Boulder County has been opposed to the Jefferson Parkway toll road – and its many previous iterations – for more than two decades. Earlier versions called for a road alignment north of Rocky Flats, running through southern Boulder County, then west along Highway 93. Had it been built, it would have opened up vast areas for urban sprawl, both in southern Boulder County and northern Jefferson County.
The City of Boulder and Boulder County have acquired almost all of the land in southern Boulder County west of Superior as open space, creating a huge protected area and removing development potential along the proposed route north of Rocky Flats. The City of Boulder’s acquisition of land north of Highway 72 and west of Highway 93 helped prevent build out of the Jefferson Center plan, which envisioned nearly 7 million square feet of commercial, office and industrial development. The plan covered 18,000 acres, stretching from North Table Mountain near Golden all the way to the Boulder County line, and included a massive shopping mall and office park at the northwest corner of highways 93 and 72.
Then came the bill to preserve Rocky Flats as a wildlife refuge, which combined with the open space preservation removed most of the development potential from the proposed highway. This was a huge victory for smart development planning, for protection of wildlife habitat and scenic vistas, and for maintaining Highway 93 as a functional corridor without the tens of thousands of trips per day that would have been added by the Jefferson Center.
Since then, parkway proponents revised their plans to focus on a route east of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge with no portion of the road entering Boulder County. Despite opposition from Boulder County and the cities of Boulder and Golden, the Denver Regional Council of Governments voted in early 2010 to include the parkway in the Regional Transportation Plan.
Throughout the history of this project, Boulder County has had many victories, and some setbacks. At this point, the City of Boulder and Boulder County have limited remaining leverage to fight against the parkway outside of the court system. The road is now planned to run entirely outside of Boulder County, so we have no direct land use authority. We do not get to decide whether or not this road gets built.
Given this, we are seeking a resolution that would prevent areas of intense development from expanding north along 93, and protect the significant investments that Boulder County has made in preserving lands surrounding the refuge. The resolution would help facilitate the acquisition of the property known as State Land Board Section 16, a 640-acre parcel east of Highway 93. The acquisition would mitigate some of the parkway’s negative impacts, protect the Section 16 and the surrounding area from further development, and maintain an expansive open space corridor around the refuge.
Without this acquisition, the refuge will become little more than a zoo, a wildlife island in a sea of development. Preserving the land will further the already substantial progress that has been made toward a longstanding vision for the Highway 93 corridor that centers on open space preservation in southern Boulder County, preservation of the refuge, preservation of open space in northern Jefferson County west of the refuge, and connectivity between the refuge and nearby open space.
The City of Golden is also seeking a resolution that would ensure that Highway 93 through Golden is not converted to a high-speed, six-lane road dividing the community, and that there be context-sensitive, intelligent improvements to 93 through Golden. That is why a number of public officials from the communities have had informal conversations, now leading to the consideration of these resolutions, to be followed by formal negotiation on intergovernmental agreements.
We are by no means in support of the Jefferson Parkway. Waging an expensive fight over the road’s right of way through the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge or a legal battle over the inclusion of the road in the Regional Transportation Plan is one alternative. But, while such a fight might delay the parkway, it is not at all clear what the final outcome would be.
It is quite possible that the parkway and development would go forward, leaving us with no mitigation of impacts and poisoned relationships with parkway proponents. We believe a better course is to focus on collaborative efforts that will provide greater returns for Boulder County residents.
Cindy Domenico, Ben Pearlman and Will Toor are Boulder County Commissioners. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
