Open Space Advisory Board Agenda and Packet 2021 10 21

Home Browse Search

As time gets on, we will realize that there is no higher use for the land than to preserve the natural world as the natural world. Beyond nature for its own sake, however, natural land is what draws people to an area to live and spend their money. This is our chance to do something beautiful and meaningful. Riley Mancuso, Lafayette, Oct. 07, 2021 The following sentence is included in the draft management plan: " Unfortunately, the discovery of gold, the rush of new prospectors, and the beginnings of permanent settlement throughout the burgeoning city of Boulder displaced many of the tribes and led to violence and conflict." What liberal whitewashing, going to such lengths to avoid saying the truth, which is: "White settlers violated the treaty and violently attacked Indigenous people, killing them and stealing their land, which we now acknowledge (vaguely, without admitting how we still reap material benefits from this genocide every day), yet refuse to do anything else to make restitution." Stop trying to do f**king meaningless land acknowledgements. Just return all public space in Boulder County to the stewardship of Indigenous tribes. Since you of course would never consider that, I would like to make the following suggestions for the use of the stolen land now called the Mayhoffer Farm property: the highest priorities should be restoration of riparian habitat and preservation of sustainable agricultural operations. An ADA-accessible trail is fine, but I think that it's pointless and undesirable to waste space and funds on recreational use. There's already an excess of recreational park spaces across Boulder County, and many nearby 3-season picnic shelters exist closer to populated neighborhoods and are frequently deserted. Neither is it particularly important to me that the space include development for "educational" purposes, since I suspect any educational materials produced by the team behind this plan will include exactly the sort of saccharine revisionist history seen in the draft, and quoted at the top of my comment. Jessica Gribble, Lafayette, Oct. 07, 2021 Thank you very much for bringing a diverse group of people to work on these plans. I appreciate the city's desire to use the land well, and I appreciate the opportunity for the public to comment. Your plans sound great, and I'll look forward to the changes and improvements. Stuart Langley, Lafayette, Oct. 06, 2021 Given the short term of the agricultural lease is it feasible to negotiate subsequent lease such that the agricultural use that impedes option B could be mitigated. Perhaps it is also possible to transfer enough land from the lease to mitigate the concern related to proximity to the water treatment plant. Even if 10's of acres are lost to what is leasable, this seems a minor cost to improve public (who paid for the land) experience. Along the same lines, how disruptive would it be to have a trail along the ditch that bisects the Mayhoffer section? While we don't want to overly diminish the value of the agricultural lease, some diminishment for the benefit of the public is worthwhile. Paul DesRocher, Lafayette, Oct. 06, 2021 First off, thanks for conducting this planning process. The plan looks great, however, I believe the scope needs to be widened a bit. 10