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BOT discusses big changes to town code

Christopher Kelley
Posted 4/20/23

The Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) met on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at 7 p.m. to discuss and take action on several proposed revisions and amendments to Nederland Municipal Code (NMC) concerning

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BOT discusses big changes to town code

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The Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) met on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at 7 p.m. to discuss and take action on several proposed revisions and amendments to Nederland Municipal Code (NMC) concerning composting, utility charges to property owners, the election process, Trustee term limits, and allowing scooters at the Nathan Lazarus Skate Park.

The BOT approved within their Consent Agenda the Town of Nederland applying for $23,000 from a Recycling Resources Economic Opportunities Mini-Grant to purchase and store 50 heavy-duty home compost tumblers that will be raffled off to residents by the Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) at the Nederland Farmers Market.

The grant application is due by April 28 and there is no match required. However, the mini-grant is a reimbursement grant, meaning that the $23,000 would be disbursed by the Town by July 2023 and would then be reimbursed through the grant no later than December 29.

Also within their Consent Agenda the BOT approved the Town of Nederland applying for $321,367.50 from the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant to fund replacement of the rock and sand sidewalks on Snyder Street, 2nd Street, and East Street.

A match of 20%, totalling $64,273.50, is required if the Town were to receive the funding. The Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) have agreed to provide 50% of the required match, as well as agreed to provide a letter of support to be submitted along with the application.

The NDDA requested a curb, or delineation between the sidewalk and street, to be installed, but a conversation between Town Staff, JVA, and CDOT resulted in the determination that such a project would most likely not be chosen for the TAP grant due to it requiring a much higher request amount. The application for the grant will be only for the removal and replacement of the rock and sand, not for completely new sidewalk construction.

The BOT engaged in a discussion concerning whether or not Town Attorney Jennifer Madsen should draft an ordinance revising NMC in regards to including requirements for grease traps and pretreatment for industrial discharges from businesses such as restaurants and breweries.

According to the Agenda Information Memorandum (AIM) prepared by Town Utilities Supervisor Andrew Bliss the changes to NMC “are designed to comply with the Town’s wastewater effluent discharge permit under the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and with the Clean Water Act”.

The proposed code changes are to Section 13-28, for listing wastes that can not be discharged to the sanitary system; 13-30, adding procedures to reduce the amount of prohibited wastes in the sanitary system; 13-31, detailing grease interceptor and oil and sand separator requirements; 13-33 to 13-36, detailing pretreatment requirements; and 13-37 to 13-45, providing legal language for the Town to seek compensation for when dischargers are not adhering to the code.

The questions before the BOT were whether or not they approved Madsen drafting the changes to NMC, and whether or not those code changes should be made retroactive with a compliance period instated for existing customers.

The current recommendation for the compliance period is to give businesses until January 1, 2025, which would provide JVA and the Town’s contract Operator in Responsible Charge (ORC), Direct Discharge LLC, time for outreach to existing businesses about how the code changes affects their operations.

JVA and Direct Discharge LLC desire to begin public outreach about the proposed code changes by this summer, and are offering one-on-one consultations with business owners that need assistance in being compliant. The projected cost of compliance for existing Nederland businesses is not expected to be excessive to a point where a business can no longer afford to continue operations in town.

The BOT gave a nod of four approving Madsen to draft the changes to NMC to be submitted for Board revision and final approval. Trustees also gave a nod of four approving making the changes effective retroactively, and agreed to a compliance period of January 1, 2025.

Trustees discussed whether or not they supported pursuing the implementation of composting for Class A Biosolids at the wastewater treatment facility by 2025. Consulting Engineers JVA presented the progress made since the 2015 Biosolids Report, specifically pertaining to being able to compost Class B Biosolids, which are not pathogen free and can not be distributed to the public, into Class A, which is pathogen free and safe to be distributed to the public to be used for fertilizer.

Within the updated Biosolids Report JVA recommended that in-vessel composting would best fit the needs of Nederland, as it is a more automated process and it provides more odor control and better aesthetics than static pile composters. JVA also provided a choice of equipment costs, from a continuous in-vessel composter at $910,000 with an annual operational and maintenance cost of $73,400, and a batch in-vessel composter at $1,020,000 with an annual cost of $73,800.

Trustees agreed to support the plan to implement composting at the wastewater treatment facility by 2025. Moving forward the BOT will review updated quotes for equipment after deciding whether to move forward with either a continuous flow composting system or a batch system. The Town and JVA will begin researching any funding opportunities to bring the project to fruition.

The BOT discussed whether or not they supported Town Attorney Madsen drafting an ordinance to revise Town code to charge the Utilities Department operational budget instead of property owners the cost of replacing water meters and their associated remote reading devices due to ordinary wear and tear.

Town staff recommends that, if the change to Town code is approved, property owners should be credited all charges for the replacement of meters and/or reading devices in 2023 and 2022. It is estimated that the change, if implemented, will create an average budget impact of $18,213 annually.

Trustees directed Madsen to draft an ordinance revising Town code to be reviewed and discussed by the Board for final approval at a later date.

The BOT continued their discussion concerning suggested amendments to NMC Sections 2-1, 2-4, 2-5, and 2-6, which covers municipal election matters. Trustees gave a nod of four approving Madsen to draft an ordinance amending NMC during their meeting on April 4, 2023. Ordinance 840 was presented for the Board’s review and for suggestions on further revisions.

According to the AIM prepared by Madsen, Section 2-1 “is amended for consistency with current elections practice in Town”, as municipal elections in Nederland are conducted in accordance with the Colorado Municipal Election Code, elections held in conjunction with Boulder County are conducted in accordance with the Uniform Election Code of 1992.

Section 2-4 “is amended to clarify the terms of office for Trustee positions”, stating that in order to maintain staggered Trustee terms, which are normally for four years, “if there are more than 3 open trustee positions at an election, the candidates receiving the fourth highest votes or less serve a two-year term”.

Section 2-5 is to allow for write-in candidates in an election as long as that person submits an affidavit of intent. Section 2-6 is to allow for the BOT to cancel an election “if the number of candidates is the same as the number of open positions”.

There was discussion of recent Trustee vacancies and election issues over the previous year having caused several issues with the Board meeting quorum and reaching decisions and resulted in the Town being sued. Trustee Tania Corvalan desired for language to be added to the appropriate NMC sections that would ensure the BOT can retain a full board even during special circumstances pertaining to an election.

Trustees attempted to determine whether or not the amended language in Section 2-5, pertaining to write-in candidates for elections, was necessary. The BOT directed Madsen to review information provided by a member of the public through Public Comment and to revisit the matter of drafting Ordinance 840 to amend NMC during the May 16 meeting.

Trustees were tasked with voting on the approval or denial of Ordinance 841, which amends NMC Section 11-84 to allow for the use of scooters and razors at the Nathan Lazarus Skate Park. The use of scooters was originally prohibited because of concerns that the different riding style might cause potential collisions with skateboards. However, the Parks Department has not seen the mixed use of skateboards and scooters at the skate park be an issue.

A motion to approve Ordinance 841 was made and seconded; the BOT voted unanimously to approve the ordinance, amending NMC Section 11-84.

The Nederland Board of Trustees meet on the first and third Tuesday of every month. Their next scheduled meeting is on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at 7 p.m. and can now be attended either online or in person at the Nederland Community Center. For more information: https:// townofnederland.colorado.gov/boardof trustees