New Initiatives in 2026

Official city council workplan items adopted for 2026:

1. Bicycle security and theft reduction: Launch a new initiative to expand secure user-friendly bike parking and use strategic policing and other tools to meaningfully reduce bike theft.¹

2. Power resiliency: Develop a framework to make Boulder more resilient in the face of increasing power outages during dry/windy days, including an assessment of gaps with the current situation under Xcel and consideration of new strategies, programs, and intergovernmental/policy initiatives.

3. Wildfire cost/benefit list and home hardening hub: Create a menu of options to prioritize investments towards making Boulder a fire-adapted community and create a comprehensive, user-friendly web portal to consolidate homeowner resources to implement recommendations of Boulder’s detailed home assessments and wildfire hardening measures.

4. Exploration of adjustments to minimum wage and the tip credit. Titled “explore authority to modify the tip credit.”

5. Administrative cleanup of sister city code language. E.g., Create a central list of relationships, clarify annual reporting process, define why/how to sunset an arrangement.

6. Reduction of process barriers to housing and other small-scale development. Called “Scoping future efforts to reform title 9 (in city code).”

Selected additional commitments outside the above  “official” council priorities:

7. Transit strategy: Will come to council in a study session in 2026 with reflection on the county transit update that is underway. 

8. Strategic housing needs assessment: Staff leading a study of needs with an evaluation of different demographics and gap assessment vis a vis DRCOG’s efforts that will come to council in 2026.

9. Vacancy tax: Will be on list of measures for council to consider coming from the long term financial strategy committee in spring 2026. 

10. Emerging technologies and data security (including surveillance issues): City manager is initiating a task force that will make recommendations about principles and values, coming to council for consideration in 2026.

12. Disaster planning: “Tabletop exercise” coming to council. 13. Police and public safety: Two updates throughout the year are scheduled to hear from the police about public safety. 

Additional council initiatives previously established that continues:

14. Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan (BVCP).

15. A long-term financial strategy.

There are so many important things happening—including a ton of planning momentum towards building a more walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented community that is making structural changes towards greater affordability, electrification, wildfire resilience and resilience more broadly.

Reference

Here is all of the proposals for 2026 City Council workplan submitted by individual Councilmembers, 30 in total: Council Process and Improvement Proposals

Here is a summary of proposals from Boards and Commissions for Council to consider in their 2026 workplan development: Winter 2025 Board and Commission Letters to City Council

Notes

1 Here is a copy of the text of the proposal for bicycle security and theft reduction that Council adopted on January 13, 2026.