The Nonattainment Area Air Pollution Mitigation Enterprise Board of Directors voted June 26 to award approximately $17.3 million from its Community Clean Transportation Assistance Program (CTAP) to 11 projects across the Denver-metro and North Front Range regions.

Board members approved staff recommendations after more than an hour of discussion about project eligibility, outreach to disproportionately impacted communities and whether to partially fund several large requests. Darius, a staff presenter, told the board the awards assume the enterprise’s previously authorized CTAP pool of $17,300,000 and that, “if the board makes a decision on the CTAP grants, which is $17,300,000, which is authorized by the board last year, the anticipated remaining future funding for that program will be $950,000,” funds that could carry into the next cycle.

Why it matters: the enterprise’s grant program funds projects that reduce ozone precursors and transportation emissions in nonattainment areas and prioritizes proposals that serve disproportionately impacted communities. Board members said they wanted stronger proof of community engagement in some applications and clearer accounting of whether projects already had other funding commitments.

Budget and program context
Staff presented a budget-to-actual update for the end of the state fiscal year. The enterprise’s fee collections are tracking near plan: the 10-year plan estimated $10,880,000 for the current year and staff reported $10,300,000 collected through May, with June collections pending. The staff presentation also noted interest earnings and that operating costs finished below budget; remaining program funds will roll into fiscal 2026. Staff flagged a required joint report to the Transportation Legislative Committee tied to Senate Bill 21-260 that will be due during the 2026 legislative interim.

How projects were evaluated
Staff said applications were scored on a 100-point scale using criteria the board adopted earlier: projected emission reductions, connections to disproportionately impacted communities as defined in statute, documented community outreach, economic opportunity improvements in DI communities, alignment with the enterprise’s three funding focus areas, plan/prioritization in local or regional transportation plans, likelihood of successful delivery and maintenance, safety improvements, multimodal connectivity, and overall application quality.

Board debate and concerns
Director Sunita repeatedly urged partial funding for the City of Greeley application, saying parts of that project predated the enterprise and asking the board to avoid funding elements that already had other commitments. “I will make it known that, if it’s not partial funding, I will be voting no on this,” she said during deliberations. Other directors said they respected her local knowledge but were reluctant to single out one application for reasons not documented in every application packet. Several board members asked staff to tighten future application requirements to show who participated in outreach events and to require more explicit funding-gap documentation.

Next steps
Staff said they will prepare award letters and intergovernmental agreements for successful applicants; an internal deadline for issuing official award letters was given as July 31, though staff expected to send them earlier. Staff also said it will contact applicants that were not funded to explain scoring outcomes and to describe other funding or application-improvement options for future cycles.

Votes at a glance (board action outcomes)
- City of Greeley — Greeley Connected mobility hubs: Award $1,360,000; motion passed 4–1 (one nay recorded). Note: Director Sunita had urged partial funding and indicated she would vote no on full funding.
- Regional Air Quality Council — Environmental justice / air-pollution mitigation expansion: Award ~$1,530,000; motion passed (aye majority) with 2 abstentions recorded (one abstention was entered because a board member serves on RAQC).
- Boulder County — CO-119 last-mile multimodal work: Award $3,157,440; motion passed 5–0.
- Weld County — SH 52 / County Road 59 roundabout (Hudson area): Award $1,794,634; motion passed 5–0.
- Town of Estes Park — Moraine Avenue multimodal trail: Award $4,543,231.52; motion passed 5–0.
- Adams County / City of Thornton — Missed-connections, Clear Creek/Federal corridor connections: Award $500,000; motion passed 5–0.
- City and County of Denver — First/last-mile Federal Boulevard (preparation for Federal BRT): Award $800,000; motion passed 5–0.
- City of Fort Collins — Connecting North College community active-transportation planning: Award $528,275; motion passed 5–0.
- City of Fort Collins — Taft Hill Road active-transportation improvements (design): Award $539,864; motion passed 4–0 with 1 abstention recorded (abstention noted by a member with a potential conflict/representation concern).
- Town of Mead — SH 66 pedestrian/trail underpass: Award $1,360,000; motion passed 5–0.
- Town of Loveland — US-34 / local access improvements: Partial award (option A scenario) $11,184,797.48; motion passed 5–0 (partial funding per board scenario).

What the board asked staff to do
Board members asked staff to: (1) send award letters and begin intergovernmental-agreement negotiations; (2) provide clearer guidance and application templates for future rounds that document DI outreach and funding gaps; (3) report back on the SB21-260 enterprise reporting requirement in calendar 2026; and (4) consider a future funding cycle configuration that reserves roughly 30% of future enterprise funds for larger projects (the board had discussed a 70/30 split in prior planning materials).

Ending
Board members praised staff for scoring and packaging a large set of applications and asked staff to use lessons from this round to sharpen outreach and scoring language before the next call for proposals. Staff said award letters should go out no later than July 31 and that intergovernmental agreements and project-level delivery discussions would follow that correspondence.