2022 Proposed Climate Tax

Do all we can to mitigate climate change. And Insurance companes should contribute since they will have to pay for property damage.

We live in a mobile home park and many are getting overheated. Can heat pumps be used for mobile homes?

Increase the number of transit oriented developments

Increased density around transit with mixed use developments will reduce car dependence, reduce carbon emissions, and reduce congestion.

City buildings

Convert city buildings to high-efficiency all-electric

Collaborate with Strong Towns organization to plan for a sustainable, non-car dependent city

See https://www.strongtowns.org/community-action-lab . Strong Towns is currently soliciting applications for cities to work with their teams to coordinate city action and development plans to shift towards economically solvent and sustainable cities. This is directly connected to climate action needs as we require a financially solvent city that is able to support itself and its community members if the same city is also able to address climate issues. In this case, I strongly encourage utilizing the Strong Towns expertise towards understanding densification in Boulder to reduce car dependency and create additional areas of Boulder beyond Pearl Street that are designed for people not cars, ie walkable and "charming" neighborhoods. This would include incrementally zoning for small businesses/corner stores in present day single family zoned neighborhoods. This would be consistent towards recognizing that single family zoning is also not carbon friendly (e.g. building climate control heat loss/gain is multiplied by 4 walls vs 1-3 walls in multi-family housing). Car parking minimums are also detrimental as it encourages urban sprawl, encourages greater asphalt use, and unequally subsidizes people who choose to own cars. Incrementally designing our city towards a future no longer requiring car ownership (ie every household can walk to a grocery store) for those in East and North Boulder specifically would be great. Densification issues and efficient use of Boulder's limited land resources could also tie into the already established efforts to offer rebates for energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits. Notably, the current plan targets the receipt of these monies by the owner class, ie homeowners, landlords, and business owners. There should be additional language in receiving these monies that support the renter or employee, such as requiring a percentage of affordable housing units. Alternatively, directing CAP revenue to all Boulder residents equitably, a city carbon dividend of sorts, would be the more equitable solution instead of only allowing the owner class to use said revenues for energy efficiency upgrades. If the prior is not feasible, at least enforce all newly built housing be offered grant rebates for degrees of LEED certification for businesses, or inclusion of heat pumps plus proper insulation installed with residential property building codes. With respect to the densification idea again, under CAP, this might likely involve a use tax based on the ratio of building square footage to lot square footage. Inefficient land use is not a carbon positive choice and financially, most single family zoned neighborhoods are net negative income wise for a city given the outsized cost of utility services needed to traverse longer distances per person living in those homes as well as long term maintenance costs of roads feeding this more distant and distant from each other housing stock. Increasing taxes based on parcel size on single family housing would accurately account for these higher costs, and higher carbon emissions, per capita on this zone type. Multi-family housing should then have a lower per capita tax burden but higher, and actually positive, per capita tax revenue for the city. I'd secondarily encourage seeking out Urban3 to do an analysis of this scope for Boulder as part of CAP. CAP revenue could be directed towards consulting costs as warranted. I understand the meandering scope of this idea and prior text but I hope it provides a baseboard for an enthusiastic Boulder public policy expert and/or urban planner to follow through and better implement such ideas through CAP or otherwise.

All-electric buildings

Update your building code to require new construction to be high-efficiency all-electric

Reduce long commutes and the jobs/housing imbalance by allowing fourplexs to be built on any lot in the city.