That will you please uh rise and join me in the Pledge of Professor Vegas Indivisible Liberty and Justice.

Okay, will the town clerk please take roll?

Yes.

Councilmember Bear.

President.

Councilmember Hoback.

Here.

Councilmember Mortolaro.

Here.

Councilmember O'Connor.

Here.

Councilmember Pessaramelli.

Mayor Moore.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Bell.

Here.

Mayor, you have a quorum.

All right.

Thank you.

I am going to look to uh motion to approve the agenda after I share that item 25489.

Um I spoke to our town manager today, and we're going to move that to the study session next Tuesday.

Um there was some back and forth with staff.

And when the the word convoluted came up, uh we decided to pause that one and we'll bring about uh Tuesday at our study session.

Um do I have a motion to approve the agenda with that change.

So moved.

Second.

All right.

All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All opposed, say no.

All right.

Motion carries.

We have an agenda tonight.

All right, we have a number of items on the consent agenda, so bear with me.

This will take a minute or two.

Um the first item on the consent agenda is 25139, approval of the August 19th, 2025 town council meeting minutes.

Second item is 25453, the Hispanic and Latinix Historic Heritage Month proclamation, uh sponsored by Councilmember Baer.

Uh the next item is 25443, an ordinance of the town council of the town of Erie raising the minimum age for the sale, purchase, and possession of cigarette and tobacco products.

Next item is 2544, an ordinance of the town council of the town of Erie deleting a redundant section of the Erie Municipal Code.

Next item is 25480, a resolution of the town council of the town of Erie approving the uh assess assignment of the town of Erie 2025 private activity bond allocation to Boulder County Housing Authority.

The next item is 25460, a resolution of the town council of the town of Erie approving an agreement for the services with Star Playgrounds for the Reliance Park Playground Replacement Project, and the last item is 25473, a resolution of the town council of the town of Erie adopting the town council comments on the Denver Regional Council of Government's housing needs assessment.

Do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

So moved.

Second.

I think Councilmember Bear had the motion.

I think second was um council member um Mortalero.

Thank you.

All right.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say no.

Okay.

Um we have our consent agenda.

We'll move on to the public comment on non-agenda and consent agenda items only.

Um please remember the public comment is not an interactive question and answer forum, but rather a time for you to state your comments on a particular item or issue.

Public comment provides the opportunity to discuss items that are not on the agenda or consent agenda items only.

Please sign up using the kiosk in the lobby.

Uh when called upon, please state your full name and location for the record.

Public comment is limited to three minutes per person.

Uh you'll be given a 20-second warning when your three minutes is almost up.

At the three-minute mark, you will be asked to wrap up your final sentence.

All um opinions are welcome.

Please be respectful of each speaker to ensure everyone feels welcome to share their comments.

Please refrain from any cheering, clapping, booing, or otherwise uh disruptive behavior.

All right, I'll look to our town clerk to see if we have people speaking tonight.

We sure do.

Yep.

First is Marty Moore.

Okay, Marty.

My name is Marty Moore.

I'm the CEO of Rocky Mountain Equality, an organization that serves people in Erie, uh, families and LGBT people.

I'm here tonight.

Uh I'm from Colorado from a little town.

My grandparents, both my grandpa were coal miners in this town.

I go way back in the town of Erie, although I live in Longmont.

Um, and being here tonight is an honor.

Mayor, Council, thanks for being here, and thanks for your service to the community.

There's such bigger fish to fry these days than to be talking about a flag.

And yet here I find myself.

The pride flag, so the ordinance that was passed in the last uh few weeks, maybe three weeks ago, is tied to the pride flag.

So it feels a little targeted, I must say.

But when the Pride flag is up, it's a flag that members of the LGBTQ community and people that love them seize as I'm home.

It's a safe place, or at least a safer place where I can be myself, I can shop, I can do business, and I can be who I am.

When a gay and cup uh gay or lesbian couple are visiting Erie, I read all about how Erie's growing, and I'm always surprised when I see it in the national media about what a great not, I'm not surprised by what a great town it is by the rapid growth.

And I think people have moved to Erie, and I know lots of folks who have moved to Erie because of its inclusivity.

And you should take feel proud about that.

And so when you're walking through, you can breathe a little easier.

That month of June, that one month.

The recent change to the Erie flag policy may only seem administrative to many of you.

But for people like me and the LGBTQ plus community, it's a safety concern and a mental health concern during these times when we are being targeted specifically.

At a time when attacks on my community are all over the news, and the federal government, along with many state and local governments, are actively targeting people like me with dangerous and discriminate and discriminatory public policy attacks.

It rattles my sense of safety along with those of others.

The town policy prior to August was pragmatic.

And I think if we could all be pragmatic, we could probably all get along a lot better.

It was common sense.

It was an approach that was nonpartisan.

Residents were allowed to provide input to you all on what flags were flow for flown by contacting the governor's office or the White House.

The town council would not spend your time.

I've watched your, I haven't been here, but I've watched your meetings.

These are some late nights, and you wouldn't spend your time on something simple as a as a pride flag.

I asked that you return the policy, it was written prior to August, and have been told by multiple council members that they support such a move.

This is the only way to avoid front page news, the Daily Camber, CBS, the negative attention that is coming to the lovely town of Erie.

This will keep on going if we don't stop it here.

With lawsuits, and most importantly, LGBTQ plus people and their families feeling unsafe in their own hometown.

I please ask you to reconsider.

It's the simplest of matter.

Thank you for your time.

Good evening, everyone, and uh thank you for the opportunity to address you.

I live in Erie Highlands with my husband and two very young boys right next to the parcel currently slated for development.

My parents also live in the neighborhood.

They moved there shortly after our first boy was born.

When I found out the Highlands commercial development was going to use our neighborhood roads, I hoped that this would mean these businesses would invite our community to walk, bike, and enjoy time together.

Finding out that the developers are hoping to attract extensive interstate traffic has been deeply disappointing.

Painting a bike lane on a road shared by drivers who are already frustrated that they drove over two miles off the interstate to visit our neighborhood McDonald's is not going to keep our children safe.

We would like it on public record that we do not believe the measures currently in the plan are enough to protect our children.

We need flashing crosswalks, four-way stops, more speed limit signs, speed bumps.

While it would be completely understandable to share Glacier Drive with a space that is zoned for a neighborhood mixed use, there is no reason that a commercial mixed-use development should have access to the roads where our families walk and bike.

Thank you very much for your time.

Next we have Taran Gangwani.

Hi.

My name is Turun Gengwani.

Our family moved to Erie Highlands four years ago.

Today, many of my neighbors, if you all could raise your hands.

Okay.

Come before you to express our concerns with the land use of Erie Parkway and County Road 5.

You just heard from Mira about the topic.

We recently learned that the lessees include large national drive-thru restaurants rather than small businesses.

Evergreen development confirmed to us that the intent of this development was to be a transit-oriented commercial space.

And the businesses that have submitted applications include a McDonald's, a Valvaleen, a Quick Trip, and other businesses designed for attracting interstate business at an estimated 3,000 plus cars a day.

This raises significant safety concerns with our community members and also makes us question whether the development to quote the unified development code preserves the character and quality of the town's residential neighborhoods.

The comprehensive site plan designates this area as neighborhood commercial.

The purpose of a neighborhood mixed use zone, as quoted in the town code, is to provide small, compact commercial centers within or surrounded by residential areas, compatible in scale and character with surrounding residential uses.

The knowledge suggests that this use of this site is not at all aligned with our comprehensive plan and confirms why most neighbors when we share this info with are disappointed when they learn about the nature of the development.

The proposal also calls for an intersection that will flow traffic to an entrance in the Erie Highlands neighborhood.

We already are aware of numerous reports of high speed traffic driving directly in that intersection, which is adjacent to many homes with children who walk to nearby schools.

We don't believe painted crosswalks alone are adequate to address the concerns.

We would like to see a four-way stop and flashing crosswalks.

We've also learned that the entrance to Glacier Drive and Erie Parkway will have a traffic light installed.

This results in three stoplights within half a mile of each other and invites additional traffic flow issues to an already crowded street due to the growth of the town.

These same issues I raised today are harmonious with the rationale used to reject the rezoning of the 111th and Arapahoe development.

We do not want the use of this space to serve high impact drive-thru oriented businesses due to the proximity of nearby neighborhoods and schools.

I believe our town's intent with the space was to bring in businesses that enrich our community while supporting our local economy.

Local businesses are the heart of our city.

They offer healthier options, are started by our neighbors, and contribute directly to the city's unique character.

My ask of this council is to ensure that the land use of this site reflects the next the NMU designation, committing to its intent of being used as a neighborhood first space, not one for interstates.

Thank you for offering us the chance to have our voices heard.

I'd like to put these in the public record as well.

Thank you.

You could bring them over to the town clerk.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Sarah Morgan.

Hello.

Thank you for having me tonight.

I'm also an Erie Highlands family.

This is my daughter Iris, Sage, and that's my husband Matt.

And these are my neighbors.

And I'm here.

We live in Erie Highlands, as I said, and I want our neighborhood to reflect the per progress Erie as a town has made in the last 15 years.

That is why I am confused by the approval of this commercial development in our neighborhood and the planning of it up to this point.

This commercial development placed in our neighborhood with the goal of bringing in traffic off the interstate is a sharp contrast to what I thought the planning commission and town council's vision is for our town.

As an Erie citizen, I took the survey for planning the new downtown playground and splash pad.

I've attended meetings for the new makerspace, and I am under the impression Erie was looking for opportunities to make our town more accessible for walking and biking and adding more local-owned businesses.

Typically, I feel like the town council and planning commission are very transparent with future plans.

How, as a member of this neighborhood, am I just now finding out about a development and the goal of bringing in traffic from the interstate?

While I understand the need for more local businesses in our community, I do not support the goal of bringing interstate traffic into our neighborhood.

There are three schools that filter to the four-way stop of Erie Parkway and County Road 5, including the high school, full of inexperienced drivers.

And I am I to understand the goal is to add to that traffic.

I realize I'm asking a lot of questions, and this is not a QA, and I'm genuinely confused.

How did the town council and planning commission not have the power to stop this development or change the zoning to a neighborhood business development?

Thank you guys for your time.

I really appreciate it.

Next we have Kim Salvagio.

Sorry.

Hi again.

Kim Salvaggio, I'm an Erie resident, and I'm also the CEO of the Center on Colfax, which, along with my friend here, Marty, we are one of the largest LGTBQ organizations in the Rocky Mountain region.

Thank you for giving me the space to come here again this evening.

I do want to speak to the recent decision to eliminate flags, the pride flag, and specifically the Juneteenth flag in Erie.

Framing the Pride flag as equal and the Juneteenth as equal to symbols of hate, not only is a misstep, but it misrepresents what the flag stands for.

Our flag stands for inclusion, visibility, and safety for LGTBQ residents and families.

When we collapse affirming symbols into the same category as hate, we diminish our values as a community.

The decision doesn't just impact pride.

It also means that flags like Juneteenth, which honor freedom and resilience are swept aside as well.

That sends a message that Erie does not value celebrating diversity and equity in visible and public ways.

Erie should do the same thing.

By choosing not to, we're risking standing apart from the majority of our residents and out of step with the communities around us.

As elected officials, you have a responsibility, not just to speak about inclusion, but to make decisions that foster it.

Symbols matter, flags matter.

They tell residents whether they are seen, valued, and welcomed here.

We're moving them, it's not neutral.

It has real consequences for how people experience this town.

I'm urging you to revisit this policy and adopt one that allows us to celebrate important affirming moments like pride and Juneteenth, while making it clear that hate symbols, they have never had a place in Erie.

That is how we live and out and live out our values of equity, safety, and inclusion.

Thank you for letting me be here to speak again this evening.

Again, I urge you to revisit this policy.

Next we have Skyler Wheatzel.

There are far more important issues that Erie should be dealing with, like safer traffic, clean air, clean water, yet here I am for the third time in as many months talking about a flag.

In the last week, several news outlets have reported the pride flag policy of exclusion in Erie and trying to delete Juneteenth, which is a federal holiday.

Nine News, the Daily Camera, social media pages like Facebook and Reddit all have many comments about people who are threatening to boycott Erie businesses due to the perception of Erie being not only homophobic, but blatantly racist.

Andrew, you said, and I quote, if you look at one group at a higher level than another group, you are actually creating inequity.

End quote.

I believe that's a great argument to make against Christmas decorations being flown in the town.

Your treatment of Councilwoman Bear two weeks ago was unacceptable and despicable.

I believe you owe her a sincere and public apology.

I emailed the council raising my concerns over decency and decorum on the DS and received a reply from Brandon Bell where he misquoted Matthew 7.

Verse 3 through 5.

I'd like to read that email.

And you know exactly why.

My advice is to pull the log out of your own eye rather than the spec out of mine.

And how did you put it?

Do better.

Have a nice day.

Brandon.

Proving once again every conservative accusation is a confession.

The next day I emailed you, Andrew, asking how you felt about the mayor pro tem using a town email to berate and attack a resident and have yet to receive a reply.

Andrew, you ask you ask Erie residents to email you.

I've emailed you half a dozen times and received one reply that was the exact same reply that you sent to several Erie residents.

It's a shame that we have to attend public comment to ensure that you hear us.

On many of your posts, there are dozens of comments from Erie residents, even your supporters from out of state.

Our last mayor, Justin Brooks, would actively engage on his Facebook posts, even to residents who adamantly opposed his positions.

Yet you never do.

Just another way that when Erie compares our current mayor to our previous mayor, you just don't measure up.

All right, our next speaker.

Next is Kathy Killian.

Hello, my name is Kathy Coleen.

Um I live in Rex Ranch.

And when we decided to move here, I have to say we've built houses before and living there between Heinz, Taylor Morrison, and Allo.

We have questioned if it was the right decision to ever move there.

And my frustrations along with everything that has gone on there.

But more than this, we thought we did our due diligence.

And it is hard to know when you're moving into a new neighborhood how it's gonna look.

We drove around all around Erie.

We had lived in our previous house for 18 years that we had built, loved the neighborhood, and we drove all around Erie looking and how beautiful it was in every neighborhood.

And when we had asked, is 119th going to be developed?

Yes, yes, it is.

We even took the development plan of which Mumbo Jumbo to me, but my husband who's an attorney read it, understood it.

We understood that the town of Erie was paid and that it would be developed, that area by them.

Um Heinz sadly decided to forego developing it.

We had been told it would be done.

We have lived there now four and a half years.

Nothing has been done on it.

We have asked many times.

Anil is across the street from me.

I've asked him.

I sat in a meeting before with Heinz, and I believe it was Luke, where it was asked.

Um Heinz had asked the question when it was going to be done.

They had said they had paid the money.

People asked for it.

Still, once again, we were told that work was going to be done on 119th, and that's why they were not doing it.

So I had asked Danil, and he said that from everything he could find that it was going not going to, there was nothing in the foreseeable future as to when that area would be developed.

And so I'm just wanting to know.

I guess I can touch around.

I know I'm asked to ask a lot of questions, but I have on here where you guys were paid for it and what will happen to that area because these developers love the word native grass, which we all know is weeds, and there is nothing along 119th but weeds in that area in front of our neighborhood.

And so I am just going to ask at when it will be done.

I can follow back up with my council, my the people in my district, but it has been beyond frustrating between Heinz and Taylor Morrison.

And so I'm hoping we can get to the bottom of it.

I'm hoping we can get our area looking great when we drive into our neighborhood.

Um, thank you for listening to me.

Right.

Thanks.

I'm looking to our town manager.

I'm not aware of this issue, but you know, in a memo, maybe to us, you can give us an update on what's what's happening there.

Research it and do that.

All right.

Next we have Sam Floggelman.

He's virtual.

Mr.

Fulberman, you should be able to speak now.

Hi, hearing.

Yes.

Yes, we are.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Sam Fogelman.

I'm a resident of District 2 here in Erie.

Um, I'm here tonight first to draw your attention to an exceptionally well-written letter to the editor in the Boulder Daily Camera on September 1st.

Uh, it was written by Superior Council member Jen Cowish, and she very rightly points out uh in that letter that not only that fascism doesn't ultimately care about your political affiliation, but also that the work against fascists has to happen at the local level.

She's absolutely right, and all of you would benefit from reading them.

Which brings me to my second point for tonight.

You know, I haven't lived here very long.

I've only been here about three years, but I'm starting to see how things work around here, and it's a little disconcerting.

Uh over the past few weeks, what I've seen from you all is a council that is unwilling to stand up for its citizens.

Uh your voting record over the last month uh has been really surprising and horrible to watch.

By choosing the third option in the debate over the town's flag and banner policy, you chose to pass the book instead of celebrating members of your community who have been integral to this town's growth over the years in the name of avoiding complaints from an overly vocal minority.

We would rather folks go back into hiding in the closet or apparently not celebrate the end of chattel slavery in our country.

That was a cowardly decision, and it erased town citizens from civic life.

When you were presented with concerns about the blatant surveillance state we're living in, full transparency by me, with cameras whose data are being used by fascist kidnapping rings all over the country.

You all have been completely silent with no apparent movement on taking away the ability from ICE to use those data and are instead content with allowing innocent people to be ripped from their families and traumatized.

And you've also had public discussions about the expansion of law enforcement facilities in this town, when real solutions include expanding social services and uplifting people rather than expanding the corporate carceral system in this country.

All that said, recently some of you have seen fit to defend yourselves against being labeled as right wing or even MAGA.

If you want to say that you don't believe in the philosophy, that's one thing.

You don't give them money, you don't have the membership card, you don't go to the meetings, whatever.

But that's all empty words when your actions align with those you deny any connection to.

When you embolden police, when you stay silent on surveillance, when you do nothing to stop fascist overreach into the lives of law-abiding immigrants, and you erase the contributions of LGBTQ plus community and people of color, you are an appeaser and you align with their agenda whether that was your intent or not.

And any student of history knows that that doesn't work with fascists.

If you're unwilling to stand up for the oppressed and the victimized in your community, then you are unfit for those seats.

And there will come a time when your loyalty is tested by those fascists.

And if that test is suddenly a bridge too far for you, you're going to be wondering why you didn't protect yourselves and all of us when you had the chance.

To quote the editorial I mentioned initially, the truth is fascism doesn't respect party lines, borders, or community boundaries.

It comes for everyone, and that makes it the most local issue of all.

Thank you.

Um next we have Kelly Wagner Grohl.

Good evening.

I'm an Erie resident for almost five years.

I'm here to tonight to address uh what so many Erie residents and now individuals across our state were able to see on the August 26th session.

It was in plain sight to see the bias and inequities that our mayor and some of our council members both endorsed and allowed.

During the August 26th session, Councilwoman Baer was disregarded, spoken over, unjustly shushed, and disrespected for all to see.

It was a public dismissal of her role, her authority, and the voices of the that she represents of our residents.

And this is not an isolated incident.

It's a pattern that many have observed where women on the council and additional members of this council of color that have been interrupted, minimalized, and treated with condescension.

These dynamics have been noticed not only by those of us in the room who have shown up, but also those online, and now those that have been echoed across our media outlets.

It's embarrassing for this town.

In 2025, for residents to see leaders disminish disminishing women and some members of this council so openly sends a message that equity and representation are now negotiable in this town.

That behavior undermines everything that you claim to stand for when you ran for this council, and that you said you would stand for as our leaders.

Layering into that is a decision that you all made, the majority to eliminate the pride and Juneteenth flags from our municipal polls.

That vote told LGBTQ plus residents and black residents that their visibility, their dignity, and contributions to Erie are less important than the comfort of a majority unwilling to acknowledge them.

Comparing pride or Juneteenth flags to partisan or extremist flags is truly offensive, inaccurate, and profoundly damaging to me and my family.

The harm here is real for marginalized communities.

You have made it personal, and now our town's reputation has taken a hit.

We continue to see that Erie is no longer a place I'm very much I can call that I'm proud of.

Just today, while at work, I had to defend why I would live in Erie from a colleague who lives in Parker, a relatively known conservative district.

Why would I choose to continue to live in Erie, a town known for its lack of diversity and clear evidence that they foster bigotry?

I urge you to take meaningful action.

I should I excuse me.

Meaningful action.

I ask that you clearly adopt standards of civility and respect so that women and council members of color are not consistently sidelined in this community and within this council.

I ask that you revisit the flag policy to align with area stated values of inclusion and that you continue to invest in programs and events that show that all residents are valued and welcomed.

This is not about a political prep political preference.

It's about human dignity, fairness, and your ability to show leadership across this community.

Leadership means amplifying voices, not silencing them.

It means standing for visibility, not erasing it.

Please, please, please do better.

I've asked you to do better.

Our community has asked you to do better.

Please show your representation that this town is for all and that integrity means something today.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um, make sure nobody else would like to address this tonight in the audience.

All right, seeing none, we will move on with our agenda, which uh will go right into general business.

Uh, this is uh actually a great night in the sense that we get to hear from all of our boards and commissions.

Uh first up tonight is the tree advisory board.

And so I'm not is Claudia here.

There we go.

All right.

We gotta save this.

Well, it's great to see you all again, and uh, I feel like um first time you came in front of us.

Um, a number of us were pretty new, so I'm very much looking forward to uh the update tonight.

I'm happy to do such well.

Please use the microphones.

I am Claudia Smelko, and I am the vice chair on the tree advisory board.

Um, aka the fun board.

This is Patty O'Donnell, and she is a responsible adult on the board.

So any complaints, send them over to Patty.

I'll take care of you.

All right, how do I work this thing?

We're both challenged.

One of you is moving the mouse because I can see the mouse pointer, and I think if you click or roll the uh roller.

There you go.

There you go.

All right.

Okay, run it.

All right, she'll be the clicker today.

Okay, so here's our calendar of events.

As you can see, the first um half of the year is busy for us as we're preparing for Arbor Day, which is our biggest event.

Uh, we're also running our school outreach programs from March through May.

We also have four tree walks scheduled for the year.

Um, next one is at the cemetery.

You can wear a costume if you want since it's in October.

Um we also participated at the Erie Airfare last Sunday.

Um, we shared a booth with the sustainability board, and it was a great opportunity to um talk about our programs, tree rebate programs, especially now since the window is open for um for the rebates.

We have also continue issuing our quarterly newsletter called Tree Talk.

And we're working on other cool stuff, which I will share later on in the presentation.

Okay, so next we have our school outreach program.

This the tree advisory board has been engaging in school outreach and education since the arrival of Erie's first town barbarist.

This year we have decided to give our school outreach program a new name so that it's easier to promote and talk about.

We have decided to name it Planting the Future, a classroom tree program.

Our current school outreach program offers seed planting kits and educational materials to first, second, and third graders and third grade teachers to create a seed planting lesson.

Right now we have about 12 kids to share with classrooms for next year.

The kits include pots, soil, catalpa seats, grow boxes with heating mats, educational posters, teacher instructions, and seedling care information.

When the seedlings are ready to be taken home, we provide a care guide for parents that also includes information about tree advisory board events and town of Erie tree rebate programs.

This year we only receive requests for six seed kits.

So for six classrooms across three schools.

We hope to grow that number next spring, hopefully with our new catchy name.

Teachers also have the opportunity to request an in-person seed planting lesson with our town forester Tom Reed and members of the Tree Advisory Board, depending on everyone's availability.

All right, next.

Next we have Arbor Day.

This year it took place on April 26th from 10 to 1 at the Erie Community Park.

The event continues to grow, and I believe we had the largest turnout this year with over a thousand people, including special guest Congressman Nagoose.

We had 45 exhibitors and five food trucks.

I believe we actually had to turn down some businesses because we were full.

Yes.

Exhibitors included the Town Forester and Horticulture, Town Boards and Departments, and Tree and Sustainability Focused Local Businesses.

A large percentage of our annual board budget goes to supporting this event.

So next we have a picture of the fifth grade poster contest winners.

The tree board also promotes the participation in the Colorado Tree Coalition's fifth grade poster contest.

This year's theme was the superpower of trees.

Every year, Erie schools have the opportunity to participate.

The school will pick their winner, and then we invite them to join us at Arbor Day so that they can receive their prize and see their poster on display.

A portion of our budget also goes towards the prices that we give the kids.

So this year's winners were Elliot from Red Hawk and Claire from Erie Elementary.

Claire's poster was actually the first prize winner in the state competition.

It's pretty cool.

Okay, so next we have tree walks.

Our tree walks are another way we provide education and community engagement to Erie residents.

The first one was May 2nd at Arapaho Ridge.

The second one was June 6th at Cole Creek.

Last Friday, September 5th, we had one in Old Town.

And the last one is going to be Friday, October 3rd at Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

So make sure you put it in your calendars.

Wear your costumes.

So the tree walks provide a unique opportunity to learn from our town forestry.

And they're fun.

Okay, so next we have our newsletter.

We started it July of last year, and since then we have been publishing it every quarter.

It is an email newsletter, but we also have printed newsletters available at the Erie Community Center.

You can now subscribe to the newsletter by going to the town's forestry and horticulture page and click on the subscribe to our newsletter.

There's a I don't know.

I don't know if you guys can see it.

As of now, we have over 700 residents who have subscribed to the newsletter.

Be sure you sign up.

There's also a link to view past newsletters that have been archived.

The newsletter content is created by our board members with Tom Reed and Ashley Berger supporting us with formatting, publishing, and distribution.

All right, the next one is the fun one.

So here's the extra fun activities we have been engaging in.

Um this year.

We partnered with the sustainability board and contributed contributed $750 of our 2025 budget to support the expansion of the community fruit rescue to Erie.

As long as our budget allows, we plan to provide financial support to the Erie fruit rescue in the future.

The program is designed to help fruit tree owners harvest fruit from their trees that would otherwise go to waste.

The owner, of course, gets to keep some of it, and the rest goes to our community.

I'll let SAB talk more about that.

Um, but it also helps preserve the health of trees by removing the weight that would otherwise cause structural damage.

So we're all about protecting the trees.

We're also working with the sustainability board uh in their efforts to becoming a pollinator district.

This is a designation from the Butterfly Pavilion.

They have a rubric they use to grade our overall efforts to support pollinator habitats.

And together uh we partner with Friends of Coal Creek, uh nonprofit whose focus is to expand pollinator habitats along Coal Creek.

Lastly, we would like to bring to your attention Linear Park.

It is in the middle of Old Town and it is a dead zone.

There's a picture on there, it's three different sections.

It is not much of a park as there's something missing.

Trees.

This area caught my attention as I participated in the Canary Trail Art Sculpture Project.

One of the sculptures will be on one of the empty lots.

I of course got the tab involved to inquire as to why we don't plant trees here.

According to our town forester, the limiting factor is water.

During a tree walk in Old Town Erie, we talked to Nancy, who we we have nicknamed the Catalpa lady, um, who said she actually avoids this area in the summer because it is hot.

It is too hot for her and her dog to walk through there.

Um there's zero coverage along the sidewalks.

So another consideration is all the aging cottonwood trees adjacent to the park that will eventually have to come down and it'll leave the area even more exposed.

So bringing water would allow forestry to plant trees and establish a backbone for other potential projects, such as a sensory garden to support residents of the nearby retirement community.

It could also be another habitat for pollinators to support the efforts to become a pollinator district, and it could also be a home for the old depot that HPAB is attempting to preserve.

So we're also trying to partner with Mike Turner.

Um, so next we have information on our current tree programs.

So as I mentioned earlier, the window is open from September 1st through October 15th.

The programs include the residential tree rebate, where um where homeowners get uh 200 credit on their water bill for purchasing a qualifying tree.

We also have the HOA cost share program and the school and nonprofit cost share program.

You can find more details on the town's website.

Right.

And lastly, a thank you.

We'd like to thank town staff and our town council for all their involvement and support.

On behalf of the of the entire tree board, thank you for your time this evening.

And that concludes my presentation.

Do you have any questions for me?

All right, I'll linear park.

Great.

Any questions?

Yeah, great um great overview.

And um, I have trees in my backyard that are over 20 years old from the little saplings from nice uh Arbor Day many, many years ago.

And I sure I'm sure many others in our town do as well.

Let me see if there's any questions back from council.

Go ahead.

I just think that the uh uh you guys do a great job in all the effort that you put into um supporting the trees and the diverse tree canopy in Erie.

Um Councilmember Bayer and I participated or tagged along with the tree walk, and Terry did a great job filling it for Tom.

So kudos to Terry for leading on with it.

Um thank you for all that you do.

We couldn't have done it without you.

Right.

Other comments.

I'll just say, yeah, I you guys are the fun board.

I learn so much every time I go to a meeting with you guys.

Um and kudos to not crumbling and falling apart after um council member O'Connor took a seat up here.

You guys stepped up, you're doing great.

Um, and I'm really excited to see the way that you know we're moving forward with all these new programs with the tr fruit tree rescue and um ideas with linear park and I really appreciate that you guys reach out to all the advisory boards and really work with everyone.

Um I think that that's so great and good to see the intersection of our community.

So I don't have any questions because I go to your meetings.

I have a lot of questions though.

I mean, I learned so much.

You guys are just a wealth of knowledge about trees and pests and um so I I do bring you a lot of questions, but I don't have questions about tree boards.

Okay.

Uh Councilmember Hoback.

Um Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for everything that you do.

I love the tree day or Earth Day Arbor Day.

Um and I've been on some walks, but it's been a while, so I can try to make it up to the cemetery this this time around.

Um and the community fruit rescue is is great.

And uh for all you do, because I'm sure you were are aware by now that uh sustainability efforts came out high on the community survey.

Uh everyone loves what we're doing, they want us to do more.

Um talk about sustainability for the planet.

We need our trees.

They provide us oxygen.

So thank you.

Thank you.

That's right, Councilmember uh Morchilero.

Yeah, I just want to thank you for all the programs you guys put on, especially uh with the schools.

I I think it's great for the kids to learn how things grow and whatnot.

I think it's it's so important um that they learn those those lessons and and carry it forward and and get excited about you know their little trees and whatnot.

So uh just appreciate uh all that you guys are are doing and keeping us aware of you know things like linear park and things like that.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, well, thank you for coming out tonight, and uh we'll see you in another six months.

And uh next up, we have the historic preservation advisory board and uh Mike Turner.

We'll be taking the lead.

Hi, y'all.

Hello.

And we'll wait for them to reset the presentation here.

Yeah.

There you go.

Uh with me, uh, you'll have to use the mic.

Oh, yeah, the mics.

Microphone.

Can you hear me?

That's fair.

I normally don't need a microphone.

It's the people at home.

Oh yeah.

Oh, they got uh with me tonight is Lara Thomas.

Uh Lara is actually uh in charge, or she uh she takes over the historic district so for uh HPAP.

And so when we get there, if you have any questions, you can ask her.

Uh there's a list of and we have a full board.

Uh we just got Alex Wicks.

He's uh couple weeks.

So come on.

What we're doing right now is we're in the process of resubmitting the phase three uh architectural survey for 25 properties uh in old town.

And uh we actually submitted this one uh in January and we were not awarded.

Uh so we uh took uh we looked at the reviewers and we made some adjustments and we're gonna resubmit again October first.

Uh in the historic uh district, it would encompass most of Old Town area.

And uh as we discussed uh five months ago uh for Biscuit Day, we are going to put up a large uh display board.

And I don't know if anyone wants to see it.

If you have copies for us, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You can bring them up.

I know there's one type one there to find the diamond upstairs and so we're uh what we are is we're planning on putting this on a big uh three by uh uh three by four uh uh foam board uh so all the town members at Biscuit Day could stop and see it and read it so they understand what a historic district is and what options that they have.

Thank you.

So go on.

Well, I was just gonna say it's just basically an uh educational purposes at this point, so people kind of understand the the options that are available.

There are two different types of historical districts that um one can utilize within their town to help uh protect historic properties.

There's the national uh registry of or yes, national registry of historical places, and then there's a local district, and I think there's a lot of confusion over what those even are.

And a town can have one, they can have both, they can have none, you know, depending on what um its uh citizens' constituents uh prefer.

And so I think uh our hope for biscuit day would be both educational to put this out there and and start to give folks an idea of what options are available to our town, and then also we'd love to get feedback back from um folks as well.

Um we are definitely targeting the old town Erie residents more because it impacts them the most, obviously.

Um, whereas people like me who live in Colliers Hill probably shouldn't have too much impact over what happens to your house if you live in Old Town Erie.

Um however, the way um a survey that we have put together uh would allow for comments from both and and kind of separate them in between the the people who live in the proposed historic district and the people who don't.

Um but all the same, nothing would happen.

There's nothing is binding with anything that we would do at um biscuit day.

It would just be a way for us to educate the public and for us to get and then for the historic board to get information back from the public as to what they're even interested in.

What have they heard anything about a historic district?

What do they already know and what do they need to know?

Um so yeah, uh happy to answer any questions in relation to that.

Um but that's the historic district.

Uh the railroad history uh again we were denied that for ridiculous reasons.

Uh but we are uh we're gonna try again.

Uh essentially what uh railroad history contract uh context is very few towns in the state of Colorado have done anything on history and railroad to their towns, uh very few, and so essentially it is a who, what, where, when, and why is what uh we want.

And uh one of the things we got turned down for, we didn't identify enough buildings.

Why are we doing this?

Uh some other stuff.

Uh uh we're starting again uh to look at uh there's a tax incentive uh person now at History Colorado on staff, so can help us uh uh start working through this on what tax incentives are available for not only locally for Erie residents but statewide.

Uh and we have been involved in the town fair.

We were at the air fair, we were at Arbor Day.

Uh I was at a meeting with uh the tree board uh where we discussed linear park.

Uh you heard uh linear park today.

Uh uh you have heard about uh the train uh depot.

The Hobbes family says we can have it.

Uh but we have to move it.

And linear park is right across the tracks.

But now it comes into we're in the process now of trying to figure out what's the cost.

And then it would take uh there's three structures associated with it.

There's the depot itself.

If you don't know where the depot is, 3140 County Road One.

That's right across the street from County Line Lumber.

It's supposed to be cream and green.

Not so much anymore, but that's what the colors are.

There's also an out building uh behind it, smaller building, and the third structure is a pretty much dilapidated outhouse.

But all three structures are about that.

And I was at the meeting with uh the tree board uh concerning water and then uh the pads for the uh uh the foundations for the uh uh for the uh depot.

We would also use that depot as a uh a town museum.

We do not have a history museum in Erie.

Uh on a form, we're still waiting to hear back from uh the town attorney on the approval to the ordinance uh changes that we made, basically changing everything from uh uh Board of Trustees to Town Council and a few other uh minor changes associated with HPAP.

And at that point, I'm gonna ask, is there any questions?

Um I'll bring it back to council and then I have one or two as well.

Go ahead, Mayor Protein.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh thank you both.

Um and also I forgot to say this is a tree board earlier, but but thank you for coming out to the airfare this weekend.

I I think it's great that we kind of get these groups to um to cross-pollinate each other.

Pun intended there for boards.

But uh good that uh good to see you out there and and uh uh uh one thing I had a question on this handout for the uh the districts for the local district says currently no local tax incentive provided, so what can you speak to that a little bit?

Yeah, most definitely.

So the local district is pretty much created from whole cloth based upon what the town wants it to be.

So as we're in this process of getting feedback from folks, that's what we're trying to understand is what do we want if we did want a local district to even look like, and that would be something we would have to decide.

Would there be um allocated funding from the town of Erie that would be put as a part of this?

It does not have to be.

Excellent.

Um and then just a question, just to follow up on some pastimes you've been here.

Um sorry, update.

Uh I know uh how I don't know how much you've been in contact with the historical society, but um any talk of I I know we have a lot of of uh memorabilia we've collected and things like that.

So I know we've talked about museums, I know we've talked about uh other means to display that.

So any well, the uh the wise homestead has a room that's associated with uh uh technically considered uh a museum, and it's stuff that has been turned over them by restaurant uh by uh residents.

Uh some of the larger stuff is in the barn.

But as far as a town-centered museum, like uh the miners tavern sign.

I have a chiropractor in his attic has an original barber pole.

Okay, and there's other stuff that other larger items that people want to donate.

Unfortunately, we just don't have any place to put them.

And so if we're gonna save the depot, and if we want to move it to Linear Park, we would have to build, you know, something to get them there anyway.

But uh you can walk there now, but uh it would give us the depot slash, and the Hobbes family does have the original registers, the original windows, they have all of that.

So we just don't have any place to put the large stuff, and that's why uh we need a museum.

It would be best if it was if there was a place downtown, there just isn't.

So the mess of the next great available option is the depot at Linear Park.

Excellent.

And uh I know in the past few years we've had a couple properties that were landmarked.

Um is there any been any more interest in and from other residents?

No, I have not uh I've approached a lot of people.

Uh I've approached uh 280 wells, I've approached a Wolfgang.

Uh I've approached uh the residents at 370 uh Briggs, which is Erie's first hotel, the egg new hotel.

Um uh they all say no.

And the first and the requirement for landmarking is the nomination must come from the property owner.

Sure.

So we cannot force them the landmark, even if we wanted to.

Yeah, yeah, makes sense.

So thank you.

Okay.

Go ahead.

I just want to say if I go to an Erie event, I typically see you there at a booth for uh HPAD.

So thank you for always being out there, always trying to inform the residents, engage with the residents and uh bring ideas like historic districts to them to to discuss and learn about.

Yeah, one of the things when I became chairman that I wanted to do was HPAB was this non-existent entity that people didn't know of.

Well, the first thing I said, if there's an event, we're gonna be at it.

And that's why.

Yeah.

That's good.

I'll go down to uh Councilmember Hoback and then we'll just work our way back up.

Thank you.

Um since I was the alternate to uh liaison with Councilmember Bear, I've been amazed and appreciative of the efforts that you make so passionately um uh for the town and uh really appreciate your efforts to uh try to landmark homes.

Um I would love to see the depot move to Linear Park.

I think that'd be a brilliant um move by the town.

Um having grown up in Boulder where they moved the depot over several times.

Um I would like to see that reserved in your efforts to hopefully save Eagle Mine.

And um on your on your display board, I think you really have to highlight the comment about small town feel because that gets thrown around a lot these days, and uh your efforts are one of the best opportunities in the last vestiges of well, that's redundant, but this is of uh retaining our small town feel.

So keep it up.

Thank you.

Councilmember Martillero.

Um okay, go ahead, Councilmember Bear.

Um, thank you.

I um yeah, I miss hanging out with you guys and once a month.

Um but I was just curious about the railroad history.

Um I forget who I was talking with, and they had just done the the Colorado rail bike.

And um had talked with those folks and they had done a lot of research on Erie's railroad history.

I'm curious if you've connected with them at all.

Oh, yes.

Oh, great.

Uh I'm actually working with uh the Romer family uh with them on their rail bike because they're trying to put in a lot of waypoints, and we want to do the same thing.

So yeah, we're working together with the rail bike people.

Great.

I'm happy to hear that connection.

Um then as far as um old town outreach, we are in engaged in that through the planning department right now.

Um and so we Councilmember Mortalero and I went to a coffee a couple weekends ago, and there's some more events coming up, and um we did talk to a few of the homeowners and um just tried to highlight what the advantage or what the what the what the benefit is of um landmarking your property.

Um and I think that's a powerful message of it's it's not just restrictive, it doesn't mean you can't replace your windows if you need new windows, it means that you'll have access to grant funding and preserving character.

So um I'm still rooting for you guys, but um the outreach continues, I guess.

So yeah, thanks.

Okay, and I'll wrap it up then.

Um Linear Park.

So it came up on the tree board, it just came up with the uh with the um uh train depot.

Um we haven't spoken much about uh linear park, and maybe that has taken place long before I got here.

Uh but at some point I I think a study session, uh, some way to get us information on the history of linear park, you know what it could be used for, what the barriers are to use it, uh whether the parks fund could help fund things there.

I really Luke's looking at me.

I realize we have a lot of other parks needs that are right ahead of that, but at the same time starting to think about what could be, even if that's two, three years down the road.

There's uh one thing about linear, I want you to think about is there's an exeter track at one portion, there's three large trees.

They're like a triangle.

That is where the depot was.

Originally.

Okay, I'm definitely gonna go down there in the next couple of weeks and really take a look at this.

It's if you walk down there, it's to your right.

Okay.

So all right.

Uh thank you for coming.

Oh, go ahead.

I was gonna mention a mic can fill in on this.

Which rail line ran up along Linear Park on the west side?

Oh, uh up by uh that was Burlington.

Okay, that was Burlington Northern.

Uh the track you see is Union Pacific, and it runs uh east and west.

Uh the Burlington ran uh basically Denver to Longmont.

And it cut through Linear Park and you went right up High Street.

Yeah.

See it on the map track?

That's why on the previous presentation, if you were to look at Linear Park, they had three uh rectangles.

Yep.

That's those are open right now, and that's exactly where the track ran.

Okay, great.

Well, I appreciate the history and uh look forward to uh uh continuing this conversation.

Thank you.

Okay, next up tonight is uh our open space trails advisory board and Ken, welcome.

Well, good evening.

I'm Ken Martin.

I'm chair of the Trails and Open Space Advisory Board, and like the others, I'm here to present our annual report.

Let's see, where is the next slide button here?

If you roll it, roll the uh roller in the middle of the mouse.

So Ken on the house itself in the middle, the controller.

And position it over the page.

Yeah, I think Luke's gonna come up and help you go.

Bingo.

Okay.

Uh this is just a synopsis of what I'll be covering tonight.

I'll spend virtually all my time on the last two items, which highlights meaning what have we been doing in the last six months going forward, what do we anticipate doing in the next three months.

First acknowledgments, uh, as you can see, uh Councillor Martellaro is our current primary uh liaison, and uh Councillor Hoback is the alternate.

He was the primary last year, and he's been to two or three meetings this year, so I probably should have said, and sometimes 2025.

Uh parks and rector Luke Bollinger attends all of our meetings, and the other two are pretty much support when more technical issues come up.

And then of course we have the town clerk's office who always reminds me when my agenda is not quite ready.

I should probably also ask that Ali Burkholder of the Planning Department has been attending several meetings to to go over the various reports that have been issued for the uh so-called VCC, which is a village at Cold Creek.

Just quickly, what do we do?

I'm I'm sure all of you are familiar with this.

This is more for the people listening in.

So we're involved with uh reviewing and approving trails and open space components in developments.

Uh we also get involved with both identifying uh potential open space acquisitions and uh discussing uh negotiations.

We do not get involved with directly negotiating with property owners.

That's done by uh Director Ollinger.

Uh we also coordinate with Boulder County and Well County on open space and trails.

I'll go over some details of Boulder County quickly.

And then when certain town plans are updated, such as ProS, which is parks, uh recreation trails and advisory board, master fund.

Okay.

Uh at the present time, there are two very important projects underway by Boulder County.

One is uh a regional trail that'll follow the old right away between Erie and Boulder.

Uh, it's referred to as bird of the boulder to Erie Regional Trail.

The second is the Prairie Run Management Plan.

That's uh a new uh natural area.

It's gonna be opened up to the public with trails and fishing opportunities and so forth.

Both of those have gone through the preliminary process and have been approved by the county commissioners to cross the T's and dot the I's important and identify sources of funding.

The BERT trail will require lots of coins.

Uh and then we participate in the annual town fair and Earth Day, the coming Earth and Arbor Day.

We typically distribute about 300 uh paper trail maps, most of them at the town fair, and answer questions that come up in past years when virtually everyone who asks a question either says, I live here, how do I get to there, or when am I going to be able to ride my bike to Boulder or vicinity?

And prior to this year, we just said, be patient.

We think one day there will probably be a trail uh to Boulder.

Now we can say it's in the process, but be patient is still a byword.

We're not talking about something going to be available in a year or two.

Uh the board members have not changed.

Uh we'll see four of the seven members have both educations and uh work experience that directly relates to what we do.

Uh recently I was asked if someone wanted to join the board.

What is the primary attribute that they should have?

And I said, to be honest, it's patience.

And the reason I said that is that we've just said very little, and then when some turnover, uh, when they asked to find patience, I couldn't.

So I did a little research, and the most recent person is Bill Wrigler, he joined about a little over a year ago.

That opening occurred when another member applied for and was appointed to the planning commission.

Prior to that, the next newest person has been on the board for five years.

So, and I did not go back further to see how far the others go.

Okay, what have we been excuse me?

What have we been doing in on the last six months?

Uh certainly it's a lot of time has been taken up by the village at Cold Creek project.

Uh we led uh one property walk and participating another.

Uh the property walk that we led, we wound up with not one or two, but three members of the town council with us that has never happened before, at least in my history with it.

So thank you for attending.

Uh about a month ago, the consultants uh issued a background report, which primarily uh identified constraints and where what are the things that need to be preserved, where uh housing could go and so forth, and we provide a written uh response to that.

I don't know if you've seen it or whether it's just gonna be in a huge packet that's coming up later on this month.

And then uh last night we reviewed three draft concept plans with got into details of exactly where housing could go, where the trails could go, where the open skate and so forth.

Uh and then we've also discussed uh and gave approval for the do go ahead and purchase an easement with trails and natural funding to provide a trail uh connection from the compass subdivision to the Coal Creek Trail to the east, the town purchased uh, I'd say two-thirds of three-fourths of the property east of county, well, east of the county line about a year ago, so about that, but the one on the corner is still privately owned because its value is quite a bit higher due to potential commercial development opportunities.

So the plan there is to obtain a uh trail easement so we can complete the connection to Compass, which I know a lot of people have been wanting for a long time.

We approved the uh placement of two cell towers on near highlands and rapa ridge.

The reason we were involved with those is they're both located on open space land.

If if it'd been on privately owned land, we would not have had any involvement.

And we will be meeting with the our counterparts in Lafayette at the end of October to talk about coordination.

Okay, what's what's coming up?

Uh first involves the Weiss Homestead Open Space, which is on the south side of Jasper.

Uh that we're already in discussions, preliminary discussions with uh Boulder County to put well why we'd be a trailhead there.

It'll actually serve three purposes.

One is uh future trails on that property for town residents.

The views are special, and it's it's 100% agricultural use now, but there's certainly areas along the perimeter to add trails.

Second would be probably the easternmost trailhead for the Burt uh trail, which ends at County Line Road, but that there's really no place for people that parked there.

And lastly, the uh that prairie run open space is consists of two rectangles.

One is north of Kenosha Road, the other is uh basically north of Jasper.

And there although both will have trails, they're not in a position to connect one another.

So the connecting trails will be through Erie open space.

So Director Bullinger is involved with deciding whether it'll be and making sure we don't pay for it.

And then let's see, on long range planning, we as we said, we we have uh a list of about 40 potential future acquisitions for open space.

We send out uh a letter to those property owners once a year.

And I would say usually we only get two or three responses, but virtually all the open space purchases we've done the last two or three years have been initiated by those letters that go out, so that's very useful.

And of course, we'll uh continue to participate in the town fair in Arbor Day and support parks and rec and planning as needed.

That concludes my presentation.

Any questions?

Right.

I'll bring it back to council if we have any questions.

Uh Councilmember Bear.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Thanks, Ken, for the updates.

This is really exciting.

Um I had the pleasure of um advocating for BERT and Prairie Run with you at the County Commissioners.

Was that last year?

Two years ago?

Yes, it was last year.

Actually, I was I also spoke before the commissioners for the prairie run, too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I was just wondering if um Erie's phase, and it's when we were in the meeting, they were talking about three phases, um, and sort of doing eeries maybe first, and then the far west end second, and then the middle part third.

Is it are they still thinking that's how I haven't heard anything new, but I would be surprised if there's any changes.

I mean, basically the Erie portion, which would be everything east of 287 is the easiest to put in, partially because the town is already uh built, or the developers have built about half of the tra uh that trail already.

So we will certainly use that as a negotiating point when it comes to who's gonna share.

And the rest of the trail is does not go through any uh important wetlands or wildlife areas.

And so the most complicated part is that middle section, primarily because of wetlands and nesting raptors.

And 287, yeah, going underneath it.

Yeah, but I don't think they've I'm I guess it'll be quite a while before they decide.

I mean, the the initial plan is to go under.

But we're talking about seven figures easily, and not not at the lower end of seven figures to do either one.

Okay, thanks.

Uh Councilmember Morclero.

I just want to, you know, thank you for bringing me up to speed and all I've learned from from you and the and the advisory board.

Uh uh certainly really appreciate that.

wonder but we're talking about seven figures easily no and not not at the lower end of seven figures to do either one okay thanks uh council member more clero i just want to you know thank you for bringing me up to speed and all i've learned you know from from you and the and the advisory board uh uh certainly really appreciate that the the site walks um and and you know and the the team's dedication to the to the community so really appreciate uh all that all that you guys do and uh um and keep keeping me up to speed and in uh and and you know teaching me what's going on at at all the all the spots okay thank you uh mayor per tem sure thank you um ken how long you've been doing this now for this I think 14 years 14 years I was gonna say I knew you pretty much on my personal record I I lived in a small town of Connecticut before moving here that was 20 years there well that's that's awesome I I just wanted uh I want to thank you and thank all the board members um I don't have any specific questions but I I just want to point out that um and I should have said this to the two prior boards too is we really rely on on volunteer residents and and that really helps make this work and I know for speaking for staff the that you guys are valuable to them too and and we had a board retreat this weekend and and one of the things I know Patrick brought up during during that meeting was was that our our vision needs to be you know 287 the I 25 to 52 to to highway seven and just thinking about um you know all these you know potential trails new trails that we have uh connections that are uh gonna be made through the spine trails and and the additional open space that we opportunities that we have coming up and that's something that's really valued by by residents here and so I just want to thank you for the work that you're doing and and uh this this is uh this is the type of thing we I think we all love talking about because it it um this is what gives area it's its feel so thank you yeah I know the the responses to the questionnaire that came in always placed open space and pick week trails right up in uh 70 to 75 percent yeah yeah either the V or one of the top two or three important items in town absolutely thank you Ken thanks for coming out tonight I'm looking forward to how your discussions go with Lafayette I'm still hopeful maybe there'll be something that we can work together on on our borders that's on the agenda.

Yep only time will tell um but I appreciate your efforts in that uh in that field all right well thanks for coming out we'll see you uh in uh the next six months all right next up we have the sustainability advisory board uh Karen Winkler and McKenzie McClaskey hello welcome good evening mayor more mayor pertem bow and council members and staff um my name is Karen Winkler and I am the chair for the sustainability advisory board and with me is McKenzie McClaskey who is our SAB secretary and she will be co-presenting with me so thank you for the opportunity to come before you and discuss what we've been up to for the last six months.

As you all know the sustainability advisory board is an advisory committee of the town whose purpose is to promote and encourage the development public awareness and proper use of sustainability practices throughout Erie's planning area.

So I like to say the planning area um as an all-encompassing thing besides just the town so the motto is kind of advise educate and support um we currently have a full board so besides myself and McKenzie and we have Ann Walsh who is the vice chair we have a youth member Ronaldo Grammy and then members Art Henderlong Rick Cater and Kathleen Teal we also have a staff liaison extraordinaire Erica Thorley and I would like to mention something just to set the record straight while Tab might think that they are the most fun board we're gonna give them a run for their money.

Arbor and Earth Day, which is by far our largest attended public engagement event that we co-sponsor with the sustainability and forestry divisions as well as the tree advisory board.

We had the spring cleanup, and we are getting ready to have the fall cleanup, which will be next Saturday this coming Saturday.

We were also at the Erie Town Fair.

We had presents at uh Co-Create Erie's Garden Tour, uh, several farmers' markets over the course of the summer.

And just this past Sunday, we were at um, and we we were also at um Erie Fest.

So we will conclude uh our public engagement with the cleanup day coming this Saturday, and also a firewise landscaping event that's gonna take place on September 25th.

We were able to coordinate that with Friends of Cole Creek who had some grant money left over to uh put this on Lewisville and Lafayette have also uh asked that they present as well.

So it was nice to be able to collaborate with Casey from Friends of Cole Creek on that.

Um recap of Arbor and Earth Day uh this last April.

Uh, like um Claudia mentioned, we had around 50 exhibitors and vendors and from all sectors, including ecology, forestry, solar, transportation, waste diversion, energy, landscaping, and um county and state resources as well.

And it it the estimate was around or over a thousand, which is I think by far the biggest we keep growing each year.

Um during that event, we provided information to uh a wide variety of residents on um the Erie rebates, we had XL Energy beneficial electrification information to provide, LED light kits, uh, eco-friendly product giveaways, newsletter signups, and also the sustainability action plan public engagement was also taking place at the same time.

So the last spring cleanup day back in May, we have some stats to share about that.

And with that particular cleanup day, we had uh building material collection from Resource Central.

We handed out, or we we didn't, but sustainability and the event handed out medical bags.

Um there was tire pickup, mattress recycling, metal recycling, and electronics.

Um we were also there to provide information on Erie rebate programs, the recycling center, and hand out LED light bulb kits and seed packets and dog treats too.

So and cookies.

And we were also there with the group that was doing um collecting input for the resiliency action plan.

And again, we provided kind of the same sort of information on the town of Erie rebates, um, native pollinator info, gave away seed packets, other eco-friendly product giveaways, and um of course always try to get people to sign up for our newsletter.

I'm gonna turn it over to McKenzie to talk a little bit about some of some other public engagement.

Yeah.

Thank you, Karen.

So, yeah, the Erie Farmers Markets were very similar to the other engagements that we had.

We had a lot of the same swag, a lot of the same info, just really making sure that we are getting up in front in people's faces on what they can do, even at a personal level of just you know, helping out the bees or getting a heat pump, you know, whatever it may be.

If you have anything that I can wedge in there for you, we're gonna find it.

Um we got a lot of feedback on the same kind of things with the sustainability action plan and then the resiliency action plan.

Um we had about 74 engagements per event on average for those, so a lot of people come and buy to give us feedback, and some people were even honest that they had given us feedback already rather than double dipping and doubling down on what they had already answered.

Um and every year, part of our budget goes to EcoCycle to help fund school programming, um, where pre-K, first, second, fourth, and fifth graders all learn about composting or the life cycle of a tree or how to recycle or you know what have you.

Um it really runs the gambit.

Uh we had Black Rock, Erie, Red Hawk, and Soaring Heights Elementaries all participate uh in that with 21 presentations total and 524 participants.

So a lot of good coverage there.

Um and so throughout all of these events, uh we saw a lot of priorities and concerns that are already being addressed and reflected in the sustainability action plan and the resilience action plan.

Um a lot of people concerned with you know not having enough trees, perhaps in linear park, for example.

Um we need to you know worry about air quality.

How do we compost?

Where do we compost?

What do we compost?

Um waste reduction at large.

Uh part of our uh feedback was letting people know that a vast majority of our greenhouse gas emissions are coming from our landfill.

Not necessarily from Erie residents, but because it is technically within our bounds, it counts towards us and the gas emissions there.

So we got lots of feedback, um, lots of comments and opinions.

It was really fantastic.

And then current initiatives, uh, we've ended up kind of shuffling them down to more focused intensive ones rather than so many that I think we presented it the last presentation.

But um waste diversion, we're gonna continue to be doing that with the eco-cycle programming.

Um the hazardous waste uh household hazardous waste in Boulder is going to be coming to our uh town cleanup event on Saturday, but it's also uh we're looking at doing a pickup program.

So maybe residents that don't have transportation to take things over to the uh waste material or they don't you know have enough to bring to merit a trip or whatever it may be.

Um yeah, and trying to extend that out into here and getting awareness there.

Yeah.

Um and then pollinator support um is where my passion lies.

Um I think other members of the board are trying to get me a B suit.

Um so the pollinator district certification is gonna be a multi-year project, um, three to five years.

I'm just gonna have to slow my role a little bit.

Um, if there's anything I've learned is that if you want something to be sustainable, you need to be mindful and slow in your progress because if you do it fast, it's gonna be just as easy and fast to rip it back out.

Um one of the things we have to do for the certification is collect data on how we're doing.

And so the linear park angle is fantastic because we can do pollinator surveys before we do anything to the park.

We can see that there are no pollinators there or very minimal pollinators, and then once we get irrigation in there, we can start putting in pollinator gardens, putting in trees that bees really love to access, especially during the spring.

And we have proof with numbers of how we are able to make an impact.

We also have um Erie's buzzing gardens.

Uh we have a map that residents can come fill out, like put a pin on the map of this is my garden, not only to give other residents ideas of how things can look rather than just having a lawn, but also we take, we give them an opportunity to also get certified through the Friends of Cole Creek who are doing the same thing and trying to get the pollinator district certified through Col Creek.

So we help them, they help us.

If either of us gets the certification, it's probably gonna be them first, but it's gonna just what is it grease the wheels for us?

It provides a great opportunity for collaboration with other boards.

Um I think McKenzie spent a lot of time reaching out to other boards like tree advisory parks, um, park staff, I think trails and didn't you also reach out to trails.

So some of these, and we when we tried to narrow down our focus.

I think last time when we came to you, we had all these things that we wanted to do, and we still want to do them.

But I think now this this really represents more of a focus for us going into 2026.

So yeah, and in regards to collaborating with other boards, we are collaborating with the tree advisory board, especially around the community fruit rescue coming to Erie.

We need some more harvest leaders, I hear, but um it essentially means that if you have a tree in Erie that has fruit on it and you aren't able to harvest it, we're able to help you get it done.

Um it's an amazing program, and I don't know.

I feel bad talking about it because it's it's Karen's project here, but um yeah, it helps divert all that waste from food that otherwise would not be eaten or would go bad.

Um please admit I need to still extremely so um I'm just so excited about this program.

So I community fruit rescue's been around in Boulder since 2014, and they um it's an amazing program, like McKenzie said, it's it's to divert food waste, it's to put that food, which is often just overlooked into the hands of people who need it.

Um we're really excited about it coming to Erie.

Um we've already identified partnerships with uh Erie Food Bank, Meals on Wheels.

Um I'm also in talks with the active adults to be able to see if they can take some of the fruit.

So um it's just an amazing program that really is great to come into Erie without having to reinvent the wheel.

So um we're just trying to get the word out for that, and we are we have about half a dozen harvests scheduled, um, and we're hoping to get more because with the help of the subsidy from our board's budget and tab's budget, we're able to cover the cost because there is a nominal cost um for putting on these harvests, and we can cover up to 12 this harvest season.

So um still hoping that we've got pears and peaches and plums and apples out there that that need us.

Linear park would be a great place to put fruit trees.

And linear park would be a linear park gets another plug because they would be a great place to put fruit trees.

Um that is one thing that um just to sort of mention with the community fruit rescue, it doesn't just have to be on private land.

They do partner in in Boulder and have with municipalities that have fruit trees as well.

So I know that sometimes when we think about putting fruit trees into public open spaces, we think about well, what's gonna happen to all that fruit?

Well, this could also be a way to get that fruit collected.

So I just would like to close with thanking all of you for all of your support for sustainability as we go out and try to um promote more sustainable initiatives and programs.

Um, and we'd also especially like to acknowledge our council liaisons, counselor Pessaramelli and Counselor Hoback.

Um, they're always very involved and very supportive of our role.

So thank you.

Very good.

I think I'll start uh the question.

Um how does one sign up to get the fruit off of their trees if they'd like to?

Where do they go?

So they go to um community fruit rescue's website.

It's all being handled by them.

Um there have been uh several things that have come out, I think in town communications that have that or on social media, but probably the easy easiest place is just to Google community fruit rescue.

Um they have a wonderful website that talks about um harvest leader and volunteer needs as well as a place on their website devoted to the um harvest or um they call them fruit stewards because it doesn't necessarily have to be a homeowner, it could be a renter.

Um they ask that the homeowner be aware of what's going on.

Um, but their term for it is fruit stewards, and so basically once they submit um uh that they want to have someone reach out, then community fruit rescue just works with the fruit steward to determine how much fruit are we looking at, um, when do we think it's gonna be ripe and setting up that schedule to work in conjunction with the fruit steward to make sure that the timing is right for it.

Um, and then also uh sort of then they have to turn around and work with the partners, you know.

Can the Erie Food Bank accept that fruit?

Um, and then what that look like.

So it's there's a lot of dancing behind the scenes.

Um, but it's it's a great program.

They've had two uh eerie harvests so far.

One was this morning and one was I think the end of August.

So apples and plums from Erie were put into the hands of the the plums went to community uh food share out of Boulder County in Broomfield.

The harvest that uh we're anticipating or this morning's harvest uh will go to the Erie food bank predominantly.

Got it.

And then we're hoping to have some go to meals on wheels.

So that would be how you would sign up to get.

Do you have fruit trees?

Uh well, I have one in yes, a property in Erie.

Yes.

Great.

It's Apple and it's ready.

Oh, okay.

That's wonderful.

Yeah.

Um yeah, thank you.

All right, wonderful.

Let me come back to the council mayor for thank you.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

One of the things I just wanted to highlight in this, um I really like what we're doing with the the waste diversion things.

It's something something I've used and um specifically like on the mattress collection.

I think I took uh I think it was four mattresses.

I I had my my kids have grown up and mostly flown the nest.

So we had a bunch of older mattresses and and normally furniture and things.

I I like to go to Goodwill or other places that can collect them, but as you know, mattresses are not something that they will take.

And and so yeah, I that it's great that that service is available.

So I I appreciate the um the you know, thinking outside of the box of all these different things that we can you know get back into the uh you know utilize those materials and hopefully use them for something else.

So yeah, and the town has done an amazing job of coordinating that year from to year um twice a year.

And this, and and I'm gonna turn around and look to Erica, but I believe that the cleanup coming up on Saturday, um, because at each event they don't necessarily take every sort of item, but this one coming up on Saturday is going to be taking mattresses, tires, hazardous waste.

Um it's gonna be taking everything practically.

Oh, and shredding.

Yeah.

Yeah, shredding is not always there as well.

So um this one stands to be uh uh a very full and hopefully very well um populated event.

So very good.

Well I have I'm sorry, go ahead.

Yeah, so the team.

Well, we saw this at Virgil's um people in the Ren know what we're doing and one more.

So I appreciate all the hardware.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

I just uh I'm I'd love to see that uh the boards are are teaming up as much as they can.

Uh I remember when sustainability was created, I think in 18.

And Tree Board had started the leaf collection in 17, and then from 18 on the boards are teaming up and you know, making big piles of leaves that go off to get reused instead of getting thrown into the landfill.

So it's good to see that that though that's kind of evolved into the complete or not complete, but yardways collection that you you the boards are still finding ways to join up and it's it's great to have that cross collaboration knowledge and also making sure that in some of these areas where there is a definite overlap that we're not off trying to do something that they're also pursuing.

It just makes more sense to come together and say, you know, how can we do this together and combine both you know financial and but personal resources of time and effort.

So and also I was going to look into the fruit fruit program for my pear tree, but I think I've got a lot fatter squirrels now and a lot less hairs and so not for me this year, but I appreciate it.

And next year.

I hope that you guys fill all 12 slots.

And um just because I'm I'm just so excited about this program, I have to say one more thing about community fruit rescue.

As they won't come out just for your animal grade food um fruit, I should say, but when they come out and they harvest the human grade, they will also take the animal grade fruit as well.

So that fruit gets donated to farms and animal sanctuary.

So I know Love and Arms was the recipient of um the plums that could not be considered animal grade.

So there's it's not just um really you know getting the food to humans, it's getting the food diverted to somewhere other than the landfill, and that includes um the the animal greed as well.

So thank you.

Um sorry to be a broken record, but our community love sustainability.

So um keep up the good work.

Um as far as fun goes, you know, I don't know.

They got climbing trees, you got bees and butterflies.

We have better swag.

And so actually, we have better swag.

So you don't get points for shredding though, because there's no snowboards involved.

Um just keep working together because you put together a great joint product with the Arbor Day and Earth Day, and it's all wonderful.

Um did want to mention that uh our neighborhood is maturing.

I saw my first squirrel yesterday.

I'll bring the squirrel in the neighborhood.

The rabbit, the rabbit.

If you want more, I can I can up and bring them over.

You really know you made it when the rabbits come though.

Oh, we've had air rabbits for years.

Oh man.

It's the raccoons.

Yeah, that's our I agree.

You guys have the best swag.

My only question was about the cleanup day, and you already answered that.

So um, but your cookies and your swag at Arbor Day.

But it's the best.

And kudos to Erica Thorley.

I know she um organizes a lot of ideas around that.

And also um really excited.

Um, Erica and I, along with other town staff today, sat on a panel talking to business um owners in Erie about just kind of a lot of questions they had, but sustainability came up and um business owners are also really curious how to get connected with just the the different rebates and the different opportunities that the town offers.

And so um I really appreciate that you guys are a big part of that and and getting the messaging out.

So thank you.

All right, council member Martillero.

Yeah, so yeah, thank thanks again, you know, for all all that you guys do.

You do a great job.

And you know, at the Arbor Day Earth Day, not only did you get a thousand people, but people stayed.

They they participated, they engaged with the booth.

Um, so it was busy and crowded all all day.

So that's a testament to you know the activities and the engagement that that people saw.

And and I think it's that activity and the engagement, uh one of the reasons why you guys were top on on the survey results.

So you know, kudos, you know, nice nice job.

So uh yeah, I just want to you know thank you and appreciate what you do.

Thanks.

All right, I think that's it.

Thank you.

And I did find the site, and um I'll do my best to get it submitted.

Okay, we're gonna move on to the airport um economic development advisory board.

And we have uh two presenters uh tonight, or is it just Emmett that's gonna take the lead and um Paul?

Yeah, I'm just here to give him moral space.

All right.

Sounds good.

Well, Emmett, uh, you could take it away.

We lost the uh um video on our screens and apparently yours as well.

There's one that one's that one's up to the right.

Well, we've lost it on ours too.

So while we're waiting, can I just make a point here?

Um as everybody knows we had the air fair Sunday.

I think most of you were there.

Um I would just like to say that airfare wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for this guy.

He's the vice chair.

It never would have happened.

So thank you.

Thank you.

It was amazing again, and I just cannot tell you how much I appreciate this guy's help.

Really?

I did nothing other than ask him to do it.

That's really correct.

Delegation, it's a great power.

Well, uh good evening.

Um, we get some of the technical stuff.

We do have the presentation available to us a different way.

So uh if you want to jump in and just tell us what slide you're on.

Let's see.

All right.

Um before we talk about the the slideshow.

Took a little bit of a different tack with this.

Um I just want to thank the town, all the council members uh for your support for the airfare.

Um yes, it was an idea that that came about about five years ago, and uh it doesn't happen without uh without your support and without a team of volunteers.

Uh Angela was very helpful with that.

It it's it's often asked uh, you know, what what does the airport do for me or what does the airport do for the town?

Um to me, the answer to that is the airport's a job center.

Uh in a town full of uh residential homes.

Um we've got this area here where we've got at least 20 businesses that all have direct access to the airport.

So this slideshow right here is uh produced by CDOT.

They do this about every five years.

Um I've had to kind of fine-tune this down to about seven slides uh due to kind of storage constraints on the uh email there.

So this study here, how they look at uh the economic impact of the airport, um jobs, payroll, uh value added, and then they have this term down here business revenues.

Um this encapsulates a bunch of things.

Um expenditures for airport administration, capital projects, of which we've had quite a few, thanks to uh Jason and Vector Air, uh tenant sales of goods as well as visitor spending in Colorado.

Um that point, I just want to highlight one of our local businesses at the airport, which is Odyssey pilot hours.

Um they have grown in the last several years.

Um they have kind of a different model.

What they do is they invite people in to build flight hours.

They're not training them to be pilots, they're just it's kind of a step along the way to being a commercial pilot.

So they have about 14 people every week that are staying locally here.

They come in from out of town and they come visit Erie and spend money there.

So in addition to that, their fleet uses unleaded fuel, which is an important thing for the uh community.

Um so that's it's it's a really has a big impact.

Uh so here we're gonna look at we've got uh direct impacts on the airport, off airport, and they've got this multiplier, which basically is the income respending, which results in the total impacts.

So the on airport, the airport administration, um, which is vector air in our case, uh the tenants, which we've got you know, one of the largest uh privately owned hangar developments uh that's been there for quite a while, um, and more coming.

And then the capital improvements um the course of the last 10 years that I've been here.

There's been numerous capital improvements to the airport that have been uh come to fruition through the work of the airport manager, and those are gonna those are can continuing.

So when we look at Erie, in terms of total impact, 144 jobs, 8.4 million in payroll, uh 13 million value added, and total business revenues of 23 million dollars.

Now, this includes uh income respending and make some assumptions about um how that happens.

So here's some of the they break out the numbers in on airport impacts, off import, and uh the total here.

So the total impact at the bottom is 23 million dollars.

Um today I was just driving around the airport looking at businesses, one of which is Paul's business here, which is on the airport, and I counted about 20 uh businesses that have direct access to our airport.

So there's quite a big employment center that we have there.

Um it's not just about a small population of pilots that fly airplanes.

Um this is this is something that you know provides uh entrepreneurs the opportunity to have a business like Paul here, and then uh people to come and work in Erie.

So this last one here is just an idea of of statewide.

There's 66 airports in the state of Colorado right now.

Um 348,000 jobs, 23 billion dollars in payroll.

Um I'm included in that number there.

Uh so I'm fortunate for that.

So it's it's a big part of our economy.

Um, and it's a big part of the economy of of uh Erie.

And with that, I'll answer some questions.

All right.

Uh thanks.

I'll bring it back to the council.

Mayor Pro Tim.

Thank you.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Um this feels like we've been on a long road, and and I was there at the beginning, and I just want to say I'm very proud of I mean going out there on Sunday.

It's just you really feel um the appreciation for what we have out there.

Uh and I don't know that we you know always see that, and I know that there's some concerns from the community from some about the airport, and and I will say that our airport manager is always somebody we we were talking on Sunday.

He's like, hey, I'll you know, I'm willing to meet with with you and discuss this.

So um there's uh I I think there is a open communication pathway there for people, and and um but it was it was nice to see just the positive impact on the community, and uh and I don't know that we had an exact tally on the number of people out there, but uh that's gotta be one of our larger events in town.

Um probably rivaling with the town fair somewhere in that neighborhood and um with surrounding communities.

Um so I just want to highlight a few things and Emmett, I appreciate um you know uh this report because I I think it's uh um scores something underscores something fundamental uh that we need to realize because I know there have been a lot of comments about you know what the town has to put into the airport.

Um I don't have the exact figure in front of me, but let's just say it's roughly 300 to 350,000 a year that that we're that the town pays into the airport, and if you want to call that a subsidy or whatever, we'll we can talk about that.

But you're talking about 300 350,000 versus uh 23 and a half million dollars in business revenue to the community.

So I think that's important for the the public to understand.

So I appreciate that getting getting highlighted here because the town has a unique asset that a lot of other communities don't have.

And I know there's some other communities are talking about oh, we don't want this anymore.

And uh, I guess for those communities, they you know, I'm not I'm not on their council, so I guess that that's up to them, but but I think that uh it's important to highlight what you know what this does for the areas.

Is it's not just you know, rich guys out at the air park that like to fly on weekends.

So um, I'd also like to point out that our board is comprised of aviators, people that are work professionally in the aviation industry, as you do, Emmett, and uh also you know, people who who are are just weekend pilots and things like that.

So we have a uh number of diverse people within the aviation industry, and and I think having that perspective is unique.

And one of the interesting things that I I think has been so enlightening about this board is that because it's so specialized.

When we first formed this, I thought, you know, boy, how are we gonna get people to you know serve on this board and realizing that there's a lot in the Erie community that work in the aviation industry or have a lot of aviation experience?

So I was joking I'm on there.

The most aviation experience I have is playing Microsoft flight simulator.

So which council member O'Connor told me if you have that and are an enthusiast, you can fly into the Erie airport.

No, no, no.

It was you can't you can't take a 747 off from the oh okay.

I didn't step in the creep.

Okay.

Hopefully we're not trying that real life.

Don't try that at home, please.

That's right.

Anyways, I I just uh Paul, I want to reflect what what uh you said at the beginning.

Thank you, Emmett, and and thank you, Angela, if you're listening out there.

Um yeah, it it's we wouldn't have been able to do that without you guys, so really appreciate it.

And it was it was a wonderful event.

Um sadly the first time we did this, I was not able to be there.

It was my father's memorial service, and so I was so glad to be there this time.

And uh in two years when we do this again, I I hope if you missed it, you'll be out there next time.

So he doesn't get off the hook that easy.

Yeah, thank you.

Um thank you for the presentation and all the updates.

And um I didn't get to go to the airfare.

I was removed moving my daughter into college this weekend, so I but I went last time and I know it's a super fun event.

Had to talk to Paul in front of a food truck for a long time last time.

So thanks for hosting that and and having everyone out.

Um the air park is my neighborhood and district three is my district, and so um I have a lot of you know, just kind of walking down the street, I'll run into neighbors and um they have always have a lot of questions for me around, you know, what are the plans, what are we trying to do?

Um so I'm just curious if you can also update on what does your outreach look like.

I know with the air park we have a little issue with uh HOA.

Maybe not everyone is involved there.

So um what are the plans for outreach?

Uh we have two members currently serving on the board that are residents of the airpark.

And I appointed one of them as a board liaison sort of from the board to the air park.

The difficult thing with the air park is they don't have an actual HOA, it doesn't exist.

I think it got disbanded, they haven't really formulated a new one.

Um but Jennifer does a really good job.

We've had some feedback from the residents of the town of the air park at our meetings, um, particularly as it relates to the discussion, and that's all it is at this point uh regarding the closed runway.

So we are making an effort to involve them, engage them.

I know probably going on two years now since they had an actual meeting.

I went with uh yeah, Jennifer.

Stephanie, sorry.

Yeah, she did it Zoom.

I did it in person.

We went to the air park and they had an HOE meeting, and I sat there and stood there for about an hour and a half answering all their questions.

Um it's important because they are a critical part of the airport.

Um so yeah, we are making efforts.

So I think they do have an HOA of some variety because they have been reaching out um about some other issues, and so there's some coordination between the town and that HOA.

So maybe you can we can make a connection for you to make sure.

But if you have you know neighborhood residents, hopefully they're able to also make that connection.

But I just think that's key.

Um, because I've said for several years now, we need to connect the community, the broader community, to the value of the airport and make sure it's something that they can benefit from and not just something we do to them, which I think is what we hear a lot, especially recently.

Um, some concerns about increased traffic over homes specifically on the west side of town.

Um so just wanting to ensure that we're connecting making that connection for for the greater Erie community, so we don't end up with kind of what Mayor Pro Tempell was talking about earlier where um communities aren't supporting their airports.

Um, and so we want to get ahead of that in any way that we can to ensure that benefit.

Um we are we also have another we have one other individual, Michael Bowden, and he's more of a outreach beyond the park, the air park.

And he was instrumental in getting the uh he he brought the uh drone, the drone frame that was his uh drone display, and then the SAFRAN innovation uh was also present uh with a booth at the the board there.

But he's he's working on kind of a public outreach part, which is kind of a little bit maybe at the fringe of of what what our board was formed to do.

But I I think it's important that you know the the public or the airport's image with the the town and the way it connects with the town is is a part of how it gets developed.

So I I agree with all you had to say on that.

Yeah, thank you.

I um yeah, I think that's really important.

Excited to hear that there's a um a whole fleet that's using unleaded fuel, which means hopefully means it's available uh in the area, and hopefully we can bring that to Erie very soon.

Um ahead of the deadline would be great.

But that's all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

And you know, I just want to thank you guys for for what you do.

Uh I appreciate you bringing the numbers of of the benefits.

I I think the air um the airport has a lot of benefits to the town.

The economic is certainly a large one.

And yeah, I'm looking forward to you know the future uh potential opportunities and and development.

And you know, to council member bear's point, I think it's really important that that the community be part of that that future conversation.

So thank you.

Thank you.

All right, just make it sure.

Yep.

I have the I don't want to repeat what all council member Baer said.

One is the community outreach.

We've been getting complaints about noise and um like traffic over the head, like uh after hours, and so that is one thing if we can like educate people and also take care, if at all anything can be done.

That's and I thoroughly enjoyed the airfare.

It was fun.

If we can do it every year, that'll be even good.

Well, uh part of the there's kind of like a cadence when it comes to these type events, and part of it's the amount of work that goes into it, but um longmonts doing one every two years.

Okay, and so being kind of offset with them.

Um it it kind of works to our benefit, though though largely our target audience is is early itself.

And so I I think the numbers this year were more than two years ago.

I I think we were a little over 5,000 this year.

Um so it was there were a lot of people there.

So it was good to see that many people come out and enjoy the airport.

Yeah.

Sorry, okay.

Could I just uh sorry the quickly it's all like this?

Yeah.

Uh I just want to make one clarification because I mean I think you said it well when we talk about the outreach being kind of the fringe of this, is that this is the airport economic development advisory board.

It's not an airport board, like just we're we're not managing the operations of the airport.

That is vector air.

And so that's why I mentioned about I I know Jason is very approachable and talking about reaching out to the community with complaints and things like that.

So it's important, and I just ask all of council to read the the ordinance that formed the airport board, because that when we formed it, we we really kind of define the the the limits of that.

And and certainly there's areas that we can get into, but but it's really about economic development so that the airport can be become self-sufficient, essentially.

Okay, I'll wrap it up just uh by saying I was out there at the airfare and had a great time.

I was out there way longer than I probably should have been without sunscreen on.

But um, you know, just a wonderful um place to have conversations.

Uh numerous families I was able to talk to, and I couldn't help but to think who are the children out there, who are the the uh the small girls and boys that got inspired and may one day uh be the pilots that are flying us around.

Can I just make one point particularly to council member bear's statement?

Um this board is very young, five years.

A lot of the other ones have been around a long time.

We're still trying to figure this out, um, particularly since it's most recent iteration is different than the previous one.

I would encourage any of you all to reach out to us and give us some suggestions of how we might be able to do what we're figuring out how to do better.

Okay.

So please call me, talk to me, any of us.

Anything you all have in terms of suggestions, we'll eat it up.

We really will, because we're like I said, we're still trying to figure this out.

It's a very young board.

So thanks.

All right.

With that, I'm gonna say thank you for coming out, and we will move on to our last board who probably didn't have to go last last time, uh, but our um our caboose tonight, and that is the planning commission.

Um, our planning commission chair Ben Hempel and uh Commission member Tim Burns.

And surprise commission member Salish.

Oh, okay, come on up.

Good evening, town council.

My name is Ben Henpo.

I'm the chair of the planning commission, and I will do my best to keep this shortish.

Um just going over our general uh mission and team.

Uh we are we review the the land uses uh that we forward off to town council.

Um and we get a lot of support from town staff.

So I wanted to to list all the town staff on this as long as as well as our commission members, but uh we wouldn't be able to do what we do without the town staff.

Uh and part of that is doing quasi-judicial hearings, which you're a part of after they come to us to uh for the most part, and um we also work through UDC updates as that that's part of the process.

So we have our commissioners here again, Commissioner Burns and Commissioner Salish are here with me.

Um and then, like I said, the the staff, Kelly and Kunal are at pretty much every meeting, making sure we're doing things the right way.

Sarah comes to some meetings.

Thanks, Sarah.

Um, and then a lot of support from all the the planning department.

So we we get a lot from them.

From March to August, we did our our standard standard excitement of hearing uh public hearings and providing our recommendations to the town council for development applications.

Uh I won't list all these, but you've seen some of them and some of them are still coming your way.

Um and we've also performed some UDC recommendations.

Uh primary ones we did was the AC or ADUs and the affordable housing uh that we sent your way to.

One to the goals, uh we want to maintain our primary mission.

That's always a top goal, and that's just providing the feedback and the recommendations from those development applications.

That's I mean the core of what we do.

Um, but then as we expand more into that and to work into our roles, the UDC updates that uh have been talked about with planning staff.

Um right now is part of code, the planning commission sees those updates, and we just want to make sure that you know that we're happy to work on those with you.

Um one of the major ones is the UDC alignment with the the new comprehensive plan, making sure that the code matches the comprehensive plan so it's more easily enforced.

Um the revisions to the affordable housing uh that we've discussed.

I know I've reached out to Mayor Moore about a joint session on that and tentative January.

We're it's uh we understand how that works.

Um so making sure we get that done by November of next year, just to make sure we're in compliance with the state and uh Prop 123 funding.

And then the staff generally brings code amendments that make sense um to update based off of town needs, and we review those, make sure that they pass our muster before we send them off to you.

So um just want to reiterate that we're again happy to do that.

Um the last goal that we have for this next uh six months is looking at expanding our responsibilities.

I know we've talked about it as a commission at our last meeting for about an hour about some options.

I think there's a lot more to discuss, but part of that is uh regular meetings, regular being annually or twice a year um joint sessions with town council so we can understand your work priorities and we can work with you.

Um I think that's really helpful to meet as a group because we we don't have the liaisons that the other boards do because of the quasi-judicial nature of our commission.

So that's what uh the planning commission wants to propose.

That's what we talked about at our last meeting.

I think we'd all be happy to have a joint session.

Uh you're obviously much busier than we are, but uh we we'd love to help.

And one of the items that came up at our meeting that I think everyone was in favor of for dipping our toes into expanded responsibilities.

Um, just for some background, you do need to codify our expanded responsibilities.

Um, but it's reviewing the strategic plans of the town uh from the the planning perspective.

So there are do you know how many strategic points there are?

There's like 20 odd 20 some odd, yeah.

Yeah, there's about 20 strategic plans.

Some of them are over 10 years old, um, and they're slated for updates.

Um of them are referenced in the comprehensive plan.

And we I think we would be uh a good commission to support reviewing those um and making lessening the load on town council uh for those reviews.

So hopefully you trust us that if it comes from us that it's uh you still have to review it, but you have high confidence in what you're getting.

So those are my last slide is just basic questions and discussion.

So all right.

Um great.

Thank you for keeping it short and specific and then giving us some things to um to uh kind of grow up.

I'm gonna start on this because I I am um well, first I want to say we are committed to Prop 123.

Um and so it's just us getting through this backlog of work we're doing right now.

It's the budget work that we're doing.

Um, and then you are on the advanced agenda.

Can't remember exactly.

It's either um second meeting in January.

Um and sometimes those get moved up a day or back or up a week, a couple weeks or or back, but it's gonna be in that early um part of 2026.

Great uh to start that conversation.

Um and then uh I'm very interested on what other uh work you could do.

Obviously, the the the item you just brought up with all the strategic plans.

Uh if there's other things, um send me a note.

We're gonna have a study session uh next Tuesday.

Um there's uh uh just a placeholder right on there right now for us to talk about.

Are there other things we would like to see uh the planning commission do?

But if you guys have already done something um to start that conversation, um please send it to me and we can at least get the conversation going.

Not that decisions will be made next Tuesday, but we can start the conversation.

Okay.

Um okay, let me bring it back uh to council and um see if anybody has questions.

Wow.

Thank you.

You guys hung out the whole time.

You don't get off that easy.

Thank you for hanging out the whole time.

Um since you're the last advisory board, you guys get the prize.

And mayor, what what did you bring for them?

I'm just kidding, I just didn't know, but I just had an interruption.

Um but I do appreciate um you guys, and I look forward to joint meetings, joint session, and it's kind of like a mystery divide between the council and the planning commission.

I'm looking forward to sort of getting rid of that.

I've for years I've been advocating for some kind of party where we have charcuterie boards and just hang out.

But um I I just um we had a an item on the agenda that was supposed to follow this discussion.

Um I don't know anything about it, but uh is that slate?

I guess there's more question for you.

Is that slated for next Tuesday?

This coming Tuesday to talk about um planning commission appointments, and um, so I guess just stay tuned for that.

So but thank you so much for um all of your efforts and for coming to meetings sometimes.

Um it's good to hear from you guys.

So that's it.

Okay.

Um I was just gonna say that there are some leftover brownies if they're I'm highly food motivated.

Okay.

Who made another all right?

Well, thank you for coming out.

Thank you for being patient and being at the end this time.

I think they're rotating them each time.

So uh every time I've been at one of these, I've been either last or second to last.

Oh, interesting.

Okay.

I'm used to it.

I normally do what Commissioner Solwich does and show up with the agenda.

So I think you didn't you nailed it.

I think the chair had an idea of why and which one you were taking.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, have a good evening, and uh we'll be uh definitely engaged here shortly with you.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Okay, we'll go uh to council uh member reports and announcements, and um and then we'll go into executive session.

Uh so it will be a late one tonight.

Um we have a volunteer to go first, and then we'll go to the left of whoever volunteers.

Oh, right.

Well, we'll just go around the horn, then all right.

Um I wanted to thank the C Sue Sisterhood, which are women business owners in the town of Erie for hosting a panel of um town leaders and just engaging with us today.

They had we had great discussion and questions and um I appreciate the invite.

Um I think they are I forget how many they said either 48 or 84.

I'm reversing numbers in my head tonight.

But um, yeah, they said that between all of them, they think they know everyone in Erie.

So um thanks for the discussion today.

Um I also wanted to highlight that um the town of Erie is hosting a women's in leadership summit um October 9th, 530 to 730 at the ECC.

It's a free event, and we have several leaders from the town of Erie who will be speaking.

Um child care will be available.

Um, so make sure you check into that.

It's a free event, but you do need to register and um spots are limited.

So jump into that.

Um I also just wanted to thank all of the um community members and uh state policymakers that have reached out to me over the last two weeks um just to offer support and concern.

Um we we have gotten a lot of feedback about the the flag policy, including tonight during public comment um with concern about the direction that that puts into the town.

Uh and so I'm hoping as a board that we'll be able to revisit that perhaps and um maybe rethink what we've decided.

Um and then I also just wanted to highlight that my concern with the way that the vote was conducted.

Uh it was clear we had disagreement on the policy, and that's fine.

But the reason that I left was because I felt like I was my my rights to participate in the meeting were impinged, and whether it was intentional or not, um I think we would benefit from having a council parliamentarian.

Um that can be someone who that's their sole job.

It doesn't have to be a council member.

Um, it could be someone who can just you know be the person that we can rely on for to ensure that the um rules are followed because an uneven application of the rules creates just disparity um as I shared in the in the meeting over the weekend.

And so I just wanted to um reaffirm my request for that, the parliamentarian, and also I look forward to some training for the board.

Um we've been advocating for that for several months, and I'm hopeful that that will get scheduled.

I think we got a placeholder on our calendars today, so um, but thank you to the community um for reaching out.

I appreciate you all.

Thank you.

Councilmember Mortilero.

I just wanted uh again mention the ball cleanup this Saturday, but there's also uh residents can you have a trip to the landfill any day this week till you know from now till Saturday.

So that's all I got.

All right, Councilman Hope.

Um I would like to thank the residents of the community who continue to to show up and voice their opinions and um send us emails and phone calls.

Um those are very important to guide us.

And uh like to thank uh uh for her leadership and uh voicing her concerns and opinions.

Uh uh you're seen, you're heard, and uh I would encourage as many women as possible to show up to the to the summit.

Um we need more women at uh I don't think any of us others up here can appreciate what it's what it's like in any leadership position for a woman.

And uh we need we need to help develop that, and I think this summit could be a starting point for that.

So that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mandar also invited.

Councilmember Pitts from LA.

Yeah, uh, I had one thing to say.

Um last time when the when the meeting was um like about the flag policy and how council member Bear was shut down.

So I was thinking why the other council members didn't even oppose or ask about it.

Are they in agreement that her voice should be shut down?

Nobody would raise their voice.

So just wanted to bring it up because when you see something which is not right, I think you should stand up for it, not just leave it like that.

Just wanted to bring it up.

Thank you.

Yes, Councilman O'Connor.

I was just going to mention that the um fall residential tree rebate program is open um from September 1st through October 15th, and residents are eligible to receive a 200 credit up to a 200 credit on their utility bill for qualifying tree purchase.

All right.

Mayor Pro Tim.

Thank you.

First off, we um I said a lot of thinkies about the the airport, but I just I just want to go through a list of groups that helped make the uh airfare happen this weekend.

It was a very successful event.

Appreciate everyone that came out.

So again, once again, Emmett Dowling, Angela Terry, everybody on the AED AB.

Um the EEDC, NASA development, uh Bianca and the Flyers, or sorry, Bianca and the Fly Boys, who were the live music that was there, uh Ames Community College, uh the flight schools uh that uh lent their aircraft, uh war birds, uh helicopter rides uh and Mountain View Fire was out there, uh also Vector Air and uh the Erie High School drone team, and also just all of the people who lent their airplanes and some old model cars that were out there that you could view.

So uh this really was uh an event that took multiple people to to make it happen.

So just want to uh give appreciation to everyone.

So I wanted to address something that was uh you know brought up by a resident at the uh uh during public comment.

And uh I said coming into this position that um it's always I I try to hold myself to a higher high standard, and a lot of that comes to accountability.

And there was an email that was read by a resident that I had responded to, and I sent that out.

And I will say that it was not my most shining hour, I guess to put it bluntly.

I will say that there was a specific reason that I sent that response to that resident, and I said in that email that he knows the reason, and I will leave it at that.

But I will say overall that obviously with an issue that uh was as emotionally charged as we had during the lat last meeting, it brings out people that are very passionate about these issues.

Uh when I received the email that preceded my response to that particular resident, not that this is an excuse, but I happened to read it at a time where uh on Wednesday afternoon, uh I went with my wife, and we had to take our 15-year-old border colleague to be put down.

This was our first family pet.

My daughter was out there.

It was a very emotional moment for us.

And um, I know the mayor and and his wife reached out to me afterwards, and I was very appreciative of that.

And uh, you know, pets are part of our families, and and so unfortunately, I was in a very emotional state, and I broke my first cardinal rule, which is never to act on something when out of emotion.

But I will say that there was a specific reason that yes, I quoted uh Matthew 7, 1 through 5, and there was a particular reason that I that I used that uh verse.

And it's because I have seen some of the most vile responses from the public on some of the things that we had.

We had a voice message that was left earlier that I was quite frankly shocked that that somebody would actually call up and say this.

Now I want to say that the vast majority of the community and the vast majority of of the folks, nearly all the residents who who spoke uh in in public comment today were very respectful and uh came and and I look I listened to everything that they said, and I was very appreciative of that.

But this is not something I normally do, but I I just wanted to um read that verse that I quoted, and it's judge not that you be judged, for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the same measure you use it, it will be measured to you.

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your own eye?

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

And I just want to say that that verse applies as much to me as it does to anybody else.

And I am not perfect, and I certainly wasn't perfect in that moment when when I responded to that.

And this is more of a sense that when we talk about these issues, I think we need to talk about them at a high level and one out of respect.

And certainly uh many of our residents that that spoke in public comment um were were very respectful for us, and and not just on the flag issue, but there are some concerns in my neighborhood in Erie Highlands, and and you know, those those are the things that I'd like to be talking about.

Um so with that, I just you know my apologies uh to the resident that that that got sent out to.

Um but I hope that it bodes for better communication and that um words hurt, and while I did show choose to be up here, and so at a certain extent, and we all did, uh that makes us more of a target.

Um but that doesn't mean that I have to sit back and accept everything.

And I I've seen many of the comments that people have written about me on online, and and I was saying this weekend at the retreat that people used to send these to me and say, Oh, look at what this person said about you.

And I had to get to the point to say, please stop sending that.

I realize you're trying to help, but uh it was very impactful to me.

But the one that was the most impactful was one that a resident said that they couldn't stand me, so they blocked me and my entire family.

And to a certain extent, I'm glad they did because I'm I I know for all of us here, I've said family is off limits.

And um, but the fact that somebody would judge something that I did, and uh, you know, I have pretty thick skin, and I'm perfectly willing to talk to anybody about anything that I've said.

Uh but to my wife and my kids, if you're judging them by things that I do, and it may surprise people, but my wife doesn't always agree with me.

Um she will be the first person to tell you that too.

And that is something that I hope we can come to a mutual respect in in our community.

And so um once again, um just thank the thank the public for coming out tonight, and I will leave it at that.

All right, I will wrap it up.

Um I will say um just briefly about uh the motion um at our last meeting.

I was mid-thought, um, and I did not do my best to keep my thought going.

I was calling for a motion to approve option three.

I paused when I stopped in um midway and said I'm calling for a motion as I was getting my thoughts straight.

And I think that's when council member uh bear jumped in.

Um and when I stopped her for not being recognized, there was nothing personal there, that was nothing to do with anything else.

I was just trying to get my my full thought out.

Um I am um um looking forward um to the meeting we are all gonna have to talk about trust and teamwork and ways forward.

Um I've always said that I've got more to learn.

I know I can do better up here.

I sent this council a note um saying I can do better.

Um, and I'm gonna continue to try.

Um I think council member Petramelli, when you said why didn't any of us stop this?

Yes, that um you know, call for a point of order.

We have an attorney here.

Um call for um a clarification because the meeting will stop and we will do exactly that.

And if I messed up in the moment, um I can fix it in the moment.

Um but hold on, but to count um Mayor Pro Tem's uh point.

It was an emotional meeting, and I was feeling those emotions, probably with everyone else that was um sitting up here.

All right, the um I will also say that the retreat we had this weekend, uh we spent all seven of us and um uh senior staff uh spent time understanding all the different things in front of us, the funding mechanisms, and um I was uh I was happy driving away that I think we've given clear direction to um staff to start now working on the final budget uh to bring back to us.

We'll be communicating more about that um before long.

Um it's not perfect, I don't think there's a perfect way when you have so many things to do, uh, but I think it's the best um um best path forward that we can all um agree on.

And so I'm I'm excited about that.

Um, I want to say that uh Councilmember Mortalero and I, we bike to school.

We biked to uh elementary school last week with um one of our residents, a mom and her two kids.

Um, and it was basically to go from compass and to help us understand what does it take to go to compass to uh Meadowlark?

And you've got to cross 119th Street, it's highly dicey, and so I think that whole topic about figuring out how do we get Rex Ranch connected with COMPASS safely uh will continue to be a uh topic until we uh definitely get it um figured out.

And the last thing that happened since our last meeting is that we had the Schofield Farm groundbreaking.

It was a lot of fun.

That's gonna be a great community um event.

I wish Luke was still here because he did a great job uh getting us to that um.

Okay, with that, um I'm gonna see if the mayor pro ten will take us into executive session.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh I move to go into a executive session.

One to determine positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, develop strategy for negotiations, and or instruct negotiators pursuant to CRS 2464024E, and to hold a conference with the town special counsel to receive legal advice on specific legal questions pursuant to CR6, sorry, CRS 2464024B, all concerning the Erie Municipal Airport, and two determine positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, develop a strategy for negotiations and or instruct negotiators pursuant to CRS 2464024C to consider purchase, acquisition, lease, transfer, or sale of real personal or other property pursuant to CRS 2464024A to hold a conference with the town special council to receive legal advice on specific legal questions pursuant to CRS 2464024B for which a stiff specific talk for which a topic cannot be discussed without compromising the purpose of executive session.

Do we have a second?

Second.

All right, motion second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposite say no.

All right, we will adjourn the meeting after the executive session, so we will not be coming back um here tonight.