John Scarffe, Nederland.   The Nederland Downtown Development Authority Board approved Coloring Colorado as the Town beautification vendor for 2019 during a regular meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, December 12, 2018, at the Nederland Community Center. The Board also is setting up interviews for two firms responding to a Parking, Pedestrian, and Traffic Study and Plan RFP.

In 2017, the Town and DDA passed a DDA Master Plan, and beautification activities are indicated in the plan under Downtown Beautification and Maintenance. Downtown Beautification and Maintenance is in line with the DDA’s Plan of Development, a document that governs all expenditures within the district and further described in its Master Plan, as well as identified priorities of the DDA and the Board of Trustees, furthering the Master Infrastructure Plan, Comprehensive Plan and other elements of Vision Nederland 2020.

The RFP represents a request for proposals for baseline beautification services in 2019.

The RFP would be released immediately with a submission deadline of January 31.

Elizabeth Allen with Coloring Colorado has been serving the beautification efforts for the DDA and Nederland for the past four years. At the December 4 Nederland Board of Trustees meeting, she said she has worked with the NDDA to facilitate beautification for the town.

The process for another beatification vendor choice at this point in the project calendar will hamstring the beautification project. Planting is completed in June, and she has forged a good relationship with a local grower who custom grows plant material at a deep discount and delivers material to Nederland at a price lower than it would cost to rent a truck. The window to use that grower will pass in December, and should that happen, someone will have to scrounge all over Denver to find enough alpine plants in June.

“Not doing so at this point in the calendar will cost the Town time and money.” Allen said. Allen told The Mountain-Ear that she has reduced project costs by more than 30 percent by contracting with a local grower to custom grow project materials for a generous discount, installation of self-watering kits in 2017 that significantly reduce labor hours, cultivation of contacts who donate container and garden soil for a savings of up to $600 per year, and operating at a surplus of approximately $350 for 2017 and $350 for 2018, which was returned to the project. Moreover, market price for skilled gardening services in Boulder County runs $45 to $75 an hour. As a concession to town, she charges $20 an hour.

The Council made a motion to table the RFP for the beautification indefinitely and approve Coloring Colorado as the vendor for 2019, and the Council approved.

Through the 2018 DDA Prioritization Meeting on August 2018, the DDA Board of Directors prioritized a Request for Proposals (RFP) to select a firm to conduct a study and provide a plan regarding parking, pedestrian mobility and traffic flow in Nederland. A draft RFP was presented to the NDDA Board at the September 2018 meeting and, with several revisions, incorporated and approved at the October 2018 meeting.

The final RFP was released in mid-October 2018 with a submission deadline of November 30, 2018. Work is expected to commence by early 2019 and end by October 30, 2019, with final Study and Plan presented to the NDDA Board by late November 2019.

Executive Director Josiah Masingale recommended scheduling presentations on proposals by firms at a future DDA Board Meeting, It is anticipated that TIF funds will be used to fund some or all of this study and plan. The DDA has earmarked $40,000.00 in its 2019 TIF budget with final budget contingent on the chosen firm and proposal and Town Board of Trustees approval.

The Board will try to meet with the two vendors on January 2 at 4 p.m. and, the next at 5 p.m., and then have an executive session at 6 p.m. to discuss. This is all dependent on if the firms can adhere to that schedule. Further information will be upcoming.

The next regular meeting of the NDDA Board will be at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, January 9, 2019, at the Nederland Community Center.

(Originally published in the December 27, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)