Thread by @shayshinecastle

Hello, hello #Boulder. It's city council night again, and we've got a lot of things on the agenda tonight. Our public hearing items are two annexations and a list of transportation projects the city is seeking funding for: boulderbeat.news/2019/02/17/bou…

Then we have two non-participatory discussions: an update on Wonderland Lake and a first look at a program to help the middle class buy homes in Boulder: boulderbeat.news/2019/02/17/bou…

I am in a good mood today. Let's see if it lasts :)

Rob Smoke from Orchard Grove is here. Talking about the ordeal.

Has a notice that the city posted on his trailer telling him not to enter. Property manager also told him to leave; previous line on this was that no one was forced to leave. Smoke says they were "scaring us into leaving" while repairmen said it was fine.

Cheryl Haugen is here to chat about neglected horses on the Hogan Pancost land. The guy who boards them has a lease with the city. "They are regularly without water and have severe infestations of burs (burrs?)"

"We are inviting you to visit the horses to look at their condition and see for yourselves why it is very traumatic for neighbors and children to see the condition of these horses." Neighbors were afraid to let the city know bc they don't want them removed.

Neighbors purchase water, hay and remove burs from the horses. County and city animal control have both been called, resulting in "temporary measures" but the problems persist. City lease calls for regular grooming, access to water and hay and veterinary care, she says.

Those things are not happening or are not happening consistently.

A nice muni poem from Patrick Murphy.

Oak Thorne is here. If I remember correctly, he was instrumental in establishing the open space green belt in Boulder. I met him once at the Quaker church.

"The reason I've dedicated my 90 years to the environment is because as a child, I had direct contact with nature. The city must consider to offer kids more access and a rich experience in nature, at Wonderland Lake and the whole OSMP system."

Geri O’Brien Williams from Riverstone (Orchard Grover owner) here with an update: "Focus is to keep council members updated but also to keep our community and residents updated."

Pressure reducing valve that "caused the entire situation has been received by our contractor, John Wakeham,. That will be installed tomorrow. That will alleviate a lot of the situation that has been happening."

Residents have been called, texted and received paper flyers at their homes, and a notice posted to community Facebook page. "There will be a shutdown to get that valve replaced and to deal with Unit 12." 6-7 hours(!)

Weaver apparently found someone with maps of the property's infrastructure. Schematics have been given to Riverstone and shared with the plumber.
"Have they been provided to on-site manager?" Weaver asks.

Not sure of the details of the schematics, but everything Sanitas Group had (just water distribution) has been shared with property manager.
"Should be on someone's to-do list" to get map of the sewer system, too, Weaver says.

Also no schedule for installation of the isolation valves either. But "we will report back," O'Brien Williams says. Weaver says an assessment the city has is that "all" the infrastructure is beyond its useful life, while plumbing co. testified that it wasn't.

Morzel said she was told by Riverstone that the park doesn't plan to put in isolation valves until 2020.

Also says that Riverstone is not providing forms in Spanish because "there's too many dialects" (is what she was told by Elizabeth Yurgens. "That's not true," Morzel said. These residents speak Spanish, can fill out forms in Spanish.

Also no on-site manager, apparently?

"There's been a lot of pain and suffering" among the residents of Orchard Grove. How will Riverstone bill the residents for water and other services for February, since so much water was lost? Would it be possible to waive water fees for residents in February and maybe March?

"I will take that as a rhetorical question," O'Brien Williams says. "We are very residents in making the residents feel good." Will have to go to Riverstone and ask (she's just a lawyer in Denver for the company).

Jones asks again about reimbursement for residents. No update report from O'Brien Williams "certainly we'll consider whatever is presented to us."

Open comment is over. Tom Carr addresses the horses at Hogan Pancost, which he's been working on for "several months." "It is a challenge. Our lease does require that they groom the horses and water them."

"We've had ppl out there several times who are not happy with the way the horses are handled. Man who owns the horses claims to know more about houses than we do."

Is considering revoking the lease, which neighbors have said they don't want. "We're still working on it; we do not have a good option right now."

"We could throw them off (the land) but we're not sure they would be treated better if we do."

Consent agenda approved. This includes a resolution to call for the state to allow cities to set their own minimum wages, and a measure to opt Boulder back into a Denver home buying assistance program.

I didn't cover this in my stories/newsletter, but there are a few items that the council might "call up" which means review, essentially. It's demolition of a house on Uni Hill and building 2 new ones; a fence in the high-hazard flood zone at Gregory Creek, and...

A change in operations at Chautauqua Cottage 1, which a few ppl have spoken on tonight. The change will allow private events there. Several people are against that bc it's a gov't facility, it will increase traffic, etc. Chautuaqua said it's needed to raise $$

None of those were called up; now moving onto the public hearing for the transportation projects and funding being requested from DRCOG. (Denver Regional Council of Governments)

The funding is to complete transportation projects throughout the Denver metro; includes federal $$.

Boulder has been taking DRCOG TIP money since the 90s, I believe. Several things have been funded with it, including the mult-use path along 28th.

This round's project ideas came from looking at the city's transportation management plan and work with public and Transportation Advisory Board. TAB on Feb. 11 voted 4-0 to approve the six projects.

Projects also need to have a higher likelihood of getting funding by meeting the DRCOG vision, which includes:
Mobility infrastructure and services for vulnerable populations;
Reliability of existing multimodal network; and
Transportation safety and security

(I just realized I forgot to start a new thread for this, so when I unroll it into a blog it will have all that open comment stuff! I'm sorry; I'll get the hang of this someday)

First project: 30th Street Improvements (Arap to Boulder Creek)
$4.2M total cost; $2.96M being requested (70%) $1.24M match from city (30%) A request to CU for matching funds has been made.

2nd request: Arap Ave Bridge replacement @Boulder Creek
$5.5M total cost; $3.85M requested (70%); $1.65M match from city transportation fund (30%). CDOT requested to match but they cannot

3rd project: Arap transit stop and multi-use path improvements (38th St to Cherryvale)
$1.9M project cost; $760K requested (40%) $1.14M fmatch rom city transport funds (60%). Request from CDOT for matching funds but they were unable to match.

4th project: Downtown Boulder station improvements (part of the complete streets study)
$925K project cost; $370K requested (40%) $555K local match from city transport funds (60%). Request for matching funds from RTD made

5th project: Table Mesa park n ride multi-use path improvements (ID'd in city's TMP and RTD's first and final mile study)
$3.8M total cost; $1.52M requested (40%) $2.28M local match from city transport funds (60%). Matching funds requested from RTD

Last project: HOP bus service expansion
Cost is $4.31M annually; $2.4M requested ($800K/yr for first three yrs); $10.5M local match ($3.51M annually for three years). City is seeking cost-sharing partnerships with RTD and others.

City will find out how much $$ it gets from DRCOG in the summer, says Maureen Walsh, senior transportation planner.

Q from Brockett: RE: the HOP expansion, we're requesting 3 yrs of funding. Are we confident we can fund after 3 years?
Yes is the answer

Q from Weaver RE: 30th Street changes: How far will raised bike lanes go?
Walsh: Baseline to Pearl Street. "We're trying to get a section of project done at a time and pick a section we thought would be competitive for funding."

Q from Carlisle: Why is the city's local spend on the HOP service so high? Have their been any studies on if this cost is justified?
Kathleen Bracke: Idea for HOP expansion came out of a study the last few years ...

.... about ridership increases, how do we reach east Boulder, connect Boulder Junction to east Boulder, where all the jobs are? Idea is to use existing resources in HOP today as local match to get other funds.

Brockett clarifies: We're already spending $3.5M/yr on HOP. The funds we're requesting would pay for the entire expansion

Bracke: HOP ridership includes students, but a lot of ppl use HOP to connect from Boulder Junction, downtown Boulder.
Carlisle: I understand, I'm just trying to figure out the numbers since students have limited geography
Bracke: Idea is we could serve additional riders

Carlisle: I understand. I'm interested in the numbers.

Q from Weaver: Would east Boulder be a separate route, or just extend the current one?
Bracke: We can extend that one line so it's one seat from downtown to east Boulder. Other HOP riders could stay on the other route.

Bracke: Goal is to get ppl directly from downtown to Boulder Junction or east Boulder. Might be a limited time they have to do the whole thing, but eventually want to get it to be a straight shot.
I think this ties into the plan HOP had to break it into 4 distinct lines v a loop

Brockett again clarifies: The idea is for a new segment of the HOP. There would be a HOP for Pearl, then a separate HOP for the east.

@AaronBrockett12 is the transportation whisperer, apparently.

Idea is high-frequency stops (every 10 min)
Carlisle: And you think you have the riders for that, out east?
Jones: If you build it, they will come!
Weaver: Only option now is 205 which has long (wait times). I think if there was an alternative, ppl would take it.

Morzel: I can't say how excited I am to see the HOP going up Folsom.

OK, clarification to earlier tweet. City staff said bike lane would go from Pearl to Baseline, but this funding would only do Arapahoe to Boulder Creek. (I had that in my notes; apologies for not fact-checking that when it was said, but it was an answer to a direct q from Weaver)

RE: the downtown station project: The $925K would pay only for re-doing the bus gates, some of which aren't big enough/well positioned to accommodate buses. And there aren't enough of them. So they park and wait along other streets, adding time to trips.

Brockett: These will be competing with other projects around the county and the pot is not near big enough to fund all of them.

BoCo is vying for $15M; city's projects are $11.86M. "We could use all of this and more," Bracke says.

No one to speak for public hearing. C'mon ppl, why did I write that story for? I worked ALL weekend! Like 12 hrs Saturday and 6 on Sunday!

You've disappointed me, Boulder. Not for the last time, I'm sure.

Weaver: I really do like all of these; I hope we get them all. We’re probably looking at leaner funding from DRCOG over time as a result of the new process, so we’re just going to have to adapt.

Jones: Mayors of U.S. 36 are going to D.C. soon to pump feds for more transportation money.

Vote is unanimous. Requests are going to DRCOG.

Boulder hasn't gotten any applications for six(!) of its boards and commissions. Read about it here: boulderbeat.news/2019/02/19/sea…

And let me know if I made any mistakes; that was one on the fly. OK, starting a new thread for the annexation stuff.

Last one today, promise! @threadreaderapp Please unroll this. Thank you!