Study Session Memo

City of Boulder City Council Study Session Summary Meeting Date: October 1, 2026 Agenda Title Consideration of a motion to accept the August 27, 2026 Study Session Summary regarding the 2026 Wildfire Resilience Council Priority Project

Staff Contact • • • •

Dan Burke, Director, OSMP Brian Anacker, Science and Climate Resilience Sr Manager, OSMP Jamie Barker, Public Information Officer for Boulder Fire-Rescue and Wildfire Ready, Communications and Engagement Pam Davis, Assistant City Manager, City Manager’s Office

Draft Motion Language Staff requests council consideration of this matter and action in the form of the following motion: Motion to accept the August 27, 2026 Study Session Summary regarding the 2026 Wildfire Resilience Council Priority Project.

Presentation Summary In the August 27 Study Session Memo and presentation, staff acknowledged the urgency of Boulder's wildfire threat and the city's long-standing and growing investment in wildfire resilience. This includes a $10.5M+ annual investment across 10 departments and a decades-long foundation of programs and partnerships. Staff then presented the

2026 Council Priority Project, established at Council's January 2026 retreat to address two tasks: Task 1, the Wildfire Home Hardening Implementation Hub, will connect homeowners who have completed Detailed Home Assessments to the guidance, contractors, costs, and incentives they need to act on recommendations through a centralized resource. Task 2, the Wildfire Mitigation Priorities Assessment, consolidates the city's 130+ projects into 25 program areas, designates 10 Tier 1 programs, identifies Boulder’s highest wildfire risk Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) areas by ranking 12 western WUI sections into three risk groups (the WUI Risk Index), and develops a metrics framework with targets for all Tier 1 programs to be tracked annually on a public-facing dashboard. Staff presented a draft measure and described an approach to tracking and continuous improvement.

Questions for Council and Direction Received The questions asked of council were: 1. Does Council have questions or feedback on the Wildfire Home Hardening Implementation Hub and its approach to connecting homeowners to resources, guidance, and incentives? 2. Does Council have questions or feedback on the proposed wildfire resilience framework progress to date to prioritize resources and measure progress, including the inventory of programs and actions, Tier 1 program designations, geographic risk groupings, and measures and targets? 3. Are there significant wildfire resilience programs, actions, risks or considerations that Council believes are missing from the framework and should be considered before the October 22 report? Council was supportive of the materials shared and engaged in a substantive discussion. Questions and feedback included:  

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Can a vetted list of contractors be added to the Hub to help homeowners implement their Detailed Home Assessment recommendations? Can you develop measures to show progress toward keeping fire out of the city and slowing fire spread within the WUI, such as tracking rate of spread and response time? Does the WUI Risk Index incorporate climate change scenarios and whether major roads and other contextual information could be added to the index? Why aren’t Chautauqua and NCAR/NIST sections scored as highest risk? How can the Hub and DHA program be better designed to support renters? Does the city need help pursuing grants?

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Can we add a 30x30 measure (e.g., 30% of homes hardened by 2030), or similar, for home hardening? Can we prioritize a short list of home actions to focus on, such as a 5’ defensible space around homes, and what is the corresponding risk reduction? Can you develop cost estimates for Tier 1 programs under both current and enhanced resourcing scenarios? How do we understand where investment is needed the most in terms of maximizing ROI? How can active and engaged community members be leveraged to greatest benefit? Can the BVCP Area III be added to the map so we can understand its location relative to the WUI Risk Index?

Next Steps for City Council Staff will return for a second study session on October 22, 2026 with a refined and finalized WUI Risk Index, finalized metrics and targets for all 10 Tier 1 programs, cost and capacity analysis for priority programs in highest-risk sections, and recommendations for next steps.

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