Open Space Board backs converting Bartlett development-rights agreement to conservation easement and recommends city buy remaining oil-and-gas interests

Trustees voted unanimously to recommend that City Council convert a 1987 development-rights agreement on the 7.04-acre Bartlett property to a conservation easement and to acquire remaining oil-and-gas interests associated with the site.

The board approved two motions: one recommending council approve the conversion of the Bartlett development-rights agreement to a conservation easement under the disposal procedures of Article 12, Section 177 of the Boulder City Charter; the second recommending council approve acquisition of the remaining oil-and-gas interests from owners Zach and Kelsey Nassar. Both motions passed 5-0.

The change replaces an older development-rights agreement (DRA) that limited the property to a single-family home and allowed farm buildings. City staff said DRAs from the 1970s and 1980s are often shorter and legally ambiguous compared with contemporary conservation easements, which are guided by Colorado state law and federal Treasury rules and include monitoring and clearer reserved-rights language. The proposed easement establishes a one-acre building envelope, protects farmland identified as “farmland of statewide importance,” and encumbers a one-third share of the Marshallville ditch certificate to keep irrigation tied to the land.

Staff said converting the document clears ambiguities about allowed landscaping, pools and expansion of the house that surfaced under recent ownership changes. The proposed easement also would transfer to the city any remaining oil-and-gas interests not already deeded away under the original DRA. City staff told trustees there is currently low near-term risk of oil-and-gas development on the parcel, but that tying up mineral and water interests strengthens long-term protection and reduces future regulatory risk.

Owners Zach and Kelsey Nassar addressed the board by phone and said they had worked cooperatively with staff on the terms and walked away from negotiations with trade-offs on both sides. Staff said no cash payment is required for the conversion or the mineral-interest transfer; the agreements are an exchange of rights and conditions negotiated between the parties.

Trustees asked for clarification that the conservation easement would “encumber” the irrigation certificate so water rights could not be sold separately from the land; staff confirmed the ditch certificate would be reissued in both the city’s and the landowner’s names to protect irrigated-agriculture use in perpetuity.

Trustees and staff also discussed why the formal conservation-easement document was not attached to the packet; staff said draft templates and final documents can be provided but are often negotiated with the city attorney and not distributed in preliminary form to avoid giving the impression the board should negotiate final legal terms.

The board’s recorded action: two motions recommending City Council approve (1) conversion of the Bartlett DRA to a conservation easement and (2) acquisition of the remaining oil-and-gas interests. Both motions were seconded and passed 5-0.

The items now move to City Council for final approval; staff said the easement and the mineral-interest acquisition are intended to give the city clearer, stronger conservation protection for the parcel.