On Monday, March 13, 2023, at 5 p.m. at the Nederland Community Library (NCL), a special meeting was held in order for the public to discuss the Town’s Annexation Ordinance and an Intergovernmental
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On Monday, March 13, 2023, at 5 p.m. at the Nederland Community Library (NCL), a special meeting was held in order for the public to discuss the Town’s Annexation Ordinance and an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Boulder County.
The meeting is the first organized by a new community engagement group formed by Trustee Nichole Sterling, NCL Director Elektra Greer, and community members May Jarril and Susan Wagner.
From September 13, 2022, to November 15, 2022, the BOT discussed and drafted Ordinance 834, which was approved by a 5-1 vote on December 20, 2022. Ordinance 834 repealed and replaced Nederland Municipal Code Chapter 15, allowing Nederland to handle matters of annexation on its own. Matters of annexation were previously being dictated by the IGA between the Town and Boulder County, which the BOT allowed to expire on December 31, 2022.
Annexation is the process by which municipalities incorporate new territory from outside of their boundaries, typically at the request of the property owner. The power of annexation is granted so that municipalities, through processes such as a property owner petition or an annexation election, can plan developments that best benefit the community.
The issue of annexation is a hot button topic for Nederland as a result of its connection to neighboring property that local officials wish to have annexed in an effort to secure water rights. Those opposed to Nederland having power over annexation are primarily against the potential of development sprawl which might affect the natural wilderness surrounding the Town.
Trustee Sterling acted as moderator and first detailed to the large audience at the NCL the agenda and ground rules for the meeting. Those in attendance would first hear four separate presentations focusing on the history of Nederland’s IGA with Boulder County, the history of Nederland’s Comprehensive Plan, the decision by the BOT to allow the IGA to expire and to draft a new annexation ordinance, and potential areas of focus for negotiating a new IGA with Boulder County.
The public were asked to listen actively, stay on topic, use respectful language, be specific and avoid generalizing or stereotyping, ask clarifying questions, be open-minded, cite reliable sources to support their arguments, avoid fallacies, and to take turns speaking.
Dale Case, Director of Boulder County’s Community Planning and Permitting Department, spoke with the crowd about the history of the IGA between Boulder County and Nederland, which was instituted in 2002 and expired in 2022. Case has acted as director of his department since 2008, and has worked for Boulder County for thirty years, with a great amount of his experience and expertise being in comprehensive planning.
Case explained how IGAs help to bolster communication between municipalities and the county and that they are formed from consensus and agreements between the two entities. According to Case, an IGA is meant to protect the core vision that the municipality has for its future, which is typically expressed in a comprehensive plan, and acts as an enforceable framework to ensure municipalities can make long-term decisions without compromising that vision.
In 2002, Nederland’s IGA was crafted at a “political level,” Case said, specifying that at that time Nederland wanted to stay the way it was. However, in 2013 the matter of the Bobcat Ridge project brought a different conversation to Boulder County boards and commissions.
The Bobcat Ridge project involves the property owner desiring to be annexed into the Town of Nederland. The 17 acres of property on the south side of Colorado Road is being proposed for the construction of an affordable housing community. According to Case, Boulder County had been reviewing the discussions of wildlife migration concerns and fear of outward developmental “sprawl” that surrounded the Bobcat Ridge project. Boulder County was working on an amendment to the IGA specifically concerning the matter of annexation before the IGA was allowed to expire.
The crowd then heard from former Trustee Kevin Mueller who gave insight into Nederland’s comprehensive plan, which was originally drafted in 1987. Mueller mentioned updates to the comprehensive plan made in 1994 and 2003, noting that the 2003 update was when Nederland recognized the need to acquire data on wetlands, floodplains, vegetation, and anything else in need of protection in their natural surroundings. Also in 2003, infill development was stated as Nederland’s preferred method for any future expansion.
Mueller went on to explain how in 2006 and 2007 the Nederland government passed several resolutions pertaining to protecting the environment. In 2010 and 2011 Nederland made environmental sustainability their priority, paving the way for the last update to the comprehensive plan made in 2013, which continued Nederland residents’ thoughts against outward sprawl affecting wildlife habitats and our surrounding open space.
Nederland Trustee Eric Coombs-Esmail spoke to the crowd briefly about Ordinance 834 and about the expiring of the IGA. Coombs-Esmail desired for the Town to have its own robust and thorough annexation policy in place in order to put the Town into a better negotiating position with Boulder County for the drafting of a new IGA, as well as to enable Nederland to be more self-sufficient during the inevitable period without the perceived protections of the IGA.
Former Nederland Trustee James Rawsthorne spoke of his time on the BOT in 2019 during which the discussion of renewing the IGA with Boulder County came up. Rawsthorne addressed the crowd about how the IGA covered much more than just annexation and how it served to fill many gaps in municipal governance that Nederland has previously required assistance with.
Rawsthorne detailed four areas of focus where a new IGA with Boulder County can assist, including the protection of Nederland’s open space and wildlife corridors through watershed protections, and codifying the town’s preference for infill development. Assistance in transit services for relief to Nederland’s parking issues and training programs for police officers, such as the Sheriff’s cadet program, were also noted as ways an IGA with Boulder County can better serve Nederland.
The public were given more than 30 minutes to ask questions to the four speakers present at Monday’s meeting. Sterling and members of Town staff reiterated strongly that an annexation policy does not allow for the Town to freely grab other people’s land. The property owners themselves are always those who petition to be annexed, and an annexation changes the property’s taxation; it does not affect the ownership of the property.
The questions from the public were mostly related to concerns that Nederland’s Ordinance 834 is more restrictive than the former IGA with Boulder County, and that the IGA seemingly protected the vision outlined in the Town’s comprehensive plan. Coombs-Esmail explained that though Ordinance 834 is quite thorough, it is not any more restrictive in what it requires from property owners petitioning to be annexed.
As for the question of whether or not Nederland’s stances on wildlife protections and preferences for infill development were more protected under the IGA, it was noted that the IGA was more enforceable than Nederland’s comprehensive plan. Therefore, without an IGA, only Nederland Municipal Code can protect or enforce that which is stated in the comprehensive plan as the Town’s goals and vision for itself.
There were concerns raised by the public about Nederland’s current projected population capacity in terms of water, sewer, and energy, and about the high cost of PIF fees potentially rising even more as the population expands. Sterling addressed the several questions related to whether or not Nederland truly has a housing shortage and whether or not it can handle much more expansion. Sterling noted that the Town is currently in the process of doing a Housing Needs Assessment, with a public meeting to be held on April 6 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Nederland Community Center, which will hopefully answer a lot of the community’s questions.
The Town of Nederland and the BOT are hosting a Town Hall meeting to discuss with the public the issue of annexation and the drafting of a new Boulder County IGA at the Nederland Community Center on Tuesday, March 21, from 6 to 8 p.m.