Hey, Boulder! 👋 We’re back with your Wednesday edition of BRL Today.
Today’s top story looks at efforts from a city-led working group to change the way code violations are handled on University Hill, more than a year after a party-turned-riot reignited tensions between local homeowners and students in the neighborhood and coming off a July 4 weekend that saw more complaints about gatherings. We’ve also got the latest on a food shortage at Boulder’s Emergency Family Assistance Association, transportation projects, trail closures, and a whole lot more.
Until Friday,
– Jezy, managing editor
Quickly
🌦️ Warm with afternoon storms possible: Expect highs in the mid 80s today with a mix of showers, clouds and sun. Thunderstorms possible this afternoon.
🥕 Food donations urgently needed: Boulder’s Emergency Family Assistance Association (EFAA) is experiencing an “extreme shortage of food” amid ongoing supply chain snarls, and is urgently asking the community for help keeping its shelves stocked. Here’s a list of current food needs, along with more information about donating. You can also organize your own food drive or shop online using EFAA’s Amazon Wishlist.
🗳️ Last day for vote curing: Today is the deadline for addressing issues related to ballots cast in last week’s Boulder County primary election. We previously reported there are 902 ballots that could potentially be counted, according to data from the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder. Most lacked signatures or had a signature discrepancy. Is yours among them? Check the status of your ballot here.
🚧 Construction ongoing: The Colorado Department of Transportation is currently repairing the Foothills Parkway bridge just south of Diagonal Highway in Boulder. Work will last through the fall. Single lane closures and reduced speeds can be expected on Hwy 157 from 9 p.m.–5 a.m., Sunday through Thursday, with occasional closures on the road below the bridge. More info here.
🚌 Fare-free RTD: Want to save some cash while mitigating Colorado’s high-ozone season? During the month of August, RTD is offering free rides across its entire system as part of the Zero Fare for Better Air initiative. The statewide program, spurred by Colorado Senate Bill 22-180, is a partnership with the Colorado Energy Office “designed to reduce ground level ozone by increasing use of public transit.”
🛣️ Transpo project info session: In more roadwork news, the City of Boulder is hosting a public information session on Wednesday, July 20, with updates on current and future transportation projects in store for the 30th Street and Colorado Avenue corridors. Learn more about the projects and register here.
🎡 Fairgrounds master plan: The final public meeting to discuss the future of the Boulder County Fairgrounds takes place Wednesday, July 13 via Zoom. Residents can learn more about the preferred site plan during a presentation from county staff, including Spanish interpretation. Register here.
🌎 Local govs respond to EPA ruling: “Only six months ago, Boulder County experienced the devastating effects of the climate crisis when the Marshall Fire destroyed large parts of our community,” Boulder County Commissioner Matt Jones said in a joint release from the county, the City of Boulder and City and County of Broomfield. “With the Supreme Court’s decision to prevent the EPA from using the Clean Air Act to protect our environment, it’s more important than ever that the EPA consider using the Toxic Substances Control Act to phase out greenhouse gases.”
🏗️ Rebuilding Better: Location change — Know a Marshall Fire survivor looking for resources on rebuilding? The Town of Superior, City of Louisville and Boulder County are hosting the second meeting in a series of in-person workshops on July 13, designed to help Marshall Fire survivors navigate the resources and tools available on the county’s Rebuilding Better website. The event has been moved to Louisville Recreation & Senior Center, but you can also attend virtually.
🥾 Trailhead closure: Beginning today, the Fourmile Creek Trailhead will be closed through July 20 for maintenance by OSMP. The parking lot will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians, but all associated trails will remain open. See current closures and plan alternative routes here.
🌲 Name that park: The Town of Superior needs help naming its newest park, located at the east end of the Tract H property north of Rock Creek Parkway and east of McCaslin Boulevard. The new public amenity is currently under construction, but you can help out the town’s Parks and Recreation Committee and Historical Commission by offering your thoughts here. Voting ends Monday, July 18.
Top Story
A year later, riot on Boulder’s University Hill spurs recommendations for stricter anti-noise ordinance and other measures. Here’s what you need to know about efforts to change the way the city handles code violations.
By Henry Larson
More than a year after a riot on Boulder’s University Hill damaged vehicles, led to arrests and reignited long-running tensions between local homeowners and students, a city-led working group is developing a set of recommendations to try to prevent a similar event from happening again. Among the goals, the city says, is to deal with trash, noise and firework nuisance complaints in the Hill neighborhood.
City staff described the measures in a memo sent to the Boulder City Council on June 7, 2022. The recommendations were created with The University Hill Revitalization Working Group, which formed in 2015.
The most controversial proposal would amend an existing noise ordinance to expand hours during which people can be cited with violations. And it would also give police more authority to issue citations, according to the memo.
The current code, which is decades old, prohibits “unreasonable noise” from 11 p.m. through 7 a.m. The amendment would allow police to ticket students for noise violations during the day, too, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., according to the memo. Now, residents typically call in complaints before police respond to a noise violation. The new measure would make it easier for police to issue tickets without first receiving a complaint from a neighbor.
Boulder City Council will likely hold a public hearing on the ordinance this fall, after students return to campus.
The working group has also discussed ways to hold landlords accountable for ongoing violations of ordinances related to maintaining trash, trees and shrubs, and prohibitions on outdoor furniture.
The kinds of fines or penalties the city will impose remains to be decided. Working group members have discussed referring cases to CU Boulder to issue punishments, such as suspensions, rather than requiring students to pay fines.
“CU has a much bigger hammer. A $150 ticket is not the answer. The answer is discipline by CU for violating their standards,” Councilmember Mark Wallach, who serves on the working group, told Boulder Reporting Lab.
In March 2021, following the riot that started at a party near 10th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, the Boulder City Council — led by councilmembers Rachel Friend and Wallach — instructed city staff to start working closely with The University Hill Revitalization Working Group. Issues of noise, fireworks and parties remain. On July 4, police said they broke up a party on University Hill in which people were allegedly “jumping on cars, setting bushes on fire, setting off fireworks.”
The group is made up of about 20 participants, including the two city councilmembers and city code and law enforcement officials, along with representatives from a University Hill resident group, a property owner and management group, student organizations and university staff.
TOGETHER WITH Comprise
A BRL Community Leader sponsor
By combining the messaging with the math, we’re multiplying our clients’ media coverage through an integrated fusion of PR, content, social media, SEO, web design and creative. Learn more at Comprise.
BRL Picks
🧱 Hit the Bricks: Boulder County’s premier outdoor summer concert series, Bands on the Bricks, continues tonight with The Long Run: Colorado’s Tribute to the Eagles. The beer garden opens at 5:30 p.m., followed by opening act Roscoe Maudlin Band featuring Clay Anderson at 6 p.m. and the headliner performance from 7–9 p.m.
🎶 Rhythm on the River: And speaking of summer traditions, Longmont’s Rhythm on the River music and arts festival returns from a two-year hiatus this weekend, July 8–9, at Roger’s Grove Park. Enjoy live bands, food and beverage vendors, arts and crafts, the Roger’s Run 5K —and, of course, the St. Vrain Rotary’s annual rubber Duck Race. More info here.
🇺🇦 Night out for Ukraine: On Thursday, July 7, some 50 restaurants across Colorado will be donating a portion of their proceeds to help Ukraine. The event is organized by Boulder-based Sunflower Seeds Ukraine (SFSU), with Ukrainians of Colorado. SFSU was founded by young Ukrainian immigrants to Colorado. Donated money is used to supply medical and protective gear. Participating restaurants in Boulder include Ask’kara, Blackbelly and the Dushanbe Teahouse. See the full list.
🎨 Visibility and visual art: Time is running out to catch inVISIBLE | hyperVISIBLE, the thought-provoking art exhibition at Dairy Arts Center exploring Asian and Asian American identities. The group show curated by Boram Jeong, Boyung Lee, Sammy Lee and Chad Shomura “captures the struggles of Asians and Asian Americans to survive and thrive in the face of strong anti-Asian sentiment.” Participating artists include Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Yikui (Coy) Gu, Sammy Seung-min Lee and many more. The exhibition closes Saturday, July 16.
Covid-19 Updates: July 6, 2022
- 89 daily new cases (7-day avg.) ⬇Down 66% over preceding 7-day avg.
- 21 patients hospitalized with Covid (7-day avg.) ⬆️Up from a high of 8 last week.
- 48% percent of ICU is occupied. ⬇Down from avg. of 67% since July 2020.
- Note: All community Covid testing sites, apart from Stazio Ball Fields, closed on July 1. Stazio Ball Fields was temporarily closed from June 27 to July 5, and is reopening today.
What We’re Reading
📖 Superior Historical Museum plans to rebuild (with new artifacts) after being destroyed in the Marshall Fire: “The remains of some of the original artifacts are still strewn around the charred museum site. The commission wants to salvage and display as many artifacts as possible and display them in a new exhibit about the Marshall fire, the most destructive in Colorado history.” [CPR News]
📖 Are federal wildfire policies up to the challenge of climate change? “On May 20, USFS Chief Randy Moore halted all so-called prescribed fires on its land for a 90-day safety review. The New Mexico fire has burned more than 340,000 acres and is still not fully contained. But many fire ecologists and forestry experts are concerned that this ‘pause’ is only worsening the wildfire risk. Critics say it’s merely masking the agency’s dangerously incremental, outdated and problematic approach to intentional burns and fire mitigation, a policy that has failed to adapt to climate change and megadrought.” [NPR]
ICYMI from BRL
🌊 Boulder’s plan to upgrade its aging water infrastructure system enters next phase this summer, with 63rd Street project. The city’s two 1960s-era water treatment plants have provided a fail-safe for decades but needed overhauls. Such water project investments involve a financial dance between ratepayers and the city, on top of weighing urgent climate change concerns.
⛺ City of Boulder seeks to dismiss lawsuit alleging civil rights violations under its camping ban. In a court motion, attorneys for the city defended its controversial ordinances prohibiting sleeping in public spaces in part by arguing it can’t let ‘tent cities’ prevent people from accessing parks and city property.
✍️ Boulder’s gun laws are now among the most restrictive in Colorado. By pursuing regional gun-control ordinances, the City of Boulder is now flanked by several communities with similarly stringent gun laws. Cities bordered by Weld County are pursuing fewer reforms.
🔥 Why is the Town of Superior allowing Marshall Fire survivors to opt out of its residential sprinkler requirement? The latest regulatory concession for those seeking to rebuild highlights the tension between underinsured homeowners and the effort to create fire-resilient communities for the future.
One Quick Favor to Ask…
Will you share our newsletter with a friend (or five😉)? We’re so proud of the reporting we’ve been doing, and we can’t help but think, What if even more Boulder locals were getting our journalism straight to their inbox? Spreading the word is one of the easiest (and no-cost) ways you can help us grow into a bigger newsroom able to cover every aspect of our community. If you’re benefiting from our work, please send this signup link to at least one friend, family member, colleague or neighbor, or share this link to our signup page!
Thanks for reading!
Our journalism depends on you.
Have a story tip for us?
Send us your ideas at tips@boulderreportinglab.org.
– The BRL Team
