Purpose
As the county has experienced significant changes in demographics and
travel patterns since the 1995 update to the BCCP Transportation
Element, the world has likewise experienced changes. Boulder County
along with so many others has developed a greater awareness of the
impacts individual and collective actions have on the local and global
environment. This has forced communities around the world to rethink
their ways of life, including Boulder County.
Boulder County recognizes the need to adopt sustainab le
practices to minimize our environmental impact and to increase our resiliency
to fluxes in regional and national economic conditions. In 2005
the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) passed Resolution 2005-137
charging staff to adopt a Sustainable Energy Path for Boulder County.
The Sustainable Energy Path Resolution strengthens BOCC’s dedication to
environmental sustainability by establishing an energy efficiency and
greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction action plan to mitigate the effects of
global warming. Moreover, the Sustainable Energy Path Resolution
identifies transportation programs as potential strategies to meet the
goals of the action plan and encourages all Comprehensive Plan Updates
to incorporate the principles expressed in the Resolution. The current
Transportation Element Update provides a starting place for developing
the goals of the Sustainable Energy Plan through a proposed Vehicle
Miles Traveled (VMT) reduction strategy.
This BOCC Resolution led to the
Sustainable Energy Plan and
Climate
Smart, published in April 2008 by the Boulder County Consortium of
Cities.
The 2009 Update of the Transportation Element will continue the County’s
sustainability initiative and further develop sustainable transportation
policies and practices. This includes exploring the relationship between
the natural environment, land use, and transportation on a site-specific
level.
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