Civil process, fine schedule added to ordinance
The Boulder City Council on Thursday night approved the second reading of an ordinance which will add a civil process to the city’s code enforcement regulations for trash and weed violations, which currently only includes a criminal process, and also established a fine schedule to align with the amendment.
The council also unanimously approved an additional motion, requesting that City Manager Nuria Rivera-vandermyde include information about the new fine schedule and the reset schedule, which occurs every August, in all public materials about the ordinance, and also work to add options for restorative justice with implementation of the ordinance.
Mayor Pro Tem Mark Wallach was not present Thursday night due to an illness, but he emailed staff and the council ahead of the meeting saying he supported the ordinance.
City Councilmembers Nicole Speer and Lauren Folkerts voted against the ordinance.
Trash violations comprise 48% of all exterior nuisance violations in Boulder, while weeds make up 11%, according to a 2022 city analysis.
Under the current criminal process, property owners who violate trash or weed ordinances receive a warning and a deadline to remedy the violation, according to the staff memo. If the violation is not fixed, the owner is served a criminal summons. A municipal court criminal summons has a maximum fine of $2,650 and/or 90 days in jail. The fine amount is up to the judge’s discretion but typically is $100 for a first offense. The individual can also contest the violation.
By adding the civil violation to the city’s trash and weed violation process, the Boulder Police Department Code Enforcement Unit will still post a warning on the property and send an email notifying the property owner of the violation and a deadline to fix the violation. The warning will also contain the officer’s contact information if the property owner has questions or needs an extension to comply with the violation. If the violation is not remedied, the property will receive a civil citation but will not have to appear in court but will still have the ability to appeal the violation. The new fine schedule established in the ordinance is $100 for a first offense, $250 for a second offense and $500 for a third offense.
Brenda Ritenour, Boulder neighborhood engagement and services manager, said moving forward, code enforcement will
first use the civil citation method, but if the owner does not comply officers will issue a summons. Not only will this process save officers time as they are required to deliver the criminal summons in-person, it also aims to increase resident compliance, she added.
“Under the current criminal offense, the violation ‘ticket’ is also a court summons and therefore must be received in-person and signed by the recipient,” Ritenour wrote in an email ahead of Thursday’s meeting. “This means sometimes the summons is not able to be delivered and compliance is not achieved. As a civil offense, the citation can be posted on the door and emailed to the property owner. Because the citation will be easier to deliver, we anticipate greater violation awareness and increased compliance. This has proven true with the bear trash ordinances, which are also civil offenses instead of criminal.”
Ahead of the City Council’s discussion and vote on the ordinance, University of Colorado Boulder student Chase Cromwell spoke against the amendment.
“It’s sad that we as a community view it as our priority to amend code and police behavior instead of treating our student community specifically as neighbors,” he said.
“These changes only make it easier to issue more citations in a day and come back to this code a dozen times in the next two years to make one small change after another — only making the entire process more confusing.”
In other discussion Thursday night, the City Council took its first look at a proposal to redevelop about 4.5 acres of land on Jay Road to one day include 84 for-sale units. The City Council had not begun discussing the concept or providing feedback before the Daily Camera’s print deadline.
The preliminary concept presented by staff proposes to annex 4.58 acres at 2801 Jay Road to construct duplexes, triplexes and townhomes ranging from 1,050 square-feet to 1,800 squarefeet, of which 40% would meet the city’s affordability standards for middleincome residents. The area, which sits near the intersection of 28th Street and Jay Road, contains a church building and a parking lot and is surrounded by lowdensity single-family developments.
Residents who live near the proposed site have emailed staff and the Boulder Planning Board to express concerns regarding traffic and congestion on Jay Road; crashes at the intersection of Jay Road and 28th Street and U.S. 36; prairie dogs who currently live at the site; the density of the proposal; and affordability of the units, according to the staff memo.
“That intersection has only had more traffic and has become more dangerous and congested,” said Boulder resident Robyn Kube during Thursday’s public hearing. “Almost every weekend there’s a new pile on the street of debris from car crashes. As a cyclist, it’s scarier than anything.”