City of Boulder staff on June 26 presented a working draft of wildfire-resilience guidance for urban landscaping and described how the rules will interact with proposed wildland-urban interface (WUI) code changes, grant programs and homeowner assessments.

The draft guidance, presented by Brett Kincaren, senior division manager for the nature-based solutions team in the Climate Initiatives Department, describes three scales of attention — “fire-adapted communities,” “resilient landscapes” and “safe, effective wildfire response” — and proposes new requirements for properties that are newly developed or redeveloped inside the city’s expanded WUI areas.

Why it matters: Boulder’s planning documents, utility managers and emergency operations staff are coordinating changes intended to lower the city’s financial and public-safety exposure to wildfires and related cascading impacts such as post-fire flooding and damage to water infrastructure. Staff said some measures will be regulatory (applying to new development and redevelopment in the WUI) while other measures will be strongly recommended guidance for existing homeowners.

City staff emphasized that the new restrictions will not apply retroactively to every home. “The WUI code requirements apply as requirements only to properties that are in the WUI zone,” Kincaren said. He added that, even for homeowners not currently covered by a requirement, the city’s fire department “strongly recommend[s]” voluntary mitigation measures because they are effective deterrents.

What the draft proposes: The guidance organizes the WUI into three broad community-scale areas and, at the parcel scale, describes three “home ignition zones”:
- 0–5 feet from the structure (closest to the building);
- 5–30 feet; and
- 30–100 feet.

Under the current draft, properties undergoing new development or redevelopment in the WUI would be required to keep the first 5 feet adjacent to a building free of vegetative materials and to use plants from an approved plant list in the 5–30 foot zone. Kincaren said there will be an appended plant list of approved trees and plants intended to balance fire resilience with water-wise landscaping.

On trees, staff described evolving evidence from recent large fires: “Trees actually turned out to be very beneficial to protecting many structures,” Kincaren said, adding that trees can act as barriers to ember cast depending on species and siting. The draft would allow trees in the 5–30 foot zone for new development or redevelopment provided their canopies are not within roughly 10 feet of a structure, city staff said.

Programs, funding and assistance: Staff said the city already funds a set of non-regulatory programs to help owners reduce risk. Jonathan (staff member) said the city reserves roughly $1,500,000 annually from climate-action funds for wildfire-resilience work and grant programs, and that the homeowner grant amount will increase to $2,000 this year. He described a detailed home-assessment program run by the fire department and said grants have funded vegetation management, juniper removal, tree trimming and some hardening work such as decking or more fire-resistant siding.

Outreach, enforcement and next steps: Staff told the advisory board that the draft landscaping guidance is still a work in progress and will return for further discussion before any council action. The landscape-code package — including the plant-list module and related recommendations — is expected to go to City Council in July; staff mentioned a July 24 council date for the landscape and wildfire hardening update and said council packets are typically published one week before the meeting. Staff committed to sending advisory-board members the council packet used for the building-code/WUI conversation and links to the detailed home-assessment and grant program pages.

Staff and board members also discussed practical questions the community raised: how the rules might affect insurance, how to support renters whose landlords make decisions about property landscaping, whether the city can compel neighbors to act, and how to train landscape professionals. Jonathan said some insurance and bond markets are already paying attention to mitigation work and that the city has had feedback from bond counsel indicating a positive effect in some contexts.

Decisions and procedural actions: The advisory board did not adopt any code changes at the meeting. The only formal action recorded in the session was a scheduling motion to move the board’s July meeting to Wednesday, July 9; a voice vote was taken and recorded as “All in favor.” Staff said they will return with a fuller, public packet at a future meeting and encouraged the board to send questions and comments before the landscaping code goes to council.

Ending: Staff encouraged board members to forward any broad questions or specific suggestions about the draft resource guide; they said the final landscaping-code package will include both required items for new development/redevelopment in the WUI and recommended measures for existing homes, plus guidance and training materials for landscape professionals and a public outreach plan.