Karen Gerrity, Nederland Town Administrator. The recent wildfires in the Peak to Peak region is a reminder of the need to continue to pursue an emergency egress out of the Big Springs neighborhood.

A need for an emergency egress from the neighborhood during a forest fire was identified by the US Forest Service a decade ago. There is currently limited access from the east end of the neighborhood to Hwy 119 and it is estimated to take 45 minutes to evacuate the neighborhood in an emergency event. Anchor Point developed a Community Wildfire Protection Plan in 2011 and in their Time Until Fire Arrival report estimated that it would take fire two hours to move through the entire neighborhood.

On October 26, 2012, the Town submitted to the USFS Boulder District Ranger Sylvia Clark and Boulder County Parks and Open Space Director Ron Stewart a proposal to construct an emergency egress route out of the Big Springs Subdivision. The egress concern was discussed at a July 30, 2012, meeting at Nederland Town Hall and on August 8 of that year, a group of stakeholders including Town staff, a trustee, the Nederland Fire Chief, and a geotechnical consultant hiked the area to identify the most viable routes. The egress routes identified would cross USFS as well as Boulder County Open Space land. 

After conducting research, gathering community input, securing a GPS design analysis, and communicating regularly with the Boulder County Commissioners a Nederland Design Advisory Team was formed and the inaugural meeting took place on September 29, 2016. The team was comprised of town staff, town trustees, Big Springs residents, a member of the Town’s on-call engineers and a member of the planning commission. The DAT team consulted with the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Board as well. 

After vetting the proposed routes in a series of public meetings in 2016 and 2017, the Doe Trail was identified as the best option. The Town’s on call engineer worked with Town Staff, DAT and PROSAB to create a conceptual design for the egress. 

In April 2019, the Town of Nederland submitted a land use application to the County and proposed construction of an emergency egress trail at the east end of the Big Springs Subdivision. The proposed egress trail would provide one-way access from Doe Trail to Magnolia Road and currently follows an existing recreational trail.

The existing trail is primarily located on Boulder County Parks and Open Space (BCPOS) property. BCPOS signed the Boulder County planning application and USFS indicated an easement has already been dedicated for the trail. The existing trail is a single footpath through the forest land with several smaller named and unnamed trails intersecting the main trail. The trail is approximately 3,900 feet long.

The originally proposed egress trail will widen the approximately four foot wide existing trail to 12 feet. It will approximately follow the existing trail except in areas where large trees are being saved or excessive earthwork operations are anticipated. Emergency pull offs have been placed at approximately 500-foot spacing to allow for stranded vehicles to be pushed out of the way or for emergency access. It is intended that emergency vehicles will enter the neighborhood from Hwy 119 but may utilize the trail depending on wind direction during a fire event. Reverse 911 calls will be placed to the residents of the neighborhood during a fire to direct them to the appropriate egress.

The vertical profile of the proposed egress trail will follow the existing grade as best as feasible to minimize earthwork. Several sections of the trail will require up to a 12% longitudinal slope. Several areas of exposed rock were noted along the existing trail and every effort to minimize cut has been made during the design of the proposed trail. It is anticipated that approximately 1,500 cubic yards of fill will need to be imported to achieve the proposed vertical design. It is anticipated that large boulders and cobbles will be excavated from the project in areas of cut and will be utilized as short walls to retain hill slopes to the greatest extent possible to either protect trees or minimize earthwork activities. Additional rock of similar characteristic to those found on the site may be imported if additional material is necessary for the walls.

Due to the integrated nature of the trail with the surrounding neighborhood, the Town is proposing to use a mix of soil and gravel with a native seed mix. Initial meetings with the community indicated a trail with a hard surface would take away from the character of the area and promote use of the trail by motorized vehicles. 

As part of the Town’s permit with the USFS, a biological survey will be required for flammulated owls and raptors prior to start of construction. In order to minimize impact to the existing open space, a small roadside ditch is planned on the uphill side of the trail with several cross culverts directing minor storm runoff into the main drainageway. Major storm runoff does overtop the trail in several places prior to entering the main drainageway. The ditch will either be lined with native stone or a non-biodegradable erosion control blanket to help prevent erosion. A larger culvert will be required at the north end of the trail as it crosses over the main drainageway.

At the Land Use hearing held in July, 2019, The Boulder County Commissioners gave conditional approval for the project and one of the conditions is that the Town and NFPD needed to research alternate routes in case there is a route that would result in less impact upon the environment. This does not translate to a no for the proposed route and is a request to dig deeper in the research for alternate routes. Town staff have been working over the past sixteen months with the NFPD and JVA to complete due diligence to address this condition and to gauge the feasibility of an alternate route. They determined that an alternate route to reconsider has been previously named the Western Route, Higher Line. 

This route allows for a more direct approach to accessing the ridge as opposed to the original route which is located in the valley. The alternative route would be constructed in areas that have had recent mitigation efforts over the past several years. A couple of switchbacks would need to be incorporated to achieve the elevation gain needed to access this area similar to the existing driveways to the north. It is this section of the egress route that would be the most impactful and require extensive cuts and tree removal.

The Board of Trustees will discuss the pros and cons of the original and alternate routes at a public meeting on November 17, 2020. To access the full packet of information which will be posted by 5 p.m. on Friday, November 13, please visit www.nederlandco.org and look for meeting information in the news feed on the home page. The public is also encouraged to like the Town Hall Facebook page where all public meetings and packets are posted as well. https://www.facebook.com/NederlandTownHall. 

An important consideration as the Town moves forward with this project is that a new route would require public vetting as was done with the original route presented to the Boulder County Commissioners. It is also critical to understand that there has been no funding identified for the egress. Staff has spent almost three years researching potential funding resources such as DOLA, FEMA and the USFS and have not yet found a viable grant funder. Cost estimates are in the $700,000-$800,000 range. 

(Originally published in the November 12, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)