Matters Memo

City of Boulder City Council Agenda Item Meeting Date: December 11, 2025

Agenda Title Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan Community Assembly Recommendations & Report

Staff Contacts   

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Brenda Ritenour, Community Engagement Manager, Communication and Engagement Vivian Castro-Wooldridge, Community Engagement Senior Project Manager, Communication and Engagement Sarah Huntley, Director, Communication and Engagement Brad Mueller, Director, Planning & Development Services

Executive Summary The purpose of this item is to present the final report of Boulder’s Community Assembly on 15minute neighborhoods and gather initial feedback from policymakers. Three Assembly members have been elected by their peers to present the group’s recommendations directly to Boulder’s City Council and Planning Board. This memo and the Assembly report will be shared with Boulder County Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners. During this meeting, City Council and Planning Board will ask clarifying questions, discuss the recommendations with the Assembly representatives and provide preliminary direction to staff on integrating the Assembly’s recommendations, as desired, into the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. The full report is provided as Attachment A.

Questions for Council 1) Do City Council or Planning Board have feedback or concerns about which of the Assembly’s policy-level recommendations to integrate into the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan? 2) Do City Council or Planning Board have any feedback or concerns on implementationrelated recommendations that are beyond the scope of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan?

Alignment with City Plans and City Council History Sustainability, Equity and Resilience (SER) Framework and Citywide Strategic Plan Alignment SER Framework Goal Area The Community Assembly process is an innovation new to Boulder that is aligned with the Responsibly Governed goal: “A local government that. . .makes data-driven decisions informed by community engagement inclusive of those who have been historically excluded from government programs and services.’ It implements the objective of ‘supports strategic decisionmaking with opportunities for accessible community engagement in multiple languages and timely and reliable data and analysis.” The topic of 15-minute neighborhoods supports all other SER goals, particularly the Livable objective to “increase the prevalence of 15-minute neighborhoods, in which individuals can access their most basic needs within a 15-minute walk from home.”

Citywide Strategic Plan This Community Assembly and topic of 15-minute neighborhoods are connected to several strategies and priority actions including: Livable  Strategy 6: Define and establish Boulder’s 15-minute neighborhood model.  Define set of essential economic realities and ideal conditions, as well as zoning changes needed for success of 15-minute communities in Boulder.  Identify and prioritize key connections and relationships of commercial areas, cultural amenities, parks, trails, and open space areas as a part of the 15-minute neighborhood model. Accessible and Connected  Strategy 8: Improve accessibility to city meetings, information and programs through equitable engagement

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Provide individuals with limited or no English proficiency with meaningful access to information, services, programs, activities, and decision-making processes.

Alignment with Additional City Plans This item also aligns with the city’s Engagement Strategic Framework, particularly the goals around equity, innovation and transparency.

City Council History The concept of convening a Community Assembly for the comprehensive plan update was first introduced to the Planning Board on July 23, 2024, and subsequently to the City Council during the study session on Aug. 22, 2024, (see links below). Staff identified the Assembly as the most inclusive and innovative component of the engagement strategy for this plan update. Regular progress updates have been provided to the Process Subcommittee.

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Link to the July 23, 2024 Planning Board meeting materials: Matters Item – Training and Pre-Update Overview of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan Link to the Aug. 22, 2024 City Council Study Session materials: Item 1 - Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan Update: Draft Scope, Schedule, Engagement Strategy

Analysis The Community Assembly Concept A Community Assembly is a structured, time-bound engagement process that brings together a group of community members who are randomly selected to reflect the diversity of the broader population to deliberate on a single topic. Supported by neutral facilitation, assembly members learn about a specific issue, hear from experts and those with lived experiences, deliberate together, find areas of common ground and develop group recommendations for decisionmakers. The goal is to provide a representative, informed community voice on complex or polarizing policy questions.

Boulder’s Journey The City of Boulder and Boulder County held its first Community Assembly as part of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan update from May to October 2025. The assembly initiative reflects our commitment to exploring new engagement techniques that foster meaningful and inclusive participation while advancing equity. Assemblies are valuable for involving community members who are typically underrepresented in planning processes and empowers community members to address complex issues collectively and effectively.

The Problem Statement The Community Assembly was tasked with examining how and where 15-minute neighborhoods could be implemented in the Boulder Valley. The city and county selected this topic because it consistently emerges in Boulder as a community interest, yet progress has been limited. This Comprehensive Plan update offered an opportunity to confirm with the help of a representative group of community members whether 15-minute neighborhoods are a policy priority for the Boulder Valley and, if so, what is needed to realize a shared community vision. The topic is well suited for the Comprehensive Plan update because it intersects many core areas of the plan, including climate action, economic development, housing, land use, transportation and mobility and more.

Assembly Recommendations The work of the Assembly resulted in:  A Boulder-specific definition of 15-minute neighborhoods;  Four principles for prioritizing locations;  Fifteen recommendations with majority support;  One minority report on one specific issue; and  Key opportunities and challenges for policymakers and implementation staff to consider. See the Assembly’s report in Attachment A for full details.

Relevance to the Comprehensive Plan Staff have reviewed the Assembly’s report and initially found that there are potential opportunities to incorporate the Assembly’s definition of 15-minute neighborhoods, as well as several of its recommendations, into draft Comprehensive Plan policies. The Assembly’s proposed guiding principles for suitable locations may also inform updates to the future land use map. Pending input from Planning Board and City Council on the Assembly’s recommendations, staff are ready to prepare necessary updates to draft Comprehensive Plan materials.

Project Team The team guiding the Community Assembly logistics and process included internal staff and several external resources and experts. Internal: City/county staff: Moderator, project manager, logistics, production of materials, resource persons. External:

Facilitation team: CU Boulder-led team of deliberation experts, responsible for the arc of the deliberation process: designing individual sessions, facilitating meetings, managing a team of table facilitators (CU Graduate students) and supporting the drafting of the final report. Advisory Group: Community members and a representative from the Federation for Innovation in Democracy (FIDE)-North America, responsible for providing advice to the moderator on the bias and usefulness of learning materials and session structure. Capacity building and macro-design consultant: MASS LBP trained staff; led staff through making macro design decisions; helped develop the representation model; and randomly selected Assembly members from the pool of applicants. Independent Evaluation: The research and writing of a case study was led by a FIDE-North America team, using an established FIDE methodology. The lead author is part of CIRES-CU Boulder’s Center for Education, Engagement and Evaluation. Liaison: Responsible for supporting the individual needs of Assembly members to remove barriers and ensure their full and effective participation. Language Access: Spanish-English translation and interpretation.

Anticipated Fiscal and Workplan Impacts Staff does not anticipate any immediate fiscal or workplan impacts at this stage. Staff are prepared to incorporate policy-level recommendations into the draft Comprehensive Plan scheduled for community review in early March 2026. Some of the Assembly recommendations are more implementation-oriented and those supported by Planning Board and City Council will be assessed by relevant departments to determine potential impacts to future work planning and budgets.

Equity Analysis Assembly members chose ‘equity’ as their overarching value and potential impacts are noted through the report. Staff are also working on an equity analysis as part of the Comprehensive Plan update.

Climate, Resilience, and Sustainability Considerations Staff does not anticipate any immediate climate, resilience or sustainability impacts at this stage.

Community Engagement The Community Assembly aligns with the “Collaborate” level of the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) engagement spectrum, which guides the city’s approach to community engagement. At this level, the city’s commitment is to incorporate the Assembly’s advice and recommendations into decision-making to the maximum extent possible. While deliberations were limited to those who applied and were randomly selected to serve on the Assembly, staff also gathered input from the broader community over the summer. Through pop-up events and a July 15 community event, community members were asked to share ideas related to 15-minute neighborhoods. A summary of this input was provided to the Assembly to support its learning and deliberation. To increase awareness and understanding of the Assembly’s work, media were invited to attend and interview willing Assembly members on Sept. 6. Seven community members and twelve practitioners from across the country also observed part of the Sept. 20 Assembly meeting. Practitioners who observed the Sept. 20 meeting include staff from:  Change.org  City of Fort Collins, Colorado  City of Raleigh, North Carolina  Growing Up Boulder  CU-Boulder Communications & Media Studies  Mediators Foundation  National Civic League  National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation

Next Steps for City Council Following this joint study session, staff will assess City Council and Planning Board feedback on the Assembly’s recommendations and proceed with integrating that direction into the draft plan, as necessary, scheduled for release in early March 2026. Staff will clearly show how each Assembly recommendation is reflected in the plan or provide an explanation when it is not. In some cases, recommendations may not be incorporated based on policymaker direction or because they relate more appropriately to implementation rather than long-range policy. Staff will also clearly describe how Assembly recommendations were, or were not, incorporated into the plan during the public hearing and adoption process next summer to ensure transparent and consistent communication with policymakers, Assembly members and the broader community. If there is interest, staff can also organize a learning session in 2026 for policymakers on the Assembly process, including key findings from the independent evaluation.

Digital Accessibility The City of Boulder is committed to digital accessibility. Some content may not be fully accessible due to technical limitations or issues. For alternate formats or accommodations, please visit Accessibility | City of Boulder or contact accessibility@bouldercolorado.gov.

Attachments A. Community Assembly Report on 15-Minute Neighborhoods