The City of Boulder and a group of University Hill community
members are launching a pilot program called “Our Hill, Our Home,” from Sept.
30 through Nov. 7 in an effort to explore creating a new tax district for the
area.
The program will test the creation of a new services
district concept to support ongoing renewal efforts in the Hill neighborhoods.
The district aims to share costs and create economies of scale for basic
maintenance services. The target area of the program is the high-density
residential areas between 10th and 13th streets and between College and
Pleasant avenues.
This concept was presented to City Council in April 2010 by
the Hill Ownership Group, an ad-hoc group of University Hill property managers,
residents, business owners, CU employees, students and city staff working
together to support neighborhood improvements. The Hill Ownership Group is
exploring how the concept of a taxing district could potentially address
services such as litter pickup, graffiti removal, weed removal, snow removal
from sidewalks, recycling and specific trash service pickups.
The pilot project is designed to gather information and
determine whether there are positive effects of coordinated maintenance in a
limited area. A subcommittee of the Hill Ownership Group is in the process of
contacting property owners and managers in the pilot area to inform them of the
project and obtain permission to remove litter and graffiti from portions of their
properties.
The city will provide supervisory staff, and donated funds
will pay for temporary labor and supplies. The pilot will include students from
the restorative justice program for a few larger clean-ups. A component of the
project will be documentation of before and after conditions and accounting for
budgeting and planning purposes.
If there is support from property owners and residents to
create a taxing district after the pilot program is completed, the city will
put the concept to a vote. The election would be limited to voters and property
owners within the proposed district boundaries, and would likely occur in
November 2012.
For more information about the pilot program, the work of
the Hill Ownership Group or the possibility of a taxing district, contact
Jennifer Korbelik, city/university liaison, at 303-441-4142 or
[email protected].
