March 16, 2026 — Water Resources Advisory Board Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:15] No. Well, actually, we are now. It looks like somebody may have started the meeting. We could start the meeting. We are, 6 o'clock? Okay. It's called meetings in Quarter. And I guess, Joanna, you are going to give us our ground rules from afar. I am. Thanks for letting me participate virtually this evening. 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 follow, which are in place to find a balance between transparency with community members and security that minimizes disruptions.

[1:00] Please provide your full name to participate in open or public comment. If your full name is not currently displayed, please update it in Zoom. Or send me a text at 303 817? 1742, and I'm happy to change it for you. There is no chat feature for this meeting, but the question and answer function is enabled for any Zoom 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 a 3-minute timer will be displayed, and we'll start once you begin your comments. Thanks for your participation! Thank you, Jordan. The first item is to look at the, and approve the January meeting minutes, did anybody have any dangerous stroll? I do. I have just two suggestions. In a discussion on the executive summary, could we add

[2:05] There's a question. Could we give the report to new RAB members? And, just a correction on… a discussion… oh, also a discussion there about the water budget. If it… is it possible… there's a comment… it says, common while presenting mean values in addition to median. Actually, I think the comment was about presenting a range of uses. And I think it's earned the sort of box and whiskers, you could say that, but a range of uses, like, 25, 75%, that kind of thing. Yeah, so not… Range of uses. Did I say use accounting correctly? Uses. Yeah, thanks. All right, thank you. Anything else? Okay, with those comments, then, can we get a motion to approve the January meeting minutes? So moved. Second.

[3:02] All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to our, Public comment, do we have anybody tonight that would like to comment, Joanne? Let me just double check. If you would like to comment this evening, please indicate your desire to do so by virtually raising your hand. Do see one commenter? Lynn Siegel is here. Lynn… You should be able to unmute. Yeah, with regards to the Boulder Valley Comp Plan, and our capacity for supplying water, with the Colorado River Comp Pla- Compact kind of in flux now. It's not a good time to allow… I know you're going to talk about the BBCP tonight, but it's not a good time to, ignore, you know, this huge issue, of

[4:01] survival for… the massive populations that are coming to Boulder with Sundance. We're supposed to be coming on, I think, about 60,000 more people, and we're only at 108,000 to start with in the near future. And I can tell you, I can see those 60,000 And, The Millennium… a development, the Colorado street development up to the football stadium, up to 7 stories. Naropa, up to 7 stories, Naropa, Arapaho, Dark Horse, Is it National Geographic, or… that one a little bit north and east? 49th and Pearl now, there's another one. These are all these huge residential developments. Glenwood, where Hyundai was,

[5:00] 55th and Arapaho, and then we've already got all of this, like. I don't know how even… how well people are even living in Boulder Junction. I don't think it's a really desirable place to live, but all of this population drives up our water use a lot. I mean, my water use has gone up a ton. Because… I got an energy retrofit. That's a complete disaster. And it was administered through the City of Boulder. And, it was… I thought they were gonna get me a couple mini-splits. It was free, which is nice. It's $55,000 worth of stuff, but it's not stuff that I will use, or that I… It's inefficient. For example, they put an air handler in my attic, and they could have put a mini-split in that room for $7,000. They probably spent 30, 35,000

[6:02] putting an air handler in a very limited, short space. I don't know how they did it. And inefficient, because it has ducks, and it… and then a huge 3-ton, many… Mitsubishi HyperHeat, which might not even be necessary. They were gonna do a thing, and they still have to do a thing to my, furnace to turn it into an air conditioner so they can unload my electric, inefficient air conditioner. This is all for efficiency, but you know what it does? I'm here for 25 years, I'm at 40 degrees or something, in my house, in my house. And it's cold, so I have to take a longer shower, and my… I can't wash my dishes because they… it gets cold as soon as I put dishes in there. So, you know… And we're at time tonight, but thank you for your time. Consider the population issues of going forward with the BBCP without your input.

[7:04] Thank you. Thank you, Your Honor. And we'll move on to our main item, tonight, the discussion on the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan Update, and I'll turn it back to you, Joe. Good evening. Yep. Good evening, board members. I'm Joe Tadiucci, Director of the Utilities Department. The last time we talked about the… Boulder Valley Comp Plan update was in November, where we took a bit of a deeper dive into the items of interest for the board. I think that we've stopped a few times and checked in with the board on various things. Eventually get into the topics that were most of interest to you, and we'll talk a little bit more about that tonight. The planning team that has been leading that effort and that process is here with us tonight, and I know they're excited, and we all are, that the draft of the plan was released on March 3rd, which is a

[8:10] Huge milestone for this effort, and I know there was an open house for the community last week that I understood went well. And basically, That effort now is, starting its final approach and coming in for a landing. I know the team is looking to acquire feedback and comments from the public and everyone by April 6th. And, right now, we're going through the process of making the rounds with the various boards as we prepare for the final approval. And, that approval formally comes from a four-body approval process of City Council, the County Commissioners, Planning Board, and the County Planning Commission, I believe, if I have that right.

[9:01] I studied for that all day. There's no, like a lot of city boards, there's no formal action required of RAD. However, the team is hoping to leave the meeting tonight, having kind of circled back with you on the items that were of interest and the feedback you've already given. And… would like to leave with a sense of whether… whether or not RAB is generally supportive or not of the plan. Would like to pass that on to Council as they go for the Council approval. So maybe we can have the discussion and kind of take an informal straw poll at the at the end of it, to have to see where you stand. So, with us tonight in person, we have Sarah Thorne and Kathleen King from the Planning and Development Services. department, two of the staff members who have been doing a ton of work to lead this, I believe online.

[10:03] My peer, Brad Mueller, who is the Director of the Planning and Development Services, who is listening in, as well as Christopher Johnson, who's also one of the staff leads on this project. And then we have Chris Douglas and Megan Wilson-Erkov with us here, who have been working closely with the planning team on this effort, so… In super good hands tonight, and with that. I'll turn it over to Sarah. You've got it, Joe. All right. My gosh, with that preamble, I don't know if we even need to say anything else. It's good to see. Some of you, we saw last time, Kathleen and I, we were with you in September of last year already. I'm Sir Horn, as Joe mentioned, I'm the student planner on the comp planning team in Planning and Development Services, and this is Kathleen, our fabulous Principal Planner. And of course, as Joe mentioned, we're joined by the utility staff, who've been amazing partners in this project. Like, they've helped us so much lately, and it's great working with them. They're great to work with.

[11:05] And this month marks the closing of our board's roadshow, the Compton Board's Roadshow. We have 8 boards this month. We've been to four, you're the fifth, so we're on the onward trend, so that's great. And the last time we were with you, as Joe mentioned, we were with you in September, utility staff met with you in November, and we really gave you an update on policy and land use direction. And we're really excited to be with you tonight, as Joe mentioned, to share how we've turned that direction into the actual draft plan, and that includes actual policies in a land use framework to guide our work. So… So, to do that, we're going to give you a quick update on where we've been and where we are in the process. We're going to walk you through the draft plan, show you how to review the draft plan online, if you'd like, and get your final feedback, as Joe mentioned before, where the plan moves forward. So, before we get into the nitty-gritty, I'll just… we put these three questions up on the screen, so you can keep them in mind when Kathleen walks you through the plan, and they're in your memo as well. So, the first one, does the board have any feedback related to the draft policies, or recommend any revisions to the plan? Do you feel like there's anything missing?

[12:14] And do you feel it is aligned with your previous conversations that we've had with you? Okay, and just a quick reminder, I think Joe mentioned your role in this update. You're an advisory board, and you've already helped us identify areas of focus for the plan updates. You help us determine where we might need to push forward or pull back related to policies and issues in the plan, which you've also already helped with. And tonight, as Joe said, we're asking you to help. I don't know if you said this, Joe, I listened to most of it, but if we're… you're here… I probably said. We're here to see if you have any potential revisions to the plan, which Joe did say. And then we hope that we might offer a recommendation of support to City Council and Planning Board as they go through the adoption process to help them with their deliberations. Okay, so a quick overview or reminder of where we are. In October of 2024 is when we began this process, and we started with the Boulder Today, and we focused on understanding current conditions, what community members are experiencing right now.

[13:14] and orienting them to the project. And then we moved into a Boulder Tomorrow, where we worked with community members to define a vision and shared priorities for what we want Boulder to become, the Boulder Valley, I should say. And then we went to a bolder direction, where we translated the vision into policy options in a preferred direction, and that's when we came to you. That was during that phase, and now we're in the home stretch. Or, as Joe has mentioned, landing the plane, the Boulder Future phase. So we've taken all we've learned from those previous phases and created the draft. For review by the community, you, and policymakers. And then the comprehensive plan, which you're all familiar with, but just a reminder of where it sits in the grand scheme of things, so we're all on the same page. It documents the Boulder Valley community's 20-year vision. It provides long-term direction for how we grow, change, and invest over time. It's intentionally broad because it guides decisions for many different city and county programs across a lot of subject areas.

[14:11] It sets the overall direction for our community and helps guide development, planning decisions, and department plans. So, in short, it's our roadmap for the long-term evolution of the Valley. And it helps us guide decisions, future work, and also manages and helps community understand what our expectations are, what community expectations are. Okay, and then I think we talked about this last time, but just as a reminder, our goal is really for this… it's the 50-year update, so it's kind of a big update. We kind of took the opportunity to look at it with fresh eyes. We want it to be clearer and more straightforward. And we want to… I'm going to use the plain analogy, like Joe did, we want to stay at the 30,000 foot level. It's setting direction, but not stipulating exactly how departments get to the vision and goals in the plan, or the values. And we're balancing aspiration and action. So the plan, we want it to be inspirational, but we also want it to point to improvements that we would like to see.

[15:03] And finally, we want it to be more adaptable and flexible, so we can respond to changing conditions, and COVID… the COVID pandemic is an example of a changing condition that we had to respond to, so we can… the plan can be more relevant, as technologies and priorities evolve or things happen that we can't control. Okay, and then finally, related to the process, your feedback and utility staff, as we mentioned, have been instrumental in helping us shape the direction of the plan. And just to remind you, some key themes, not all of them, that you raised when we last discussed the update with you, were things like strengthening resilience to climate change, ensuring growth pays its own way. integrating water and land use planning even more. We do a good job, but keep working on that. And then balance cost recovery, which I think, the speaker mentioned, the community member, Lynn, to balance cost recovery with community affordability and equity. That was another key theme. So, yeah, we took that feedback, and prepared the draft, and we hope you've had a chance to review it, but if not, Kathleen's gonna…

[16:04] tell you all about it, give you a little overview. Thanks. Great to be with all of you, thanks for having us back, and making so much time, and reading all the memos we've put together, and as I already mentioned, this has been, like, a Herculean kind of effort, and it was totally all hands on deck, so really appreciate everybody's time and energy that went into this. I'm gonna walk through a general overview of the plan, and we're going to look at some of the specifics related to, feedback that you gave us earlier in the process. So if you've got a chance to click through the website and open the plan, you'll notice, probably, first of all, that the plan looks different. It's been restructured quite a bit, and it incorporates, things like artwork and photography collected from community members throughout our Voicing Boulder collaboration that took place last year.

[17:03] You should also notice that the content's very reflective of the feedback we've received throughout the process. So, we've held over 65 different engagement opportunities over the last year and a half to understand what was most important to Boulder community members, and, really work to incorporate those interests into the plan. So hopefully you're seeing that come through as you flip through the document. One of the plan's components that's very heavily influenced by some of our early engagement work is the community vision statement. At its heart, this is about working together to ensure everyone belongs, create opportunities for all who live, work, or visit here, and sustain the health of our community and environment for generations to come. So the vision statement is supposed to really guide every aspect of the plan, from policies to land use choices, and it keeps the plan focused on what matters most to the community.

[18:05] So, when you're looking through policies and kind of exploring the different maps, hopefully you'll start to notice that the foundations of some of that original 1977 comprehensive plan are still in there. They still really ring true with community members. And these are core components that were… reiterated by community members over and over again throughout the process. So, Things like… We continue to value a compact community surrounded by open space. We continue to think that protecting the traditional system and scenic feastas that make Boulder so unique are still really important. Strong neighborhoods and sense of place remain really central throughout the policy and the menu strategy. Providing connections for residents to their communities. Violent leadership and environmental stewardship is another reoccurring theme that is still really important. And collaboration between the city and county remains key, ensuring that the planning is coordinated and serves the broader community effectively.

[19:17] There's also some new stuff in there. So, new and updated concepts in the plan that kind of come forward through comments submitted by community members and feedback from boards, commissions, and council. So, through our work with a randomly selected community assembly. This iteration of the comprehensive plan advances the 15-minute neighborhood policy. Which was included in the previous update, but it now better integrates the goals of this policy into land use strategy and associated map, and is, probably a little bit more clear about what is a 15-minute neighborhood. There's a real definition. In this draft update. The plan reexamines housing and updates policies related to planning for an increased housing supply and increasing the diversity of housing types across neighborhoods throughout the area.

[20:10] There are also new policies on economic issues, like supporting economic activity at night, and planning carefully for visitors. Some, new policies, some renewed policies that recognize the contribution that natural systems make to the city's ability to manage climate change and major weather events, so that natural infrastructure concept is really strengthened and named really intentionally in this update. The draft update also recognizes the value of social places to gather and connect with other people. policies that are supporting the many components of the local food system, were taken a really hard look at. So, from agricultural land to structures and transportation networks needed to maintain access to healthy food throughout the community, we heard a lot about that throughout the process.

[21:10] And then finally, the plan includes a restructured future land use strategy, and that really emphasizes the potential of infill and redevelopment to achieve multiple community goals. Without straining resources or infrastructure, and I'll talk more about that as we go through. So we wanted to look at policies that were most relevant to RAV and hone in on how a couple of your interests have been addressed in September. The memo for this meeting included a list of the draft policies related to your group, so I'm just going to highlight here, that those include policies that focus on Regional collaboration and the importance of the city's collaborators and partners on planning for the future, floodplain and flood management policies that describe the city and county commitments to effectively managing flood.

[22:03] Climate change, where we have a new policy on nature-based urban cooling and heat management, as well as renewed policies on resource planning and management. Additionally, there's quite a few that address utility's role in development, and a lot of these are kind of, like, towards the original comprehensive plan. These are some of the policies that set that planning areas framework in place and help us define the compact community surrounded by open space. And then also the financial piece, so, things like development paying its fair share of new facility costs, and that was a topic, that we talked about back in September. so, a pretty big list, but… As Sarah mentioned, the utility staff worked really closely with us to update the policies. And we really, I think as a group.

[23:00] Tried to make sure the language was clear and effective while still meeting community needs and interests and It's just been an awesome working partnership this whole time, so… A lot of thanks to all of our… our colleagues. Okay, so just a quick update, probably on the future land use strategy. The approach to land use and the future land use map that's included in this draft plan represents a pretty significant shift from prior iterations of the comprehensive plan. We've redesigned the land use map, so now we're working with these four different classes of land use and 12 coordinations. the… current comp plan, or the prior iteration include 26 different designations, and it was very complex. But this approach is intended to right-size the vision for land use across Boulder Valley. So, instead of looking, sort of, parcel by parcel and trying to be so specific about

[24:05] the potential or the future of that, particular property. This strategy intentionally looks at the makeup of a neighborhood. And uses that, to really set the vision for how places can evolve incrementally over time across the area. With so many, prior designations, it's become really challenging Maybe to know what the difference between different designations was. So, we had, like, a transitional business and a community business, and when you dug into those, it turns out there wasn't a ton of differences between those things, so we're trying to create a set of Future land uses and descriptions that are, distinct. And are really clear about expectations for allowed and supported uses, that describe urban design characteristics, and begin to integrate expectation for things like, mobility facilities.

[25:04] And then, finally, the updated approach is intended to be adaptable. So, as Sarah mentioned, you know, we're creating these broader definitions and trying to apply them at a neighborhood scale, and that helps allow property owners to make determinations about how to evolve their own properties. In a way that would contribute to the neighborhood and the goals of the plan, instead of, being limited to a pretty Small and specific set of options. We're gonna continue to work with our colleagues in the utilities to use this updated strategy. as one of the components that can inform, a future integrated water supply plan. So, working together on testing back and forth between the land use map and how do we plan for water supply as change happens over time. And that's it for that menu, so I'm going to turn it back to Sarah. She'll talk about our next steps.

[26:02] Hey, hey, let's pull out next steps. So, what does happen next? Well… There are several key milestones and meetings that'll take place before the adoption process starts. So the window for community feedback, as Joe mentioned, started March 3rd, and it's open until April 6th. So that will be the time when community members can go online and provide their comments, and then we'll go to city and county policymakers for study sessions. in March and the beginning of April, to review the draft with them, like we're doing with you, and we'll hold a joint session with all four bodies on April 13th. I'm already tired. And then, so after that meeting extravaganza, we'll take all the feedback we collected to revise the draft and prepare the final recommended version for adoption, and then the adoption process starts on June 4th, and so we hope to have a plan, a final plan adopted and ready to use.

[27:04] by summertime, hopefully, and then after that, we will work toward putting the plan online. So, there'll be an online version as well. That will come later, after adoption. So I think that's, That's it for what's next, and then, as you know, as Jill mentioned, our primary goal, is to make sure you're comfortable with the subjects Kathleen talked about, highlighted, for you as a board, and make sure you feel we've covered them adequately, and we got your feedback, and I'm offering, if you want, I can walk through the plan online if you want to see it. You can go, the instructions are right here, there's instructions in the on the website, it's easy to use, it's organized by policy, land use, the draft plan, so please peruse it. We want your feedback as a board now, but you're welcome as a community member to go online and provide your feedback that way, and share it out with people you know, your networks, all of that, please, because

[28:01] we're looking for feedback. And so, I think with that, Here are the three questions again, and I'll hand it over to Joe to lead your discussion. Yeah, thank you for the complete presentation, really appreciate that. Do want to reiterate one thing from my perspective, seeing the utilities team members and the planning team members work together, and just… Having been at the city a long time and seen how these processes go. I really felt like there was a good partnership, and also, process-wise, good structure around the way our two staff teams work together. And from my vantage point, what I was looking for Because I certainly didn't have the time to dig into all of the different policies and subjects myself, but the team members who are our subject matter experts did do that.

[29:02] And, expressed a level of comfort with the way that the changes were made, and how, like Sarah and Kathleen, you said, kind of preserve some of those important themes that go back to the Boulder's heritage with the comp plan, and, I just, from my vantage point, I feel really good about how this work was done, and how, Utilities, interests, and needs. were met. And I would say, just a reminder that the comp plan is kind of the document that I think is striving to make the broad policy statements on subjects, so it's not the detailed specification of the here's a… here's the 170 pages on how you should design a water supply system. It's more the… the theory and the theme that we want to follow when we do that. And using water supply as an example, it's… it's the more thorough, integrated supply plan.

[30:07] That will provide more of the details, so… I think that's what I've got, and the questions that the planning staff is looking for the board to weigh in on are there, and ultimately, at the end of the discussion, we kind of want to check with you to see if you support this plan. I have one random question, which is, I know when you came to us before, you mentioned that the current comp plan had many overlapping and kind of confusing policies. I saw in the memo you guys got it down to 102. I was curious what that was down from. What was the… 210. Wow! So, awesome. It went down quite a bit. Yeah, that's awesome. I think over time, some of these plans that have a long heritage kind of become like the Frankenhaus, and you keep building in addition and in addition, and so…

[31:07] Every once in a while, a scrape or a cleanup, major cleanup facility. Yeah, it's absolutely only been added to over the last 50 years. There's not been a reconsideration of any of the components. So, you mentioned an increase in housing supply and that kind of thing. What population… is there a target in terms of how much housing proper population we're aiming for? We don't have a target, no. But what we are working on right now, and we might have talked about this the last time we were here in September, is we've, built a model of the city to understand Okay, if these land use changes go through, what's the absolute capacity? under these conditions, and then we back that down to, like, okay, but what's a realistic amount of growth? And that's the number that we use to work on things like the Integrated Water Supply Plan.

[32:12] And plan for other things, like police and fire and stuff like that. So what is the realistic growth level? So the model… yeah, so the, our modeling agent, her name's Kalani Pahoa. she's just updated the, model with the new land uses, because we were working on the map, like, up until the very last minute, so she's building that now, and we should have it by the, we should have the numbers by the time of the Planning Board City Council meeting, which is on March 26th. Does that specify an absolute number or growth rate? No, it doesn't specify a growth rate, and we don't have a target growth rate. We know that, sort of, on average, over the last 10 years, there have been around 300 units a year that get built, or that are approved to be built.

[33:08] So that's what we've seen. But… Yeah, there's a lot of factors that go into how fast or slow that can happen. And you talk about conversion of land, so the preference is to keep ag lands ag lands, right, and convert non-ag lands to housing. Or what's the… where does the house go? Sure, yeah, that's a really good question. So, right now, the way… But the way that that map is set up right now is there's… maybe 5 or 6 different residential categories, and they're really specific of, this is where you can have single-family housing, this is where you can have a multifamily product, things like that. What the updated land use map and designations do, is, oops.

[34:06] they're categorized into these, neighborhoods, Neighborhood 1, Neighborhood 2, and then hubs, the community, regional, and innovation and production hubs. And that allows for more types of housing to be built in more places across the city. So. What, historically, maybe there would have been an area where you could only build a single-family house. Now, in that scenario, you might be able to build a single-family house, a duplex, a triplex, ADUs, things like that. So it's all infill-based. It's not, there's not, like, a change, necessarily, in… You know, an area over here that's industrial is still designated to be industrial, but areas that previously allowed housing now allow for more types or forms of housing.

[35:03] So not converting the agricultural lands and open space to 1,000? I don't think that would be a… And part of, like, Kathleen, like, saying more house… more different kinds of housing in different areas, but, like, infill-based, sort of, or, like, in the city is Also, to create that critical mass for that 15-minute neighborhood idea, because if there's more people and more types of housing and different varieties of people living in an area, they can support a coffee shop on the corner. Or, you know, everyone wants one, but you have to have a certain amount of people who actually use it, so we're kind of trying to make all of those talk to each other a little differently. So I live in North Boulder. What I've seen is some cases, like, there's that land between Foothills Parkway and 36, that… that's… was developed some years ago for housing. Yes. I think it's rentals, and then looks like there's another patch of land there that's being dug up, assuming that's housing. But then also noticed conversion of commercial property.

[36:04] Like, 28 times, what the old garden, all that was, the river, yeah, so that's… okay. It's some cases, it's land that's… sitting there, but not… yeah, it doesn't have small patches, doesn't have use. There's other cases, sort of change of… of use, right? Yes. And I guess from a water perspective, that's a question, I mean, we're… it was sitting there, vacant, then there's more a lot of demand, but if it's a change from commercial to residential, I guess it's just a question of how to… Water demands might change. I'm just… Yeah, and the two teams are coordinating closely on that behind the scenes, even those draft numbers that we're talking about, and some of the presentations you've heard from our staff, like Crystal. Send Kim on the… Water supply modeling, and how they're thinking about climate change.

[37:00] Historically, the comprehensive Plan has established the planning numbers that the city uses for those types of projections, and, And we rely on those heavily for our modeling? And so that's… That's all happening, and there's a level of comfort that we have as staff members that… Cheers. we can work with this update, and it… and it makes sense. Even with the… those conversions, and… I think the signals from policymakers around more dense housing, that has implications to utilities and water use, but it doesn't necessarily You know, 100 people in an apartment complex compared to 100 single-family homes with a yard. Do not put the same demands on the system.

[38:01] There were a couple of things in them. Can you guys pull up the specific memo that we looked at, and the wording of some of those? documents that we've received for this meeting? Yes. A couple of specific, more specific things in there I just wanted to raise a question about. The floodplain Management. Section of it, and then also there was a… I don't know what section it was, but I guess one thing that stuck out to me was in the area where you talk about agricultural use. not… Not impacting or not over… you know, not trying to set up a situation where you're overly converting agricultural land to municipal use. I wanted to just… dig into that a little bit, because we… to make sure that we're not painting ourselves into a corner there, or whatever, I mean, at some point. I understand the theory and the philosophy there, and I don't remember where exactly that was, or what the exact wording was, but something to the effect of making sure that we don't remove

[39:08] sustain… you know, water from sustainable agricultural uses to shift it to municipal uses. Yeah, I think it's right here. And I guess the question there is, you know, if that… that is what has happened over time. In a more general sense, and at what point, as the city continues to grow. May that have to happen to some… to some extent again, and… And, you know, what will we do at that… when that point arises? Or will there be some point at which The lack of any ability to convert agricultural water to municipal use will be… will provide a kind of a ceiling on the population of the city. I guess I just wanted to talk about that wording a little bit, and Does that… does the… does that… constrain the utilities From the utility's perspective at all, to make that kind of a statement in this kind of doc.

[40:03] I think that… The language that you're seeing there, it's a great question. I think it, sort of states the overarching philosophy, and that's what we're trying to do. If we find ourselves in the future where we need to expand our water supplies. We'll look at what opportunities exist, And… It may be that we don't go to that place first, or we don't just recklessly pursue them, you know, at anyone else's expense in a competitive way. But I think if there were the right opportunity and the right support for it. My view is that the world would still be open to us. This doesn't… Closing. I guess the reason I bring it up, I guess, is…

[41:00] Is that at some point in the future. If the city continues to grow. And particularly for some of these larger potential development areas that, one way or another come to pass or get approved. That… the city may have to look at ways of expanding its water rights. Yes. And that some of those water rights may come from local agriculture, and how do we, you know, at what point does that create controversy or conflict, and how do we balance that? you know, our desire to maintain that part of the community with the fact that the city is getting so many people that we need more water rights. I think across the state, that… that type of approach of drying up agricultural land is… is probably… a, steps that would be more practical for other cities. I don't know how… how much… that's our first option for Boulder, just because of the nature of our open space and what's around us.

[42:06] But, again, I think… Under the right circumstances, if there was an opportunity that made sense, and sometimes the agreements that are Fair enough. being facilitated with agricultural users. There are ways that that can be done Come on. Frankly, in a less predatory fashion that allows the agricultural uses to still occur, but the city to maybe have access to that water in years where it's… the circumstances are a little dire. And so I think the whole water community is looking at those types of approaches, and I'm sure that would be in the mix for us, if we ever… Do we have agreements with farmers in Boulder County, I mean, during dry years to… Use up their water and pay them with compensation, or…

[43:03] Something that's been thought about, or… I… some of our water resources staff I know are listening in. We have our agricultural leasing program, where each year, we… we lease out, from… from my memory, 3,000 to 6,000 acre-feet of water. And we do that almost every year, but in a… in a super dry year. We would have the opportunity to pull back on that, and we wouldn't be able to help. But the agricultural community is much a super strong here. I think that… That is, when we get into the integrated supply plan, that is what we're going to be looking at, is all the different types of uses, like in-stream flows, agricultural leasing, hydropower, all those… all those different ways that we now can use

[44:01] The kind of extra water that we have in a non-drought year. And how to prioritize those uses going forward. Right. That's a way to at least preserve aging land. Yes. Kate, hopefully not the rotation, I have to use the water. That's sort of the built-in kind of safety valve that we have now. That we've been able to utilize historically, but at some point. you know, if the city continues to grow, we'll… we'll cut into those sort of safety valves, and at some point, I mean, it may go the other direction, and I guess that's… I think that's maybe what Joel was asking, is, you know, when we… when we exhaust All those sort of little safety jobs or alternative you know, ways of saving a little bit more water through in-stream rights, whatever. At some point. Overcome a time where that… stated policy there can no longer be followed by the city. I guess is what I'm sort of… And I think the integrated supply plan that RAP had a huge opportunity to weigh in on will really get at all of those trade-offs. And I don't know that that's necessarily the…

[45:15] role of the comprehensive plan, or from… from my vantage point, I'm… I'm comfortable with That language that's there. There are so many different levers that we can pull. And, We have our reliability criteria, which kind of specifies certain frequency of acceptable drought levels. We can change that policy, that's one level, and accept restrictions more often. there are things we can do around demand management, that's another level we can pull. That's all the stuff we'll get into in the integrated supply plan. So, kind of a roundabout way to getting at the underlying concern that I think is a good one behind your question.

[46:03] So… And related to the ANG discussion, I'm just wondering, the new development, is that… Having relatively less outdoor water usage for lawns and that kind of thing than existing developments. Or does it look the same as the rest of… as older Boulder? Yeah, I think that, B. Use determines a lot, what the indoor versus outdoor is, and so it's probably a… I shouldn't drive that. water folks, because I don't know the numbers, like, to compare. But… I think as Joe mentioned earlier, yeah, typically an apartment building with 100 units uses less than, 100 single-family units. Yeah. I would just add, I think that policy, like Jenny said, this language. Like, we seek to minimize it, so that's our direction, but that's kind of, like, our director says a lot of times, like.

[47:01] the comp plan, like, there can be competing values, and that's the tough… those are the tough choices you as a board and, like, council and policy makers have to make at the time those things are happening. You have to wrestle with which value do we… you know, needs to be, like, weighted a little more at this point in time, or whatever. So, this doesn't lock you in, like Joe mentioned necessarily, but it just says, this is what we care about, and we're going to do our best to try to get there. Kind of building on that, I was… I was curious, like, operationally, like, I know, for example, Denver's, dealing with this, like, data center moratorium, for example. So, like, if that happened to Boulder, it feels like there are some conflicting things in here of, like, driving economy versus, like, energy, and so it would be up to Council or whoever to say, these are the eight comp plan things that relate to this, and this is how we're weighting them in the decision we're making. And that's sort of how it would operationally. Is that right? Yeah, that's typically for those kind of big… decisions. We offer, an analysis of here's all the relevant policies, here's how they play out in this decision, and we ask them to…

[48:07] Weigh the trade-offs. Does the plan address business development and… encouraging businesses that demand less water, as opposed to those that demand relatively more. Business development. Yeah, so it's specific to water use, or business development. It's an interesting concept, but it… no, it's not specific. It doesn't say that, because, I mean, you'd think that it makes it sounded… useful, and I mean, the dataset thing was a good… yeah, that's an extreme case. I hope one isn't coming to Boulder. That is also covered. The city has a legislative agenda, and that very topic is… is covered and is sort of top of mind between staff and council discussions, and… bounce. that is something that we're monitoring and very interested in as well, and following that through, like, the Colorado Water Congress, who's weighing in on those items, and so…

[49:09] We are absolutely paying attention to that, and… And, Want to support the city's efforts, our overall budget, a thriving economy, all those things are really important, but we also have to have all the resources to support that, and strike that right. So that's the September meeting when you were here last time, but I noted in the memo there was a concern, I think, among board members that, like, how, new growth would pay for itself, especially when thinking about, like, how utilities would expand into new lands developed or annexed by the city. So I guess, how did you incorporate that? I was looking through the plan a bit and didn't see anything. where that falls. There's a policy that speaks specifically to…

[50:05] So there's a number of 15, it's called, okay, sorry, I think there's bigger, too. Well, development to pay a fair share of new facility costs, so this, is really specific to that type of thing. When there is new development, there's an expectation for developers to pay for the infrastructure that's needed to support the development. Do we know what paid for its fair share of needs? This would be a great time for Brad Muehler to chime in. So Brad Muehler's a planning director, and I know he's… Yeah, thank you, everybody, and thanks again so much for letting us join you, and just for your overall understanding and appreciation for the document that is the Comprehensive Plan, which is a vision document, as Kathleen and Sarah have carefully outlined tonight, and before as well. It's really important that folks like yourselves both be familiar with it and help give subject matter expertise to that.

[51:07] The way the city makes growth pay for its own way, exists in law already, so this kind of policy would just, enforces existing law, but it also could speak to new ways to explore that in the future. And the two main ways that that happens today is that when there's new development. Number one, when there's new development, a developer's responsible for building the actual infrastructure that's on-site, so that's your streets, or in this case of water and sewer, water and sewer pipes. They're also responsible for what's called, off-site improvements that meet a nexus to the development. Easiest to think of is a turn lane that's maybe not on the property, but is affected by additional traffic. In the case of water or sewer, it might be chasing a,

[52:00] Water main 500 feet down the street off-site to make sure there's the right sizing, for example. So that's the first way that growth pays for its own way, and then the other way is through the payment of development impact fees. which in your world, are known as PIFs, Plant Investment Fees, so people invest in their fair share of the plant, or the treatment plant, or wastewater treatment plant, and the pipes and distribution, through those fees, there's quite a bit of nuance that you all probably know better than I do, and utility staff can correct me if I'm getting too far off field here, but essentially, conceptually, that's paying for new supply based on the new demand from the development that's being proposed. So, 200 more people, 500 more customers, whatever it is. And the mathematical model is supposed to represent a one-for-one

[53:03] Offset of that new, demand with new supply in the system as a whole. So, the developer pays on-site for the immediate, needs, and then pays into the system. And again, Utilities team, tell me if I… That was 100% on, and I think, like some of the other subjects we've talked about tonight, and Brad and team, correct me if I'm wrong, again, the comp plan sort of signals the policy intent, and then our charter and code, city code, and all of that. Sort of legislate. the ways, as Brad was just describing, that that is then captured in the case of development paying its own way, and that's what Brad just described. I know him. Oh, my. And I'll add that… I'm sorry, just one last thought. I'll add that implementation

[54:01] might, you know, develop over the 20 years. We might see new laws that enable us to do things, we may come up with new funding mechanisms, we may come up with new models, that are more precise. All sorts of different things, so this kind of policy is meant to be encompassing in that way. I'm sorry. Fair share effectively being all marginal costs, then, for… New development? Oh, what was that? Oh, marginal costs, or additional costs? Yeah, I think that's a way to say it. Yeah, absolutely. So they're paying the marginal cost of the difference of today's You know, baseline scenario and the margin that they're increasing in demand. And if the math is done correctly, and the modeling is done correctly, these are outside consultants. And Council adopts 100% of the legally defensive T amount, then… In theory, that's a complete offset.

[55:02] One more quick follow-up on that. I guess, where is… A line of that, so something like, you know, more emergency services needed, or we need another water treatment plant, like, that's not necessarily. Yeah. It might not be needed for the first time. Right. And then it is, how is that taken into account? Yeah, it's a good question, because you can't build one, you know, or three one-thousandths of a water plant every time development comes on, right? So, that's where the master planning or comp… or the, we're coming up with new names with that. comes into effect that would be done specific to plant infrastructure or the distribution center, and decisions have to be made about how to be ahead of that curve, which probably means a little bit of city upfront investment. So that the thing is there when it's needed, and you're not behind the curve and trying to, you know, build a…

[56:00] I don't know, a 2-foot sewer line when you needed it yesterday. So, that's the tricky thing. Same… and your fire station is a good analogy, right? You can't build 6 two-thousandths of a… of a fire station, so you have to kind of project out ahead, and there's you know, lever… bonding can be a mechanism to do that with future anticipated development impact fees. There are designated impact fees for, I think, 8 services, so your example is good. There's a fire one, there's a police one, there's a transportation one, there's a general city facilities one. Parks. trails, maybe, separately, I can't remember. But… but yeah, and those go into a… the, you know, proverbial lockbox that can only be spent for that purpose, so you can't use… fire funds to build a road, for example. Only fire stations.

[57:00] When we go. These are good conversations, too, because I think we're going to be, collectively, utilities and ourselves and others in the city, updating development impact fees in 2027. It's a preliminary proposal. Yeah, I was just gonna say, when you… when… I'm certainly not, a planning expert in the city. We're among the planning experts, but when we go through some of those sub-community plans and area plans, those… which are things that formally come up in our process. That's where we look at Treatment capacity and capacity of infrastructure. As well, and I do know that when these development things come up, we do think about Is… are the, major sewer collector lines, or the major water transmission lines big enough to support the new development? Does it have implications to our water and wastewater treatment plans? That absolutely does come up in the way we're evaluating

[58:07] these developments as they come forward in various So, planning forms. I am one thing. Megan Wilson, I'll call Water Quality Senior Manager. I think there are policies in the comp plan, too, that speak to this. So, for example, number 6 talks about new urban development, and that can only occur if adequate facilities and services are available or anticipated to be available. That was something we've been looking at as… during the revision. Practicing do flood planning as part of this, too. Chicago flood, and it's a good addition. Yeah, that's a good call-out. Blood's an important one, stormwater. Did have one comment from our colleague, Amy, who couldn't be here tonight, and who I think was cherry meeting when you guys were here last time.

[59:00] About the floodplain management. Paragraph, if you could… Bring that up again, and… talked about this a little bit, and kind of came up with some suggested rephrasing, which maybe the best thing for me to do would be to send it to Karen Feedman. forward it to you guys, but I might just read… read what she had sort of suggested for the rewording of that paragraph, which I think was in here twice, right? To make it a little bit more, precise. Daryl, let me just read what we kind of came up with. City and county protect people and property from flood hazards through the implementation of high-priority flood mitigation projects that integrate considerations of equity, ecosystem function, and climate change. These actions will be supported by outreach and education initiatives to enhance community preparedness. To the extent feasible, floodways will be preserved or restored to maintain natural floodplain functions. Major drainageways will be adequately maintained, and infrastructure located within floodplains will be designed, upgraded, and managed to improve resilience to current and future climate conditions.

[60:19] Just a little bit of a tweak on that, so I'll send that to you one way or another, so you can consider that, but that was… some comments to Gina. If you send that to me or Karen, we can get it to the planning team, I think. Are there… Questions? I just had one comment. I was looking through here, through the plan for anything related to wildfire, and I noticed, in, I think, number 35, the environmental design and public projects, I was just like, go you guys for thinking about, designing public spaces that really provide multiple benefits to the city, so in terms of, like, increasing biodiversity, resilience to wildfire, reducing, I just think the more that

[61:06] you all can consider projects and designing public areas that really, provide those… as many benefits as possible to the city in terms of climate and water resources. Thank you. Yeah, the comments are… Questions? I mean, I… Seems to me that we can, as Joe suggested, you know, indicate our support for them. program, or sort of give it the general thumbs up? Is everybody sort of… Agree or have any hesitation that… I think, you know, we're, Short of a few of these little tweaks, or maybe question marks, that the board would be in support of it. Program. you all feel like representing that as the board's sentiment? Are everybody comfortable with that sort of general statement? Yeah, I think as a board, it would be, like.

[62:04] Positive and supportive of the plan and the status that it's in that. Great, thank you. It's great. I'm sure, as the memos go forward to Council and everything, some of the… generally, the way that works is that the team will pass on directions of the feedback that boards have. I can't imagine who's planned? Yes. Absolutely. We plan to plan to plan to plan. Yeah, that's great. And like Joe said, that's great, and then you're always welcome to call online and As a community member, you know, add a comment, if you want, like, through the online process, just… Or if you have other language thoughts or questions next, you can send those to us, and after this April 6th date, we're gonna review all of the comments we've collected and make these kind of language tweaks or modifications to the draft.

[63:03] And then we'll release the recommended draft for viewing by everyone before it goes to actually to the bodies, so there'll be another opportunity to look at it. We won't be making revisions at that point, because it'll be kind of pretty much vague, but you're welcome to look at it and provide feedback. May 18th, I think. That's right. Big, date, date, big date, that's when the final… Here, thank you for the… Yeah. Yeah, thanks for having us. Yeah. Thank you all. We really appreciate the board. It's quite an undertaking for the staff team who's leading this, but also for you all to It's, it's such a broad document, and… and, it's a lot to… process. you know, a few short touches, and I feel like you've all done a great job, so thank you.

[64:03] Yeah, thank you from all of us over here in PNDS, and we always enjoy the opportunity to interface with RAP, and… Thanks for all that you do. Thank you, everybody. So, are we ready to move on? I think so. Do we have any matters from any of the board members, John? Yes, sure. Just an update on the water supply situation, I think. it's improved somewhat, right? My end is we're paid around 70% in the South Black Basin, and Colorado River's a little less of that. From, like, January. But it's still below. You don't think Joe can address this. Or I could just do that now, jump on in, we'll move on to that after this time. Matters to important. I just want to acknowledge Steve, and thank you for all the work you've done. It's been really great.

[65:18] agree with that as well. In terms of the water supply situation, I, since I've lived in Colorado, have never seen a winter quite hit the cold. And, as someone who, kind of in my personal life, I like to ride bikes all year round, and the fact that I'm riding around All winter long, with no gloves on my hands. He has me feeling conflicted. And so we're watching the situation closely, and we know, the media is covering it, the news stations, and then some of that messaging, some of the other communities are starting to signal what they're… what they're planning and what they're intending.

[66:06] I believe this should be absorbed in our followers to be prepared. A formal stage, and others are messaging that they're considering that. Boulder has a good water storage situation. We have a diverse portfolio. We have the CT from Northern Water, which in a dry year, usually there's more that is allocated. That is the way the system is designed. But snowpack, for sure, is a big component in it. And we've been behind all year long in the Boulder Creek Basin. From my experience over the years being an employee, like we talked about. two or three big storms when you're having a year like this can make a huge difference. And I've been watching one of the snow-tel sites that, tracks the snow-water equivalent that's in our watershed.

[67:03] And I think we had a storm or two about a week or so ago, and the deficit from average was, like, 4 inches of water, and in one storm, it went down to, like, 3 or 2.5. But I don't know, you know, with the forecast this week being 580s still for… not sure we should hang our hat on that. As Northern Water refers to them as rescue storms, I'm… That, can come in and help us in the dry years. Not sure that's going to happen, so we're coordinating with other municipalities around us, and in dry years like this. I think in 2021, we all sort of co-authored a letter to our communities together, encouraging conservation and wild spotter use. I know the team has Something like that is in progress now.

[68:03] By the numbers, you know, we have a drought plan, we have a mathematical formula that we use and do a calculation. Because of the storage situation and other factors, it probably, when we do that calculation, won't. Point us to having to declare a drought stage, but we're still thinking about messaging You know, voluntary conservation measures and… less water use, thinking about recommendations around watering days and things like that. And so, April. is… every year, for those who've been on the board for a while, you know that every April we come with a formal update on our water supply. And a lot of years, nothing to see here, it's not much of a discussion, but I know there'll be a lot of interest in it this year, so we'll be ready for that. And when you get into, you know, mid to late April and early May, as we've said to you before, that is the point in time

[69:05] Where we know the most about our water system. If you think about it like bank accounts, we know what we have in our accounts, in terms of snowpack, reservoir storage, what we're getting from CBT, So that's… that's kind of the decision point, but because it's such a dry year, we're thinking about it and getting ready to message already. And I know, someone mentioned to me that we're planning an April utility bill insert. recommending people not start sprinklers up, just like, I think Denver Water put that. put that out in the news until May, and so… working on it and thinking about it. When you say that your storage is… you're in good shape for the storage, can you elaborate? What parts of it? Why are you… where are those stories strong? So we have… we have Barker Reservoir in Nederland. We have, a number of reservoirs in our Silver Lake Watershed, I believe 15 in total. Boulder Reservoir, and those are all, like.

[70:11] Those… those all have more… more supply than you, or… I mean, how would you… We track the historic storage levels and where they are at right now for this time of year is a really healthy amount of storage, and it… it gives us an amount of water that we can define for the following year. We also have to think about a multi-year drought. I mean. Not just kind of blowing everything that we have in our accounts in here. Just because we have it, you know. our water storage is normal. If we were having this exact same conversation under the exact same circumstances. but this was the third year in a row of the same kinds of conditions. I probably would not be saying that in that story, because we'd be… We'd be dipping into it. You'd think of that like a savings account. We'd be dipping into our savings.

[71:12] Is Northern Water coming to talk to us in April? I am not sure. I know they have their April Water Symposium, which I think anyone can sign up for. Then I would take that spring water supplies. Not sure if it's in April. I know we've talked about, so we'll find out. I think it's enough to say hurting cop. Yup. I just… I just noticed this afternoon, some trees, leaves are starting to come out. Yes. I've never seen this in March. Now, I wonder if I push people and, you know, the crocuses are coming up a lot of them. people may be tempted to start watering, so probably the sooner to get out that message… Yep, I see a lot of people around with sprinklers going, worried that the grass is gonna…

[72:09] Other… other items? Staff? Yeah, if you're good, you can transition to matters from staff. And, Megan, who spoke earlier on the… on the comprehensive plan, has a couple of items around, a wildfire. mitigation tree forest thinning project, as well as an update on the invasive weed that we have in Boulder Reservoir, the Eurasian. Water, mill, soil. -Oh, Fair. Thanks, Amanda. Alright, grab it. Okay, thank you. Okay, good evening. Again, my name is Megan Wilson, and I'll call the Water Quality Senior Manager, and I have updates on two projects that Water Quality staff are managing.

[73:01] The staff who are for intimately involved are on spring break or prepute, so get me trained. And I only have two slides, so I won't be advancing. That's on purpose. Until… until… until I do. So the first project is just an update on our Eurasian watermill foil management in Boulder Reservoir. Most of you have heard about this a couple of times. Eurasian water vanillafoil is an invasive water plant, aquatic plant. It, grows corpine very densely. It was first discovered in Boulder Reservoir in 1982. For the past, few years. Parks and Immigration staff have been hand-pulling the lead at Swin Beach area. And, we've been working with Parks and Northern Water on a long-term management strategy. I think the last time you heard from us, we were contemplating an herbicide treatment, but after further discussions with the board.

[74:05] And internally, we have decided to pivot to mechanical methods, and that was primarily just because of concerns about water quality in the reservoir and downstream when using that herbicide. So, the mechanical methods, couple. This is a map of the reservoir, and the different colors show different areas and the management approach. The blue area, there's not a lot of, Eurasian water milfoil currently. And then the green area is more of a protection area, and so we're not demanding any management right now. In the yellow area, we're going to be doing mechanical harvesting. This kind of looks like mowing underwater. I don't know exactly what it looks like, but it doesn't pull the plant up by the roots, it just kind of knocks it down. And so that will help with recreation, like boating, not getting the weed out of the propellers.

[75:03] Open swim that some of our staff enjoy, and the community as well. And then the red areas is where we're going to be doing diver-assisted suction harvesting. So we've consulted or contracted with a company that's outfitting a boat for us, and it's a special boat that has different equipment on it, and we'll have a team of divers that will be hired by the Parks and Rec staff. It's not scuba diving, but they will be, I believe, hooked up to oxygen in the boat, so they'll be down for a period of time, and they use big suction hose, pull up the plants, put them in the hose, and they go up into the boat, the water comes out of the boat, and then we'll collect all of that plant material. And it will be harvested, or sorry, composted on-site, which we've already started doing in collaboration with EcoCycle. So… We're really excited about these new, methods to try to, you know, reduce the density of Eurasian watermelfoil and really keep it under control.

[76:07] In popular recreation areas like the Swim Beach, where the paddleboards go, and then on the eastern side, where there's that other red square, is kind of near our, inlet to the treatment plant, and… Outlet to the boulder… So that will start up this spring. Again, we have a company that is going to come and do some of the mechanical harvesting and the dash, operations while our staff get trained and up to speed. And so this… What depths do they go to? well, as deep as the reservoir is, which I don't actually know in those areas. Yeah, they'll dive down. So that they can pull up the boots. Pretty high-tech, pretty high-tech process. Yeah!

[77:02] Yeah, this was a method that one of our staff, Michael Lawler, who's not part of me, identified. It's been in use in other parts of the country, it's never been used in Colorado, so… We do think that these two approaches over a few years will greatly reduce the density. We don't think it will ever be completely eradicated. And if over time, you know, as we track the spread or the reduction. We'll continue to evaluate strategies. change course if needed. How does it spread? Are you, like, cleaning boats and things like that? Yes. Okay. Yes, that's a great question. We have had… A pretty robust aquatic nuisance. program for some time. And so, currently, You know, you need a permit, and there are certain types of boats that can't leave the reservoir and come back.

[78:02] So you leave, and you're done. You can't come back. And then other types of boats, like canoes or paddleboards or whatever, are subject to inspection program. So, we don't know where it came from. It can… Spread very easily through fragments, and so it could have come from a dog, or somebody eating fishing, or wading, you know, it really… We don't know. Are there, like, seeds that just, like, transport easily, or something like that? And the fragments, is my understanding. So, like, one fragment can sink down and plant and… That's it. Luckily, though, you know, it hasn't spread throughout the full reservoir. When did it first show up? 2022. And it was just a little bit that urine that it did spread pretty quickly. Do you know why it hasn't spread to the other areas since August?

[79:02] I don't. It could be the depth of the reservoir, my primary best. The general consensus is that with these kind of efforts, it's a problem that can be maintain. I mean, it's not gonna engulf the whole… Reservoir in 10 years or something. It doesn't look like that's gonna happen, just based on the trajectory so far, and then again, with these management methods, even in the yellow area where we're not pulling it up by the roots, the hope is still that To cut it down low enough so that, you know, the sunlight doesn't get down and it will… slow the growth, even in those areas, too. And it's a… it's purely an invasion. Issue. It's not a climate or temperature or anything related. phenomenon, like they claim some of the, you know, the seaweed and the Caribbean and that sort of thing. No, I wouldn't say so. I mean…

[80:00] I suppose under warmer conditions with more nutrients, it might grow more easily, but I wouldn't say it's… Particularly related to climate change. And it really doesn't have an impact on drinking water quality in terms of meeting standards. It can just cause taste and odor issues. So it's more of a nuisance. It's more of a nuisance, and it can clog, like, the intakes. Oh. That's why we're focusing in that area. Clog intakes and the recreation activities that take place out there is a detriment. Oh. And was the… dash? like, method just not applicable to the whole reservoir for, like, cost reasons? Is that how? Okay. Yeah, I mean, it's quite, manual, and so… And I know we had a plan to get two boats, but honestly, off the top of my head, I can't remember if we got one or two. So, we may have the opportunity to expand it, depending on how it works, and this is the first time Parks will be hiring this diving crew.

[81:06] Just wanted to make sure that we can work out any kinks. Expand too much. Questions on… Great. Well, I will turn to a completely different project then, which is the… Tram Hills… Tramhill Fuels Reduction Project. I think, there was an update on this about this time last year. So this… this is a project… That was identified as part of our source water protection plan, and also the city's wildfire strategy. It's a tree thinning project. Along the, drinking water supply pipeline from Costa Reservoir off of Flagstaff Road down to the Boulder Canyon Hydro Facility.

[82:01] That is also in alignment with some Excel power lines, and so the main… Driver of the project is to protect that pipeline from trees and wildfire. Secondary goals are to, increase first responder access in the event of a fire, and then also to protect the Excel, Power supply lights So we actually got a $900,000 grant from the state of Colorado for this project. While the water quality staff are managing it, we're relying heavily on partners for their expertise and for implementing the project. So, Colorado State Forest Service Is planning the tree thinning, identifying which trees to cut down, which will be any tree that's on top of the pipeline directly, and then trees less than 8 inches in diameter. So, Colorado State Forest Service has

[83:00] already identified those trees. They will be overseeing the contractor that will actually fill the trees. That part of the work will start in April, that's what we're planning, and the tree falling will go through about mid-summer. Excel had already talked about introductories in… along their, overhead lines. And I believe they're already done. They… they developed… completed that in March. This area is pretty difficult to access, and so… and we can't have a lot of heavy machinery, both because of the grade and also the pipeline, which was constructed. So, most of the trees will be left on site for the time being. Some of them will be able to be chipped, and then most of them will be put into burn piles and left there until the winter.

[84:00] Boulder Fire Rescue, our own city, fire department, will be doing the burning of the burned piles over the winter. And that will start, hopefully, in 2026, depending on snow cover and conditions. It… we could be doing it several winters in a row. So I had an opportunity to hear from Chief Oliver and Boulder Fire talk about this. They are extremely conscientious and cautious, as you can imagine, about how they manage those burn piles. Let me see if I'm missing any notes I wanted to convey. What's the total cost of the project? Because we have a $900,000 grant? It's about $900,000, yeah. The city… the city is maybe… putting forward $25,000, or… I can get a number for you, but most of the project we will use. You know what, actually, Joel, let me get back to you, because there is a match now that I'm thinking about it, but I don't know what it is.

[85:00] let's see, a couple of other points… We've been doing some community engagement with Boulder Watershed Collective. They had a community meeting a few weeks ago to answer questions, and We issued a press release just trying to get the word out so people know what's going on if they see it. During the burning portion, and follow normal protocols in terms of, like, community notifications for prescribed burns and things like that. So small trees are taken out, I'm assuming the first one is going to look too different. It's a good question. I don't know to… It maybe depends on how familiar you are with that area. There will be fewer trees, but there will also be… other trees left standing, so it's not, like, a clear cut, except for where Excel has cut for the power plants. But I think that's just a small piece of it.

[86:00] Is that standard practice for bidding projects like that, to have those burn piles left behind? Or is it just because of the grade of the slope? My understanding is that you would typically want to remove the elb trees, but it just wasn't possible with this project. I don't think it's uncommon. Speaking of Rocky Mountain National Park. Profiles. It's not unknown. Yeah, so, start the spring, wrap up with the tree cutting early this summer. Weather-dependent and condition-dependent, and then, again, the prescribed burning over the next 2 to 3 winters. Thank you for your time happy to answer any questions. Thanks, Megan. I had one more quick thing on… well, two things, actually. On matters from staff, just mentioned to you all that Excel had another power shutdown on Saturday, and

[87:05] kind of with the warm conditions that we were talking about with water supply in the wintertime often comes high winds, and they were considering it earlier in the week, ended up implementing it on Saturday. did not have the same scope and scale and impact on the Boulder community as their… as their first two. I think they're refining their approach as… as they go forward. But just so all of you know, when that happens, our Emergency Operations Center gets activated, and there is a whole bunch of coordination that happens behind the scenes. Some of our staff in utilities, transportation and mobility, our fleet and facilities, all the… all the, functions that operate out of this building. are coordinating with… Plans for diesel fuel. The transportation team is getting generators mobilized for traffic signals in case some power goes out, and keeping that system running.

[88:09] We're thinking about emergency power supply, and each situation, each time it's done, it's… it's unique, and what things are left powered, and what things end up on backup generators change, and so… it's kind of a neat thing. Don't… don't love having the power shut off. I think I understand why… why it's happening, but it's… it's neat to have that vantage point of seeing all the work that goes on behind the scenes to keep the city running. So, appreciate the teams. efforts on that. So, how long can we go without power? Keep things going? 24 hours. as long as there's diesel fuel, we can keep that running, keep our systems running. The wastewater facility is a little bit of a different creature. It is… those facilities across the country are often some of the biggest power demands in any city that they're in.

[89:11] And so we… we rely on the dual Excel feed power system for primary and backup supply. We can keep it runner… running now for… A handful of hours with backup generators, but… an Excel, through the Public Utilities Commission process, after their first public safety power shutdown. They're investing in their system, including a direct, buried Power feed to our wastewater facility, so… I think at this time next year, we will probably be in a much better situation on these events. So that's a priority for them? It is. And they're paying for it alone, which… But there's actually been a lot of great collaboration between Cindy and Excel on some of that planning.

[90:08] And then the last thing, just, echoing Katie's thoughts, huge thanks, Steve, to you on the record for, chairing the board this year, and for the years of service as a board member. It's, just like I was saying about, you know, people don't see the… what the staff teams do behind the scenes in an emergency event, and I have an appreciation for all of the board members and the time you all put in Reading our, our packets and our term papers every month, and so, just huge appreciation to you, Steve, and to all of you for dedicating and volunteering your time. The discussion tonight with the planning team on the comp plan was a great example of having meaningful questions and input on a really important subject, so…

[91:03] Thanks, Steve, and thanks to you all. And if… if you're good with that, I can move on to the upcoming event. Yep. So, in April of 2026, April 2026, we'll have a water supply update. As I mentioned, that'll be an information item. And we'll have an information item on the utilities rate study kickoff, kind of the transition from the water budgets we've been talking about to the to the broader rate study, and we'll be giving you an engagement overview there. the… Also likely swearing in of, new board members, or a new board member, if all goes well, and election of board officers. Then, in May, we'll have our first pass at the Capital Improvement Program, and introducing that. I feel like that's an important one each year for the new board member to kind of hear where we left off, remind

[92:09] All the existing board members where we left off last year, and that take it from… From there, and subsequent months, may have, Capacity for a project tour. As well, and we'll think about that, and see if they have any good candidates. And then, as is often the case in June, we'll dedicate the whole evening to the capital improvement program, and And rates and budgets in depth. So, should be fun times. And that's what we've got. All right. Any other items from anybody? In that case, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Second. Second. All in favor?

[93:00] Cute. Thank you, Steve. Alright, Steve, you're done! Thank you.