On Wednesday, April 24, 2024 from 10 to 11 a.m., representatives for SE Group spoke with Nederland stakeholders, including business and property owners in the Town’s Central Business District, concerning the Subarea Plan being developed as an additional focus of the Comprehensive Plan update currently being drafted.

The Subarea plan has previously been defined by SE Group to be a less broad guiding document containing more specific recommendations to achieve a “vision for downtown Nederland for the next 15 to 20 years.”

Cheney Bostic of SE Group led the meeting, which aimed to gain feedback from local business owners about their issues concerning operating in the current downtown area and their suggestions for areas of potential growth and improvement.

“I really want to understand your day-to-day needs and operations before we start recommending improvements so we can understand how the future can function for you,” Bostic said.

Roy Young, owner of Nature's Own at 5 East 1st Street, described the operations of his business, noting that their deliveries come by UPS from their warehouse in Boulder. Young also specified that the majority of his staff are local and do not take up any of the business’s available parking.

“I’ve said this for more than 30 years: parking is the number one issue,” Young said. “Development of the rest of 1st Street is really hampered by [it].”

Young added that he has witnessed tourists driving right through town due to a lack of available parking, and also commented on how nearby Highway 119 causes speeding issues through the downtown area. Young wished to see better maintenance of Highway 119 from CDOT, and better speed enforcement from Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.

Peter Stader, owner of New Moon at 1 West 1st Street spoke about how their delivery and trash operations often utilize an alleyway privately owned by the Smoker Friendly gas station, which can sometimes cause complications.

Stader noted that the lack of public facilities such as restrooms and trash cans puts a strain on his staff, and described how he and his staff have developed a phased parking plan to mitigate the lack of parking for their customers.

“I love to run my business there, but I don’t see a lot of change,” Stader said. “I see a lot of intent for change and improvements, but I do not really see them.”

Stader expressed frustration from the lack of change and shared that he had made concessions in his business operations in the expectation of a widened sidewalk in front of New Moon that never came to fruition.

“About two years ago I gave up four feet of my patio, which is about twelve seats. I lost revenue of about $40,000 a year to get the sidewalk – which is not there.”

Matthew Christian, director of operations for Silver Stem, whose Nederland location is at 1 West 1st Street Unit 1D, specified that they receive weekly deliveries from their facility in Denver. Christian stated that many deliveries made by UPS would fail and have to be redelivered due to insufficient parking.

Christian commented that those Silver Stem employees from out of town often have to park at the home of a Nederland friend or colleague in order to not take up too many spaces from potential customers.

“We get a lot of complaints from customers about not being able to find parking and having to constantly drive around,” Christian said.

Dave and Vickie Poe, property owners of 34 East 1st Street, which houses The Deli, commented that though they do not get involved in their tenant’s business operations, they are aware of the issues of parking for customers and for delivery drivers.

“A delivery truck actually hit our building,” Dave Poe said.

Kyle Busey, owner of Busey Brews at 70 East 1st Street, Laurence Delaunay, operator of Lolo’s Atelier at 25 East 1st Street, and Ron Mitchell, property owner of several lots on East 1st and 2nd Streets, were also present for the meeting.

Bostic stated that SE Group is working in collaboration with other entities and projects, including the work being done on the Transportation Master Plan, to develop an actionable parking management plan, as well as a maintenance district for the downtown area.

Charlie Alexander, an engineer at SE Group, spoke to the concerns of speed in the downtown area.

“Highway 119 through Town presents challenges in many different ways, including the downtown speed and also congestion, particularly related to the crossing by the museum,” Alexander said, speaking about the roundabout and the Nederland Mining Museum at 200 North Bridge Street.

“We’re looking at different options for improvements that can be made and trying to understand what the effects of those are on things like speed, safety, and congestion,” Alexander said.

Bostic then led the group through a map of Nederland’s Central Business District, which contained highlighted lots deemed “opportunity sites.” These were described as vacant lots that are either currently being proposed for development or have the potential to be developed.

SE Group proposed the RTD parking lot as an opportunity site as a result of the potential RTD two-floor parking garage. A second vehicle bridge across Middle Boulder Creek, connecting Conger Street to Snyder Street, was also highlighted on the map.

The south side of the creek, behind East 1st Street, is shown on the map to be expanded with additional “parking pockets” and public facilities, as well as a pedestrian trail connecting to other areas of town, creating a trail loop. Additional pedestrian bridges across the creek were also added on SE Group’s map.

The Wolf Tongue Mill, which is a large industrial-zoned district on the west end of Nederland, was also highlighted as an opportunity site. Bostic mentioned that the zoning would allow for breweries, distilleries, and artist spaces, though there has been discussion of establishing the area as a possible historic district.

Stader asked when SE Group expects any of their plans to be implemented, to which Bostic replied that the Town had already begun many of the components of these plans, which are also already funded.

Bostic added, in response to Stader’s claims that the Town has not moved forward with any of the similar plans that have been proposed in the past, that economic conditions are different today and that there are available grants to help in making these plans a reality.

For more information on SE Group and their work on the Comprehensive Plan, an update on their progress and on planned stakeholder workshops is included in The Mountain-Ear’s coverage of the Planning Commission’s April 24 meeting, which can be found in this edition or online at https://www.themtnear.com.