Issue #13

Ryan’s Review

An update from Ryan Schuchard on Boulder City Council

Hello Boulder!

In this issue:

• Recent developments

• What I’m learning

• Coming up

Hyperlinks should appear underlined, like with the newsletter website address here: www.ryanwithboulder.com/newsletter.

If underlining does not appear, please try the online version of the newsletter at the website address just above.

Also, there is now a running list of latest developments from council chambers here and a running list of suggestions for how to get involved here.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

CITY COUNCIL BUSINESS: City Council approved several measures to improve infill middle housing options, moved forward a major update on parking and related policy, provided input on the development of a new homelessness strategy, and held a mid-term progress check-in.

We also met with our electric and gas utility, Xcel, to discuss progress in their work for our franchise agreement and share our aims going ahead.

These and other developments are available in more detail at https://www.ryanwithboulder.com/developments.

CITY OF BOULDER: Boulder won the bid for Sundance! The event will move to Boulder in January 2027 with a commitment to be with us for at least ten years. The festival is expected to generate significant revenue around the community, having brought $132 million in economic activity to Utah, including more that $13 million in tax revenue and $69 million in wages, in 2024. More: Boulder Reporting Lab.

The city has developed a future climate model that is refined or “downscaled” to pinpoint our expectations for Boulder locally. One finding is that the number of high fire-risk days has grown from 14 per year in 2005 to 116 in 2022 and is projected to be 192 by 2030. More: Boulder Reporting Lab.

BOULDER VALLEY: Towns throughout the area are working to create safer streets that are more welcoming to more people. More: Yellow Scene.

The Fourmile Canyon Creek Underpass project has been completed, creating a continuous safe path along SH 119 between Boulder, Gunbarrel, Niwot and Longmont. More: Boulder County.

The enrollment decline of BVSD has slowed, but challenges with funding and school closures remain. More: Boulder Reporting Lab.

Funding for body safety education for kids in Boulder County is needed more than ever, but funding is dwindling. More: Boulder Weekly.

COLORADO: Demand for rural intercity bus routes is growing in Colorado and the state is adding routes to match it. More: The Denver Post.

State lawmakers are developing plans to further boost state investments in bus rapid transit service. More: Colorado Public Radio, Colorado Newsline, and COPIRG.

Rising home insurance costs due to wildfire risk are adding to the problem of unaffordable homes in Boulder. State leaders are working on several measures to stabilize the market and lower costs. More: Boulder Reporting Lab.

FEDERAL SITUATION: The Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to deconstruct long-established US government functions and jobs, constitutional order, and an environment of stability are being met with increasing resistance.  More: NYTimes, Drilled, The Impact Project, and Climate Mayors (lists of the administration’s actions) and NYTimes (list of lawsuits against those actions).

WHAT I’M LEARNING

TRANSPORTATION AND LAND USE: Boulder has three parking spaces for every household vehicle. Parking consumes about 10% of the city’s land area. More: City of Boulder.

At the same time, Boulder’s urban forest canopy, which provides important services to our community, including heat moderation, is decreasing. The decline is due to multiple stressors including more extreme heat and other severe weather, more pests, and more landowners cutting down trees faster than the trees can grow. The effect is worst in lower-income communities. More: City of Boulder.

HOUSING: Housing is unaffordable across the US. That’s mostly because of a chronic national housing shortage that has driven housing prices to grow more quickly than incomes everywhere for two decades. The US is short between 1,500,000 and 5,5000,000 homes. More: Brookings Institute.

Seniors are finding housing harder to come by, and the trend is set to worsen. Nationally, older folks need hundreds of thousands of homes over the next five years that are not on track to materialize. More: Fortune.

Seattle provides compelling new evidence that mandating affordable housing without providing additional inducements adds costs that developers seek to avoid and typically means the housing just doesn’t get built. More: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

More people are coming to realize that the science of climate change is clear that creating more compact, mixed-use, walkable communities is foundational to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. More: YouTube explainer by Justine Underhill.

Four-story multi-family units are now allowed by-right everywhere as well six-story ones on larger lots if they have affordable units in Cambridge, Massachusetts. More: City of Cambridge.

There are signs that converting high-rise office space to dorm- style living could ease the housing crunch in Denver. More: KUNC.

ENERGY: We can create higher levels of energy efficiency and resulting cost savings and resilience by expanding our focusing beyond individual technology switching to a whole-systems and services approach. More: RMI.

Boston has become the first city in the country to require new buildings to achieve net zero carbon emissions standards upon opening. More: City of Boston.

CLEAN AIR: Ozone levels continue to be unhealthy throughout the Front Range. One challenge is that Regional Air Quality Council (“RAQC”) agencies lack the power to implement several kinds of control strategies. More: Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

WILDFIRE SOLUTIONS: Knowing your neighbors can save your life. Some groups in Boulder County are showing the way to take disaster response into one’s own hands. More: Boulder Weekly.

HOMELESSNESS SOLUTIONS: Well before Donald Trump took office, the country was pivoting to a more punitive approach to homelessness. More: Slate.

In 2010, about 40 percent of those living outdoors or in other makeshift conditions had formal employment. For an increasing share of the nation’s workforce, a mix of soaring rents, low wages and inadequate tenant protections have forced them into a brutal cycle of insecurity in which housing is unaffordable, unstable or entirely out of reach. More: NYTimes.

ECONOMIC INCLUSION: For Boulder to secure its economic future, it must address the underlying barriers that prevent workers from living and thriving here. By focusing on policies that empower workers and create equitable opportunities, Boulder can become a city where everyone, regardless of income, has a stake in its success. More: Boulder Weekly.

INTERDISCIPLINARY PLANNING: Cities are an important part of the climate progress that is possible now. More: Climate One podcast with Dana R. Fisher and Nathaniel Stinnett.

Good public parks are an important climate solution that can have something for nearly everyone. More Grist.

Advocating to earmark funding outside of normal planning processes encourages more people to do the same and creates a race to the bottom. Focus instead on Boulder’s long term financial strategy and our comprehensive plan update which are both underway. More: Nicole’s Council Chronicles.

COMING UP

MEETINGS HAPPENING SOON: Later in April, Council will discuss a planning analysis and emerging design priorities for the civic area (April 17), a strategy review for economic vitality (April 24), and plans for connections and quality of life improvements for the commercial area (April 24).

MEETINGS FURTHER OUT: In May, Council will discuss agenda management for boards and commissions (May 1), a financial forecast (May 8), ballot Items (May 8), a Wildland-Urban Interface code update (May 15), Child Friendly Cities Initiative Plan Draft Action (May 15) and the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan (BVCP) update in a joint study session with the Planning Board (May 22).

Topics planned between June and September include Manufactured Home Strategy, Long Term Financial Strategy, Access Management and Parking Strategy, Waterwise Landscaping and Wildfire Hardening, Water Supply, Healthy Buildings Roadmap, and more on the BVCP and ballot initiatives.

OTHER THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO: Finally, the city has multiple plans under way that you can shape, volunteer opportunities, and other ways ways to get involved. Learn more at the new page here: https://www.ryanwithboulder.com/getinvolved.

Thanks for reading! A more comprehensive view of City Council business is available through our meeting materials here and meeting recordings here.

Please continue to let me know what worked and what you’d like to see more of. And feel free to send any specific submission items. Whatever you have, your feedback is invited here.

Subscribe and view all published issues at www.ryanwithboulder.com/newsletter.