November 17, 2025 — Water Resources Advisory Board Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:00] Meeting on November 17th, 2025. And our first item is to look at the October Board meeting minutes. Did anyone have any comments or changes to those? Yep. Nope. I had two points. One, Karen, I just wondered, do we… is it required that we, record in full all of the public comments that we have? Is that our facility? Yeah. …is record their, what they speak as known, in full what they speak, and then ours are some of ours. Okay, okay. And the other thing I just want to say was I think we all appreciate the very thorough and accurate job. You do on those? I mean, they're very thorough, very good. Nobody ever has any budgeting states or any comments, so thank you very much. Thank you. Okay,

[1:01] So, virtual public comment, do we have anyone from the public that's… Oh, yeah, we need to get a motion. You wouldn't want to make a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Second. Second. All in favor? Right? Just thank you. As a reminder? Right, and I'll go ahead and read the Zoom polls, if that works, and then we'll go to the comment. Okay, so hi, my name is Joanna Bloom, and I'm serving as the technical host for this meeting. We'll start with sharing a few slides of the virtual meeting rules that we followed. These rules are in place to find a balance between transparency with community members and security that minimizes disruptions. Please provide your full name if you participate in open or public comment. If your full name is not correctly displayed, please update it in Zoom, or send me a text, and I'm happy to change it for you. There's no chat feature for this meeting, but the Q&A function is enabled for any Zoom connectivity issues.

[2:04] Feel free to text me at 303-817-1742 with any connectivity issues. Members of the public may be unable to control the audio or video features, as video is limited to city officials, employees, and invited speakers. I'll unmute you when you're recognized to speak, and after I've unmuted you, please say your first and last name, and we'll display a 3-minute timer once you begin your comments. Thanks so much for your participation. And I do see we have one… Member of the public, Lynn Siegel is here. Lynn, you should be able to unmute. Yeah, I just had… Can you hear me? Sure can. switching between… I'm double duty now, because I had a kidney stone, which is very relevant to Rab, water, you know, it happens. And, like, it blew out one of my calyces. And,

[3:07] And it's kind of disturbing when this happens to you. Don't ever get a kidney stone. It is… Agony for 5 hours. Complete, like, shoot me agony. 5 hours long. And, you know, we need water, but they need water in Gaza. And there's probably lots of people there that have kidney issues that need Water a lot more than the average person. They don't have water at all. And that's something to really think about. I think about it constantly. It's in my… It's in my ganglia all the time. And, you know, we have water here, and I'm using a lot of water now. Joanna knows about this. There's some leak somewhere, and… I don't know where or how, I have to get the guy up the street from Cultivate, who's helping me, when I hear it running through the walls or whatever, just like my mouse, that I've caught 7 mice, but this mouse is a terrorist mouse. This mouse is,

[4:17] really, untouchable. And… And I release them. I drive, you know, 2 miles on my bike at 1 in the morning with no lights, you know, to let these males free, because I… Can't kill mice. And that's when they come, and they can't be trapped in the cage all the time. But, you know, this water situation is not good. I have to… after Boulder… Boulder's retrofit that I had in my house. I'm using water like crazy, hot water, also, and you should know this, Joanna, because of boulders giving me a nightmare retrofit. This is unbelievable. You know, a 3-ton

[5:03] Mitsubishi Hyperheat blocking my side yard setback so that I can get in a fire and not be able to circumnavigate my house. I won't be able to do geothermal because they filled my attic with an air handler. When I thought they were going to put in a couple mini-splits for $14,000, they've probably spent $40,000 and wasted it entirely, because I am not electrifying, in spite of their desire to supply XL Energy with funding. I'm not gonna pay them. I'm so upset about this. And now I'm paying a higher water bill, because I have to heat my water. The hot water's not hot enough, and I have to heat my water on the stove to augment washing my dishes. And it's too cold when I'm at 54 degrees and I'm taking a shower. It's too cold for me to get warm. And I'm 72 years old, and I don't deserve to live a life like this. But I was… I was gaslighted by the county because I found out that they were doing a solar install under adverse conditions, and they refused the vendor as a result. So, that's my punishment, gaslighting, now in this present.

[6:10] Gotcha. Which is a disaster. Thanks for being here. Yeah. I do not see anyone else in the waiting room. Okay, thank you, Joanna. So we'll move on to our main… items for the evening, information items on the prevailing Comprehensive Plan. Joe, do you want to throw away the background for that? And good evening, board members. I'm Joe Tadianci, I'm the Director of the Utilities Department. So, the first item that we have for you tonight is an information item on the Blue Valley Comprehensive Plan. You might recall we had a presentation to the board on the plan in September. And during that meeting, planning staff joined us, and

[7:03] Worked with our utility staff, and we provided an overview of the plan and the update process that we're going through right now. And eventually, we got to sharing kind of an overall list. And summary of topics. Around the ways the Boulder Valley Pump Plan overlaps with utilities. And, went through that at a fairly high level, summary level, and then we asked the board if there were topics that you would be interested in learning more about. So tonight, we've come back with information on each of the topics that you pointed out as being of interest. There's no formal action required of the board tonight. However, if you have feedback or reaction to any of the discussion, certainly would carry it forward for any themes, As the plan development proceeds. So, Layla Parker will lead our presentation tonight. Leila is our Senior Project Manager on our Water Resources team.

[8:07] Never. Press over to you. Hi, everyone. Nice to be with you this evening. So I am, as Joe said, following up on our September meeting to talk about some of these Boulder Valley Crop Plan policies in… greater detail. Before we get to that, I want to give a very high-level overview of the comp plan update. This is intended as a refresher next few slides, but these will look familiar because we're here in September. Couple things I want to point out. First, just when we say the Boulder Valley, we're really talking about this area shown in green, which is a part of Boulder County, the larger outline in black. And so this is the City of Boulder, and then unincorporated areas outside of the City of Boulder, but it does not include neighboring towns like Louisville and Lafayette.

[9:00] That is the planning area that we are talking about, is this comp plan. And the comp plan was first approved in 1977. It's gone through a number of updates since that time. This will be the eighth major update. And it was kicked off in late 2024, and the team is anticipating adoption in the summer of 2026. So, almost a two-year process. The comprehensive plan and how it fits into city planning is shown on the diagram on the right, and I just circled it down at the bottom. But it does inform our capital. And because it is connected to so many different levels of city planning, the planning team is involving subject matter experts from many departments in the process. So myself, Kim Putten, and Megan Wilson have all been involved through the process, trying to bring Feedback from our utilities teams for planning today.

[10:04] Okay. So, in September, we came to RAD to specifically seek feedback on updates to Comprehensive plan policies. The… as we talked about at that meeting, the current plan contains 210 policies that address a wide range of topics and community services, and the feedback we got from the community is that those can be duplicative, they can contradict each other, they can be repetitive of policies and other guiding documents. As an example, I have a few different policies that touch the group that Kim and I work in, water resources, so we have water conservation, water resource planning and acquisition, the in-stream flow program, the language in these policies. Contains references to the other policies, but not specifically. It's hard to tell what the governing language is, so we're moving towards a streamlined, single water resources policy that includes all of his topics. And with all of this, the intent is to be clearer, simpler, more resilient to future change in direction.

[11:06] In departmental level planning. So again, the purpose of our being here tonight is to follow up on the September meeting with further background on the five policy areas that you all identified, and seek your feedback on those areas. Grab doesn't have a formal approval role on the comp plan, but we still want your feedback, we want to hear what you guys think about these things, and we will convey that to the comp planning team. So I'm going to go through these five policy areas, floodplain and flood management. climate change, utilities role in development, regional role and financial considerations, and I'll provide some background on what the company historically has said in these areas, and any new direction. any tension that we see in the policy area, and our sort of staff take on the situation. And then we can take time after each one for rapid discussion. We'll pause after each slide. The bullets 3, 4, and 5 here are pretty intertwined, so while I have separate slides for each, we appreciate the discussion will probably bleed over between them.

[12:07] Any questions before we jump in? Right. So… We'll start with floodplain and flood management, and I think the flood policies are a good example of the change the comp plan is trying to achieve, because there are five lengthy flood and flood management policies in the existing comp plan, a lot of detail, somewhat hard to see how they all fit together. Since that plan, or since the 2020 comp plan. We went through a lengthy process in utilities to develop or to update our comprehensive flood and stormwater master plan in 2022, and that provides a lot more, like, refined framework and prioritization methodology for our flood work. And we really want that to be the guided light for our flood work. So the updated comprehensive plan flood policy will cover these topics shown on the right. Protecting people and property, high priority mitigation projects, preserving floodplain, climate change and equity, all at a very high level, and leave the details to the Comprehensive flood structure strategy.

[13:10] I think initially staff had some concerns about losing some of the language in the comp plan, and that, like, guiding language, you know, being in there, but, like, recognize that the comp plan was referring to the departmental plan, that we have the guidance that we need. So… Any questions or concerns about this? Area, where we're going. Do we already have, like, the draft policy language that's been put forward for floodplain and flood management? It is, like, a really messy red line right now. So, you know, there's still, like, depart… you know, we just went through our second round of comments, and we're getting, you know, comments from all these different departments, from county staff, so it's not, like, at a point that we can put it out yet. So, following up on that, will there be an opportunity for us to see that language? Yes, in March. Yep. Yeah.

[14:10] Other questions? I will go on to the next, which was questions about how the plan addresses climate change as it relates to utilities work. So, the 2020 plan includes consideration of climate impacts in policies relating to floodplain management and water supply planning, and that direction is preserved in the update. Which aligns with and supports ongoing utilities efforts to incorporate climate forecasts and footplane mapping and water supply projections, as we've talked about with you all. Brad had asked specifically about water quality the last time. The plan doesn't, and we don't anticipate it will, speak specifically to climate impacts to water quality, but it does provide this very broad guidance that climate change impacts should be incorporated into city planning and projects, and so…

[15:01] That, you know, supports ongoing utilities forest management projects and advanced planning to protect source water supplies and infrastructure from the impacts of wildflower fire. Including water quality impacts. So we don't see any issues here. We feel the comp plan provides an adequate level of support for how we consider climate change. We don't feel like there's a lacking direction. Don't feel good about that. Good thoughts or questions? What are all over? Climate change science. Sources that you utilize to… Kind of come to that conclusion. Kim, do you want to speak about the water supply planning component? Yeah, so I'm, yeah, I guess I'm most intimately familiar with how we use the water supply planning, and we're looking at, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change puts out, some climate change projections models.

[16:01] segment models, and so… We have essentially used what more… the Bureau of Reclamation has taken a lot of those models and processed them for water resource purposes, so we're just using Models, model outputs that, some of these other agencies have already processed, downscaled. SMB, we apply them to our models. Not… I think that in the split name mapping, I'm not 100% sure, what… The climate, you know, sources, how the… where they're using that… that information. Chris Douglas is out of the blind. I don't know if he has any more information about that, but we could, follow up before then. Is there… will there be reference to specific methodologies, or… Yeah. models? I mean, I think that the purpose of the comp plan really is to be high-level policy, so I think just a reference to incorporate climate change consideration for science into planning work is the level of detail that we're looking at. And then.

[17:12] Each project, each department can determine how best to implement it for their work. Can you quickly introduce yourself? Yeah, and sorry about that, Kim Hutton, Water Resources Manager. I'm pretty sure I forgot to do that at Council Thursday. And I would agree with what Kim said, in that the… The comp plan is at such a high level, they wouldn't really specify the methodology or the science to be followed, but it would give the policy attention for staff to follow as it gets into the details, and the office staff that And consultants decide. What's the state of the art?

[18:00] the work. Right. Go ahead, John. I was gonna say, well, just an observation first. It is hard to be precise, just because of uncertainties about the emissions and… what happens, but the point is to get the direction right, and you're not… I'm presuming that the… you're not just planning for past floods. like, greater floods, the potential for greater floods, that's the point. It's uncertain as how much. It's how much, yeah, and I think, you know, I think there's some… I… we have been part of discussions with staff, like, well, is this the right range to use? Is this the right range to use? Yes, that's… that's where we… that's why we don't specify an account plan. Recognizing it's such, like, a long-standing guidance document, when it comes to the floodplain and flood management, is there a reference to the 2022 CFS anticipated? Is that… Yeah, so there will… Yeah, and I can't remember, honestly, if it's going to be, like, if they're going to call out… like, the existing comp plan calls out, you know, like, the 2,000 million source water master plan, like, it references the things by date and name, and I don't know if they're going to do that this time around, or just say, like, see the latest departmental plan reference.

[19:11] But I think either way, like, structurally, we have that reference. And in the 2022 flood plan, climate change was one of the six beings that, was kind of central to development of that plan. And, with climate change, it's not just the magnitude of events like floods, it's the frequency. And so, part of the kind of cell bullets to that theme was do projects as quickly as you can, and with an older city like Boulder that's already developed and encroaching on the floodplains, strive for the highest level of protection that you can get in its drainage, recognizing that.

[20:02] if we can start over and do the development over again, we, we might, well said. But we might land on a larger level of flood protection or leaving development away from the creeks more than we did. as Boulder developed. Especially with what we know now about climate change. And I'm assuming the answer is yes, but are you planning for the potential for some catastrophic wildfire, particularly in the watershed, or… I mean, as best we can, yeah. We're working on forest management, thinning, you know, we have… I think, Megan, do you want to speak at all about the… any of the tools that Kate's been working on? Sure, I can. Yeah, Megan Wilson's a Water Quality Senior Manager. We have a source water protection plan.

[21:01] And one of the primary threats is wildfire. And so my colleague Kate Dunlap has been working really closely for a number of years with private landowners, Bore Service. open space staff, to plan and implement forest mitigation projects, and so one was completed last year. At Caribou Ranch, I believe, in Meadowland, there was one that you worked on near Pattaso, I think. And then there's a project that's about to start along the Penstock. From, Cosler, Costler, yes, thank you. So those forest mitigation projects are really kind of the better of what we're trying to accomplish. We also have A playbook that is… can be used post-wildfire to… just make quick action as fast as you can, to do erosion control, down models, that kind of thing. So those are two of the examples, but that's… Definitely contemplated that source water management.

[22:08] Is there… on the wildfire, is there anything in the comprehensive plan that talks about, like, coordination between city and county departments and response, or… I realize there's, like, a housing mitigation emergency response plans, but is there some reference to, like, how that will be coordinated and managed, or… how that would be emphasized, that coordination would be… there is at least one wildfire coordination policy, and I haven't dug into the language, so I can't remember exactly what it says, but yes, that's definitely contemplated and has been discussed quite a bit in the subject matter experts meetings, is how do we… you know, and a lot of the… quite honestly, we've gotten a lot of feedback on some of the, like, development pattern policies and things like that from, like, from the wildfire fighting perspective. So, yeah, it's been a concern from Marshall Fire and, you know, maybe some other large western fires, yep.

[23:05] There's a ton of emphasis on that topic in our Cross-departmental planning in the city, and then agency-to-agency planning. it's really a topic that's top of mind for our city council, and… Frequently has been discussed with them, including the… we had the water-wise, landscaping codes and fire-wise landscaping codes, then some other recent stuff, so… It's really top of mind. hesitant now. Fair. Move on to the next… area, which is Utilities Role in Development. This one's complicated. And… this and the subsequent three set of slides, sort of all related, as I mentioned. So, a major element of a comp plan is land use designations and policy direction on the location and timing of new development. I'm going to walk through all these colors, but that's what those are about.

[24:12] And that development in Boulder primarily occurs through infill… infill, so within the existing city limits, so very specific areas may be considered for annexation. So, the land use designations. Shown here inform how development occurs, and thus inform population and employment projections, and those, in turn, inform utilities, long-term planning for replacing nation infrastructure, investing in new infrastructure, and ensuring the liability service of divine service level. They're pretty important. The upper section here shows the existing plans, land use designations, 2020, and not expecting anybody to be able to read that. But the… I just wanted to show that in the update, there are… will be fewer categories. They're trying to simplify the land use designations, but they also, as part of that, are allowing for greater density in certain designations and greater areas of the city.

[25:09] So we do expect that the new comp plan will allow for greater density volume. city. And so that… But the policies on annexation, I wanted to point out, are anticipated to remain the same. We'll talk more about those. But, so with that greater density, that does, allow a path forward to grow… for growth to increase over the path rate we've seen in the past, and that could influence, what we need to do in our CIP. And it could also influence where development happens, and if that development is happening in areas Where infrastructure, utilities infrastructure is nearing its capacity, that could also influence how the structure is used. So our staff take is that ongoing coordination between planning and utilities is essential to ensure alignment between the CIP and development.

[26:02] We've had a lot of discussions about which is leading which. And it is a bit of a dance between the two, and we really just know that we need to maintain close collaboration to ensure that adequate infrastructure exists for new development. I will say that we feel pretty confident that the policies, so there's a land use designations in the plan, and then there's policies around development, and we feel comfortable that those policies provide guardrails for new development. So, for example, this is… these are two existing policies. again, the language will be slightly different and reorganized, but similar intent in the update. And we, you know, these things say things like facilities. And services based on established level of service standards must be available prior to or concurrent with development. So there's language in there that sort of ensures that we We can provide… that we're making sure that we have utility services before development.

[27:04] So that's a high-level overview of that meeting topic. What questions or concerns do… does Rob have? Do you need to give us the colorful map? You want to go to that? I've seen it. I have to say that we went through a whole presentation with these things. Yeah, good morning, Choji. transportation hubs, commercial hubs? Yes, yeah, I think they are, like, think of, like, like, Pearl Street, I believe, as a hub, or, the King Soopers shopping area in South Boulder, things like that. I think… I don't remember if… did we put, like, CU into hubs? No, CU's under other. I think that, like, that 55th Street sort of technology area is a hub. Like that. Of different scales, so they would have, like, a neighborhood hub that would attract

[28:04] people to businesses, just kind of… that were very local, coming from the neighborhood, maybe walking, biking. That's one scale of a hub. So, under that, you might… that would incentivize, you know, maybe Coffee shops in areas where we don't have them right now. And they just get bigger in magnitude. Is there any discussion in the comp plan about, like, affordable housing or equity and how that relates to Utah's plan? Yes, there's a number of policies that speak to affordable housing and equity and, That's been a big push, you know. Is there any, like… Mentioned of how the utilities played a role in development in that space? So that… we'll get into, like, the financial considerations. I think there's a bit about, growth paying its fair share. So that's sort of, you know, those are ways that we can get to affordability, but it's…

[29:04] Certainly challenging. Indirectly, I think. The concept of more density. Gives us and our team Something to think about in terms of planning and infrastructure. And resources that we have. So… Or dense housing is… Adding on how it's developed is one option for making it more affordable. When is this neighborhood one or neighborhood 2, what do those mean? Yeah, and I… I, should have had all the definitions in hand, but I think that Megan and Kim, you can correct me if I misremember, but I… They… I believe Neighborhood 1 includes up to, like, a quadplex, so, like, four attached homes. From single-family to four touch homes, and then Neighborhood 2 is, like, anything that comes to multifamily.

[30:04] So… currently, you know, we have, like, low-density residential, medium density density residential, you know, there's more zoning that only would allow a single family, and so now there will not be a zone that is just single family. I think it's a mixture, like, neighborhood one is predominantly the lower density Housing, but there could be multifamily, but… Then getting into Neighborhood 2, it's… Predominantly, like, a higher density than a low density. So it's very fluid. And what size or neighborhoods? So the map… I mean, you know, just these colors are painted onto the map of Boulder, so, like, a neighborhood could be, you know. one street, or it could be the entire table mesa neighborhood. There's all variation in scale. Yeah.

[31:01] Any other questions Just to clarify, so these, like, new designations, throughout the city, they're not, like, changing zone. It's just, like, how the city's planning for development throughout the city. Yep. And then the zoning is the next level that comes out of the land use designation. Yeah. Okay, So the next topic that Rob asked about was how the plan guides utilities' collaboration with other communities and supports regional redundancy and resilience in the context of climate change and other stressors. this question… could be interpreted a number of different ways, and I'm gonna talk through, kind of, what our take was on it, but… We can go a different direction if that's not what you were intending. So two things I want to say. One is about Sort of more broadly, we were just talking about land use designations primarily within the city, but the whole… thinking about the whole planning area, the comp plan specifies areas 1, 2, and 3. So one is in the yellow here, and that is within the city.

[32:12] Two, area two, annexation can be considered if consistent with the Boulder Valley Comp Plan, so it's these gray areas on the outskirts of the city. Areas 1 and 2 together are the service area, where we can provide utility services. Area 3, this is the big green border around us, is generally under county. jurisdiction, and intended to be Maine Rural. So, generally speaking, the city cannot extend urban services to new urban areas outside of the service area across the city boundary, but we can extend urban services to certain areas consistent with annexation policies, the blue line, and with the CIP. The blue line, I'm just going to switch slides for a second, being this blue line on the west side of the city, which was established in… or added to the city charter in 1959. So it's an elevation of 5,750 feet, above which city water service cannot be provided.

[33:13] It's our Western. boundary… The other thing we wanted to point out is that while the scope of the confine is just this area shown on the screen. the Compan does speak regularly to, like, regional collaboration, and supports regional collaboration, and that is something that we do. We work collaboratively with neighbors in emergency settings, fire response, like the recent fire in Netherland. We're supporting water teams in Superior. We work with neighbors on long-range projects, like South Polar Creek and Streamflow, where we collaborate with Lafayette and Overwater. So… The regional collaboration is supported by the company. Is this kind of a… I think, Amy, this is… I'm just gonna put nothing at you. This is your question. Is this kind of what you were getting at with your question?

[34:08] Yeah, I think I was… I was, Wondering if the comp plan would be addressing, you know, sort of the… The future of future planning, where there might be extreme events, and, like. you know, more coordinated growth between the community, the cities, as well as just Boulder County. So, kind of, how are we working with Superior, or Broomfield, or, you know, Louisville and Lafayette, and making sure that our comp plan sort of makes sense within the the comp plan world and the regional development planning for all of the Front Range. And I know that the city gets involved with Dr. Hogg on things, and I mean. Participants in some of these

[35:00] targeted region… bigger region planning… regional planning initiatives. Yep. Or, yeah, targeted regional plans. So I just wondered how that got… how that fit in, and how… what that meant for utilities, because the City of Boulder Utilities is… You know, has for so long been so… Forward-looking and thinking about infrastructure and water resources and… There's a… there's sort of an inconsistency or disconnect with some of the other neighbors here, so… How does that? How does that match up and reconcile? Yeah, I think there's… I think that there are a lot, you know, there are regional efforts, like Dr. Cogg, that you mentioned. I think that within water resources and water quality, we are thinking about how… what role we have with our neighbors, and… a traditional role with neighbors that it's structured through the water court process in water resources. We're thinking about other ways that we can be collaborative and forward-looking.

[36:03] There's different… I don't know, is there anything else you two want to mention? Yeah, there's… I think there are a few intergovernmental agreements that kind of talk about development in a more regional way. One of them is the West 36 corridor. Agreement, that just kind of… Broadens the scope of this planning area, in kind of that southeast area. But I, I guess maybe more broadly, the… Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan is kind of specifically the City of Boulder and Boulder County, and there are five, approval bodies, I believe, one of which is the Boulder County Commissioners, please correct me if I pronounce this.

[37:01] Four? Yeah. Okay. Four. But I think you make a really good point, Amy, and I think it's something, as Layla said, that we've been talking more about, is… is how do we relate to our neighbors, especially to the East. So I think that's… We could definitely take some of that feedback. back. I do think the comp plan, as it's currently in draft form, does contemplate regional collaboration sort of broadly. We can continue to kind of explore those opportunities and needs. Under that sort of broad language. It's not… it's not very specific, I don't think. No, but I mean, I… you're not… you won't solve, like, your front range. But following up, I think that's an excellent point. Do our neighbors have similar planning process? Processing efficiency. I think so, yeah. They also… there is a comprehensive plan for Louisville, but let's see. I live in Louisville, and they did… they are going through a comprehensive plan. I'm not sure how it compares to this one, because I'm… I'm not sure it includes the county, but they do have their own version.

[38:10] One exercise might be just comparing. And there's… Same parts to see, at least make sure they're not inconsistent or contradictory. And there's, like, there's… there's a comprehensive economic development strategy for the region, and there are, like, hazard mitigation plans that cover… come from a more retail perspective, and also cover, like, specific to the city. So just kind of, like, how do those plans Oh. Align and make sense together, as well as being strong and well thought out independently. Yes. Great point. You said there are four approvals, so obviously Boulder City Council, but County Commissioners, who were the other two? Boulder City Council… Holder Planning Board. Other planning board.

[39:02] Boulder County Commissioners, and the… Oldercare Planning Board? Oh, yeah. This app, you said that… Area 1 and 2 are the areas that department can currently provide service, right? I think we talked about this before, but that Area 3 planning reserve up there, is that the… What's the status of that area now, and is that… is that the area that we talked about? I don't know. 6 or 8 months ago, that's the Area A, or whatever it's called, is that? Yeah, that's the Area 3 planning reserve, that, like, light green. Yeah, what's the status? Of that area now, in terms of So the process for that is sort of concurrent with the comp plan, and so I think in January. the City Council will have an opportunity to Your discussion on an…

[40:01] Evaluation of service… Baseline services study. Isn't it the baseline Services? I think it's the needs analysis. I think initially… last year, they did the urban services study, feasibility study, just, to get a sense for what order of magnitude of cost, would entail development of that area. And after that, City Council said, great, thank you, proceed to the next step. So the next step is, like, a needs analysis. So staff is putting together, an evaluation of what are the unmet needs. within this city… Boulder community, and can those needs only be met by developing this Area 3 planning reserve. And if Council feels, yes, that's the case, then they approve to go to the next level, which would be, I think, incorporating planning reserve into the comprehensive plan.

[41:05] I think changing the… The planning area from… Planning reserves to, perry. Perry, too. Is that where the gun range is? Yeah. And it wouldn't be… that doesn't necessarily mean suddenly we're serving an area it's all… it's partially privately owned, partially owned by the city, so then, just like any other land in Area 2, Have to apply for annexation. And then… the extension of city services were followed. So, I think that's, like, a number of years out, but that's generally the process. I may have missed a step. But that's really helpful. Involving utilities, too, but, like, The general theme of this comprehensive plan is

[42:01] Keep the areas that are developed vibrant and, active with Improvements and investment into utilities and, like, incentives for, you know, more and more activity. infill, and not… outfilled. Would you say? Yep. I think, you know, the evaluation of Area 3 is somewhat separate from that very direction that you just described very nicely for the comp plan. The comp plan really is about making… continuing to make the city a nice city. But there's a little bit of a component in this one. Yeah, yeah. Any other thoughts on this one? Well, the last topic, fifth and last, is financial considerations.

[43:03] So, Rav asked for further discussion on cost recovery and affordability of utility services. The comp plan primarily speaks to that topic in that it has historically been very clear that growth pays its fair share. And that update preserves that existing fraud policy guidance. Tottenham will pay its fair share of new facility costs. the attention to that policy is that there can be a very high cost to gaining access to city services, right? So, as an example, San Lazaro manufactured home community, residents have a high interest in connection to city water. The cost in doing so has contributed to stalled discussions about the annexing to the city. So not an easy topic. Staff take is that that policy is appropriate to balance funding of new development with ensuring reliable service. And the devil's really in the details of how we determine fair share, plan investment be methodology, and that may be updated in coming years.

[44:05] Especially if things change with what area we're serving. Air is not necessarily 100%. It's not necessarily 100%. It's not necessarily less or more than 100%. For example, there could be a portion of town where We're planning to replace a 20-inch transmission bike. And… But then there's… some development that's happening that, when you factor that in, it really needs to be 24-inch, and so the incremental difference might be less. But generally, when we make city, like, capital improvement plans, we're not saying, okay, this is going to service area 4, and so service area 4 is going to pay 100% of this. It's…

[45:02] because there are so many improvements across the system, you sort of, like, figure it ends up being equitable at the end of the day. You're not, like, applying those very specific costs every time to the individuals that are benefiting from that infrastructure upgrade or new infrastructure. perhaps the majority of the stuff that comes before the board in the capital improvement plan every year is just as you say. It's not… it's not being split up between Who benefits from it, but occasionally, there can be a development-related thing that a portion of the capital cost needs to be assigned. do that development. Does it have to follow a formula, or is that just done on a case-by-case basis? I think there are formulas, and, we have staff members in our planning department who,

[46:00] Really implement all those things when they come up, so we work in close partnerships with them. Any thoughts or questions? Okay. Well, thank you for feedback, I wanted to… Note a couple major public milestones that are coming up. So, recommendations on major policy and land use changes will go to Council and Planning Board at a joint meeting in December. January 15th is the Council Public Hearing, at which that next phase in the Area 3 planning reserve process, the name of which we couldn't exactly remember that that will happen in January. March, the public draft plan will be released, and that's when you will actually see this policy language.

[47:01] And have another opportunity to actually provide, like, comments on the language itself. And then we hope to have the fun wrapped up in summer. That's the schedule. Any there? Thoughts? Thank you all for your feedback and thoughtful comments. We will share those, and I think really think about that regional planning comment. It's great. Anything else? Thank you, Amber. What a cool process to be involved in, right? It is. Good. So, we'll move on now to the issue of this letter of recommendations to the City Council. Yeah, for sure, and I'll note that the team members who are here to support the thought plan are free to pack up and leave if you'd like.

[48:03] We're going to completely shift gears here. Overall, people are welcome to stay as well, if that's of interest. So, this next item is actually an action item for the board. It's a, To involve a public hearing. And it's basically recommendations from the Water Resources Advisory Board to City Council in the form of a letter on 256 priorities. Last meeting, we discussed under upcoming schedule, this topic and the invitation from Council for Boards to make recommendations. on what boards think should be Council's work plan for hours of these. The letters are due by the end of the year, and when we were talking under upcoming agenda. we discussed some options. We could try to schedule a retreat to do this, which is what we normally have done in the past when there's been a request from

[49:01] Council, for board letters, for, Try to integrate it into a business meeting. And I think after discussing with you all the… The preference was, rather than trying to cram a retreat in at the end of the year, let's just do it in a business meeting, which is tonight. And you all nominated Katie and Steve to work together to bring some ideas forward, so that you'd have something to start with tonight. And just as a reminder, Council did provide a letter template that all of the boards were to use. It was actually an attachment to the packet tonight. And so, I think, Steve and Katie, you… you worked up a draft that you may have shared that Karen. And that on the screen there is the template that went to all boards and, what they requested.

[50:01] And… They'll discuss this… they'll discuss the board recommendations at the 2026 Council Retreat. A big priority of their retreats is setting their work plans and their council priorities. Because of changes in the elections, this will be a one-year term for councils, and then we'll have another election, it's gonna switch to even years, so it'll be a one-year plan. It would normally be a two-year plan. And so that's the template, and then I think, Steve and Katie shared a draft. And so it might make sense to start with that, just maybe quickly, by a level, and you can summarize what's in there. Then perhaps we could stop and have a public hearing, if there's anyone that would like to speak to the board. In your recommendation, so we have a poetry. After we've decided how we want the thing to read, or before, or during, or when do we have to do that?

[51:06] Normally, a public hearing would happen If you think of the things that we bring forward, like the CIP that require board action, you would do a staff presentation. And, the board could ask us questions. Then you would do a public hearing. and hear from the public, then you would deliberate and make your vote. And so, if you kind of talked generally about what's in your draft to start with, did the public hearing after that, in case anyone wants to weigh in, give you something to think about, then you deliberated on that. And that deliberation would include editing or making any final changes you want to, to your letter. And then at the end of all that. you would vote and make a recommendation, if you all agree on the 11th, to advance it to Council.

[52:02] Okay. Okay. I think Kay pulled together a graph, and maybe you can run through that. It seems like our main objective, though, is to kind of condense that down, and maybe come down to three… two or three major points we want to make, and keep within the length guidelines and so forth. So maybe you can run over Yep. …how you pulled that together, and then we can… chat a little bit before we have a public hearing. Great. So the, there were kind of three primary priorities that kind of rose to the top of both. Rab interest and, staff work plans priority. And so those three highlighted here, South Boulder Creek flood mitigation, work, and there's information here on that. The utilities rate study that's coming up in 2026. Oh, and then upcoming CIP projects. I actually think there might be a fourth one in there as well, sorry. Upcoming CIP projects, and then what we just heard on the Boulder Valley Comp Plan as well. So those four kind of rose to the top.

[53:06] And so, I think the intention here is some discussion around those four, and some condensing as appropriate. And then at the bottom here, there were a couple other things to discuss, but maybe not as high priority. So, the integrated water supply plan, pre-work that's going to be coming up in 2026, As well as some of the wildfire preparedness projects. And then at the end here, we have a couple… comments and questions for staff that we can discuss later on, but that's really… the intent is to kind of discuss those, projects and prioritize what the board would like to send to Council. This sort of struck me, looking at this data that the top two are kind of… You know, specific…

[54:02] Projects or programs that We might want to draw attention to, whereas the second few are sort of more… broader… Not so much water utility-focused efforts that maybe I don't know, maybe it's not our role to emphasize those as much, but maybe we could start by talking about these top two items, because it seems like it's pretty good agreement that those two things should be on the list. What do people feel about… about the way these were worded, and… It's just sort of the level of… detail, or even length that would be appropriate, but there's, like, two or three sentences, or, like, this is an important topic, and here's why, here's what our position is, and that's… that's sort of it. But for sure. In the last council retreat. The Council group landed on 11 priorities, and… Generally, at the…

[55:01] Reasonably the same level of detail, but in past, It wasn't on the last work plan, but past councils, when… The South Boulder Creek Flood Project was… Really at the peak of evaluation and public process and annexation discussions. It was a topic that was on the… Council work for that. on its own. The last council highlighted something around supporting, manufactured housing communities and Opportunities to upgrade their utilities infrastructure. And so, those are the types of things that, Can be on their plan. And it can be somewhat specific, like a certain project, or it could be more broad. We might have something more broad around housing or what?

[56:09] It seems like the first topic there is one that there's pretty broad agreement on it, and I know it's also an item of importance to the public. We try to emphasize the importance of You know, I'm not continuing to… go back and forth on this issue, but to actually find a way to move forward on it. And so it seems like that's… one important part of this, I guess, you know. As you've written it there, Camino, we say we strongly encourage Council to prioritize, advocate, etc. Should we make… He said, Do we make that… Language stronger, or… you know, like… this is a… this is our number one priority, and we think it's pretty critical, or is that… I mean, what do y'all think in terms of the wording there? What levers does Council have in terms of the action of implementation? Is the plan set, it's the question of getting with God.

[57:05] agree with… I agree with objective, but does Council have specific things… decisions they can make that can Remove obstacles, or just accelerate the, alignment of the plan. Possibly. It's, It's currently tied up in litigation, and so there could be around the funding of it, so there could be things in, In the future related to funding that might come before Council. I think it helped to maintain public support for the project, keeping it, like, in the forefront of discussions at Council. Acknowledging it as being something that's working properly. Which would be helpful for your utilities. We specified that language specifically, like, we encourage you to continue to advocate for this, like. Throughout the public? Yeah. We strongly encourage Council to prioritize and advocate for the project's implementation, as it's crucial for community safety, infrastructure resilience, and long-term risk reduction.

[58:13] That seems like it captivating, but it's been much. Well done. So, do you want to go ahead and move that one up to priorities? Yeah, because everybody agreed that that's sort of one of the… based on the team management. You may want to get these all kind of that way, and then hear from the public before you… Yeah. The rate study, the Council needs to approve the rate study, and the rate increases associated, right? So, it's important that they have some awareness and how this is important in terms of the water policy, or the water budgets.

[59:03] It may be worth adding language, though, to say there will be a vote before Council to identify those policy enhancements, like. the ask of Council, because I'm not sure that's clear here. Like, what we're asking Council for, rather than mine. Supporting recommendations, but… I guess you could add a sentence that the Ed Council will be, approve, or will be asked to approve the rate study in… do we have timing for that? We do, but I'm not… So 20 times 6, 73? Yes, it will. It'll probably be Q3 or 4, and then they wouldn't be implemented until 22nd. I'd honestly have to go back and look at the mechanics of exactly how it gets approved with… I mean, they would definitely be approving the rates.

[60:04] I'm not sure whether they vote on the water budget policy. That might be more of an operational thing, is that what you're thinking? Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, no. That bullet at the end of the, or near the end, that last under other questions, comments, concerns… Right, right. The second bullet really was sort of, I think, in many ways, encapsulated. I was gonna say, that sort of ties into this. Yeah, do we want to… I guess the question is, do we want to… since we're trying to be explicit, do we want to work some of that language into Thank you, well, we're somehow or another ascertaining that the brake study will That will be one of the outcomes of the rates today. We'll justify or explain why these sort of water rates are necessary? Right, I mean, recognizing the, you know, the needs for capital improvement, but also that the costs, too. rising, you know, I think we could say they're way above inflation, you know, 70% a year.

[61:04] and could pose of affordability issues for some. Maybe there's some of them worked the affordability angle into this raising noon. Yeah, I mean, there is some we say that, A key focus of the rate study will be Balancing the concerns of sustainable investment with affordability. Yeah. Can you just say that again, Karen? Yes, please. Can you go back up to the… sorry, the part about… the RAID study. Okay, yep, so… I don't… maybe instead of that in conjunction sentence, I don't know. Yeah, there will be a focus on balancing sustainable development with affordability.

[62:06] Sustainable investment. Sustainable investment, yeah. I think the chapter's… Yeah. So do we just need… We may be able to combine that with a sentence. Yeah. Couple up there where it says about voter sustainability, equity. Yeah, I agree. Maybe they were placed in conjunction. I'll remove it, I'll remove it. Yeah, maybe replace that in-conjunction sentence? Yeah. Yeah, that whole sentence. That's a good change. Yeah. And then put that. There will be a focus there. Will be or shouldn't. The lady joke?

[63:01] Since you're worth smoking. There, there will be. It will be. That's… That's how that's proper. Proven input from the board. single investment portfolio. This recommendation aligns with Boulder's. Do we need that? Yes, yeah. Yeah. We… Don't you love wordsmithing as a team here? In 2026, there will be an effort to identify policy enhancements that encourage… continue to encourage, and then we say there will be a focus So there's a little bit of… Oh, but there will be. Can you say, like, the study we'll focus on in the second sentence? Or the study will also focus on Victor.

[64:02] take into consideration. Yes. Yes. Studies will take into consideration balancing sustainable investment with portability. Yes, that's good. Maybe as long as we're rear, should that sentence… that last sentence, should that go… after the clause and the first… in 2026, Council will be asked to approve the rate study Period. And then there will be an effort. Once we're doing anything. I feel like prefacing it first, before we say Council votes on it. Do we want to say something about why it's important to Council, other than Council, to improve it? Like…

[65:01] That sort of draws into the point down here at the bottom, right? It's important that they realize that it's an issue of It's getting more attention amongst the public. Yeah. And that, you know, the rates have gone up enough that some people are starting to, you know, ask questions about it, or… Whatever, so it's not just… it's not just a mechanical issue for the utility department. So you mean after, like, affordability, we should say, like, which is a concern of older residents? Per se, the… While annual rate increases. You know, are necessary to maintain aging infrastructure and ensure reliable service. There's a growing concern about affordability… about affordability for residents. the study will take into consideration balancing sustainable investments with… so I'm taking that sentence out of the… Yeah, you could just add a sentence between sustainable and the study that says… Yes.

[66:05] It stands up. Is that down on the bottom? Yeah, it's at the very bottom, where I take everybody else. It says there's a growing concern? Very first one. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's fair. And maybe just, get rid of sustainable affordability… sustainable. It's pretty good. Guys, please have done this before. And then you can erase the word sustainable there, in that sentence. Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

[67:06] So we don't know exactly what else Council needs to do with the rate study, other than just approve it, but, like, past that, we're not clear on, like, if they have to actually approve the rates. Is that what they were talking about? I think they had to approve the rates, but we're not sure if they need to approve the water budget policy guideline updates, so this is just asking for them to approve the rates that come out of the rate study. And I think for them to… Acknowledge and be aware of that tension between, like, the investment and the costs. The necessary adjustment to cost impacts. I think… To clarify, if I can weigh in. So the rates really get approved every year in the manual budget process. The rate study Is really the mechanics of how we bill our customers, and we think about equity and those types of things, and practicality, and simplicity.

[68:06] And so, I think the public process, the board process, the council process. We do our best to bring our expertise to that, And, also… The public really can influence, and has in the past, when they bring something to our attention that needs to be addressed. So, it's really the mechanics of it. Our whole business model in utilities is based on cost of service and covering our costs. So they're not… they're not necessarily… all the approvals and recommendations from the board is not necessarily about the rates themselves, but kind of the algebra of How they're calculated and assessed.

[69:05] It seems like they're each pretty well-round. Yeah. Let me break through again. It's not redundant. Comfortable, though? the, we want to move on to that CIP projects, I guess my inclination there may be to say something more like. You know, it's critical that the utilities department be reinvesting in some sort of sustainable rate in the infrastructure and the This is known. You know, a national crisis, or whatever, you know, the utilities are not…

[70:04] We have to make sure that our utility is reinvesting at a rate which will maintain the Good luck, Bill. Maintain the, you know, the… So maybe just keep the first sentence? I guess what I'm thinking is to say something like that, and then just say particularly important in that plan are 1, 2, 3, 4, like Devin, just leave it at that. Yeah. Back here. Yeah, so to delete that next sentence, I think. specific projects the Board recommends Council support, which makes sense. Yeah, you can keep in timeline. We are not keeping this time around.

[71:05] Okay. Do we want to say… I mean, to your point, Steve, do we want to put a sentence in there that says something about how Boulder wants to maintain its record of How do you know? Appropriate investment levels, or… Yeah. Timely aggressive. Without, sort of, From another place under the bus. It's important that voter continue its history of responsible investment in infrastructure. Yes, yeah. Something like that. It is critical. Boulder continues, it's…

[72:02] Prudent and adequate investment. Like, infrastructure. It's record over… Yeah, continuous record, then we can… Yeah. Continuous record of, yeah. Brutus and adequate. I think you can continuous. Just continue its record, not… not continue its continuous record. I'm being affectionate to Julie. Enjoy this time of the day. Continuous, continuous record. We want to make… we want to emphasize, do not give it up. Asking the obvious questions, all of these items are all… they're all…

[73:03] That work within the current plan and reg structure. proposed. Yeah, for sure. I mean, you're hitting on things that are absolute priorities for the department, and so those are in alignment with our work plans, too. So those will hear the board saying, we need to change Council, we need you to tell staff to change course on what this is doing. Those… those five projects there would be the ones who would kind of float to the top internally, if you guys all sat around and said, what are our most important projects, or… Or should we add one, or should we take one off, or… No, I think… I mean, if you look at the 6-year CIP, or a 20-year, there are… there are some really high-level projects that would stand out to us, but if you look at a particular year, like 2026, I believe these are… I may just clarify Gregory Canyon Creek Flood Mitigation, by the way. Don't just sign up.

[74:07] Oh. Should we spell out the CIP in the heading there? Is that not necessarily… Morning, Bert. Yes. No, it's just projects. I know there's a level to… isn't. Always touched. Is CIP just… CIP is Capital Movement Plan, not projects, was that… It is projects. It is projects. Okay, perfect. Look at this. Must be good. Vegas?

[75:01] In terms of the fourth… the other points that you… We were out there, Katie? I mean, should we… Seems like the Boulder Comprehensive Plan, do we… do we really need to tell them they should focus on the Boulder Comprehensive Plan? And I, I just… I thought it would be… it might be helpful to add the lens on comprehensive plan of the areas that we care about, because they're, like, going to obviously be dealing with a lot of the comprehensive plan, but what do… what are we from RAB thinking about that we also think that they should… Pay attention to. That was my logic, but I'm open to removing it. Others feel that it's… Well, I'm wondering… yeah, but I mean, it comes through in the other priorities, but maybe a statement about the importance of considering you know, emerging risks, I mean, particularly climate change, I think. Flooding, fire. sort of comes through in the other, because I don't think we don't have to be explicit about it, but make a statement that's…

[76:06] Important to keep. Keep these in mind, and prepare as… quickly as we are able to. Yeah, and maybe that's not even a priority. Maybe, like, in that closing sentence, we say, like. RAP supports the cost plan, and… You know, workarounds. And particularly with its… with each role, and then just list those highlighted things in one sentence. That's it. Yeah, yeah. Is it a fourth bullet, or is it, like, a closing… I think there's, like, a closing little paragraph on the top. It's, like, all over E, so… I mean, Mary, say something like, finally, finally, Rob… Yeah. …strongly supports the vulnerability Comprehensive Plan, and in particular, the XYZ points that you've made there, and then I keep just kind of concise.

[77:08] Yeah. I've lost you, is that a bullet point? So, up at the top, if you go scroll up. Up further… like, at the letter part? Right there. So, where it says the board believes these recommendations, maybe right after that, say, like, in closing. Or how did you say that, Steve? Maybe before, you could say, Well, I… and I… I don't mean to be passing notes in school, but I just said, finally, RAB supports the Boulder Valley Comp Plan, and in particular, the emphasis on… Yeah, that's correct, is that right? Yeah. Yeah, and maybe that's… Yeah, that's great. Now they don't know where it goes. I think at the beginning there.

[78:02] Right before the board believes. Are you all open to me providing support on this one? So, I think that you just heard the comp plan presentation. I don't know that there will… There will be an opportunity for the board to provide such direct input to Council on the comp plan. you know, if we carry it forward and blend it into memos that RAB said this, planning board said that. it probably doesn't carry as much weight. However. This will absolutely be front and center in the city process, whether Council picks it as a priority or not. next year. And as Layla presented in the next steps in March, I think you will have the opportunity to provide feedback. So you would have the option of…

[79:01] holding this and presenting those thoughts then, and we would commit to carrying it forward. You could also put it in your letter now. And reiterate it, then… But I just wanted to throw that out there for contents, you know, you probably have some options. Let's see. So… So we're going to insert 3 bulleted points right above there, right? Yeah. And then we're going to close it by saying, finally, that supports the… the Valley Comprehensive plan, and in particular, the emphasis on, and then what… What were the 4 or 5… Emphasis on, flood, flood, plane, and flood management, comma. Climate change, comma. We want to add… we want to put all these things in there?

[80:02] That's like climate change preparation, by the way. Do you want us to just say, and particularly emphasis on climate change preparation and development? Like, I don't think so many people's answer on this? Probably not. plugged in your bookmark, yeah. Emphasis on climate change and… You don't see develop? Utilities were all in development? Yeah. Utilities… in development? I like that. Climate change and utilities role in development. totally blown developments out, so yeah. Yeah. And then you can erase what play and flip the image from.

[81:01] Welcome to. We'll leave that in, I think. You might want to get rid of comma after on. business. And, and, possessive of the utilities. Did we want to mention floodplain Management? Just the climate change. I feel like climate change covered. Climate coverage, yeah. But that would still be part of the… the sentence below would part… be part of the same sentence, or the same paragraph. This one. Do we want to say the emphasis on policies related to climate change preparation and utilities? Because it is a policy…

[82:01] Falls. Yes. True. I'll see Jay. I'm sorry. These are needed to be policies related. Policies around climate change, or just on policies? Policies around, yeah. Upon climate change, yeah. And that encompasses the management and financial considerations and regional. And this keeps it from being too long, drawn out. Yeah, yeah. So by around, you mean something, as opposed to, as you said, on, that would be too narrow. Specific climate. This thing is on or on, rather than around. It's just a edit. policies on climate change preparation and utilities rule, or RAND. Policies involving the effects of climate change? On is after emphasis, so I'm… So then we'll just grab the three bulleted…

[83:05] paragraphs below, and drop them in there, and… You know? Then let's take a look at how long that looks to be when we get to that. What's the overall one? No more than two pages. Okay. Yeah, I think we're picking about four. Maybe a little bit hard. Let's see… Right. Are you leaving the… No, we're taking that out. So what you highlighted there, just move it up to the top. Didn't drop it, yeah. March.

[84:04] Do we want to write out Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan? True. Oh, true. That's a pretty low work for brands. It's such a long word. But we are at the interpret. I think it's not… yeah. I think… I think… I think the… the last… it's only going to be one paragraph, I think. Yeah, combine those two last… Paragraphs, maybe. I hope to save yourself. We could also do two columns with our names, you know? Tiny margins. 11 by 17 paper. Nobody knows 12 and 11 thought, but… This is 12 byp.

[85:08] You probably don't have to have that BBCP in parentheses. You don't reference it anywhere else? I don't think so. That's a fair comment for me to make, you know, I see. Love it. We are, and then you're gonna delete whatever's left down below, right? Yeah. Get everything with the caption. Just the order, just… Catherine, do you actually go third? What? You're filling in a slot? Do we list these in order of their… That's much seniority, or the number of years we have left. Sit. Chris, does Catherine go third? Nonetheless. We have enough space that you can put a return booking and a thank you. Oh, yeah. Put a thank you on its own. Good job.

[86:09] Yes, in alphabetical order for that. The ones without photos. No place. Hey, that was a critical change there. I like the glass of it. I knew we could put thank you on a sip of wine, that looks about right. Yeah, it's great. Oh, yeah. Yeah, put in a PR. That's pretty good. Here? Let's look at the variant opening. Paragraph again, we didn't mind.

[87:04] Is the city's strategic plan capitalized? Is it accurate to say that each of these is going to be achievable within 12 months? Particularly with the projects, right? I mean, the point is getting them started, right? Yeah, I think you're okay. But are we making… is the language clear, then, that we're just saying on the projects, on the third bullet, that we're… getting started. We're not going to finish, we're not going to finish anything. You think it makes sense to leave that within 12 months from now? Is that… I can't remember, is that the boilerplate language that was in the template? Yeah, that's what they requested. Each recommendation is achievable within 12 months, supported by existing resources, and positioned to advance meaningful progress. Or do we mean achievement? Can we say achieve? No, that… they… they just said within… specific to the year. Okay. So it's next year, rather than within 12 months, I'm not just… what are we just saying next year?

[88:09] No, we can erase a lot of that. If you just want to erase that whole last sentence, that's fine. I think it's clear that it's 2026. That's fluff. Well, maybe that's… you're gonna take that out. Why don't you put in 2026? In the first sentence. We just get to it? Because people, you know, they don't… I'm not getting around the door, sure. Yeah. But what about putting in 2026 in the first sentence before sitting? Yeah. It's already right there in the header as a bullet points, right? Okay. First since 2026. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, that's fun. Okay, should we do the public hearing for it now, and then we can fine-tune after we're done with that? Sorry, can I make one comment really quickly? I think we could just say the following are the board's recommendations, because above we say potential priorities. I think that's…

[89:16] Yeah. Yep. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, good point. You're doing great so far. This could have us here till midnight. Okay, so you'd like me to ask for a public comment? Yeah, I guess so, yeah, I think so. Great! Okay, so if any of the attendees would like to comment on… the boards… recommendations to City Council for the 2026 priorities. Go ahead and indicate by raising your hand virtually. I'll give it just a minute. I don't see any ends.

[90:05] Okay, I don't see any virtual hands raised. Good. In that case, do we want to… do we want to read to it one more time, or are you comfortable reading it out loud one time or something? Yeah. We got time. Dear City Council, thank you for the opportunity to provide the Water Resources Advisory Board's perspective on potential 2026 City Council priorities. In response to Council's request, the Board has identified a set of recommendations aligned with the City's Strategic Plan and the Utility Department's work plan.

[91:05] The following are the Board's recommendations. South Boulder Creek Flood Mitigation. The South Boulder Creek Flood Mitigation is essential for protecting over 2,300 residents and more than 260 structures in the West Valley area from potential 100-year flood events. In March 2025, Council approved $66 million in Series 2025 bonds to fund the first phase. With legal and procedural delays impacting the timeline, we strongly encourage Council to prioritize and advocate for the project's implementation, as it is crucial for community safety, infrastructure resilience, and long-term flood risk reduction in Boulder. Utilities rate steady. Boulder's current water budget was first established in 2007. In 2026, there will be an effort to identify policy enhancements that continue to encourage water conservation while ensuring implementation and associated administrative burden are sustainable.

[92:00] While annual rate increases of 6-8% are necessary to maintain aging infrastructure and ensure reliable service, there's a growing concern about affordability for residents, particularly those with limited incomes. The study will take into consideration balancing sustainable investment with affordability. Council will be asked to approve the rate study in 2026. Capital improvement projects. Utility CIP focus is maintaining and replacing aging infrastructure and increasing reliability, resilience, and level of services of the water, wastewater, and storm blood infrastructure. It's critical Boulder continue its record of prudent and adequate investment in public infrastructure. Specific projects the Board recommends Council support in 2026 include… I'm not going to read that full list… Finally, RAB supports the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, and in particular, the emphasis on policies around climate change preparation and utilities' role in development. The board believes these recommendations represent high-value initiatives that build on existing efforts and advance the City's long-term goals. We look forward to continuing to partner with Council and staff and carrying these priorities forward.

[93:10] Let me look at the second bullet again, there's something. Shooting a wrong thing. Bitworks current. So, I mean, I'm just wondering if that second sentence, we could combine that with the last sentence? I just… It's a little bit wacky, right? Because we're talking about the water budget, but we're also talking about rate increases, and there's kind of a mash-up there. Yeah. Like… rates are an important consideration when it comes to our budget, but then… Right, but also, and also what we're talking about, what's currently the second sentence, is that what is in the rate study?

[94:05] Identifying policy enhancements. Yeah. So, I have to find a way to combine that somehow. Yeah, maybe we say, Boulder's current water budget was first established in 2026. in 2020. In 2026, the rate study will include an effort to identify policy enhancements. That continue to encourage water conservation. Council will be asked to approve a rate study, which will I like that, yeah. Yeah. Council will be asked to approve a rate study. That will identify policy enhance funds. And then you can take out, yeah, right? Yep.

[95:03] Yep. Yeah. Yep, we want to change the second batch of which… No, down below that. Would you continue, it won't. Oh, wow. Positive handmits. Yeah. That's good. We'll continue. Okay. And then, do you want to, like, with the second part, with while annual rate increases, do you want to see, like, additionally, or, like, transition there somehow, to be, like. Now we're going to talk about affordability. I think it's okay. We could get rid of that last sentence. Yeah. Oh, yeah, right, right, yeah. Yep. Let's good. The only other… can you go back up again in town, just a sec.

[96:11] I guess we've already said adapt several times, I just… Which will continue to encourage water conservation. while ensuring that implementation and associated… Yeah. Administrative burdens, maybe, or the administrative burden. Sharing that implementation is associated with me. Her Dunn's… it should be plural, right? Oh, yeah, sorry. Are you, well ensuring that implementation and the associated administrative burdens are sustainable? Yeah.

[97:02] Kill the less sentence. Here? No. Councillor, anything else. Not, not just Council, yes, yeah. Yeah. I like that boardroom. Why do they care? Yeah, that's the right exact. On the… on the first bullet point up there, We're just gonna suggest… saying the South Boulder Creek Flood Mitigation Project. yep. In the title, No, just down there, yeah. You could say, since you just put in a title, you could say, this project is essential. I'll save some words. So you're not repeating it. Let me just put it in the title. And I'm just… just say, take out in that first… I mean, I don't know what to say, just take out…

[98:05] Right, and then just say, yep, delete that, and just say this project. Does that work? It's fine, yeah. Probably don't need to get into Oxford commas. I think Oxford kind of on the Oxford. 14 consultants, everybody thinks that, never. I do not think… I do not think I'm an editor. I know who the editor is, I'm like, listen. I won't. Okay. What do you think? Pretty good? Yeah. Good work. Great work. You want to look at the third one again? Well, I think we… I mean, it all read Find Me, but

[99:01] Peace. You want to say it is critical that folder continue? That's right there. It's critical that Boulder, yeah, they get out of that. Sure. So… yeah. I'll try to do ChatGPT, I'm just kidding. Here it goes. Thanks. Is that right? Yeah. I think it's critical that Boulder continue, not continues. Yeah.

[100:01] It's… it's a nip, and I looked it up. The P in CIP, and the way we use it in Boulder City Government, it's program. Program, yeah. Oh! I knew it. I know, I seem a little… Alright, I'm pretty good with this. I think it looks pretty good. Can you, can you zoom out for us, Karen, just so we can see how it lays on the page? It looks pretty good. Yeah. a week. Yeah, it's like engineers wrote this. Nice job, Katie.

[101:00] Thank you. Yes. Really good to have. Okay, good question. Okay, so if we're all comfortable with that, I'm going to ask for… Do I want to ask for a recommendation? Ask for a motion to accept… I'll ask for a motion to accept the letter. Dear the Boulder City Council, as we have just prepared it. Seems like you wanna… make a motion to… to, accept and submit City Council. And do we have a second? We have a second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay. Great. Thank you, team. Thank you, I appreciate that. That truly could be a midnight… I have heard about that. I'm thankful to… as much as I like this, I'm thankful to not be here today. We're having a good time, not…

[102:05] Okay, do we have any matters from the board? Any additional matters, no? Okay, and how about matters? Yes. We did talk before, and I just wanted to, volunteered to participate, in the rate study. Next time, next. Oh, okay. Sorry, I didn't realize it was… Okay. What matters from the staff? Joe, would you like to point Amy as the… Well, I seriously… Definitely better than our own side. No, it matters from the staff. Occasionally, we do, invite a board member to follow along with a plan, or… project that we're working on. We had a board member who, participated in the comprehensive flood and stormwater plan that you heard about tonight. We had a board… another… different board member participate in our recent water efficiency plan update, and it can just be helpful, especially when there's someone on the board with

[103:12] Subject matter expertise to kind of work a little more closely with staff. generally not a huge time commitment, and I think, we can tailor it to as needed, in the… In the case of the flood plan, I think the board member attended some of the public meetings and working group meetings, as well as coordinating with staff at times. I don't remember that being the case for the efficiency plan, and it was more just checking in with staff as to As the project went along. And so, as you noted in the recommendation letter, you just… approved or recommended for Council. the, Rate study and water budget effort is an important item in the utilities work plan, and that might be a good one.

[104:05] to have a board member follow along with us. So, if the board is open to that, and you want to nominate somebody, or somebody wants to volunteer. Now it's coming in. Now it's gonna help me. Yes, I would love to be involved in that. You bet. you're all good with that, Jim? We certainly are, I think. Yep. That'd be great, and we'd really appreciate that. Okay. The other matters item is a quick one. The Greywater ordinance is going through the council process. They have a first and a second reading on it, which is the city process for ordinances. They've made a slight change in the second reading. And recommended that. the, The ordinance to opt out of the state's gray water program, and to have a local… local control program set up.

[105:06] Have a sunset in 2 years, and so that, it gets revisited a couple of years from now. And would go… Were they agreeable with the recommendation? Okay, yeah. And… So, no other changes to the ordinance. It was otherwise the same as what the Water Resources Advisory Board So… And so, it'll take some time to develop a program. Our understanding is that they don't intend that we have a program ready to go in two years. They just revisit the decision of whether to Stay on the status quo, and continue to opt out, or to maybe add that to the work plan? And if that's all I had, if it's good with you, I can move on to the upcoming agenda. Yep.

[106:00] So, because we got the letter accomplished tonight, which we really appreciate, the thought was there that we might have to do a retreat before the end of the year. We won't… we won't need to do that. Typically, the last several years, we haven't had a need for a meeting in December, so no meeting then. Then in January, our utilities annual report is, sort of the utilities and year-end review memo that we prepare for board, so we'll cover that item, and then expect to have an information item on watershed protection code updates, which would leave, February for potentially doing a retreat then with the board. If you're so inclined, that could potentially happen in March as well. We wouldn't… would we have a regular scheduled meeting in March also?

[107:02] It depends on what's… on what's coming up on the schedule. We could do the… we could do the… Retreat, sort of meeting. In December, also? Or would you rather not do it before the… You could, if there was a… I guess it… I guess the issue would be, we want to… plan on doing that in February, or would we rather get it done in December, or… So you wouldn't have a meeting in February, right? In March, we have the BBCP comes back, the language. When is it… so when will the meeting be in January? What date? January and February, there are… It's usually the fourth Monday. Normally, they're… There's a holiday on the third month of April 4th, so… Yes. And with the retreat, we sometimes… do some more tailored scheduling based on the facilitator's availability, the board's availability. Wouldn't necessarily have to be on a Monday.

[108:11] When will we have a… when will we make a schedule for… you know, send out announcements for the dates for next year. For the retreat? Oh, for… The whole year? I'll probably start that. In the next week or so. Okay. I don't think we have anything… we don't have any invites or anything yet, are we? Not for next year. And our staff team last, probably, 3 years, we have a PowerPoint that we… that we keep that has a page for each month of the year for RAP, and we kind of keep a running list of how the year is shaping up, and which months Which topics will come forward. In terms of… what I know now, February might be a good month for a retreat.

[109:01] Okay, so we would have the… both of those meetings would be late. That works okay for everybody? Yeah, that's fine. Okay, so we'll plan on a regular meeting in January and a retreat in February, and we'll play it by year for March at this point. Yeah, likely a comprehensive plan update for… March, it sounds like. And water budgets. Okay. That's what I have. Okay, good. Anybody have anything else? Do we have a motion to adjourn this meeting? Second. Second. Move and prayer. Bye. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. There might be medicine.