Boulder Municipal Airport

Council member Schuchard voted no on the FAA Airport Improvement Grant, saying it commits the city to operate the airport in perpetuity and needs more analysis of long-term liability before that decision. Council member Speer also voted no, citing the parcel's size, federal uncertainty, and a wish to keep flexibility for future generations.

The Board of County Commissioners revised its condition of approval on Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan policy 79, the municipal airport policy, to remove language that would have obligated the county to a degree it was not prepared to commit to. Planning board accepted the county's revised language and council reaffirmed it as part of the third BVCP motion.

Right after the final vote, Mark Wallach announced his resignation from council, effective immediately, saying he would not support surrendering airport land to the FAA in perpetuity without full community input.

Council split on funding: Speer, Wallach, and Schuchard opposed new perpetual FAA obligations and wanted to explore self-funding models, while Winer, Kaplan, Benjamin, Marquis, Adams, and the mayor supported accepting FAA and CDOT grants, citing the roughly $26 million funding gap and risk to the general and transportation funds. Council ultimately voted 8-1 to keep the airport open and take FAA funding, with the first perpetuity grant needing a separate council vote.

John Farweather, who led the effort to close Santa Monica Airport, described how that airport became self-funding by charging landing fees on all aircraft, ending subleasing, and leasing land to non-aviation tenants, producing an $8 million to $10 million yearly surplus with no FAA, state, or city money.

Airport Neighborhood Campaign speakers and allies argued that taking FAA grants would bind the city forever, pointed to about 4,000 signatures gathered in 2024 for a ballot measure on the airport's future, and asked council to put the funding decision to a public vote instead of deciding it that night.

Dozens of speakers, including pilots, students, and Boulder Chamber CEO John Ter, urged council to accept FAA and CDOT grants, citing wildfire and medevac staging, youth aviation education, university and NOAA climate research flights, and an estimated $23 million in yearly economic impact.

Outside counsel Peter Kersh told council that FAA grants for land purchases create perpetual obligations, other FAA obligations expire after 20 years, and a legal fight to close the airport (as Santa Monica pursued) could take about 12 years and cost more than $10 million in today's dollars.

Staff reviewed new landing-fee research from a Colorado vendor and a Longmont study, estimating Boulder could raise about $81,000 to $119,000 a year from landing fees, plus possible revenue from hangar development, solar, and electric short-takeoff aircraft, none of which would close the funding gap alone.

Bailey presented updated financial scenarios: taking FAA grants (scenario 1/3A) roughly breaks even, while foregoing FAA grants (scenario 3B) leaves a projected deficit of about $7 million to $26 million through 2040 depending on how much CDOT can cover.

Staff (Nuria Rincon-Fischer and transportation director Ble Bailey) explained the city is legally bound to operate the airport through at least 2040 under FAA grant assurances, and it must decide whether to fund needed capital work with FAA and CDOT grants or with other city revenue.

Commissioners reviewed City Council's rejection of added airport policy language and kept most of the original text on airport influence areas, but removed two new sentences directing city-county coordination on noise and lead education, saying those read like work-plan tasks rather than policy.

Matt Benjamin proposed his own airport policy language as a middle ground between the original text and Planning Board's version, but said his real preference was the unchanged original. After discussion with Tara Winer and Ryan Schuchard, council straw polled and kept the original language on a 6-vote majority.

“my preference is to reject if the will of council”

Tina Marquis asked whether Planning Board's added airport language on noise, equity, and outreach would carry any binding weight. City manager staff said such lists work as non-exclusive examples, not mandates, and cannot force activities the FAA does not allow.

“language about activities that may highlight some over others”