September 14, 2025 — Water Resources Advisory Board Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:06] I don't necessarily. Mmm! Excellent. Well, he didn't bring the cube any longer. Everybody knows, right? It was, it was good. I should have just leaned in for just, like, sitting on a beach. Who knew? My microphone and speakers off. Yes, I know. I wanted to give me a call. That answers much. It's been a while. I haven't done a while, so… Right. I think matters, person. We just know that our employees every time you call.

[1:02] Walk those out. It's kind of dangerous. Back to you in front of me. Yeah, when you have to, that's great. And also from Maryland League. What's that? I'm also from… Oh, he talked about this. Are you from Frostburg, or Columbia? Like, Annapolis area. Annapolis. Well, I mean, outside of Annap. I don't see… You bet. Start the meeting, Robert.

[2:01] Night people out of practice session, must have. That's a story. Yeah, no, I think. Karen, I'm making any problems, yeah? Thank you. Jessica. Anybody else? Jessica. So I'm gonna rename you to see you later, right? That's not shame. It's Joe. I don't know, another question is not back to this. Snow feature.

[3:08] jittery. We're excited enough for coffee today. It's culturally. Culturally. Let's do it! Hey! Great. Recording. Thank you. Okay. The call to order the Water Resources Advisory Board meeting, September 15th. And, the first item of business is approval of the July meeting notes. Did anyone have any comments or questions about the minutes?

[4:06] Does someone want to make a motion to approve? I think. That's second. Great, so the meeting minutes from the July meeting are approved. And, just to note, we only have 3 board members tonight. Two of our board members were unable to attend, so it'll just be the three of us. The next item on the agenda is the public comments, so Joanna, I'll turn it over to you to give us some instructions. All right, that sounds great, thank you. Hello, my name is Joanna Bloom, and I am serving as the technical host for this meeting. We'll start by sharing a few slides of the virtual meeting rules that we follow. These rules are in place to find a balance between transparency with community members and security that minimizes disruption.

[5:01] We do need a full name associated with each person's participation in open or public comment. We cannot unmute you without it. If your full name is not currently displayed. Go ahead and try to change it, or you're welcome to send me a text, and I'm happy to change it for you. I'll save my number here in just a moment. There's no chat feature for this meeting. The Q&A function is enabled and can be used to address Zoom connectivity questions only. And if you have difficulty with the Q&A function, you can text me at 303 817-1742. Members of the public may be unable to control the audio or video features. Video is limited to city officials, employees, and invited speakers only. I'll unmute you when you're recognized to speak, and I'll call your name. And we'll start a 3-minute timer. As soon as you start speaking, and you can share your comments that way. Thank you so much for your participation.

[6:12] Thank you, Joanna. Do we have any, coverage of the public that want to make on it? We do have a few members of the community online. I do have to see one again, Maurice, and just wanted to say if you'd like to virtually Raise your hand if you'd like to make a comment. Typically, you can find that in your Zoom control features if you hover over the top or bottom of your screen. So, we'll begin this evening with Lynn Siegel, and then I'll keep an eye out for other hand as well. So then, you should be able to unmute. My bill… my bill has never been as high as 107. It's never gone up. It's been at 97 or something. Like, this is just really unacceptable for, you know, I'm 72, fixed income,

[7:06] And… the… the… it's… it's like shrinkflation for me, I guess. It's really concerning that this… you know, and I know we have all this infrastructure that we need to pay for. I've gone on the tours, you know, Joanna. But… The problem is, the development, Sundance. Planning 3… Planning, or Plan… Area 3 Planning Reserve, CU South, all these are just gonna skyrocket the demand for water, and my daughter is a water artist, as you probably know. And my name means water. My brother was a water chemist. So, what are we gonna do here? You know, it's not a policy of, like, build it, and they will come. No, build it, and then we have to dig all this infrastructure to distribute it.

[8:04] And not only that, of course, we have the Colorado River, you know, can't get to Arizona or to the other places it needs to go. Ultimately, the, the, down, you know, downstream. And… Ugh, boy. I'm trying to save every bit I can, but it really doesn't matter, because my bill doesn't go… I'm at the lowest use, you know, but I still… and I don't even irrigate or anything. But, It's just, where is this water coming from? Like, how can we be justified with this phenomenal growth? And then the after effect is we have a budget session, like last week, that we can't make our budget. And, I mean, I guess you just figure philanthropists from Sundance are gonna bail us, because I don't feel comfortable being mailed. My brother, right now, is suicidal because he can't afford housing here. You know, and me and my brother own houses here, so we can live here, and

[9:17] it's… it's just sad and inappropriate. I mean, my mother died from marquee Flats, breathed in some plutonium in, In 1957, and died when she was 38, and he was only 5. So, like, what's justified about this situation? I want to see that we just have only… you only put forward any financial issues with water once we have the developers paying their share of the cost, impact fees is what we really need. And, I don't know where my time… timer is. But this time's up. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Len. Yeah.

[10:01] Okay. We did just have one person join, so I'll just say, if you would like to comment, it's under open comment, you're welcome to virtually raise your hand. We'll start a 3-minute timer. Okay, I think that's it for open comment for this evening. No more open comments? Okay. Lynn, thank you for your comments, appreciated. The next item on the agenda is public hearing and consideration of a recommendation regarding gray water municipal Code changes. Thanks for that, Amy, and good evening, board members and community members. I'm Joe Tadiucci, I'm the Director of the Utilities Department. So our first item tonight is a public hearing on gray water code changes. And, just a brief setup for that. So, a new law went into place in 2024 that requires formal action to be taken by cities if they choose to up out of implementing their gray water.

[11:09] program. And so Crystal Morey is a senior engineer in our water resources work group. She'll be leading this item tonight, and she has a brief presentation and will walk us through Our staff analysis and recommendation. And, just a quick reminder on the order of operations, since this is, an item that the board takes action on. The way it will work is we'll do our staff presentation, and then there'll be an opportunity for any clarifying questions that the board has of staff based on the information that was in the memo or presentation. Then we'll have a public hearing, and then after that, time for core discussion, deliberation, and

[12:00] affiliate with the recommendation of the Council. So, this one, I think that's… that's what I have. I'll turn it over to you. Oh, good. Good evening, Rob. Crystal Morey, Senior Water Resources Engineer. I have just a quick presentation for you tonight, as Joe mentioned, to discuss proposed freewater code changes to comply with recent state law. In this context, free water reuse is taking water from showers, bathrooms, sinks, and laundry machines, and reusing it in toilets or for underground irrigation on the same property. It's an exciting and emerging water conservation tactic, and it isn't just collecting cold water from showers in a bucket and using it on your household plants. It's an entirely new plumbing system. We're talking about greywater now, because a recent state law was passed, which is House Bill 241362. That goes into effect January 1st, 2026.

[13:01] Because of the change in state law, we need to modify our code. Compliance with the House bill is a bit tricky. The state already passed a law to allow greywater reuse back in 2013, and Boulder looked into the idea then. The 2013 law allowed gray water if cities opt in and establish a local regulatory program. This recent law essentially flips that previous law, allowing cities to opt in to now automatically allowing gray water in new construction, unless cities clearly opt out. The challenge with the recent state law is it doesn't remove any barriers or births for cities to allow free water, so it still requires that the city develop its own codes and a regulatory program That includes things like administration, plumbing design review, additional backflow prevention, inspection, and ongoing enforcement.

[14:02] So this essentially leaves the city with two options right now. The first is to opt out of allowing gray water, with the ability to opt in later. And that's what staff recommend. And the second is to develop a new local greywater control program, which would require additional resources. And either of those options needs to occur by January 1st, 2026, so coming up here soon. Greywater reuse has some benefits and drawbacks, and over time, we expect those will start to shift more favorably. On the benefits side, we estimate Greywater could save up to 1% of citywide water demands. This particular water conservation strategy can really resonate with community members who are action-oriented. It's a really tangible way to save water, as opposed to something like an inefficient toilet, which is less exciting.

[15:02] And although greywater as a concept has been around for a while, it's still considered a newer technology and practice, and Boulder generally likes to be a leader in innovation. On the other end of the scale, greywater is only gently used water, but it still carries pathogens that pose health and safety concerns that the city would be responsible for regulating. Also, gray water wasn't around when a lot of the water rights in Colorado were established, so it gets a little tricky when we only have certain supplies that can legally be used for graywater, and we have to make sure every day we have enough of those supplies coming into our system to deliver to greywater systems. Next, there are a ton of water conservation programs we would love to do if we had more staff and resources. Right now, staff are focusing on expanding our water conservation program according to the 2023 Water Efficiency Plan, which didn't include establishing a local greywater control program.

[16:08] But it does include water-wise landscape code changes, which we'll hear about later tonight, and an income-qualified fixture replacement program. And that water efficiency plan Those priorities were identified holistically and focused on efforts with the highest return on investment. And finally, we also interviewed communities across Colorado, Arizona, and Texas that have free water programs. In those communities, there was really high conceptual interest, but really low uptake of gray water. Even in communities that automatically required additional plumbing to support greywater systems. And even in communities that have rebate programs that would cover the entire cost. With these benefits and drawbacks in mind, we recommend the City opt out of Greywater now, and continue to reevaluate in the future as it becomes more favorable.

[17:08] So, our code already does not allow gray water, this is not new, but it does this through omission, rather than specifically identifying gray water as prohibited. So, to comply with state law, we need to add a new section to the plumbing code, with the language up on this screen to more clearly opt out. And the key phrase here really being, no person served with water from the water utility shall install greywater treatment works. Or use gray water? This language is consistent with Attachment A that was provided in the RAV memo, and this ordinance will go to Council for a first and second reading on October 16th and November 6th. Again, the state law will go into effect January 1st, 2026. So, before RAB initiates a public hearing and considers a motion on this matter, let's open it up to questions from the board.

[18:06] Has there been any consideration of the enforcement of the new code? For people who might put in greywater systems, or put their showers to their landscape irrigation, or whatever? Is there any… Yeah, there is enforcement language within the code proposed itself. And that is Section C, that violation section that would reference general penalties. So it's like a neighbor tells another… tells the city that somebody's using my water. Thank you, Bob. That's perfect. What are the main concerns with going on the groundwater? I can imagine it's a water quality kind of Back into the city for treating, or is it inspection needs, or… Yeah, so the purpose of a local greywater control program would be preventing it from being the Wild West out there. You know, people just, like, putting a big pipe and dumping all their water onto their lawn.

[19:04] Things like that. And so it really comes to, like, programmatic complexity and being able to, like, review and enforce all of those things. And the state has requirements that we would need to, like, keep track of all those things, and visit them and make sure that filters are being replaced, and things of that nature. Do… do we have any organizations known today that already have installed things for Greywater, and what would be the impact to them? Oh, within our community, I am not aware of any. Okay, and we… we did not allow Greywater before this ordinance. But there was a pilot program with the University of Colorado That was… Cancel that for some two people. Yeah, thank you for pointing that out. That pilot project is, under a research exemption, and is still allowed. They installed the system originally for research, ran it for a few years, and then research interests decreased over time, and maintenance became more challenging, so currently it's shut down.

[20:10] So the university discontinued that, and I… I remember When we were setting that up, there were ordinances and discussions with RAB at that time. It was a fair amount of work, just for the city to support that one instance, and so the university did it for a while, and I think Included that it wasn't Also, what's the effort to continue? You said that the savings, if it was adopted citywide, would only be 1%? Yeah, and that's because in the other communities, we've seen really low uptake of the greywater strategy itself, so that's assuming a pretty generous 5% participation across the whole city. Because I assume a homeowner would have to obviously pay for all the… Infrastructure themselves, right?

[21:03] Yeah, and I think in talking to the community, what a lot of people don't realize is it is, like, you managing your own water supply. It is a whole different mindset of, like, you just run your laundry machine and move on. It's like… Was there diapers in the laundry machine? Do I need to irrigate my lawn, or should it go straight to the sewer? Have I cleaned out my filter recently? It's just, like, not set up to be automatically easy quite yet. And are there any cities that have done this successfully? Tucson or anything that's in the West? I think in the communities that we talked to, there are communities that have a local greywater control program that is operating fine, but they've seen very low interest. Yeah. And so, for example, there's 7 communities right now in Colorado that allow for gray water, and only 2 of them have actually seen interest, even though multiple of them offer full rebates.

[22:00] And in those two communities, it's been a group of about 29 homes, and then a group of 40 homes. So, in an instance where, in the future, there was uptake. There were a lot of developers that were coming to the city and saying, we really feel passionate about this, we really want to see this. The city would be in a position to revisit, and how difficult would it be for the city to Again, modify this. How difficult would it be, actually, maybe… question I really want to ask is, how much effort do you think it would take to put in place a gray water program? Yeah, so modifying the code, not that difficult, we're doing that this evening. But in terms of establishing a new program, it would require multiple staff members maybe not multiple FTE, but in the concept of you need someone in the review space reviewing the plans, you need someone in the inspection space, and you need someone in the enforcement space. And then we need additional time to track our water rates to make sure we're only delivering a certain amount into those systems.

[23:12] So if… if the strategy became easier and developers were interested, it would be a good time to review it again. So is it possible an estimate of how many FTE would be required? Or, educated guess. I think it's hard to know without knowing how the community would react and how much interest there would be, but it would certainly take multiple FTE to establish the program to start, and then running it long-term, there's less certainty. And could it adversely affect the treatment program? For anyone, or if some of it ends up coming back into the, And it's reused, but some of the uses, I assume, will still be internal, so will that water pick up additional, whatever, pathogens or other… Yeah, if I've talked to our wastewater engineer about loading concerns. Sorry. And the scale that we are talking about, he has not elicited any concerns related to lower doors transport.

[24:16] Can you talk a little bit about… I'm a little surprised they needed opt-out, knowing the technology isn't there. Can you maybe talk a little bit about, like. I don't know if you have any insight into why that change was made. I don't have good insight into why that change was made. I've talked to the Colorado Water Conservation Board around it a lot, and I think, who knows where the legislature lands on things, but one thing the CWCB has learned from the process is they needed to do a lot more work to get communities ready to accept this kind of responsibility, in terms of model codes, establishing, like, a work plan for how you might monitor these regulations, things of that nature. So, we expect that more of those resources will be coming.

[25:00] Have there been many citizen inquiries about Putting in great water systems. We haven't received many. in the time I've been working at the city, and have had a link to the Water Resources Group going back to 2012, It's come up a few times. Just a few, yeah. it doesn't feel like there's a huge appetite for it. And I think what we're… our analysis is, and what we're saying, is that it's not that we would never, institute a great water program, just based on our analysis. It doesn't feel like it makes sense now to prioritize that. Over more, effective water conservation methods. And I suspect, I don't know either, I suspect the state's rationale was just to kind of force conversations like this, and…

[26:00] make cities show their work, because there's definitely pressure on water in the West, and it's… it's even harder for us, values-wise, to… Say we don't want to implement a observation. measure, but I think, again, our thought is… We're not saying no, I'm just… Doesn't make sense, right? So, any idea what it might cost a homeowner for anybody to capture? With shower water bath, no. dishwasher, washing machine water, and then use it for irrigation. You know, unfortunately, a number is not coming to mind, but Fort Collins did do a study on return on investment of gray water systems, and at their current rates, they found 30 to 65 years to recover. Really? Water is still cheap these days, right? Shit. So that's to the homeowner, that's who pays. Interesting.

[27:09] Well, thank you. You know, I liked how you talked about the immediacy of Greywater and how people feel like they're really actively conserving, and so, you know, as an initial reaction, we think, of course, like, Greywater would be great, but Reality is that it's… It takes a lot more to get gray water systems in place at a community level where there's a community water, drinking water. Who is public. So, Joe, what is next in our order of… If… if there are no further questions, I think we would move to opening the public hearing, and if people wish to speak, they can… they can do so, and they can close the hearings. And, go back to board deliberation and vote. Sounds good. Let's go to a public hearing.

[28:02] All right. So if any of those of you online would like to comment on the Great Water proposal? Now's the time. I'm speaking slowly to give you time to raise your hand. I don't see any hands up, so I'm really dragging it out. I do see one hand raised. And for the rest of you, if you would also like to comment, there's still an opportunity, please just raise your hand. I do see one who is Mark McIntyre, and Mark, you should be able to unmute. Hi, good evening, can you hear me now? We can hear you! Great, thank you. Hi, this is Mark McIntyre. I am currently the chair of the Planning Board, and we are discussing this item tomorrow night without a staff presentation or anything. But I know it's of actually great interest to our board. So,

[29:00] I wanted to take this opportunity to ask for a couple clarifications. As I read the proposed code, if you… cut out the waterworks portion of the proposed amendment to the code. It reads, no person using, city-supplied water shall use gray water. There's no qualification, there's no anything other than, you shall not do this. So, I remember… I don't remember exactly the year, but we were experiencing a severe drought, we had… watering days for lawns, etc. And I remember standing in my shower with a bucket underneath. Me, and, taking that Reclaimed gray water, and watering my garden with it. the way I read the code, this would be explicitly prohibited. And I understand that we would enforce this on an enforcement basis, but

[30:07] It seems as though this is a very… Blunt way of… prohibiting potentially really, simple gray water uses in, emergency and drought situations. So, I would urge both RAB and staff to… Think about, the kind of… small world consequences of that kind of blunt language. So, that's my input for this evening. Thank you, and I'll just give it one more minute for anybody else who might want to raise their hand. Apparently, I don't see any hands up.

[31:02] Okay. Yes, thank you for the comment, Mark. I wonder… I think that it sounds like Crystal's, briefing for us, that we're really trying to prevent You know, public health issues, and… If we put in place a more robust greywater program. I would be, not an insignificant cost for the city to set up. So I'm… I'm sort of wondering what type of language could be that would Allow for someone to… collect… water in their shower when they could be using, you know, materials on their hair that could be pollutants. I mean, you could be causing public health issues even with that kind of approach. So, I don't know if anyone else is involved… Yeah, I was just gonna… I was gonna say, like, is… why not say, like, you can't install plumbing to… for gray water purposes? And I guess, like, is there a way to make it narrower?

[32:13] If we're asking qualifying questions, is Crystal allowed to call this? Yeah, you can. Thanks, Joe. We do have our city attorney's office online, and she and I were just discussing this concern earlier today, and in our review of it. We describe… we define gray water in the second paragraph right below as wastewater. And as wastewater is defined clearer in the code, it would not include things like capturing your water in a bucket. It would involve plumbing going down a drain. So it's… someone… Yeah, yeah, okay, so maybe that addresses Mark's concern in a way, because that's… If it's not going into the terrain and starting to become part of the wastewater treatment system, then it is not effectively approved.

[33:05] Yeah, I think it would, but we can review the color blocks again with that concern in mind. Okay. Yeah, that's great. And I take it, yeah, other than that, I don't even… I mean, Mark brings up a compelling response. I remember in 2002. I remember watching some of my neighbors take buckets and wanders and lawns, but I mean, it's… It's not a small effect, but I mean, is it, trying to think if there's any way of either… Encouraging that kind of behavior, making clear the temporary actions. non-permissioned smile. Maybe I can jump in. I'm Kim Hutton, Water Resources Manager. Sure. And we do have the ability during a drought to, in our drought response, to, sort of modify some rules and practices. So, I think if there was a situation like 2002, where we wanted to encourage people to capture… I think there's a term for it, where you're kind of capturing the water as it's heated. Like, your shower's heating up. You know, put a bucket there. So again, it's not gray water, because it hasn't sort of been used and gone down the drain.

[34:11] But we do have the ability to implement those responses during traps. I mean, based on what you just said of wastewater, there's really no DIY way to get water and reuse it that would be considered grapewater. You'd have to go into ClawBank and have some unprofessional. really testing my creation. Think of a way on the spot. No, I think that's right. I think what we're talking about here tonight is just the… Thumbling systems that allow this to be done in a more… systematic way. Appreciate the feedback from… from Mark. I think the more organic use, like we're talking about, that's…

[35:02] That's not what we're talking about here tonight, and we can make sure that that's clear as this goes to Council. This is often referred to as Purple Pipe, that's the best one. is water that is… it's wastewater that has gone through some level of wastewater treatment, and then it's only suitable for irrigation, not for… Oh, it's not potable. Right, it's non-potable. So you have a separate plumbing system. Remembering this irrigation water to parks. But that would also be prohibited in the discount. Well, that… that falls under a different regulation, really. That's… that's wastewater, not… Oh, okay. Which might be black water. Okay. Not gray water. So gray water really is, as Crystal said, like. gently used water that has low, low levels of pathogens. Only certain fixtures.

[36:07] Infection water for free water, about it. Cute. Okay, Central Washington. Yeah, yep. I have a point of procedure question. Since we're down two members, I mean, do we have to vote tonight, or is this something, since we're down two members? Yeah, we have to have three board members in order to have a forum and have a meeting, but, you… But we really need the board to take a vote tonight, and you should do that. Okay. The consequences if we don't are… This is going to City Council. This has to go to Council. Yeah. Okay, got it. And if we don't…

[37:01] If we don't either set up a greywater regulatory framework in administration. starting in 26, 2026, or opt out, we could be out of compliance with state law. So we… we need… we need the boards and council to act on this. So is there… I'm just curious, in some of these aspects, since this may well come back, is it possible in the meantime to… further study, like, what are the costs? I think cost per owner, but also for the city itself, in terms of FTEs or any other infrastructure, just to have a stronger case, one way or another. Sure, we could bring back an information item for a future meeting with more detail, if you like. I would think so. Either way you go, especially if it's rejected, because I'd admit, you know, you first look for, hell, this time, oh, gray water can do something with gray water. Now, this is sort of the opposite of what I expected coming in, but, you know, if you make out a… you've got to make a strong case to the public.

[38:01] I just can't have a letter to the camera. just make it clear that, yeah, well, this is worthy. There's a whole lot of… issues and costs, and this doesn't seem… you know, this whole question… Practical, right? This whole question of a homeowner would take you 50, up to, you know, 30 to 50 years to improve your investment, and other issues, you know, what it would cost for the city to do it. Yeah, well, conveniently, the state has put us in a position where there's a lot of urgency for our communities. They have to decide on some of their movement. decide to opt out, so in a year's time, you know, or, you know, next February, several communities in Colorado will likely have set up very well other programs, and we can look at how they're doing, and how expensive it was for them to put their flights. And then, we can save them money when we have to do it, because they will have made all the same. Yeah. And Chris, I really appreciate the example, too, of like, trying to remember if I've turned something on, or what's in the washer, like, that logistical, like, it makes it really complicated. So I think, like, the idea is the… but the implementation right now of…

[39:12] I'm having to remember, you know, what I use water for. I think that's really impracticable at a large scale. I think, as a last point, we did the pilot program with the University of Colorado. If there's another good case made for a second pilot program and a different use case, then the city can evaluate that and decide if they would like to participate, or at least monitor what's happening with that, so… It's not as if the city can't participate in Greywater through some sort of research project again. So, given the discussion, do we feel like we're ready to vote?

[40:02] So, the motion… Should be… The Water Resources Advisory Board recommends that the City Council adopt the proposed gray water code changes in substantially the same form as Attachment A. Do you have… I can't age. Certainly was in the meeting materials, you know. Do you know? Okay. Bye. Okay. The Rav has proved the motion. So, the one element that was missing… you moved, and who seconded it? Oh, secondary. Oh, the second did. I told ya! I'm gonna need those guide notes, right? No problem. It's a lot to keep straight. Especially on a Monday. It is a month.

[41:11] Okay, then we'll move to the next agenda item. It's an information item, the Water Wise Landscaping Policy and Code Update. Sure, and I can tee that up, and appreciate the board's vote on that last item. It is kind of a… Psychological dilemma to vote against something that's conservation-related. We wrestled with that, too, as staff, so… Thank you for that. So yeah, the next item here is water-wise landscaping, policy and code, and just for quick background, so the current City Council identified the water-wise and fire-wise landscaping as one of its 11 priorities in its work plan. This item is being led by our Planning and Development Services Department tonight, in conjunction with other departments like ours and utilities. We…

[42:07] You might notice we have quite a few more staff here tonight than we usually do, because on A, we have three agenda items, and there's actually a lot of collaboration between Planning and Utilities on all three, so we're appreciating our… Our planning colleagues here tonight. The… you might recall… First of all, the planning team visited the City Council on this topic in late 2024, and then the planning team and our staff came to RAB in January of this year, 2025, and the purpose of that was to solicit board input on areas of interest. And overall goals for the program. And similarly, the planning team has visited with the community, as well as other boards and council. Since that time, it is now bringing forward recommended code changes.

[43:02] Based on that collective feedback. So for this particular item, there's… In terms of the RAPS purview, there's no… no formal action required of the board tonight. However, after you hear our presentation, there is an opportunity to provide your feedback, and we'll carry that forward to Council as we go. So, presentation tonight will be led by Charles Farrow. Charles is a Senior Planning Manager in the Planning and Development Services Department, and Charles, I'll turn it over to you. Great, thanks so much, Joe. Good evening, RAV members. Charles Farrow, as Joe said, I am the Senior Planning Manager in Planning and Development Services. I'm happy to be here tonight to chat with you guys about the Waterways Landscape, suite of code changes. Before we get started, I wanted to note that I'm here this evening on behalf of Carl Geiler, who's the project manager for these code changes. He has a family commitment tonight, and in a moment of weakness, I…

[44:03] So, I will do my best. I am unfortunately not the ultimate subject matter expert. We're on a bit of a tight timeline, with Council, so we weren't able to pump to another. I did get the presentation this morning. I've had a couple minutes to spend with it, so I will do my best. We're in it together this evening. So if there's questions that I can't answer today, we're happy to absolutely follow up. So, and as Jill mentioned, just by way of process, there was no formal action required from the board tonight. We're here to collect feedback and suggestions, so we look forward to your feedback tonight. So, next slide. So just some quick background on the purpose of this work. It's mainly to evaluate our existing landscape regulations and programs, explore updates and ways to continue to support water conservation practices by updating and modernizing our landscape regulations, identifying additional educational campaigns for the community on landscaping.

[45:05] Opportunities for water conservation. Next slide. So this slide is really designed to illustrate that there's many initiatives citywide that are ongoing to address water conservation in Boulder, from the more foundational aspects of metering and system maintenance to technical assistance, as I mentioned, some educational efforts. then we routinely kind of lead with the community. And then, of course, the regulatory side of things, such as our landscape regulations and our wastewater ordinances. Like I said, this is really just to illustrate the universe of ongoing efforts in the community to help conserve water. Next slide. Joe covered some of this in his opening remarks, but we were last before RAB back in January. Since that time, we've had an session with Council, by where we've received some background. Our planning board just reviewed our recommendations.

[46:07] I have a two-week sale, if I'm not mistaken, so we are marching forward to Council in October of this year. Next slide, please. So, one of the things that kind of started this conversation were some bills that came down from the General Assembly that prohibit certain landscape practices. In support of water conservation. Around the same time, our Council identified water-wise landscape policy and wildfire hardening as, priorities for 2024-2025. More specifically, the bills state that, well. this verbatim. A local entity shall not install, plant, or place, or allow any person to install, plant, or place any non-functional turf, artificial turf, or invasive plant species as part of a new development or a rebuild.

[47:00] Okay. So that's kind of really the main thrust of these code changes, and… The non-functional turf applies to street right-of-way, parking lot medians, commercial land uses, industrial land uses, institutional land uses, and common interest areas, so shared spaces, HOAs. Example where functional turf would be permitted would be things like playgrounds and sports fields, picnic grounds, active playing areas for golf courses, things like that. So, this set of regulations would also apply to residential development greater than 12 units. So there is a small, well, I shouldn't say small, but a residential component associated with this as well. Next slide. Oh, I guess I should also note that we're required to bring our regulations into compliance by January 1st of 2026, so that's kind of driving some of the schedule. So, as I noted, we held a study session with Council and received pretty clear support for limiting the use of non-functional turf as required by the state. Lots of support for integration of Firewise landscape standards that we've managed to parse out.

[48:17] Technical changes to our landscape regulations that relate to soil amendments and mulch standards. Support for some future code changes that relate more to temporary irrigation standards and landscape water efficiency standards, so… The ordinance doesn't necessarily address these, but future code changes will get at them. based on the timeline, we're trying to keep our work very focused on what the state has asked us to do, what our council has asked us to do, and trying to keep that commensurate with the existing staffing levels that we have right now. Eye chart on the right, which is a little bit hard to read, indicates…

[49:01] the proposed regulations and what their effect would be, kind of broken down by land use. So the state bills, require us to consider those commercial, industrial, institutional areas of the city, as well as multifamily in excess of 12 units, so that makes up, just a little bit more than half the city. So the… the state standards will… will have a pretty significant impact. I think it's around 51%, 52%, so… Next slide. I just asked… sorry, the symbols by the boxes, what do they mean? Checks. Oh, so the, checks were the ones that we received very clear support from City Council on. Okay. The yellow were, future code changes. The one thing that both Planning Board and City Council universally disagreed with on was requiring licensed landscape architects to prepare all landscape drawings in the city.

[50:11] So, we haven't updated our landscape regulations since 2003, but the original intent Actually, no, sorry, could you go back one, sorry? Everybody can get past the slide, thanks. So, progress to date, like I said, we held a study session, with Council recently. We haven't updated our landscape rank since 2003, but the original on tap was really to, ensure that we had high-quality aesthetics, that the impacts of development were softened. And there was some light language that related to the use of Xeric techniques. The policy underpinnings guiding our work right now are really aimed to maintain aesthetic quality and honor the original intent of the landscape regulations, but also to focus really on water supply and efficiency.

[51:12] Addressing wildfire threats and urban heat island effect, overall durability of landscaping and use of native species, so… you can advance the slide. Yeah, thanks, this was the slide I was supposed to be on. Additional policy guidance is coming from the Comprehensive plan, the Boulder… I'm sorry, the Water Efficiency Plan, the community-level fire protection plan. So, these are kind of the, policy underpinnings that are guiding their work right now. Next slide, please. So, more specifically, the, code changes really focus on process, application, standards, and basic threshold requirements for development and redevelopment. It establishes a technical landscape manual and an updated tree list, which I'll talk more about in a moment.

[52:04] Also removes technical requirements from the code and places them in these appendix manuals. Which is much easier for us to update over time, which I'll talk more about. Also provides an exception to previously approved landscape plans to permit turf conversions without an expensive, time-consuming amendment process. Next slide, please. So as I noted, the ordinance modernizes our existing approved tree and plant list. It makes it a lot easier to update, putting it in a separate, appendix, rather, won't require Planning Board and City Council to review it every time we want to change it, so it makes it a lot more dynamic and easier to use. Easier to change as better information becomes available, so… The list was derived by our consultants with input from other city departments with the goal of really balancing conservation and allowing only low-flammability plants while implementing the state law.

[53:11] With regard to turf and, requiring more native plants. Next slide. Can I ask a question? Is that list? Is that the amendment the attachment C? That's correct, the attachment room. So as I noted, the ordinance establishes a landscape manual that contains technical specifications for things like soil amendment, watering restrictions. And this is where we would integrate the use of non-functional turf per the state bill. So, similarly, the landscape manual will be much easier to update over time, contains best practices for implementation of landscape plants while addressing compliance with the state bill. And I can't emphasize this enough, much easier to update. So… Excellent. So, with regard to next steps, as I mentioned, we're headed toward Council consideration in September and October, but the conversation will be ongoing in future citywide efforts, like Cool Boulder, our comp plan update.

[54:07] And continued welfare mitigation. It's not… So, I will do my best to respond to questions tonight. There is Carl's contact information, but if there's things that I can't respond to tonight, then I'd be happy to follow up individually. So, thanks very much. I have a couple questions about the, the slide about the recommendations, the green checkboxes in them. With the watering schedule, can you talk a little bit about what that looks like, or the recommendation? Yes, so the recommendation is to, preclude people from watering between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. So, kind of that, you know, warmest point of the day where I think we see a lot more evaporation. But no, like, specific days of the week or anything like that for practice. And then on the… screening of installation, the one that, it sounds like Planning Board and Council, were interested in. I, back in January, I remember that being one of the fairly high-impact ones. Can you talk a little bit about why? Yeah, I think, I think Planning Board and Council found that, first of all, licensure for landscape architects, isn't quite as common in Colorado. It's a relatively new thing.

[55:24] So professional licensure isn't something that is kind of shared across the profession at this point. I think that Planning Board and Council both felt like, There is kind of a litany of civil designers, architects, engineers, who, as long as they can meet the standards in our landscape regulations and in the landscape manual. And they honor the tree and plant list, that, it's pretty prescriptive, and that they should be able to prepare plants as well. Okay, so there is an inspection element to it? Oh, yes. Okay.

[56:05] I guess, now that we have the appendix, how will the city make decisions around what plants should be added or pro… as okay? So, we have consultants, but we also have a lot of really talented landscape architects across, the city organization, and it actually kind of shocked me through this work how many we actually really have. I think I'm sitting next to a couple here, actually, tonight, but… So I think we would work internally as staff and make sure that there's alignment across the organization with urban forest, review forest, review parks, urban space. Other interested and potentially affected departments before we amend our list. So… just according… so I understand not having to go to city council or anything, but it's sometimes internal. Is there some way of overseeing the decisions that are made, just to…

[57:04] Catch errors, or just… Yeah, different opinion, or whatever. Ultimately, I think it's a city manager rule, so… it would be an administrative process by where I think the city manager would have the authority to maintain that list, so I don't know that there would be an oversight mechanism by where it might be a good idea to have… I mean, I don't know how serious the potential is for error, maybe just go and show for more, but it's just in any process, if there's But there is an oversight. If mistakes, or a bad decision. some sort of internal oversight might be a review or some systematic basis. I'm not sure what's appropriate here. But it just raises a note of caution. I might… I might be able to comment on that. I would say the maturity of city processes When there are these cross-departmental topics, it has really evolved. Okay. And we have established teams, including the,

[58:05] A wildfire. team, and… and there are representatives from all the departments at the… both the leadership puzzle and the core team members, who are the subject matter experts, and so… In those… in those processes in our internal systems, if there's something that the court three members can't agree on, there's differences of opinions. We do have the mechanisms in place to vet that and resolve it. Sure. And, I'm just curious, so there's a prohibition on watering from 10 to 6, which makes sense, but how is that enforced? Through our typical complaint-based enforcement, but yeah, we're not resourced at this point by where we can do it proactively. Because the monthly… the bill, the monthly… the water just tells you total, it doesn't tell you when, right? Right. Okay, so you're just… Yeah, okay.

[59:14] Thank you, Charles. You bet. Yeah. Thank you for having me. Any other questions, or should we move on? Okay, the next item on the agenda is an information item on the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. What's happening there? same… same explanation and the reason why we have so many staff here tonight. This one is a… is, It's a pretty big deal for the city, and we have planning staff here that will lead the presentation on the comp plan update, but we have a lot of utility staff that are working hand-in-hand on the items that interest us.

[60:01] So, the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, it gets updated on a recurring schedule every so many years. It's really an overarching plan that shapes the 20-year vision for Boulder Valley. There are a number of elements of the plan that cover things in utilities, like infrastructure, or water supply, flood, all of those broad topics have historically been covered in the plan. So again, on this item, there's no formal action required of the board, and this process This is a major update to the plan, and so it'll be going… it'll be in process for quite some time. And I think what we hope to do tonight is brief the board on the comp plan, identify some of the likely, areas of overlap with utilities, and… assess areas that have overall interest for the board, and then we would come back in the next month or two and,

[61:06] likely dive a little deeper into those subjects, because at a first pass, trying to absorb everything and give detailed, feedback on the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan in one night is a… Unless we want to stay until 3 a.m. It's a bit of a big ask, so… I think I'm turning it over to Sarah for this one. Sarah Moore is in our planning department, and will be, leading the presentation today. Hello, RAD Ropers. As Joe mentioned, I'm Sarah Horne, and Kathleen King is here with me. I'm a Senior Planner on the comprehensive Planning team, and Kathleen is the fabulous Prince Planner. And as Joe mentioned, we're here to talk to you tonight about the comp plan update, the major update, and Crystal and Charles took us into the water and the weeds, and we're gonna kind of live back a little bit.

[62:01] So, So, and also, just to let you know, we're on our board's Roadshow Tour this September, so we're going to 8 boards. We've been meeting ourselves kind of going. We're on board, so you're right in the middle, so we're glad to be here, and we're really excited to meet you and talk about the plan. So, as Joe mentioned, we're going to give you a presentation, and then there'll be time for some questions and discussion. So, the purpose of our being here is threefold. We want to provide you, as Joe mentioned, with an overview of the comprehensive plan update and our update process. We want to share our approach to policy and land use updates with you, and get your feedback, as Joe mentioned, on policy direction, and then later on, potential changes to consider. So, now that you know what the purpose of the meeting is, you might be wondering what your role is. And Joe mentioned that you're advisory to the update process, so no formal recommendation, but we really need your help in identifying and shaping our future policy direction, and we'd love to have your support at the end of the process with Council, if you feel so inclined during the adoption process next year.

[63:02] And just an FYI, there are four adopting bodies for this plan. City Council and Planning Board, and then the Board of County Commissioners, and the County Planning Commission. So we have to have hearings with all of those bodies. Okay. So now that you know what's coming and what your role is, this is just a quick overview of the discussion question we have for you tonight. It's included in your memo, and it covers four policy areas, and we're going to ask you to decide which of these areas you might want to explore further as you hear what we're going to tell you about. And so, now to the comprehensive plan. What is a governance plan? Well, Joe shared a little bit. It's really an aspirational plan that describes a community's long-term vision for the future. It's related to community needs, and it guides how our community evolves. It includes policies and future land use… and a future land use map that helps city staff, community members, advisory boards, and policy makers, lots of people, move toward the vision and manage change over time.

[64:02] And as you can see, the diagram at the bottom just quickly illustrates the three general levels of planning we in the City of Boulder use, and I'll share a bit more detail about these a little bit later. So the comprehensive plan sits at that 30,000 foot level, and it's a general guide that influences the work of most departments. And then we have plans that sit more at that 10,000 foot level, and plans that are on the ground level. So this major update process happens every 10 years, and this is our 50-year update. So, we're really taking this opportunity to reevaluate and rethink how we're planning for the future, and how the comp plan works, how it talks to other plans, and how everyone uses it. So, we're excited about that. We've been doing a lot of work on it. And it helps us continue our collaboration with the county on how we manage land in the Valley and think about change and growth. And finally, the state requires it, and it requires cities with populations over 2,000 people have comprehensive plans. Okay, so now that you know what a comprehensive plan is, where do we apply it? Well, it covers the entire Boulder Valley, and you can see that Boulder Valley, the map on the left, the diagram, is the Boulder Valley. It includes everything inside city limits, which is in the pale yellow, and unincorporated Boulder County surrounding the city, which is in the green.

[65:17] And then the planning area is further divided into Area 1, 2, and 3, and many of you are probably familiar with this. These areas relate to the provision of urban services, essential services, including utilities like water. Okay, and then this is going to drill down from that diagram you saw earlier. So, specifically related to the city, our planning framework includes lots of plans. At that 30,000-foot level I mentioned earlier, our framework starts with the Sustainability, Equity, and Resilience Framework, which is at the top of the screen, and that includes seven objectives that all city, Work should strive to meet. And the comprehensive plan is next, in the dark blue, and that's intended to be really high level and looks 20 years into the future. And then the policies and the land use map that are included in the plan help guide the work at the 10,000-foot level, which include the citywide strategic plan.

[66:09] That outlines the actions we take over the next few years, and those are directed by Council. And the work we do, and how we spend money, how we plan to spend money through department plans, budgets, and sub-community and area plans, and those are in the light green. And then finally, we're on the ground, and we get to the operating budget capital improvements program, and zoning and development standards. And that's at the bottom of the diagram, and really how things get built, and what the rules they have to follow. Okay, so now that you know everything, maybe almost everything you need to know about the comp planning process, and planning in the city in general, I'm going to start sharing a little bit about this update process. So, we kicked it off late last year, starting with the Boulder Today, and in that phase, we focused on current conditions. And did a lot of analysis of what's on the ground right now. Then we moved to Phase 2 earlier this year of Older Tomorrow, and we did a lot of community engagement, talking to community members about their vision and priorities for the future. And we're now in Phase 3, which is a big, big chunk of the work, and that's in yellow on the screen. We're working through policy choices and our approach to managing land use in the Valley.

[67:17] And then we'll move to Phase 4 this winter, the beginning of next year, and that's when we'll prepare the plan and get the draft ready for public review and then adoption in the summer. And throughout this process, we've been engaging with the community a lot. We're trying to make this the most inclusive update yet, and so we've been using a variety of tactics. We had interactive theater events, online opportunities, community-led conversations, and a new tool for the city, a community assembly. Several of our events, including a community workshop we held last week, shout out to Kim Hutton, have included utility staff. She was there, thank you, Kim. And many of the other members of the utility staff have been great partners and a pleasure to work with on this effort. It's been really great.

[68:05] And so, based on community feedback and staff feedback, we've developed a draft vision for the plan that describes values community members care about, and you can see it on the screen here. Our community works together to ensure everyone belongs, to create opportunities for all, and to sustain the health of the Boulder Valley for future generations. And the vision piggybacks on the seven objectives of the framework, the Sustainability, Equity, and Resilience Framework. And then, based on our feedback, too, we've also gained a clear picture of the issues community members care most about staff addressing in their update, which you see on the screen. And although utilities aren't listed as a standalone focus area, they've been part of community conversations throughout the process, and they connect directly to areas you see up here, like safety, climate action, housing choice, and food systems. And we'll be incorporating clear policies on the provision and management of these essential services in the updated plan, and like I mentioned, we're working closely with utility staff and leadership to ensure they're well integrated and the right policies.

[69:09] So that ends my spiel. Now I'm going to turn it over to Kathleen, and she's going to talk about our specific approach to policy and land use for the city. Like Sarah said, I'm Kathleen King, I'm a principal city planner. also a licensed non-privacy and landscape architect. I'm going to share a bit about our approach to this major update, and what we're focused on right now, and what we're really working through, is the two major components of the comprehensive plan. So. The comprehensive plan contains a pretty robust set of policies, and then it also has a land use strategy, which is Encapsulated in our land use map. Okay, so starting with policies, the current Comprehensive plan has 210 policies, and those address a wide range of topics and community services.

[70:09] So, feedback from community members, policy makers, and staff have described that these policies can be really, duplicative. The way that the comp plan's set up right now is you have, very similar policies spread out and mentioned in multiple different sections. Sometimes the policies really contradict each other, and so, in those cases, trying to make decisions and using our guiding policy to make a decision can present, some challenges. Administratively, and for policymakers, decision makers. And then, you know, we've also found that a lot of policies that are in the Comprehensive plan are duplicative, policies that we might have in something like a department, plan, or other guiding documents. So we're trying to kind of clean those up.

[71:01] So, considering updates to these policies, we're striving to deliver clear and simple policies that directly state communities' direction and, policies that are resilient, so things that can provide guidance without limiting our options for implementation, as conditions in the community are sure to change over time. All right, so the Comprehensive plan, contains some key policies around how the City manages utilities and what the expectations are between the City and County on how services are or are not extended. Some of the key areas of interest for this group include annexation and urban services provisions. Utilities, blood plains and drainageways, and then water and wastewater. So I'm not gonna, you know, read through all these next two slides, but we just wanted to list out all of the policies that this board might reference in the future.

[72:03] The next one, Cher. And our main question for the discussion tonight is which of these policy areas would RAB like to explore for revisions or updates as we move through the planning process? Okay, so that's the policy side of that comp plan. Similar to our approach to policy, we're also really re-examining the comprehensive plan's land use strategy and the associated land use map to consider revisions That would plan for a change that reflects community values and identity, enable market-driven approaches tailored for different locations and situations. Integrate climate and environmental strategies into plan designations. tailor mobility systems that support how people want to move around the community, and then foster a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient Boulder Valley. So always kind of looking back towards that SER framework. So we're taking this, pretty detailed map that you see here, and looking for ways to right-size an approach to managing uses across the city.

[73:08] We're also working on providing clearer and more direct guidance for property owners, City South Planning Board, and Council about how future projects could align with the community's vision for the future. And then, finally, we're working to create some land use tools that would allow multiple outcomes that could respond to that, you know, context of location and time. So, really trying to think about how to be resilient moving forward. So we're going to be working on these elements of the plan through the end of the year and beyond. There's some upcoming milestones to be aware of. today, I think just… just today, invitations to participate in the statistically valid survey went out, so folks should look for those in mailboxes. We're asking a lot of,

[74:00] important policy-related questions, looking for community direction on a variety of issues. There's also an online version of that survey that will be available to anyone who's interested in weighing in on some of this. Big topic areas are land use questions. That goes live September 22nd. And then, we're working our way towards December 11th, when we'll have a joint study session with the Board and City Council to take a first look at some recommendations. We're going to be working on revisions to those recommendations back, based on their feedback over the winter, and then we'll be back at boards and fitting wrap in March with a draft of the plan. And then all of that goes okay. We'll try to finalize the plan, in the spring, and then we have that, robust adoption process that Sarah mentioned earlier. May, June.

[75:02] Okay, so, if you're interested in more information, or you haven't had a chance yet to visit abbolderFuture.org, I would recommend… there's a lot of great information. All of our analysis that we did during Phase 1 of the project is up there, and, some really interesting findings. And… I think that's it. I can turn it, maybe pass it back to Joe for the discussion, or we could pull the question up. Yeah, maybe pull the question up, and I think it would be a… a fair question for the board or anyone to ask. Like, is this just, like, a visionary plan that goes on the shelf somewhere? I feel good about the process, but it doesn't really get implemented, and from my experience, having been a staff member for 20 years, that's really not the case. And as key… as key items come forward to City Council for action.

[76:04] Various plans and things like that. The staff teams have to speak to Is this consistent with the… And very specifically, consistent with, policy and guidance in the Boulder Valley Comp Plan. And if we're doing something that… It's not. There better be a really good explanation for why it deviated, and it just informs These Kathleen's… here's Kathleen's slide where you saw that for me, Sarah, is the hierarchy of the different plans. It… it really informs the… That those other plans and all of our work takes, so… If anyone's asking themselves, does this really matter? It really kind of does. And it matters to us as utilities staff. I see 1, 2, 3, 4, team members here who have been working closely with the planning team, as I mentioned.

[77:06] Really vetting the proposed changes and thinking about what this means to our future planning. Things like the capital improvement plan or water supply, so… Oops, I don't know, those are… those are some over… comments from us, and if I teed that up correctly, at the beginning, planning team or utilities team, I think what we're really looking for tonight is items that You might be interested in and would like to talk about a bit here tonight or in a subsequent meeting. And we can… I know there were some slides that showed the policy areas, as well as the overarching, so… We can go back to those if you're interested. And let me just ask, am I teeing that up correctly? Yeah, yeah, that would be great. So just check. I guess when we're looking at those,

[78:09] Yes, this is helpful, thank you. I was just thinking, like, what is the 30,000… what's an example of a 30,000 foot? policy that would be articulated in the comprehensive plan. That will relate to these areas. So… Yeah, you know, and I think… well, I can kick it off, and we can start with the first one up there on growth projections. So the comp plan designates, not only… I think, like. the, time horizon for which we're developing growth projections, but it's also, like, on… on what are these growth projections based? And so, an example of how we at utilities use them, Crystal gave that presentation in July, looking at our water supply planning. So we use growth projections that are established in the comp plan, to

[79:03] to give us that, you know, for what number of people, jobs are we planning for water supply in the future? Another aspect in utilities. That touches upon growth projections, as well as a couple of these other ones, is… where is growth gonna happen? The timeframe of growth? Do we have to extend services? First… before the demand is there. So the timing of growth, I think a big one is which you guys see in the CIP, If we're wanting to upsize pipes. What's driving the timing of that, and is it… Is it to do… to continue to maintain the surface level that we already have, or are we shooting for you know. Future growth. and in new development, or infills that are one for the city. I don't know, I might share, our…

[80:07] Deputy City Manager kind of shared a story with us. Can I… Yeah. Do you want to share it? Okay, so apparently, like, and I thought this was so… it just put everything into perspective for us. So back in the 50s, 40s, 50s. 60s. era. We were always building for, you know, the next short, sort of short term. So, upsize a pipe, upsize a wastewater… wastewater plant, and by the time it was done, we'd already outgrown it. And so there was a turning point, maybe since 60s, I think, where we said, you know what, let's… let's, shoot for a further target than what we've been doing. And so, since then, we've been doing our planning, with these growth projections in mind, very long-term, so that we're not outgrowing our facilities and infrastructure

[81:04] soon after they're built. And so, I think with the comp plan, and just… Kind of the… some of the direction that the community's heading now. You know, we've… our growth… our growth, trends have been, what, about 1% per year for a very long time, but there's a lot of interest now in the, you know, developing more… more housing, To address affordable housing issues. If that growth… trajectory changes, how does that then affect how we are growing into our infrastructure? And are we finding ourselves at capacity, maybe sooner than they anticipated. So that's just a consideration, I think, as we look at, you know, definitely how does land use planning, Affect the work that we do at utilities.

[82:05] I won't put it up for anybody else to add. So I… I'm very interested in Adam's question of what It's not just the amount of growth, but also what it does for the kind of water demand For example, we're seeing a lot of apartment houses come in. Bigger buildings, you know, bigger units, not… not as much, you know, not… I have a house sitting in a lot of… amongst a lot of land, so I'm assuming that these new people moving there aren't going to be watering their lawns, instead just be using Water, just for… best in cases. Yeah, I mean, there could be a shift. Is that the case? Like, are we seeing a shift? If we're seeing a… Yeah, like, density or, or infill, we could potentially be shifting Water use from outdoor use, and as we build on that space, to indoor use.

[83:02] so that we don't… I think that's something that we would like to explore further, and we're trying to develop some models around that, to help inform this process, but we… those are in the works. Okay. And the other thing then is, as you increase density. are your pipes in the ground, you know, large enough to serve that capacity? And that's what Chris's team works on. And they're, they're, forecasting. Excellent. So I didn't really speak to, like, anything… any examples of floodplains and drainageways, but I think a lot of… I might, like, turn to… turn this over… eloquently about, Really, how are we designing around our floodplains, our floodways?

[84:02] woodplane management, oh, Chris, you can speak. Thank you, Kim. I'm going to start as the Utilities Engineering Manager, and part of my team is the Flood wave, floodplain capital improvement management, and really the big thing that drives a lot of what's going on in the floodplain section is there is maintenance of the floodplains, but remembering that the floodplains is a relatively young utility compared to everything else, so we're still in the building the first round of major infrastructure in the floodway. And so, if you remember back in 2022, when we… in 2023, when we went through the Comprehensive Storm and Flood Management Program, we came up with a prioritization framework and a methodology to start working on those projects, and so now we're start… we're getting into this round of a first… the first next 30 years of how we're going to build that infrastructure. So, the comprehensive plan then helps

[85:06] Helps us understand within that concept of, as we're looking at individual projects. is what we think in the way of planning and also size of that project, is it appropriate, given where we're gonna… we're going with what is a lot of land use planning? So we do get into, you know, as Kim was talking, even with the pipes and other things, there is a little bit of a chicken and the egg on I'm needing to understand land use planning. then to be able to start applying the appropriate projects for that. And it does really get into a big component, is timing and location of where those things are, and how do we incorporate the comprehensive plan components into the other components as we are choosing our capital improvement programs, because we still have to think, you know, what's the age and the risk of the individual entity? Is it sized appropriately for today's use? But then we need to think about sizing it appropriately for that future use, too.

[86:09] So it… it does go into a lot of things. Joe, go ahead. Yeah, if I can tack on to what Chris is saying. It's also, as we think about growth and the future. There has to be an investment in that infrastructure. And, when do we pay for it? Who pays for it? And I think it's the… There's a slide before or after. where one of the primary concepts in Sydney of Boulder planning is that growth changes only, and so… That is… that is one of the fundamental… fundamentals that, as a… as a collective staff team, that we've been operating. I see. It says fair share, not title share. I assume that's up to Council to term what's a fair share.

[87:03] Because growth, if you say it's paying its own way, that would be higher a share, right? Yeah, and I think it gets into… there may be things already in the works in our capital plans that we're planning to do. that we need to do anyway, and so it's… I think it's kind of splitting all that out as come forward. In just an example, we talk about pipes, because they're going to be easy. So if we've got a 12-inch pipe now. It needs to be replaced, and let's just say, for current conditions, it needs to be the next size up at 16, but then if we know growth is going to come in, then maybe that leads to a 24-inch pipe, so growth is paying for that difference between a 16 and a 24-inch pipe. So that's where you get into this component of fair share, and how do you calculate that? Because it's… it's one variable in the equation.

[88:03] I think it's a lot to digest in one… evening's presentation, but I think Thematically, the question before the board is, is the way things have been set up historically make sense, or… Or should there be changes? Or, another way of looking at it is, is there something that kind of drilling out that the board sees that's really important to you guys. A focus area as we go forward. And are you looking for each board member individually to think and to raise their hand to express interest? Are you thinking that there should be, among the three of us that are here tonight, some sort of consensus around which areas are most interesting? I think it could be a little of both. I think you could say what time you're buying individually. There's also, obviously, some overlap. Yeah, and maybe steer it towards consensus, or if there's… if there isn't that much individually, we could… we could prep…

[89:16] Possibly bring back more information. I don't know if there's some thoughts… Mr. Lower climate change, so I'm glad to see one point… I'm sorry, where was the next slide? It was the one on the fly. That's a good mix. I think, was it the next slide? Oh, there, I'm sorry, Ludget Flood Event 325. Yeah, I'm glad to see that, because I think one of the questions… It's hard to bring it to wrap, you know, you've got all these dynamic scales. You've got how's the city changing, but also how's the climate change? How do these intersect? You know, we expect… I think there'll be larger flood events. It's about the discussion, but again, how does that intersect with what's in the way in terms of people? I would also add, on the water side, water and wastewater, I don't see a particular

[90:06] climate change issue there, in terms of, obviously, supply, talked about that some, you know, July meeting, but also even water quality. you know, what it could mean in terms of, reaching sex. Protection of water, but in terms of, right, but the climate change element to that, right? Changes in vegetation up in the watershed, or whatever else there may be runoff, you know, kind of events, we'll see. You know, just to throw those in there. Yeah, I too am very interested in, the high hazard and larger events. And how do we think about protecting, areas or community assets, in a way, or… Public health and safety.

[91:08] On the previous page, very interesting to think about the levels of utility service and annexation. channeling… to… channeling new development to places with adequate infrastructure, so we… when we think about what Chris was describing, if we're gonna do the 20… if we're gonna go in for the 12th inch pipe. You know, here's an area where we could put the 24 in. Less cost, more practically serve this area. We've talked in the past about how Boulder interacts with and works with other regional communities, and… This is obviously a regional. you know, not a huge region, but a regional, comp plan. So, how does Boulder interface with and

[92:05] Add redundancy and resiliency with other Surrounding communities, when it comes to utilities? I don't really see that as much, but I assume that's part of the discussion with Comp Plan, like, how do we think about… Redundancy and resiliency in… in the region. In the face of climate change and other stressors, growth. And are each of these numbers just a policy? Yes, this is, these are policies in our current comprehensive plan. Those 210 recovered in this way. So, are these, like, are these ones you're thinking will be in the future one as well, or some of them could get combined or cleaned up? Yeah, so right now we're going through a process of, working with different subject matter experts and boards to determine, you know, which of these are no longer relevant.

[93:05] Can we move on from some of these? Which of these can be combined? Where is there overlap? So yeah, we're working for that now. I'm just interested, I think, in the flood in water. Like, where did we land? Did we combine four of them? What did that look like? I mean, it would just be interesting to know. Going to what Joel was asking about, and Joe was responding to, is there… expected to be discussion in the comp plan around cost allocation and cost recovery when it comes to our shared infrastructure. So how are we actually thinking about who benefits from you know, what we as a community are collectively investing in, and how we recover costs, whether that's through developers, or through fees, or through rates, or taxes, or some sort of combination of that. Earlier tonight, we heard Glenn talk about

[94:05] pressure on her water rate. It seems to me like it would be A good framework to consider in a comp plan around cost allocation and cost recovery. I was gonna raise the same thing. popular. I'm not sure that, yeah, that seems to overview. I mean, Bryce Boulder, obviously, is an expensive community. And becoming more expensive, but we're trying to make it affordable. One of the issues is waterways, and one thing I didn't even think about, you know, voted on the… We're both on the level. infrastructure. you know, all seemed reasonable, but you take 7… what was it average? Was it 7% growth on average? I remember it was, like, 6% to 8%, if I remember right, in a different… Yep, absolutely. So it increases, right? Yeah. To extrapolate that out, I think, by doing the math right, again, 7%, in 10 years, you're doubled. at 5 years, you can get about a 50% increase, and that's, you know, for some people. So this whole question about… and that's maybe the typical override, that's fine, but everybody, there are…

[95:09] That's lesser ability to pay, so that's an overlay on this, too, in terms of just affordability, making more… trying to keep it as… Diverse and socioeconomically, it's reasonable. So you have a lot of cooks in the kitchen. And I guess I'm wondering, like, what's the most effective way, or helpful way for us to contribute? And I think there was mention of some of these meetings, of participation, and something that maybe is, Or, like, a constructive way for us to provide input. Yeah, I mean, just your initial thoughts right now are really helpful, and, you know, as we're sort of exploring where are there laps in our current policy, or where might we want to revise some of these things.

[96:00] just this first conversation is great. We'll have something more robust for you to react to in March, and you'll be able to weigh in at that time. But there are, upcoming engagement opportunities if you wanted to, like, just participate in general. Yeah, as community members or online, you can take the surveys, and I also think staff, utility staff, like Kim and Layla, and we've been working really closely with Crystal, I think the opportunity, like, what you're interested in talking about, I think staff might work with you outside of us, too, like, to talk about those things, and then we're having workshops with staff to kind of rework policy and think about that, so they'll… this will take your information that you've given us, and then you'll talk to utility staff and give… I think that's what you were thinking of doing, right, Joe? Yeah. You guys will work… you'll work with this step. to share what your thoughts are, and then they'll give… they'll give that information to us more.

[97:04] That is what we're thinking. I think your… I think your reaction, just on the… on the spot here tonight, and the items that you're expressing. interesting, are on point. I'm taking notes here, and I'm kind of calculating to myself, like, what are the things that are just in-the-moment feedback? Versus… bigger topics that it might make sense to come back in October or November and talk more to you and give… drill down into, like, what's really been a comp plan in this area. Sure. And I think you're hitting on the things that are really relevant to us. You're validating the stuff that's relevant to us as a staff team that we're working closely on, so… I think that's the plan. Could I chime in with a comment? I'm Megan Wilson Alcult, I'm the Water Quality Senior Manager, and I've been assisting with doing a really deep dive on these policies and kind of looking at new draft policies. And I think, as it pertains to this page in particular, a lot of… a lot of these will be combined and shortened. For example, a lot of the policies that are in the floodplain section

[98:14] are also in the Comprehensive Flood and Stormwater Master Plan. That was just adopted 3 years ago. And so, as Kathleen or Sarah pointed out, if there's duplication, then we might whittle it down. But I think, concept-wise, the concepts that are in the current policies are things that you plan on retaining, even if it's in a more succinct fashion. So I think, Joel, for example, your comment on, you know, what's the impact of climate change on water quality, that isn't specifically contemplated in the comp plan right now, and we could… we could look at that. But by and large, a lot of those fundamentals that you will see in the content will transfer over. So if there's other things that, you know, kind of come to mind that we should be thinking about that might be new or different. That would be helpful.

[99:01] But I'm not seeing, like, a ton of, like, major overhauls, you know, just policy-wise. On this page, at least. Does that seem fair? Does that seem fair? I mean, let me follow up, I mean, for example, contingency, but it's not difficult to imagine a major fire sweeps through. the watershed. But, which would clearly change… obviously change… dramatically change water quality. Yes, yes, for sure. And one thing that you'll see is an emphasis on source water protection, and so that gives us the policy direction to do a lot of the wildfire thinning, you know, hardening around the water treatment facility, those types of things. So it sort of exists in a proactive way. As it stands. But you're right, that would change things. You know, we've talked about the water supply reliability criteria, over the years, and… One of those, the… one of those policies.

[100:01] There's reference to… - to meeting our reliability criteria, so I think that also gives us broad policy direction to do what we need to do to develop a reliable, resilient supply, so if there's Fire here, or do we have redundancy? And I just… what Ken said remind me, and thank you, Megan, and Megan's working on this with us really closely, too, is that… We want to have good policy and sound policy that is the right policy, but give staff and boards more room to make decisions as things change, be more adaptable, so that the people who know what's going on on the ground have more wherewithal to do the things they need to do with the policy, rather than saying, it says this, you can't do anything else. That's kind of a shift we're trying to make in this update, too. With a focus on overall policy direction.

[101:03] and trying to weed out some of the minutiae that's pecked in over the years, and push those back to their rightful place, because as I've heard the discussion tonight. the number of times that I thought of, well, that's actually covered in a different area, yeah. So this is setting those overarching principles, and I think the board and the feedback, is hitting on on the things to make it that bad. a couple months ago, I think we talked about how the comp plan process It very well be misremembering, but was actually encouraging us to do more water… a deeper water resource And so, some of these policies may be covered in that document. No? Yes, no? Yeah, actually, we were… we were… we've been toying around with some new water supply, or potential modifications, or new water supply policies, wondering if we should bring them forward through the comp plan process or not, and I think we might see…

[102:12] A mix of that, actually. Some of them going forward. It'd be. And water supply plan, updated water supply plan. Maybe some reaffirmed in the comp plan. as well. Aligned. Right. Wow. Got a tough job. Drafting of all of these policies, even if you cut them in half. Well, we have a lot of people helping us with cats. really useful. Well, thank you so much, Sarah and Kathleen, for giving us the briefing, and Megan and… Kim, for your, insights and participation.

[103:02] Everyone. Got the whole game here. We might let some of them go and start adding up as we wrap up the agenda. Appreciate you stepping up, stepping in. I mean, full-time work. Pardon. Okay, well, some folks are happy enough, well, we can move on to the next item. We have matters from the board. Anyone on the board have… topics, or… That's true. Yeah, no, it seems like, nothing, no matters from the fourth go. matters from staff? Sure. I only have one quick date tonight. I didn't really have a lot on the list, and I was thinking with three agenda items, I should probably keep it short later. But, I'll go through the upcoming agenda in a minute, and I'll mention

[104:11] Other budgets used our utility petals as an October RAB item. But under the matters part, I wanted to mention that related to that, there is a community-wide survey. That's available online through BeHerdbolder.org, and we're really encouraging a panel of our utility customers to give us feedback That would, help us shape the future of… A lot of budgets and how those are applied in the billing process. It's something that really directly has everyone in Boulder and all of us for the customer. And as, as you were… as you were, asking some questions about, like, comfort allocation and how things get paid for, I was thinking about the, on our work plan, water budgets and,

[105:08] an overall rate study is something that we have in mind that would all grab and would… We're starting to tee that up back. So, that's what I have from Matters. And it's like the finest example of magenta. I can switch to that, if you like. Great. So as just mentioned, for the October meeting, we anticipate having an information item on water budget planning, which will be kind of a water budget 101 for the board, and teeing up that process that I just mentioned. We also, Thought it would be prudent after tonight's discussion on the comp plan update that we either come back as a utility staff team, not make the…

[106:00] We've heard the number of boards and presentations and planning to use to give them the night off, but we can drill into some of those policy discussions a little further, that could either be in October or November. both, but I think some of that depends on our capacity. It also depends on board interests. So possibly a further discussion on the comp plan in November, and then, thought an information item on city broadband efforts, which God. Because there are so many similarities between water utilities and another utility, like broadband, even though it's a public-private partnership. We're actually helping with that program, and it's got high community interest, so… Thinking about an information item on that. And then, likely no meeting in December, and then…

[107:01] You start the process all over again in January. Like, that really young dog day. So that's what I've got. Great. really so wonderful to have all of these staff participate in meetings and provide us with so much of their knowledge, expertise, I think that's it for us. So, can someone make a motion to adjour? Sold. Second. Great. Thank you. I don't think you don't have time to each.