Boulder’s municipal airport became a hotly contested issue in 2024, especially after a group of housing advocates launched two ballot initiatives to close the airport and turn the area into a residential neighborhood.

The citizen-initiated ballot measures, which gathered enough petition signatures by mid-June to appear on the fall ballot, came after months of debate over the future of the airport, brought on in part by City Council discussions about whether to keep the airport, upgrade or add to the facilities, or close it entirely.

Community members concerned about a lack of affordable housing in Boulder see an opportunity to house thousands more people on the airport’s nearly 180 acres of land. Others say they’re perturbed about noise and possible lead pollution from aircraft. But a vocal pro-airport contingent emerged to defend aviation in Boulder, saying the airport is too important to the community to lose.

The ballot measures were controversial, like everything else about the airport, sparking impassioned arguments from people on both sides of the issue. But the measures never made it to voters: The Airport Neighborhood Campaign withdrew them in late August after Boulder attorneys filed a surprise lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates the Boulder Municipal Airport.

The attorneys are challenging an FAA claim that the city must keep its airport open indefinitely because the city once accepted FAA grant money to buy some of the land at the airport property. City officials say the purpose of the lawsuit is simply to clarify Boulder’s obligations to the FAA, and it does not imply a decision on the future of the airport. But the city has stopped taking FAA grant funding for now, since accepting those funds would create new obligations for the city.Airport Neighborhood Campaign members cheered the lawsuit, saying they are ready to re-petition for the ballot measures once the case resolves. But the suit drew outrage from the pro-airport crowd, who said it’s a waste of the city’s money and they would prefer to see the city accept FAA grant funding to maintain and improve the airport.

The FAA has since moved to dismiss the lawsuit. But a resolution to the case could be more than a year away.