Posts tagged City Attorney Tom Carr
Boulder: Let the sun shine on city’s energy future
Sep 10th
Boulder to reach out to solar industry, customers
The City of Boulder announced today that it will create a working group of solar industry specialists and customers – both current and future – to explore motivators and barriers to implementing more solar throughout the community. The focus of the group’s work will be on defining the next-generation of incentives as well as providing guidance about how to handle solar contracts between now and the time when the city decides whether it will create a local electric utility.
“Supporting and increasing renewable sources of energy is a core value, and we see this discussion as an important next step in our effort to create the electric utility of the future,” said Heather Bailey, executive director of Energy Strategy and Electric Utility Development.
Bailey said the city has a unique opportunity to benefit from local experts to design programs that will encourage more local energy production. Expertise from the university and federal labs, as well as the numerous companies and entrepreneurs developing leading-edge energy technologies, has already helped Boulder achieve one of the highest levels of solar per-capita in the US, with close to 14 megawatts installed in the city.
The City of Boulder has also played a significant role in supporting local energy generation, particularly solar. This has included streamlining the permitting process to offering a local solar rebate and grant program. The concept of Solar Gardens was originally conceived in Boulder, and city staff members were on the drafting team of legislation that allowed this. The solar gardens law was signed by then-Governor Bill Ritter overlooking the Flatirons from a parking lot rooftop along the Pearl Street Mall.
“We don’t want to simply continue this tradition; we want to make it even stronger by working with stakeholders to identify ways to encourage even more locally generated clean energy sources. This is fundamental to achieving our community’s goals, whether we create our own electric utility or strike a new agreement with our current provider, Xcel Energy,” Bailey said.
One of the questions the city would like to resolve is how to encourage continued participation in solar installations during the ongoing deliberation about – and possible transition to – a local electric utility. Xcel Energy recently sent the city a letter requesting that the city agree to take over contracts it has with customers if Boulder forms an electric retail utility.
The City of Boulder is committed to protecting those who have made investments in solar energy in our community from any adverse impact related to the creation of a municipal utility. The city is also interested in working with Xcel on this important issue, not only to protect those who have already made investments, but to encourage growth in this area of renewable energy.
Boulder has no way, however, of evaluating the estimates that Xcel has made about these costs.
“Before we can agree to any arrangement, we need more information from Xcel Energy,” City Attorney Tom Carr said. “The company so far has declined most of the requests for data the city has made. Without detailed information about these contracts, we have no way of verifying Xcel’s assertions and perhaps more importantly, of making sure we are doing the right thing to protect our forward-thinking customers and other ratepayers.”
The city’s Energy Future team anticipates holding the first meeting of the solar working group shortly after the Nov. 5 election. Members of the community and industry who are interested in participating are encouraged to contact Heather Bailey at 33-441-1923 or baileyh@bouldercolorado.gov.
More information about the Energy Future project is available at www.BoulderEnergyFuture.com.
–CITY–
Boulder proposes to close all outdoor public areas at night
Dec 16th
City manager proposes closing parks and recreation areas at night
Concerned about safety and health risks associated with encampments and other activities after nightfall, Boulder City Manager Jane S. Brautigam announced Friday that she is considering closing parks, parkways, recreation areas and open space between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. The proposed rule, issued according to authority granted to her under city code, is subject to a 15-day period for public comment.
Members of the public may file written comments with the city beginning on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011, when notice will be published in the newspaper, and ending on Jan. 2, 2012. The city manager will consider all comments before deciding whether to impose the rule as written or make changes to it. The rule would take effect once she submits a final decision to the City Attorney’s Office.
The proposed rule would not apply to individuals passing through the affected areas on foot or bicycle or in cases where permitted events are being held. In addition, it would allow police to consider personal property left behind during these hours to be abandoned.
While the most visible use of these areas in recent days have been protestor encampments outside the Municipal Building, the rule is not intended to curb free or constitutionally protected speech. Individuals would remain welcome to congregate in city parks during daytime hours for these and any other lawful activities.
“The City of Boulder values the rights of all of our community members, including those who wish to use our public property,” Brautigam said. “We need to ensure that all people are able to do so safely and work hard to protect our public spaces for future generations to enjoy.”
“Closing our parks for a limited number of hours each night will help us address the important health and safety concerns while still providing for meaningful access during the day,” the city manager said. “I believe this is a balanced approach.”
Brautigam made the decision after consulting with City Attorney Tom Carr and Police Chief Mark Beckner and taking into account recent court decisions related to access to public property. Carr said the rule, which would impose reasonable time, place and manner restrictions, is similar to provisions for closures in other cities.
Copies of the rule are available for public review at Central Records on the second floor of the Municipal Building at 1777 Broadway. Individuals who wish to comment on the rule may send their written remarks by U.S. mail to Parks Closure Rule, City of Boulder Box 791, Boulder, CO 80306, or e-mail them toparksclosurerule@bouldercolorado.gov before or on Jan. 2, 2012.
Boulder Xcel deal falls apart: condition ends talks about possible wind deal
Jul 15th
Xcel condition ends talks about possible wind deal
Several weeks of intensive and committed negotiations with Xcel Energy about the possibility of a wind purchase plan with Boulder ended this week, when Xcel refused to drop a condition that City Council agree to put a 20-year franchise on the ballot in November, without a corresponding wind agreement.
Xcel wanted City Council to put both the franchise paired with a wind deal and the franchise by itself on the ballot. City staff had been working with Xcel to develop a proposal for council that could have included the franchise if it were paired with the increase in renewable energy that was associated with the possible wind agreement.
City staff advised Xcel multiple times that council support for a standalone franchise was unlikely. During each of these conversations, the utility’s representatives indicated they wanted to keep negotiating and take that issue “under advisement” later. On Tuesday, July 12, Xcel communicated a final determination that it would not agree to a wind deal at all if the standalone franchise was not a part of the proposal to council.
The city’s energy future goals include stable rates, more local control and a decreased carbon footprint. While the franchise paired with significantly increased renewable wind energy would have moved toward some of these goals, the franchise by itself does not.
Since then, Xcel Energy has continued to provide electricity to homes and businesses in the city without a franchise agreement, as required by state law. The city, meanwhile, has worked to define the community’s goals for its energy future and analyze a variety of paths for achieving them. One of these has been the possible creation of a municipally owned power utility.
In late May, Xcel outlined a proposal that could help the community achieve some of its goals without creating its own utility. The proposal involved the city paying increased initial costs associated with the construction of a new wind farm in eastern Colorado. The turbines would have put 200 megawatts of new wind power onto the state’s grid. Boulder, in return for its investment, would purchase the Renewable Energy Credits. While the city was interested in exploring a wind agreement, both the staff team and council members had significant concerns about the proposal. Among them was the level of financial risk the city would assume in this venture. Representatives of the city, Xcel Energy and wind developer NextEra Energy Resources began negotiations in hopes of resolving these concerns.
Many of the questions were addressed; however, Xcel’s insistence on a standalone franchise ballot option has brought the discussions to an end.
“The City of Boulder understands why Xcel Energy wants a 20-year franchise agreement, and it is possible that council and voters might have approved that, if such an agreement came with a well-negotiated wind purchase plan,” said City Manager Jane Brautigam. “But we know that a franchise by itself would tie the city to a long-term energy future that remains largely dependent on investments in coal and a business model that prevents local communities from making decisions about their own energy futures. This runs contrary to the goals Boulder wants to achieve.”
City Attorney Tom Carr said the city appreciates Xcel and NextEra’s interest and work on the proposal, but that successful passage of this option, given the utility’s demand, was unlikely.
“We spent many hours at the table, and it was clear that all the parties were committed to trying to reach a mutually acceptable agreement,” Carr said. “I thank everyone for their participation, but sometimes there are problems for which there are no solutions. This appears to be an obstacle we could not overcome.”
Carr plans to provide a written update on the status of the wind negotiations as part of a memo that council members will receive prior to their July 19 meeting. He will also give a brief verbal presentation on July 19 under a section of the meeting called Matters from the City Attorney, which typically occurs near the end of the evening. A public hearing on other energy options will proceed as planned. Because the staff team does not believe that it can make a good faith recommendation that council consider a standalone franchise, and because Xcel has said it will not move forward without one, the wind proposal will not be a part of that hearing.
The full memo to council will be available at http://www.boulderenergyfuture.com before Tuesday’s council meeting. Additional information and previous memos are available at that same website now.
