PLAN-Boulder Comments for Airport Discussion

From: allyn s feinberg <[email protected]>
Subject: PLAN-Boulder Comments for Airport Discussion
Date: May 24, 2026 at 4:46:42 PM MDT

To: "Adams, Taishya" <[email protected]>, "Brockett, Aaron" <[email protected]>, "Marquis, Tina" <[email protected]>, "Winer, Tara" <[email protected]>, Mark Wallach <[email protected]>, "Schuchard, Ryan" <[email protected]>, "Benjamin, Matthew" <[email protected]>, "Speer, Nicole" <[email protected]>, Rob Kaplan <[email protected]>

To: The Boulder City Council
From: PLAN-Boulder County
Subject: Boulder Airport
 
PLAN-Boulder County strongly supports Councilmember Schuchard’s requests for council support for the following in your discussion on May 28th:

That staff bring forward the proposal indicated on April 23 in the form of a public hearing, so Council can take formal action with a complete record;
That staff prepare two versions of the policy for that hearing: one authorizing the use of FAA funding, and one reflecting a long‑term airport path that preserves maximum local control and avoids new FAA grants.

These actions would address two of the major failures of the council’s consideration of the future of the Boulder airport, which are:

• the direction to staff in a study session with no public hearing, to encumber the city in perpetuity to maintain our general aviation airport under burdensome FAA grant assurances; and
  
• no option for achieving local control of the airport presented to the council for consideration of the airport issue.

After evaluating the available legal, financial and land use information presented to the council on  the airport issue, PLAN-Boulder finds that the information is incomplete, misleading, or completely absent, and that a rational decision cannot be made at this point. The citizens of Boulder deserve better. 

A lot can change in almost 15 years before 2040 when our current FAA grant funding commitment will expire. We see the unavoidable evidence of that almost daily in our current political environment. There is no guarantee that funding will be forthcoming from the FAA, which even under current circumstances only funds capital projects not overhead and maintenance. A potential alternative source of this funding is CDOT, without the commitment of outside control in perpetuity; however this alternative does not appear to have been fully evaluated.
 
Different facts are argued by different interests in the future of the airport. However, there are real, provable facts for all parties to agree to. The major argument by the city staff for taking FAA grants is financial, but  there has been no evidence presented of a real examination of the potential funding sources to keep the Boulder airport open under local control. The citizens of Boulder deserve at least a full and public determination of the facts that will provide the basis for a rational decision, including an evaluation of the true costs and benefits of the airport.

PLAN-Boulder strongly supports council action to preserve local control of the airport at least until 2040. We encourage a full consideration of pursuing this option on May 28th.
 
Respectfully,
 
Allyn Feinberg
PLAN-Boulder County