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PLAN-Boulder CountyThe Boulder County Peoples Advocate April 1, 2008Boulder County public affairs news and analysis |
In this issue
Charter Amendments May Go On Fall Ballot
As many as six proposed amendments to the Boulder City Charter may be placed on the November ballot. At their March 4 meeting members of the City Council approved Council member Suzy Ageton's request to have the Council's charter committee consider the proposals.
Two of the proposed amendments are minor "housekeeping" changes in provisions dealing with recall of elected officials and the number of signatures required on citizen-initiated referenda. One proposal clarifies the amount of time required between certification of signatures on a recall petition and the date of the recall election. The other reduces the number of signatures required on referendum petitions.
The other four proposed changes may be more controversial. Two of the amendments were rejected by Boulder voters in November of 2007. One allows leases of more than 20 years for private facilities on City property, such as the Spice of Life Events Center and airplane hangars at Boulder Municipal Airport. The other would increase Council salaries.
The two new proposals would allow Council to hold more closed executive sessions on topics such as lawsuits and personnel matters and permit Council to appoint to City boards and commissions applicants who are not citizens of the United States.
The charter committee will discuss the six proposals and bring some or all back to Council for debate and final decision. No date for that discussion was announced.
Council Makes Annual Board and Commission Picks
The Boulder City Council annually appoints citizens to City boards and commissions. Early each year the City encourages people to file applications for the various board and commission positions coming available. After a series of interviews with the applicants the City Council makes its appointments.
Council members voted on the appointments at their March 18 meeting. Most of the positions have five-year terms although in some instances citizens are appointed to fill remaining years on vacant positions, as was the case this year with several boards, including the influential Planning Board. In all cases, board members are volunteers and receive no remuneration for their service.
In recent years there has often been a clear division among Council members supporting candidates for some boards, frequently pitting applicants seen as friendlier to business, development and recreation interests against those more supportive of growth management and environmental protection. With the election of a new Council in 2007 that division was less pronounced this year.
Tracking Council votes on board and commission applicants is challenging, since unlike other votes no record is made by the City Clerk on how each Council member votes. Your editor, assisted by other PLAN-Bolder County board members, watches the channel 8 broadcast of the City Council meeting (and reruns if necessary) to get the accurate results. Voting, however, is by raised hands and even on replays the individual Council member votes may be difficult to perceive.
Following are the results of the appointments for some of the more prominent boards and commissions:
Environmental Advisory Board
Brian Vickers was appointed by Council on a 7 to 2 vote. Voting against Vickers and for another candidate were Council members Angelique Espinoza and Crystal Gray.Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board
John Spitzer, a member of the board of PLAN-Boulder County, was appointed on a vote of 5 to 3, garnering support from Council members Matt Appelbaum, Shaun McGrath, Lisa Morzel, Susan Osborne and Ken Wilson. Council member Crystal Gray recused herself from the vote due to her personal relationship with Spitzer.Parks & Recreation Advisory Board
Two positions were available on the board. Elected unanimously to one of the seats was Pete Webber. For the second seat Alan Smith was selected after several ballots. On the final ballot Smith received the votes of Council members Suzy Ageton, Matt Appelbaum, Crystal Gray, Susan Osborne and Ken Wilson.Planning Board
There were two positions available on the board, one caused by the resignation of Richard Sosa. Elise Jones, the current chair of the Planning Board, was unanimously selected to fill the tree years on Sosa's term.KC Becker, a Sierra Club activist, was selected for the five-year term being vacated by Jones, receiving 8 votes. Council member Lisa Morzel supported another applicant.
Open Space & Mountain Parks Board of Trustees
This board has been frequently contested in the past between applicants identified with recreation users and those who put greater emphasis on environmental protection. This year two candidates selected as finalists seem to bridge the gap, with John Putnam selected over Seth Portner on a 5 to 4 vote.Supporting Putnam were Council members Matt Appelbaum, Macon Cowles, Crystal Gray, Shaun McGrath and Lisa Morzel. Portner was supported by Suzy Ageton, Angelique Espinoza, Susan Osborne and Ken Wilson. Several of the Council members spoke in glowing terms about the qualifications of both candidates.
Transportation Advisory Board
Incumbent board member David Driscoll received a unanimous vote and was reappointed.Water Resources Advisory Board
In Boulder's arid environment this board is quite influential, and may become more so as effects of climate change impact water availability. Council members selected Susan Iott for the position on a vote of 7 to 2, with Council members Matt Appelbaum, Macon Cowles, Angelique Espinoza, Crystal Gray, Shaun McGrath, Lisa Morzel and Susan Osborne in support.
"McMansions" Create City, County Controversy
Public concern over construction of increasingly large houses in Boulder and Boulder County is leading City and County officials to consider options to control sizes and impacts on adjacent neighborhoods and property owners.
Boulder County Commissioners were the first to act, proposing a Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program that would set maximum sizes depending on community character in the unincorporated areas of the County. Builders would be able to construct houses in excess of the maximum by purchasing development rights from homeowners who are willing to maintain their houses at a smaller size.
The County proposal has changed several times in response to citizen comments, especially from builders and some residents of the Allenspark area who opposed restrictions on larger homes. A final vote on the County's plan will likely occur in April.
The controversy spread to the Boulder City Council on March 18. Councilman Macon Cowles offered several suggestions on how the City could better control demolitions of existing houses and construction of large additions or new houses in existing neighborhoods. His proposals ignited a firestorm of opposition from some homebuilders, property owners and business interests, although a countering argument in favor of stricter controls came from homeowners in some of Boulder's older neighborhoods.
Council ultimately gave a "nod of five" indicating to City staff the interest by at least a majority of Council members in considering options for addressing the problem. In particular, Council will consider an interim ordinance to address "the biggest fish" that appear to be the most objectionable. That ordinance will attempt to limit construction of large houses until a thorough review of City codes can be made and implemented.
One of the major issues is floor area ratio, which is the amount of space that can be built on a lot. Under the City's current code builders can construct in most neighborhoods a single family home on as much as 80% of the lot, for a FAR of 0.8. Much of the discussion has centered on lowering the FAR and also utilizing standards to protect existing neighborhood character.
Council Suspends Municipal Utility Study
The City of Boulder will no longer pursue the concept of creating a municipal electric utility and will instead focus on renewing the City's franchise agreement with Xcel Energy. Council members, at their March 18 meeting voted unanimously to accept the City Manager's recommendation and suspend all consideration of a City-owned utility service.
The municipalization concept arose several years ago as citizens voiced concerns about the quality and dependability of Xcel service in Boulder. The Minneapolis-based company also had a reputation for opposing renewable energy and embracing policies on the environment at odds with those of the Boulder community.
Since that time Xcel has supposedly become "a changed company", in the words of Mayor Shaun McGrath, who offered the motion to terminate consideration of the municipalization option. Under the motion adopted by Council City staff will negotiate the new franchise agreement, which will be submitted to Council and ultimately to a vote of Boulder citizens. The current franchise agreement expires in 2010.
Council agreed to set policies to guide City staff in their negotiations with Xcel. They left open the option to reconsider municipalization if Xcel does not agree to Boulder's policies, which involve greater use of renewal energy sources and improved service to customers.
Boulder Taxes Could Go to Voters
In addition to proposed changes in the Boulder City Charter, several tax issues may be placed on the November ballot. On March 18 Council members voted unanimously to support a motion by Councilman Matt Appelbaum to instruct City staff to further investigate and bring back to Council several options.
As recommended by City staff following discussions among members of a "blue ribbon commission" appointed by the City Manager, four tax issues could go to voters:
Washington Village Process Continued
The Boulder City Council agreed to continue a process to involve various community groups in designing the proposed redevelopment of the vacant Washington Elementary School at Broadway and Cedar Avenue. Wonderland Hill Development Company has the property under contract with the Boulder Valley School District and had proposed developing the site with co-housing residential units, a small amount of retail or office space and community facilities in the historic school building.
That proposal was overturned when a citizen petition was filed to halt the approval of the project by the previous City Council. A multi-phase process was then created by the new City Council to bring together the objecting neighbors, the developer, co-housing residents and other interested parties to see if a design consensus cold be reached. The first phase (designing the process) was completed, and at their March 4 meeting members of City Council voted unanimously (with Crystal Gray and Shaun McGrath absent) to continue to process.
Council Approves Historic District Garage
After a lengthy discussion the Boulder City Council decided not to overturn a decision by the Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board regarding the construction of a new garage on the alley behind a house at 512 Marine Street. The property owner requested a landmark alteration certificate to allow a 440-square foot garage to be constructed behind their historic home.
The property is in the Highland Lawn Historic District and includes the 1899 residence, which has recently been expanded, and an existing small garage. Council member Susan Osborne called up the approval from a previous Council meeting consent agenda so a quasi-judicial hearing was held on March 4.
City staff recommended approval of the certificate, as did a majority of the landmarks board. Osborne, some other Council members and several neighbors objected to the size of the garage. On a motion by Council member Suzy Ageton the Council voted 4 to 3 to affirm the issuance of the certificate. Voting to approve the garage were Council members Ageton, Matt Appelbaum, Angelique Espinoza and Ken Wilson. Joining Osborne in opposition were Council members Macon Cowles and Lisa Morzel. Crystal Gray and Shaun McGrath wee absent.
The March 1 issue of the Peoples Advocate contained a story about a Boulder City Council discussion of the recent controversy over Council member Crystal Gray's former job with Adams County government. A story by Channel 7 alleged that Gray had not been working a full 40 hours a week in her county office in Brighton. Gray explained that she used flex time in her position, including work at her home on evenings and weekends.
In the story your editor may have left the impression that Council member Suzy Ageton, who initiated the discussion, meant to ask for some action by City Council and was rebuffed by her Council colleagues. I should have made it clearer that her intention was purely to raise the issue for discussion and that no punitive action against Gray by the Boulder City Council was intended.
Council Voting Records Available Online
PLAN-Boulder County has been tracking since 2005 all votes by members of the Boulder City Council. Often amendments and procedural motions are as important as final decisions on major issues and we wish the people of Boulder to know how their Council members vote on issues of importance to the community. Included in our tracking is how Council members voted on appointments to City boards and commissions.
The votes are recorded on a spreadsheet that can be found on our website. PLAN-Boulder County encourages you to keep informed about how Boulder's City Council represents you and your views.
PLAN-Boulder County is pleased with the response from Boulder County residents to the Peoples Advocate. We'll keep working to let you know how your city and county representatives are voting on important issues, and we'll continue to provide detailed information on the nuts and bolts of public process.
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| The Boulder County Peoples Advocate is published monthly by PLAN-Boulder County and distributed free to persons interested in local public affairs issues. Eric Karnes, Editor |
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