Posts tagged Commissioners Hearing Room
Fracking headed to Boulder County
Feb 2nd
Boulder County, Colo. – Boulder County is concerned about the potential for significantly expanded oil and gas drilling within the county, and supports appropriate, tighter restrictions on drilling and increased local control to mitigate the impacts of these activities.
However, Boulder County and other local governments in Colorado do not have complete authority to regulate drilling. In order to ensure both our Comprehensive Plan and Land Use regulations are as thorough and up-to-date as possible, today we approved a temporary moratorium on the processing of the required development plans for local oil and gas permits under the county Land Use Code (Resolution 2012-16). This will give us time to make sure that, within the limits of our legal authority, we are able to mitigate local impacts from these activities and to maximize protection for the people and environment of Boulder County.
Boulder County does not voluntarily allow oil and gas drilling on its open space properties. Like many private landowners, we often do not own the rights to a given property’s oil and gas deposits. In other cases, the mineral rights were leased prior to acquisition of the land by the county. In those instances, the county does not have the ability to prohibit drilling, even though it is the surface landowner. As the surface owner, we do negotiate surface use agreements prior to drilling, and in doing so, we attempt to minimize those impacts to the maximum extent possible.
Through our Land Use Code, we do have some local authority over oil and gas drilling on private and public land; however, substantial authority for regulation of oil and gas operations lies with the state and federal governments, so there are limits on what we can restrict. For instance, it is unlikely that Boulder County could simply prohibit hydraulic fracturing on either public or private land in the county.
Boulder County has and is actively supporting efforts to strengthen state regulation, and to expand local authority in the area of oil and gas drilling. We supported legislation signed by former Gov. Bill Ritter to strengthen oil and gas rules and to reform the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. We have also advocated for a stronger disclosure requirements of fracking fluids, although the COGCC ultimately approved requirements that did not include our requests for a process that would allow any leaks to be traced, nor for pre- and post-drilling water monitoring. Finally, we are supportive of legislation that Rep. Matt Jones of Louisville is sponsoring in the 2012 General Assembly to expand local authority over drilling.
We also authorized staff to set a public hearing for Thursday, March 1 to take public testimony on the local impacts associated with oil and gas development, and on the appropriateness of continuing or amending the temporary moratorium on the processing of land use applications for oil and gas development which we approved today. This meeting will begin at 4 p.m. in the Commissioners’ Hearing Room on the third floor of the Boulder County Courthouse at 1325 Pearl St. in Boulder. Staff from several county departments will be making presentations regarding our current regulations and the development we have seen on our open space properties.
Boulder County gets lottery “star” for trail network
Nov 8th
Boulder County awarded Colorado Lottery Starburst Award for Mayhoffer-Singletree Trail
Boulder County, Colo. – The Colorado Lottery will present Boulder County with the Starburst Award for the Mayhoffer-Singletree Trail project. The ceremony will take place this Thursday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. at the Boulder County Courthouse in Boulder in the Commissioners’ Hearing Room.
The Starburst Awards recognize excellence in the use of lottery funds for community and conservation projects. Starburst nominations are reviewed by lottery commissioners and winning projects are chosen based on the creativity of the project, economic and social impact to the community, and whether the project achieved its goal.
In 2009 and 2010, the Boulder County Transportation and Parks and Open Space departments added 1.5 miles of new trail in eastern Boulder County near the Town of Superior that provided a tremendous opportunity for recreational trail users with the assistance of a lottery-funded Great Outdoors Colorado trails grant.
This trail extension completed a 13-mile loop trail that includes the City of Boulder’s Greenbelt Plateau, Community Ditch Trail and Cowdrey Draw trails that now connect to the Town of Superior and Boulder County trails. The project area includes the former route of the Morgul-Bismarck Loop of the Coors International Bicycle Classic from the 1980s. This new section of trail also provides a highly anticipated link to the City of Boulder Marshall-Mesa trails, the Rock Creek Trail system and the Coal Creek Trail system.
Trail users can now connect to significant open space in Boulder County, including the Southern Grasslands open space complex to the south of this trail, to the City of Boulder open space, to Eldorado State Park open space, U.S. Forest Service open space to the west, Town of Superior open space, City of Louisville open space, City of Lafayette open space and City and County of Broomfield open space to the east.
Project partners include:
- Boulder Area Trails Coalition
- Boulder County Horse Association
- Boulder County Parks and Open Space Foundation
- Boulder County Youth Corps
- Boulder Trail Runners
- City of Boulder
- Colorado Lottery
- Great Outdoors Colorado
- Town of Superior
Tell Boulder County where it can put its $$$
Oct 24th
Boulder County, Colo. – The Boulder County Commissioners will hold a public hearing at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 27 to solicit input from residents on suggestions and recommendations for the 2012 county budget.
The hearing will take place in the Commissioners’ Hearing Room on the third floor of the Boulder Courthouse at 1325 Pearl St. in Boulder, and members of the public are invited to provide input on 2012 funding for county services and programs.
During the months of September and October, each county elected office and department, along with representatives from local nonprofit human services agencies, presented their 2012 budget requests to the commissioners at a series of public hearings.
Those funding requests, which can fluctuate up until the time the County Commissioners make their recommendations to budget staff for inclusion in the 2012 budget package, can be viewed in-person Monday through Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the Commissioners’ Office, also on the third floor of the Courthouse.
The Board of County Commissioners will review all budget requests and public input at the 2012 Budget Work Session to be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 3 in the Commissioners’ Hearing Room. The public is invited to attend the work session, but no public testimony will be taken.
Members of the public may provide comments about 2012 county funding at Thursday’s hearing, by email to commissioners@bouldercounty.org, by mail to Boulder County Commissioners’ Office, P.O. Box 471, Boulder, CO 80306, or by phone at 303-441-3500. A final public hearing on the budget will be scheduled in mid-November.
Information about current and prior year’s budgets is available on the county’s website at: www.bouldercounty.org. Search for “budget” in the search field at the top of the page. By state law, the Board of County Commissioners must adopt a final 2012 budget by Dec. 15.