Open Space Board backs charter change to explicitly allow wildfire, flood and hazard mitigation

The Boulder Open Space Board of Trustees voted 4–1 on July 8 to recommend a charter amendment that would add a new subsection to section 1.76 explicitly allowing use of open-space land to mitigate wildfire, flood and other hazards.

The motion, moved by Trustee Harmon Zuckerman and seconded by another trustee, asked council to add a new subsection I reading in substance: "utilization of land to mitigate wildfire, flood and other hazards to open-space land and adjacent urban and agricultural areas." After debate the board took a recorded vote: Trustee Robinson — yes; Trustee Glenn — yes; Trustee Zuckerman — yes; Trustee Lomeli — no; the chair voted yes, producing a 4–1 approval to forward the recommendation to city council.

Why it matters: Staff told the board that City Council’s charter committee had asked staff to explore whether the charter should explicitly name wildfire mitigation as an open-space purpose. The amendment would make that use explicit in the charter rather than relying solely on staff’s existing interpretation or on a city ordinance. Staff emphasized the choice is partly symbolic (a public vote would confirm the priority) and partly practical, pointing to precedent when council used an ordinance to interpret charter language in 2016.

Board debate: Trustees split on process and scope. Harmon Zuckerman, who moved the item, said a charter amendment would let the public weigh in and "put hazard mitigation in the same bucket" as other enumerated open-space purposes, and suggested the broader term "hazard mitigation" could cover flood and related risks. "If the community is asking for wildfire and flood protection to be something the open-space department thinks about under the charter, then we should put it up to a vote," he said.

Trustee Sarah (first name used in the meeting record) argued that codifying the priority would signal identity and public accountability: "People are coming regularly to ask about fire mitigation. Putting it in the charter is us saying this is a priority for us," she said, adding that protections already embedded elsewhere in the charter should prevent unintended consequences. Trustee Morgan Lomeli opposed the motion on process grounds, saying she supports wildfire mitigation but did not support reopening a long-standing 1986 charter provision for an item she characterized as narrow: "If we're amending the charter to change something we're already doing, it merits a larger discussion," she said.

Staff explanation and next steps: Dan Burke, OSMP director, told trustees staff is developing both ordinance and charter language so council can choose a path; if council pursues a charter amendment, the item will appear in the July 23 packet (first reading) and then again Aug. 6 for a public hearing and second reading. If council instead pursues an ordinance, staff will return to the board with draft ordinance language in August or September.

What the motion does and does not do: The board’s vote forwards its endorsement of the proposed charter language to council; it does not itself amend the charter. Trustees emphasized that existing charter language and the department’s project-review processes still constrain any on-the-ground decisions. Staff said the board will see final ordinance language if council chooses that route, and that council may alter the language before it goes to voters.

The vote was the most recent procedural step; council will receive the board’s recommendation in its July 23 packet with staff’s analysis and a staff recommendation that includes the ordinance alternative. If council advances the charter amendment, the measure would appear on a November ballot only if council continues the process through required readings.