City eyes future possibilities for Boulder airport site

Trevor Reid

Jul 30

Boulder's 95-year-old municipal airport has been generating buzz as questions continue to swirl about what the future may hold for the site.

Boulder is engaging in talks with community members to determine whether the airport should stay, be renovated or be decommissioned and converted into a new residential neighborhood.

While the future of the Boulder Municipal Airport remains uncertain, there has already been community conversation around where the airport stands now, what different scenarios for the site's future are being explored and what Boulderites can expect in the coming months.

Why is the future of the airport in doubt?

Boulder's general aviation airport has operated continuously at its current site just northeast of the city since 1928. According to airport manager John Kinney, the airport is required to remain open for the time being because it has accepted grant funding from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Boulder accepted an FAA grant two years ago for a runway overlay, and that grant came with a 20-year contract requiring the airport to continue operating for at least that long.

BOULDER,CO JULY 20:A busy day at the Boulder airport on July 20, 2023. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer) — A busy day at the Boulder airport on July 20, 2023. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)

But even with 18 years left on the current contract, the city has begun a big-picture, visionary conversation with the community about the future of the airport.

Kinney said one of the overarching questions behind the ongoing conversation about the airport is the question of what the community wants the airport area to be "when it grows up," and that the goal is to do a "deeper dive" of engagement and discussion with the community.

He also noted that there has been a significant increase in noise complaints and that discussions about possibly repurposing the airport had begun to arise.

"(We) truly just (want to) talk about how can we make the community more woven into the fabric of the airport on a day to day basis, a weekly basis, a monthly basis," said Kinney.

Additionally, the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, which guides long-term planning in the city and county, includes notes about exploring the potential for the airport site to have neighborhood-serving uses as well as housing.

Public engagement

Since February, the city has held two open house events, a number of bilingual community meetings and individual interviews with community members. There is a community working group of more than 30 people that has met several times, and the city has also offered two online questionnaires, one of which is still open until Wednesday.

Allison Moore-Farrell, a senior transportation planner for Boulder, said a variety of factors, including "tensions" between airport community members and the larger Boulder community, had provided the impetus for the airport community conversation.

Moore-Farrell said the goal of the community engagement project has been to create "visionary scenarios" that will ultimately be shared with Boulder City Council. The project has asked community members to give input on what issues they see with the current airport and what ideas they have for the future.

"We got a lot of ideas. There's a lot of interest here," she said.

So far, some of the major themes of community member feedback have included safety, health, environmental and economic impacts, noise mitigation and community relations.

But the community appears to be divided as to what the future of the airport should be.

At the first open house in April, one common concern that was cited was the leaded fuel still being used at the airport.

According to notes from the open house, some said that the airport is a "critical piece of transportation infrastructure" and a "vital part of the community" that provides hundreds of jobs, while others said the airport was costing the city money and creating noise and air pollution.

Although feedback about the airport has been mixed, survey results from the first questionnaire reveal that less than 25% of respondents said there were "no changes needed" to the current services and operations at the airport. Nearly half of respondents said at least some improvements should be made, and 16% said there should not be any further operations or services.

Almost half also said they don't use the airport for recreation or work purposes.

Feedback from the July 18 open house event was still being compiled and was not yet available at the time of publication of this article.

The future of the airport

Based on initial community feedback, a project team has created four broad scenarios for the future of the airport site: keep the existing airport with enhanced maintenance, upgrade and modernize the airport's facilities, improve some aspects of the airport and add new elements such as a restaurant or a STEM learning center, or decommission the airport and turn the area into a new mixed-use neighborhood.

According to the city's contract with the FAA, the airport cannot be closed without FAA consent or a formal release of the city from the terms of its obligations. Kinney said the FAA has sent the city a letter reminding it of its grant obligations, but "in no way told us to stop planning."

"Although we have those grant obligations — we understand and we're mindful of those with our federal partner — we also want to be responsive to the local citizenry and really glean what is their vision for the airport," Kinney said.

In addition to the scenarios, the team has also identified shorter-term action items that can be accomplished more quickly and longer-term items that may take 10 to 20 years to implement.

The city hasn't determined yet whether to host a third open house event, Moore-Farrell said, but another event could be scheduled in the coming months.

Updates on the project will be presented to City Council during a study session in late August, and the project team hopes for a decision to be made in early 2024.