Lafayette City Council Workshop: Open Space, Water Supply, and Board Work Plans – February 24, 2026
Lafayette City Council Workshop
On February 24, 2026, the Lafayette City Council held a workshop receiving informational presentations on the Open Space program and the city’s water supply system, followed by a discussion of board and commission work plans. The meeting also included a brief new-ideas segment and a special meeting that adjourned to executive session.
Open Space Program Overview
- Deputy Director Dennis Morrington, Open Space Superintendent Lexi Sierra Martinez, Open Space Advisory Board Chair Grant Swift, and CFO Heather Balser presented an overview of Lafayette’s open space program.
- The city owns just over 1,600 acres of open space with 22 miles of trails; 70% of comprehensive plan respondents cited open space as an aspect of Lafayette they liked.
- Funding comes from two .25% sales taxes: the Legacy Fund (open space acquisition and maintenance, put into perpetuity in 2017, current balance $1.165 million) and the POST Fund (parks, open space, and trails).
- The Priority Land Criteria Framework uses 19 criteria to rank potential acquisitions; LOSAB is updating the matrix, adding an equitable access criterion based on a 10-minute walk from disproportionately impacted communities.
- Staff are exploring alternative acquisition approaches (conservation easements, trail easements, partnerships) and considering hiring an open space real estate specialist. A proactive landowner outreach strategy and a shop-local awareness campaign are also under discussion.
- Council members asked about e-bike enforcement, social trail policies, prescribed burns, pollinator district designation, future plans for the Wanaka Centennial Farm, and the possibility of electric mowers. Staff noted that police presence and education have reduced e-bike complaints, and that a ranger program is being pursued.
Water Supply Update
- Public Works Director Jeff Arthur and Water Resource Manager Carrie Bischoff presented foundational information on Lafayette’s water system.
- The city operates three enterprise funds (water, wastewater/reclamation, stormwater) funded by rates and fees, not taxes.
- Approximately 80% of supply comes from the Boulder Creek watershed; the remainder from the Upper Colorado River Basin via Northern Water (CBT and Windy Gap).
- Current storage is about 82% full (4,700 acre-feet in Goose Haven and Baseline reservoirs); the CBT quota is set at 50%.
- A new cell at Goose Haven added 750 acre-feet of storage and was filled in October 2025 after a pipeline repair.
- Snowpack in the Boulder Creek watershed is at 55% of median (2nd percentile), with significant drought conditions in the high country. Staff developed a Water Shortage Index tool to forecast supply/demand; early runs under 2002-type scenarios yield results just above or below 1.0.
- Council discussed rate comparisons, low-income assistance (partnership with Sister Carmen, ongoing bill credits), turf replacement rebates ($750), HOA challenges, and the need to measure program effectiveness. The golf course was noted as an efficient irrigator using non-treated water.
Integrated Water Efficiency and Drought Plan (Lafayette Water Readiness Plan)
- The draft plan has a 7-year horizon (through 2032) and includes both water efficiency (long-term demand reduction) and drought response (four stages with escalating mandatory restrictions).
- Stage 1 (moderate drought) targets 10% savings through voluntary restrictions; Stage 4 (emergency) >40% savings with no outdoor irrigation.
- The plan relies on an interdepartmental team and will undergo public review before adoption via resolution, expected July/August 2026. Staff intend to follow the framework immediately if drought conditions worsen.
- Council encouraged continued outreach using utility bills and expressed interest in on-bill financing for water-saving improvements. The city’s existing conservation ordinance limits outdoor watering to three days per week, with no watering 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
Board and Commission Work Plans
- Council discussed the proposed work plans submitted by advisory boards and commissions. No significant concerns were raised.
- Councilors suggested: encouraging cross-pollination between boards (e.g., having board chairs meet, identifying one other board to collaborate with), ensuring boards consider upcoming capital projects within their purview, and providing grace if volunteer boards cannot complete all listed items.
- Council liaisons will report back to their respective boards confirming general support and conveying any specific feedback.
New Ideas
- Councilmember Bullier briefly mentioned the Strong Cities Network (a global prevention network addressing polarization and extremism) and will provide information to council for consideration at a future meeting.
Special Meeting – Executive Session
- After adjourning the workshop, the council called a special meeting, recited the Pledge of Allegiance, and unanimously voted to adjourn to executive session pursuant to CRS 24-6-402(4)(b) and (e) to receive legal advice and discuss strategy regarding the annexation of the property at the southwest corner of Highway 287 and Arapahoe Road (Range at Lafayette). The council did not return to open session.
Key Outcomes
- The open space presentation was informational; staff will continue updating the priority land criteria and exploring alternative acquisition strategies.
- The water supply presentation was informational; the integrated plan will return for a council workshop on April 28, 2026, for detailed review.
- Council expressed general support for board work plans and encouraged enhanced inter-board communication.
- The council adjourned to executive session on annexation; no public action was taken.
Meeting Transcript
Joining me is Dennis Morrington, Deputy Director of Parks Open Space and Gulf. Lexi Sierra Martinez, our open space superintendent. Grant Swift, the chair of the Open Space Advisory Board. And Heather Balser, our chief financial officer, is also here and available for questions. And I want to acknowledge and appreciate we've got some other members of the Open Space Advisory Board here this evening. Tonight we're gonna be providing you with an overview of the open space program and its history. We'll talk about the legacy open space fund and the post fund that support the program. We'll also talk about the priority land criteria framework that's been used by the Open Space Board for many years in establishing priorities for potential future open space. And then of course we'll be available for questions. Okay, I'm gonna give a brief overview of open space. So as you probably know, open space is defined by land that's owned by the city. It's preserved for our natural resources, our landscapes, wildlife habitat, agricultural activities and corridors while also serving as a buffer from our neighbors. And it differs from parks in that it primarily remains in its natural states used for passive recreation, like walking and biking and bird watching. And 70% of our community respondents in our comprehensive plan update in 2021 cited open space as an aspect of Lafayette that they liked. And featured here is some beaver dams just east of 120th on Hole Creek. So a bit of overview of open space. We have just over 1,600 acres of jointly and solely owned properties and 22 miles of trails that run through them. And we support what's called urban ecology. So we have hundreds of vertebrate wildlife species that depend on our open spaces as well as thousands of invertebrate species. And we have five habitat types here in Lafayette. We have several goals that help guide our work and our decision making. We wanna conserve, enhance, and restore our habitat and the ecological systems within them. We of course wanna protect wildlife and minimize disturbance, especially, but not limited to sensitive natural areas. We want to maintain landscape connectivity and that ecological function within it. We also wanna provide passive recreation opportunities, but that those must align with our conservation goals, manage and create trails, promote community stewardship through education, outreach, and volunteerism, and of course, we want to support ecosystem and community resilience through balanced land management. And featured here are some Great Horned Outlets. We have a Great Horned Owl family that breeds annually on Rock Creek. So our projects are really uh directed by multiple strategic plans, and we also have several designations as well. We of course have our Lafayette Comprehensive Plan. We have our parks recreation open space or our PROS plan. It was last updated in 2019, so due for a bit of an update. We have our natural environment uh section of the climate action plan that really relates to the work we do in open space. Featured here is also our 2005 open space and trails plan that really served as a framework for a lot of the newer plans as well as our priority land acquisition framework. And most uh recently we have our wildlife plan for those of you who are here as something that I'm really proud of, and the the most current plan that is guiding a lot of our work. And we also have designations that uh align with our projects. We have pollinator district designation, which we are actively pursuing. We are in our uh sixth year of Bird City, Colorado, our third year of the mayor's monarch pledge, and our 30th year of Tree City USA. So a little bit about our open space team. We are part of the community services department in the parks open space and golf division. We are a small but mighty team. It used to be way smaller until recently. We have Dennis, our deputy director, myself, the superintendent, Holly is our coordinator. We have two maintenance maintenance technicians now, which is really exciting, and each summer we hire one to two seasonal staff members. So a little bit about our staff in action. A lot of the work that we focus on again relates back to the wildlife plan. We do a lot of restoration. We were once short grass prairie. A lot of our uh town was converted to agriculture, and so we spend a lot of time converting things back. So just a little bit of highlights from the last year. We had 11 acres of areas restored, um, lots of noxious weed removal, hand and manual removal, over 2,000 plants put in the ground, uh, many of those in wetland and riparian areas.
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