The Community Conversation project will help the City of Boulder understand the community's desired future for the Boulder Municipal Airport site and recommend next steps.

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Completion Date
Winter 2023/2024
Current Phase
Community Engagement

Aerial view of Boulder Municipal Airport, May 2006
Courtesy of Rubino Surveying, Boulder, Colorado

Aerial view of Boulder Municipal Airport, May 2006

Project Overview

Boulder Municipal Airport is a general aviation airport that offers business, private and recreational aviation services to the city and surrounding communities.

Through the project, the city will develop a deeper understanding of the community’s desired future for the airport site. It will provide city leadership with a community-supported scenario for the future of the site to help guide next steps while being mindful of the city’s long-term commitments to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Goals

  • Understand the community’s short-term goals and long-term aspirations for the airport site

  • Identify key issues and opportunities for consideration

  • Identify a range of possible scenarios and a preferred scenario(s) for the airport site's future

  • Recommend next steps

Community Engagement

The community’s ideas, aspirations and lived experiences will help inform a range of possible scenarios for the airport site’s future. Through inclusive engagement, we will collaboratively identify which of these scenarios best contributes to the community’s vision for Boulder.

A meaningful community engagement process will ensure all voices are accurately and equitably included.

The city invited the community to share their desired outcomes for the future of the airport site through two open houses and two online and in-person questionnaires in English and Spanish. Engagement also included a Community Working Group, bilingual community meetings and individual interviews, including collaboration with underrepresented communities and Community Connectors.

To stay updated on engagement opportunities, sign up for email updates below.

Open House 1 and Questionnaire 1

Learn more about the airport and share your vision for the airport site's future. You can participate in the community visioning process in person or online. This engagement period has concluded. Thank you for your input.

Open House 2 and Questionnaire 2

The community is invited to learn more, get an update on the project and provide feedback on four community-informed scenarios for the future of the airport site. All are welcome to attend and provide input at the open house or through the online questionnaire. This engagement period has concluded. Thank you for your input.

Community Working Group (CWG)

The Community Working Group (CWG) supports the community conversation project. The CWG will meet five times throughout the project. Learn more about the Community Working Group.

Bilingual Community Meetings

Bilingual Community Meetings held at San Lazaro and Vista Village support the project in a similar way as the CWG and in a bilingual setting.

A Community-Informed Vision

Community engagement through 2023 has helped inform the development of four possible scenarios for the future of the airport site. Along with these long-term visions, the community also shared their desire for near-term action items. Following council direction on these early ideas, both the long-term scenarios and near-term action items will be explored further at a high level in the coming months.

Scenarios

Scenarios are a high-level view of possibilities for the future of the airport site.

  • They represent a range of options.
  • They have a range of costs, feasibility and affordability.
  • The scenarios below are a conceptual first draft informed by earlier community feedback.
  • Together with the community, the city will refine these scenarios.

Preview the four scenarios for the future of the airport site below or in the Scenarios PDF.

This scenario would bring the current facilities up to a state of good repair. No new facilities would be built.

A conceptual aerial of the airport scenario
Elements that remain Elements that change
  • Existing runways and taxiways
  • Existing hangar facilities
  • Existing support buildings

No physical changes outside of enhanced maintenance of existing facilities

This scenario would foster aviation development that is responsive to market and community demand. Includes modernization of general aviation, hangar improvements, and implementing the most recent Airport Master Plan.

A conceptual aerial of the airport scenario
Elements that remain Elements that change
  • Existing runways and taxiways
  • Existing hangar facilities
  • Existing support buildings
  • Existing runways and taxiways
  • Existing hangar facilities
  • Existing support buildings

This scenario would foster aviation development and community development that complement each other. Includes modernization of general aviation and hangar improvements and live/work hangars. Includes a wide range of neighborhood serving uses such as a restaurant or cafe, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) learning center and vocational opportunities for local youth, and a community center that houses meeting spaces for both the aviation community and the broader Boulder community.

A conceptual aerial of the airport scenario
Elements that remain Elements that change
  • Existing runways and taxiways
  • Existing hangar facilities
  • Existing support buildings
  • Upgrade existing hangars
  • Develop live/work hangars
  • Build a restaurant or cafe
  • Create a STEM learning center and vocational opportunities for local youth
  • Upgrade aviation facilities
  • Build a community center that houses meeting spaces

This scenario would decommission the airport and create a new, mixed-use neighborhood that may include housing, activity centers, employment hubs, and green space. A portion of land would be set aside for helicopter emergency services that would support resiliency of the region.

A conceptual aerial of the airport scenario
Elements that remain Elements that change
  • Landing area for emergency support services
  • Build a range of housing types
  • Create activity centers
  • Create employment hubs
  • Allocate green space for the needs of native plants and animals

Near-term action items 

Along with long-term scenarios, the community shared their desired near-term action items for the airport and surrounding areas. In the coming months, city staff will explore these early ideas to better understand their feasibility and possible next steps to pursue them. View the Desired Near-term Action Items PDF.

Timeline

A timeline of feedback

View full image.

The project team presented an update to City Council on Aug. 24, 2023, including the initial draft, community-informed scenarios and desired near-term action items. Following council direction, staff refined the scenarios and explored the feasibility of near-term action items.

Staff and the consultant team produced a final report which is being shared as an information item with City Council at their February 1, 2024 meeting. You can view the information packet on the city website.

When the project team presented to City Council in August 2023, City Council also requested additional legal and financial analysis to better understand potential future scenarios for the Boulder Municipal Airport. The project team is in the process of performing this analysis and expects to share it with City Council later in 2024. Following this update, staff will request direction from City Council on next steps for the future of Boulder Municipal Airport.

City Council Materials

Resources

For more information, view the resources above. If you have questions about the Community Conversation Project, please reach out to Senior Transportation Planner Allison Moore-Farrell at moorefarrella@bouldercolorado.gov. If you have questions about the Boulder Municipal Airport, please reach out to Airport Manager John Kinney at kinneyj@bouldercolorado.gov. For media inquiries about the airport, please reach out to Aisha Ozaslan at ozaslana@bouldercolorado.gov.

FAQ

These are two separate processes.

  • Airport Community Conversation: the city's community engagement process to understand community desires for the future of the airport site. The city recognizes that meaningful engagement is important for serving the community. The city began the Airport Community Conversation to help ensure we have a process to better understand the community's vision for the future of the airport site. It will also help inform the next steps. This could include possible future processes, such as technical studies or airport master planning.

  • Airport Master Plan: a comprehensive study of an airport. It is guided by the FAA. It usually describes the short-, medium- and long-term development plans to meet future aviation demand. The FAA guides the Airport Master Plan process. This does not include community engagement to a level Boulder feels the community would seek. It also does not cover topics the community desires to be discussed and explored. Learn more on the FAA website.

The Airport Community Conversation began from an identified need to have a broader community conversation about the future of the airport site before the next Airport Master Plan update, which is a separate, FAA-prescribed process. The Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, which guides long-range planning in Boulder, states:

Policy 6.23: Municipal Airport

Boulder Municipal Airport is a general aviation airport that has been in existence since 1928. The airport will continue to ensure it meets the needs of the community by providing a safe environment for aviation business and business-related travel, scientific and research flights, recreation and tourism, flight training and vocational education, aerial fire-fighting, emergency medical flights as well as flood and other disaster-related support for the city and county. The city will seek to mitigate noise, safety and other impacts of airport operation while assuring that new development in proximity will be compatible with existing and planned use of the airport. At the time of the next Airport Master Plan, the city will work with the community to reassess the potential for developing a portion of the airport for housing and neighborhood-serving uses

In addition to this direction to explore alternative uses, the Airport Community Conversation will consider city goals and policies included in the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan and Transportation Master Plan, while also recognizing the city’s commitments to the FAA and the relationship between the airport and the broader Boulder community.

The Airport Community Conversation will help the city understand the community's vision for the future of the airport.

With input from the CWG, bilingual community meetings, open houses, individual interviews, and online questionnaires, the project team will develop a range of scenarios and then a final recommendation for the future of the airport site. The recommendations will depend on:

  • City and project requirements

  • State, Division of Aeronautics, and FAA considerations

  • Community and stakeholder perspectives

  • Alignment with community goals, including the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, the Sustainability, Equity and Resilience Framework and the Transportation Master Plan

The project team will present the preferred future scenario(s) to City Council. City Council will review the final recommendation and decide on next steps.

The CWG are key airport stakeholders with a variety of backgrounds and lived experiences that will remain involved throughout the project. CWG meetings provide a setting for dialogue between impacted community members. They will refine stakeholder input and identify a range of possible scenarios for the future of the airport.

The CWG will contribute to the community conversation process to help develop a deeper understanding of the vision of directly impacted stakeholders, community members and traditionally underserved communities.

The CWG will meet five times throughout the course of the project. The CWG will collaborate with the city to discuss:

  • Where We Are: the group will discuss the current situation of the airport and its community role.

  • Community Vision: the group will discuss the future of the airport site and begin creating a range of possible scenarios for its future.

  • Community Priorities: the group will evaluate the range of scenarios and narrow the possibilities down to two to three preferred scenarios.

  • Recommendations: the group will provide input on the preferred future scenario(s) for the airport.

In addition to the meetings, CWG members are encouraged to participate in public open house meetings to share project progress with the broader Boulder community.

CWG members were selected to represent community members from a range of backgrounds and interests in the future of the airport. Members may include:

  1. Key stakeholders to represent the broader community, including community members who live near the airport, are part of the business or scientific communities, and more
  2. Aviation community members such as pilots and airport tenants
  3. Underserved community members who may be directly impacted by the airport

No. The project team will develop a preferred scenario recommendation informed by input from several community engagement activities including the CWG, bilingual community meetings, open houses, individual interviews, and online questionnaires.

No. The Airport Community Conversation will result in a recommendation for the future of the airport site. That recommendation will go to City Council, who will then make a decision on the preferred scenario and determine next steps.

Due to the City of Boulder’s contractual agreements with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the city is currently obligated to maintain Boulder Municipal Airport as an airport. The City of Boulder may not close the airport without the FAA’s consent and without a formal release of the city from the terms of the applicable federal obligations.

The airport is open for flights 24/7. However, the city encourages pilots to:

  • Avoid making touch-and-go landings at the Boulder Municipal Airport before 8 a.m. and after 5 p.m.
  • Avoid flight operations between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.

For more information, visit Boulder Municipal Airport’s Voluntary Noise Abatement Program.

The aircraft at Boulder Municipal Airport primarily use 100 low-lead aviation fuel. We anticipate unleaded aviation fuel to begin arriving at the airport within five years.

Learn more about lead in aviation gas through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment website or fact sheets below.

Visit the Boulder Municipal Airport webpage or view the Airport FAQ.

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