The Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) met for a special meeting on Wednesday, June 1, 2022, at 8:30 p.m. to decide whether or not to push forward with a Big Springs Emergency Egress project. Residents of the Big Springs subdivision attended the meeting online to voice their opinions and present their own data on what might be an optimal route for egress through their neighborhood.

The question before the BOT was whether to instruct the Town to apply for a FEMA grant to fund the construction of one of three egress routes through Big Springs; or to apply for a smaller portion of the funds to continue development of an optimal egress plan. The BOT was tasked with making this decision by the end of their special meeting in order to give enough time for the town to apply for the FEMA grant.

FEMA released the Congressional Designated Spending application on May 26, 2022, with a due date of June 24, 2022. The $525,000 grant would require a $175,000 match from the Town and is partially contingent on the chosen egress route being at a 60% completion rate, in regards to design and planning.

Three chosen routes currently meet the 60% completion rate criteria, having already been reviewed by JVA, the town’s engineering consultants. Each of the three routes – named the Wildewood Route, the Doe Trail Route, and the Ridgeline Route – have their own unique complications in relation to being considered effective egress routes.

If the BOT does not feel they are ready to pursue one of the chosen routes, they can apply for the FEMA funds to be used for further project scoping. Choosing this option would allow for the Town to look into other routes, with a focus on significant public outreach to better reach a community consensus. However, the threat of wildfire to Big Springs residents, and the lack of appropriate emergency egress for said residents, were weighty of community safety that the BOT had to consider.

Many residents expressed a desire for the BOT to “make the hard decision” and approve one of the three already chosen and assessed routes. However, two of those routes run into, or close to, private property lines, which creates an issue of the Town having to seek a “buy in,” or permission, from the affected residents in order for those routes to be eligible for the FEMA grant. Most Trustees were not in favor of infringing on residents’ property rights, though the urgency to protect lives continued to drive their discussion.

The Wildewood Route is proposed to extend from the end of Wildewood Lane and follow an abandoned trail to connect to Magnolia Drive. Despite the Wildewood Route being a shorter route, as well as centrally located in the Big Springs subdivision, there are concerns with the terrain in terms of construction, ongoing maintenance, and potential wildfire entrapment. The Wildewood Route was assessed as a secondary route in a 2020 report from the Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire program (CPAW). The report additionally stated that there were adjustments which could be made to reduce the construction impacts and public safety challenges of the route.

The Doe Trail Route is proposed to begin from the major curve of Doe Trail, continue through a riparian area (natural transitional zone between land and a waterway), then up a steep slope to connect to Magnolia Road. A team composed of Town staff, Trustees, Big Springs residents, and members of the Planning Commission and Town’s on-call engineers was formed in 2016, called the Nederland Design Advisory Team (DAT). The DAT, after studying the research, community input, and GPS design analysis (which had been gathered on the Big Springs egress issue since 2012), determined through a series of public meetings in 2016 and 2017 that the Doe Trail Route was the best option.

A conceptual design for the Doe Trail Route was created from the combined efforts of the Town’s engineers, Town staff, the DAT, and Parks, Recreation and Open Space Advisory Board (PROSAB). With most of the existing trail located on Boulder County Parks and Open Space, Nederland submitted a land- use application to Boulder County in April, 2019. At the Land-Use hearing held in July, 2019, Boulder County Commissioners approved the project on the condition that the Town research alternative routes which might have less environmental impact.

Despite all of the preliminary reports and work being done to promote the Doe Trail Route as the optimal choice for egress, there were concerns raised at the June 1 meeting about the route by Trustees and the public. The concerns were aimed at the extremely steep topography and environmental impact that would hinder construction and come with a high initial cost and long-term maintenance cost. The area is not just a wildlife corridor through wetlands, but it has the potential to create a natural fire tunnel in the event of a wildfire.

The Ridgeline Route is proposed to begin far west on Doe Trail, down closer to the reservoir, and climb up to connect with Magnolia Road. The route was chosen by Town staff, the Nederland Fire Department (NFD), and JVA as the alternative route required by the Boulder County Commissioners as part of their conditional approval from the July, 2019 Land-Use hearing. The 2020 CPAW report indicated the Ridgeline Route as the primary route for egress “from the perspective of safety and minimal ecological disturbance.” However, the route passes through Boulder County Open Space land, Forest Service land, and privately owned land.

On February 8, 2022, the Big Springs Egress Committee held a meeting to discuss options for funding the Ridgeline Route before the matter would come up on the BOT’s agenda. The committee, which is a collaboration of Town staff, Trustees, the NFD, and Town engineers, discussed an easement for the egress route because a driveway currently utilized by four private properties is involved. An easement is an acquired right to use someone else’s land for a specific purpose.

JVA assessed that the driveway would need to be expanded and updated in order for emergency vehicles to have access. A support wall would also have to be constructed for the addition of a switchback, which would also affect the residents’ properties. The Big Springs Egress Committee opted to increase public outreach in hopes of getting those residents whose properties would be affected by the egress route to “buy in.”

On May 3, 2022, at the BOT’s scheduled meeting, the question before the Board on the matter of Big Springs Egress was whether or not the BOT wished for the Town to pursue use of the Ridgeline Route as the optimal route for egress. The BOT was seemingly in agreement that the route was the best choice and urged town staff to pursue the FEMA funding for the project and to confer with Town Attorney Jennifer Madsen on how to move forward with negotiations with the impacted residents.

The BOT heard the many voices of Big Springs residents for the majority of the June 1 meeting. Some residents strongly urged for any of the chosen three routes to be constructed, stating it would be better than having no egress route at all. A Doe Trail resident provided data from free-to-use evacuation simulation software known as FLEET (Fast Local Emergency Evacuation Times). With several of the proposed routes tested, including a “dream” scenario with five egress routes and a route across the Barker Reservoir, the simulation resulted in only 10 to 12 percent of Big Springs residents properly evacuated before fire reached the easternmost egress route.

The BOT felt that the environmental complications, financial concerns, and private property conundrums plaguing each respective route needed to be considered before “pushing anything through.” Trustees discussed the potential of two alternative routes branched from the Ridgeline Route (routes A and C, with route B being the discussed and contested route that runs into the private driveway). Though Ridgeline Route C doesn’t meet the 60% completion rate criteria to be eligible for the $525,000 FEMA grant, the BOT felt that they should be eligible for further project scoping.

A motion was made to instruct town staff to pursue the FEMA grant for use of the Wildewood Route for an egress; the motion was seconded but was disapproved 3 - 2. The Wildewood Route was sought after as the optimal choice because it is eligible for the full amount of the FEMA grant and would provide much needed relief to the people of Big Springs. The route was disapproved because it would run near private property.

A motion was made to direct Town staff to pursue a portion of the FEMA grant to be used for more “scope of work.” The goal would be to assess and plan for an egress route using the Ridgeline Route C and to investigate the potential of working with Boulder County and Homeland Security to construct an egress route across the Barker Dam. The motion was seconded and was approved 4 - 1.

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