# Boulder City Council: Study Session, October 22, 2026

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[0:06:14] evening everyone and welcome to tonight's study session of the Boulder City Council. I'm council member Rob Kaplan and thank you all for joining us. We have tonight's agenda. First, we'll receive a bike security and theft reduction update. And our second item will be the discussion regarding enhancing Boulders's wildfire resilience. The areas we'll hear about and discuss are first the development of a comprehensive wildfire home hardening implementation hub and second a comprehensive assessment and analysis of current or planned city wildfire related programs, projects, and actions. Before we go into our work item, I'd like to outline how the meeting will be conducted. Uh we will review the staff's presentation and then we'll have time for questions. At the end of the presentation, we will conduct our council discussion with staff. If you have questions, please wait for staff to complete their presentation. We will now turn to our city manager, Nuria Rivera Vandermi, to introduce our first item.

## 1 Bike Security and Theft Reduction City Council Priority Update Staff Time: 15 Min Council Time: 45 Min

[0:07:20] Thanks so much, Council Member Kaplan. Tonight, uh, we'll be closing out two of your council priorities, which, as you know, doesn't mean the good work on both of these topic ends. The first this evening is on bike security and theft reduction, a topic of concern that so many in our community uh are and you are concerned about. It's not just an inconvenience and frankly it's a costly one at that but we know that it impacts how people feel about their community and whether they can confidently rely on biking as transportation. So the city has invested heavily in making biking a safe, accessible and convenient transportation op option for our community. But infrastructure is only part of that equation. People also need to feel confident that when they park their bike, it will still be there when they return.
[0:08:09] Bike theft importantly isn't an issue that one department can solve alone. It requires coordination across the city and with our community partners. Staff from police, transportation and mobility facilities and fleet communications and engagement. And importantly, our partners at community cycle Boulder Boulder and downtown Boulder all contributed meaningful actions that are making a difference throughout our community. Those actions rely on preventing bike theft in the first place and using data to inform where and when enforcement can be most effective at increasing bike security across our city. Today's presentation will walk you through that completed work and showcase what the team has already accomplished. But as I mentioned earlier, while this completes the priority project, rest assured that bike security remains a priority for the team and will continue through their ongoing bike education, business outreach, and community engagement efforts. And with that, I believe I'm passing it along to John McFarland to kick us off.
[0:09:05] >> Thank you so much, uh, Nuri Nura. And good evening, council members. I'm John McFarland, a senior transportation planner in transportation and mobility, and I'm joined tonight on the call with members of the Boulder Police Department, uh, Sergeant Matt Matt Fitzgerald, and Officer Mitch Trillo. As mentioned, uh, transportation, mobility, and the police department have collaborated closely throughout this project and in addition with other members of the city family and the community to undertake this council priority project and augment existing efforts to improve bike security and continue to reduce bike theft in the city. Uh, this project is important because it builds on all the work the city of Boulder has done to create one of the best biking communities in the United States. We have a world-class network of bikeways, underpasses, and supporting infrastructure and are only one of five US cities to receive the platinum level bike friendly community designation from the League of American Bicyclists. When it comes to bike parking, we have required short-term bike parking to be part of new developments since 1998. We added long-term bike parking requirements in 2014 and then updated those requirements again in 2025 to require additional consideration uh for larger cargo bikes and ebike charging.
[0:10:18] All this work has led to 21% of Boulder residents to commute to work by bike uh which is really significant and more than 10 times the average for other American cities. And because of this work, Boulder uh has become a city that welcomes and celebrates bicycling. Uh for decades, we have hosted events like Bike to Workday and fostered community partnerships uh like with community cycles uh to encourage bicycling as a transportation choice. We also have a long-standing partnership uh with the Boulder Valley School District to provide education for all youth uh to learn to bike safely and responsibly. Again, to just help build that culture of biking. Uh so with that, I'll turn it over to uh Sergeant Matt Fitzgerald who will talk a little bit about why bikes are being stolen. >> Excuse me. Okay. Um but we do continue to see bikes being stolen in our city.
[0:11:14] Uh this crime triangle breaks down why bikes are being stolen. Um the first is a target because we are a city where a lot of people bike. Bike thieves know that where there are bikes, uh there are opportunities. Uh the second is a place bikes not locked up or locked with an easy easily broken lock or an improperly locked bike to a rack is a place where bike thieves will find opportunity. Uh lastly, you need a motivated offender. When a person has their bike stolen, it can certainly have a significant impact on their lives. Uh some people rely on a bike to get to work, school, or other daily needs. For people with low incomes, having a bike stolen can be a significant impact to the household and may not easily be replaced. Additionally, theft can have a significant impact on the city, reducing climate impact from transportation to uh the data shows that 45% of people who have their bike stolen stop biking and 40% of those use less sustainable ways to get around like a private vehicle or some type of ride share.
[0:12:21] Our team used data to to understand bike theft. First, we looked at 2025 bike theft data shown here and available at the Boulder Police Department's bike theft dashboard, which can be found by scanning this QR code. From this data, we set a goal for 2026 to reduce bike theft by 10% and increase recovered bikes by 10% versus the rates in 2025. The data also informed the actions that we took this year. For example, data shows bike theft happens in warmer months and especially when school is back in session. Because there are more people biking, it provides more opportunities for motivated offenders. That also tells us bike thefts happen all over the city, but are more concentrated in certain areas. About two in three bike thefts are at high density housing like multif family homes and college housing. And about one in three bike thefts happen in commercial areas like the 29th Street Mile. This data helps shape when and where we show up in the community for this project.
[0:13:23] We also know clean, well functioning and secure spaces for parking feel safe and inviting and encourage more usage for cyclists in a bike in a parking area that is not well lit or visible by people with unsecured bike racks or bikes missing parts may be perceived as insecure and uninviting by bicyclists. Using the problem oriented policing approach from the re-imagined policing plan, we came up with some recommendations and changes to improve bike security. This approach centers a holistic emphasis on community-based solutions and crime prevention. First, by addressing upstream problems of bike theft with registration and and uh proper excuse me and proper locking techniques. Second, the project does not rely on law enforcement as its principal tool. Instead, education and collaboration with the public are the primary means used to reduce bike theft in the city.
[0:14:30] Third, when law when when enforcement was used, it was guided by data on locations and times of year when bike thefts occur most frequently. And the first tool in prevention is to have people register their bikes to make it easier to recover them if they are stolen. We use bike index for bike registration. Bike index is both a registry and a bike theft reporting platform where users can mark their bike as stolen and the online community can help identify it. For example, used bike bike bike buyers, including pawn shops, can reference bike index to ensure bikes aren't stolen before buying them. The police department can also reference bike index uh when a stolen bike is recovered, which increases the chance a recovered bike is returned to its owner. In fact, bike index data shows registered bikes are five times more likely to be returned to their owner than the national average recovery rate. In partnership uh with Bike Boulder, the team showed up in the community at 15 events to encourage people to register their bikes on the spot like we did at CU's Bikefest in September uh shown in this picture on the right of the slide here. We also provide information for people to take with them and register their bike at home. In addition to events, we also went to 16 bike shops in
[0:15:49] town to encourage them to register new bikes for buyers just to remove a step in the bike registration process for new owners. Another prevention action is to ensure people properly lock their bike. Transportation and mobility and the police department work together to develop this one-page flyer that details the type of lock to buy, the three steps to properly lock a bike, and tips for increasing bike security. The onepage information sheet shown here also includes a QR code and short link to bike index to encourage bike registration and help with recovery if it is stolen. We also shared this resource at community events and gave away roughly 200 U-locks to those who registered their bikes on the spot with us. This material on bike locking is available in both English and Spanish and will be shared in all city bike communications going forward.
[0:16:40] >> Hey John, just real quick, can you introduce yourself? >> In addition to communicating, >> can you can you do a quick introduction of yourself to the public? Your name? >> Oh, I'm sorry. This is uh John McFarland in transportation planning again. >> Thank you. >> In addition to communicating how to lock a bike, we also developed material for businesses on the process to in to install short-term bike parking and the type of bike rack to install. Both a one-page guide and webpage content clearly details our design and construction standards of our standard inverted U bike rack, placement and installation standards like those shown in this graphic on the slide, and the process for installing a bike rack in the public rideway or on private property. In November, this material will be shared with businesses in Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan neighborhood centers and along can corridors uh where we have where we have recently implemented or plan to implement upgraded bikeway infrastructure. Similar to the bike locking material, this information will be part of transportation and mobility's ongoing communications to businesses.
[0:17:57] And then not only do we encourage new bike rack installations, but we also maintain existing bike parking installed in the public rideway to ensure cyclists have secure bike racks to park on. The city's facilities teams uh facilities team works with special districts such as the central area general improvement district and the University Hill General Improvement District to replace aging and damaged bike racks on a regular basis. For example, in 2025, facilities installed 250 new bike racks in downtown to replace aging racks as shown on the photos on the left of the slide here. And as part of this project, we have made those city- owned bike rack locations and others publicly available through our online bike map, so people biking know where to expect bike parking when traveling to destinations. Additionally, in 2026, the project team also worked to improve bike parking at the bike and ride shelter at downtown Boulder Station. We recognized the importance of needing a secure place to park your bike when making connections to transit, and we coordinated with the facilities team and Boulder County on a regular cleaning and maintenance schedule for the bike and ride shelter.
[0:18:57] We also worked with Downtown Boulder Partnership to expand their role in tagging abandoned bikes downtown to include the bike and ride shelter at downtown Boulder Station. And we will also be installing new signage in the shelter, communicating how to properly lock your bike, how to report mainten maintenance needs in the bike parking shelter, and letting people know that the shelter is under is under 247 video surveillance. All right, I'll pass it back to Mitch uh who will cover the next few slides. And Mitch, can you just introduce yourself? Mitch, you're still on mute. >> There you go. Okay. And um this is Mitch again. Um officers are provided training in identifying in indicators of bike theft behavior. Are trained how to incorporate bike index searches during contacts and how to assist community members in registering their bikes. Are provided daily briefs of of stolen bikes with images to to assist in identification while on patrol and act on intel in hotspot areas using targeted bike operations and tracking devices.
[0:20:12] Officers provide education at community events on how to use tracking devices, provide information on ways to hide trackers, and share the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to using trackers. We continue to learn more about track bike tracking devices so that we can share that information with the community. >> And I'll pass this over to Fitz. and this is Sergeant Matzgerald. Uh, targeted bike theft operations are a proactive law enforcement technique with patrol officers and detectives where police leave a locked, unattended GPS equipped bicycle in a high theft area to track, locate, and arrest bike thieves in real time. These locations are selected using bike theft data reported to the police department. The bike has a hidden tracking device mounted to it, which alerts nearby officers when the bike is moved. Once stolen, nearby officers track the live signal and move in to intercept and arrest the suspect.
[0:21:14] Officers completed six targeted bike theft operations from May through October. Of those six operations, two arrests were made of made of prolific bike thieves to drone footage can be found in the memo. So is the problem oriented policing approach to reducing bike theft and increasing bike security working? Uh the answer is a resounding yes. As you can see in this graph, the height of bike thefts were in 2020 during COVID when a lot more people were spending time outdoors and biking. The graph then shows a steady decline over recent years. Uh like I had mentioned earlier, our goal for this project was to reduce bike theft by 10% versus the rates in 2025. Also increasing stolen bike recovery by 10%. So far in 2026, we are seeing 14% less bikes stolen year-over-year with the year year-to- date recovery of stolen bicycles at 13%.
[0:22:12] We believe that we will hit our goals for the full year and that the downward trend in bike theft will continue, but we are committed to monitoring this through year's end. All right. And this is John McFarland again in uh transportation and mobility just to close close us out here. So, as we demonstrated, this project has continued work city departments have undertaken uh and initiated new work to reduce bike theft and improve bike security. We still have a few tasks in progress that will finish by the end of the year, such as sharing the short-term bike parking guide with businesses in November, developing a long-term bike parking resource for commercial and residential property owners that will be similar to the short-term bike parking uh resource highlighted earlier, and then finalizing the signage for downtown Boulder Station's bike and ride shelter.
[0:22:57] Uh looking ahead, project tasks will also be incorporated into ongoing department work and communication such as the community education on registering your bike, how to properly lock your bike, and the police department's monitoring and education efforts. So that concludes our presentation and we just have a couple questions for council shown here on the slide. Uh first, what feedback does council have on the work completed to date? And the second, what feedback does council have on the remaining bike parking resources? Thank you, >> council member. And and before we go to questions uh that I know um you will have, I just want to correct myself. I think I have events on the brain lately, and I may have said Boulder Boulder, but I don't want to not lift up our great um partner in Bike Boulder, who's the one who's been supporting us as we um move forward. So, with that, Council Member Kaplan, back to you.
[0:23:49] >> Fantastic. Thank you. And thank you, John, Matt, and Mitch for that presentation. Um, so now we'll go to uh feedback. Does uh council have any feedback on the presentation before we go to uh questions? >> Tara, >> you want feedback first and questions later? >> Well, do you have any comments and then we can go to questions? >> Um, I have questions and comments. I I can't even I wish my brain was working now. You want me to discern between questions and comments? >> No, go ahead. Go ahead. Just Thank you. Thank you. Can you um John, that's your McFarland, right? Can you go back a few slides to that graph for a second? >> Yeah, we've got uh Melanie Sloan here on the team, too, who's running the slide deck. >> That one.
[0:24:44] >> We're going back. Yep. >> Reported bicycle thefts in Boulder January to August each year. So, it's only January to August. What does that mean? Like you didn't do September and October and November and December just uh yeah so the reason why we captured it um was primarily for the timeline that we had for this project. So we wanted to show an accurate reflection between January and August of since 2020 because we're now reporting it is October. Um the numbers are still consistent in September. We just haven't gotten official numbers, but the but the recovery rate and the theft reduction rate still are at 13 and 14%. So that's that's why that graph's splitted like that is so we could accurately report the same time frames for those years coming. >> So are you saying that >> when we >> like for instance in 2024 there were 529 bikes stolen only January through August?
[0:25:47] >> Correct. >> Okay. But September is one of the biggest bike theft months that there are because the kids come back to school and all that kind of stuff. >> Tara, Tara, do you mind if I just cut in real? >> No, please. >> I think the p the purpose is so that you could do an accurate comparison of 2026 to previous years since we only have data through August and 2026, >> right? But then you >> but we do collect numbers on the entire year. >> Okay. It will be great to see the actual numbers for the entire years of 2024 and 2025 cuz I got all excited and then I saw the tiny type on my screen that said January through August. So, it just skews it a little bit. I'm not complaining, but I'm just saying how many bikes were stolen in the year of 2024 and in the entire year of 2025 for instance.
[0:26:37] >> Um because that's a lot of bikes. >> We can get that information for you for sure. and and towards the end of 2026, we we can actually get full data for this year and we can still show that bike thefts are were believed to be down. >> Yeah. But isn't Boulder is this true that Boulder is what I'm nervous about is I know that your your packet said that if you want any more us to do any more of this, there's going to be more resources involved. Do you know that part of the packet? So, are you saying that that's it and then you're done after? How like I'm wor this is what I'm worried about. Here's my worry. I work a lot with bike boulder and Trish is doing great work. I just want to say that. But there's so much more to be done and I'm worried that this is the end. And I'm worried because we have So, now you're hearing my worries because we have less police than we should, right? We're under um what's the word, Matt? Because my brain's not working. You need to help me. We have less police than we want.
[0:27:39] What is that word? Council. >> Understaff. >> Thank you. Under staff. We are underst staffed. And so I'm worried about next year as well. So how important is bike theft in general and will it be left behind in 2027? Because we did our year and now we move on. So that's my question. And you can be honest like we don't have enough officers to do this. I'm not trying to do a gotcha or anything. I'm just curious about the future. >> Yeah. Um yeah. So I would I would say we we are we are understaffed. Um the the good work though that we're doing is not going to stop because of staffing. Um, you know, we I mean, what that graph does illustrate is that even as we are understaffed, the numbers and the effectiveness uh in our officers is I I would argue is increasing. So, as we get more staffing, I I'm optimistic, but I feel like it's only going to get better.
[0:28:41] >> Hey, thanks. >> Yes. >> Okay, Matt. >> Appreciate that. Um, I'll I'll start with a comment. I um participated in the um uh bike fest at CU uh with staff and I have to say that I had a very interesting observation. A lot of the interactions that myself and staff had were about with students obviously and we'd ask them, hey, have you registered your bike? I was blown away by how many students had actually registered their bike. I mean it was so impressive. And so for one, credit to BPD and city staff, but most importantly, credit to CU for hammering that point home. Um, and so that was just a really welcome relief that we I mean, look, we were all students once and so doing those sorts of administrative tasks that aren't just specifically focused on school andor partying may not be the most important things or get prioritized yet. So many students had done the uh bike registration with bike index. So that was just really impressive all around and I just want to give credit to all of those that have made that happen. So, um that was great. Um on that front, you know, the question I have really sort of centers around, um how how are we how are we do we do we know much difference
[0:29:57] between regular bikes and ebikes in terms of theft and how are we maybe targeting that? Because I guess the question center is like are we putting bait ebikes out because those have a much intrinsically higher value. And so I'm wondering if we know if there's any subtleties in is is it just equal opportunist or we see any anything that separates ebikes versus regular bikes in what's stolen, where they're stolen, and and maybe how we work on deterrence. >> Yeah. Um council member, yeah, this is officer again. And I I I'll just say that, you know, we're we're utilizing those bait bikes um in in a way that we're we're applying them in areas where, you know, they're hotspot areas. Um we're effectively using those. We're utilizing our technology well. And I think, you know, I think that that work is going to continue as well. Um I I don't anticipate that, you know, we're we're we're going to back off from any of that. Um, and we're still gathering the necessary intel so that we can do those operations effectively.
[0:31:07] >> Okay. Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah. I was just trying to understand a little bit more where the ebikes fit in because that's often a those bikes are used more as transit and getting to work, getting to school, uh, those sorts of things. And so those impacts are maybe a little different than someone's mountain bike, per se. Not to say that that's not a a devastating loss, but so I'm just sort of wondering if we we have data on those differences. >> Yeah. Not well, not to not to reveal the tactics too much or strategies, but um I I would just say that we um are utilizing the our um our bait bike, our ebikes that are are bait bikes. Um and so we're we're we're trying to attract um the the thieves to that whole thing. But I mean, yeah, I don't want to get >> I don't want to put you on the spot. No, that's actually all I wanted to hear.
[0:31:57] No, I appreciate that >> too much. Thank you. >> Thanks, Matt. Uh, Ryan, you're up. >> Yeah, that's fine. Um, thank you. So, I'll do I'll do comments, then I have a few questions. Um, so really appreciate this work and, um, I really enjoyed the explanation of the whole systems approach um, that all contributes, excuse me, to bike security. Um I love to see the integration across the departments on this work. Uh starting with the explanation of how we understand why this is important. Um there's a there's a lot of reasons why bicycle security um and good parking is important and I also enjoy the coordination among the departments and I can see a lot of teamwork and workflow and I I I think it's really great. Um, I appreciate seeing in this presentation specifically a recognition of the role of highsecurity bicycle racks and long-term parking. And um I'll just conclude my my comments part on um I would really love as we go forward to see um in trans in our transportation planning in our in the way we do network planning. I would love to see continued focus on bicycle secure bicycle parking in that network planning and I can see that we're on the cusp of doing something that's that's I I think pretty innovative. Um and so I'm e eager to to
[0:33:31] see that move forward in whatever you know the right way is for it. And I heard um the other thing PS I heard um if I heard this right I heard um Mitch just I think kind of suggest that this work does continue and from an enforcement standpoint um we've so we've we've built some momentum that it that it sounds like um we can expect to continue and I think that's all that's all really great. Um I think I have two questions. Um I guess the c the first question is on I I had said I'd love to see in future transportation network planning or whatever kind of system planning that bicycle parking gets gets you know more integrated. Can anybody speak to that like the prospects for that? Has staff contemplated how future transportation planning might you know reflect secure bicycle parking?
[0:34:31] Let's see. We are council member, can you can you see me? Can you hear me? >> We are I don't know that anyone said this, but we are all in the same room and had technical difficulties. So, you may have noticed there's a little bit of uh extra coordination in the presentation by muting and turning on cameras and unmuting so you don't get reverberation. So, thank you all for your patience. Um, Council Member Shuhard, the BL Bailey, director of transportation and mobility. Um, I think that, um, to acknowledge the overall goal, um, or at least one of them, which is that with better bike security, we think that we will see increased usage of bicycles for transportation, which supports city-wide goals and transportation goals. Certainly, uh, planning for security as it relates to transportation in general is something that we'll look to. you you know we have limited resources. So as a sort of standalone project planning for uh bike parking is probably not within reach right now. Um but certainly as we do uh planning projects I think I think assets around bike parking are certainly something that we should consider as it relates to how they uh support those goals.
[0:35:36] >> Thanks. Okay. And then I think I have one other question which is um on the registration um of bike index some shops in town where you get the bike from where you buy a bicycle from will will do it or they'll suggest it. I don't believe we require it as an ordinance. Um, but could could anybody speak to this? Like what what is the current landscape of are any are any shops that we know like can you give an inventory of shops that are you know providing a default option of registering the bike for you? I mean it takes like 90 seconds. Um but nevertheless any any thought to that and then other otherwise like um prospects to encourage shops to to make that the default option as they sell their bikes. Yes, council member. This is uh Officer Trillo again, Mr. Trillo. Yeah. So, um that that is something that we consistently suggest um to the bike shops, to the dealers um in town. Um some are really embracing of that idea.
[0:36:42] Um trying really hard to to do point of sale or even prior to sale um and and um actually registering their fleet um before they actually gets um sold. And so um some are really good about um thinking about ways that they can um enhance that customer experience and provide the customer with um that kind of security going forward. And and we think that that's really a valuable tool in for them um to create, you know, a really good relationship with their customers. Some are some are really recognizing that and some are, you know, um they're they're short-handed. They're they're busy. they're trying um you know and and the only thing we can do is just just try to to encourage them at this point because as you said I mean it's not anything that we can mandate at this point.
[0:37:38] >> So I I hope that answers that. But we're doing >> we're visiting with them and we're doing we're trying to provide them with the tools necessary to get that done. >> Great. Okay. Yeah. really really appreciate excuse me appreciate the thought the thought to that feels like one of those areas of lowhanging fruit. Um you know and also maybe a chance for the city to recognize shops that that do a good job on this. You said we can't mandate it. Seems to me you know maybe that's a council question we could talk about an ordinance. But um nevertheless I I really appreciate the thought and care that you're you're putting into that one. Um and I think that does it for me. So thanks thanks everyone for this great work. Hey, Ryan. Looks like we have Nicole next.
[0:38:20] >> Yeah, thanks so much for the presentation. Um, I just have a quick question. It may be a little bit of a tricky one, though, so I'm going to ask you to speculate a little bit, but you know, you all were already on track to have uh significantly reduced uh bicycle thefts in our city um before we made this a council priority. And I guess the scientist in me is just kind of wondering what what benefit do you think there is due to, you know, council having made this a priority, right? Like do you expect that we're the trajectory is a little bit different than if it hadn't been? You know, I I guess I'm just wondering sort of what's the what's the value add from us having asked for some additional work in this area.
[0:39:05] >> Uh yeah, so Sergeant Mitz the Pace Department. Um so to answer your question uh I think it has been valuable. I think it's kind of put it back in the forefront of the PD's mind on um the importance of of bike theft and and the reduction of that. So as I highlighted in the presentation um you know it does affect some people a lot more than others especially those you know with maybe some lower socioeconomic status that relies on those bikes to get to work. Uh, so like I said, I think it just brought it all back to the forefront for our officers. Uh, we did because of this, you know, we we've we've always been educating, but we've increased our education efforts for veteran officers, but as well as officers that are just starting. Um, so and as well as the targeted bike theft operations. So those, you know, for several reasons, um, were kind of sheld for a little bit. A lot of that was detective staffing um and just calls for service. Um but we kind of revamped how we did it. Um and it was very successful. So so I it was valuable I think in in the scope of you know just total bike theft um reduction in general. If hopefully that answered your
[0:40:18] question. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Can I just add one thing? Good evening council Steve Redford police chief. Uh and Ble might be adding the same thing that I was just about to add. Uh and that actually speaks exactly to the point. Um one of the things that worked out really well with this being a council's priority is the collaboration and you see everyone uh essentially but me in the same room there. We were working on parts of this separately and there was a little bit of uh coordination but this uh coming together in a way that it did as a priority from council really allowed our team to to uh I don't want to say be forced to collaborate but had the opportunity to collaborate a lot more. And uh I think you're seeing some of the results of that tonight. So I think that's an important point.
[0:41:01] >> Thank you. >> Thanks. I'm just going to kind of follow up with um one of Ryan's questions. KGNU has um basically like a bike cage outside of their um new facility. And I was just wondering I I I was speaking Nuri and I were chatting the other day and it sounds like there are uh companies that could come into the city and demo these where it would be like a locker you have a key go in and maybe this is more for um ble or facilities. But have we looked into using any of those? Like you know ebikes are big. I have a bike that has some expensive parts on it where they could just, you know, take the seat and that could be $300. So, I was just wondering if there's more of an enclosed um structure that a company could come in, put on the side of like, let's say, the library where you kind of have a uh a you know, a card and you pay for parking for a couple hours and the whole bike can get in there.
[0:42:10] >> I'll wait and see if life is coming up. Um but we certainly have seen that um and looking to some of those uh innovative solutions. Uh Blle maybe I'll stop there. Uh with the only exception saying if >> as we move forward and if there is something that we want to do differently then we are having a different conversation about resources to continue um as that moves forward. of life. >> I was going to add and um just since I unmuted I will say I was going to I was in fact going to say maybe that's a reflection of one of the results of our good collaboration that the chief and I were thinking the same thing at the same time earlier about the question um that that uh Nicole asked but also um wanted to say that we are developing a resource and and and also just want to give kudos to the team. I think the amount of work that they did um was fantastic both collaboratively and individually. But one of the things that we're developing through the end of the year as a resource and and um particularly for how to do long-term parking and I will add there's a number of ways to do it. I I happen to think that uh private property development of
[0:43:15] long-term parking long-term parking is usually more appropriate appropriate for private property development whereas short-term parking can be as equally important for public entities. that I think a lot of the work that we've done to provide resources for whether it's bike shops or private properties to have better bike security will also help with with the impact that we're having long term on this. So, um sort of picking up on what Nuria was saying, but yes, we're developing some resources to help with um to help to help individual property owners understand how to how to install better long-term parking. Hope that answers the question, Council Member Kaplan. >> Yeah, thank you. Yeah. >> Can I um Can I What is it called? My brain stopped working. What is it called? Can I >> Yes. >> Yes, you may.
[0:44:02] >> Normally, I would never do this, Rob, but I've been working on this for five years. And there was this property manager that called me because he heard that that's what I do. And he said, "The problem with those bike cages is that you would get somebody that doesn't live there to make believe that they do." and they would ask somebody, "Can I just get in there?" And then they would steal all the bikes. And it happened not just once. So, believe it or not, it it is not as secure as it sounds. And some people jump over the fence at CU and just find a way to steal the bikes. There's all sorts of things that happen that make those particular cages uh not that safe. I'm not the police, so I can't corroborate it, but um that is what people have been telling me.
[0:44:49] Anyway, the other thing that I wanted to say was I didn't say this at first, but everybody, you're what a great job and it is great to see that reduction in theft. I'm really excited about it. What I was basically saying earlier is I just don't want it to end. So, that's that was my panic. >> Thanks, Tara. Looks like Tina, you have another question. >> Yeah, I just have a really quick question. Um, can someone register an emoto? And also, if an emoto is stolen, do we help return it to the owner? >> Yes. Um, council member, um, this is officer Trillo again. And yes, they can, um, register an emoto even though, um, uh, in on public roadways and pathways, um, they're illegal. you can virtually register any kind of device for that matter. So, um you know, anything of value for the most part um that has wheels on it, I've noticed in Bike Index, you can you can register. Um I've got a I've got a display that I use to demonstrate um you know, bike trackers um to the public and I registered that. So it's it's just to just to demonstrate to people that you can you can utilize this and you can utilize it in such a way that you know it it provides um that
[0:46:16] person a certain level of security in the event um that um it gets stolen and increases the odds of recovery and and reunification. Um so I I don't know I I think I don't think we want to restrict anything like that. Um I don't think we want to um tell people um not to do that. The thing that we one of the things we are concerned about though is is making ensuring that um people are trying to get their bikes or other devices registered as soon as possible before a thief decides to register it under their name first. >> Okay. But we would return an emoto even though we're not allowed to use emotos in the city. >> Correct. >> Okay. because it's not a legal right to possess one. It's just it's just not appropriate to use one on the roadways.
[0:47:10] >> Yeah. >> Okay. That might be good to add to our emoto website somehow. Not sure. Thank you. >> Thanks, Tina. Um I am not seeing any other questions. Um thank you for that presentation, please and staff. That was really well thought out and it is very encouraging. Um, but we have one more. Sorry, Aaron. >> Well, I just wanted to thank everybody for all the great work on this. I think it's very responsive to the council priority and it was great to hear that it made a difference and love to see those trend lines of the bike thefts going down. So, uh, fantastic work and, uh, I look forward to seeing the work continue. Uh, even if I do look like I'm in the witness protection program over here, I'll have to turn on another light. So, thanks everybody.
[0:48:07] >> I can tell who you are. Um, okay. I if we don't have any more questions, we will wrap up that section and move on to enhancing Boulders's wildfire resiliency. >> Thanks again, Council Member Kaplan. Um, as mentioned earlier, this is the second of the council priority projects and one that rightly so has garnered a lot of community's attention. While the scope of the priority uh, as defined in January had two key elements, the creation of a home hardening implementation hub and performing a datadriven assessment of current wildlife programs. Our team recognizes that enhancing wildfire resilience represents one of the top issues facing our city today and have appreciated their efforts uh and have approached their efforts with the urgency and criticality it deserves. I want to say there's been a lot of conversation about um our team and our professionalism as we move forward and many folks really recognizing the cutting edge work that has been brought forward. I continue to be proud of this incredibly diverse team that is on that cutting edge of holistic cross-dep departmental collaboration to reduce the risk of wildfire in our community. I wholeheartedly believe that we have the talent and resources to continue pursuing land management and fuels reduction strategies on open space, the response capabilities to stop fires at the source when conditions allow, and a

## 2 Enhancing Boulder’s Wildfire Resilience through (1) the Development of a Comprehensive Wildfire Home Hardening Implementation Hub and (2) a Comprehensive Assessment and Analysis of Current or Planned City Wildfire-Related Programs, Projects and Actions Staff Time: 30 Min Council Time: 90 Min

[0:49:34] whole system of support to aid our community members in protecting themselves in their homes in the event that the they do face the spread of fire from the wildland to the urban environment. We recognize two truths at the same time, right? that we are investing more resources and more sophisticated strategy than this challenge than other cities our size and that we're always going to continue to strive for continuous improvement when it comes to protecting life safety. Our recent discussions have certainly exemplified how important this issue is to all of you. What you will hear tonight from the team is that they continue to steer available city and grant dollars towards the work that will have the highest impact in the places of highest risk in our community. all while considering even more creative solutions. Following your feedback from tonight's discussion, they will solidify their strategies and work plans and pursue additional resources, whether through grants, future alternative financing mechanisms, or budget realignments as a situation calls for.
[0:50:32] We will do this while recognizing that the silly h the city has to balance investments in direct wildfire resilience alongside our overall climate resilience and service delivery needs overwhelzo to get us started. >> Thanks Nuria. Um, for the record, uh, council Mike Calderzo, fire chief. Um, hoping we have our PowerPoint up and running somewhere. I don't know. I can't see it, but I'm hoping it's up there. >> It is coming up, Chief. There you go. >> There it is. So, if we could kick it over to our second slide. Um, I'll I'll start by saying you heard opening remarks from Noria already about this uh conversation tonight. So, I'll do my best to share some additional context to our work over the course of this year, including some of the big strategy shifts that uh we're implementing as a result of some of the feedback we've gotten and and some of the work. Uh you'll hear in turn uh from our project team members around four facets of our new wildfire 2030 initiative, and we'll wrap it up with a brief discussion of additional 2027 enhancements we intend to pursue. Um you'll see in this uh uh slide here some a for gleam of the of the questions we'll be asking for feedback from council tonight um on the
[0:52:00] framework itself and then the new risk index I'll talk briefly about and then finally these enhancement programs we'd like to share with you. So if we can go to the next slide. Um this is a picture of uh our team where in this group I want to I want to say a hearty thanks from the entire exec team who represents 10 different departments in the city working on this. Um the core team as you can see here in this slide does the bulk of the the work a lot of the measures um in conjunction with the executive team uh come from a heavy lift from from that group and I want to thank them. You'll hear from some of them tonight not all of them but many of them are here on the call this evening answer any questions. So, um really appreciate their presence and the hard work that they got us here. At the beginning of 26, uh council uh basically told us wildfire resilience needs to be the priority and recognizing that reducing wildfire risk requires a coordinated long-term approach that will definitely that as you can see goes beyond any one department. It's not just a fire department thing. It's it's it's multiple departments working together.
[0:53:17] And so this work is really culminating what we're calling the wildfire ready 2030 initiative. And basically it takes the 137 projects that we debuted uh some time back across all those different departments and uh offers a more coordinated and measurable approach to how we're we're doing those. Um, and so, uh, we're only going to highlight a few of these, but again, um, we have a lot of folks on the call tonight to answer any other questions that might come up around those. Uh, next slide, please. This slide you've seen before from back in August, but I just want to highlight that um, life safety continues to be the priority for the executive team. Um, and uh, as you probably already know, um, Boulder's already making significant investments in wildfire resilience, and it runs the gamut from fuels reduction, emergency response, uh, evacuation planning, and even helping residents prepare their properties. You'll see later in the slide how much we're investing in what areas. Um, but council did challenge us to look at how we bring all this work together, prioritize our investments, and better measure progress so you understand um, better how we're we're approaching this. We want to share with you three important areas where we've shifted um in our thinking. Um in particular uh you're going to hear about our our WOOI risk
[0:54:40] index um which is which is a tool we're basically using to identify areas around the community particularly um on our interface area uh that helps us focus our resources to where they'll have the most impact. So we'll go into greater detail there. Um, you're also going to see based on council feedback and community feedback, um, the home hardening implementation hub that we've just debuted and we'll we'll show tonight that is intended to make it easier for community members whether they've had a a home assessment or not to understand their risk around their property, access uh practical resources, and take meaningful steps to protect their homes and their properties. And then we'll um round it out with um a picture of the 14 performance measures that we're looking at uh to help us understand what's working, what's not, demonstrate progress, and even adjust our approach uh through 2030. All of that work um supports the city's broader goals around community safety, climate resilience, sustainability, and responsible governance. Um, I'll step aside here and I'm going to kick it over to Brian Anaker who's going to walk through how we've organized this work under wildfire ready 2030 and how that framework supports our priorities going forward. Brian, thank you, Chief. Uh, good evening, council. Next slide, please.
[0:56:05] >> Great. I'm Brian Anker, senior manager for science and climate resilience here at the Open Space Mountain Parks Department, also the overall project manager for this council priority project. I thought we could start with a road map of everything we're presenting to you tonight under the banner of wildfire ready 2030. As chief just mentioned, it all begins with our northstar statement, which uh as we described is really that we are laser focused on reducing risk to life safety. Under that northstar, we have four wildfire resilience strategies and 25 wildfire resilience programs. 10 of those programs are prioritized as tier one priorities for the city and then four of those in turn are further prioritized for immediate enhancement in 2027. Next, we developed the WOOI risk index which chief spoke about dividing up our wildland urban interface into 12 priority sections. And finally, we created 14 program measures to track our progress.
[0:57:17] Each of the numbers on this slide represents a large amount of work that was completed by staff. And I just want to echo my gratitude to the many staff that were involved in bringing all these deliverables together for council tonight. Next slide, please. So as we uh just discussed our work can be organized into four highle strategies and 25 different programs which in turn correspond to a larger portfolio of about 137 projects. 10 of those pro programs are prioritized as tier one which we're showing here in orange. Next slide please. And now we'll take a closer look at the strategies and some of the programs. So on the left is fire depicted communities which is really about helping residents understand their risk and taking meaningful steps before, during, and after wildfire to make their homes and neighborhoods safer. Its tier one programs include home hardening, building codes, and emergency preparedness.
[0:58:29] In the middle is resilient landscapes which is about managing vegetation and reducing hazardous fuels to wildfire risk with tier one programs on wi fuels management, wildfire fuel brakes and prescribed fire. And then in the uh the next one to the right is safe and effective wildfire response which is about strengthening our ability to respond to wildfires with tier one programs on wildfire suppression, tactical evacuation and ignition prevention. And finally, responsible governance catalyzes the action across all of the other strategies. Its tier one program is communications and engagement. A perfect example of work in that program is our wildfire ready communications platform. And to fill us in on that key council priority topic, I'm going to hand it over to Jamie Barker. Thanks, Brian. Good evening, council. I'm Jamie Barker. I'm the public information officer for Boulder Fire and for the city's wildland firework.
[0:59:36] You can go to the next slide as well. We've talked about how the city's new measures help us understand wildfire risk, prioritize our mitigation work, and evaluate whether we're making a difference. The wildfire ready action hub will help community members do those same things at an individual level. It helps people understand their own risk, identify mitigation opportunities, and take steps to make their homes and neighborhoods more resilient. This is an important part of this work because we cannot accomplish our wildfire resilience goals through city investments and projects alone. We need community members to take action as well. Community members can find instructional videos, projects based on their budget, insurance, and financial resources, and examples of wildfire mitigation happening around Boulder in this hub. They also don't need to have a a detailed home assessment completed to use the hub. This is designed for anyone who wants to get started regardless of where they are in the process. It works alongside our wildfire ready information hub which provides the basics information about the city's larger wildfire resilience efforts while our implementation hub is more based on action. This is more than anotherformational web page. It's how we're connecting the city's wildfire resilience work with meaningful community action. With that being said, I'd like to show you what that looks like. If you can move to the next slide,
[1:00:58] please. And then if you click on it, it's a video. The biggest goal with the implementation hub is to help people take action. We know there's a lot of wildfire information out there, but it's spread across different places, and when people want to make improvements, it's difficult to figure out where to start. So instead of organizing the hub around city departments or programs, we've organized it around what residents are actually looking for. Maybe somebody wants to better their wildfire risk, find projects they can do around their home, get financial assistance, or work with their neighbor. Each of these areas connects people with practical projects, resources, and next steps. One of the pieces of this hub that you'll notice in this video is the use of the headarters economics tool. It's built for wildfire and this is a calculator that will help own homeowners better understand what mitigation work may be needed on their property and estimate those associated costs. It's coming up in just a second. This gives property owners another practical tool through the calculator to help them plan, prioritize, and budget for improvements.
[1:02:07] Within this wildfire ready action hub, we are really intentional about every page providing an opportunity to take action before they leave. That might mean signing up for a detailed home assessment, finding a weekend project, looking into financial assistance, signing up for emergency alerts, or starting a conversation with a neighbor. We're not expecting people to do everything at once, but we do want to make it easier for someone to find one thing they can do and then get started and build on that. The hub also connects people back to the city's larger wildfire ready efforts so they can understand how their own actions fit into the bigger picture. Ultimately, we want people to leave the hub knowing what they can do next and ready to act. As we continue measuring our progress, we will also want to understand whether we're reaching residents and helping them make changes that reduce wildfire risk. Upcoming additions to the wildfire ready action hub will respond to the community's changing needs through a web-page feedback form, community feedback meetings, and to tool additions. If you move on to our next slide. While the hub helps residents understand and address risk at their at their property level, our next tool, the WOOI risk index, helps the city understand risk at a geographic level and make more informed decisions about
[1:03:19] where to focus our programs and resources. Paul Dennison is going to walk you through that work. And again, the next slide, please. >> Thank you, Jamie. Good evening, council. I'm Paul Dennis, the Wild and Fire senior program manager with Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks. As you've heard, one of the most important aspects of the Wildfire Ready 2030 framework is prioritization. Tonight, I'm providing an update on the wild and urban interface risk index and how we're using this work to prioritize wildfire resilience work geographically across Boulder to concentrate resources in areas of highest risk. To review the core concept that I presented to you in August, the wildfire resilience team began our risk analysis by expanding and refining our definition of the city's wild and urban interface using our existing our three existing ignition risk zones in the built environment. And we added to that a 1500 ft buffer into surrounding natural areas to account for the influence of landscape and fuel hazards on neighborhood risk. From there, we broadly analyzed risk at the city scale and delineated west and east wild and urban interface areas, which recognizes that areas of highest wildfire risk in the city of Boulder, our neighborhoods, and areas west of Broadway. We then divided the higher risk western WOOI into 12 geographic sections and evaluated each using both a
[1:04:36] quantitative analysis of risk models and data and a qualitative assessment by wildfire and disaster management staff. This resulted in relative risk scores and rankings and grouping the west wooie sections into three categories highest, very high, and high risk. These 12 sections and risk groupings are shown on the map. You'll notice that even our lower ranked sections remain in the high- risk category, which is intentional. We're not identifying safe neighborhoods and unsafe neighborhoods. We're distinguishing relative risk within an area of Boulder where wildfire poses a significant threat throughout. Next slide, please. The framework for the risk index considers four interacting factors. Likelihood of fire occurrence, potential fire intensity, neighborhood exposure, and susceptibility of values of risk. The bullet points on this slide show the risk models and data associated with each of these risk factors that were used in the quantitative analysis in the risk index. And I'll briefly define how these risk I'll briefly define these risk factors. Now, likelihood of occurrence asks, how likely is a wildfire to occur? Here we use the Colorado wildfire risk assessments burn probability model to understand the broader landscape level likelihood of fire potential intensity asks if a fire occurs how might it behave. We evaluated fire behavior models for rate of spread, fire type and fire intensity. Exposure asks how readily could that fire reach a
[1:06:00] neighborhood. We considered barriers such as roads, trails, and water, as well as the relationship between slope, wind, and the direction of potential fire spread in relation to neighborhoods. And finally, susceptibility of values at risk asks, if a fire reaches a neighborhood, how vulnerable are the homes and people who live there? We evaluated local data for structure separation distances, building coverage ratios, home age, and building geometry complexity in addition to tree canopy overhanging buildings. All of these factors interact. For example, a neighborhood may be exposed to intense fire but have features that limit fire spread towards homes. Another neighborhood may experience lower intensity fire but have more vulnerable structures. Next slide, please. Here I will compare the Wonderland Hills section risk scoring which resulted in a highest risk rating with the ENAR and NIST section which resulted in a very high risk rating. You can see that Wonderland Hills and Encar NIST have relatively similar overall risk scores.
[1:06:59] This reinforces an important finding. Wildfire risk is high throughout the Western WOI, even where individual sections rank differently. But the factors contributing to the risk profiles differ. On the Wonderland Hill side, we see higher potential fire intensity associated with forest stands and ditch fuels. And along the neighborhood's western edge, homes interface directly with wildland fuels without a substantial barrier to fire spread. At Encarnist, the landscape is more grass dominated, which contributes com to comparatively lower potential fire intensity in our assessment. Even though the modeled rate of wildfire spread is high, a drivable trail also runs parallel to much of the community's edge, providing a potential barrier to fire spread and an access point for firefighters between wildland fuels and structures. This comparison illustrates how the risk index helps us understand not just where risk exists, but what is contributing to that risk and how fuel conditions, landscape features, and neighborhood characteristics can produce different risk profiles even when overall risk scores are similar. Next slide.
[1:08:07] I'll close by emphasizing that the WOOI risk index is designed to be a working tool, not simply a map or report. We're using it to help concentrate and prioritize resources for our wildfire resilience programs, including Louis fuels management, detailed home assessments, wildfire resilience assistance program grant prioritization, and wildfire response and evacuation pre-planning. As a concrete example of prioritization within the 12 western sections and from a program area that I manage, WOI fuels management, we are continuing to implement and plan new crossboundary mitigation projects in the four highest risk sections. These projects involve partnering with private land owners adjacent to city land to achieve more comprehensive and continuous fuel treatments. While we hope to expand projects of this kind to other areas of the WOOI before long, we are seeking to complete projects in highest risk WOOI sections first. The data contained in the risk index and the recently created interactive web map web map which is displayed on the slide also provide a way to communicate relative risk more clearly with residents and stakeholders helping people understand both the risks facing their neighborhood and the factors that contribute to those risks. Finally, the risk index gives us a basis for setting measurable mitigation targets that relate directly to the risk indicators we've evaluated.
[1:09:19] For example, again in WOOI fuels reduction targets will move beyond acres treated, but will instead reflect and aim to reduce the actual drivers of potential fire intensity that threaten homes and neighborhoods like crown fire potential and ember generation where fuel characteristics pose this kind of hazard and rate of spread in flame lakes in grass dominated areas. And now I'll turn it back to Brian Anaker to say more about measures of success for our programs and how the risk index factors into those measures. Thank you. And next slide. >> Thank you, Paul. So to create measures for our tier one programs, we built the measures template that I'm showing you here on the slide and ran staff workshops. We started by listing out our highle outcomes for each program. And then we brainstormed as many different measures as we could think of. We filtered those measures based on their connection to the outcomes, the degree of city control as well as the feasibility uh to implement them. For each measure, we then set targets both of ter in terms of what we could accomplish by the end of 2030 as well as uh with regards to what our ultimate aspirations are.
[1:10:37] Throughout the measures, we incorporated the WOI risk index whenever it was possible and made sense to do so. And then for the targets, as I mentioned, we used the end of 2030 as our time horizon, which gives us a 4-year performance window and aligns nicely with our next planned update to the community wildfire protection plan. Next slide. In total, we have 14 different measures as shown here. I'm going to give you a very brief overview of five specific examples. Next slide. The DHA measure reads, sorry, DHA is detailed home assessment reads that 55% of homes in the 12 priority wi sections will receive a detailed home assessment by the end of 2030. This target is more ambitious than the home hardening target which is set at 20%. Because DHAs are single entry task for our staff and are much more within our control. However, there are limits to the DHA um provisioning.
[1:11:48] The same staff that conduct these assessments are also now spooling up to support the larger initiative on home hardening. and our total numbers are ultimately capped by homeowner demand. We can't force people to request a DHA. The home hardening measure then reads that 20% of homes in the 12 priority sections are hardened by the end of 2030. This 20% target is lower because we have less direct control here. Home hardening requires multiple touches with homeowners. um relies on them to take costly financial action and we're still figuring out what the operational framework looks like on our side to scale up home hardening and to better support our homeowners. For home hardening, our aspiration is that we would harden 100% of homes throughout the WOOI. So the gap between our 20% target which is set for current resourcing and the 100% aspiration is real.
[1:12:53] And that is why fact one is one of our priority enhancement programs which we'll come back to at the end of the presentation. Our wooi fuels measure reads that the natural areas in our 12 priority sections are treated to wildfire risk reduction prescriptions by the end of 2030. Our fire suppression measure reads that 90% of ignitions within the wildland urban interface are contained below one acre. And finally, our communicate communications measure reads that 55% of residents that have received wildfire preparedness information are more likely to take action. Next slide. A final element of our tier one program work was to create a ballpark estimate of the current year investment tied to each program. As you can see, the bigger investments are tied to our highest ranked programs of fire adapted communities one, resilient landscapes one, and safe and effective wildfire response one. You can also see that our total investment here for these tier one programs alone is over 10 mill$10 million.
[1:14:07] Our hope is that these estimates provide a baseline for understanding how additional investments would compare to what the city is already doing for these programs. And with that, I'll turn it over to Pam Davis to tell us more about 2027 enhancements and next steps. >> Good evening, council. And thank you, Brian. You can go to the next slide, please. I am Pam Davis, assistant city manager, and I sponsor our overall cross-dep departmental wildfire team. Now that our wildfire resilience 2030 implementation framework is built, including our established and prioritized program areas, a risk model that provides a scientific understanding of where to best concentrate our work, and a set of 14 measurements and targets to strive for, the team is now asking what program areas would benefit from greater investment beyond what is already called for in the enhanced 2027 budget.
[1:15:04] While the original scope of this priority project, as Nuria mentioned, when we started, was defined as a thorough assessment of current operations and the creation of the home hardening hub. We did hear you clearly through the budget process that you want additional information on how work could be accelerated or improved. Next slide, please. So to help us identify the most impactful enhancement opportunities, our team developed the prioritization matrix shown on this slide that asks several key questions such as will an enhancement directly reduce risk to life safety? Will an enhancement be meaningful in advancing a top tier program's specific measure? And can enhanced resources actually be deployed into staff work plans and put into action within six to 12 months? In addition, our staff team understands that additional investment should be balanced across our four broad strategies. Fire adapted community, resilient landscapes, safe, effective, riskbased wildfire response, and responsible governance. As all four strategies need to move together in tandem, ideally, if an ignition were to take place in wildlands, our fuels mitigation work allows responders to stop fire quickly out on open space.
[1:16:22] However, if we are facing extreme conditions and a wildland fire is heading for urban confflration, we are working to ensure that the first lines of homes have been hardened and that those residents and visitors are prepared for a smooth evacuation. And finally, knowing that the city does not have direct control over all of the lands and property owned by others, we will continue to build relationships and partnerships with our neighboring entities and insurance companies. So the recommended enhancements that you will see support aspects across this full continuum. Next slide please. The results of the team's enhancement assessment is that four program areas have been identified for 2027 additional enhancements. They are wildfire risk reduction for homes and property. These actions would include increasing available home hardening grants funds, expanding contractor training opportunities, and coordinating at the neighborhood scale as opposed to just individual properties.
[1:17:26] We also have community emergency preparedness. These actions would include focused community outreach to encourage wildfire preparedness in the highest risk WOOI zones. We then have wildfire fuels management in the wildland urban interface. These actions include expanded grazing, mowing, and forestry work that would require additional staff or contract capacity to manage those projects. Staff would also pursue additional crossboundary outreach to reduce fuels on privatelyowned natural areas. And finally, tactical evacuation. These actions would include updating our siren system and expanding analysis of neighborhoods and training for first responders. On the next slide, we've compiled an option that could increase our total 2027 investments in these areas by an additional $1.85 million. Next slide, please. I want to start with a reminder that in a very challenging budget year, the current 2027 approved budget still delivers approximately $1.4 million in enhanced investments to our wildfire resilience efforts. These dollars are already being allocated to the top priorities presented to you this evening and you can see those details on this slide. In addition to this, the wildfire team's assessment has identified and is pursuing about $1.85 million in additional grant or realignment funded enhancements.
[1:18:56] These additional enhancements would be directed to the four program areas on the previous slide. The additional enhancement is comprised of an estimated $1.25 million in county, state, and federal grants that are currently being pursued and a realignment to wildfire efforts of about 600,000 from the open space fund. All of these 2027 enhancements together would provide over $3 million boost for the first year of implementation under the wildfire 2030 framework as well. And then going beyond 2030, we would use the same framework as well as the program area enhancement assessment matrix to inform staff and council of future enhancement needs and opportunities. We also want to make sure that we note looking ahead to 2028, our team is currently pursuing a community wildfire defense grant that if if successful could bring in up to $10 million in enhanced funding that would be incorporated in the 2028 budget.
[1:20:00] Before we shift questions to questions from you, I want to reiterate the next steps following this evening. Following our discussion and any of your input, we would finalize our 2030 implementation plan as well as make needed updates to the 2027 immediate work plans. We would continue pursuing the grants that we have mentioned. We would develop a formal tracking system for the measures defined and implement progress reporting. And the team is planning to bring information back to you all in the spring of 2027 following the outcome of the next round of grant awards with a progress update and any additional realignments for funding shifts during the first adjustment to base budget alongside any other feedback from council tonight and the bianual retreat. Next slide, please. We now have our questions for you and I'm going to ask the roughly dozen of our team members to go ahead and pop their cameras on as you are able uh to go ahead and be available to support the discussion and I'll turn it over to you council member Kaplan. Thank you.
[1:21:08] >> Thank you so much Pam. Thank you so much staff for putting all this together. This is a tremendous amount of work and I just want you to know how appreciative I personally am of this. Um, and I know you guys have been working really hard. Um, that said, do we have any um questions from council? Not seeing. Okay, we got Tina. >> Yeah. Um, I had a question. Can you hear me? >> About the evacuation, the tactical evacuation piece, and it has to do with cell phone coverage in parts of the community. Do we have an idea of how people in the in the event of an evacuation, the different ways people can hear about an evacuation if they also lose their cell phone power because they're using Wi-Fi? Thanks for the question, council member.
[1:22:13] Chief Calderzo, should I kick it to you first? I don't have the answer. I think it's a chart question. Um uh because it's part of our evacuation strategy and I and even then I don't know that we have the question the answer to the question. Um so we we have to look into that for sure. >> Yeah, I I'll just add and I I think you're right. I mean, I know that our um director of um emergency management or disaster management um has been working and speaking with uh cell phone providers uh across the region to think about what they can do. I will say that one of the and and team certainly correct me if I'm wrong but one of the advantages of this cross departmental work is that we have been thinking about what does happen whether it's this or whether it's um the power goes down and we have seen some of that in other areas how do we get the message across and the short answer is as this as in any emergency flood drought power resiliency we it's a variety of mechanisms where frankly u making sure that people have enough information whether it's through official channels if they're able to see them whether it's through radio or Facebook or social media and if all of
[1:23:29] that fails where does word of mouth and making sure that community is coming together as well and so it is the building on all the foundations of knowledge that will help us all in an emergency because we cannot single-handedly as a city account for if let alone if there are service issues but imagine that um a line or a pole or um a transmission goes down on its own during that emergency, then we're going to have to rely on each other as a community to move forward. But I do know that um Director Chard has been continuing to work with our cell phone service providers because we know it is spotty across the city. Uh and we are happy to continue to keep you updated as that moves forward. >> Okay. And um that's great. And that that's just been a concern I've been having um just about I I just and I love the prevention and the mitigation, but I think there is a possibility of an evacuation event. So um and the other piece is how are we um I know that we're working with our school system. We have a a number of schools in the WOOI and how are we looking at those evacuation patterns and ensuring that our messaging is um supporting the message that the
[1:24:46] school district wants the kids and the parents to do whether they want the parents to not go into the school and get the kids or um because the parents will be receiving both I would imagine city messages and district messages and how do we align those so that we don't have too many parents entering the school and exiting at the same time or I think that makes I think it makes sense. >> I just want to acknowledge that uh director Chard is with us and on my previous response Mike if I got any of that right feel free to correct me wrong I should say. >> Yeah Nar you did you did did great filling in for me so I appreciate that. Yeah. And Mike Chart, director's office disaster management. Uh council member, uh it is always a concern with cellular technology when uh we lose power or uh we have evacuations that go to large areas because it will put a lot of pressure on the systems. Um the we do when we get into our communities and do the evacuation training, we stress that point is that what you know where to look for information. uh if you are in a cell phone, making sure you're signed up. Um and if you know the cell tower versus
[1:26:01] having Wi-Fi and having a weather radio, that's another means we have on it. We're also doing emergency alert system, which we'll get to radio and television. So, uh and then even sirens. So, we're using everything at our disposal when we have um a potential evacuation. And and then we really stress also within our community preparedness training is that you have to make decisions also uh without the presence of uh an evacuation order and really get people to understand the environment that they're in so they can make a decision to to uh you know self- evacuate without that. The other side of this is when all that fails working with our law and fire part of that training of doing large area urban evacuations is also the doortodoor going through. We just recently implemented the high low siren system uh time to go uh with our police department. So uh that's also the other sort of gold standard on evacuations when they're made is not just sending out the alerts but also getting first responders in there to make sure people are moving and then controlling the traffic.
[1:27:06] >> Mike, as long as we've got you and I don't know if you were coming in if you heard Council Member Marquis' question about coordination with BVSD in an emergency. >> Yeah, absolutely. They've done a lot of work over the last few years. Uh we've been working with them uh going after the Marshall fire because that was a concern when we had three schools that you know weren't in session uh luckily, but that would have created complexity in that evacuation environment. and they've have really looked at not just being able to to be more efficient at evacuating students, but also being more connected into the law enforcement radio uh you know uh channels to be able to get information in real time to help make decisions and advise principles on actions to take. And then also shifting it to a defend in place model where it may not may not be uh possible to get uh the school evacuated in time and uh evaluating their schools for the ability to withstand uh the fire environment and keeping uh the students and and faculty there until it becomes safer. So, we're not saying they're not going to evacuate, but that's just an added uh new concept to our evacuation model is uh you know, maybe it's best to hold for a bit. Maybe the fire
[1:28:17] department gets in there, does defend in place with fire apparatus, keeps the fire away from the school, and then get ris resources in there to move them out. Um, congestion is a problem. Getting in as much as getting out with these urban evacuations, and they've done great work and continue to stay connected us. We're doing tabletops with them here uh next week. And it's a continuous uh training and exercising model that we use to to make sure we maintain our capability. Well, thank you, >> Ryan. >> Okay. Um, well, thank you all for such a such an enormous body of work. Um, I uh I sent a hotline egregiously late um this afternoon and I know we won't have time to get to all of them. So, I'll just treat this as um you know, preview of my I'll ask two questions now. I'd appreciate it if staff's able to um respond to the ones we don't get to later. Um but the two questions now um are both around the the the theme of a an ecosystem of services that help residents to have access to contractors with quality control. And um so on August 27th, the study session we last had on this, there were at least five of us, Rob, Matt, Taiisha, me, and I think Nicole um all kind of endorsed
[1:29:42] this idea that, you know, we we really should make more central or more prominent um the city's role in actively facilitating services to do the hardening work. and I I didn't see it really appear uh much in the memo packet and there's so much here that I I may have missed it. So, um I guess my my question my first question is um what do you need from council um as far as policy or other direction to um to to elevate this more? >> I'm happy to start generally and then uh Chief or others on your team feel free to jump in. Ryan, we did hear that feedback uh strongly and and one of the reasons we would prioritize that fire adapted community program area one is to do things like explore those expanded contractor training opportunities. We have that fine line between uh we can provide training based on home hardening and then provide lists of folks who took their training. we cannot actively endorse um certain contractors as businesses and so we do want to explore the expansion of that as as one of many interventions into home hardening. Um, I don't believe we need a specific policy ask of council. That's very much something that um, we intend to incorporate into work planning. And, uh, Chief, I'll look to you if you or the
[1:31:08] team want to add. >> Yeah, happy to jump in again. Mike Colorado, for the record. Um, I So, one of the one of the things that we heard loud and clear was, hey, how do I how does a homeowner get from current state to wildfire prepared state? Um, and boy, it'd be nice if you know someone sort of I don't know if hold the hand is the right phrase, but but helped someone uh connect with resources or at least hey, here's for an acronistic reference. Here's the yellow pages of all the people that are going to use, you know, that you can use for some of these things that are not maybe land because we already have a list for landscapers who have gotten training and who know how to deal with that. It's a little different um with uh with actual construction related um issues though most contractors probably could do the work that might be called for without needing any special uh training. That is something we are we want to look at and of course within what's legal for us to to do and what not not to do. We want to be able to do more than just hand a report off and say here you go homeowner. um here's a list of resources. Um we'll check in on you
[1:32:25] later and see if you got everything done and and self-report, by the way. So, one of the things I want the team to do is be more um aggressive is probably not the best word, but be more um robust in their approach to helping the homeowner get there. Um and and prioritize where where where would they be able to make the most uh impact on their own um hardening. Some of the statistics we've gotten have shown that none no one has completed all the recommendations of all the DHAs we've done. Um many have done many of of them but um even they've had to prioritize sort of on their own. So that's something we want to start connecting um the loop on and making sure that we're doing a little better job of it's not a oneanddone thing. We actually want to be more helpful. That's also some of the reasons you see some of the lower um existing measures that we have because we expect to now spend more time with with homeowners to try to get them from A to B if that makes any sense. So, so that's we heard that loud and clear. We want to stay within our legal uh bounds in terms of who to recommend, how we can recommend or make sure people get to the right resources.
[1:33:39] Um but that is something we definitely want to look at to enhance for 27 and and sooner if possible. If I may just add one more piece of that and I I just appreciate the thoughtfulness with which staff is thinking about that addition. Um I will say there are a lot of people out there that are doing really terrific work and want nothing more than to help and support our community. I will say unfortunately what we have learned from the Marshall fire, from other perhaps um emergencies and disasters that we have seen elsewhere is that there are also some folks that may take advantage of the emergency um and lean in and perhaps um prey on folks that have less knowledge of what are the priorities that they should be doing. and we want to make sure that we're thoughtful um about paying attention to those instances as well so that our community really is doing the right work for the right reason at the right price as as we're looking at that. So I just appreciate the thoughtfulness with which staff is thinking about it.
[1:34:44] >> Great. Thanks. Then if I could just I'll do my other question uh and it's the it's the second question in in the um the hotline that I sent late. Um and I'm just thinking, you know, there are many ways in which um home services, home improvement services are provided. There's a lot that happens in like the energy world um where yeah, there's quality standards and the state or the you know the government plays a role in helping make sure we're that there are standards and coordination. So, I'm just wondering like are there um and forgive me because I know I only raised this question recently, but is there any inspiration from um either our city or other local governments that that are that might give us something to think about with this like with respect to providing resultsoriented um home improvement services and I don't know like clues to what might be um in our future.
[1:35:41] Um, Council Member Shuhart, I'll jump in on that one. Um, Jonathan Cohen with Climate Initiatives. I appreciate the question and I'll add a couple of comments to your previous question, too. And I would just say, you know, despite the amazing engagement work that's underway, residents, and I think this is a point you're getting to, still face a lot of challenges really navigating and finding trusted contractors. How do they prioritize the investments? How do they finance the work? And and I think what we've learned uh from all the excellent work of our teams is that the ability to take meaningful action depends on a lot of factors. So who owns the property, whether people making decisions are motivated to act, do they have the financial, physical, and technical capability to follow through. And so I think building on our successful delivery model, which I appreciate you kind of teed up for me there, uh we've been discussing an enhanced approach drawing on lessons from Energy Smart might be what you're referring to. and and that is a program in which we faced similar challenges with residential energy efficiency and electrification. So similar complex improvements, multiple contractors, upfront costs, how do you help homeowners get from a recommendation to a completed project? And what resulted was a a concierge model of program
[1:36:50] delivery. And I'm not suggesting that the lesson is that wildfire hardening is identical to energy upgrades. But I think it illustrates the importance of an implementation system, not just a collection of programs and resources. So I think the bottom line is if we want to accelerate and scale up our home hardening, we're going to continue to build on our amazing success and make that path to completing improvement easier and more affordable and and more coordinated. So, I'll conclude by saying that that the staff team generally agrees with I believe what you're saying that we need to evolve from helping residents understand risk to helping them actually reduce it. And we're in the early stages of of building out what that delivery model will look like. I think the hub is going to be a tremendous tool in helping consolidate the information and then how do we build that out into a delivery service model.
[1:37:41] >> Thanks so much. >> Thanks, Ryan. Looks like we have Matt next. >> I appreciate it. Yeah, this is uh a great step in the right direction and I think, you know, given that we made this a priority this year, I think we've we've made a lot of progress. Um I I've got a couple questions really trying to maybe anchor around what I mentioned in the hotline and maybe we getting to resolution on that. Um it's it's interesting that we have now created two building standards for our community regarding wildfire. We have IWOI for our remodels and new builds. And then we have IBHS, which we're applying to our home hardening through the DHA program. This creates an immense amount of confusion and complexity to have two different build standards for wildfire hardening. And so I'm wondering if staff is going to work towards consolidating these two or just picking one standard that then is our city standard. And how are we going to do that quickly? because for every new build that's IWOI, it's not IBHS and vice versa. So what what what's how are we going to reconcile that and what's the plan to do? So maybe you know because it's going to require ordinance change. So I just want to get some sense from that.
[1:39:02] >> I I'll take that one and someone wants to jump in after perfectly fine. Appreciate the question, Council Member Benjamin. I I'll I'll say this. the the um IBHS standard that we're using um is essentially appropriate for risk reduction that that insurance is using in many cases to uh create the policy or even give a policy to a homeowner um or sell a policy I should say. Um the the WOOI code if we if applied appropriately to all new builds and remodels, you're pretty much already going to be there. So there isn't we don't apply the the WOOI code to anything that's existing today to a homeowner who says, you know, I would like to harden my home. Sure, you could certainly use the WOOI code information, uh, but that would be very um comprehensive, very expensive, and probably way more than what the insurance would be looking for. And that would probably be the main reason most people would move into this space is is yes, I want to reduce my risk, but I want credit for it, right, with the insurance company, and I certainly want to get insurance. So, we've we've um we've pioneered this work with IBHS, the Institute for Business and Home Safety, where they're basically training our team so we can go out and then verify
[1:40:22] whether a home is a wildfire prepared home. And that's a three-year cycle. So, you get you get designated and you'll have to get redesated and on that three-year cycle. My team is preparing to be able to do that. That is um they're not mutually exclusive. There's some overlap, but I would tell you that the WOOI code itself is probably way way more than than what we're asking existing homeowners to do under the IBHS stand. Having said all that, the team is still going to go through and try to crosswalk what's uh what's in the WOOI code and what we're looking at because right now we are aligning our um DHA program for lack of or we'll call it the the wildfire prepared home program to uh the IBHS standards which about 25 to 30 criteria. Um and and that's where we're we're headed. Um, but I do want them to take a look also at the way, make sure everything aligns. And if it doesn't, and there's a there's a way forward to make sure they do, we certainly will come back to council um, with any policy recommendations if needed. I hope that kind of helps illuminate that. It's not really a double standard. It's just a different standard we're using for existing uh, properties, but it would
[1:41:37] already be taken care of with new or renovated homes if they followed the WOI code. >> I I appreciate that, Chief. Uh hopefully on the um home hardening hub that's made clear that if they're embarking on a newer rebuild, they likely will already qualify for IBHS and that right and so I just want to make sure that that that connectivity is there for folks. Um so it's really clear. Um but but would look forward to you know any crosswalker changes that that need to come on our end. Um so I appreciate that. My next question has to do with the fire adapted community's one priority and I guess it comes down to 20% home hardening by 2030 20% of those homes is a small number and I know that in a voluntary space we're going to be living with small numbers until or if we do something different and sort of wondering with based on capacity and given the the answers that I got from from staff on a hotline based on what's already been done in that space and the average amount of DHAs we're doing uh yearly. It seems like we we don't need to operate on a conservative goal for measuring success, but one that's perhaps more realistic and more robust, which is to say we can do 100% DHAs in
[1:42:55] those areas by 2030 and therefore increase that 20% to say 36% if that ratio, you know, is linear in that sense or proportional. So I'm wondering why we can't um up that because I think for community they see 55% and 20% and they go but if we go hey by 2030 we've we've we've examined 100% of those buildings that's meaningful. We say oh we got almost 40% of those buildings hardened. All right. So I I think that there's instead of being conservative we should be aggressive with our goals as long as our resources can achieve them. And so I'm I'm wondering why we can't do that or can we um if and that's just a value choice whether we want to be more aggressive or not. >> I think I can answer that for the team as well. Appreciate that uh comment as well.
[1:43:40] Um we certainly can and um I think the intent is um depending on on how much participation we get, how aggressive we are with promoting and getting you know volunteerism in terms of getting the assessments. Um and um if if we're maybe even enhancing how people are are homeowners and partial owners are helped uh who qualify. I there's no reason why we couldn't uh upgrade some of those those targets, but it depends a little bit on what our experience starts to be. So, what I would offer is we've set the targets where they are, but if it turns out that we um that isn't the target that stops us. If it's if we can tell that we're going to be able to change and adjust and move upward, that is the intent to move upward. If the suggestion is, hey, start high and then if you just don't get there, we certainly could do that too as a team and say, oh, let's go high, let's get very, very aggressive.
[1:44:44] We actually thought these were fairly aggressive given existing participation rates and all of that. And to be honest, we don't know why maybe some folks are, this is part of the assessment piece, why some people are actually uh moving to complete their uh work or why folks aren't even in the program, especially in the most vulnerable areas. Maybe we're not doing good enough outreach. Maybe we do need to more be more aggressive. Um you know, all of those things are things we want to assess. So if if moving the target um is something u you know we think we can do and then hey we either fall short and then it just informs what we need to do next. I think it's more of a philosophy question at this point because we absolutely want to be aggressive in terms of of our targets.
[1:45:30] >> Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you. That's all for me. >> Not seeing any other hands. Um I'm going to ask a couple questions. Um, this is probably for either Paul or Brian. I'm just curious, um, what is treated to wildfire risk prescription? Um, I know we've got grasslands, um, forested areas, but I would just be curious to know what those prescriptive uh, definitions are. >> Thanks, Council Member. >> There he goes, >> Kaplan. I can take this. Um so it it varies by prevailing fuel type. Um and we've done a synthesis of fuels management standards. So that takes home ignition zone standards and then community fuel brakes and then uh forest management standards for areas at a greater distance from residential neighborhoods. Um so it is quite a lot of information. And I don't know if you expect um specific detail on what we will be considering in prescription based on the distance from the edge of the neighborhood. So could you clarify the question or give direction?
[1:46:43] >> I I understand um the grazing which is spectacularly effective from what I can see. I'm more curated about curious about like the dead and down areas. Um I hear a lot of you know community members talking about that and like you know behind um the Cenus area like when you walk up the goat trail that area has a lot of standing dead and some down and I'm just curious like what what is the standard to uh remove those dead and down? >> Uh yeah great for dead and down um within 100 ft of homes. Um the current standard we're aiming for is 90% removal of woody material that's 3 in in diameter and greater. And then um we this will be specified more on a section bysection basis but in the 300 ft sort of fuel break range um aiming for something close to 80% removal of dead and down. And that's a good example of why we're embracing the logic of an area being within prescription rather than acres treated. If we get a significant wind event, we'll see reaccumulation of dead and down material and the need for a re-entry um to keep an area within that prescription. Uh so that's more easy to report as maintaining a level of fuels management prescription rather than treating those acres uh repeatedly
[1:48:06] which um may be more necessary in some years or some periods of time than others. >> Yeah, it's ongoing, isn't it? Thank you. Um my other qu this might be for um Mike Chard on comms. We had a um a community study session about um energy and there was a community member that I thought had a a brilliant idea but I don't know if it's possible um the consideration of an opt out for Boo Alerts versus an opt in. And I mean maybe this is legal as well. >> The the way I think the current software is engineered Mike Chart, director office disaster management and council member Kaplan is that it's designed around being the opt-in side. Uh when we look at um can we change that? Don't have the answer but we'll look into it.
[1:49:04] >> Okay. Okay. Um I am going to go I see Taiisha has her hand up. Go ahead, Taiisha. >> Thank you. Um, I agree. Thank you so much with my colleagues on just the thoroughess and and of the team. Um, also appreciate Tina your question about evaluation. That's evacuation, sorry, that's been on my mind um and in our conversation a lot. So, I was grateful to hear um a little bit more about that. I did have a question about uh recovery and relocation and where does that fall? Um it's something we've discussed pri previously and if it's not going to be in this part my concern is that they'll kind of they're in the same cycle but they will be on different timelines tasks goals etc. So just was curious how and when and and when more importantly um and also the costs around um recovery and possible relocation learning from you know five years later from the Marshall fire. That's my first question.
[1:50:16] >> Happy to take that one if you like. Maria, >> I was trying to see who's going to take it up before coming in, but sir, Mike, >> great question. Uh, Mike Char, director of disaster management. Uh, council member Adams. Um, so, uh, if I understand the question, so people are evacuated and some people do and would experience damage, heavily damaged or completely damaged homes and now they're facing a housing crisis. Uh, our first layer of this is with our mass care capability. when the EOCC opens up, we uh we activate that capability which then is designed to do the emergency sheltering and and uh we make the assessment. Uh we have community engagement teams then that are assessing u the damage uh or getting the damage assessment and then looking at what is going to be our need and that's where we start to get into case management. We then open what's called a disaster assistance center. That center is designed to do intake and provides a lot of services at that facility. But that's where we start we start to get that that feel for what is going to be the the longer term housing issue and emergency housing and and then we leverage uh our community partners around emergency housing assistance. Uh and that fills the next layer or gap there. Uh and then
[1:51:25] we start looking at what are some of the longer term emergency housing uh you know that we have inventory-wise. That is where we start to see some pressure around that. uh because of rental space. Uh you'll start to you know if there's already housing uh availability uh shortage before that becomes an exacerbated problem and we start seeing then people having to move outside the community in order to find uh that that emergency temporary housing or longerterm housing solutions. And the real goal we have in the recovery is how do we keep the community together after the emergency or disaster and bring them back into the community so we don't lose the demographic or fabric or cultural uh narrative around our community. So uh I can talk more about that and it's usually going to begin with recovery.
[1:52:10] The EOC grabs it at first and then we go into transition to recovery structure. we get with the city manager's office and that's where then the longerterm recovery uh structure for the city would set up and and starts to uh develop capabilities to to manage those issues as we see them >> right I I mean I know that there is a plan my question is how are those how is that plan linked to the plan that we are having now because I think there's some budgetary considerations that that that transpire and also with the training right so I wouldn't just do the first half of the training I would do both halves and this is actually something you and I have talked about extensively as well as some of my fellow council members particularly those who um you know were very active post the Marshall fire and just you know how you were it was like kind of a different team that kind of comes on but they don't have that necessarily the relationship so one of the things that we talked about was the possibility of kind of combining the training so that you kind of know those people before you need them kind of thing so I I just wanted to say it's more so not do we have a plan but how
[1:53:12] are we considering the entire higher suite of because to me that is also wildfire ready knowing that the likelihood of a wildfire is strong. Therefore, if we're ready, this would include recovery and relocation. So, that's on that side for the um my next and last question is around just kind of like phasing of it. So, you know, that first woo is like really wide and I'm curious if you if you've thought of doing things by section. So I can imagine, you know, living next to if somebody lives next to someone who hasn't done anything and that's kind of checkerboarded around versus neighborhood by neighborhood by neighborhood. >> Anyone want to jump in on that last question? >> Sorry, could you repeat the question? and I'm being asked to answer it and I'm >> sure attention was elsewhere.
[1:54:14] >> Um so for example um previously the wildfire ambassador programs have been kind of individuals deciding they want to come. There hasn't been too much tracking on where those folks are located across our community to see if there's kind of hubs that have ambassadors. So I think that was some of the next step of that particular work. Um and so similarly we are talking about climate resilience hubs right which is another place where we can do training and gathering etc. And so I was curious if there's connections between those kind of education opportunities and cohorts, if you will, if that's kind of connected to our our um or informing our process for um for example, if we had, you know, our grant program, we might incentivize certain neighborhoods first so that the whole neighborhood is hardened.
[1:55:09] Otherwise, we run into what we've been talking about, which is being an A student in a field group assignment is is still failure. >> Okay. A lot of the parts of that question sound more appropriate for Boulder Fire Rescue and the community risk reduction program. Um it has some um connection to the cross boundary projects that we're implementing. So, if you'd like me to explain some of the ways that communities are organizing and partnering with the city for fuels management uh projects. >> Not really that. It's more so >> probably defer >> how is how is or rather so a thousand homes is a lot, right? So, I'm just curious like from year to year, how are we kind of budgeting and tracking and and you I know that there's the criteria but but that's a still a large swath.
[1:55:58] So, as we're thinking about like homearting an entire community versus hitting a specific number of trained individuals, does that make sense? >> I I'll take it. I uh Council Member Adams, I I appreciate where you're going and I think I understand the the wildfire ambassadors, the program that all is tied to our community risk reduction team. One of the uh one of the reasons for moving into this um risk priority index is was to first let's focus on the areas where we are going to make the most difference in terms of hardening. It's a but it's a broader question I think what you're asking. So it's more than just hey are we going to harden these particular homes. So for 16,000 homes in the interface, if we really got them all, um that is a monumental task and hugely resource intensive, especially if um we're using the IBHS standards where it really is only my team that can go out and um certify is not the right word, but we're working with IBHS and if we declare a home wildfire prepared, they accept that. So, uh, in terms of ambassadors and using outreach, they're absolutely something we need to do both in the evacuation space and, um, you know, to, you know, do you have your go bag and all those things so they know
[1:57:22] what to do in the event of an emergency. But in terms of hardening all those homes, we've intentionally chosen now to say, "Okay, with limited resources and limited um participation for the moment, let us focus everything on these key areas so that a wildfire even if it gets a purchase in the builtup area, my team has time to hit it defensively and get and allow people to get out." Um that's the thought process that's happening right now. But we do not want to discount um the ambassadors and and the folks that are ready, willing, and able to participate. We're trying to figure out what's a better space if only my team's the one that can say, "Oh, your home is wildfire prepared." Okay, maybe that's not what they're able to do. There are other areas and where they can help. So, we're still trying to evaluate honestly where that where they can add value to our existing programs and help us in different areas other than perhaps it's the home hardening piece of it. If if I hope I'm tracking with kind of what you were asking. Um, we don't have good answers at the moment for how we would um leverage that those those relationships in the hardening space, but there are other ways to use.
[1:58:37] >> Okay. Thank you. I I think council member Adams to your um I think your broader point too is how do we spread and broaden the information and the outreach uh as we continue to move forward with this very specific thing and I think uh when the pandemic hit some of the emergency connectors uh in our community connectors program was a really excellent example of doing some of that. I think this continued outreach while the team is really focused on the immediacy, we want to make sure that knowledge spreads broadly and it will be something that we continue to think about into the future for additional outreach. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um I'm not seeing any other questions, but I do have one more question and before we move on to um feedback on recommended strategy um and it's a quick one. the CWDG grant, if we were able to procure that, I just want to clarify, can that be used for home hardening or is that only for mitigation?
[1:59:46] >> Yeah, thanks for the question, Council Member Kaplan. I've just spoken to um Chad Julian with the Colorado State Forest Service who manages uh the CWG applications. that'll be recommended from the state of Colorado to be reviewed by the Forest Service. And he made it really clear to me that there is a line in the sand where you can't ask for funding directly tied to home hardening measures. defensible space can be included. And you can also ask for funding connected to staffing for outreach and community connectors and that kind of thing to build programs adjacent to the built environment or in people's private properties. Um, so that can be allowed, but there is a federal requirement that you can't touch the buildings with these funds. And I think the explanation was that it had some overlap with additional funding available from FEMA.
[2:00:44] >> Would um the five foot defensible perimeter be allowed with those funds or is that touching the home? >> It sounded to me that defensible space could be included. >> Okay. Um Dan, you looked like you were going to chime in, but did >> Yeah. Uh, Council Member Kaplan, Dan Burke, Open Space Mountain Parks. I'll just add that the the advantage even if there's certain activities that may or may not be eligible under a grant that if we if we were successful in procuring that grant and that's able to fund a lot of activities associated with uh defensible space or wooi fuels mitigation uh that that that would provide us more flexibility with in our climate fund allocations to then put more money towards home hardening and because we wouldn't need that same amount of money that is now grant funded. So, it's all sort of interrelated. And by getting a CWDG grant, there's possibilities of then providing more flexibility for where we steer money within our $1.8 million of of climate fund allocations. So, just some indirect connections there.
[2:01:58] >> Yep, that makes total sense. Thank you. Okay, moving on to our second question. Does city council have any feedback on the recommended strategy to use wildland urban interface risk index to prioritize geographic areas of the highest risk across all programs and we've got Ryan. So I just I think I kind of have one column of of feedback and I'll just it's mostly in this I'll do it here. Um, I'm really appreciative of of this work and the partnership with with staff and council. Um, and I know that we're on track um to really shift towards a community scale protection type of a program and um I'm I'm really excited about that. Um, and I want to provide a few comments just to to zero in on the the mechanics of the hardening the hardening goal, the 20% hardening goal, um, with thought to cost effectiveness at scale and also it just thinking about how we've got this resource constrained environment and we've got this just this really big task ahead of us. Um so on the on the DHAs that we have so many we have we have such great expertise and such good learning with with this thousand plus number of DHAs we've done but I think the numbers indicate that um there is some retooling or some experimentation
[2:03:25] in order to to start to convert these um whatever kind of assessment we're doing into deployed action on the ground. Um I think you said not even one have we seen come all the way through to to be um complete. Nevertheless, there's there's a huge amount of of knowledge and strength in in what we have as the DHAs. So um I but I would propose that we think about the you know there's there's an assessment goal, the DHA goal, and there's the hardening goal. I would I would propose that we really focus on the hardening goal um as as the result that we really want to focus on and take the wisdom that we have from the DHAs and think about how do we how do we really lock into deploying at large scale and I'm just going to quickly offer three things that I would I would like to see elevated or at least explored as we as we potentially do that. So, so one is coming from the DHAs, we we understand standards like we we understand the elements of what it takes to do hardening and if if we can build this into more of a set of standard or a sense of standards for contractors um that give thought to the scope and the cost and the quality
[2:04:35] control of how you do these projects that seems to be like really well contained in our knowledge base from DHAs. Um but being setting having a role of developing standards for contractors seems to be like really in the in the city's wheelhouse. The second one is on the reporting and as we do this thinking about automation so that when work is done it's automatically fed back to the city somehow um and rolls up into a you know a collective accounting. Um so we we get you know we get the we get the information about the our collective protection that increases with every parcel that we approve. And then the third thing I would really like to see us focus on in this um this hardening space is is troubleshooting. And so figuring out what is the next thing that stands in the way from easy accessible services from the the resident. Um whether it's materials and services cost or financing or whatnot, but feels to me like the city has a role to to play in those three areas on that goal of that 20% hardening. And I would just I would love to see us do more. And then as maybe a radical idea to try to allow third parties to do the assessment, like train them and maybe you pay them a
[2:05:44] hundred bucks to do the assessment, you know, and there's a there's a process of training and quality control, but I'm just I'm just trying to get out like we've got this massive scale problem with resource constraints and we should just be like really focused on being innovative with trying to make a create a marketplace for it. Um, two other things and I'll stop. Um I you know I I to me it's very exciting to think about that we've got knowledge in it from the energy space and doing this with homes and also elsewhere and if we can move towards a climate resilience home you know improvement sort of whole nexus um there would seems like there would be synergies with helping homes become um climate resilient. Um last thing I think if we do this we it maybe becomes easier to start thinking about the non-wooi and you know just the the vast number of homes um that like in the Marshall fire which had over half half of it affected was in a nonwooi it was in a suburban and urban environment um it would start to I think more easily include the rest of the town. So um thanks a lot for all this great work and um just a few thoughts to think about going forward.
[2:06:51] >> Thanks Ryan. Uh Matt, >> appreciate it. Yeah, I mean I think moving to this sort of riskbased prioritization is the is the obvious and I think is is the best practice and I'm glad we're embarking on that. Um, I will say that in, you know, there's a couple things as someone who now lives in in the high-risisk in this one of these high-risisk zones. There's I know the difference of all the nomenclature, but we're going to have to get really good comm and and how we market this of what's the wooi, are you in the wooi, are you in the high-risisk zone, are you in IR1 or two or three? We have so many classifications and rightfully so, but we've got to get really good at how we communicate that without sewing confusion. So, I think that's that's as much art as it is science as it is nuance to do that. But I think even just talking to my neighbors, they're like, "Well, I'm in the WOOI. What's the difference between this?" And and so we got to get that.
[2:07:51] And then speaking of communications, my feedback would be is I think we have to do everything short of directly harassing every one of those 2,000 homes about they know their risk. They're getting a postcard. There's getting something on their door. They know the risk. Here are your resources. Here's a DHA. Like I think we have to just persistently go after them. And and as and I've said this multiple times, uh but change comes from endless pressure endlessly applied. And I I think we're going to have to just do that with these 2,00 homes. Um because they're the bread and butter. They're the front line of this defense in the built environment. And and I think a lot of what Ryan is saying I I I like. But but until we get to something like a mandatory home hardening ordinance, uh we have to do everything short of harassing folks to to get them educated and in on board and using the tools that we currently have in front of them. So, I'm hopeful that that can be part of what we we develop and are prepared for when we have the spring update in 27.
[2:08:57] >> Thanks, Matt. Um, not seeing any other hands. Um I'm going to ask a couple questions where it says um in uh fire adapted communities one the 100% of the homes the aspiration in WOI IR1 2 and three the 1600 parcels are eligible for wildfire prepared home essential designation. I'm wondering if it makes more sense to really be able to hit that aspiration. Um, does it make more sense to shoot for 100% of the homes in IR1? And I'm just throwing out numbers here, 75% of the homes in IR2 and 50% of the homes in IR3. So, we can really target our most high-risisk and critical areas. And I don't know if that uses, you know, the map with um the fire spread and the highest risk. I mean, there's such great information on there.
[2:09:58] I'll just say thanks for that point uh council member Kaplan and the other ones as well that we'll definitely take that um into our conversations um as a suggestion. >> Okay. Thanks. And then my um other question, and I'm sorry if I missed this, but on the home hardening hub, um does it include the um ArcGIS where you you can scroll through and see the boundaries, the public lands, the fire intensity, and rate of speed where they have a direct um link to that. I have on the home hardening hub um links to our other wildland project pages that include information about OSMP and ARGS data. I think I would probably lean on somebody who has information related to um that risk index map um to see if it's something that we can put directly on the hub um perhaps in the understand your wildfire risk space if that would be valuable.
[2:11:09] >> Yeah, that wildland urban interface risk index. I mean, where you can filter through these. Um, I just showed it to one of my neighbors and they they didn't know it existed, but when they saw it, they were like, it's it's impactful. I think it would definitely be useful. Um, and now I see Tina with her hand. Go ahead, Tina. >> Yeah. Um, just kind of following up with your comment, Rob. If you're doing a property search and you're interested in buying a property in Boulder, we are told that you know whether or not we're in a flood plane, will this fire risk information also be on that property count property search? Do you know? >> I don't think we know the answer to that question, but we can certainly take that back as a comment >> unless somebody proves me wrong, >> we can take it back. Thank you.
[2:12:02] >> Okay. And then the other piece is just um for rental licenses. Is there any strategy around rental licenses and wildfire hardening? >> Yeah, I know we've been discussing that with um you know with smart rags, we require certain things if you're going to get a rental license. We want to think about what the requirement is for that or perhaps even more broadly for getting any permit in the city. And so we're thinking about what the ramifications and the possibilities for that is. Yeah. All right. Um, thanks. >> Thanks, Tina. Um, not seeing any more hands raised for that one. The next question does >> Oh, we got T >> coming in. Coming in. Coming in. Coming in fast. >> Um, just going back to Tina's comment, which I agree with. Is this the kind of thing where we can do a notified? I guess what I'm saying is this is where one of those moments I feel like the council is advising and not directing the strategy and so for example I do think that we need to look into this is one of the areas that the city does have authority on rental licenses and so I would like to know and have that come back as a part of the I guess my question is even for this process
[2:13:22] right like you know what are the things that you know how do we move from council giving you advice to council giving directive as a body and I know this is study session but going back to next steps would there be a place in a meeting where we can affirm some of the policy implications of the things that have been discussed thus far and also with the additional information that will be provided that people have already asked for. I see Teresa has her hand up and and likely um to share some thought about capacity because this will be a little bit of research we would need to do, but it is something that we have been thinking about in terms of tying rental licenses to a variety of um affirmative action similar to what we do right now with smart rags. Um I don't know that we need um direction as much as it is a capacity constraint that I'll perhaps defer to my colleague uh in Teresa to see um >> okay just point of clarification they said we'll put it I believe the specific comment was we'll put under consideration versus this will be a part of something that we're going to look into change >> I think for I think oh I'm sorry Nuria go ahead go ahead go ahead
[2:14:36] Um a as I think about sort of how council priorities unfold, one of the things I think about is that um we have fulfilled the current council priority and we are about to start on a new term. And so I think if we were in if the council were interested in providing more direction with respect to wildfire in the next iteration, council could make that a priority again and taking the sort of the lessons learned from this study session and the potential next steps. Do some nods of five early on and and the um after you all have set some priorities. I understand that. I guess what I'm saying is it's to me it's a yes and that's some that's a pathway we could take but that's the pathway that takes months to consider and so I'm just curious and even with the budget cycle that we've discussed right there are things that you know when when we when it was asked about this initial study session one of the things that I thought we were going to get were different scenarios based on the lifts and I I don't you know feel that we really got that. So, um, but the other piece is just a point of clarification. If there are five council members or if there was
[2:15:52] a CAC, another pathway could be doing a CAC request for a policy consideration around um, you know, the rental license and some of the other concrete things that we as a member of, you know, five people can agree on um that can then be implemented and considered for the next budget without having to wait three months. My larger point is is the the pathway you're considering is one, but there's also the pathway of there are some specific if there are areas where the council members feel like we can make progress on without having to wait. You know, it is a priority. I guess I I'm I'm feeling locked in to priorities and you only get four to six, but we set policy on a variety of different things. So, you know, I guess to me it's also going back to the timing thing. So my only question is um if there was a a CAC request again this is just hypothetical going back to process um and and this is just one example of others that have been raised today so that we can accelerate and not have to I think my b my larger point of feedback is there's just a lack of urgency um you know again I hear the words I see the the the plan
[2:17:03] but when I see 50% or just some of these metrics based on what we know of the science and the strength of storms and things to come. Um, you know, even goes back to Ryan's piece like I don't want that to just be something in and by that I mean how are property owners and homeowners going to pay and are there different Matt talking about the pathway um that was created for mortgage uh loans that didn't end up u being useful because of the amount but that amount is actually something that could be useful in a wildfire mitigation sense. So, I guess what I'm saying is like I was I was thinking that this would be a time for us to kind of not only um be given a suite of options but also um you know be in a position where we can make CAC requests on the specific areas that we would like um to see um changed given the information that we have thus far without having to wait for another packet.
[2:17:59] So maybe I'll um jump in and try I I in the question are a variety of things and I I I I would say in terms of if there is a directional change um from what has been presented then that's what we want to know about and that would likely be a nod of five to change a direction um that we're moving in a in a different way based on what the packet is. So certainly that's a conversation that um council members can bring up and we can have that convers that that um discussion. There are certain items and this happens with many of our study sessions where we are thinking about them. We are moving forward. We don't necessarily need direction um but we need a little bit more time to either research or look into want to know what the unintended consequences are and so forth. So they're on the plan if for example um thinking about tying rental licensing obligations is a huge priority that council member thinks must be done now then you should give us that direction as a not five and Teresa will likely need to lean in and say what is what am I going to take off my plate because I need to add this to the plate but please know that we are moving forward on
[2:19:12] thinking about it. It's a timing issue to your point, council member Adams, on on what is it time for because we have to make space for that, right? There are other comments that we have heard tonight uh again similar to other study sessions that we hear individually. Could you consider this? Would you think about that? whether that's the standard, whether those are the metrics and we take all of that in um to see we do not necessarily think of those comments as a directional in nature as a not a five or a or something that all of council members have said nope I really want to go in this direction and want you to do this again if that is a desire then we uh are at um are at your service to receive that direction and we will share what impact that we so it's a little bit of both, but you know, and it depends on where council as a body wants to go.
[2:20:05] >> Well, I guess it would be helpful then to know just of the comments and I don't know who's been taking notes thus far, but which ones would require notified for continued consideration and which ones wouldn't. team, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but right now what we have heard is um the comments that we have heard as we have been looking at it are things that we are wanting to look into, willing to absorb into our practice of considering. If there is something that needs to move forward or will change, we will do that. If it's something that we do not necessarily believe is the right approach, we will likely be giving you updates and have again continuous conversations. Um, rental license is one that I see some folks thinking about. If that is something that you all want to lift up as an urgent matter, then I would say let's have that conversation.
[2:20:59] And I put my colleague on the spot because likely it's it's her that's going to be doing some of that research. >> Uh, Tara. Well, in regards to what Taiisha says, I'm just thinking about how at the very beginning of this um we had, you know, the most important things that can make the most difference. Remember that chart? And then your next level of things were important but not life-saving type things. So, in my mind, does this maybe does this and I guess I would ask Mike that like there there's so much work to be done. How do we decide what's the most important thing and what to lift up and what not to? Which is where I would I guess I would I'm just throwing that out there that I I'm listening to her but I'm not really sure if this is if we wait till next year or is it life saving and that you know what I'm saying or no? Yeah, I appreciate that. And I don't um Mike, I don't know necessarily if I'll put you on the spot because I think this has to do with our collective efforts and would say to our leads, we have given you prioritization and have marked what we believe should be coming up first and foremost. If you
[2:22:27] have a different opinion on that, then let us know and we can certainly um reply to that. But team I think you would say you all have done a prioritization. You have used the risk index tools and have put forward what in your professional expertise are the things that are most um important to lift up. Am I capturing that correctly? >> If I could just weigh in there um I would I agree completely. I think you said it well. Ner, this is what we think is where the best dollars are to be uh spent immediately. I I think I'm hearing can we be more aggressive in certain areas, particularly around, you know, helping homeowners and the DHA's aspect of our efforts. So, that's something we will take back and and talk about as an executive team and a core team. But these are the areas we think um will get us the best um impact uh with the resources we have.
[2:23:37] Thanks for those questions and that answer, Chief. Um I'm not seeing any other hands on question two, so we're going to move on to question three. Does council have feedback on the recommended priority enhancement programs? Note, pending council feedback, staff intended to finalize any work p plan and funding shifts for wildfire ready 2030 to be brought back in the spring of 2027. Matt, >> I'll just jump in. Um, I have uh really three three recommendations. um and and some I don't want to uh get in front of because I would suspect some of my other colleagues have some recommendations too that I'll be prepared to certainly support. So I'll let them announce that and if they don't I'll circle back but but I think they they know what's going on. So the the first one has to do with um that that crosswalk. I don't know the timing of what that would mean. This is between our two codes, our two wildfire codes. Um, but it would be nice to know by the time we get that spring update what it's going to take and just an analysis of what that is. Um, I I I think having that knowledge at the spring, I get it, right? We're we're going into winter, we get a new council, you know, we have our breaks which take
[2:24:58] time that that spring update is going to be here real quick. Um, so I think knowing exactly what that's going to take, where the crosswalks align, where they don't, and if there is a need for ordinance changes, and then letting us say, "Hey, yeah, let's go ahead or no, we're fine." I think that go no-go, here's what we want to do, or here's what we recommend. I think that would be great by the spring update. So, I'd highly recommend that we have that analysis ready to go. Um, the other one has to do with um our goals, as I mentioned earlier, around the fire adapted communities. one, I I would recommend that we make our measure one 100% of the homes in um that designated risk area to be DHA by 2030. I we everything about what we're doing has to have the capital letters B O D exclamation point attached to them. So if we're not pushing big goals and if it's only 98% that's okay. It's not failure. And so I think we have to be okay pushing the envelope for that. So that means 100% on that goal. The second goal of 20% by that ratio means that our 36% goal for hardened homes by 2030 then goes with that. So that's another recommendation I'd like to make that we
[2:26:03] have in place and make that change. The other one Rob daylighted it's something that I also share I put in my hotline the 100% goal that we have or the aspiration. I I have that same aspiration but it for a lack of better words it's impossible with our current framework. And I know that in there it says to reach the aspiration. I I think we have to be just more honest about what that is. And I and so I actually think that an aspiration that's more bite-sized and more direct like Rob recommended, saying 100% of IR1 by 2030, 75% of IR2, 50% of IR3, that's measured. It's riskbased and it really shows us where our focus is. So as we slowly grow resources, we can keep funneling them into that highest risk category, which is how we're assessing where to put our resources. But largely that 100% is still the biggest aspiration, but the asterisk is it demands the biggest unspoken piece in this whole conversation, which is we do not have a real vehicle to harden the homes on our front line unless we have a mandatory home hardening ordinance. It is the gorilla in the room. It is the unspoken truth of this whole thing. And so I think that we need to be very clear that
[2:27:19] to get the protection the community is demanding of us that we very clear about what that policy is required and the financial resources that have to attach to that policy to help those that cannot afford to meet this new unfunded mandate that we may propose. And so I think we need to be very clear about what that pathway is um and get community to start thinking about it and getting us start to riff on it. So, I think we need to be really clear about what that next step is uh going forward. The last one, prescribed fire. I love that we're we're aiming and trying to get more uh fire on the ground. I obviously know permits and you know, mother nature is probably the biggest variable in all of that. But again, here I'd like to be bold. What's that 100% number? How are we getting to 100% of our lands in that 5 to 15year cadence as fast as possible? Obviously, we can't meet it in big drought years or poor. I get that. That's okay. Those are good explanations for why we can't. But again, let's be bold. Let's really say that we're covering everything we can with the resources we have because that's the mandate community is giving us. And I think we just have to rise to
[2:28:24] that challenge. So those are the recommendations to take this great foundation that staff's made and the tremendous work and just nudge it so that it matches community expectations um in a clear way. And then we just have to follow up by matching policy and bringing resources to bear so that we're all aligned going forward. So, those are the recommendations I'd make going forward, but I'll just end with like tremendous work, great collaboration by staff, and I look forward to continuing to move us forward and continuing to push the barrier. Um, because uh we're we're leading this work, and we need to be a model for the front range, and I think we're up to the task. >> Thanks, Matt. I'm not seeing any other hands, so I just want to uh I just want to circle back on the 600K. I just want to make sure that that's coming back in the form of an ATV um in the spring.
[2:29:22] >> I thought December. >> I see. Pam. >> Yeah. Thanks, Council Member Kaplan. Yes, because that would be an adjustment for the 2027 budget. That would be the most appropriate time for us to bring that back. We'd also be informed by any grant awards around that same time frame. so we'd have an understanding of sort of what's the total delta between what we're suggesting to you here tonight and what's our position in the spring. Um and Dan or others if you wanted to add anything budgetarily but okay I think we're good. >> Okay. And then um just another recommendation, I don't know if there's been outreach to um uh the National Association of Realtors, the um local chapter to work with them. We're talking about rental licenses, but maybe upon the sale of a home, they could um have some kind of verbiage or training with their realtors to work with the city on that. Just a thought. And then just more of an overall I mean the whole goal here is we're mitigating the fuels in the highest risk areas which are our unbuilt environment. Once they get into the built environment and the houses start going and then we get to confilration then we got a real problem with the 60 100 mph winds. Water you know can hold
[2:30:45] up for about 15 homes. Um, so we're just trying to buy time for Boulder Fire and the Wildland team and the structure teams to get in place and hold this fire at bay. So that being said, I'm just wondering about access into some of these areas for type three and type sixes and just crews in general. Um, and you don't have to respond to this. I'm just throwing this out as, you know, a recommendation enhancement. Um and also the IBHS um enhancement which State Farm they have 70% of the market here in Colorado from what I understand that trying to get to that enhanced or do we start with targeting real critical hardening that allows the response to get there before a home becomes fully involved and some of them can be really inexpensive relatively like just screens just so that those embers don't get up into the attic and it burns the house from the inside out and whatever else staff determines. So, those are all my only uh contributions to the enhancement, but I see more hands up again. And we've got Aaron.
[2:32:02] >> Yeah. Well, first of all, I just want to thank uh staff for this extraordinary work. uh the analysis that you put together has really risen to the urgency of the problem that we're dealing with here. Um so I think the work is absolutely exemplary and the cross departmental collaboration coordination uh is top-notch. So you know huge kudos to all of you for for doing that. Um and I'm glad to see about how you've analyzed the enhancements and so we have some opportunities there with uh the adjustment to base that will come up before too long. So that's also positive. I did think that um that Matt had some good points in terms of being um you know looking for higher percentages for targets. You know, I know it's uh certainly in some of our other areas of the city efforts, we have targets that are aspirational that we think we may not quite meet, but we think we should meet if at all possible.
[2:32:54] So, I think making some adjustments to those uh per the direction Matt was going um makes sense because and and also his point about the need for um some mandatoryness in our ordinances that we'll have to work on in um in the next year or two. So, look forward to those additional steps. But, um those plus Rob had some great points. So, um I think we can maybe tweak a couple of things, but overall, um I think this is a phenomenal approach and looking forward to seeing our city continue to uh operate on all cylinders. I won't say fire on all cylinders, um but operate on all of them, uh to keep this work moving forward to keep our community protected. Thanks so much. >> Thanks, Aaron. That's controlled combustion. Um Tina, >> yeah. Um, so and I enjoy Rob all of your nomenclature, which I don't totally understand the fives and the threes and the whatever. But, um, uh, anyway, I am, as I mentioned, I'm really interested in the enhancements to the evacuation strategy as well. Uh, I know that mitigation is incredibly important, but evacuation is the unfortunate reality that we might be facing. So to the extent that um you know we can continue to make sure all of our residents um can be informed on of an event and
[2:34:15] thank you Mike Chard for um offering all the different tools and layers we're doing to do that. But I think it's just critical um and also just um making sure that people can can really repeat back what their evacuation plan is. Um you know we have a role to play but we all have individual responsibilities to do that too. So thanks. Thanks Tina Taiisha. >> Um thank you. I just echo the um need for more accelerated or robust um metrics and annual review and reporting um dashboards. I also um support that um as well as the evacuation zone uh evacuation information and I would extend that to recovery and relocation and perhaps it's just doing some initial scenario planning around that. So, it's not like trying to do everything all at once, but just having some of those initial conversations, and then also making sure that we're linking the continuum of trainings that are necessary between the home hard earning, the fuel, the evacuation, the recovery, so that they can kind of see it in one suite and start to meet some of the different cohorts and um staff. and just the inter uh governmental collaboration that happens within that is is also really powerful. Um the other piece Oh yeah and and just the dashboard of of I'm I'm hopeful that
[2:35:42] there's more iterative um data sharing beyond having to wait all the way to the spring or you know I don't know if there's a quarterly quarterly reporting mechanism particular particularly for those first three red areas and maybe you know less reporting could be needed after that but just as we're thinking about the acceleration of that wonderland the mid area and the south area um in in that in that map would be very very helpful. Thank you. >> Thanks Tisha. Uh Tara, you're next. >> Um yes, I'm looking forward to the adjustment to base. So I agree with Rob on that. And I think without mandatory uh fire hardening, I just am your average person. And I'll just keep push as your average person who got this um you know, I can't even think straight. I'm so tired. Who got the um that I get the people came over to my house, Rob, and they did the assessment.
[2:36:48] >> Your DHA. >> Yeah. Pretty tired. um they got the assessment and there it sat in my inbox. So assuming that I'm your average person, I definitely think that you know the way forward and I'm not I'm not talking about timing of it. That's you know I'm not an expert in that but that has to be where we land or else people are going to just be like me and just stare at their assessment in their inbox. >> We're going to start harassment with you. >> That's right. Uh Nicole. >> Well, thank you. Um I just want to thank you staff again for the work and just the level of coordination that has gone on here. Um what you've accomplished in uh about nine months. It's really pretty extraordinary. So thank you so much for all this work. Um the things that kind of really stood out for me like some of my colleagues have said the um thinking about evacuation kind of stuff. Um, I know, you know, that that is something I'm thinking about a lot, especially as we're trying to move people away from cars and things like that. Um, just how how are we coordinating that for the community. Uh, but the other the other thing I'm excited about in terms of thinking around enhancements for next
[2:37:59] year um is thinking about uh neighborhood fire preparedness and and what that sort of starts to look like in terms of um uh some sort of coordination program or or something that you know you can find and pilot, get funding for all of that. Um, I think those things that we're doing to really bring people into disaster planning and preparation and mitigation at a neighborhood level are just so important in all kinds of ways. Um, I think it not only helps us be more prepared as communities, but um, also takes some of the burden off of uh, first responders in cases where we're having these emergencies. um really starts facilitating some more of that resilience um like we've se seen through some of our uh emergency response connectors and things like that. So really excited to see um what comes out of that program. But I love that idea. I feel like anything we can do to just build neighborhood connections and and uh neighborhood resilience right now is is really good in many ways. So thank you.
[2:39:03] >> Thanks Nicole. Um I just want to add one other thing. Not seeing any other hands. Um I'm sorry I just threw out type three, type six. They're just a kind of apparatus that can go into the wildland. Um sorry about that. Um also kind of tagging on to uh Nicole's comment, I I think there could be an opportunity for volunteerism. I've heard a lot of people say that they're willing to get in there. I'm not talking about, you know, giving them chaps and chainsaws, but, you know, just maybe dragging out some of the um debris or, you know, they can be trained just like, you know, we train them to pick up litter along the uh creek path. I don't know if there's a a vehicle for that, but I just thought I would I would throw that out there as well.
[2:39:49] Um, well, that is our last question. Um, Nuria, am I missing anything or are we wrapping this up? >> No, I I believe we have gotten what we needed. Team, if there's any additional clarity, please let us know. But otherwise, I think we've gotten some really good feedback um and thoughts to think back and know that again, this is continuous work similar to bike safety. We do not end. There's so much more to come and we will be talking about this again when we come back to you in the spring with um potentially good news I hope about grants and what that may look like. >> Yeah, thank you. And I just want to reiterate it too. I really really appreciate all the work that's been put into this. I know everybody has been hitting this overtime and it shows and um I think the community is going to see it and moving into 2027.
[2:40:45] this does give us a lot of momentum because, you know, to Matt's point, this is going to roll into home hardening, whatever that looks like and however we do it. Um, that all said and seeing no other hands, no other comments, um, and no other items on tonight's agenda, I will close this meeting at 8:36. Thank you everybody. >> Thank you all. Great job, Rob.