Chair Stevens called the Nonattainment Area Air Pollution Mitigation Enterprise board meeting to order June 26 and the board approved staff recommendations to award Community Clean Transportation Assistance Program (CTAP) grants, totaling $17,300,000, to 11 applicants across Metro Denver and the North Front Range.

The board’s vote funded projects that staff said scored highest under evaluation criteria approved by the board last year, including measures to expand multimodal connections, build active-transportation facilities and support mobility hubs. Darius, a staff presenter, told the board that 20 applications requested about $50.8 million and that staff recommended awards to 11 applicants based on emission reductions, impacts on disproportionately impacted (DI) communities, delivery risk and other criteria.

Why it matters: The enterprise is the fee-funded body set up to direct mitigation funding in ozone nonattainment areas. Board members said they wanted to prioritize projects that reduce vehicle miles traveled and ozone precursors while ensuring strong engagement with DI communities. Several directors asked staff to tighten future application guidance on community outreach and to clarify whether awards are supplementing other project funding.

Key details: Staff said the board had authorized $17.3 million in CTAP funding last year and that, if the board approves awards, approximately $950,000 of program funding would remain available to carry into the next cycle. Staff also said enterprise fee collections for the fiscal year were on track: the 10-year-plan estimate for the year was $10,880,000 and collections through May were $10,300,000. Staff noted that award letters and intergovernmental agreements are the next steps and said award letters will be sent no later than July 31.

Board discussion and concerns focused on two recurring issues: (1) whether large municipalities were seeking funds for projects that already had other funding or were long planned, and (2) how reliably applicants demonstrated engagement with DI communities. Director Sunita pressed for partial funding for a City of Greeley mobility-hub proposal because she worried part of the project had been in planning for years and that other funding already existed for portions of the corridor. Other board members said they were inclined to approve the staff recommendation because they must judge applications on the material submitted and because unequal standards for one applicant could invite disputes. Several directors asked staff to work with unsuccessful applicants to clarify gaps and future options.

Votes at a glance: The board took separate votes on each recommended award rather than a single omnibus motion. Recorded outcomes in the meeting transcript match the following list (amounts are the staff-recommended awards):

- City of Greeley, Greeley Connected mobility hubs — $1,360,000 — approved (vote reported 4–1).
- Regional Air Quality Council, environmental justice air pollution mitigation expansion — $1,531,758 — approved (vote recorded 3–0–2; two board members abstained and the minutes note abstentions were made for board membership conflicts).
- Boulder County, CO-119 last-mile multimodal improvements — $3,157,440 — approved (5–0).
- Weld County, SH 52 & County Road 59 roundabout — $1,794,634 — approved (5–0).
- Town of Estes Park, Moraine Avenue multimodal trail — $4,543,231.52 — approved (5–0).
- Adams County / City of Thornton, missed-connections and pedestrian/bikeway upgrades — $500,000 — approved (5–0).
- City and County of Denver, first/last-mile Federal Boulevard BRT connections — $800,000 — approved (5–0).
- City of Fort Collins, Connecting North College neighborhood active-transportation design — $528,275 — approved (5–0).
- City of Fort Collins, Taft Hill Road active-transportation improvements — $539,864 — approved (4–0 with 1 abstention recorded).
- Town of Mead, SH 66 pedestrian trail (underpass) — $1,360,000 — approved (5–0).
- Town of Loveland, US‑34 / US‑287 access project — partial award totaling $11,184,797.48 (staff-recommended partial funding under option A) — approved (5–0).

Board directions and next steps: The board directed staff to send award letters and begin negotiating intergovernmental agreements with grantees; staff said those letters will be distributed by July 31 and that detailed contracts will follow before any construction or procurement begins. Staff will also contact applicants who were not funded to explain scoring and advise on future applications. Directors asked staff to tighten scoring language and future application forms to collect clearer evidence of DI engagement and to require applicants to disclose other funding sources or funding gaps.

Quotes from the meeting: Director Sunita said she supported partial funding for Greeley because "we really were going to try to avoid funding projects that perhaps were already in the works," and she suggested focusing funding on downtown and the university area. Darius (staff) summarized the application pool: "About 20 applications requesting $50,800,000… staff recommended 11 applicants for awards this round based on the evaluation criteria established by the board." Chair Stevens closed the decision: "We got some money out. We're getting some money out the door. No — it is good."

Ending: Board members praised staff for the application scoring and said they will return in future meetings with proposals to refine the NOFO and scoring so the enterprise can better document community engagement and funding gaps before the next CTAP round.