Boulder staff present draft wildfire‑resilient landscaping rules; requirements to apply mainly to redevelopment

Boulder city staff presented a working draft of wildfire‑resilient landscaping guidelines to the Environmental Advisory Board, proposing new requirements for properties inside an expanded wildland‑urban interface and recommending voluntary measures for existing homes.

The draft, introduced by Brett Kincaren, senior division manager for the nature‑based solutions team in the city’s Climate Initiatives Department, lays out three scales of action — community‑scale WUI zones, parcel‑level “home ignition zones,” and emergency response improvements — and matches a pared list of 2025 priorities to those scales. Kincaren said the recommendations “are based on the best available, both science and experience that we have.”

Why it matters: staff said the proposed changes would affect a far larger area than the original WUI boundary and would apply as code requirements only to properties inside the designated WUI when those properties undergo new development or redevelopment. A board member noted the change in scale: “It affects 16,000 homes.” That expansion, staff said, follows modeling of how embers travel in high winds and the Marshall Fire experience, which showed structure loss often began with ember ignition rather than structure‑to‑structure spread.

Key proposals and technical points

- WUI expansion and ember modeling: Staff described modeling used to map an expanded WUI footprint based on ember‑cast distances under high‑wind conditions. The draft proposes three WUI subareas that guide where different requirements would apply.

- Home ignition zones: The draft uses three parcel‑level zones commonly used in fire science — 0–5 feet (closest to the structure), 5–30 feet and 30–100 feet — and ties specific landscaping rules to those distances. For redevelopment or new development inside the WUI, staff said the draft would require “no vegetation in the 5 feet,” and that plantings in the 5–30 foot zone must come from an approved plant list appended to the guidance. Kincaren said the science shows ember cast falling into the first five feet is a leading cause of home ignition.

- Trees and canopy guidance: The draft allows trees in many locations, citing case studies that show trees can act as barriers to ember cast; however, staff said newly developed or redeveloped properties would generally need tree canopies set back from structures (staff noted a 10‑foot canopy clearance as an example in the discussion).

- Scope: Multiple staff repeated that the code requirements would be triggered only by new construction or redevelopment on properties in the WUI zones; staff characterized the measures as “requirements only to properties that are in the WUI zone.” At the same time, the fire department strongly recommends that existing homeowners voluntarily adopt many of the same practices.

Programs, funding and support

- Home assessments and grants: Staff said the fire department maintains a team that performs detailed home assessments across the city and that the city runs a grant program to help homeowners fund mitigation work. City staff estimated roughly $1,500,000 is reserved annually from climate‑action funds for wildfire‑resilience work (including grants), and said the homeowner grant level will be increased this year to a maximum of $2,000 per household.

- Training and contractor lists: Staff said they plan to develop training for landscape professionals and to create a list of contractors who complete that training so property owners can identify professionals familiar with the guidance.

- Outreach: City staff said they will prepare publicly available materials and a higher‑level packet for the board and the public. Staff noted that detailed draft documents shown to the board were still being finalized and that a council packet for related items is expected to be publicly available about a week before the council meeting; staff cited a council meeting on July 24 where landscaping and wildfire hardening materials will appear on a docket.

Policy tradeoffs and follow‑up questions

Board members pressed staff on equity and enforcement issues: whether landlords or HOAs could be required to perform mitigations for tenant safety; whether there would be legal mechanisms to compel neighbor coordination when mitigation requirements cross property lines; and how insurers and bond markets might respond. Staff said they have discussed some enforcement precedents such as the city’s tree‑protection and rental energy‑efficiency programs and that some mitigation may be driven by insurers and bond markets. Staff also said the city is coordinating with Xcel Energy on infrastructure and mitigation plans.

Direct quotes from staff and board members appear in the draft guidance and the board discussion. Kincaren said the work will be a living document as the city learns from new events and research. Jonathan (city staff) told the board the grant program and home‑assessment links would be circulated to members and reiterated that grants and outreach would expand to support voluntary work by homeowners.

Votes and procedural action

The board recessed into scheduling and, at the end of the meeting, a board member moved to reschedule the next advisory board meeting to Wednesday, July 9; the motion passed with the board voice vote “All in favor.”

What’s next

Staff asked the board for initial feedback and promised a fuller, public packet and more opportunities for comment. Materials tied to the landscaping code update — including the plant list and guidance on noncombustible zones for redevelopment — will return to the board before the city takes final action to amend codes. Staff also said they will provide clearer public‑facing examples (photos and plant‑list images) and links to the detailed home assessment and grant program.

(For transparency: quotes and attributions in this article come from Brett Kincaren, Jonathan (city staff) and an unnamed board member who spoke during the Environmental Advisory Board meeting; staff materials reviewed by the board were identified by staff as working drafts and are not yet final.)