[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 168 (Wednesday, November 19, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2320-E2321]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ACKNOWLEDGING AN INNOVATIVE BOULDER COUNTY COOPERATIVE PLANNING
AGREEMENT
______
HON. MARK UDALL
of colorado
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge an
innovative and significant agreement between the various communities in
Boulder County, Colorado. Working together in a spirit of cooperation,
the nine municipal communities in the county came together with Boulder
County to produce this agreement which will help promote wise planning
and smart growth management and thereby preserve the quality of life in
the county and these communities.
Called the Boulder County Countywide Coordinated Comprehensive
Development Plan Intergovernmental Agreement (or the Super IGA), this
plan was signed on October 16, 2003 by Boulder County and the
communities of Boulder, Erie, Jamestown, Lafayette, Longmont,
Louisville, Lyons, Nederland and Superior.
In Colorado, as in many States, intergovernmental agreements are
typically created to address common management issues between
neighboring communities. With this Super IGA, communities within the
entire county have come together to address common concerns and issues
and have established a roadmap for the benefit of all residents of the
county.
Over the past few years, county and city officials labored to come to
terms on an accord that outlines growth boundaries for development,
provides land use regulations that prevent growth into hazardous areas
like flood plains, and designates buffer zones between communities. An
IGA of this magnitude, across nearly 800 square miles, consisting of a
dozen different municipalities, and encompassing over 300,000 people,
is a remarkable achievement.
This Super IGA is based on more than 10 underlying plans that
inherently permit flexibility through an open amendment process. It is
that basic flexibility that will likely drive this 20 year agreement,
allowing the various governing bodies to strive for their individual
success, yet within the framework of a larger consensual accord.
This innovative and forward-looking approach to planning and growth
management is indeed exciting. Clearly, as this is a new approach, we
all are watching this carefully and hope that it is successful. But its
very creation shows that communities can come together and work toward
common goals. Boulder County and these communities have embarked on an
approach which I hope will continue to foster positive
intergovernmental relationships, and strengthen the sense of our
collective community. It's an example of the things that local
communities can do to make sure that growth and development complement
the needs and desires of citizens and local communities.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the creators
of this Boulder County Super IGA, and in wishing them continued
success. For our colleagues' information, I am attaching an article
from the Colorado Daily newspaper.
[From the Colorado Daily, Oct. 16, 2003]
``Super IGA Now Rules Local Land Use in Boulder
(By Richard Valenty)
Mayors from Boulder County municipalities joined Boulder
County Commissioners in signing the Boulder County Countywide
Coordinated Comprehensive Development Plan Intergovernmental
Agreement Thursday at A Spice of Life Event Center in
Boulder.
Fortunately, the document has a short name, the ``Super
IGA.'' The Super IGA partially coordinates at least ten
smaller Intergovernmental Agreements (IGA), called Underlying
Plans.
IGA's, in general, often involve land use regulations to
prevent situations like development in naturally hazardous
areas like flood plains, or to manage growth by creating
buffers of open space between communities. For example, the
Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan is a joint land use plan
between the city and county of Boulder, thus is an IGA
between the two entities.
``These IGA's are sort of a shared vision by the county and
by various cities and towns about where growth will happen,
and what parts of the county we want to see remain rural in
the future,'' said Ron Stewart, Boulder County Commissioner.
Representatives of the city of Boulder, Boulder County,
Lafayette, Longmont, Louisville, Erie, Jamestown, Lyons,
Nederland and Superior signed the Super IGA. The town of Ward
is not participating, since federal
[[Page E2321]]
lands and county open space surround it and therefore urban
sprawl is not a concern.
According to Stewart, the Super IGA agreement is the
culmination of years of hard work.
``I've been working on this for about the last three
years,'' said Stewart. ``Also, the city managers and
administrators throughout the county have been very helpful
in putting this together. Every city council in the county
ultimately voted in favor of this. Our county attorney told
me that by the time we got it done, it was on its 30th
draft.''
The City of Lafayette was the last county municipality to
agree to be part of the Super IGA. According to Stewart, it
was difficult to create a draft that would satisfy everybody.
``Lafayette simply had more concern about the agreement
than other cities, and it took us longer than others to work
those issues out,'' said Stewart. ``After the drought last
year, they wanted assurance that they could build new
reservoirs for water storage.''
Not all of Boulder County was covered by an IGA before
Thursday, but the Super IGA contains a clause to ``cover
additional unincorporated areas not covered by any Underlying
Plan.''
``The Super IGA covers additional territory in the county
that would have been outside the area of those agreements,''
said Stewart.
The Super IGA document is also designed to limit annexation
plans of one entity from encroaching on another entity's
Influence Areas, according to the document.
``The Super IGA says that everyone will respect each
other's planning area, and that one town isn't going to be
providing utility services in somebody else's planning
area,'' said Stewart. ``It's the kind of commitment to
planning and to a shared vision that allows us to keep the
quality of life that we have in Boulder County.''
Stewart added that Boulder residents should not fear
situations like the city of Jamestown trying to influence the
Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, since Underlying Plans
would only be amended by members of the underlying IGA.
``No group or committee is created out of the formation of
the Super IGA,'' said Stewart. ``If anyone wants to change a
land use designation, the various underlying IGAs would have
to be amended. In our Comprehensive Plan, the city and county
of Boulder could change it without the approval of the rest
of the Super IGA.''
Also, the Super IGA states that additional issues such as
sales tax revenue sharing, affordable housing and library
services could eventually become parts of regional
agreements.
``There isn't any serious talk of revenue sharing right
now,'' said Stewart. ``That paragraph is meant to state that
there is additional work that could be done in terms of
regionalism.''
James Burrus, Boulder County media information officer,
called the signing of the Super IGA ``truly historic.''
Burrus indicated that this is the only agreement of its kind
in Colorado, and Stewart believes it has some national
significance as well.
``There are places in America where they do this kind of
planning, setting urban growth boundaries, but these are
places where the law requires it to happen,'' said Stewart.
``The historic thing here is that nobody required anybody to
do this. It was done voluntarily.
``This is really a statement that even in a state like
Colorado, where land use laws don't encourage a lot of
cooperation, we were all able to get on the same page on a
voluntary basis,'' said Stewart.
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