[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan--BVCP Chapter 3. Natural Environment

[kohls at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Cowles, Macon

I applaud the drafting changes that staff has made to the BVCP that is under review. There is a single exception that I have noted thusfar, however, at the beginning of Chapter 3, at p. 37 of the staff materials in Attachment B--which contains a redlined version of the changes to the BVCP.

Staff has proposed cutting the first paragraph of the chapter, which now reads as follows:

"The natural environment that characterizes the Boulder Valley is a critical asset that must be preserved and protected. It is the framework within which growth and development take place. The city and county recognize that the Boulder Valley is a complex ecological system and that there are inextricable links among our natural environment, the economy, the built environment and community livability. The Boulder Valley is an open system in that our natural and human systems are connected to the region as well as to the entire world. The city and county acknowledge that regional and global changes can have a profound effect on the local environment and that the local economy and built environment can have adverse impacts on natural systems beyond the Boulder Valley."

This paragraph is an important expression of the relationship between the environment and community livability. It demonstrates both an understanding of and a commitment to preserving the natural environment by the people of Boulder that is unique to Boulder--you can't find it in any other community in the whole DRCOG region. It combines both a local and a global world view: with the Boulder Valley in the foreground, while acknowledging the BV's connection to the whole planet and how roughly humans inhabit most of it.

As the discussion unfolded both about the West TSA and about Boulder's New Energy Future, many of the points of view expressed by citizens were rooted in the language above.

The replacement for this paragraph talks about Boulder's leadership role in protecting the environment. But let's not place THAT text in the Comp Plan before we use the paragraph above verbatim to set the context for environmental stewardship. It does it so well; it would be a shame to lose the context.

Macon Cowles

Boulder City Councilor