By Philip P. DiStefano and Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde
For 145 years, the city and University of Colorado Boulder have been inextricably linked in a way that has elevated both to world renown. At the core of this relationship is a joint commitment to the shared values that make Boulder special.
Last Monday, our organizations released a draft CU Boulder South Annexation Agreement for public consideration. A significant amount of care, ingenuity and collaborative spirit have gone into ensuring those shared values are ingrained in this document. The agreement illustrates the transformation the city and the university believe is possible at the CU South location, while also addressing legitimate concerns from community members.
Public input, collected over decades of planning, and most intensively in the past year, affirms the need for vital flood protection for the more than 2,300 individuals and 1,110 housing units in harm’s way in south Boulder.
The 2013 flood illustrated the importance of flood protection — and the spring and early summer rains this year have reminded us that we still face this threat. As our climate experts and researchers point out, extreme weather events will continue to increase, and we cannot predict when the next major flood will occur. We must prepare.
By annexing CU Boulder South, our organizations can safeguard lives. As we considered this responsibility, however, we also weighed the importance of other community values. The many impassioned community members following this issue have emphasized the importance of workforce and student housing; preserving open space and valuable habitat; leading on sustainability and transportation solutions and ensuring continued public recreational use — all with an equitable and appropriate distribution of costs between CU and the city. The draft agreement was developed with a goal of bringing this multi-faceted set of objectives to life.
Let’s look at housing. The absence of affordable housing in Boulder has never been more visible. Both the city and CU recognize the need to introduce new housing options into the marketplace. By providing hundreds of units of housing for CU faculty, staff and students, CU South will help ease pressure throughout the Boulder market while also reducing the community’s carbon dioxide emissions by allowing university employees to live closer to their work.
The university’s commitment to the overall community good is further illustrated by the dedication of 5 acres for development of permanently affordable housing available to all who qualify, not just university affiliates.
As laudable as these goals are, the city and the university are also mindful of the importance of being good stewards of our environment. The draft agreement outlines ways in which open space and critical habitats will be preserved, including the transfer of water rights from CU to the city to assist with habitat restoration.
Lastly, binding covenants that set limits on building sizes, heights and locations, as well as a multimodal traffic plan, demonstrate a good faith effort by both organizations to listen deeply to community input.
Since 2015, when the thoroughly vetted Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan update changed land-use designations at CU Boulder South, hundreds of dedicated city and Boulder County staff, CU employees, and community stakeholders have invested countless hours to turn the many proposed community benefits at this site into a reality.
The release of the draft annexation agreement for CU Boulder South represents a monumental milestone in this journey. Both sides are spelling out what’s possible — with more concrete detail than ever before. We’re proud of the difficult conversations and willingness to compromise that have brought us to this point.
Now it’s time for you, the Boulder community, to help us evaluate this possibility.
A public review phase has now begun. The university will present the agreement to the Board of Regents for its consideration this summer, and the Boulder City Council will consider the agreement in September. Over the next couple of months, we invite the public to continue to weigh in and help us shape a final agreement that benefits all.
To all who have already played a role, and to those who will do so, we express our deep admiration and profound gratitude. We understand the significance of this decision for Boulder and look forward to the ongoing community discussion and input.
Philip P. DiStefano is the 11th chancellor of CU Boulder.
Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde was appointed City Manager of Boulder in May 2021.
