Updates

My hope is that our annexation agreement and our combined efforts on CU Boulder South will solidify Boulder as a forward-thinking community that is willing to take action to create a safe, more equitable and inclusive city.

City of Boulder voters have upheld City Council’s 2021 annexation of CU Boulder South by rejecting Ballot Question 2F. The vote means the site remains within Boulder’s city limits and the city’s flood protection project—among the numerous other aspects of the annexation agreement—can continue to move forward.

Do you remember the devastating floods of 2013? It was national news when President Obama and Governor Hickenlooper declared a state of emergency here and in neighboring counties. In the span of a few days, more than 14 inches of rain fell in Boulder County, leading to the highest water level in Boulder Creek since 1894. The resulting floodwaters wreaked havoc on our region and resulted in lost lives, destroyed homes and major damage to critical infrastructure.

There’s a constitutional principle that prohibits prosecutors from trying a defendant twice for the same criminal offense when they are found innocent in the first trial. As we’ve seen in community debate over thorny policy issues, like the battle over annexation of the CU South property, it seems some aren’t willing to abide by this same principle.

Some politics happen at a distance — decisions made in Denver or D.C. affect us in Boulder — but the forums for the fights and most of the combatants are not our neighbors. City politics are different, as the consequences can be as meaningful while the deciders and activists are our neighbors and friends. Disappointing outcomes often feel more personal. Those who prevail wonder why those who did not can’t just move on.

For decades, the city of Boulder has been working to protect residents from the danger and destruction wreaked when creeks coming out of the mountains fill with rainwater or snowmelt and surge into our town. One of the least-controlled of these is South Boulder Creek, which imperils 2,300 of our town’s residents and threatens Highway 36. Many of these affected families fled their homes and Highway 36 was closed in the 2013 event, the sixth flood in 80 years. It’s just a matter of time before the seventh flood occurs.

When you look at the Boulder community, it’s easy to find evidence of positive change and advancement — elements that can’t be considered merely a stroke of good luck.

There has been extensive discussion about the South Boulder Creek Flood Control project over the last decade or more. Many options have been forwarded, studied and ranked. The current concept is the preferred and most efficient alternative. The negative interference by opposing parties needs to stop and the referendum to repeal the annexation of CU South into the City on this November’s ballot needs to fail.

I was speaking with a friend the other day, and he said that just about every community concern has a six degrees of Kevin Bacon-like connection to CU South for those who oppose the negotiated annexation agreement for that site.

City of Boulder staff engineers say they’re close to completing the 30% design phase of the South Boulder Creek Flood Mitigation Project, a milestone that will enable the city to begin the permitting process with a number of local, state and federal agencies.