Less than a day after Boulder Reporting Lab published a story about a contentious bid for the Boulder County property that includes the Iris Baseball Fields, county officials posted a staff recommendation backing a community-supported offer that would preserve the fields.
The move was unexpected. Just hours earlier, on the afternoon of Nov. 11, a county representative had told Boulder Reporting Lab that commissioners were only tentatively scheduled to discuss the competing proposals — and possibly take a vote — at their Nov. 18 meeting, with no indication of which proposal staff would recommend.
Speaking with Boulder Reporting Lab on the evening of Nov. 12, County Commissioner Claire Levy said commissioners had directed staff to begin negotiating terms with The Academy the week before — likely during a Nov. 5 executive session, though she didn’t recall the exact date.
“We did not announce that publicly because we did not know whether we were going to be able to agree on price,” she said. Levy added that negotiations also covered how much The Academy would lease the property back to the county in 2026, with the county seeking a $1-per-year lease and The Academy initially proposing $10 per square foot.
At 2:38 p.m. on Nov. 12, Levy received an email from Deputy County Administrator Yvette Bowden noting that the county had received a flood of messages about Iris Fields and informing her that staff would recommend The Academy’s proposal. Levy believed the emails were spurred by renewed public attention after Boulder Reporting Lab’s story.
“Our neighborhood has this private Google group, and after your article came out, the emails started coming out about, ‘Oh, look, looks like the county has a $43 million offer. We need to put the pressure on,’” said Levy, who lives “around the corner” from the fields.
After confirming with Bowden that it was okay to share the information, Levy responded to her neighborhood email listserv with the news.
“We have concluded a negotiation with The Academy that includes preservation of the Iris Ball Fields,” County Commissioner Claire Levy wrote Nov 12 in an email to the Melody-Catalpa neighborhood listserv.
“I had insisted from the outset that we preserve this community asset — not because of where I live but because of its 70-year legacy,” she wrote. Levy’s message came in a thread responding to a neighbor who had shared the news about the proposals and warned that the county was poised to make a decision as soon as Nov. 18.
“Apologies for the flood of messages that will likely follow, but this greatly affects our neighborhood,” the neighbor wrote.
The county’s recommendation follows months of organizing by North Boulder Little League leaders and neighborhood groups urging commissioners to preserve the Iris Fields through The Academy’s proposal, a $26 million plan that would keep the diamonds intact while adding housing for seniors where county buildings now stand. The proposal would transfer the fields to the City of Boulder for continued use by the league, in exchange for “some combination of cash or extra land use incentives” from the city.
A competing $48 million offer from local developer John Kirkland, which would have eliminated the fields, was the focus of Boulder Reporting Lab’s reporting and appeared to intensify community concern. Kirkland’s proposal — roughly $10 million higher than the next highest bid and well above the county’s appraised value — would have replaced the fields entirely with new housing. Kirkland’s past Boulder projects have drawn tenant complaints and neighborhood opposition.
The Iris Baseball Fields have hosted North Boulder Little League games for more than 60 years. While some of the five competing bids included relocating the Little League outside the city, residents rallied to keep a walkable neighborhood hub where families gather.
“I got goosebumps all over my body,” said Thomas Click, vice president of the Little League and a member of the Save Iris Committee, after seeing the county’s recommendation. “So many people contributed and worked really hard at this. I come away so inspired by this community and the amount of love and effort that went into making this a reality, and ultimately doing really well for generations of children.”
Click said he believed the county might ultimately side with the Academy but noted that the timing of the announcement appeared to follow the day’s increased public attention.
“If the energy out in the community was anything like my phone line today, I would imagine that it was something that was felt throughout Boulder today,” he said. “I know that there was a tremendous amount of correspondence going on in our community, so I would imagine it’s in response to the article that came out today.”
According to an update added to the county website the afternoon of Nov. 12, “staff will present a summary of the property listing process, offers received, and staff recommendation to proceed with the offer submitted by The Academy,” at the Nov. 18 meeting. The notice says the county commissioners are expected to act on the item and that there will be no public comment.
The three-person commission would need two votes to approve the sale. At least two seem poised to vote yes.
“I think I said in one of our very first meetings that I believe we need to preserve the ballfields and that as a governmental entity, our decisions can reflect things like the needs of the community,” Levy said. “I felt, just knowing the site, knowing community sentiment, having lived in this community for almost 40 years, that it would be a real breach of public trust to simply sell the site to the highest bidder.”
Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann said she first learned of both Levy’s statement and the new language posted on the county website when Boulder Reporting Lab reached out for comment. She did not know staff planned to issue a recommendation ahead of the Nov. 18 meeting.
“Sometimes there’s not a recommendation, there’s just: ‘These are all the choices, commissioners. What do you choose?’ That’s what I expected,” she said.
Still, Stolzmann called the update “great news.”
“I think it’s great news to see that a proposal that the community has put together, really from a grassroots perspective, has been able to come forward, and that it’s getting a staff recommendation so that we as commissioners can consider it,” she said. “It’s certainly the proposal that I favor.”
Stolzmann said her inbox has been flooded for months with feedback about Iris Fields — “almost universally in support of The Academy proposal.” Last week, she said, she opened her laptop after a 30-minute meeting to find 115 new emails on the topic.
Levy emphasized that the county is not putting any conditions in the deal about how the property is used, and after the sale it will be up to the city to ensure the fields are preserved.
“It’s going to be up to the city to control the zoning, the land use, to subdivide the ball fields from the rest of the land, and then to handle the transfer of the fields to City of Boulder Parks and Rec,” she said.
Stolzmann also emphasized that the decision isn’t final. “We still have to vote on this proposal,” Stolzmann said. “That’s been my experience as an elected official. People say all kinds of things, and you never know until a vote is final.”
Click said “you better believe” that the community will be there for the Nov. 18 vote. “I have to see the words come out of their mouth,” he said. “And then, man, as good as I felt today, I can’t imagine how I’ll feel on Tuesday.”
This is, indeed, great news, but readers should remember that the significance of the Iris Fields is historically tied together with the still-standing county/poor farm building that dates back to 1918. At county expense, able-bodied indigents worked in the fields in return for their housing. In a 1995 inventory, the Colorado’s Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation stated that the building “represents the work of a master, represents a type, period, or method of of construction,” and is “associated with significant events or patterns.” Hopefully –– along with the Iris Fields –– the county/poor farm building will be reused, with interpretive signs to include a full account of this forgotten part of Boulder’s history.
While there is something to be said for historical preservation, Boulder county will now essentially have $22 million less for critical programs. With all the recent job cuts in local government, and the air quality health issues that are no longer being tracked because Boulder county doesn’t have enough money, was that really worth it a few baseball fields?
once relinquished, public lands can’t be reclaimed. save the fields
I’m glad to hear the ballfields will likely remain as they are — they’re a great community resource. But I hope Boulder steps back and reflects on the process behind this decision.
For years, many residents (and local officials) have pushed hard for more “affordable housing.” Yet when an actual proposal comes forward that would add homes inside Boulder city limits, the project suddenly collapses under neighborhood opposition and NIMBY pressure — including from people who typically champion more housing, just not near them.
It’s especially hard to ignore the influence of having a county commissioner living close to this site and openly opposing the plan from the start. Not every neighborhood in Boulder has a commissioner on the block who can effectively shield it from development.
I’m not arguing for this particular project — only that Boulder should be honest about the dynamic at play. We can’t demand more housing citywide but fight it every time it appears in our own part of town. If we’re serious about affordability, that contradiction has to be acknowledged.
Thanks for saying this. I live in the neighborhood and I’m also glad the ballfields will (hopefully) remain, but I struggled with my feelings on this issue for this reason.
Let’s hope the city doesn’t pave over the fields and build yet more unwanted, unattractive, densely packed housing in already overbuilt and over crowded boulder