The Airport Neighborhood Campaign , a grassroots coalition of housing advocates and airport neighbors, is circulating two initiatives to let the voters decide this fall on the future of Boulder’s city-owned airport (BDU). As an organizer for this campaign in my personal capacity, I am heartened to be hearing so much public dialog on this topic. Below are some persistent misconceptions that I’d like to address. First, our proposed initiatives would repurpose the city-owned airport site for new neighborhoods with 50% on-site housing in the city’s affordable housing program for low-, moderate- and middle-income families. Some folks question whether this housing will be truly affordable and built on-site. We can state confidently that, yes, it will. The ballot measures require it. If the ballot measures pass, the city will be legally required to make it so. Second, you may hear some say that we don’t need to worry about the health impacts of burning leaded aviation fuel because “unleaded fuel is coming.” While efforts are underway to bring unleaded aviation fuel to small airports like BDU, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will not allow BDU to stop selling leaded aviation fuel. Unleaded fuel, when available, must be sold side by side with leaded. Unleaded costs $1.50 per gallon more, and few pilots choose to buy it. For 30 years, the FAA has promised and failed to eliminate leaded aviation fuel. The federal government still has no plan or timetable for a ban, and what will happen after the next presidential election or two is anyone’s guess. Third, some say that voluntary noise abatement agreements effectively mitigate aircraft noise. In reality, voluntary agreements are ineffective. According to city staff, in 2023, Boulder experienced over 30,000 aircraft flying too low over noise-sensitive areas, thousands of aircraft operations during noise-sensitive hours, and over 1,000 noise complaints, despite BDU’s voluntary noise abatement guidelines. Many impacted residents report giving up on filing noise complaints due to the effort required and lack of responsiveness. Furthermore, the FAA will not allow the city to sensibly regulate aircraft operations for noise abatement. The city can’t limit hours of operation. Can’t limit the number of flights. Can’t ban repetitively looping “touch and go” flights. Can’t require quiet equipment. Ten miles south of us, Rocky Mountain Metro Airport’s (RMMA) community noise roundtable is on the verge of disbanding because Louisville, Lafayette, Superior, Broomfield and Boulder County are opting out due to its ineffectiveness. This ineffectiveness is not surprising since, as some pilots point out, “voluntary” means they don’t have to do it. The town of Superior and Boulder County recently filed a lawsuit against RMMA and its owner, Jefferson County, for health and safety risks to their residents from RMMA operations. Fourth, you may have heard that electric airplanes will soon solve all our noise and lead problems. This is magical thinking about as-yet undeveloped technologies . Perhaps even more so than electric cars, electric planes have their challenges. Very limited range with available battery technology. Charging times. Availability of charging infrastructure. The need to reserve power in case a plane can’t land right away or must divert to another airport. Cost to replace existing planes. Owner affection for gas-burning models. All this adds up to the conclusion that electric planes, though desirable to the community, will not be universally adopted any time soon. Fifth, some assert that we already know that the community wants to keep BDU. This is unsupported. Public input to date on this topic has, as far as we are aware, been skewed by heavy participation from statewide, national and even international pilot and aviation groups that do not want to see any airport closed, anywhere. Aviation advocates across the country point to 10,000 signatures on a petition to keep BDU. As reported in the Camera , this petition was circulated far beyond Boulder’s borders, urging pilots and aviation enthusiasts around the world to sign. Certainly, there are diverse opinions within Boulder, always. Taking the question to the ballot box is the best way to know what those of us who live here want for our community’s future. Finally, some say that closing the airport is impossible or wildly expensive. This topic is too complicated to unpack in this space, but these claims are also unsupported. Several U.S. cities have closed their airports. City staff reviewed our two proposed ballot initiatives and did not say either was impossible to implement. City staff is currently researching feasibility and cost of closure and will report their results this summer. We will know more soon. To keep all options on the table, please visit AirportNeighborhoodCampaign.org and sign our initiative petitions to get this issue on Boulder’s November ballot. Let Boulder voters continue the conversation and decide for ourselves. Laura Kaplan is an organizer of the Airport Neighborhood Campaign. Kaplan lives in Boulder.
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