The Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan directs us to do so NOW. Waiting would mean further airport growth and entrenchment and would perhaps make the creation of new neighborhoods impossible in the future.

If we wait, the airport, currently in rundown condition, will be updated, modernized, and literally cemented in place.

The Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan is Boulder’s planning Bible. In section 6.23, it describes the Boulder Municipal Airport and states, “At the time of the next Airport Master Plan, the city will work with the community to reassess the potential for developing a portion of the airport for housing and neighborhood-serving uses.” This is the city’s promise that opens the door to consider repurposing the airport when we update the Airport Master Plan.

Well, that time for the next Airport Master Plan is NOW. The Boulder Airport Manager and Transportation Department just completed a year-long “Community Conversation” about the future of the airport, and will be kicking  off the next Airport Master Plan in the near future.

If we do not make a decision to decommission the airport now, this opportunity will not easily come around again. If, instead, we go into an Airport Master Plan update, which is funded and steered by the FAA, the goal will be to grow and modernize the airport. More FAA grant money, more obligations, more investment, construction, and growth at the airport takes us in the wrong direction, perhaps forever. And the city will continue to be disempowered regarding airport management - unable to regulate noise, lead, or other impacts - while the airport grows.