Fracking bans passed overwhelmingly in the Front Range cities of Boulder, Fort Collins and Lafayette but appeared to be losing by a mere 248 votes in Broomfield as of 11 p.m. on election night.
Alison Noon provides election updates from The Denver Post as of 11 p.m. on Nov. 5. Voters in Boulder extended the city's existing fracking moratorium for five years by approving Boulder Ballot Question 2H: Oil and gas with 77 percent of the vote. Lafayette Ballot Question No. 300: Gas and oil, an outright ban on fracking, passed with 58 percent. Fort Collins Ballot Issue 2A, a five-year moratorium, won with 55 percent of the vote.
The passage of the three ballot measures is particularly significant when one looks at how little money the proponents spent compared to the opposition.
Colorado Oil and Gas Association opened its wallet wide to oppose all of the anti-fracking measures, spending $878,120 on city-specific campaigns by Halloween. Anti-fracking groups raised just over $26,000 in the same time.
While it was not yet known whether the energy industry would litigate the issue as they did with the Longmont ban, "Gov. John Hickenlooper says he won’t tolerate cities and towns that ban oil and gas drilling within their borders and he promises to take them to court," according to a CBS4 report on Feb. 26.
David J. Unger of the Christian Science Monitor writes that the ballot measures are a sign of the greater debate in Colorado and throughout the country about the drilling process known as fracking. It "is highly symbolic, and it comes just months after massive floods spilled tens of thousands of gallons of oil and gas condensate in northwest Colorado. What happens in Colorado may serve as a litmus test for the oil and gas industry, as fracking continues to spread across the U.S."
FULL STORY: Sides square off over $900,000 spent on Colorado anti-fracking measures
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When we last reported, two anti-fracking initiatives were circulating. Since then, two industry backed, pro-fracking initiatives were set to join them on the November ballot. Gov. John Hickenlooper struck an agreement to remove all four measures.
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Housing advocates praise the city’s move to eliminate single-family zoning by legalizing triplexes on single-family lots, but that isn’t why housing construction is growing.
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As institutional investors buy up a larger share of single-family homes, the families renting them are increasingly vulnerable to rent increases and eviction.
Short-Term Rentals Vex Dallas City Council
Residents complain that vacation rentals exacerbate the city’s housing shortage and bring traffic and noise to residential neighborhoods, calling on the city to impose—and enforce—stricter regulations.
Traffic Fatalities Set Records as Pandemic-Era Road Carnage Shows No Signs of Stopping
An estimated 42,915 people died in automobile crashes in 2021, according to recent federal data. The increasing fatalities continue a trend that began with the outset of the pandemic.
Driver Shortage Undercuts the Potential of L.A.’s Recent Bus System Redesign
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority implemented a complete overhaul of its bus system in three waves over the course of 2021. A shortage of drivers for the system has made it impossible to implement that vision.
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EMC Planning Group Inc.
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Harvard GSD Executive Education
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City of Rohnert Park
City of Hot Springs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.
