The Nederland Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Advisory Board (PROSAB) met on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. to provide their feedback on the Town’s Tourism Management Strategy. Board members also discussed the future of the pump track project.

The Board first heard a presentation from Charlie Alexander of Fehr & Peers regarding the work he and the firm are doing on the Multimodal Transportation Plan. The plan, which aims to guide Nederland in creating convenient, accessible, safe, and sustainable transportation, is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.

Alexander spoke on the current phase of the plan – the development and prioritization of recommended policies, projects, and programs – and highlighted those recommendations that pertained to PROSAB’s interests.

The recommendations regarding the Town’s bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure arose from the data collected from community engagement initiatives, including open house meetings and public surveys. According to the data, more than 70% of the community desire improved pedestrian crossings, and over 60% desire sidewalk repairs and additions.

Crossing improvements are recommended, especially across Highway 119 connecting the Visitors Center to East 1st Street, and across Highway 72 connecting the RTD Park n Ride and the Nederland Community Library. Fehr & Peers recommend the crossings be upgraded to “all-weather.”

Regarding programs and policies, Fehr & Peers recommends a focus on parks facilities maintenance, to prioritize a street sweeping plan, to create more intuitive signage through Wayfinding projects, to require all large developments to conduct a traffic impact study, and to provide roundabout education.

Board members questioned whether Fehr & Peers were looking into various possible trail connections that can be created throughout the Town, including connections to the Nederland Middle-Senior High School (NMSHS), to the Nederland Elementary School, and in Big Springs.

Parks Manager Nicki Dunn reiterated that the trails in Big Springs are mostly on private land or U.S. Forest Service land, and that the Multimodal Transportation Plan is focused on Town properties.

Dunn also noted that Boulder County has included a trail connection to NMSHS as part of their trails master plan, though an intergovernmental agreement would be needed for the maintenance of the trail, as well as a legal agreement with Kayla Evans, owner of the impacted property. Dunn has requested $50,000 from the county for a landscape design and construction plan for the trail.

Alexander ended the presentation by stating that the Multimodal Transportation Plan is expected to be completed by the end of 2024, with broader community outreach planned for over the summer.

Chair Kat Barr and Board member KC Cunilio shared information they gathered from attending a natural resources stakeholder focus group regarding fire mitigation volunteering and reviewing wetlands and riparian corridors.

The aim of this focus group was to provide SE Group with data concerning the interests of natural resources stakeholders, in order to ensure proper representation within the Town’s Comprehensive Plan update being drafted by the firm.

Stakeholders present for the focus group included members of PROSAB, the Sustainability Advisory Board, Nederland Fire Protection District, Boulder Watershed Collection, and the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife (CPW).

Barr expressed that the focus group helped to highlight the potential opportunities for collaboration with other organizations, and noted that CPW provided helpful information regarding their scorecard for environmental reviews on the potential impact of development on wildlife corridors.

Parks Manager Dunn presented her Parks Department report, which detailed the effects of road work planned by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) for the summer, and of trash issues on East 1st Street.

CDOT’s asphalt overlay project on Highway 72, all the way through to the roundabout, will begin in late May and will coincide with the Town conducting asphalt milling. CDOT will provide crosswalk markings during construction, which, Dunn specified, are not the beaconed crosswalks that are part of another project.

Dunn reported the work the Parks Department has been conducting regarding the cleaning of trash and dog refuse exposed by the melting snow, as well as trash that has blown out of dumpsters and collected at the lower end of East 1st Street.

Nederland’s Public Engagement Manager Peter Cacek led PROSAB in a discussion regarding the development of a Tourism Management Strategy. Town staff have been working with the Colorado Tourism Office, as part of their Destination Blueprint program, to develop the strategy as a means to align with other Town boards on creating sustainable tourism initiatives while maintaining Nederland’s identity.

Board members provided feedback on the draft tourism management strategy, and offered suggestions regarding the listed goals within the strategy.

These goals include engaging the community and business stakeholders; educating and managing tourists; promoting businesses and local experiences; improving the tourist/community experience; and instituting tourism governance and partnerships.

Cacek presented the proposed actions which directly affect PROSAB, including: Goal 2, to create and distribute educational material to visitors; Goal 4, steward trails and open space through collaborations; Goal 5, establish and utilize a system to monitor the impacts of tourism; and Goal 6, to strengthen partnerships with regional and state organizations.

Cacek sees the end goal of leveraging partnerships and collaborations as the Visitors Center becoming a self-sustainable entity and a tourism hub that can be used for the Town’s tourism industry and initiatives. Ideally, it could also be used as well for initiatives from tourism-focused organizations like the Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) and the Peak to Peak Chamber of Commerce.

Barr added that when the Board reassesses its goals, it can add into its roles assisting the Town in drafting and creating educational material for tourists about recreational safety in Nederland’s parks and open spaces.

PROSAB Vice Chair Sam Ovett led the Board in a discussion regarding the future of the Pump Track project after the results from the April 2 municipal election. The ballot question as to whether they would support a concrete pump track to be constructed at Chipeta Park between the parking lot and the basketball court received a strong negative, with 286 votes for “No” to 196 votes for “Yes.”

Ovett presented Board members with the question of whether to abandon the project or to continue investigating possible alternative locations for the project, from any available Town-owned properties to other options just outside the Town’s central business district (CBD).

Ovett reported that he had met with Rob Price, assistant superintendent of operations for the Boulder Valley School District, regarding NMSHS Principal Gavan Goodrich’s interest in having the pump track installed at the high school. Ovett will have information as to whether the high school could be a viable spot for the project at the next PROSAB meeting.

PROSAB discussed whether to support the project if it cannot be constructed close to Nederland’s downtown area, and noted that the NDDA would definitely not fund the project if it was not within the CBD. Town Administrator Miranda Fisher added that the NDDA might not be interested in continuing to fund the project regardless.

The conversation became centered on whether the Town’s residents would actually support the pump track even if it was located some place other than Chipeta Park. Dunn and Jesse Seavers both expressed that they did not believe the project had the community’s support.

Some Board members asked if PROSAB could support bicycling infrastructure of another form instead of a pump track. Seavers shared that the ambiguity in the Use Group Table within Town code about what defines a sports facility versus a passive migration use was causing issues in creating any bike infrastructure on Town land.

Seavers suggested that PROSAB could draft clarifying language pertaining to “passive migration” and recommend that language to the Board of Trustees.

The Board decided to delay moving forward with the project until more research was conducted regarding any possible Town-owned lots that could be used for a pump track.

Dunn led the Board in a discussion regarding the proposal from Jesse Seavers, owner of High Performance Earthworks, to create a new bike trail connecting the Nederland Elementary School to NedRINK.

The trail, nicknamed the “Rink Link,” would connect Town-owned land, near the elementary school’s emergency access, to the existing trail system near that area. High Performance Earthworks, as well as volunteers from Peak to Peak Endurance and the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance, would assist in the development of the trail.

The Rink Link is part of a larger proposal from High Performance Earthworks for bike trail creation in Nederland. Seavers mentioned that the proposal was inspired by his and Dunn’s trip to Bentonville, Arkansas to attend the International Mountain Bicycling Association’s Trail Labs back in April, 2023.

Dunn asked the Board for approval of the connection trail plan and received a nod of four to allow High Performance Earthworks and other volunteers to assist in the construction of the trail.

Board members then voted on whether to authorize Dunn using $15,700 out of the organization’s $31,000 conservation fund for the next phase of improvements and maintenance for NedRINK’s tennis and pickleball court, which includes a shot blasting process. The final step would require the courts to be stained, which would protect them from needing excessive repeat maintenance.

The Board unanimously approved Dunn’s request to use $15,700 to hire someone to shot blast the court.

The Nederland Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Advisory Board meets every third Thursday of the month at 5:30 p.m. Their next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 20, 2024. Meetings can be attended online via WebEx.

For more information go to: https://townofnederland.colorado.gov/parks-recreation-open-space-advisory-board.