Opinion: City Council goals — some perspectives


The Boulder City Council held its annual retreat last weekend, and as usual, many of the items brought up were ones that have been discussed many times before. Having been involved in Boulder politics for now almost 30 years, I thought I`d offer up my take on a few of these topics.
The “Planning Reserve,” 680 acres north of Jay Road and east of US 36, is once again being considered for annexations. It is the last significant area where new development could be allowed under the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. So it has become the target for everything from big box stores to sports complexes.
The history of the Planning Reserve goes back to when I was on the council. To limit sprawl, many council members and civic organizations wanted to declare most of the unincorporated Boulder valley off limits to urban development. But this not-so-small portion was kept potentially open to assuage the development-oriented members of that council. Now some council members are pushing for a formal process to allow development there. Let`s be clear — there was no good reason, other than politics, to keep this area available for development. In my view, it would be far better to complete the original process, and make this area off limits also. All the latest fantasies notwithstanding, Boulder doesn`t need more sprawl.
The idea of building a conference center has emerged anew, in spite of two recent failures. When the St. Julien hotel was being planned, land to the east on Canyon was supposed to be designated for civic use. Being adjacent to a hotel, a conference center was the obvious use to consider. And the demolition of the old Oasis bar offered an opportunity to create a large site. But no one was willing to take on the developers and face the enormous costs, so the conference center idea was dropped.
Then someone got the bad idea of building a conference center in the Farmer`s Market area on 13th Street. It would have totally destroyed the ambiance, and required yet another hotel to be built. When it became clear that the project would have been a financial disaster even with free land from the city, it was also abandoned. Maybe it`s time to face up to the real financial and land use costs before wasting more time on this scheme.
I would like to see more attention paid to the city`s budget and finances. The fundamental conflict between General Fund (GF) departments, which compete for financial resources, and the dedicated fund departments, that have their own revenue sources, needs resolution. But let`s not kid ourselves. The voters will never approve removing earmarking of the revenue sources like the Open Space sales tax. They want some control over their elected officials about how the city`s revenues are allocated, and the council knows this — almost all recent tax ballot issues have been earmarked.
A simple solution might be to grant each of the GF line departments a percentage share of the GF revenues so that they can operate with the same long-term budgetary certainty as the dedicated fund departments. (This would include permanently settling how much the GF is to pay Open Space to manage the Mountain Parks.) This approach would allow department heads to manage for the long term, and not have to spend time planning for an annual budget fight.
Some council members made suggestions for financing capital improvements, but the underlying issues still haven`t been addressed. Impact fees for parks and libraries are still way too low. The transportation department still needs to implement parking fees in employment areas; these would equitably generate needed revenue while creating a strong incentive to car-pool. The city also needs an Adequate Public Facilities (APF) transportation rule. APF would require all new development to offset its new auto trips, and thereby avoid increasing congestion for existing residents and businesses. Fixing these areas should be a high priority; it`s unfortunate that they keep getting put on the back burner.
As to the council`s main focus, Boulder`s Clean Energy Future, the timing couldn`t be better. Xcel is in the process of planning for significant capital investments, and whether our solution ends up being with Xcel or through creation of a municipal utility (like Fort Collins or Colorado Springs), now is the time. Go for it!

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