Master Plan Our Lands
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MASTER PLAN OUR LANDS. THIRD PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT OUR LEGACY. WINDOW SUMMARY OUR FUTURE. February 2019 GET INVOLVED AT OSMPMasterPlan.org Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks System Overview 2/14/2019 Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 2 How We Listened .......................................................................................................................................... 5 Goals of Engagement ................................................................................................................................ 5 Community Workshops ............................................................................................................................ 6 Online Questionnaires .............................................................................................................................. 6 Micro-engagements .................................................................................................................................. 7 Engagement Evaluations ........................................................................................................................... 9 OSMP Staff Engagement ........................................................................................................................... 9 What We Heard .......................................................................................................................................... 10 Ecosystem Health and Resilience ............................................................................................................ 10 Responsible Recreation, Stewardship and Enjoyment ........................................................................... 11 Community Connection, Education and Inclusion & Agriculture: Today and Tomorrow ...................... 13 Micro-Engagements ................................................................................................................................ 15 How Feedback Was Used ............................................................................................................................ 16 Draft Outcomes and Strategies ............................................................................................................... 17 Draft Guiding Principles for Implementation .......................................................................................... 27 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................... 28 Appendix A………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…..……..30 Appendix B…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………..60 Appendix C……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….……..340 Appendix D……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….……..362 Appendix E……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………….406 1 2/14/2019 Executive Summary In July 2018, Open Space Board of Trustees (OSBT) recommended and City Council approved five focus areas that emerged from the first two windows of community engagement for the City of Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) Master Plan. These focus areas are meant to guide OSMP policy and direction over the next five to ten years while keeping an eye on the next fifty. The focus areas approved by City Council are: • Ecosystem Health and Resilience (EHR) • Responsible Recreation, Stewardship and Enjoyment (RRSE) • Community Connection, Education and Inclusion (CCEI) • Agriculture – Today and Tomorrow (ATT) • Financial Sustainability OSMP staff then generated preliminary outcomes and strategies to support four of the focus areas based on previous community and staff feedback, existing OSMP policies, and best practices in open space land management. The fifth focus area covers financial scenarios related to the first four and will be covered in the Fourth Engagement Window. The purpose of the most recent engagement window, (the third in the series from September 19, 2018 through January 16, 2019) was to gather feedback on these preliminary outcomes and strategies for the following four focus areas: • Ecosystem Health and Resilience (EHR) • Responsible Recreation, Stewardship and Enjoyment (RRSE) • Community Connection, Education and Inclusion (CCEI) • Agriculture – Today and Tomorrow (ATT) To develop and evaluate the approach to engagement, city staff worked with the OSMP Master Plan Process Committee. The Process Committee is made of two members of City Council; Councilor Aaron Brockett and Councilor Mary Young, as well as two members of the Open Space Board of Trustees (OSBT); Curt Brown and Tom Isaacson. What emerged from conversations with the Process Committee were three broad goals to inform engagement: 1. Work directly with the public to ensure concerns and aspirations are reflected in preliminary strategies and share feedback on how public input influenced the strategy development. 2. Consult and involve the OSBT at study sessions. 3. Identify options as described by Boulder’s Engagement Strategic Framework. To achieve those goals, city staff engaged more than 2,500 people through an innovative mix of community workshops, online questionnaires and outreach efforts called “micro- engagements” around the city including a total of 2,655 written responses. At each engagement opportunity, the community was asked to share their feedback on outcomes and strategies that OSMP could use to support the Master Plan focus areas. Using the 2 2/14/2019 micro-engagement approach, staff and partners reached more than 550 people from a diverse cross-section of the community via focus groups, online questionnaires, and paper questionnaires. Third window engagement efforts included: • Three Master Plan Community Workshops including: o Ecosystem Health and Resilience Workshop on October 1, 2018 o Responsible Recreation, Stewardship and Enjoyment Workshop on November 5, 2018 o Community Connection, Education and Inclusion and Agriculture – Today and Tomorrow Workshop on December 3, 2018 • Three focus area specific questionnaires (in both English and Spanish) available online for two weeks following each community workshop • One general online questionnaire open throughout the entire third engagement window • Social media engagement • Opportunities for public comments at Process Committee meetings, OSBT meetings and via email • Micro-engagements including: o Youth outreach by the city’s Youth Opportunities Advisory Board with support from Growing Up Boulder. o Outreach to the Latino community by El Centro AMISTAD Promotoras via focus groups o Outreach to people experiencing disabilities at locations such as the Center for People with Disabilities and Ramble. Community members submitted approximately 2,655 written responses through online and print questionnaires, social media and emails, and on sticky notes at community workshops. All comments are provided in Appendices A through E. The following themes emerged from public feedback according to each of the four focus areas: Focus Area Themes Ecosystem - Conservation of open space and wildlife Health and - Wildlife and species introduction Resilience - Fire - Education - Volunteers - Impacts to the natural environment from visitor use Responsible - Variety of visitor experiences, including bike connections and Recreation, dog-walking opportunities Stewardship - Sustainable trails and facilities 3 2/14/2019 and - Trail maintenance Enjoyment - Increasing visitation - Connections with nature - Inclusion Community - Skill-building Connection, - Education Education - Volunteers and - Inclusion Inclusion - Partnerships - Youth - Indigenous populations - Historic preservation Agriculture - Local food systems Today and - Habitat preservation and ecological integration Tomorrow - Water rights, in-stream flows, and irrigation - Partnerships - Resilient future - Education 4 2/14/2019 How We Listened Goals of Engagement The OSMP Master Plan is a pilot project for the implementation of the City of Boulder’s recently adopted Engagement Strategic Framework. As such, staff established clear windows, specific time periods, of public engagement opportunities to clarify when and why staff would seek community input and how that input would be used. This third engagement window was designed with the Process Committee to inform the development and refinement of preliminary outcomes and strategies within each of the four Master Plan focus areas. As introduced above, three primary goals informed engagement: 1) Broad Goal: INVOLVE the Public- Work directly with the public to ensure concerns and aspirations are reflected in preliminary strategies and share feedback on how public input influenced the strategy development. For each focus area: • Share information from the System Overview Report and additional information including updates on existing OSMP policies and strategies and local/regional/national best practices research; • Facilitate opportunities for participation for both target audiences and broad public; • Hold community workshops on specific focus areas; and • Follow-up this engagement window with financial scenario prioritization and statistically-valid survey with public (Engagement Window 4). 2) Broad Goal: CONSULT/INVOLVE Open Space Board of Trustees at study sessions • Reflect on trending topics and initial findings from community workshops; and • Discuss strategy recommendations