Wildfire and Xcel

Jason Unger asked how evacuations work at shared campuses. Sullivan said staff work with police, fire, and the Office of Disaster Management. He said the district stages buses early when a fire starts, as it did for the Good Samaritan fire and a mountain fire near Cal-Wood.

On the third question, Matt Benjamin asked for a spring analysis of the two codes, 100% assessment and 36% hardening targets, risk-tiered aspirations, an honest path to a mandatory ordinance, and bolder prescribed fire goals. Mayor Brockett, Taishya Adams, Tina Marquis, Tara Winer, and Nicole Speer supported higher targets, quarterly reporting, evacuation and recovery planning, and neighborhood preparedness. Staff will return in spring 2027 with grant results and a budget adjustment.

Ryan Schuchard asked staff to focus on the hardening goal, with contractor standards, automated reporting, troubleshooting barriers, and possibly paid third-party assessors. Matt Benjamin urged persistent outreach to the roughly 2,000 front-line homes and said a mandatory hardening ordinance is the unspoken need. Rob Kaplan suggested tiered goals: 100% of IR1, 75% of IR2, and 50% of IR3.

“until we get to something like a mandatory home hardening ordinance, uh we have to do everything short of harassing folks”

Taishya Adams asked how recovery and relocation planning links to wildfire planning, and about phasing hardening neighborhood by neighborhood. Disaster management staff described sheltering, a disaster assistance center, and long-term recovery. Staff said the 16,000 homes in the interface cannot all be hardened, so effort is focused on key areas. Staff also said federal community wildfire defense grants cannot pay for work that touches buildings.

Matt Benjamin asked staff to raise the targets, to 100% of assessments and about 36% hardened. Staff said they can raise targets if participation allows. Rob Kaplan asked about the fuel treatment standard, and staff said 90% removal of dead and down wood over 3 inches within 100 feet of homes and about 80% at 300 feet.

Ryan Schuchard asked what council must provide to elevate contractor quality control. Staff said no policy action is needed, they cannot endorse contractors, and they will expand contractor training and a delivery model like Energy Smart. Matt Benjamin asked about two standards, the WUI code for new builds and IBHS for existing homes. The fire chief said they are not in conflict and staff will crosswalk them.

Tina Marquis asked how residents would hear about an evacuation if cell service fails and how city messages align with school district plans. Disaster management staff listed layered alerts, radio, sirens, and door-to-door response, and said schools are moving toward a defend-in-place option. Rob Kaplan asked about making alerts opt-out, and staff said the software is opt-in and they will look into it.

Assistant City Manager Pam Davis described four program areas for 2027 enhancement: home risk reduction, community preparedness, WUI fuels management, and tactical evacuation. The budget already carries about $1.4 million. Staff are pursuing $1.85 million more, made of $1.25 million in grants and about $600,000 realigned from the open space fund. A community wildfire defense grant could bring up to $10 million in 2028.

Staff described the new home hardening implementation hub, organized around resident actions, with a cost calculator and no need for a prior home assessment. Staff also presented 14 measures: 55% of homes in the priority sections assessed and 20% hardened by 2030. Tier one programs already receive over $10 million a year.

Fire chief and staff introduced Wildfire Ready 2030. It has four strategies, 25 programs, 10 tier one programs, and 137 projects. The WUI risk index splits the western interface into 12 sections ranked highest, very high, and high.

“Under that northstar, we have four wildfire resilience strategies and 25 wildfire resilience programs.”

Staff said the 2027 budget has over $10.9 million for wildfire response and prevention. This includes a one-time $300,000 increase and a fuels management program manager position. It also moves $180,000 for the fire wildland unit to the open space fund. A cross-departmental wildfire presentation is set for the October 22 study session.

Bart Windrum asked for a comprehensive wildfire mitigation program with defined metrics, including home hardening along the western edge. Jan Burton cited a city survey where 75% wanted more wildfire response. She said council rejected added wildfire money, including a $600,000 amendment from Kaplan.

Leslie Glustrom showed Xcel profits rising faster than inflation while sales stayed flat. She urged council to consider community choice ahead of the 2030 franchise. Adams said Xcel expects to miss its carbon targets in 2027 and 2028.

Sunshine Fire Protection District asked for a 0.007-acre easement on Bald Mountain open space for a 40,000-gallon fire cistern, at $5,000. POSAC recommended approval 9-0. Commissioner Loachamin asked about cultural resource and tribal review, and staff said the review found no concerns. A Sunshine resident supported the cistern for firefighter and evacuation safety.

Parks staff and an Xcel project manager asked for a 20-foot, 1.2-acre easement on Gunbarrel Public Improvement District land along 75th Street. The easement would hold an underground power line to reduce power shutoffs in high wind. Xcel offered $42,665. Xcel said the west side has no room. The advisory committee raised concerns about the look of the voltage boxes. The board approved it.

Residents debated who should pay and how to push Xcel. Some said Xcel and the legislature should pay and compel service. Others said the city should seek changes to state rules and incentives. Some also raised municipalization and low-cost city actions such as solar permitting and bulk buying.

A community member asked whether Xcel gave the city a credible plan with feeders and timelines. Staff said a solid plan exists for wildfire mitigation. Staff said newer systemic outage causes are still being planned, and more would be shared with Xcel in coming months. Staff asked participants to aim for historic reliability by 2030.

Staff said outages have been very bad since late August. They tied reliability problems to aging equipment, public safety power shutoffs, and wildfire safety settings. Staff said the city works with Xcel on undergrounding along Highway 36 and Highway 93, and that Xcel is investing about half a billion dollars in wildfire mitigation in the area.

“certainly I think 2026 is is going to look worse. Um, and it's going to be less about wildfire and more about um, more equipment failure.”

Straw polls on the wildfire holds were inconclusive. Benjamin's $2.5M hold drew three hands and Kaplan's $600K realignment drew four, with no majority for waiting until October 22 either. The mayor and Ryan Schuchard preferred to wait for staff analysis and trade-off options. Staff plan to bring options through an ATB after October 22.

Matt Benjamin proposed holding $4M, then revised it to about $2.5M, from OSMP capital projects such as the Chautauqua Ranger Cottage. OSMP's director said the three open-space-related program areas would need only $1.5M to $2.2M in enhancements over four years. Nicole Speer opposed using open space funds because voters have objected to that.

Rob Kaplan asked to hold about $600,000 for fuels mitigation crews, equipment and burn plans. Staff said a holdback needs an identified source (CIP realignment, fund balance or reserves) and that amounts above $1 million would mean staff cuts in the open space fund. Staff also confirmed ATB adjustments in December could fund wildfire work.

The city manager said the final 2026 Wildfire Resilience Council priority study session is October 22. The 2027 budget has $10.9M in wildfire funding, up about $1.6M, including $300K one-time. Staff are pursuing over $10M in grants. OSMP's director said full acceleration of the 10 priority program areas would cost about $6.5M to $10.5M.

A University Hill wildfire ambassador said the neighborhood is unmitigated wildland-urban-interface land and asked the city to actively educate residents on wildfire risk when reviewing dense rental development nearby. Kaplan followed up by asking staff how the city will integrate wildfire risk into land-use decisions across Boulder.

Council member Taishya Adams said the budget lacks funding for wildfire evacuation, recovery, and possible relocation costs, citing the Marshall Fire five-year mark. She also asked how rising energy and fuel costs are factored into capital project estimates.

Council member Matt Benjamin proposed roughly doubling the wildfire budget: about $2 million more from climate initiatives funding, $4 to 5 million more for OSMP fuels work, and $2 to 3 million from new grants. Council members Kaplan and Schuchard supported looking for more wildfire money; Mayor Brockett said the cut to climate funding felt too large and wanted more time before committing.

“We're out of step. We're looking at creating a budget for next year but only after we do that are we talking about potentially a major enhancement to the very wildfire budget.”

Staff reviewed a concept plan to expand the existing Xcel Energy operations facility at 2655 N. 63rd Street for fleet and equipment storage. Council Member Schuchard asked whether the project relates to nearby coal tar (coash) groundwater remediation work; staff said it does not.

Taishya Adams asked for a home hardening policy target like the city's affordable housing and emissions goals. Matt Benjamin later proposed a goal to harden 30% of homes in the highest risk zones by 2030 and raised mandatory retroactive home hardening, which Fire Chief Michael Calderazzo said council had already declined to pursue due to limited enforcement resources.

Paul Dennison presented a wildland-urban interface risk index that divides western Boulder into 12 sections, each ranked as highest, very high, or high risk based on home density, construction age, fuel type, and fire intensity.

Brian Anker said staff sorted 137 wildfire resilience projects into 25 programs. A survey of 34 wildfire professionals ranked 10 of those programs as tier one priorities, including fuels management, evacuation, and communications.

Jamie Barker described a planned home hardening web hub with budget-based project lists, one-to-five-hour weekend projects, and insurance and neighbor guidance. A soft launch is planned for late September and a public open house at Station 3 in October.

Mike Chard described the risk of a wildfire-initiated community conflagration, noting the Marshall fire burned as wildland fire for about 50 minutes before entering the urban area. He said Boulder leads a nine-county regional initiative on this risk involving over 75 agencies.

In closing remarks, Ryan Schuchard asked for a self-scorecard, Tina Marquis asked for support of local generation and micro grids, and Nicole Speer said Boulder is not seeing the benefits of its pilot franchise status. Matt Benjamin and Taishya Adams asked for clearer communication and an energy dashboard, Rob Kaplan asked for tighter timelines, and Tara Winer raised comparison shopping given the monopoly, which Robert Kenny called a natural monopoly with below-average rates.

Tara Winer raised reports of billing errors and a Public Utilities Commission investigation into Xcel customer service. Robert Kenny confirmed the commission opened that investigation in late 2024, and said Xcel restaffed and stopped dropping long-wait calls.

Nicole Speer and Tara Winer asked about micro grids and power-hardened resilience hubs. Staff said a $5 million program under Xcel's renewable energy standard plan begins design this fall, separate from the wildfire mitigation plan.

Taishya Adams asked if Xcel agreed with a Public Utilities Commission staff estimate of a 50% rate increase by 2029. Robert Kenny said he could not validate that estimate. Xcel noted a $10 million energy assistance commitment from its last rate case, not yet allocated.

Taishya Adams asked what Xcel has done for disproportionately impacted communities. Xcel described critical facility lists built with county emergency management, a battery rebate for medically sensitive customers, and a red truck outreach program used at least three times in Boulder this year.

Ryan Schuchard presented a city-compiled graphic showing Boulder outage minutes rose about 20 times since 2023. Robert Kenny attributed this to expanded use of enhanced power line safety settings and public safety power shutoffs, and expected a downward trend from 2027 but could not commit to a return-to-2018-levels date.

Matt Benjamin asked about two fires within 24 hours, one near People's Crossing and one at an underground vault near Coot Lake Reservoir. Xcel said routine inspection continues alongside wildfire work, and it plans over $7.5 billion in distribution system investment across Colorado over five years.

Aaron Brockett asked about faster power restoration after outages. Xcel described adding more sectionalization devices to shrink outage zones and a self-registration tool, live since February, that gives renters and facility managers real-time outage alerts.

Nicole Speer asked if Xcel would need rolling brownouts in 2027 given data center growth. Robert Kenny said no, because most new data centers come online after 2028 and the resource shortfall is measured against a planning reserve margin, not typical peak demand.

Robert Kenny said Xcel will be 85% carbon-free by 2030. He said Xcel missed its 2022 and 2024 Boulder Agreement targets but expects to beat the 2027 and 2030 targets.

Xcel plans to add 120 megawatts of capacity to Boulder by 2030 to support electrification and EV charging. Xcel and city staff have jointly identified 9 problem feeders out of 35 serving the city.

Xcel described a 100-year-old transmission line rebuild split into two phases. Phase one runs mostly through open space and should finish by November 2026. Phase two crosses the city and targets March 2028.

Xcel's Nick Cole described three underground feeder projects serving about 9,000 customers, at a cost near $70 million. One feeder, which serves the water treatment facility, is already under construction and due in Q1 2027.

Jonathan Cohen explained the 2020 franchise and energy partnership agreement between Boulder and Xcel. He said the agreement centers on emissions reductions, safety and reliability, innovation, and affordability.

The county's ditch wildfire mitigation program, now in its second year, cleared woody debris from about 12 miles of ditches in 2026 at a cost of about $50,000, covering 31 separate projects listed in the Community Wildfire Protection Plan.

“the woody debris and slash piles have been removed from about 12 miles of ditches at this point, uh, totaling over 232 tons”

City staff told Walt Morgan and council that an August 27 meeting will cover wildfire mitigation, home hardening, and a first look at coordination with Xcel Energy on public safety power shutoffs.

Resident Walt Morgan described a proposed 12-bathroom, 20-renter student rental on his street with no parking, and asked council to pause high-density permits under Ordinance 8666 in the wildland-urban interface overlay zone until evacuation impacts are understood. He said he collected over 100 signatures on a letter to the city.

Staff said the wildfire team required ignition-resistant materials for the new ADU and addition, and strongly recommended the same upgrade for the rest of the main house, though that was not a required condition.

“wildfire mitigation is required.”

Several members named wildfire readiness as a top strategic-plan priority. Ryan Schuchard called it an existential protection issue for the community, and Matt Benjamin, Rob Kaplan, and Nicole Speer separately listed wildfire infrastructure and resilience among their top picks from the 41 draft inputs.

Xcel Energy needs to move power poles so the county can widen 120th Street with paved shoulders. Commissioners asked why Xcel did not bury the lines, since the area is a wildfire tier two zone. Xcel staff said underground work would cost more, take months longer, and is not required for this type of rebuild. The board approved the $19,957 easement but asked Xcel to discuss burial options earlier on future projects near 93rd, 75th, and 95th streets.

“This, this really isn't an Excel energy project. This is a Boulder County project.”

Council member Benjamin said the Open Space Board of Trustees voted to recommend a charter amendment without the same confidential legal advice council later received, and asked the city to give boards and council the same information at the same time going forward. Staff agreed to do better and said the ordinance, if it proceeds, will go back to the Open Space Board of Trustees for a new recommendation.

Council reached agreement to pursue a code change (ordinance) rather than a ballot measure, given statutory deadlines that would apply to a 2026 ballot measure. Members then unanimously supported holding a noticed executive session to get confidential legal advice on the ordinance before it comes back to council.

Deputy city manager Chris McHugh asked council to choose between a charter amendment ballot measure, a code change, or no action on wildfire resilience for open space land. The Open Space Board of Trustees recommended a charter amendment, but staff recommended a code change, citing timing and other factors in a confidential memo.

ER physician Harry Ross testified that the airport's 24-hour fuel service is critical for medevac helicopters, and that a past gap in that service forced diversions to Loveland or Centennial airports, adding 45 minutes to flights.

Commissioners approved City Council's added language requiring the city to consider emergency management planning and egress capacity when evaluating development in wildfire-prone areas, with Commissioner Stolzmann saying structure density and egress are often left out of wildfire code decisions.

Commissioner Levy raised the ratio of park rangers to acreage compared with Boulder city open space, and asked how staff will handle day-to-day wildlife closures and signage while long-term district plans are written. Staff said rangers are moving to a district patrol model and that a proposal to add a resident ranger in the Peak-to-Peak area may come to the board.

Council straw polled Rob Kaplan's wildfire egress amendment as a recommendation rather than a binding condition, and it passed 8-1, becoming the sole City Council-added change to the plan.

Rob Kaplan proposed adding language to policy 89 requiring the city to weigh emergency management and egress capacity when approving development that adds density inside mapped wildfire ignition zones. He framed it as a life-safety and equity issue, since disaster-displaced lower-income residents are often replaced by wealthier buyers after a fire.

“it's often the residents that live there that can't afford to build again”