John Scarffe, Nederland. The Town of Nederland Board of Trustees discussed special review use permits for two multi-family units during the Board’s regular meeting on Tuesday, September 16, at 7 p.m. The Board approved a special use permit at 439 W. Third Street and denied one at 253 W. Third Street.

Town Administrator Alisha Reis told the Board the two-unit multi-family residence at 439 W. Third Street requires a special use permit. The application fits the requirements, and the Nederland Planning Commission conducted a public hearing and voted to approve the SRU without any conditions.

The applicant, Wendy Williams, proposed that the building footprint will increase by 881 square feet upon a 15,854-square-foot parcel. The applicant proposed enlarging an existing single family residence to a multi-family residence.

The Board approved the special use permit.

Arthur Amacher applied for a special review use (SRU) permit for a multi-family residence at 253 W. Third Street. Amacher proposed a duplex plus a shed (three units). The proposed building footprint would not change on the 11,456-square-foot parcel.

The existing house is a pre-established, non-conforming multi-family use, per Town utility billing and property records, and was considered as such upon application review by Town staff and the Planning Commission. The code allows for continuation of residential non-conforming uses, as long as they comply with the remainder of the code provisions.

The property was cited by Code Enforcement in July 2014, noting that a special review use permit is required to allow a multi-family residence.

This property has been marketed as a multi-family residence, requiring clarification to real estate agents and prospective buyers in 2013 about the allowable use by special review. An addition to the single family dwelling was approved by Boulder County Building Department as of August 2002 for three bedrooms and three bathrooms and approved per zoning by Nederland Director of Operations at that time, Ron Trzepacz.

Records indicate that the property converted informally to multi-use at this time. The Planning Commission reviewed the application and conducted a public hearing at its meeting on August 27.

Several residents living on Fourth Street, north of the property, spoke to issues with parking from the site, noise and trash. The Commission voted to approve the use with a number of conditions. It would be only for two units and nontransferable upon the sale of property. All parking must be on property and not on adjacent streets.

A number of people attended the public hearing to address parking flowing onto the street. The applicant was not in attendance at the Board of Trustees meeting that night and does not live on the property.

Neighbor Leonard Kottenstette told the Board his wife and family moved into their house in 1992, and the property in question was a small cabin. In the past 12 years it has been a multi-family residence.

They have problems with parking overflowing on the street, bonfires, a grow house, and trash. “I don’t see how a large house with multiple bedrooms is compatible with a duplex,” he said.         “You can see how close and tight the houses are in that area.

Trustee Kevin Mueller said this property has always been kind of a flop house. It’s happening in other parts of the town.

“Approving this is not going to do away with the issues we have on this property,” Mueller said. “If we’re allowing it, why we would require that, if they sell it, it can’t stay multi-family? I would recommend that follows through and would stabilize the property value.”

Trustee Topher Donahue said a number of the issues would remain if the trustees deny the SRU. A well-managed duplex would be better than a flop house.

“We’re setting a precedent either way,” Donahue said. “We’re sending a message where we are allowing multi-family units.”

Trustee Randy Lee said: “I’m leaning against it because of the odd configuration of the lot. It’s fundamentally smaller than the square feet. It has such a history of misuse.”

The Board then denied the permit.

The Board also approved submitting a grant request for funding related to the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) 2016-2021 Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP). This was also approved by the Nederland Downtown Development Authority at their meeting on the next night, September 17.

Grant applications for the next funding cycle from TIP were due September 19. At the August 20 DDA meeting, the DDA Board asked Town Administrator Alisha Reis to draft the TIP grant application for two projects – the Lakeview and Highway 72 Intersection Improvement and the Middle Boulder Creek Pedestrian and Emergency Secondary Bridge projects. Both are highlighted in the Town’s Master Infrastructure Plan as important infrastructure projects for the Town and occurring within and important to the DDA business district.

Reis attended the mandatory training on the TIP scoring and process at the end of August and after discussions with Colorado Department of Transportation and DRCOG representatives, determined it was worth it to score both projects for TIP grant funding. CDOT and DRCOG officials indicated that these projects would also make a good singular project, given that they leverage against each other to provide for better pedestrian, bicyclist and motorist safety and traffic flow in the downtown area.

The Town would receive notification of approval or denial of funding before the end of the year. If awarded, project funding would become available in July 2016. The request to DRCOG for the Lakeview and Highway 72 Intersection project will be for $276,000 with a local Nederland (DDA) match of $69,000 for a total project cost of $345,000.

The request to DRCOG for the Middle Boulder Creek Secondary Bridge project will be for $345,600 with a local match (DDA) of $86,400 for a total project cost of $432,000.

If the projects are combined, some efficiencies may result; however, the ballpark combined cost, based on construction estimates given in the Master Infrastructure Plan, would be about $785,000, including environmental study, design and construction. The local match would total about $175,000.

Mayor Joe Gierlach thought the amount requested might be low considering the amount of time that will pass since the contract was awarded and requested that the amount be raised. He told the DDA board that Nederland is a destination on RTD and that is huge for DRCOG. “We’re serving a huge population down below. For decades we haven’t received money for Nederland from DRCOG.”

Both boards approved submitting the grant application for the two projects.

The next meeting of the Nederland Board of Trustees will be on Tuesday, October 7. The next meeting of the Nederland Downtown Development Authority will be on Wednesday, October 15. Both will be at the Nederland Community Center.