Can you send a quick email to stop City of Boulder bulldozers from roaring into the South Boulder Creek State Natural Area? 

Will the City crush highly protected critical wildlife habitat for the rare Preble’s Jumping Mouse and exquisite Ute’s Ladies Tresses Orchid?

You might ask how can this happen when this habitat is protected by the Federal Endangered Species Act?  Here in Boulder?

Take action now to stop the City of Boulder bulldozers from violating the State Natural Area!

Council is planning to construct a massive concrete dam with a road on top of it that will allow the University of Colorado to construct parking lots, sporting fields and buildings in a flood plain. Their final approval vote could happen in June - two months from now.

As you will read below, if CU does not build in a floodplain and instead builds at CU North on dry land, there is a safer and better way to protect downstream Boulder neighborhoods from flooding.

Please take 2 minutes to send the email below to Council and the CU Regents

We have taken the bold move of hiring Endangered Species attorneys to advise City Council on how it will be better to proceed with the CU North land swap and keep the state natural area intact.  

Your non-profit 501(c)(3) donation is fully tax deductible. Encourage council to do the right thing by donating $5 or any amount at: www.MeadowlarkOpenSpace.org

And thank you in advance for sending the email below to council. With your help today, we are hoping council will hear from 100 people who care about the state natural area and the Meadowlark Open Space. 

Thank you for taking action now.

With deep respect,

Ken

Ken J. Beitel
Chair of Wilderness Conversation
proposed Meadowlark Open Space
web:  www.MeadowlarkOpenSpace.org
email: meadowlarkopenspace@gmail.com cell: 720 436 2465

-----------------------------------------------

Subject: Request for Flood Study

Send Email to: (copy/paste below - feel free to add own words) 
council@bouldercolorado.gov, OSBT-Web@bouldercolorado.gov, Dan.Wilkerson@cu.edu, frances.draper@colorado.edu, WRAB@bouldercolorado.gov, meadowlarkopenspace@gmail.com

---  Email to send to council  ---

Honorable Mayor Sam Weaver and Boulder City Council,

Thank you for speaking to and listening to the Boulder Community on Friday morning April 3.

Over the next two months, a series of key City of Boulder meetings will determine flood control structures in the South Boulder Creek floodplain that may be in place for a hundred years or more.

Water Resources Conservation Board - April 20

• make recommendations on flood control options

Boulder Open Space Board of Trustees - June 3 or 13th

• decide on whether to strip protection and dispose of 5 acres of highly protected South Boulder Creek State Natural Area to allow for construction of a massive concrete dam

Boulder City Council - June 16, 2020

• final vote on flood control structure

For years, the Boulder Community at almost every public meeting on the topic has requested that Boulder City Council study flood control protection based on an upstream or Open Space option.   Below is the only plan studied to date.

Plans Studied to Date By City - Various Concrete Dam Variations

·  Cost: High ($66 to 93 million). Paid by for by taxpayers.  High cost is to protect CU Buildings.  This means other Boulder communities will not get flood protection due to funding constraints.

·  Safety: Poor. With the need to protect CU buildings + downstream neighbors, only 100 year flood protection is likely. In addition, it is not clear that the proposed mitigation would protect downstream neighbors from another flood like occurred in 2013.

·  Speed to build:  Slow. Dam Construction Time:  Several years + years of vigorous community, taxpayer and potentially legal opposition.  5 to 10 years may be a reasonable estimate - if built at all.

·  Key Beneficiary:  University of Colorado. Downstream Fraser Meadow residents lose out with only 100 year flood protection.

Upstream Open Space Flood Control Option - Study has been requested by community public comment for last 2+ years

·  Projected Cost: Medium to Low  - perhaps 1/3 to half the cost of the monolithic concrete dam. Paid for by taxpayers.  Relatively low cost means other Boulder communities will receive flood protection.  The study I am requesting today will provide the engineering and cost data for this option.

·  Safety: High. Without the need to protect CU buildings, 200 or 500 year flood protection is likely cost effective.

·  Speed to build: Fast. Perhaps a couple of years or so or possibly faster due to the project having full community support.  The requested study will forecast time to implement this option.

·  Key Beneficiary: Frasier Meadows residents and senior citizens. Can receive 200 or 500 year flood protection.

·  Secondary Beneficiary:  Additional Boulder Communities will be protected. Money saved can provide additional neighborhoods with flood control protection.

·  Other Beneficiaries: The wetlands ecosystems of the South Boulder Creek State Natural Area and the new City of Boulder Open Space are protected and enhanced.  At CU North, safety of students and ease of construction is enhanced by building on dry land.

In addition to heavy public comment over the last two years requesting an Upstream Open Space Flood Control study, in September 2019, following a public hearing, the Open Space Board of Trustees made a similar flood control study request to Boulder City Council.

In writing, in October 2019, the Open Space Board of Trustees requested Boulder City Council provide cost and engineering and habitat data for an upstream/ecosystem based flood control option to allow for a cost benefit analysis. The Board has requested this study so they can cast an informed a vote.

5 months has passed and City Council has taken no action to honor the Open Space Board request. The Open Space Board of Trustees is the custodian of the Boulder Open Space System and represents Boulder communities to City Council.  Their request and the request of the community should NOT be denied.

During the next two months of meetings, all decision makers including City Council, must have this requested engineering, cost and habitat data to make effective and informed decisions.

Now is the time for City Council to to listen to its boards and the public and take action.

I hereby am respectfully requesting that the City of Boulder fund an Upstream Open Space Flood Control study on par and as rigorous as previous multi-million dollar, multi-month studies that incorporated protection of CU buildings as their project requirement.

To allow informed votes to take place at upcoming meetings, the Upstream Open Space Flood Control study will have the following project parameters:

Parameter 1: A proposed land swap to provide for CU North has occurred and the City has acquired the 308 acre CU South property in exchange.
Parameter 2: The land swap has removed the requirement for City of Boulder taxpayers to protect University of Colorado buildings in the CU South floodplain.
Parameter 3: To allow for safer, faster to build and lower cost flood control, a City of Boulder Open Space has been created on the 308 acres of city property.  The Open Space will be used for flood control by providing wetlands retention, along with upstream detention ponds.  City land west of highway #93 may also be used for for flood protection.
The six guiding principles of the South Boulder Upstream Open Space Flood Control (UOS-FC) study will be to:

1. Provide a cost and high level engineering design based on Open Space flood control protection for a 100, 200 and 500 year options for flood control for downstream neighborhoods that will be used for decision making in spring/summer 2020.
2. Achieve flood control protection utilizing water retention ability of wetlands habitat, a series of wetlands retention ponds and low earthen berms.
3. Utilize an engineering design that will restore wetlands and expand  habitat for federally protected species including the rare Preble's Jumping Mouse and Ute's Ladies Tresses Orchids
4. Enact flood control measures that will facilitate nature based recreational activities like hiking, interpretive nature trails, cycling, bird watching and grade school based wetlands science programs
5. The study will explore options for fostering a partnership with the University of Colorado including establishment of a University of Colorado Front Range Wetlands Research Project with engagement of the CU Sustainability, Ecology, Biology, and Engineering departments
6. The Upstream Open Space Flood Control Study  will be overseen by a panel of knowledgeable community members, including hydrologist Dr. Gordon McCurry who has highly regarded professional credentials and deep community respect. 
   
   Dr McCurry is a board member of the City of Boulder Water Resources Advisory Board (WRAB) and has been involved with hydrology studies in this watershed for decades, including developing a surface and groundwater flow model this area as part of his PhD dissertation research.
   
   

Why should this study taken when other studies have been done?

• The community safety, cost effectiveness and time to build benefits of the Upstream Open Space Flood Control Option are compelling.
• The ability to create a win-win for the community and the University of Colorado are compelling.
• Cost of not doing this study. This study request has been made repeatedly by the pubic for the last two years at public meetings.  The cost to safety and tax payers is high if City Council rejects this public comment request to study.
• Rejection of this request to study will confirm the City of Boulder is only listening to the University of Colorado and values harmonious relations with the University more than it values the safety of Boulder communities and wise use of taxpayer dollars.
• The options studied so far violate the federally protected habitat of the South Boulder Creek State Natural Area.
  Rejecting this request to study will validate vigorous public and potential legal opposition to the concrete dam plan for years to come. 
• The City of Boulder and the University of Colorado will experience a national public relations nightmare scenario for attempting to develop on Colorado wetlands home to federally protected species.
• Benefits of doing this study. This Open Space Flood Control study will evaluate if 200 or 500 flood protection for downstream Boulder communities can be cost effectively achieved at a relatively low cost.  This is worth looking at.
• The Upstream Open Space Flood Control Option will have full community support and be quickly built.
• This flood control option will allow restoration of wetlands habitat and expansion of habitat for the federally protected wildlife and plant species.
• Community volunteers will work side by side with city engineers in wetlands restoration projects.  A celebration will be held when the CU berm that has damaged the wetlands for years is removed.
• Enhanced recreational and ecosystem science study opportunities will be generated by an Open Space Flood Control option.  The University of Colorado will be appreciated and seen as a friend of the Boulder community as they begin work on CU North.

Mayor Weaver and City Council, thank you sincerely for taking action immediately to fund and implement the Upstream Open Space Flood Control Study.

If the requested study delays the City's vote on flood control by a month or two, the benefit of being able to complete construction of Open Space based flood control protection in perhaps two years vs five to ten years for a concrete dam, makes a short delay to allow informed voting, the right choice.

And as guardians of community well being, thank you for spending tax dollars wisely to increase flood safety for multiple Boulder communities.

Yours sincerely,

( place your name here)