Study Session

Staff, Pam Davis and Matt Chisansky, presented the process for the new citywide strategic plan covering 2027 to 2030. Staff collected 170 staff proposals and narrowed them to about 41 draft inputs called the world of possibilities, using a scoring rubric based on alignment with city goals, complexity, urgency, and service tier.

“we're doing it right and we're looking to get you involved, get community involved”

Taishya Adams said the process started without baseline budget, outcome, and climate data, and without council or boards at the table from the start. She said this creates an imbalance of power and makes the process feel like staff is directing council rather than the reverse.

“this is a prime example of why the community feels that the staff is wagging the dog as it relates to the council”

Matt Benjamin said he was unsure whose strategic plan this is, and felt council was being brought in after staff had already shaped the content instead of leading the process from the start. Rob Kaplan separately asked staff to explain the scoring methodology behind the prioritization tool used to narrow 170 proposals to 41 inputs.

“I'm not sure whose strategic plan this is.”

Matt Benjamin asked staff to add a full rewrite of Title 9 as a signature strategic plan item, since council flagged it at retreat and it is the main tool to implement the comprehensive plan. He also asked staff to add multi-year budget process reform, including a move to a two-year budget, as a strategic plan item.

“reforming and rewriting Title 9 has to be signature um in this going forward”

Ryan Schuchard asked for more use of statistically valid, communitywide surveys to guide the plan rather than self-selected feedback, and for the plan to set national-standard service delivery benchmarks for the city as a service provider. Nicole Speer asked staff to treat growing public hostility toward city workers as a named risk category, alongside climate and economic threats.

“I would like us to see a greater proportion of information we get that is about community engagement...coming from statistically valid communitywide surveys”

Assistant City Manager Mark Wolf and project manager Shihomi Kuryagawa presented the Civic Area East Bookend Development Partnership, a plan to seek a private developer to redevelop city land near the renamed Boulder Creek Park. Goals include a food destination anchored by the Boulder County Farmers Market, recreation ties to the park, and arts and culture uses, with an optional west bookend for sale to fund other projects.

“the city can't get there alone with our own resources”

Staff said nine teams responded to an earlier request for interest, including full development teams and groups wanting to reprogram single buildings, and staff plan to release the formal RFP in late summer 2026 with partner selection in early 2027.

“we've received nine responses, a mix of full development teams”

Rob Kaplan asked why the memo did not mention engagement with police, park rangers, or downtown businesses on safety for a year-round evening activation site. Staff said past civic area engagement included police and rangers and that safety planning will continue as the RFP and design move forward.

“the kind of high foot traffic public spaces where both real and perceived safety determines whether the vision actually succeeds”

Matt Benjamin asked how staff will communicate the ongoing operating cost of the redeveloped park, not just the roughly 18 to 20 million dollar build cost. Parks director Ally Rhodes said early estimates for baseline maintenance are in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and that the opening year budget will need to reflect this cost.

“this isn't just 18 to 20 million, wipe our hands of it”

Tara Winer raised the Arboretum Path connecting University Hill to the farmers market area as a priority she wants addressed, though staff said it is outside the current phase 2 boundary and unfunded. Rob Kaplan asked whether the city has estimated east bookend property values under sale versus long-term lease scenarios; Mark Wolf said staff has a broker opinion of value but will not publish it before the RFP.

“we're not going to publicize that number per se before the RFP process”

Intergovernmental affairs officer Heather Staer described state Initiative 175, which would dedicate motor vehicle and fuel tax revenue solely to traditional roads and exclude transit and multimodal projects. She said a related law, House Bill 1430, would offset the new money, so the city likely would see little new road funding while losing flexibility for its transportation master plan and Vision Zero work.

“it would severely limit the uses of that funding”

Heather Staer described the Boulder County Early Childhood Care and Education Mill Levy, a 2.579 mill property tax increase expected to raise about 30 million dollars a year for child care affordability, accessibility, workforce stability, and lower administrative costs for providers. Council later took a non-binding straw poll to support the measure.

“the funding would be used to address the high cost and limited availability of child care and preschool”

Heather Staer described state Initiative 95, which would require local police to report arrests of people not verified as lawfully present to federal authorities, conflicting with existing state law. Staff said this would place an unfunded mandate on Boulder police and conflicts with the city's policy statement opposing local enforcement of federal immigration law.

“it places an unfunded mandate on the city to assist in federal immigration enforcement”

Heather Staer described state Initiative 85, which would raise felony penalties for fentanyl offenses, remove some Good Samaritan protections, and mandate treatment for certain drug felonies. Nicole Speer later said the district attorney, sheriff, and several current and former Boulder County legislators oppose it because it could impose an 8 to 32 year sentence on a first offense.

“basically treated the same way as a high level drug trafficker”

Matt Benjamin said the strategic plan should drive reform of the city's annual budget process toward a two-year budget cycle, calling it a multi-year project that belongs in the plan. He said this would improve long-term financial strategy work and community engagement on the budget.

“reforming our budget process to be a budget for us by all of us”

Matt Benjamin said a full rewrite of city land use code Title 9 is the main tool to implement the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan and should be treated as a signature multi-year strategic plan item.

“redoing title 9 is in fact the main implementation tool to actually achieve the comp plan”

Tina Marquis asked whether staff identified gaps between city and county human services before proposing strategic plan ideas, or whether the city was working in isolation from the county and state. Staff said county, state, and federal gaps were considered in developing the draft inputs but that more detailed analysis would come from the city's human services staff.

“do we think about how to identify the gaps of the county and then respond to them”

Heather Staer reviewed one county measure and about 15 state ballot measures, including graduated income tax Initiative 195, education funding Proposition NN, a competing income tax cap Initiative 232, a right to natural gas Initiative 177, a right to hunt and fish Initiative 302, and a sporting goods sales tax for conservation Initiative 308. She said staff cannot advocate on measures but council can direct staff to draft resolutions stating a city position.

“city council can take an official position on a ballot measure on behalf of the city”

Council took non-binding straw polls directing staff to draft resolutions opposing Initiatives 85, 95, 109, 110, 175, and 177, and supporting the county child care mill levy, Initiative 195, and Proposition NN. A proposal to support Initiative 308 on sporting goods conservation funding got only three votes and was not carried forward.

“we did the oppose... did we do something about the support”