Pam North, Nederland

The Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) focused on NedPeds as the major priority for the year of 2013.

NedPeds (Nederland Pedestrian Enhancement Design) is a project that will provide safe, non-vehicular connections from the downtown area to the area between the post office and the library. It will enhance the corridor along Second St. with storm water management, landscaping, pedestrian amenities, quality of the creek, and provision for the installation of additional crosswalks and other features, and will benefit economic development and sustainability.

January/February: The Design Advisory Team, a subcommittee of the NDDA, met with the NDDA for a work session at which Brian McLaren (with Huitt-Zollars, Inc.) and Conor Merrigan (C2 Sustainability) were on hand to give an updated presentation of the project, then at approximately 30% complete and about to be submitted to Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) for their approval and input. Concerns regarding placement of the pathway, materials to be used, and storm water/drainage issues were addressed.

The Adopt-A-Planter brochure was being developed to promote interest in the planters, which had been placed around Nederland to make the town look more attractive in the warmer months. Some local families, who wished to sponsor planters as a means of teaching their children how to plant and care for flowers, had contacted the NDDA..

March: Brian McLaren (Huitt-Zollars, Inc.) and Conor Merrigan (C2 Sustainability) gave a presentation of the project, the design of which had reached 60% complete.

The NDDA considered a revised schedule for the NedPeds project to guide the project manager and the design firm, and the NDDA board had voted to accelerate the timeline for the project, instructing the project manager and the design professionals to have the 90% plans complete for submission for approval to the NDDA board on May 15, and to the Board of Trustees (BOT) on May 21; allowing the bid process to start in June, construction to begin in mid-July, and completion by mid-August.

April : A decision was made to move the completion date of NedPeds to the next calendar year. Under the new schedule, bids would take place in January 2014; construction would begin in mid-May; and the project would be completed 30-45 days later. The revised schedule included additional time for a 90% NDDA review and additional public outreach, and it was felt that a better result would be obtained.

May: The NDDA Adopt-A-Planter Program was in progress for the summer of 2013. An updated comprehensive address file was being compiled to ensure that all properties within the NDDA district were included for mailings on the Adopt-A-Planter project. The overall program was viewed as the beginning of a long-term process to bring improvement and beauty into the Town of Nederland, with large planters of flowers, and eventually native trees and shrubs, to enhance the downtown area.

June: Recommendations were made to fill two vacancies on the NDDA board; Jeffrey Green, business owner of Very Nice Brewing Company, and Karina Luscher, property owner of Salto Coffee Works, were selected. These recommendations were to be submitted to the Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) for approval at their July 2 meeting.

After an incomplete motion from Pat Everson regarding possibly changing the number of members on the NDDA board, Ron Mitchell and Donna Sue Kirkpatrick, abruptly left the June 12 meeting with no explanation, leaving no quorum to conduct business. At a subsequent special meeting on June 20, Jeffrey Green (Very Nice Brewery) and Karina Luscher (Salto Coffee Works) were recommended as replacements for Mitchell and Kirkpatrick on the Board.

July: The NDDA met as a new Board. An election was held for the slate of officers for the term July, 2013 to July, 2014; Pat Everson was elected Chair and Jeffrey Green was elected Vice Chair. The success of the Adopt-A-Planter project was mentioned, noting the attractive appearance of the various planters that were placed around the local business district.

The latest information on the NedPeds project was presented. The design had a set of recommended design options from the sustainability consultant, including surface materials, drainage system, and incorporation of public art. One of the most significant aspects of the project is the creation of a system for cleaning and infiltrating storm water. As opposed to traditional street and path design where the surface material is laid over compacted dirt, this system allows for infiltration through a gravel medium, which should help with flooding issues and cleaning water that goes into the stream and reservoir.

August/September: The latest information on the NedPeds project, which was then at 90% complete, was presented to the NDDA, and included several key points: The overall design increased drainage underneath the surface with a gravel layer for drainage and infiltration back into the ground. There was drainage to the creek wherever possible to replicate the natural flows of water, and existing drainage elements (pipes, etc.) were restored to functionality as much as possible.

The non-roadway or pathway areas were planned to be gravel for parking and infiltration, and native grasses and similar features to protect the watershed and slow rain water in the areas too small for parking. The design included a textured, recycled concrete pathway with through-cuts at the joints to allow for water infiltration along the entire pathway.

From the Park-n-Ride to the roundabout would be a 5-foot path with a 3-foot bike lane; from the roundabout to Snyder would be an 8-foot pathway; and from Snyder to East St. it would be an 8-foot pathway adjoining a new hard-surface roadway, planned to be made of interlocking, porous concrete pavers. Up Snyder St. and up East St. to the bus stops would be an 8-foot pathway.

Biomimicry, the copying or imitation of an environment's natural efficiency, is considered to be an important element of the NedPed project. Parking concerns, impacts on specific properties, and concrete entrances for existing driveways were discussed, and a few minor changes were made to accommodate various points that were brought up during the course of the presentation.

September: Greg Ching, founder of the Solar Greens Company, presented an informational video titled “Charge Ahead Colorado—Nederland Economic Development via Electric Vehicle Charging,” which put forth the premise that electric vehicle drivers return to stores having charging stations three times as frequently as non-electric vehicle drivers, and often spend twice as long in stores, spending more money.

Transitioning to electric vehicles helps keep money in the local economy. The Colorado Energy Office (CEO) had announced funding for electric vehicle supply equipment to pay 80% of the cost up to $6,260 per station, with the application deadline as October 1, 2013. Ching urged the DDA board to support the installation of electrical charging stations in Nederland, and the Board's response was to pursue the idea of allocating approximately $2,000 in the 2014 budget for two electric vehicle charging stations.

Because drainage issues had raised costs to a higher level than was originally anticipated, some alternatives had been suggested to bring the NedPeds project closer to the original budget while preserving the sustainability of the plan. Options being considered to cut costs were: reclassify the porous detention areas from landscaping to gravel; reclassify the native landscape areas as gravel; reduce the depth of the gravel layer to the minimum necessary; change the concrete driveway entrances from concrete to gravel; remove the geotextile fabric; downsize the piping from 18” to 12”; and include the spur streets as options rather than as part of the base project.

The Board discussed the questions of postponing the project or accelerating the time-frame by putting it to bid immediately in order to avoid the risk of higher costs that might result from delaying putting the project out to bid. The Board agreed unanimously to accelerate the timeline.

October: The NDDA discussed the goal of getting all the businesses and a few public areas to have decorations by early December. Donations of money or LED lights would be requested from individuals, businesses, and organizations. The $400 in the NDDA budget that was not used for improvement in the roundabout was reallocated for the purchase of lights, decorations, advertising and promotion, and music.

The Board also considered a $1,200 allocation to cover the cost of LiDAR, a remote sensing technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser and analyzing the reflected light. It may be used effectively to make high-resolution maps, with such applications as contour mapping, geology, geography, forestry, atmospheric research, and meteorology, and it can be more cost-effective than surveying as a good tool for the Town of Nederland to obtain needed information.

A proposal to create a Beautification Committee also was considered and approved. The committee would include members of the NDDA board and interested town members, with Karina Luscher heading it.

November/December: In Public Comment, local residents expressed various concerns about the Ned Peds project, including existing locations of private fences and small planted areas that could be affected as the project is constructed. Several commented that an on-location walk-through of the project, that had been given earlier that day before the meeting, had been successful in addressing many of their concerns.

The Board voted to approve the NedPeds project with the following alterations: the fence at the front of Susanne Thomas’ property would be moved back from the edge of the right-of-way to just north of the aspen trees; the fence to the west that had been indicated for relocation instead will remain in place; the width of hardscape at Snyder and East streets will be narrowed by approximately 3 feet to accommodate David Sites’ rock garden and Donna Sue Kirkpatrick's garden; the box culvert would not be installed, per the engineer’s determination of whether the current culverts would be effective; and the two mature spruce trees still would be removed but would be replaced nearby by the Town.

An update was given on Christmas lights; lights would be loaned to local businesses to bring a festive aura to downtown, along with several Christmas trees, and several large metal/aluminum stars and lighted rope were planned for installation at various locations in town for decoration.

The NDDA Board recessed their meeting, and then began a joint meeting with the Planning Commission, who reviewed the recommendations of the NDDA Board, and then voted to approve the NedPeds project as recommended, with two additional inclusions: asking a qualified ecologist to be consulted on the tree replacement; and employing any opportunities to enhance the natural function and habitat in the project.