Headlines Tuesday November 11, 2025
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Demolitions Fee, SNAP Colorado, Aurora Detention Center SCOTUS Decision, Veterans Day/Boulder Star Lighting Jack Armstrong
Boulder City Council Considers Small Homes Demolition Fee
Boulder city council approved a new fee on property owners who tear down single-family homes to construct larger living spaces.
The city plans to charge eleven dollars per square foot on the replacement dwelling that exceeds the square-footage of the original structure and applies to additions larger than 500 square feet.
The fee goes into effect on January 31, 2026. According to the Boulder Reporting Lab, dozens of smaller homes are purchased, knocked down, and replaced with larger homes.
The ordinance is expected to make development more equitable to lower income residents while helping generate more funds for affordable housing in Boulder.
The proponents of the fee say property owners building larger homes on their property currently don’t pay into the city’s Affordable Housing Fund, while multi-family housing developers do.
Boulder Reporting Lab also said the city cited a study from consulting firm Gruen, Gruen and associates that says new homes built through scrape-and-rebuild projects are often worth 3.5 million dollars more than the homes they replace. The city says the replacements can lead to more demand for affordable housing, creating the basis for the 2026 demo-rebuild ordinance.
SNAP Payments Partially Dispersed in Colorado
Boulder County is providing more than a million dollars in emergency funding to four food providers in the area.
The funding is to help with shortages caused by the federal government shutdown, and was announced even as the U.S. Senate agreed to legislation that could bring the shutdown to an end.
There are still delays in federal food benefits for November. The Boulder County funding will provide $850,000 to Community Food Share, according to a press release. $100,000 will go to the Sister Carmen Community Center in Lafayette, and another hundred thousand each to Our Center in Longmont, and the Emergency Family Assistance Association in Boulder.
Meanwhile, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, remains in limbo. Some 32,000 Coloradans received full SNAP payments this past weekend, and Governor Jared Polis says it will not be taken away. KGNU’s Andraa Von has more.
Governor Polis says the full November benefits under SNAP will not be reversed, because they were made during a brief window of opportunity: between the time a federal judge ruled the full payments had to be made, and when the U.S. Supreme Court put those full payments on hold.
The Trump administration has directed insisted that full SNAP payments to Colorado and other states have to be reversed. Yesterday the administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to suspend full SNAP payments while the government remains shut down.
Governor Polis told Fox31 that there is nothing preventing the Trump administration from fully funding (November) SNAP benefits. He added that the state will continue making partial payments to eligible Coloradans. That includes about 19,000 people in Boulder County.
Even as that was unfolding, Congress may reach a deal soon to end the shutdown with a compromise that would include SNAP funding, according to the Associated Press.
Boulder County funds:
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Polis:
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Trump/SCOTUS:
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Aurora Detention Center SCOTUS Decision
The United State Supreme Court is weighing one part of a complex case that could impact the future of the immigrant detention center in Aurora.
The issue before the Supreme Court is whether the Geo Group, which owns the privately-run detention center, can appeal a lower court ruling that said Geo does not have immunity from litigation.
Geo argued that they do have immunity, because they’re a government contractor.
A federal judge previously rejected Geo’s immunity argument, according to the Daily Camera. Geo appealed that ruling. But last year an appeals court wouldn’t hear the case, saying that Geo can’t appeal while the main part of the case was still underway.
The main part of the case is not yet resolved, and has been going on for more than ten years. It is not the part before the Supreme Court. Nine former detainees, all of them immigrants, sued Geo in 2014, alleging that they were subjected to enforced labor while at the detention center.
If the Supreme Court sides with the Geo Group about whether they can appeal the immunity ruling against them, the case will probably go back to the appeals court.
Veterans Day Closings and Boulder Star Lighting
Today is Veterans Day, and all City of Boulder administrative facilities and Age Well Centers will be closed in observance.
Boulder County government offices will also be closed for Veterans Day. That includes the 20th Judicial District Court and the District Attorney’s Office.
Veterans Day marks the return of a Boulder tradition: the star on Flagstaff Mountain, which will be lit tonight. The star will shine every night until early January, according to the Daily Camera.
The Star has been lit during the holidays every year since 1947. To mark this year’s lighting, the Boulder Chamber is hosting a community livestream tonight, from 6:00 to 6:30. The event will feature a Joint Service Color Guard. To see the lighting, go to the Boulder Chamber’s YouTube channel.
Vet Day closings:
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Star lighting:
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Background:
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Boulder Chamber YouTube channel:
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