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Making sure the voices of Boulder voters are heard and respected
A hotel on Open Space near Chautauqua?

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Chautauqua Area (1.2 MB)

“A hotel on Open Space near Chautauqua” – ridiculous you say. But the Chautauqua Association Board just allocated over $12,000 to study the feasibility of exactly that. Details are sketchy, but apparently they are looking at up to 150 rooms on a site near the Bluebell Shelter above the big meadow just south of Baseline or on a site above Enchanted Mesa near the City reservoir that overlooks much of South Boulder. See this memo from Susan Connelly, the Executive Director of the Chautauqua Association.

This idea has been under discussion for over a month, but the Board had apparently decided to keep mum on the issue. Fortunately the news got out, and the citizens of Boulder can now be involved in protecting their Open Space.

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To give the Board credit, there are financial issues in the management of Chautauqua that are worth addressing, and the hotel was an idea that they wanted to look at as a possible revenue source. But Open Space is not a land bank for whatever commercial venture somebody comes up with. This area is used for recreation by thousands of people, and protects the views of thousands more. And the first ever Open Space purchase by vote was done by Boulder citizens in 1963 when they authorized a bond issue to buy Enchanted Mesa specifically to stop the development of – guess what – a hotel. As Yogi Berra said, “Déjà vu all over again.”

The City Council needs to put an end to this immediately, both to save the Chautauqua Board from wasting their money, and to ensure that there is not a flood of other proposals to put development on Open Space in this or other areas. Contact the City Council at council@bouldercolorado.gov.

The Chautauqua Board also needs to hear what you think about this. Here are all their emails in one place, so you can cut and paste:

john.meyer@colorado.edu;cody@orchardhouse.net; graysoncecil@mac.com; alramsey2@comcast.net; smarcbrett@aol.com; rfoy@commartsdesign.com; mfranson@stcharlescapital.com; bggilbert@mac.com; gmk@mapsandprints.com; ed_sanders@comcast.net; kschmoll@ucar.edu, molly@tayer.net; kathleen@onlineinsites.com; john@oneboulderplaza.com; jim_zman@yahoo.com;