[BoulderCouncilHotline] December 11 Study Session Feedback

[Young, Mary]

Dear Colleagues, Community and Staff,

As I will not be present tonight, I am providing the following input.


Long’s Garden’s

First, I see this project as an existing one from a previous Council’s work plan. Council can discuss its priority at our January retreat. In general, I would be in support of OSMP Interim Director Dan Burke’s recommendations as follows:


-  looking into the viability of utilizing BMPA (Boulder Municipal Property Authority) as a way to receive payments over time. However, I would want to see pros and cons of different length terms shorter than the 50 years in the 2014 proposal.


- determining if there are leases or encumbrances existing on the property, the Long’s note there is one easement for a water utility connection and others related Growing Gardens’ new building,


-discussing possible changes to the 2014 draft conservation easement draft, I would support having such discussions include OSMP staff as well as the City Attorney’s Office,

-determining options for establishing the value of a conservation easement, through either an update to the 2013 appraisal or a new appraisal, I would ask that the City be sensitive to the cost of a new appraisal to both the City and the Long family.


Large lots/Large houses

I support limiting the scope of the project to the RR and RE Zones. Given that  the Compatible Development ordinance exists (though it could go further and if bringing FAR in line with Council goals has minimal resource impact I could support including RL), the recent passage of the ADU ordinance and that including RL zones could substantially increase the scope and resources needed, limiting the project to the two zones makes sense. This approach is also supported by the data presented to Council last week.

Prairie Dog Working Group
I would like to extend my gratitude to the working group, staff and facilitator for their time and effort on this work so far.

I support the primary objective of the Ecological Goal to secure networks of high-integrity grasslands containing viable populations of plague-resistant prairie dog colonies naturally limited by native predators. It does seem that the Southern Grasslands is a place where this could occur given its contiguity to both County Open Space and Rocky Flats as well as the potential re-introduction of the black footed ferret.

Shifting the paradigm to creation and maintenance of a shortgrass prairie ecosystem makes a lot of sense and would begin to move us away from the safety and conflict issues we continually face through attempting to maintain urban colonies with few natural predators.

The following goals, loosely based on those presented to Council via email from members of the working group, make sense and, moving forward we should collaborate to align them into workable “buckets.”

1. A state-of-the-art plague management plan.

2. Update the Grassland Management Plan and implement more flexible receiving site location criteria.

3. Collaborate to establish a reliable source of revenue for open space maintenance and conservation.

4. Leverage the expertise of willing community members to continue the work.

One of the challenges pointed out in the memo is that of funding. Some of this could be overcome via two of the above stated goals.

Thank you and apologies for my absence.

Mary Dolores Young
Boulder City Council
303-501-2439

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” ~Martin Luther King Jr.
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