City of Boulder

BDU (Boulder Municipal Airport) has become a growing contributor to noise, lead, and air pollution. According to AirNav.com, the FAA recorded an average of 155 flights per day in 2017. This has increased drastically since then with the expansion and growth of RMMA located a few miles to the south, the expansion of Vance-Brand airport to the north and the expansion and growth of Boulder's own businesses based at BDU.

"But the airport was here first!"

The City of Boulder was incorporated in 1871. It sits at the base of the foothills at 5328’ feet in elevation with a wall of mountains over 8000’ in elevation a few miles to the West.
A mere 3 miles from downtown, BDU was formed in the 1940’s. It was and still is owned by the City of Boulder.

In fact, Boulder was here first and the airport was built too close to the city. With a wall of mountains to the west, growth can only go towards the airport. There is no buffering land between homes and businesses and the airport property. This was not an issue until recently, when what appears to be explosive flight school and touring growth based at BDU increasing noise and air pollution to most of East and Northeast Boulder City and County.

"Don't move near an airport if you don't want to hear the planes".

BDU was constructed 3 miles from downtown with a wall of mountains on one side. This was not set up for population and airport growth. To live anywhere in Boulder means you have about a 40-50% chance of being under/near abundant flight training.
Boulder county has 5 airports in a 20 mile or less radius. The biggest issues are flight schools and touring operations, not rescue or emergency or inbound/outbound privates. That means a lot of traffic is touring and training away from the airports over the counties and suburbs and do so typically under 2,000 above ground which is in contrast to private planes headed out of the area. There is no getting away from the planes anywhere within a 20 mile radius.

Recently the City of Boulder spent millions on updating the train track intersections so the conductors wouldn’t have to blast their horn. The trains come through maybe 3-5 times a day/night. The horns lasted a couple of minutes. No one scolded folks about moving near a

train track. The community simply moved forward with a means to create a quieter environment. Boulder spent millions on this noise mitigation that was far less of a burden, pollutant, hazard and risk than what the airport is impressing on the community.

“Boulder Airport has been our quaint airport that has served the community during emergencies”

This has been absolutely true in the past. However;

The growth it has experienced has created a burden, risk and pollution that has exceeded its contributions.
There are 4 + other airports miles away making at least half of the airports here superfluous and excessive.

BDU now impacts the area in the following ways:

Decreased home values in both city and county;
Chronic noise from 6AM to 9PM, even indoors with the windows closed, due to the sound frequency of the planes;
Increased air pollution;
Increased lead pollution;
Increased noise pollution (no noise study has been performed);
Takes away the quaint and quiet community
Decreased safety as the skies are now crowded and congested with low-flying craft (most of which are 40-50 years old, with pilots learning how to fly at the helm). Most crashes occur on take-off and landing, with the BDU so close to the center of town, this increases risk even more.

“But Boulder cares about the environment!"

BDU fundamentally conflicts with Boulders notorious “green” image. As City staff regularly discuss climate impacts, the hundreds of circling leaded gas GA planes need to enter the conversation.

Boulder Airport's Dangerous Location

The above issues are here, and only getting worse as more people build in the City and County of Boulder. With the airport’s proximity to city center, landing and takeoff patterns are fundamentally dangerous. At best, if pilots are skilled and thoughtful, planes takeoff or land 300-600 feet above homes and businesses at times over 50 times a day.

This image captures one moment in time of a single airplane training “circuits” AKA “touch-and-goes” over North Boulder. This area is densely and fully populated with apartments, businesses, and trails. For reference, 28th Street is a major artery to enter and exit Boulder and is better known as highway 36 on regional maps. This entire area is located at around 5200’ in elevation, with planes flying 300-600 feet above their rooftops.

Boulder City and Airport Noise Abatement Procedures are Increasingly Disregarded

The most prolific growth lands squarely on one BDU business providing touring, renting, and training, as well as FBO and the sale of leaded gas. There are a few other businesses based out of BDU and the list can be found in this public link. Touring and training planes out of BDU fly extensively over Boulder city and county as early as 6:30 AM until 9PM, disregarding the airport and city official noise abatement that requests no touch and goes before 8AM and after 5PM.

BDU pilots and visiting pilots violate or regularly barely meet FAA minimum flight elevation laws. Seen closer on another occasion captured from PublicVue website, is an example of touring planes flying under 900’ (under the federal requirement of 1,000’ or more over congested areas) over Boulder hotels, the post office, Boulder Humane Society, restaurants, trails, homes and more.

More often than not pilots increasingly train or tour over delegated noise sensitive areas. They also do so below the 7500’ elevation request, and often below the 1000' federal minimum for flights over densely populated areas.

In this above image example, Boulder tour planes represent most of the purple flight patterns seen in this heatmap so thick you cannot see area names on the map. These display just one day (June 3rd, 2021) of Boulder-based planes over Boulder. The light blue lines are flights originating from Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport that use BDU for touch-and-goes and other flight training. The red and green lines represent departures and arrivals at Denver International Airport.

So Now What?

Many people have voiced concerns to Boulder City Council about accepting recent FAA money to support the airport, which then also gives away local power or mitigation Boulder could have to the FAA. With the FAA money, the City cannot relegate who leases or does business out of the airport. The City cannot mandate what time or how many flights operate. Only the FAA can, and we’ve seen how well that’s gone over at RMMA. The City Council moved forward anyway, and took the FAA money - to the tune of millions. It’s since been posited that the airport property could be sold off, built with homes/small commercial spaces, FAA funds refunded and the city would still turn a profit. While RMMA’s ship might have sailed, Boulders hasn’t and it needs to take its power back and have serious discussions about what its options are with the airport funds and property.

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