Last month the Boulder Monitor sat down with Rusty Giulio, Mayor of Boulder, to discuss the “state of the city” a conversation to gain an overview of economic development projects currently or soon to be underway.
After ticking off the city’s accomplishments since he assumed the role of mayor in January of 2018 — reorganizing the police department, hiring a more cost-efficient city attorney and establishing Boulder’s first city court in decades, among other items — Giulio shifted to today and the more recent past.
One of the most exciting recent developments, he said, is a significant increase by Montana Internet in the upload and download speeds it can offer to Boulder residents and businesses alike.
The upgrades are crucial to attracting more residents and, especially, businesses to the area, Giulio said, and follow significant investments in infrastructure made by the firm.
He said the improvements are still underway. An initial laying of fiber optic cable over the winter allowed Montana Internet to first boost the strength of the wireless internet emanating from three towers surrounding Boulder.
“Everybody within sight distance [of those towers] should get internet that they’ve never had before,” Giulio said.
The next step is for Montana Internet to lay fiber optic cable through downtown Boulder along both sides of Main Street, providing residents and businesses with the faster internet connection speeds of wired connections rather than wireless.
“So within the next two years, I think Boulder will be one of the only places in Montana that every resident will have access to fiber,” Giulio said.
Another long-term project that’s coming to fruition, at least in its execution, is the allocation of the $500,000 Boulder Development Fund the state awarded the city following the announced closure of the Montana Developmental Center.
Most of the fund has been allocated to a wide assortment of projects the Montana Department of Commerce, the grantor, has approved.
The funding was announced about three years ago, Giulio said, though it took a couple years of roundtable discussions and other legwork before the city could move forward in earnest with project planning.
The fund contributed $50,000 to aspects of improving the local internet infrastructure, while two recently launched projects aim to improve the look and feel of downtown Boulder businesses — one a revolving loan fund and the other a facade improvement program.
Also in the works are an expansion of Boulder City Hall that will include electrical and other improvements to Veterans Park, construction of a trail along the Boulder River east of the Main Street bridge, and an identity project including branding and a website.
Already completed projects the fund has supported include development of the Jefferson County Recreation Park master plan.
Giulio praised the two groups formed as stewards of the fund and items surrounding it — the Boulder Transition Advisory Committee and the Boulder Development Fund Board — for the steady work they made of making sure the fund was fully allocated by this year’s June 30 deadline.
The added benefit of BTAC in particular, he said, is that it’s meetings comprise representatives from all corners of the community — from economic development to churches to employers.
“BTAC is like one of the neatest things I’ve ever seen, ‘cause at eight in the morning we’ll have 30 people in here in a meeting,” he said. “Everybody comes and gives their report, and that’s really probably one of the most important parts, ‘cause it’s informal and it really gives you an idea of what’s going on within our community.”
Giulio often speaks of “a lot of working parts coming together at the right time” when discussing matters of progress in Boulder. The work surrounding the Boulder Development Fund are examples of working parts that are well underway; another crucial working part that will soon reach its tipping point is development of subdivisions regulations.
Much awaits completion of those regulations, Giuilio said, not least the moving forward of a 20-lot subdivision Buster Bullock wants to develop near the Boulder Cemetery.
What makes this development especially crucial is that it will help to address a housing shortage that some local employers, such as the Intensive Behavioral Center and Youth Dynamics, point to as preventing them from filling numerous open positions.
“The one thing I hear from everybody … is there’s no housing,” Giulio said. “ So we’ve gotta fix that.”
Bullock’s subdivision would help, he said, though he acknowledged it would be only a short-term solution. He would like to see someone build affordable multi-unit housing in the few available lots within city limits.
After that, “what’s really holding us back is just dirt to build on … more ground that we don’t have,” he said.
To solve that problem, Giulio said he’s had preliminary discussions with a representative of Sky Top Ranch in hopes it might consider converting some of its grazing lands near Cap Hill to land for residential development.
“I think that whole area there is kind of where our residential growth really needs to be,” Giulio said, noting that the city would need to annex any development that might occur.
Other items on Giulio’s radar for the coming year include trying to attract manufacturing jobs to Boulder — he said he’s had early, positive conversations with a couple small manufacturers but no commitments — as well as seeing what opportunities might arise for the former Montana Developmental Center campus. A survey that’s currently underway of the state-owned property will help determine its future, and is expected to be completed within the next month or two.
Giulio said he’s also had discussions with someone who is exploring opening a brewery in Boulder. Whether or not he decides to proceed, “a brewery is gonna happen [in Boulder] in one form or another,” Giulio said.
With all the talk of economic development and the growth that inevitably follows, Giulio said there is something “I don’t want all of us to forget.”
“Everybody talks about Philipsburg being the place that we should look at [as an example],” he said. “[But] if you go to Philipsburg, there’s not very many local people left. Most of the people that own the businesses are from somewhere else … we have locals that have been here for a while that run our businesses on Main Street. I think that’s an important aspect to keep.”
Giulio said he believes that if growth is controlled it can be a positive factor for everybody.
“I think we can do that and still have the same standard of living that we expect when we’re here,” he said. “That’s the big thing.”
