The two Boulder Airport bills scheduled for the ballot this fall may still require some minor changes before they go before voters.
The ballot measures aim to close the airport and transform the area into a neighborhood in which some of the houses will be designated as social housing. They are citizen initiatives, meaning that citizens circulated petitions for the measures and had to collect a certain number of signatures for each petition to be put to the vote.
The Airport Neighborhood Campaign, which supported these measures, collected more than the required 3,401 signatures for each measure, making the airport measures legally qualified for the fall 2024 ballot. However, city staff negotiated with the campaign to draft slightly modified versions of the airport ballot measures that are similar in spirit to the originals but could provide a little more flexibility and ease in implementing the measures if they are passed.
The revised ballot measures would prohibit the city from encumbering or improving the airport property in any way that would “further delay the closure of Boulder Municipal Airport or increase its financial costs to the city.” This would prevent the city from accepting future Federal Aviation Administration grants (the city must keep the airport open for an additional 20 years each time it accepts FAA grants).
The alternative version of the Runways to Neighborhoods measure would remove the requirement that at least 50% of the housing in the area be in the city’s permanent affordable housing program. Housing in that program is limited by an ownership covenant to remain permanently affordable to people earning no more than 121% of the area median income. For a family of four, the upper income limit would be $176,370.
Instead, a “fundamental desired outcome” would be to make at least 50% of the housing units on site “affordable in perpetuity.” It’s a subtle change in wording that would give the city leeway to have slightly less than 50% affordable housing in the area, and it would also allow the units to be made affordable through any mechanism, including (but not limited to) the city’s current affordable housing program.
Both alternative ballot measures would allow the regulations to be amended or repealed “if additional analysis shows that closure is not feasible.” Boulder has filed suit against the FAA to clarify how long the city must keep its airport open. If the city cannot close the airport, this language could make it easier to amend or repeal the regulations.
Laura Kaplan, a member of the Airport Neighborhood Campaign and a member of the city’s Planning Committee, said city staff wanted to make sure the ballot proposal’s language was consistent with city ordinance and also feasible.
“We thought we did a really good job with the original language, but with time, perspective and the involvement of more people, you can make something good even better,” she said. “We think the changes proposed in the alternative versions are good, and we support them too.”
Mayor Aaron Brockett told the Daily Camera he doesn’t think the changes are “very substantive.” He also believes that even if the alternative measures were passed and the requirement to provide 50% affordable housing was removed, the city would still be required to make a significant portion of the housing in the airport area affordable.
“In the theoretical situation where the FAA has been compensated and remediation work is needed and infrastructure is created, it’s unclear what the funding would look like after that,” he said. “So would 50% affordable housing be possible? That’s unclear, but I think the city would be obligated to create as much as possible there.”
Brockett said he has not yet decided which pair of airport measures he will vote for, and he sees “pros and cons” in both options.
The original airport ballot measures are not completely off the table. If the council votes for the original measures, the vote will continue. However, if it chooses the alternative measures, those will go before voters as referred measures and the proposers will withdraw their original proposals.
City Council members will discuss the original and alternative airport ballot measures, as well as several other measures for the ballot this fall, at their council meeting Thursday night.
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