[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Suzanne's Council Retreat Input

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Jones, Suzanne

Dear Colleagues-- Below is my input for the upcoming Council retreat.
Cheers,
Suzanne
3. Anticipated Items Not on Work Plan - Are there any items you anticipate will come forward in 2013 that are not identified in the reference notebook? 
The following issues are likely to come up in 2013 but were not noted in the 2013 work plan:
1) Recreational marijuana: While this is not an issue we chose to take up, the voters have spoken—so I think Boulder should just tackle it head on, as we are better equipped than any municipality to figure out a good regulatory mechanism. My hope is that we can make use of the many lessons we have learned from setting up model regulations for medical marijuana, and as efficiently as possible apply that regulatory framework and learning to recreational marijuana by the deadlines set in Amendment 64 if feasible. 
2) Conflict of interest/financial disclosure for Council members: Based on Council direction from this past fall, the City Attorney’s office is working on proposed improvements to reporting and decision-making protocols for Council members. I think we need to expeditiously follow thru in finalizing these improvements to be responsive to concerns raised last year by citizens about wanting increased transparency and reporting consistency.
4. 2013 Work Plan - Are the 2013 work plan items still the right ones?  
I am very supportive of our existing priority focus areas for 2013, and think we are poised to make significant progress on issues of great importance to Boulder citizens—from our energy future, climate efforts, and homelessness/affordable housing, to University Hill revitalization and re-visioning our civic center. 
In terms of other smaller work plan items, in addition to those already listed for 2013, I would like to add:
1) Oil & Gas Development/Fracking Position: Based on our previously adopted oil & gas legislative policy positions and bolstered by forthcoming staff research about the City’s vulnerability to oil and gas development/fracking, I think Council needs to adopt a more in-depth position regarding fracking and other oil & gas drilling impacts. This will be a big issue at the State Legislature this session, and has become a defining issue within our region and state. Boulder County and neighboring cities have already crafted various detailed positions, and our citizens are asking us to adopt a more definitive policy as well. As we wrestle with examining municipalization and crafting our Energy Future and Climate Action Plan, I think it is also important for us to examine the related implications of Boulder’s oil & gas drilling policies. The amount of staff work required would differ based on our chosen course of action. For example, we could choose to: pass an outright fracking ban; adopt a moratorium on fracking until its many risks and impacts have been more fully researched and addressed (e.g., pending EPA’s ongoing study and/or CU’s NSF-funded study);  or adopt an enhanced oil & gas management framework for drilling within City limits.
2) Local Food: As Tim and I proposed previously to Council, in 2013 we would like the City to join with the County, CU, BVSD and other partners in examining the many opportunities and obstacles to promoting local food production as part of a Local Food Summit. The City is already engaged in various initiatives around the local foods issue—e.g., working on a Boulder OSMP beef brand, exploring expansion of the Farmers Market, looking at commercial kitchen space to help promote economic vitality, etc. The Summit could, among other things, help identify where else the City might play a catalytic role in promoting local food in the future—and tee up the issue for greater City action in 2014 (see below). Jane has just designated Mike Patton and Carl Castillo as point people for the City on this issue, and we envision the amount of staff time (beyond existing efforts) to be modest. 
		3) Planning & Development Review Process: I would also like to have a broader discussion about whether there is interest in trying to improve the process for how Council weighs in on pivotal development projects that set the tone for a neighborhood or district, rather than merely waiting until a project is called up or not. I think the efficiency and efficacy of Council input might be improved in a number of ways (e.g., by weighing in earlier with general expectations, being more timely in completing area plans in advance of key development projects, and/or reviewing incentives to make sure we are encouraging what we want).  
I would also like to underscore the importance of the planned Transportation Master Plan update. It is long past time for us to better integrate our transportation, sustainability and climate change goals. As part of this, I am thrilled that we are doing an Eco Pass Feasibility Study. I remain convinced that a community-wide pass for residents and commuters into Boulder would be a significant step in furthering many City goals, and evolving past the tedious and time-consuming work involved with the annual neighborhood Eco Pass program. Similarly, I hope the 2013 comprehensive review of our parking program will better integrate parking with our sustainability goals—for example, I would like to see us devote a few more public parking spaces for e-Go CarShare.
Finally, I am pleased to see regional trail connections as a work plan item, and would like to know if there is more that the City Council can do to help facilitate this effort.
 5.  2014 Work Plan –Are there any issues you want to discuss as potential items to tee up for the 2014 work plan?
 		1) Sustainable Agriculture and Local Food: The issue of local food encompasses multiple City goals including increasing sustainability, improving public health/addressing childhood obesity, better providing for food-challenged populations, enhancing economic vitality, maintaining our agricultural heritage in our open space system, reducing greenhouse gases, and increasing resiliency in the changing climate. As noted above, the City is already involved in the issue on several fronts. But we lack a comprehensive overarching vision and coordinated policy. To that end, I propose that we tee up the issue of sustainable agriculture and local food as a larger project in 2014—in particular to adopt a local food policy and decide on a set of priority next steps in coordination with key partners at the county, CU, BVSD, and food sector (e.g., investing in food processing infrastructure, establishing a food hub, furthering our school farm program, facilitating markets for local produced and processed foods, etc.)