboratory initiative and my laboratory, I mean, almost like, you know, the project laboratories are so in place now. And they're looking at a fund of money for that. And they were like all these different groups working on it. And there was a lot of science that came out of that like a lot of projects, a lot of materials, papers. you know, manufacturer pieces, manufacturing methodologies. They would like a 5 year push, I think. But you know, those are big science lot of money initiative. And I think this kind of capture thing. I think it's really interesting. If there was like a push from a ball from the Federal Government instructing the labs to start investigating that or universities. And so, you know, here's all this money.

[90:03] Go research it. I think people will actually do it, I know, like there was one at least, I remember. There's always a call for proposals at the lab every year where you say I want this much money to research something, and I remember at least one of them was on carbon capture. I don't know if it will fund it. I didn't follow up on that because it wasn't my department, but there is interest of that. There. There is work going on in national apps. On this. My brother in law is geologist working on carbon capture at any Tl which stands for. But it's in. It's in Pittsburgh and Albany, Oregon. Okay? So there is at least a subset of yeah Colorado. So there's companies that are now looking for hubs. Texas, apparently is, is already taking the lead. Clearly they they convey to these companies

[91:05] that they would be a good home or for their work. That's why it's already getting in Texas. So how do we make Colorado attractive for this kind of this kind of exploration? that can look many different ways. One thing that I know is that a lot of environmentalists see, this may play. Oh, no. because what you're gonna do is allow people to continue to burn gas. This doesn't. What we need to do is make sure that we focus on just producing the combustion of carbon. And so there are those purists who might say this runs a foul of it to me in my mind that that's the eye of the prize, which is like stopping climate change and how we get there. You know, everything's important emissions as well as carbon capture so that can take place in terms of our state policies, our greenhouse gas roadmap. You know. What is it that we're going to require?

[92:06] What? What are the incentives that we're going to create? And what's the position that borders gonna have on it, you know? So, for example, on this this direct air capture. there was an oil and gas company that says we can use this to create oil and gas with a net 0 carbon footprint. But they would still be created away on gas and and don't ask me to explain exactly how that, how they were doing it. Basically, if it was like an offset or something like that. And their argument was oil gas is still going to be needed for quite a while on the bridge fuel. Until we get to all. From this there you can imagine many people saying No. and and that neighbor will be borders position as well. But there's policy decisions that will need to be made, not just at the way Federal level. perhaps as the biggest leper poll in terms of both resources. And

[93:03] and they've been mandates. But II think there's there's gonna be opportunities at the State level, too. If you guys have any other thoughts on that, I'd be curious. I just wanted to add one piece. I know we're short on time, but just know that this is already been in the policy. Pipeline. Sorry little plan, but helpful. 1210, which passed this past session really mandated the Colorado Energy office, the office of economic development and C. Phi. To develop a carbon capture roadmap. And so part of that planning is to look at. What are the policies that we need to now build from that to say, what's the infrastructure that we would need to put in place. What are the economic drivers that we need to put into place? How would we incentivize private companies to do more capture and sequestration? So it's kind of the next round of in developing and building up that roadmap. So I think that's one area. Why, I think you're seeing that on this list is that the roadmap identified a number of pinch points that we can't really move forward until we continue to kind of fine tune. Some of the policies at the state level. That was the directive of that bill. Whether we agree with it or not, agree with it. That's just really what the directive has been.

[94:13] But also, I'll just keep it to one question. That's maybe a bit general But as we learn more about the details of each of these bullet points that you've outlined. Can you give us a kind of specific path as a board of what say? We have a response kind of our trajectory tool towards responding to that unsafe state level, is it? We discuss things as a group and bring ideas to city council, and and they bring that into play or kind of what are our options pathway for us as a board to really kind of pinpoint what we have suggestions on, or opinions that we want to kind of bring into the higher levels. You all need to be made aware of what an introduced

[95:05] especially review and consider but II would like to hear from you as board, and I would at least say I that would be my goal, or or provide a recommendation. You give me a recommendation, I hope. nonetheless, carrying forward but that requires wanted to come. Speak to carry that message to California networks as well. But essentially what what would help is if if you all, as a board say, you know II now have the policy statement, and 2 weeks now, or whenever you meet again, you decide. You know what's really messing so and so. And you decide this majority. You decide that that's there should be added. Let me know. I will then carry that forward as a recommendation from the Environmental Advisory Board. and whatever reasoning you have, of course it's important you don't. What you don't have to do is method.

[96:05] So you you may, for example, on carbon sequestration, say, you know, there should be a policy that the city supports carbon sequestration. With the following caveats, or something like that, because this is important, for whatever reason, economically whatever. Maybe, of course, drawing in connection to Boulder, make it more likely that we have the credibility, and people will say, Why do you care? So when you come up with ideas coming up with that nexus. and a lot of it is just gonna come down to it. Well, we have. We have 5 goals. And so it's the world problem. I just said, we have to work issues that are state state budget. This is so so in terms of getting you information. I do provide an update to our our directors. Part of it is confidential, frankly, because it's has a lot of strategic conversations among people.

[97:05] Some people that put in our our legislators that it's not information me to share that that. But what I can share is, I do create a dossier of all the bills that have been introduced in our positions, including whether we're just waiting to decide on. That is something that I think we can get to you, and I can share that regularly with Jonathan, and that could be something that you you must have available to you. I mean, if if if I can speak briefly, like we don't meet. Given the pace of the capital, we do not meet frequently enough as a board to have any sort of like long term, like Bill by Bill, super super impactful. Yeah. Effect. There, I think, as a board, it would be best suited that like again, before session starts, we can just shape the direction that the city takes. But I mean, the capital is a things change wildly day by day. It's it's just so hard to like if we're meeting once a month, actually have a like

[98:07] back and forth in a way that is productive as a board. I agree. I have to start out there as an option. That's kind of same type, I mean, like this. Carbon captures might be like an ongoing discussion, you know for the next 5 years, maybe or 10 years, right? Like, I think we could take a position on support and say, we're gonna support this forward. So when it does come up. you already know our position as you can bring us. II think that the important thing there is we're taking a position on the board on an issue as opposed to on a bill. I think that we would be most productive to take positions on issues like, yeah. any direction that Carl and his team can take in like pushing that like pushing the mark forward on that specific issue is great, but like working on bills. No, I agree with that. But I mean seeing the bills will help us at least see trends and the issues that

[99:07] the legislature is interested in. Yeah. So at least we do like, say, okay, this came up. This would be a good thing to weigh on if it does come up again. This is our position on that issue? Yeah, I think with the, with the bills itself. Maybe not. But in terms of like figuring out the issues on the trends we compute our position we want to take. so it might be bothered to share that with us. Perfect, absolutely. Yep. good Gregory, go ahead building truth. Just let me know that I have a lot of homework to do. II don't think I've read anything specific about what you do. Yeah, like, I think I've got information, but I haven't read it. And so I know I have a lot of homework. 3, because it does seem like it's really important, almost like you're saying, like we have impact on.

[100:01] but policies, but not necessarily day to day. But that being said, I'm curious about what you set about fire medication and treaties, and you know, like, I didn't know the city specifically does like, I know that up in mountains we do a lot with fire mitigation, and a lot of it has to do with removing dead trees. But then, how does that balance with cool boulder like wanting to have more trees. Yeah. or exactly. Yeah, it's like managing trees in the forest. which means control burns at times so that we don't have a control burn while planting trees and the urban environment. So now we have core sidewalks, core homes that are built around it, safer space spaces for people. Interesting number. I'm sure you heard about how much it could boost your.

[101:03] So yeah. In fact, one of the things that Brett concurrent is is working on is creating a workforce that can be trained to be available both to be part of the mitigation in in the forest, so help cut down trees there, help plan trees here. Trees are the biggest part of the solution, but it's less here, and for their essence management. I don't have any particular questions. And we can punt. This, too, you mentioned something of. I think maybe you're getting directly to capture and carbon offsets.

[102:13] Yeah. I won't begin to try to explain what I was trying to say, there's basically this company that was saying. we can continue to food, oil and gas do so on that one that, and maybe what they were saying is. it's all set by. Well, thank you. Well, I'm gonna go over and get a copy of those policy. Bring them back, and I do encourage you, please do.

[103:00] First page of it is explains how we use it, how we use this policy state. And it's just that it's about the process. Look at that! Look at, look at the section on climate and environment, and you might like ahead. Recommend for your next meeting, or what have you. I'll be right back. Thank you. Jonathan. also, just maybe moving my update to the next meeting, and then we can just go over the counsel calendar preview that thing minutes we have. I'm I'm happy, whatever you okay. So I guess I'll I'll make a motion to move. Item 5, see to our next meeting. Anybody sick on that 1 s? Okay. thank you. I appreciate it. And this is a little bit of a mop up on the policy conversation, saw a number of those bullet items that Carl is referring to, without perhaps some anticipated items coming forward. And I appreciated the comments from from all board members. Just know that we're heavily involved in a lot of those topics, and, in fact, we often get called on to either be

[104:13] like major drafters of some of those items that either contribute pretty heavily or at least review any potential bill language. But a lot of it depends on what we see come out as a bill, and so, taking it from concept to a piece of legislation, is sometimes a little bit tricky. Then the other thing I just wanted to mention, too, is Carl. Amazing job talking about how we think about policy and a legislative space. Another huge huge area work particularly for my team is in the regulatory space. We spend a job of time. In fact, we have a full time person working on policy at the Public Utilities Commission, because it's been so vital for us to be successful in that venue. That is, the body that that really oversees our utility providers. So rather than us, trying to fight utility directly we work with our public utilities commission to change the rules. And we've been incredibly successful. More than any other community that I know of in in helping shape our

[105:14] regulatory policy. At that level. We also engage at other agencies like their Air Quality Control Commission, but which is part of Cdphe. So we spent a lot of time in those agencies, and that's all part of our overall policy platform. So yeah, I can. We've been many times. So this is where we best need you at the PC. These are some of the most important decisions to make sure that our policy is inclusive of direction. Where we want to go. You know where I know we get involved in a lot of talk what I don't know is that they have enough positive connect to it. Yeah. So that's part of what we're trying to do. So it'll be. This used to be a legislative agenda. It's a policy statement now reflects 2 things. One is not just legislated policy more broadly. It's a statement, not just an agenda, because it's not just what's coming up this next session to give you things, as you said over next 5 years.

[106:10] So let's move that round up for that system? So I guess we would start on this next piece by just flagging for all of you. Just a quick question. Since there's a printed copy, do we have an electronic copy? II I was almost eager to get rid of these, because what are you? Quite a new ones. Right? You're denied you're going to give it to So not be wasting paper. Well, I can see. So we do have a Pdf online. And actually, would that work for you or conversation about accessibility? And I wanna make sure that our Pdf version is accessible regardless of what parents?

[107:21] So let me just kind of kick off and say, give you a little bit of glimpse of your next month meeting. Obviously, I think we reference that there's gonna be a a pretty full agenda. One of the things that we are wanting to bring, really eager to bring to you is this idea of updates to our energy code, which I referenced a little bit earlier. So we had a conversation with counsel. I think, as you all know, not that long ago and talking about how we synchronize some of the updates to the energy code. And then what each of those means, what W. What our outcome is, what's our objective in those updates? Again, it's not just to just turn the dial but really to think about how do we seek the outcome right now. It's really looking at how we drive gaps out of our portfolio, particularly in our in our existing buildings. Obviously we can do that easily with new construction. So that's a big piece of what we're gonna be talking about.

[108:11] Next month. So I would. I would encourage you to just flip your packet all the way over, and you'll see that there is a bulleted list, and then some things I just wanted to highlight that I'd like to consider bringing, or at least getting on the ports. Agenda. There are few things that I think are probably important, one not to necessarily provide input, but there is the overall budget. So the city just released its 2024 budget. Of course, that includes my department's funding, and how it starts to align around our sustainability, equity, and resilience framework. That's the piece that I think is more interesting to all of you. How doing that? This is our second year, and really starting to hit our stride, and all of the departments were asked, really align their budget around that framework, and so you can start to see how it's showing up in in that way.

[109:04] Second, you go about halfway down. There is going to be a conversation, and I'm not seeing any detail on this yet, but just wanted to flag for all of you. There is an item called Boards and commissions, assessment, initial recommendation. The city manager's office. Had hired an independent evaluator to start looking at the overall portfolio of boards and commissions. Understand what are some things that are really working? They did a lot of interviews. Maybe some of you participated in those interviews. And I think there are going to be some recommendations. I honestly could not predict what that would look like. I don't know yet, but that's something that I'll make sure that we're all aware of our sales. Let me see, on November ninth the energy code overview and update. That's an opportunity to give counsel a view of what we're gonna be bringing back to them. The reason we sequence it that way is what we come back with is an actual ordinance. And so what we'd like to signal to them is, hey? When we when you see the update, here's what we're targeting, we're really gonna be focusing on gas. So we're gonna be focusing on these kind of performance measures within the energy code. Is that the kind of thing council that you want to see in the ordinance.

[110:17] That's what we're gonna be talking you all about next month to get your input. But then we can take the council and say, here's the package. Here's what we're thinking about in terms of the update to the energy code. So that'll be on November ninth. You already have that on your trajectory the water efficiency plan. Update working to figure out how to get that in front of you as well. It's not an area that we spend as much time, and I think we probably should, as a board, talking about some of the other elements like water. So there are a number of master plans that are moving forward for updates. One is the water efficiency plan, and we've just gotten into the point now of looking at some of the potential updates to that plan. So I'll make sure that we get that on your trajectory if it's something that you want. So I'm just seeking some feedback from all of you. But like, yeah, I see some nodding heads that's helpful. some other things. I would just kind of pop down to the last 2 bullets Boulder Junction implementation. So that's looking at the land use map updates as part of the Boulder Valley Comp plan. How we think about that. We're already, I think, connected here, not connected into that. So I think there's gonna be some good opportunity to make sure that the board's feedback is carried forward in any event, implementation. And then see on December twenty-first is the second reading of the energy Code or

[111:36] ordinance. So that's when we actually bring the ordinance back to council. So making sure that if there was any feedback if it didn't get in in the ordinance, and you want to take another bite of that, we can do it as we prepare the ordinance. So those are the things that are at least on my radar that I think are probably important for you all. Be thinking about in this last quarter. But if you saw anything else in there, and you said, hey would love to hear about it is but

[112:07] happy to entertain that as well. I guess we'll just localize that. It would be great to, if possible, get the water efficiency somehow to our ears. I don't know if if that's possible, but I'd like to hear more about that, because our material it would. Okay? So it turns out. okay. I have my action items. I guess I do have a question in preparation for next week, since it sounds like we'll be talking about the energy code. So is the idea that this is being brought back to us. It will then be brought back to council. Are we trying to come up with a statement kind of next week, that or or initiate forming a statement that we want to be implemented to bring to council. Thanks for the question. Yeah. The the way that'll work is we'll be coming back. So Carolyn Elam from my team along with some representatives from the planning department come back, and they will say, here is the directive that we had from Council, from our study session in terms of what they are really interested in seeing our update achievements.

[113:26] Why are we doing update to the energy code? Why is it insufficient right now? Is it just like, we just cannot continually update it. Well, no, you do it because it it helps us achieve our objectives. So what are those objectives? What are we doing within the code? What are the impacts of of those changes to the code? Good and bad, unintended otherwise. And so we'll lay all that out and say, here is our proposal and updates to that energy code. There'll be specific questions. What do you think about specific recommendation? XY, and Z. Do you think that we should include this or not? Did you have feedback on how it's being proposed in terms of?

[114:09] And then you, as a board, will provide your feedback and say it doesn't have to be unannounced. Right to be one board member said this, or the Board agreed that X. Will capture that to the best that we can. I will make sure that you see a copy of whatever that is that summary that then gets dropped into the overall memo staff memo, that will go along with a draft ordinance to city council. So what they will see is. here is our analysis. Here's our recommendation. Here's the feedback from if there was public feedback. And here's the Eabs Feedback Council will read that. They'll take that into account, and then they'll give us recommendations to say yes, we'd like all this, or we'd like you to tweak this one a little bit or take this one out, and then we bring it back to them for final adoption. Okay, thank you. Correct me if I'm wrong. But I think counsel request to start to even be more aggressive on their code update. But remember going from the meeting.

[115:05] So you know, we had some suggestions and stuff. But the Council requested to go a little further, and like, put more requirements on the code, so that will take us from that as well there, just to clarify their their feedback around. Going further was to really identify and start to explore what an electrical only requirement would look like within the energy code. How would we do that? So this is again going back to the idea that we've now gotten to this point. I just wanna emphasize this point that we use the energy code specifically around efficiency. Right. It's about consumption of electricity within our billings. And so what we do is we turn that dial. We click it, you know, each time we do an update and make it harder and harder to or more and more efficient within buildings. But that has unintended consequences sometimes, whether it be cost or the ability to actually achieve those performance standards. It's tough. We have really aggressive codes when it comes to energy efficiency. So

[116:02] we are to that point. Now where we have to match up? What is the carbon intensity of our grid power? And are we achieving the benefit that we want by just using less of it. And we're at that point where we see kind of the end of the line with regard to grid power that we know where we're gonna get you heard Carl talk about it. We know we're gonna be close to 95% into knowing that today. And I think we're gonna be further by 2030. This is our opportunity to use the code to start addressing some of the other priorities, which is, how do we think about gas use within our buildings. So we're gonna take a little bit of different shift and say, let's not just take this opportunity to turn the crank one once more. Let's really think about how we use the code for for the impact of one. Which is why you heard Council say, let's explore. What does it look like to require electric only either a new construction. How do we do it within our existing building stock? Would that look like? So that was a really key focus that Council had at the study session.

[117:00] Sorry that was long. But okay, well, that sounds good. Sorry. I said that I miss. Item 6, which is the Rtd. Is anything important? Rtd. Announced earlier this month that they are moving to a digital only pass so instead of your eco pass cards? But some of you have, and some of you we just requested. It's moving to a mobile app. so It kind of took us by surprise. That was a little unexpected that that would apply to board members as well. So just keep an eye out over the next few weeks for an email about how to access that and any steps you need to take. Thank you. Okay, so let's say, I, miss, just letting you know. The next Ab. Meeting is scheduled for October fourth at 6 Pm. And the thing is about it. So I'm on a motion to adjourned. This meeting? Does anybody has any comments or questions? Second, that, okay, thank you.

[118:12] Okay.