The Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) met on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, at 7 p.m. to take action on several impactful issues, including the rezoning of 100 1st Street. Trustees were also tasked with
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The Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) met on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, at 7 p.m. to take action on several impactful issues, including the rezoning of 100 1st Street. Trustees were also tasked with making a final decision regarding the continuation of the moratorium affecting downtown development.
The BOT began their meeting by approving the Consent Agenda, which included approving several tenant leases with the Town of Nederland for rental space at the Nederland Community Center. Also approved within the Consent Agenda was Resolution 2023-14, appointing Trustees to serve as liaisons to the Town’s various boards and commissions.
Trustees approved providing $1,350 from their allotted budget of $2,000 for Trustee training to send Trustee Jesse Seavers to attend the International Mountain Bicycling Association’s (IMBA) Trail Labs in Bentonville, Arkansas, taking place on April 5 to April 7. Trail Labs is an intensive workshop that acts as a comprehensive introduction to the trail development process.
The cost breakdown provided by Seavers indicates the event registration cost of $600, plane tickets to Arkansas for an estimated $300, lodging for four nights at $350, and includes a requested meal stipend of $100.
Seavers had previously requested the funds from the BOT on February 7, though there were concerns raised about dedicating the majority of their training budget to the trip. Seavers also requested the funds from the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Advisory Board (PROSAB) at their meeting on February 16. PROSAB offered to provide a matching $1,350 to send a member from Town staff to Trail Labs, under the condition that the BOT fund Seavers’ attendance.
Trustees approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Colorado Department of Transportation, which signifies the next step in the Nederland Transportation Multimodal Plan. The plan was awarded funding on September 23, 2022 as part of the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).
The BOT also approved the Town of Nederland pursuing a Tourism Management Grant that would fund a tourism consultant to develop a brand identity for Nederland, as well as design welcome signs for the three entry points to Town. The $20,000 grant, provided by the Colorado Tourism Office, requires a $5,000 match, which Wild Bear Nature Center (WBNC) has offered to provide.
Wild Bear’s offer to provide the $5,000 match is contingent on the Town agreeing to adopt an identity that is aligned with WBNC’s mission and vision, and on WBNC being involved in the planning process of the three welcome signs. Applications for the Tourism Management Grant are due by March 2.
For their first Discussion Item on the Agenda, the BOT heard a recommendation from Seavers and Trustee Nichole Sterling concerning the emergency moratorium on land-use applications in the Central Business District (CBD). The Town of Nederland passed the moratorium on January 17 as a result of concerns raised from a property owner’s application for a lot line consolidation.
Trustees have been analyzing the consistency between Town code and Nederland’s goals and vision for its future as outlined in the 2013 Comprehensive Plan. The recommended next steps came from the BOT’s analysis.
The recommendation from Seavers and Sterling was to allow for the moratorium to expire on February 22, then to amend Nederland Municipal Code (NMC) by March 21, and to form a team to analyze potential new regulations for the CBD. The proposed amendments to NMC Chapters 16 and 17 would require any lot line consolidation approved by the Planning Commission to be subject to the Planned Unit Development (PUD) process regardless of lot size.
The PUD regulatory process forces a developer to meet community goals pertaining to density and land use. The amendment to include the PUD process does not affect the lot line consolidation application process, which was the purpose of the analysis that required the moratorium, but instead affects future development on the consolidated lot.
There were concerns raised by Trustees and from public comment regarding the moratorium and allowing it to continue beyond the February 22 deadline. The recommendation to allow the moratorium to expire is due to it “not holding weight,” as any applications that were to come before the Planning Commission would not come onto their Agenda until April, which would be after the amendments to NMC that include the requirement of the PUD process.
Trustee Eric Coombs-Esmail felt that the recommendation from Seavers and Sterling does not solve the issue of NMC language failing to affect lot line consolidation applications, and did not agree to allowing the moratorium to lapse. Without the moratorium in place the Planning Commission still has the ability to place reasonable conditions on lot line consolidation applications, though Coombs-Esmail still felt that there was an unnecessary risk to Town by allowing the moratorium to lapse during the NMC amending process.
Sterling stated that the moratorium being lifted would be considered a compromise with the single property owner, Ron Mitchell, whose lot line consolidation application was affected by the moratorium. Coombs-Esmail reiterated that allowing the moratorium to expire before amending NMC Chapters 16 and 17 is a “backwards process,” especially considering that keeping the moratorium for four more weeks does not affect any applications.
Coombs-Esmail made a motion to move the Discussion Item to an Action Item, in order to make the motion to amend NMC, as well as create a team to potentially write new regulations affecting the CBD, while keeping the moratorium in place until March 22. The BOT required 6 out of 7 votes in order to continue the moratorium.
Mayor Pro-Tem Tom Mahowald, Seavers, and Sterling voted not to extend the moratorium, while Mayor Billy Giblin, Coombs-Esmail, Trustee Tania Corvalan, and Trustee John Mountain voted to extend the moratorium to March 22. The motion failed and therefore the moratorium will expire on February 22.
The recommendation by Seavers and Sterling also states that a team consisting of Town staff, Trustees, Planning Commission members, and community stakeholders would be formed in order to “investigate, plan, review, and analyze potential new Town regulations” for the CBD. A timeline for the formation of the team as well as the consideration and implementation of new regulations was discussed.
Trustees requested, in addition to members from the BOT and from other Town boards, a professional city-planning consultant, as well as a market specialist, to be on the team. There was discussion of releasing the application to the team starting on Friday, February 24, and to be accepted over one full week. However, the specific criteria required for each applicant was not specified in the Agenda Information Memorandum for the February 21 meeting, so the issue was moved to the March 7 meeting Agenda.
The BOT then voted whether to approve the request from Ron Mitchell, representing Nederland Central Business District Redevelopment (NCBDR) LLC, to rezone 100 1st Street from High Density Residential (HDR) to Central Business District (CBD). The 1.2 acre property was previously utilized as a 20-space parking lot; as of January 27, the lot has been barricaded and eliminated from public use.
On January 25, Mitchell presented to the Planning Commission the request to rezone the property in order to provide the CBD with a paid parking lot, a “mini-park,” and to address drainage issues by building a retention pond for stormwater runoff. The Planning Commission voted to deny the request, stating their belief that Mitchell’s plan did not have the support of the impacted community, and that the Town’s need for housing trumped its need for parking.
If the property is rezoned to CBD, Mitchell could utilize the property in any way he desires under use-by-right. The current zoning of the lot as HDR reflects the 2013 Comprehensive Plan, which states Nederland’s need for housing. Residential neighbors to the lot want it to remain HDR-zoned for the creation of workforce housing, while, according to the petition of support provided by Mitchell, businesses in the area want it to remain a parking lot.
Mitchell expressed a desire to begin going through the PUD process for all of the lots involved in his redevelopment plan, as opposed to doing it piecemeal, one lot at a time. Mitchell also spoke in favor of the lot remaining HDR if the Town were to amend Town code to allow for paid parking to be built on HDR-zoned property.
Mayor Giblin asked Mitchell about an unsigned agreement between Mitchell and the Town of Nederland concerning the development of paid parking on some of his other lots. Mitchell stated that he did not sign the agreement in question mostly because of the requirement to install kiosks and parking meters, which is considered obsolete technology.
Though the BOT had yet to get through public comment and make a final decision regarding the request to rezone 100 1st Street, the Action Item was moved to the April 4 Agenda as a result of the meeting reaching its four-hour deadline. The Action Item regarding Nederland’s decision to contract with Boulder County Sheriff’s Office for full-time law enforcement coverage was also postponed until their next meeting.
The Nederland Board of Trustees meet on the first and third Tuesday of every month. Their next scheduled meeting is on Tuesday, March 7, 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