Public Comments

I am writing to object to the redistricting proposal that would cut off the town of Nederland from the rest of our county, Boulder county. We are a contiguous county community, that together leverages county healthcare services, water supply, and community resources. Our town residents healthcare is almost entirely delivered in Boulder county's hospitals and clinics. Many of our residents in Nederland commute to Boulder for work. Some of our town community members also commute to Boulder for religious services. Our schools share resources and personnel across the county. Our watershed is interconnected, our reservoirs, dams, and ditches make up an intricate water management system that provides for our community's safety during high water and low water events. What agriculture we have, our crops are primarily sold in Boulder county. Our town economy is driven by the way our county community leverages the hiking, biking, climbing, skiing, and green space opportunities in our town. Our primary bus route is a route between Boulder's bus & transit transit, our town center, and our ski mountain Eldora. Our town's restaurants and outdoor spaces are a 20-40 minute trip for county residents - retail activity driven by the rest of the county fuels our town resources. Even our town's community center - particularly the food bank and gym, are all built from donations from across our county and the city of Boulder in particular. In short, Nederland is part of a cohesive and interconnected community and system of government in Boulder county. We want to be able to depend on government representation that sees us as part of Boulder county --- as part of an entire community and interdependent system. We cannot support a redistricting that could eventually separate our reservoir from the water management system that protects the county during flooding events, that could separate our children from the resources of the Boulder county schools... a redistricting that literally cuts off our community from the roads that we use to commute to work and to healthcare. The same roads that our peers down the canyon use to come up to our restaurants and to the recreational activities that drive our town's tax base. Nederland must be treated as a part of Boulder county because we are a part of Boulder county. Water, roads, schooling, economic incentives - all of these can be impacted by Congressional acts. For Nederland, all of these should be championed by representatives who serve the county. We need a representative aligned to the needs of a front range community - who can understand us as a whole system and community that must work together to thrive.

As requested at the August 14 meeting here in Greeley, I am submitting the comments that I made there. My name is Kathy Ensz and I have lived in Greeley for 51 years. I was a Professor of French at UNC. The CD created for Northern Colorado should be north-south along the I-25 corridor and on either side of this corridor including Greeley and Fort Collins, Milliken-Johnstown, Loveland, Fort Lupton, Berthoud and Longmont. Especially up north, Greeley and Fort Collins should be part of the same CD. These two cities share water, land and industrial development and housing policy-making decisions. We share healthcare concerns: hospitals, medical personnel and services. We share education concerns, activities and interests; faculty and students live and work back and forth between the two university cities. Greeley has long since out-grown that cow town misnomer. URBAN Greeley is a front range city, part of one of the five fastest growing metro areas in the country. You need to think long term, not short term relative to the CD needed for the next decade in Northern Colorado. This new CD should not reflect and only represent the present. You need to create the district for what will be, and that would be a congressional district which is the compact and competitive community of interest along the I-25 corridor that I have outlined. Realistic foresight, please!

As requested at the Greeley meeting August 14, I am submitting the comments that I made there. My name is Kathy Ensz and I have lived here in Greeley for 51 years. I was a Professor of French at UNC. Quite frankly, I think the map of HD64 that your staff put out is ridiculous and runs contrary to the criterion of a community of interest. HD64 should include Greeley north to O ST., south through Evans, west to 35th Ave., and east through the Balsam Village neighborhood just west of CR43. I represent my neighbors and have myself lived these 51 years happily at 4 different addresses, all in this House District. We are the downtown, UNC (It's nuts to split the university.), the greater Glenmere area, Spanish Colony, East Greeley, and Evans. We are an urban area linked together in our one Greeley-Evans School District 6. We are linked in our transportation uses -- be it on foot, bike or bus. We are linked in our shopping -- be it downtown or in nearby grocery and other stores. We are linked in our inclusion of a diverse population --nearly 50% minority folks. We are linked in entertainment and outdoor activities, enjoying UNC and city events, fields and parks. We are linked culturally in the history and traditions of our city and college-become-university. We are a very urban community and have no interests in common with that rural area extending east. We here are, and should be this HD64: downtown Greeley, the University, Glenmere historic area, and extending a couple miles north, south (Evans) east and west. We meet the criteria of the compact and competitive community of interest that you are charged to create.

I live in Nederland which is shown to be changed to be represented by the western district (3). Based on proximity of resources and common social and economic factors I believe we should be represented in the same district as City of Boulder / Unincorporated Boulder County.

Dear Members of The Commission, The Town of Nederland in Boulder County, Colorado provides water for the city of Boulder. Tourism, a major portion of our local economy comes to us largely via Canyon Road, a direct link between us and Boulder and the site of significant, joint, flood remediation efforts since 2013. All other connection with our surrounding towns comes via the Peak-to-Peak Highway. The proposed congressional redistricting maps as currently written would not only separate Nederland from Boulder, our closest neighbor, they would leave us with literally no physical or practical connection with the district to which we are to become apart. Simply put, water runs down hill. The Baker Reservoir in Nederland, Boulder Creek, and Boulder itself share inseparable, practical infrastructure. To better serve communities along the Peak-to-Peak Highway, I would recommend that all of Boulder County, including Nederland, be placed in Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District so as not to break the connection between our town and our neighbors. Nederland's public policy concerns are inexorably linked with our county and watershed. With the Continental Divide just a few miles west of us already providing a natural, geographic, geopolitical, and practical barrier, it seems highly irregular to separate us from our neighbors in the manner suggested. Thank You, CT Hutt

We are a rural community and as such I feel that we should remain with like communities. We do not have the same issues as our urban communities do and I feel that we should not be lumped in with them as a one size fits all. Our community/communities tend to look out for each other not saying that the others don't, but I would like to see our way of life preserved for future generations.

See Attachment

First, thank you for the opportunity to voice my comments on redistricting. The Western slope has a shared interest. The geography in D3 is unique. As a result, the ski industry, construction, transportation and population density are unique to all of D3. So these communities have shared interests and should be joined together as a whole. Finally, Eagle County is currently in two separate districts, I think it would be better to have all of Eagle County in a single district. Eagle County is united and has shared interests linked by the resort and tourism industry. I support the initial Congressional District 3 redistrict boundaries which allow all of Eagle County to be represented by CD3. Please keep the western slope and Eagle County whole.

please keep Jamestown, Ned, Allenspark in boulder county. We work in Boulder, and Longmont, send our kids to schools in Boulder and Longmont, but our groceries here, etc. please keep us together.

I am Julia Varnell-Sarjeant. I was a candidate for state senate in 2018. Because of this experience, I have a different angle than I would have had if I had never been a candidate. I wanted to represent all the people of my district, but there were challenges. A small part of my district was rural, with very specific and critical needs. However, since they made up such a small part of the district, it would be difficult to focus much of my time on those needs. This is not because their votes didn’t matter, or because I did not care, it is because a senator has to represent as many constituents as he or she can and address the issues that are important to them. It is not a question of the political party of these constituents, it is a question of addressing the needs of the most people. For example, SD30 is split into two different power providers, some received power from IREA, (Roxborough Village, Roxborough Park, Sedalia, Louviers) and others from XCEL. While the power going to the house is the same, the organization and regulations impacting these customers and providers is different. Since the vast majority of my constituents were XCEL customers, it would be the Xcel issues that receive my attention. There were just not enough IREA customers to become a priority. In another example: we need to get high speed internet to our rural communities, the pandemic has shown how critical this is. But most of District 30 already has high speed internet, and was more interested in getting the light rail they had been paying for 10 years. Totally different interests. I would have to spend my time working light rail and short-changing high speed internet. It isn’t a question of whether a representative would vote for the things his constituents need regardless of party. It is where the representative would focus his or her time. For this reason, it is important to have, as much as possible, the communities represented have common interests. My experience as a candidate preparing to represent the entire district open my eyes to infrastructure challenges in rural communities that those of in Highlands Ranch don’t really think about. It isn’t just the rural/suburban divide where communities differ. Jefferson County is a lovely county. I grew up in Applewood. And that is the point. I grew up there, and I am 67 years old. Much of Jefferson County is made up of older neighborhoods with older infrastructure, such as Wheat Ridge, Arvada, Lakewood, Bear Valley. Highlands Ranch is only about 35 years old – a whole lot newer. The infrastructure is still being put into place. The area around Roxborough is dominated by one company – Lockheed. When I was growing up, that plant was Martin Marietta and was considered far away. Roxborough Park is far more similar to Ken Caryl (also dominated by Lockheed) than it is to Highlands Ranch. In addition, as the largest county in the state, Jefferson County has a lot of rural communities whose needs are like those of Sedalia and Louviers. Whoever represents Wheat Ridge and Lakewood will find it difficult to represent people in Clear Creek Canyon. These are things that need to be considered in redistricting, far more than county lines. I don’t know the population distributions throughout the state that you have available, so I do not have a map I recommend. I just wanted to suggest some things to consider in this very difficult task.