What’s the verdict on Town infrastructure? Apprentice Brewer Ariell Ray at Very Nice Brewing Company continuously filling buckets to try and filter out brown water from a nearby hydrant testing.[/caption]

On April 4, 2024, local resident and business owner Christian Vanek met with The Mountain-Ear to share his experience with the Town of Nederland regarding developing commercial properties within the Central Business District. A disagreement with the Town concerning water infrastructure and the perceived impact to public safety prompted the interview.

Vanek had been attending group seminars along with Town Administrator Miranda Fisher hosted by Downtown Colorado Inc. (DCI), a firm commissioned by the Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) to help align the goals of the Authority with those of the Board of Trustees (BOT) specifically related to downtown economic development.

At one point during his interview, Vanek read from a yellow legal pad of notes he had compiled from those seminars.

“There is low sales revenue per square foot of applicable zoning in the town,” Vanek began. “There’s no planning; lots of committees but nothing getting done; no prioritization of what needs to get done; we avoid complex issues like the plague; there’s limited public relations between the Town and the community; and the community doesn't seem to trust the Town,” Vanek stopped reading.

“I’m starting to get worried that I’m investing a lot of money in a Town that doesn't really have a future.”

Vanek bought The Mountain-Ear in 2022 and purchased 98 West 1st Street for an office; 196 West 1st Street was purchased for a future commercial enterprise, as was 103 East 1st Street, the lot known as Snyder’s Garage. And in 2023 Vanek also purchased the Citywide Bank building at 26 CO-119. He has also invested in several local nonprofits, including the Nederland Food Pantry and Wild Bear Nature Center.

The expectation was to help contribute towards making Nederland a more attractive and entertaining destination, and not just a place to drink and socialize, but also a place where his mother could age gracefully and safely.

“I want professional services, I want food, I want healthcare, continued education, entertainment,” During the seminars hosted by DCI, Vanek was asked to list his expectations as a resident of a small town.

“I want good urban design, lots of eye level interests, clean and well-kept sidewalks. I am trying to picture a town that my mother would be comfortable retiring in, but she tried going up and down 1st Street this year and couldn't. And we have a lot of people aging in place but this is just not the town to do it in.”

Vanek calls himself a small, private developer, though during the DCI seminars he was labeled a vanity developer or investor. He explained to The Mountain-Ear that he has invested nearly $4,000,000 into the Town of Nederland in just property, renovations, and remediation of the old Snyder’s lot.

Though the plans for his properties have been drafted, permit and licensing applications have been submitted, and, in some cases, construction has already begun, two of Vanek’s commercial projects are delayed, perhaps indefinitely, which he attributes to complications with Nederland’s water infrastructure.

In late March, Vanek’s contractor relayed to him that the Town was requiring the hydrant in front of the old Snyder’s lot to be “repaired” and that since the Town did not have the necessary pressure data Vanek would also have to pay for an unscheduled testing of the hydrant.

Vanek claims that he was told that, as a developer, he would need to take care of these matters before being able to connect a legally required sprinkler system.

After reaching out to Town Administrator Fisher, Vanek learned that the fire hydrant outside of Snyder’s was a low priority on the Utility Department’s repair schedule. Vanek says that Fisher implied that there were several hydrants across Nederland suffering from being unable to produce adequate pressure.

“[They] were more than willing to redo the repair schedule so that they can get to that one first,” Vanek said. “But no, I do not want to go ahead of residential health and fire safety just so I can build a giant arcade.”

Unfortunately, according to Vanek and his contractor Betters Construction, water infrastructure issues have also delayed construction on the former Citywide Bank building.

“There’s just not enough water coming into the building for commercial use. I don't know how we’re going to make it happen, how much it's going to cost, and I’m starting to get very fed up.”

Though Vanek stated that both Fisher and Mayor Billy Giblin proclaimed to him that they were unaware of the supposed fire flow issues that were delaying his projects, the Town of Nederland’s Utilities Department has been steadily working on the water and sewer infrastructure, and reporting on their progress, for several years.

The Town’s engineering consulting firm JVA provided insight into Nederland’s infrastructure needs in their Master Infrastructure Plan (MIP) released in March, 2021.

According to that plan, a four-inch pipeline under East 2nd Street, next to Barker Meadow Park, is recommended to be up-sized to a six-inch pipeline.

“Upsizing this is a very simple project that the Town has planned in the future,” Utilities Department Manager Andrew Bliss told The Mountain-Ear. Bliss added that the project is planned for next year pending approval from the BOT.

A water distribution pipeline under East 1st Street was also listed in JVA’s 2021 MIP as a priority to be completed before any downtown development.

“There are several future developments in the Downtown Zone that will require water distribution pipeline improvements, such as the Tungsten Village, 502 and 504 Peak to Peak Highway, Lakeview, and the Nederland CBD Redevelopment,” The MIP reads. “As these developments occur, it is recommended that the Town replace the existing DIP lines with C-900 PVC, and up-size all lines to 8-inches.

“Increasing the pipeline diameter will ensure that the Town can achieve sufficient fire flows throughout the Downtown Zone as development occurs.”

Bliss also confirmed that this pipeline replacement project was not necessary for the Town’s current needs, and that the Town expects any developer in the downtown area whose project may trigger the need for the pipeline replacement to be responsible for that replacement.

“It seems like there's less concern about the Snyder’s development. I think there might be some miscommunication there,” Bliss answered when asked if Vanek’s project required the pipeline replacement.

“The larger development project that has been planned for Town would likely require improvements there,” Bliss said.

The MIP also recommended that the Town investigate and potentially replace 12 low-flow fire hydrants, as well as repair or replace three reported zero-flow hydrants at 65 Valley View Drive, 157 Ponderosa Drive, and 110 Lakeview Place.

In the 2023 Town of Nederland Water Quality Report, the Utilities Department summarized the Town’s water quality data from 2022, as well as listed their goals. Among those goals for 2023 were “flushing and inspecting all fire hydrants in town” and “repairing out-of-service hydrants.”

From September, 2023 to present, the Utilities Department has provided their monthly reports to the BOT, which detail the work being done to maintain and update Nederland’s infrastructure.

By October all 170 of the Town’s hydrants were flushed and inspected, with the October 17 report noting that there were still a “handful” of hydrants that needed to be repaired or replaced.

New hydrants were installed, including one on Lakeview Drive, one at the intersection of Conger Street and Big Springs Drive, and one on East 2nd Street. A hydrant was repaired on Lakeview Place but was noted to be in need of replacement due to poor draining.

“As of right now they're all operational,” Bliss said about Nederland’s fire hydrants. “They've all been inspected as of last year and we’re planning to do the inspection and flushing again this year and then also do fire flow testing on top of that.

“We’re shooting for replacing about three hydrants a year right now,” Bliss noted. He added that generally those hydrants that need replacing either do not drain properly, which can cause issues of freezing in the winter, rendering the hydrant unusable, or are older models that no longer have replacement parts easily available.

In November 2023, the Utilities Department crew, with support from Guildner Pipeline Maintenance, repaired a sewer pipe that was 15 feet below East 1st Street near Snyder Street, as well as repairing up to 15 meters of sewer pipe, including one pipe crucial for production at the Town’s water plant.

Also during this period, Nederland’s Geographic Information System (GIS) contractor, GIS Enterprise Administration, has been developing GIS layers from Computer Assisted Design drawings supplied by JVA. The geographical data is being used to map the Town’s water distribution and wastewater collection systems.

With this data JVA is updating their Water Distribution System Model and Master Plan, which Mandy Rasmussen, project manager for JVA, explained to The Mountain-Ear would be complete by the end of the year and would be able to provide a water flow analysis for the Town’s systems and hydrants.

“The purpose of it is so that when plans do come in for development we’re able to quickly model the impact of that development,” Rasmussen explained.

Despite the work being reported monthly to the BOT, Vanek views his development dilemmas as signs that the Town of Nederland is not prepared for growth.

“If we were ready for economic development we would have on file the pressure rating for each one of those fire hydrants, and they would all be in good working condition,” Vanek said.

“We can't expand outwards, we can barely expand upwards, we only have a certain number of lots dedicated to bringing in tax revenue. And then there’s insurance risk, there's not enough property protection, and frankly I’m not satisfied with the police presence in Town at this point.”

Vanek continued to note that his properties were being vandalized and that the temporary structures located on his property at 196 West 1st Street had to have locks installed to protect from attempted break-ins.

“It’s not that we can't have nice things, I’m not sure we can take care of them if we ever got them,” Vanek said. “It’s more than just not having sidewalks, it's now the fire suppression, the water lines, and all of this is beginning to add up to the point of absolute frustration.”

And Vanek is not the only local developer who has run into frustrations attempting to work with the Town of Nederland’s infrastructure.

Local property owner Ron Mitchell of Nederland Central Business District Redevelopment LLC has been working on his redevelopment project for decades. Mitchell recently discussed his Planned Unit Development (PUD) application for six different sites with the BOT and the Planning Commission on February 13, 2024.

During that meeting Mitchell was asked to confirm that nothing in his PUD would cause obstruction to East 1st Street businesses. He specified that only digging into the street for the installation of an eight-inch diameter C-900 PVC pipeline, as noted in the 2021 MIP to be required before development, would cause potential impediments to businesses for about two weeks.

“If it does trigger the need for new facilities we have to work together and plan on that – it’s a state requirement,” Mitchell said during that meeting about his redevelopment project prompting the need for the pipeline replacement.

“We’ve agreed to pay for it, and I’m personally very willing to give the Town an easement to put the water line on private property so in the future the maintenance for the line is more accessible.”

Mitchell explained the history of how 100 East 1st Street used to be a junkyard, and that junk cars were disposed of by burying them in the streets, which also helped to make a steady incline from Snyder Street to Highway 119. The cars buried under East 1st Street are to blame for making work crews descend 15 feet underground in order to access the pipeline.

“That’s one of the reasons we need redevelopment, is the incredible mistakes that were made in the past with these buildings, and the sewer problem is a classic example of very poor planning,” Mitchell said.

Mayor Giblin mentioned that Mitchell’s claims, of being able to provide market rate “affordable” rents for residential and commercial space after the high cost of environmentally sustainable construction and mitigation of Town’s infrastructure complexities, were not feasible.

Currently, Vanek is assessing the viability of his own future business plans, including whether the rents for retail space in the former Citywide Bank building can be rated as affordable as he originally planned. And his plans for 103 East 1st Street, the old Snyder’s lot, which was to be a two-floor arcade and cocktail bar with a kitchen and food service, are to be scrapped.

However, representatives of the Town of Nederland and of the Nederland Fire Protection District (NFPD) stated that Vanek’s interpretation of the situation is not representative of the work being conducted by these entities.

On Monday, April 22, 2024, Utilities Department Manager Bliss, Town Administrator Fisher, Fire Marshal Andrew Joslin, and JVA Project Manager Rasmussen met with The Mountain-Ear to address Vanek’s claims regarding Town’s infrastructure impeding development and economic growth.

In mid-March, former Mayor Pro Tem Tom Mahowald reached out to Fisher about a public safety concern regarding what he called a “rumor” about the hydrant by the old Snyder’s lot being inoperative.

Fisher responded that Town staff, Emergency Coordinator Troy Hendricks, and the NFPD were aware that some hydrants were “not fully pressurized.”

Bliss wrote back to Mahowald and clarified: “The hydrant near the Snyder Garage is functional and was operated and inspected last year. In a recent development review meeting, the Fire Department requested the developer to raise the height of the hydrant for better access by fire crews. This can be accomplished by adding an extension to the hydrant but it is an older hydrant so replacing it makes sense.

“Identifying repairs and improvements to existing hydrants doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't fully operational for fire protection. I think that confusion may be the source of this rumor.

“All of the hydrants in Town meet CDPHE requirements for pressure. However, the Fire Department correctly has concerns about the full fire flow of some of the hydrants, which is based on more factors than just pressure, such as water main diameter.”

According to Vanek, he did not receive that clarifying information.

“It would've been great to have him in the room because we haven't had the privilege to talk with him,” Fire Marshal Joslin said about Vanek.

Joslin specified, having requested the fire flow numbers for the hydrants in question from Bliss, and having made estimates based on Type 3A, 3B, and 5B construction, that the proposed plan for the Snyder’s lot would require 1000 Gallons Per Minute (GPM) for a 9,750 square foot building, and that the hydrant provided 1850 GPM at 90 Pounds per Square Inch (PSI).

The hydrant at the former Citywide Bank building provides 2514 GPM at 150 PSI; the 4,450 square foot building would also require 1000 GPM, plus the necessary GPM for a sprinkler system.

Joslin added that he has not seen any building plans or designs regarding fire flow or sprinkler systems from Vanek.

“I see things here that are listed as problems with the system, but as far as I’m concerned the system’s fine,” Joslin continued. “I want to be careful with allowing pushback from developers to put the burden of their development on the Fire Department and on the Town.

“We make sure that we’re meeting the fire code, that we’re meeting the NFPA requirements, that we’re meeting the state requirements that we have enough water in the right locations to put out a fire there, and we think about the worst case scenario every time.”

“As you start developing and changing use then it changes the requirements,” Joslin added. “Is it on the taxpayers to pay for that development by improving the systems that work fine for what we have, or is it on the developer that is building something that requires more demand, more fire-flow?”

On a Friday afternoon, April 12, 2024, as the restaurants in the Caribou Village Shopping Center were preparing for dinner service, brown water began pouring from their pipes, which was a direct result of the hydrant flushing occurring at 26 CO-119, the former Citywide Bank building.

The brown water persisted to the point where businesses had to close, including Tres Gringos, which lost Friday night revenue rather than wash their customers’ dishes in water full of sediment.

Store owners communicated with one another to run their taps to attempt to flush the sediment out. However, the problem persisted for longer than the store owners were used to.

“We did fire flow testing for the bank building, they’re designing their sprinkler system and they wanted an updated fire flow,” Bliss said, explaining how, when a fire flow test is performed, one hydrant on the same main line is flushed while the other hydrant on the main line is monitored to gauge the pressure.

“This is something that we’ll push proactively for the community. We want to do more hydrant testing, and the downside to that is it might cause more discolored water,” Bliss said.

On Saturday morning, businesses began to operate as usual, but were menaced by the brown water again. Jeffrey Green of Very Nice Brewing Company was set to begin brewing as his water appeared to be running fine, but then it turned brown.

The owners of Tres Gringos had clean water continuously carted into the restaurant as needed until the brown water was filtered out of their pipes.

Green’s apprentice brewer Ariell Ray kept a count as she filled a bucket with brown water throughout the day; she had surpassed filtering 1600 gallons of water by noon on Saturday, and their water still had a tint of tan.

Joslin explained that Nederland’s water system has dead ends where sediment gathers and gets stirred up when routine maintenance like hydrant flushing occurs or when fire flow tests are requested.

“Unfortunately, in our system we have more dead ends than we would like, but in the past maybe we haven’t put enough pressure on developers to close those loops,” Joslin said.

The business owners, already having suffered shutdowns of their businesses for power outages and record snowfall, were not forgiving of the hydrant testing causing a loss of revenue and making it harder to run a business in Nederland.

“If the town really wants to help small businesses grow then they need to do something about the infrastructure,” Green said about the water issues.

As for Vanek and his relationship with the Town concerning whatever issues may be affecting his investments, currently there are two narratives.

“As a developer, I have lost my faith in the Town and its government,” Vanek said. “The “he said/ she said” doesn't help that at all. I was told that there were hydrants that do not function. I was told that I would have to pay to repair the hydrant by the Snyder's garage, and I would have to pay in order to have it tested for water pressure.”

“I talked to Christian directly, I clarified the misinformation and yet the misinformation is continuing to be spread,” Town Administrator Fisher told The Mountain-Ear. “I’m concerned that there's a bit of sensationalizing happening because of other frustrations that he has.”

Vanek details his frustrations as a resident, a business owner, and vanity developer and investor. He speaks about his belief that the math of truly affordable housing does not add up for Nederland, and calls paid parking a “red herring” as a plan for revenue due to Nederland’s property owners being rendered incapable of optimizing their lots.

“It's not that the Town can't solve these problems, but the solution is going to be difficult and I don’t think there's the political will to do so,” Vanek concluded.

“As for the BOT and NDDA, we need to look at how many of the issues going in are actually getting resolved coming out. They do a lot of plate spinning but they don't actually achieve anything. And those things that they do achieve don't really move the needle.”

Vanek expressed his belief that the Town should incorporate penalties and fees on commercial properties that lay dormant, even though that includes his own. He also mentioned that the Town could raise the commercial property tax rate and give a tax credit for the sales tax collected on that property.

Vanek noted that the Town may need to adopt its own charter and become a home rule municipality in order to institute some of the creative taxing which he sees as necessary to help Nederland thrive.

If the community and Town leadership are unable to pursue home rule, then Vanek would prefer that the Town just be incorporated into Boulder County.

“You need to throw some plates away and let them shatter. You need to do the math to understand what you really need to get the Town to sustain itself moving forward, and that is very difficult when there is no incentive for developers to optimize their properties, and there is no definition of what ‘optimized’ is.

“You only have so much commercial square footage, you need to optimize every square foot on those properties.

“Breaking even and doing social good, that works for me. But not being able to actually do anything and to be in the red for it is a little harder to swallow. So I will look at other communities, because it's going to be a while before we get anything going in this town.”