Chautauqua Access Management Plan

The lease between the City of Boulder and the Colorado Chautauqua Association (CCA) was renegotiated in 2015. New language in the “Access and Parking Management” section of the lease stipulates the development of a Chautauqua Access Management Plan (CAMP). 

"As a national, regional and local landmark and attraction, Chautauqua needs a tailored access management strategy to balance the access of the variety of users and modes while also maintaining the natural, built, and historic environments ... The parties recognize that during peak periods, parking demand for all uses with and around Chautauqua far exceeds supply. The movement of vehicles looking for parking presents safety issues and degrades the visitor experience. During the first year of the Lease, the parties commit to develop a Chautauqua Access Management Plan (CAMP), which shall be thereafter periodically reviewed and revised by the parties to address current circumstances and conditions."

- From the 2015 lease signed between Colorado Chautauqua Association (CCA) and City of Boulder

The CAMP is intended to be a tailored access management strategy to balance the access of the variety of users and modes while also maintaining the natural, built, and historic environments. Some of the issues that confront Chautauqua currently are:

• Inadequate parking supply for peak parking times during the year.
• Parking issues in the lease hold and surrounding neighborhoods.

1. Specifically it affects quality of life
2. Finding a place to park
3. Vehicle circulation issues

• Pedestrian Access issues on Baseline Road:

1. Drivers not yielding to pedestrians at crosswalks.
2. Pedestrians have to walk in the street when parking on the south side of Baseline Road, due to the lack of a sidewalk on the south side.
3. Noise and fume issues in neighborhood from event buses.

 

In 2012 the City and the CCA partnered to evaluate parking and access issues in the leasehold area. As a part of this project, the partnership collected parking utilization and parking duration data on all available spaces within the leasehold area and in the neighborhood to the north of Chautauqua on three separate days.

The results of that data collection showed some areas of high parking utilization within the leasehold area, but very few areas of high parking utilization in the neighborhood north of Chautauqua. Some other key findings of this study include:

• Parking utilization in the leasehold area was much higher on the weekend as well as the duration for which guests parked.
• During the weekday, the majority of vehicles in the Chautauqua area (between 50% and 85% depending on the lot or block) parked for less than two hours. A small minority (between 0% and 20% depending on the lot or block) parked for more than four hours.
• The peak period of parking utilization was from 10AM to 1PM on both weekdays and weekends.
• A significant majority (80% to 90%) of vehicles entering Chautauqua did so from the main entrance (Baseline and Grant), rather than the 12th St. entrance.
• The full report and its findings can be found here .

Using the data and analyses from this study, a series of pilot programs for the leasehold area were advanced by staff for City Council’s consideration but none of these pilots were adopted for implementation. Council members’ biggest concerns at that time seemed to be the concept of restricting parking on streets near open space and park property.

 

City of Boulder staff held their first CAMP open house on Thursday, April 28, 2016. Materials presented at this open house are available below. Later open house materials are available under the Community Engagement tab as they were also presented to the CAMP working group.

Chautauqua CAMP Open House Boards Scribd

 

Based on Council feedback it was determined that new parking utilization data was necessary to supplement the findings from the 2012 CAMP report due to the fact that visitation rates may have changed since then. Data collected to date can be found below.

• 2010 Chautauqua parking study report
• 2012 Chautauqua parking study report
• Summary of Chautauqua Area visitor survey - Summer 2016 (RRC Intercept Survey)
• Parking Capacity by Block Face (2016)
• Parking Capacity by Block (2016)
• Summary of crash data in the Chautauqua area
• Issues & Key Findings
• Community Workshop #2

• Preliminary list of potential strategies

The city manager appointed 10 members to the Chautauqua Access Management Plan (CAMP) working group. We greatly appreciate their willingness to volunteer their time and expertise to help the city identify actionable pilot projects for the summer of 2017. The members were:  

• Curt Brown
• Patrick Casey
• John Kenyon
• Joel Koenig
• Mary Ann Mahoney
• Yuji Roni Chen Maloney
• Michael McCarthy
• Mary Price
• Sara Pritchard
• Tara Winer

These individuals represent varying backgrounds, interests and/or expertise relevant to access and parking in and around Chautauqua, including members of city and nonprofit boards, cottage owners, neighborhood residents, CU, members of the conservation community, recreational enthusiasts and others. We received 28 applications from community members. As stated in the working group solicitation, no more than two individuals who represent the same neighborhood, geography, organization, or stakeholder group were selected to serve on this group. This parameter eliminated many interested and well qualified people.

There will be community meetings and other opportunities to give input outside of the working group process. Please sign up for the mailing list at the bottom of this web page to receive updates and notices of such opportunities.

• The original Invitation to Volunteer to Serve on CAMP Working Group PDF  
• Interested individuals were required to submit applications no later than 9:00 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 22 using the online form.
• If you would like to share information with the CAMP Working Group or on CAMP generally, please email [email protected]

CAMP Working Group Meeting Materials

Monday Sept. 19, 2016 - Working Group Meeting 1

• Meeting Summary  

Thursday Oct. 27, 2016 - Working Group Meeting 2

• FTH Memo
• PPT
• Meeting Summary

Wednesday Nov. 30, 2016 - Working Group Meeting 3

• Meeting Agenda  
• Meeting Summary

Thursday Jan. 19, 2017 - Working Group Meeting 4

• Meeting Agenda  
• Meeting Summary  
• 2nd Community Open House Boards
• 2nd Community Open House PowerPoint Slides
• Jan. 2016 JWA CAMP Transit Analysis

Thursday Feb. 23, 2017 - Working Group Meeting 5

• Meeting Summary
• Staff Recommendations for CAMP Summer 2017 Pilot Projects

2017 SurveyGizmo Questionnaire

The city conducted an online questionnaire in early 2017 on the proposed CAMP pilot projects. The questionnaire was not a statistically valid survey tool but rather another avenue for community members to share thoughts and feedback with the city, particularly for people who were unable to attend open houses and other meetings in person. A summary report and analysis of write-in responses can be viewed online . 

• Colorado Chautauqua Association (CCA) Website
• 2016 Chautauqua Lease between CCA and City of Boulder
• Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) - Chautauqua Trailhead website
• Chautauqua Access Management Plan (CAMP) powerpoint presentation
• 2012 Fehr and Peers Chautauqua Parking Analysis report
• Transit Analysis  
• CAMP: City Council Information Packet Jan. 17, 2017  
• RRC website