Boulder’s City Council on Thursday night approved agreements that will resolve property encroachments on open space in the Wonderland Lake neighborhood.

Council members also accepted a study about urban services in an undeveloped area of almost 500 acres of public and private land northeast of U.S. 36 between Broadway and Jay Road that they call the Area III Planning Reserve.

The council voted 7-2 to grant revocable licenses and easements to some homeowners near Wonderland Lake whose properties have encroached on open space. Homeowners will be granted revocable licenses to use the public land for 20 years, until the sale of the property, or until construction is done to remove the encroachments.

City officials also granted easements to a small handful of property owners. The easements are intended to either preserve city assets, like mature trees, or preserve infrastructure, such as retaining walls or roof drainage, that were built as part of the original construction on the properties. These easements also can be transferred to future property owners.

Councilmembers Lauren Folkerts and Ryan Schuchard voted no on approving these licenses and easements. Folkerts suggested the city could have charged fees for the licenses or done more to protect public land for the public, particularly when the city is quick to enforce other types of property encroachments, such as people camping on public streets.

Council members voted 7-2 to accept an urban services study that was done on an area of almost 500 mostly empty acres of land north of U.S. northeast of U.S. 36 between Broadway and Jay Road called the Area III Planning Reserve. Councilmembers Taishya Adams and Mark Wallach voted against accepting it, with Adams saying she felt the analysis had not adequately looked at impacts on areas such as wildlife and wildfire mitigation.Folkerts said there were aspects of the analysis she also found problematic, but she joined her colleagues in voting to accept the study. Accepting the study simply meant that council members acknowledged a study was done — the council still has the ability to ask for changes to the Area III Planning Reserve development plan.

The study will now move on to a public hearing next week.

If council members had not approved the study, they said would not have been able to revisit the issue for another five years, until the next Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan update.

The document, which guides growth and development in the Boulder area, is updated every five years, and a 2025 update is already underway.

Finally, the council unanimously approved the city’s 2025 policy statement.

The statement offers a blueprint for advocating for the city’s interests at the regional, state and federal levels.

Regionally, the city wants to make housing and homelessness a major area of focus while also prioritizing behavioral health and safety-net services.