Hello,

I’ll start with information about the County Commissioners’ April townhall meeting.  It will be on April 11 at Boulder County Housing Authority’s lovely Kestrel Community, 1130 Kestrel Lane, Louisville from 5:30 – 7:00.  The meeting will begin with a presentation about electrification in Boulder County followed by time for questions or concerns on any subject.  This is an in-person townhall.   Unfortunately, I will be out of town for this meeting but will receive detailed notes from our staff when I return.  As always, there is time for public comment on the first Thursday of every month either in person in the Commissioners’ hearing room on the third floor of the county courthouse or virtually from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m.  

Some notable highlights of my activities in March include a lot, lot, lot of time dedicated to my service on the Board of Directors of the Front Range Passenger Rail District (FRPR).  I traveled to Washington, D.C. with a coalition of mayors from the northwest Denver Metro area to lobby for transportation funds, including for the FRPR project.  We met with Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper, staff of Reps. Neguse, Degette, Caraveo and Petterson, the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Rail Administration and Democratic staff for two Senate and House committees that oversee transportation funding.  Aside from passenger rail, we also promoted projects to improve CO 7 from Erie to Boulder and safety improvements on US287 north of Longmont.

The commissioners denied a request from the Alexander Dawson school to increase their enrollment numbers from 540 to 700 on a 2-1 vote.  I was one of those two votes.  The Dawson school is located on US287 in a rural part of Boulder County.  The Boulder County Comprehensive Plan calls for urban-levels of development and useage to be located in municipalities so that unincorporated Boulder County remains rural and supportive of agriculture.  I voted against the proposed expansion because it was inconsistent with that principle.

We also finalized the management plan for a new Park and Open Space area called Prairie Run.  It runs along beautifully reclaimed areas of East Boulder Creek between US287 and County Line Road and north of Jasper Road west of Erie.  Out of concerns for an environmentally sensitive area where Northern Harrier Hawks, Swainson’s Hawks and herons are known to nest, the commissioners voted to remove some of the proposed trails from the management plan and also to prohibit all dogs.  We had to choose from several sub-optimal options for locating parking for trail access to the southwest portion of this new parks.  We selected the least bad option, in my opinion, on 109th Street with direction to continue to explore parking on land owned by Erie so that the 109th Street lot could be reduced if agreement was reached with Erie.  Once this area is open, it will be a lovely place to stroll along the creek with unbroken views of the front range.

I am on the selection committee for the board of trustees of the new Boulder Library District.  We had two vacancies to fill.  Out of an initial field of 12 excellent applicants, we decided to interview 6 applicants.  Look for an announcement this coming week about the two that we selected.  I’m excited to have them join the Board of Trustees.

I have been involved with several bills this legislative session.  One of them, HB24-1286, sponsored by Rep. Junie Joseph, would create a fund of about $5 million per year to help support access to justice for people who qualify for legal aid.  Colorado Legal Services serves people at or below 125% of the federal poverty level on all sorts of civil issues such as applying for public benefits, child support and child custody, simple probate matters, debt collection, workers’ compensation claims and landlord/tenant issues.  Colorado is the 41st lowest in funding for civil legal aid and additional representation is badly needed when matters of significant consequence for basic human needs are involved.  The bill may not pass because the debt-collectors are strongly opposed.

Two other bills, SB24-174 and HB24-1366, address the need to better plan for growth and development in Colorado so that growth in housing addresses the housing needed in the city, town or region, and strengthen planning requirements to prevent sprawling and environmentally destructive development.  Both bills need significant amendments, but if enacted I believe they will help Colorado meet its need for additional housing in a more sustainable way. 

I was pleased to secure letters of support for Congressionally Directed Spending (formerly known as “ear-marks”) on behalf of Teens, Inc.’s development of an early childhood care and education center in Nederland and for the YMCA of Northern Colorado’s acquisition of the former Boy Scouts’ Camp Tahosa to transform it into a day and overnight camp for children from low and moderate income families.  Boulder County sought funds on its own behalf to clean up the water running into a creek from the Cardinal Mill site on county open space west of Nederland.

A fun thing I will be doing is volunteering with Boulder County Parks and Open Space’s new Weed Warriors program.  We will be removing invasive weeds from the Walker Ranch loop trail during the spring and summer and then reseeding with native wildflower and native grass seeds in the fall.  If you are interested, here is the link for the program.  If you don’t want to make a big commitment, there will be several opportunities over the summer to pull or top weeds for just a few hours.  And I’ll be looking for people to help me with the mile of trail I have committed to weeding.

Two more quick things (well, actually, three) and then I’ll let you go.  First, if you are interested in what is going on with the bikeway from Boulder to Lyons, you have two opportunities to learn about the feasibility study and provide input.  Details are here.  Also, Boulder County’s Wildfire Parners program is accepting applications from residents to host free slash-chipping events in communities throughout the county.  Details are on this website.  And, on April 16 starting at 3:00 p.m., we will be holding a public hearing on revisions to Boulder County’s Integrated Weed Management Plan.  The Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee held seven (!) hearings before approving a plan for the commissioners’ consideration.  You can read the most recent version of the plan and much more here.

To stay abreast of the commissioners’ schedule and county news, you can sign up for newsletters on different topics and to receive our weekly calendars at this website. Other information about the commissioners’ office is on this website. And if you have a question or concern and can’t find it on the Boulder Countywebsite, send me a message at Commissioner.Levy@bouldercounty.gov and I’ll do my best to get you the answer.

Please forward this message to anyone who you think would appreciate hearing from their county commissioner.  And please keep your thoughts coming my way.

Claire
P.S.  Thank goodness the wind has stopped.  Now get out and enjoy this beautiful weather!