The Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) met on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, to appoint members to the Planning Commission and to the Board of Zoning Adjustment. The BOT also continued to discuss their goals as a Board going into 2023 and 2024.

The BOT declared November as Family Court Awareness Month within their Consent Agenda. Leanne Maruhn spoke to the BOT about an “epidemic” in the family court system regarding the court’s failure to protect mothers as victims of domestic violence.

Maruhn described her experience with what she described as the systematic way in which the Boulder County family court system has reportedly failed to protect mothers and victims of domestic violence such as herself. Maruhn explained imposed “tortures“ from supposedly untrained judges who lack accountability, and spoke of her experience dealing with the court system as one of the biggest nightmares of her life.

Maruhn wished for the proclamation to be a movement towards bringing awareness to this issue and providing a better future for children and for other victims of domestic violence.

The Family Court Awareness Month effort was organized by Tina Swithin of One Mom’s Battle and Sandra Ross of California Protective Parents Association. Several organizations have joined together to help bring awareness to the conservatively estimated 58,000 children a year who are ordered into unsupervised contact with abusive parents, situations where an estimated number of hundreds of children die.

The Town of Nederland’s Sustainability Coordinator Eryka Thorley addressed the BOT with a presentation on the scale and scope of sustainability in Nederland, highlighting the past, present, and future of town-wide sustainability efforts.

Thorley led the BOT through the highlights of Nederland’s sustainability efforts from its recent past, including resolutions to restrict fracking, the creation of the Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) in 2009, and the imposition of the Zero Waste Action Plan in 2012. Thorley spoke of these initiatives and such documents as Envision 2020 and 2030 as helpful and important reference points when applying for grant opportunities.

Thorley is not just the current sustainability coordinator but is also the liaison with the SAB as well as with the Zero Waste Subcommittee. Thorley also sits on the Housing and Technical Review subcommittees, spending over 25 hours per month attending regular meetings.

Thorley has recently submitted an application for a zero waste grant and is working with the CU Boulder Masters of the Environment (MENV) program in a capstone project proposal. Thorley and the SAB have been working on recent sustainability initiatives including the US Solar community solar garden campaign, the Boulder County Regional EV Electrification Plan, and the Nederland Green Business Program, which is set to officially launch in a few months.

The BOT were tasked with voting to appoint new members to the Planning Commission and to the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA). The Planning Commission has one vacancy, created when Billy Giblin took his oath of office as Mayor, and the Town has been accepting applications for the position since Wednesday, September 7. To date, the Town has received three applications for the one vacancy on the Planning Commission.

Timmy Duggan is a real estate professional in the greater Boulder area who grew up in Nederland and is raising his family here. Duggan served on the Planning Commission from 2014 to 2018. Duggan spoke of how he would like to tackle the issue of affordable housing in Nederland, including looking at opportunities of infill development.

David McElvain has been a resident of Nederland for several years and wishes to bring his expertise and knowledge in real estate and property development to either the Planning Commission or the BZA. McElvain declared that if appointed he would work on the Keeping Livestock Ordinance subcommittee, and would work to find an acceptable solution for both livestock owners and their neighbors.

McElvain believes that providing affordable housing in a “responsible way” regarding environmental responsibility and energy efficiency is a major town issue.

Ryan Villalon is applying for the position on the Planning Commission and wants to utilize his experience as a residential project manager, a developer, and head of an HOA architectural committee, to maintain that which makes Nederland “special.” If appointed, Villalon wishes to tackle the “high profile” issue of affordable housing with high-density housing in Nederland’s downtown area, featuring building up as opposed to out.

After Trustees asked questions pertaining mainly to the issues of annexation and of each applicant’s experience with zoning laws, the BOT voted to approve the motion to appoint Duggan to the position on the Planning Commission.

The BZA has three vacancies, two for regular board positions and one for an alternate position. The application process was also open from September 7 to October 19.

The Town has received two applications for the three vacant positions, from Steve Cepek and David McElvain. Villalon also decided at the November 1 meeting to apply for the BZA.

Steve Cepek has been a resident of Nederland for nine years and serves on the Board of Directors for Community Cycles and for the Nederland Area Trails Organization. Cepek ran for the BOT in the August 23 election. Cepek would like to contribute to local government and believes the BZA would be a great stepping stone into serving the community.

Trustee Eric Coombs-Esmail moved to appoint Cepek and McElvain to the board positions on the BZA, and to appoint Villalon to the alternate position. This was unanimously approved by the BOT.

Property owner Ron Mitchell has requested the Town vacate the right-of-way of the alleyway north of East 2nd Street. Mitchell intends to widen the road in front of 75 East 2nd Street to be more aligned, conforming to a straight line; in doing so, Mitchell would be losing a portion of his property, hence the right-of-way vacation request to recoup some of his loss.

On October 4, the BOT referred this matter to the Planning Commission to be reviewed during their meeting in late October. This was returned to the BOT with additional attached information, including a land survey provided by Mitchell.

The Planning Commission decided that it would be of benefit to the Town to approve the vacation request because the land is fundamentally useless to the Town of Nederland. Coombs-Esmail made a motion to approve the right-of-way vacation request, which the BOT unanimously voted to approve.

Town Attorney Jennifer Madsen led the BOT in a discussion regarding whether the Town of Nederland should opt in or out of the state-run Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program. The program provides up to twelve weeks of job-protected paid leave for employees funded through payroll premiums of 0.45% each paid by both the employee and the employer.

The arguments for opting out of the FAMLI program concern employees not wanting to pay the premium and the fact that other benefits provided by employers, such as Part Time Off (PTO), already covers employees’ needs. Town employees will have a chance to speak to this issue during the BOT’s December 6 meeting, when the issue of opting in or out of the FAMLI program will be voted on as an Action Item.

Coombs-Esmail felt it would not be prudent to opt out considering the more than adequate coverage at such a low cost as 0.45%. Madsen stated that the state-run program is on shaky legs in its infancy and is slow to properly administer what the program promises. Madsen suggested that, due to opting in being a commitment of three years, it would be better to revisit the question of opting in during the next Town budget cycle.

Trustees wished to revisit the discussion before it becomes an Action Item in December, with more information on what opting in to the FAMLI program looks like compared with the option of no employer participation.

Trustee Jesse Seavers presented a discussion regarding the Town adopting Good Neighbor Guidelines from existing guidelines for Short Term Rentals (STR) and expanding on them to create guidelines to be honored by all of Nederland’s residents, both visitors and locals. The aim of the Good Neighbor Guidelines is to promote communication between residents in order to better resolve conflicts without the involvement of Town authorities.

Seavers described his experience both personally and professionally dealing with neighborly disputes and wishes to provide guidelines to strengthen community relationships and to be able to mediate disputes through open communication and respect for one another.

Trustee Tania Corvalan questioned the legal implications of the proposed guidelines and where the line lies between the need for mediated interpersonal communication and just necessary code enforcement. Corvalan stated that Town staff are paid to enforce code violation issues and complaints from taxpaying residents.

Seavers responded that he is not proposing the creation and imposition of laws, nor is he proposing that Town staff would in any way cease enforcing code, but that the guidelines would alleviate some of the burden from Town staff by guiding residents to reach resolution either through one-on-one communication or with a mediator.

As the November 1 meeting reached 10 p.m. Mayor Billy Giblin decided to table the discussions on Good Neighbor Guidelines and on the BOT’s Goals for 2023 and 2024 for another meeting, and a motion was made to move the meeting into a closed Executive Session.

The Nederland Board of Trustees meets on the first and third Tuesday every month. Their next scheduled meeting is on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, at 7 p.m. and can now be attended either online or in person at the Nederland Community Center. For more information go to: https://townofnederland.colorado.gov/ board-of-trustees