Boulder open-space trustees recommend broader wildfire charter amendment
The 4-1 recommendation favors a charter change over staff’s ordinance alternative, but does not adopt a ballot measure, ordinance or new project funding.
Boulder’s Open Space Board of Trustees voted 4-1 on July 8 to recommend that the City Council pursue a charter amendment allowing open-space land to help mitigate wildfire, flooding and other hazards affecting open space and nearby urban and agricultural areas. The vote was a recommendation, not adoption of a ballot measure or ordinance. The meeting recording shows Trustee Morgan Longley voting no.
The recommendation conflicts with staff’s preferred path: an ordinance clarifying that wildfire mitigation is already allowed under the existing charter. Trustees favored a charter amendment as a broader public statement of commitment. No ordinance was approved, and the record does not show City Council action or certification of a November ballot measure as of July 14.
Boulder’s charter limits open-space land to eight voter-approved purposes. The city says those include preserving natural areas, water resources, scenic areas, wildlife habitat and fragile ecosystems, along with passive recreation. An official board packet quotes Article XII, Section 176 and says proposed uses outside those purposes are reviewed by Open Space and Mountain Parks staff and the City Attorney’s Office.
Staff told trustees that wildfire mitigation is already permitted and that staff had not identified a desired wildfire project blocked by the charter. Staff said an ordinance would avoid reopening the charter and the risk that voters’ rejection of an amendment could be interpreted as opposition to wildfire work.
A staff draft would have added Section 176(i), limited to mitigation that directly benefits open-space land, does not conflict with other open-space purposes and fits available budgets and priorities. The board’s final recommendation instead refers to “wildfire, flood, and other hazards” affecting open space and adjacent urban and agricultural areas. Longley said she opposed changing the charter, not wildfire mitigation, which she described as important and already underway.
The recommendation would not immediately authorize a newly identified project or create a dedicated appropriation. Existing city work includes forest thinning at Bison Drive-Kossler, Flagstaff Road, Shanahan Ridge and Sanitas Valley; perimeter-mowing pilots; prescribed grazing and fire; and cross-boundary fuels work. The city’s 2026 wildfire-projects page says a Wonderland Lake cross-boundary project received a $200,000 Boulder County grant and that 2026 planning includes work at Sans Souci and Shanahan Ridge. The city’s 2026-2031 capital plan already lists an OSMP “Wildfire Resilient Landscapes: Fuel Mitigation” project; public materials reviewed do not identify new funding tied to the proposed amendment.
The next dates described at the meeting were July 23, when the council was expected to consider staff’s recommendation and potential ballot language on first reading, and Aug. 6, when a second reading and public hearing could occur if the charter route advanced. If the council directs staff to prepare an ordinance instead, staff said that language could return to the board and council in August or September. The city’s election information lists Nov. 3, 2026, as the municipal election, but the record does not establish that a wildfire-related measure will appear on that ballot or identify a final proposal-specific certification deadline.