Daily Camera (Boulder): The Colorado Court of Appeals has directed Boulder District Court to reconsider several rulings in a lawsuit that alleges Boulder County violated open meetings and open records laws in connection with a proposed affordable housing project in the Gunbarrel area.

A three-judge appellate court panel, in a ruling published Thursday, reversed Boulder District Court Judge Thomas Muivahill’s October 2017 summary judgment that had held that county commissioners did not violate Colorado Open Meetings Law in their convening of executive sessions.

Gunbarrel resident Kristin Bjornsen in a February 2017 lawsuit against the county contended that commissioners engaged in a “persistent pattern of conducting improper closed-door discussions of public business, violating the procedural requirements for conducting an executive session.”

Bjornsen has long been active in Gunbarrel-area residents’ opposition to a proposal by the Boulder County Housing Authority and Boulder Valley School District to someday build a medium-density affordable housing project on 20 acres of now-vacant government-owned land along Twin Lakes Road.

In response to Bjornsen’s lawsuit, Boulder County argued that commissioners comply with open meetings law. The county in an affidavit said it was commissioners’ general practice to convene an executive session after announcing the topic at a public meeting, citing the Colorado Open Meetings Law provisions for authorizing a closed session and voting to approve the session.

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