This article was first published in the February 1 issue of The Mountain-Ear.

John Scarffe , Nederland.

The Nederland Downtown Development Authority Board approved the job description of an Executive Director and heard a presentation by the Butterfly Pavilion on Monday, January 17, 2018, at the Nederland Community Center. Before the meeting, Board members walked around Nederland discussing top priority projects for the Visitor Center, parking and traffic improvements.

NDDA Board members Claudia Schauffler and Amanda Kneer presented a draft of the job description for the new NDDA Executive Director position, which was approved at the Board’s December 11 meeting. Kneer said it was broad enough to give them enough space to develop it as it goes along.

Town Administrator Karen Gerrity said the position will be responsible for coordinating all activities for the DDA. “I don’t think we need to overthink this. At least 20 hours per week. Once a person is hired, they would be given a project to be paid out of other funds.”

The Board will have to make sure they have this contracted and that how they will pull the money from different funds is clearly spelled out, Gerrity said. This is funded for six months with the potential for continued funding. The Director would be an employee of the Town.

Schauffler said they will put out the job description with an ad, on the website and in The Mountain-Ear. The deadline will be in three or four weeks.

Amanda MacDonald, coordinator of Frozen Dead Guy Days, said this will be the festival’s 17th year. She plans to continue the same format to bring money and tourists to town. She asked the NDDA to consider sponsoring things that will help all events with fixed costs that shackle events in the beginning.

“It would be so nice if we were able to hook up to power and not spend thousands of dollars on generators. It would make the experience better and easier. They run on gas and break down.”

The NDDA could also provide signage, barricades and people, which is daunting, MacDonald said. It’s very hard to create all this temporary infrastructure for one weekend. It’s obviously not efficient and finding a power source would benefit the Farmer’s Market, NedFest and other events.

The Board agreed to look into it as a future project. Local Business Owner Ron Mitchell introduced representatives of Colorado’s Butterfly Pavilion to the Board. They discussed the possibility of a partnership between the Butterfly Pavilion and the NDDA for the installation of a river walk in Nederland.

The Pavilion could assist with garden design and consultation for public landscaped areas. By restoring landscapes to a greater degree of biodiversity, land managers could include “planned complexity” in urban and suburban landscapes. Even with over half of the human population now living in cities and towns, a habitat network of open spaces, parks and private properties could add significant resources.

Brenda Kaser-Burger, Chief Operating Officer of the Butterfly Pavilion, and her staff, said that with the right plants you can do some exciting things. The Pavilion has been around for more than 22 years and is one of the only two invertebrate zoos in the country.

It’s all about conserving their habitat here and around the world. When you have landscapes that are lively, it’s great for supporting the species, but also for us. You have incredible access to nature and they are more engaged in the community.

Pavilion staff have worked with Broomfield, Westminster and motivated people in the community who want to get involved in habitat restoration. They have created a master volunteer program that helps create restoration plans and monitoring to be sure the work you are doing supports the wildlife.

Board Chair Susan Schneider said the NDDA doesn’t have plans yet for the project, but businesses are very interested in a Riverwalk. “We want to be sensitive that whatever we do is safe and sound and moving forward in a positive matter. We’re at the very beginning of the planning stage.”

Board Member Katrina Harms said the Board had a riparian assessment done and spent some money evaluating it and establishing where wetlands were and what kinds of weeds need to be taken out. They also have their local Coloring Colorado advocate, who coordinates the Town’s beautification efforts.

“We’re thinking about restoration of the riverbed and there could be a partnership. What we want to do is protect wetlands.”

Since the debt authorization for the DDA Board passed on November 7, 2017, the NDDA can pursue priority projects in its Master Plan. To see some of the project areas, the Board met at the Nederland Visitor Center at 3 p.m. before the meeting.

Improvements to the Visitor Center are among top priorities for the NDDA, and Monica LaSalle, with Public Works, filled the Board in on improvements being made to date. Mark Stringfellow showed possibilities for the Riverwalk project stretching from the Town Hall parking lot down to Snyder Street.

Moving south down Highway 119, the group stopped at the intersection of Lakeview and the highway. Stringfellow said that putting in a turn lane at that intersection would greatly improve traffic flow. They would have to eliminate the two parking spaces in front of Happy Trails.

Harms said that when the NDDA put in the first phase of the Sidewalks Project, the third lane was eliminated, and it should be replaced. The area is too small for a roundabout.

Alongside the Caribou Shopping Center on Lakeview, a culvert could be installed, and they could gain diagonal parking along the south side of the street. They could leave the trees and put a sidewalk in along the parking lot. Farther east on Lakeview, parking would be available with adjustments on that intersection and around Chipeta Park. The group walked up to Big Springs and looked at parking solutions along that route.

They will be discussing this tour and their top priority projects at the next meeting of the Nederland Downtown Development Authority at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 15, 2018, at the Nederland Community Center.

This article was published in the February 1 issue of The Mountain-Ear.