“This is why we tax ourselves ... to buy properties like this.””

Stan Needle

Other County news

On Thursday, November 20, Boulder County Commissioners will hold a public hearing and vote on plans to roll back the County’s minimum wage plan, established in 2023 to raise wages to $25 per hour by 2030.

Under the proposal, wages in unincorporated Boulder County would increase to a minimum of $16.82 per hour next year, and adjust with inflation every year thereafter, reaching $18.93 by 2030. The County minimum is currently $16.57.

The public hearing will be held at 9 a.m. on the third floor of the historic Boulder County Courthouse, 1325 Pearl Street in Boulder. Visit bouldercounty.gov/departments/commissioners/local-minimum-wage to learn more.

A long-sought connection between Boulder Canyon and Betasso Preserve is in sight after Boulder County Commissioners approved the purchase of a 6.6-acre property on Thursday, November 13, 2025.

For $1.5 million, Boulder County will add the Orodell property to its vast open space portfolio. The site is located at the northwest corner of Fourmile Canyon Road and Boulder Canyon; Fourmile Creek borders the land on the east. 

Betasso was the County’s first major open space purchase, in 1976. The preserve’s trails proved popular with mountain bikers and hikers: Up to 70,000 people visit Betasso each year, according to County estimates.

In 2001, mountain bike use was limited to five days a week, allowing pedestrians to have the trails to themselves on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Boulder County has been studying possible connections between Betasso and the Boulder Canyon multi-use trail since the 2010s to prevent cyclists from having to ride on the road. Extension of the path was initially supposed to reach Betasso, but excessive costs have prevented it from stretching beyond Chapman Drive. 

The sparsely attended Thursday morning public hearing included two representatives from area cycling organizations. Both urged Commissioners to ensure the purchase was made and the connection facilitated quickly. 

“Please don’t just buy this property and then sit on it for years while this is a community need,” said Wendy Sweet, Executive Director of Boulder Mountainbike Alliance (BMA). “Instead of managing by restriction, let’s see how we can build out this property and allow the community to enjoy it seven days a week.”

“I and many others access Betasso by bike, competing with vehicles for three miles on Fourmile Drive, hoping I won’t have an altercation,” said Stan Needle, a Louisville resident and member of BMA’s bike patrol. “Hope is really a horrible strategy.”

“This is why we tax ourselves,” Needle added. “We continually tax ourselves to buy properties like this.”

County staff ensured that the connection was a top priority and motivating factor behind the purchase, unanimously recommended by the Boulder County Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee on October 23.

“I’ve heard about this property in particular for years and years and years…the desire for this property is for a bicycle connection,” said Senior Land Officer Tina Burghardt.  “I want to vote and then get out there and start building the trail.”

The County should be able to do so “sooner than later,” Burghardt said, due to an existing roadbed on the property, also home to part of the historic Orodell Townsite.

Orodell once boasted a water-powered sawmill and served as a stopover for people traveling between the mountains and the plains. The Saddle Rock Inn stood on the site of an old toll house until it burned down in 1941.

The site received historic landmark status in 1993. 

Two commissioners, Ashley Stolzmann and Marta Loachamin, approved the purchase. Commissioner Claire Levy was absent.