The Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) met on Wednesday, November 8, 2023, at 6 p.m. for a work session with representatives from Downtown Colorado Inc. (DCI), the consultant group contracted to establish financial strategies for each of the NDDA’s prioritized goals. These include parking solutions, a summer concert series, and wayfinding.

On September 13, 2023, the NDDA approved contracting with DCI for $12,500, based on their proposal to synchronize the Authority’s goals with the Town’s, build Action Items for official approval, and establish the proper budget line items for 2024 and 2025.

DCI’s scope of work involved meetings with key stakeholders, a survey sent to NDDA members between late September and mid-October, in-person meetings and events to be conducted through to January 2024, and official recommendations to be delivered to the NDDA by February 2024.

DCI Executive Director Katherine Correll and Rural Program Manager Kylie Brown led a presentation and facilitated the work session. Mayor Pro Tem Tom Mahowald, Ayden Eickhoff and Caleb Schmitz of SE Group, the organization contracted by Nederland to draft the Town’s Comprehensive Plan update, and Kimberly McKee from the Longmont Downtown Development Authority (LDDA) were also in attendance.

Correll detailed DCI’s five core services: advisory, educational, advocacy, training services, and their Colorado Challenge Accelerator Program. She then provided board members with results from the survey that had been circulated among them through October.

The “lessons learned” from the survey, as illustrated by Correll and DCI, were that board members wished for the NDDA to show better commitment and follow-through with projects and to adhere to a strategic plan.

High “burnout” and turnover on volunteer boards was mentioned as a detriment to productivity. The Ned Peds program, which instituted crusher fine sidewalks downtown, was highlighted as a negative example for the board, reminding them to include better research and more public involvement before implementing projects.

The Town of Nederland was characterized by NDDA board members in the survey as being “critical and not always constructive,” and fellow board members were described to be “not always in touch with what town residents want.”

McKee spoke on how the LDDA readjusted their own strategic plan to be more aligned with Longmont’s updated Comprehensive Plan. McKee also presented the NDDA with an example of what the LDDA considers a successful tax increment financing (TIF) project: their Roosevelt Park Apartments mixed-use building, which brought to the Town of Longmont an additional 114 residential units with retail units on the bottom floor, and the town’s first event parking structure.

The LDDA has also tackled beautifying the more undesirable elements of Longmont’s downtown, including back alleyways, and turning their unsafe and unclean areas into maintained and attractive community meeting places.

Correll reiterated to the Authority what they had established as their primary goals: funding town infrastructure projects; funding beautification projects; facilitating locally-run events through grants and reimbursements; creating wayfinding; and supporting events that create revenue for downtown.

DCI funneled the NDDA’s goals into four “priority areas”: beautification, circulation, events and programming, and business services. They also provided some examples of policies that the NDDA could promote.

These included a facade grant program, historic preservation, first-source hiring, a small business enterprise policy, construction employment opportunities, job training, green building policies, art projects, a prevailing wage policy, enhanced architecture and design, antidiscrimination policies, and a relocation policy.

Board members were presented with possible partnerships for the NDDA, and were also informed on the different roles the Authority can take regarding potential projects – a lead, advocate, or partnership role.

The NDDA established that they should take the lead role in regards to the Wayfinding project, the creation of a sanitation district, providing loans to grow revenue for the Authority, and the summer concert series. They felt an advocacy role is appropriate for parking and traffic control initiatives, changing code to prevent commercial properties from sitting empty, and for contributing to the development of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan update and the corresponding Subarea Plan. A partnership role is envisioned for the plan to replace the crusher fine sidewalks with concrete sidewalks.

DCI then led the Authority through discussions to determine which initiatives could be accomplished if partnered with local businesses, with the Town, and with private developers.

Property improvement and property remediation grants were mentioned as a goal where the NDDA could partner with local businesses. Transportation and affordable housing initiatives were also suggested, as well as the prospect of the NDDA providing marketing and business development resources to small business owners.

In discussion as to which goals the NDDA and the Town of Nederland can partner on, board members, though recognizing that Town’s responsibility is beyond the boundaries of the NDDA, described one aligned priority to be revenue. Another could be advocacy for the development of improved organizational processes to maximize Town staff’s efficiency.

As for partnerships between the NDDA and private developers, board members considered the upcoming Comprehensive Plan update to be a guide in finding alignment between developer plans and the Authority’s goals, and suggested offering reimbursement agreements to developers rather than cash loans.

The next steps to be facilitated by DCI involve touring specific project sites and meeting with key property owners. A joint session with the NDDA and the Nederland Board of Trustees is also planned.

DCI will be providing a detailed report of their findings from these meetings, which will include their recommendations for success benchmarks, a timeline for achieving them, and for developing action items for future agendas.

The Nederland Downtown Development Authority meets the second Wednesday of every month. Their next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 13, 2023, and will be held online as well as in person at the Nederland Community Center.

For more information go to: https:// townofnederland.colorado.gov/ downtown-development-authority.