Agenda Memo

City of Boulder City Council Agenda Item Meeting Date: July 30, 2026 Agenda Title Introduction and consideration of a motion to order published by title only and adopt by emergency measure Ordinance 8767 adopting Supplement 167, which codifies previously adopted ordinances and other miscellaneous corrections and amendments, as amendments to the Boulder Revised Code, 1981; and setting forth related details

Staff Contact • •

Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde, City Manager Teresa Taylor Tate, City Attorney

Draft Motion Language Staff requests council consideration of this matter and action in the form of the following motion: Motion to introduce, order published by title only, and adopt by emergency measure Ordinance 8767 adopting Supplement 167, which codifies previously adopted ordinances, and other miscellaneous corrections and amendments, as amendments to the Boulder Revised Code, 1981; and setting forth related details.

Executive Summary The purpose of this item is to ask council to adopt the proposed ordinance at first reading as an emergency measure, to generate the printed supplements to the B.R.C. 1981 as soon as possible.

The Boulder Revised Code (“B.R.C. 1981”) is the official book of laws of the City of Boulder. Four times a year (quarterly), council is asked to adopt supplements to the B.R.C. 1981. An ordinance format is used to bring ordinances and council procedure amendments that council adopted in the previous quarter, or that became effective before the current supplement, into the B.R.C. 1981; and to ensure that there is no question regarding what constitutes the official laws of the City of Boulder. Code amendments may also be included with the intent to correct non-substantive errors discovered in previously adopted ordinances. The laws of the city should be current and available to the residents of the City of Boulder as soon as possible; therefore, council is asked to adopt the proposed ordinance at first reading as an emergency measure.” The text of Supplement 167 has been previously adopted by the following: Ord. 8713

Ord. 8739

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 9, “LAND USE CODE,” B.R.C. 1981, TO ADOPT TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS, INCLUDING RELATED AMENDMENTS TO CHAPTER 2 OF THE CITY OF BOULDER DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS (D.C.S), ORIGINALLY ADOPTED PURSUANT TO ORDINANCE 5986; AND SETTING FORTH RELATED DETAILS AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 11, “WATER UTILITY,” B.R.C. 1981, TO REFLECT CURRENT UTILITY POLICY, CONSERVATION GOALS, AND STATE LAW; AND SETTING FORTH RELATED DETAILS

Council Action Options Option

Outcome

Approve motion language as drafted

If the motion is approved, the amendments would go into effect immediately upon adoption

Define and adopt a modified motion

Council would need to define any modifications or amendments to the draft motion language. This will likely require staff to bring back an amended version

Deny the motion or take no action

If this motion is denied, the supplement ordinance would not be adopted

Refer back to staff

If council refers this item back to staff, more direction would need to be given

Alignment with City Plans and City Council History Sustainability, Equity and Resilience (SER) Framework and Citywide Strategic Plan Alignment SER Framework Goal Area This item connects to the goal area of Accessible and Connected. By establishing The Boulder Revised Code (“B.R.C. 1981”) as the official book of laws of the City of Boulder and following an established procedure to update the B.R.C. 1981 with quarterly supplement ordinances that are adopted by reference as a routine part of city business; it allows city staff to provide open access to information for its residents and the public in both digital and physical formats. This fosters connectivity and promotes community engagement. Residents can access the B.R.C. 1981 through our Municode webpage, the city’s Laserfiche database, or they can access physical copies of various supplement pages on file in the Office of the City Clerk of the City of Boulder, Colorado, Penfield Tate II Building, 1777 Broadway, City of Boulder, Boulder County, Colorado, during regular business hours. Additionally, this item connects to the goal area of Responsibly Governed. Establishing the B.R.C. 1981 as the official laws of the City of Boulder and having an established procedural process to update those official laws regularly is a way of providing high-level customer service and facilitates trust through transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness, while allowing city staff to provide citizens with important information on a variety of platforms that allow for inclusive customer service. Citywide Strategic Plan This item connects to Strategy 8, Improve accessibility to city meetings, information, and programs through equitable engagement. It helps to improve accessibility to information and fosters engagement. Also, this item connects to Strategy 12, Implement organizational and financial best practices to continuously improve asset management, customer experience, and project and program performance. It helps city staff to continue to improve customer experience and adapt as technology advances while providing inclusive engagement options.

Staff Notes Ongoing code maintenance is an essential and largely administrative obligation of the city. Four times a year (quarterly), council is asked to adopt supplements to the B.R.C. 1981 as part of this maintenance. These supplement ordinances are approved as a matter of routine by council. Code amendments are reflected in strikeout and double-underline format along with a “Reason for Change” as part of this agenda item. Such amendments are intended to correct non-substantive errors discovered through review of these ordinances and/or which may have occurred in previously adopted ordinances already codified in the B.R.C. 1981. Major and/or substantive corrections or revisions are brought forward as a separate ordinance to council during the normal course of future council business.

Alignment with Additional City Plans Regular code maintenance is included in the city attorney’s yearly work plan and requires anticipated staff time.

City Council History This particular item does not have a history with this council. However, it is part of routine city administrative business that the council is asked to consider and adopt quarterly.

Analysis This proposed emergency supplement ordinance includes ordinances that were adopted by the council in the last supplement quarter or that were effective prior to the current supplement. They are all added to the official version of the B.R.C. 1981 by way of the attached proposed supplement ordinance. Council is asked to adopt quarterly supplement ordinances to ensure that a clearly identifiable version of B.R.C. 1981 is legislatively adopted. The printed supplements to the B.R.C. 1981 may not be distributed to subscribers until the proposed adopting ordinance is effective. The laws of the City of Boulder should be current and available to residents as soon as possible; therefore, the council is asked to adopt the proposed ordinance at first reading as an emergency measure. Amendments 1.

Section 4-11-16, “Special Event Permit, “ B.R.C. 1981, is amended to read as follows:

4-11-16.- Special Event Permit. … (f)

2.

Special festival event permits, following the process laid out in Chapter 412, “Special Festival Events,” B.R.C. 1981, may be issued for the mall.

Section 4-12-3, “Special Festival Event Permit,” B.R.C. 1981, is amended to read as follows: 4-12-3. - Special Festival Event Permit. (a)

The city manager may issue a permit for a special festival event that will apply only for the duration of the special festival event and a reasonable amount of time to set up and take down such event, but in no circumstances shall such time exceed thirty days.

(b)

Applicants for a special festival event permit may submit applications to the city up to twelve months in advance of the first day of the scheduled festival event, and no later than ninety days before the first day of the festival event, and such application must include the following:

… (5)

Any anticipated street closures or anticipated encroachment upon any public rightofway or public easement. Separate rightofway permits obtained in compliance with Chapter 8-6, “Public Rightofway and Easement Encroachments, Revocable Permits, Leases and Vacations,” B.R.C. 1981, will be required for encroachments upon any public right of way or public easement; and

… (f)

(g)

Other than those listed below, no special festival event permits will be issued during the following times: (1)

Sundance Film Festival (as per dates in contract - dates vary annually).

(2)

Bolder Boulder event (Memorial Day).

When more than one application for a special festival event is received for the same day(s) and for conflicting locations or routes, the city manager shall issue a permit, subject to the other provisions of this chapter, based on the following order of priorities:

… (2)

Special festival events planned, organized, or presented by state of Colorado, federal, or city governmental entities or their agents if the request is made in good faith and not with the intent or purpose of improperly chilling constitutionally protected rights of competing applicants;

(4)

If paragraphs (1), (2), or (3) of this subsection are inapplicable, priority shall be given to a first in time filing.

…

… (j)

3.

The city manager may adopt rules necessary for the implementation and interpretation of this section under the procedures of Chapter 1-4, “Rulemaking,” B.R.C. 1981. Such rules may include, without limitation, prescribing forms for license applications, information that applicants and licensees shall provide, books and records that licensees shall keep, and limiting the number of permits issued for any events to avoid any undue congestion, and uphold the public health, safety, and welfare.

Section 4-18-2, “Public Property Use Permits,” B.R.C. 1981, is amended to read as follows: 4-18-2. Public Property Use Permits. (a)

No person shall place for sale or for solicitation of orders any merchandise or other things upon any street, alley, sidewalk or other public property or suspended from any building or structure over the street, sidewalk or public property without first obtaining a permit from the city manager under this section or in connection with a special festival event permit issued pursuant to Chapter 4-12, “Special Festival Events,” B.R.C. 1981.

… 4.

8-6-11, “Private Signs on Public Property,” B.R.C. 1981, is amended to read as follows: 8-6-11. - Private Signs on Public Property. (a)

The city manager shall have no authority to grant permission to any private party to post a private sign on any public property, including, without limitation, the public right-of-way, unless otherwise specified below.

… 5.

9-6-5, “Specific Use Standards – Commercial Uses,” B.R.C. 1981, is amended to read as follows: 9-6-5. - Specific Use Standards - Commercial Uses. … RECREATION AND ENTERTAINMENT … (h)

Special Festival Event: (1)

Standards: Special festival events are allowed by right if the use meets the following standards: (i)

Such uses are temporary, limited to no more than fourteen days in any annual period per event, unless otherwise approved by the city manager, and are part of a special festival event approved pursuant to Chapter 4-12, “Special Festival Events,” B.R.C. 1981;

(iii)

Such uses may not result in unsafe conditions or unacceptable levels of congestion or result in damage to private or public property, including in the public right of way;

…

… 6.

9-9-21, “Signs,” B.R.C. 1981 is amended to read as follows: 9-9-21. - Signs. (a)

Application and Legislative Intent:

… (2)

Intent: The purpose of this section is to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of the city by regulating the design, construction, and installation of private signs in the city. The city council recognizes that signs are necessary means of visual communication for the public convenience and that businesses and individuals have the right to identify themselves and convey

messages by using signs that are accessory and incidental to the use on the premises where the signs are located. In this section the council intends to provide a reasonable balance between the right of a business or an individual to identify itself and to convey its message and the right of the public to be protected against the visual discord that results from the unrestricted proliferation of signs, especially off-premises billboards. The ability to convey messages by signs is important to the proper and efficient functioning of society. However, the natural desire to speak more "loudly" through signs which are more numerous, larger, higher, and closer to the street than the signs used by one's neighbors and competitors requires a set of rules applicable to all similarly situated. With a level playing field the community as a whole benefits and no individual is disadvantaged in communicating. The council also intends by this section to ensure that signs are compatible with adjacent land uses and with the total visual environment of the community and that the value of nearby property and the economic health of the community as a whole are protected from visual blight. Another purpose of this section is to protect the public from hazardous conditions by prohibiting signs that: are structurally unsafe, particularly in light of the unique wind hazards in the city, obscure or distract the vision of motorists, or compete or conflict with necessary traffic signs and warning signals. In adopting this section, the council recognizes that the size of signs that provide adequate identification in pedestrianoriented areas differs from that necessary in vehicular-oriented areas where traffic is heavy, travel speeds are greater, and required setbacks are greater. … (E)

Council finds that signs erected under a special festival event permit are temporary in nature and will not cause the aesthetic blight of the sort unacceptable to the city. Such signs will contribute to a unique festival experience for residents and visitors in the city for a limited time and within a limited area of the city. City Council, therefore, finds separate standards for these temporary signs appropriate that ensure that these signs do not pose any risk to the health, safety and welfare of persons or property in the city.

… (d) …

Size Limitations and Other Rules for Certain Signs:

(15)

Special Festival Event: In addition to other such signs that may be allowed, the city manager may approve signs located within a special festival event boundary established in a permit approved pursuant to Chapter 4-12, “Special Festival Events,” B.R.C. 1981, consistent with the following: (A)

Comprehensive sign plan: The signs must be approved as part of a special festival event comprehensive sign plan submitted pursuant to Section 4-12, “Special Festival Events,” B.R.C. 1981. The comprehensive sign plan shall: (i)

Be submitted to the city by the special festival event permit applicant or a vendor or sponsor identified in the special festival event permit, no less than ninety days prior to the special festival event. Modifications to the comprehensive sign plan may be submitted no less than thirty days prior to the special festival event;

(v)

Specify the first and last day of the special festival event for which the sign plan is approved; and

…

… (D)

Standards: The signs shall:

… (i)(iii) When attached to a building that is on a designated landmark site or in a designated historic district or when attached to a designated feature, all established pursuant to Chapter 9-11, “Historic District,” B.R.C. 1981, be easily removable and attached using only non-structural elements, such as reversible adhesive product ties or bands, and not require drilling of masonry or stone units, or clamping. Signs approved pursuant to this subsection (d)(15) do not require a landmark alteration certificate. …

Reason for change: Ord. 8751, adopted June 18, 2026, amended the Boulder Revised Code 1981 relating to special festival events. After adoption staff identified the above scrivener’s errors.

Equity Analysis An equity analysis was not necessary for this item.

Climate, Resilience, and Sustainability Considerations This item has no considerations related to climate, resilience, or stability.

Community Engagement This item is purely procedural in nature and doesn’t require community engagement.

Workplan Considerations Regular code maintenance is included in the city attorney’s yearly work plan.

Next Steps for City Council There are no next steps for this item and no related current agenda items.

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Attachment Attachment A – Proposed 1st rdg Emergency Ordinance 8767 Supp 167