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PROSAB looks at trails, training

Christopher Kelley
Posted 2/26/23

The Nederland Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Advisory Board (PROSAB) met on Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. to hear updates on a proposal for a Bicycle Pump Track. Board members also

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PROSAB looks at trails, training

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The Nederland Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Advisory Board (PROSAB) met on Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. to hear updates on a proposal for a Bicycle Pump Track. Board members also continued their discussion on recommending that Indian Peaks Open Space be renamed and officially recognized as a public space.

PROSAB was also tasked with voting to recommend one of four candidates for the open position of alternate board member. The Town of Nederland accepted applications until February 13. An alternate member attends all meetings and can vote on actionable items whenever quorum is not met.

Board members heard from two applicants, Kathleen Coniglio and Lindsey Ute, about their qualifications and reasons for wanting to join PROSAB. Jason Swann and Chuy Vallejo also applied for the alternate position but were not present at the meeting.

Coniglio and her husband recently moved to Nederland in September, having previously lived in Boulder and Louisville. She attended CU as an undergrad and, after completing law school, worked for a law firm in Boulder where she gained experience in advising municipalities on special district zoning matters.

Ute moved to Nederland just last year and desires to serve the community in a higher capacity, seeing the position on PROSAB as a stepping stone towards serving in local government.

PROSAB Chair Jessie Ansari, who has served on the board for four years, stated during the process of recommending an alternate that she was officially resigning. Details for applying for the position will be released shortly.

Board members will vote to recommend one of the applicants during their meeting on Thursday, March 16.

As for the alternate position, board members preferred to choose between those applicants who attended the meeting. When asked by PROSAB, Ute was willing to enter the pool of possible applicants for the board member position, while Coniglio gave no objections to remaining an applicant for the alternate board member position.

A motion to recommend Kathleen Coniglio to the Board of Trustees (BOT) for the position of alternate board member was made, seconded, and approved unanimously. The BOT must vote to approve the position.

PROSAB discussed the Town of Nederland’s partnership with the University of Colorado college of Architecture and Planning to provide updates involving the Town’s Trails Master Plan. Students are expected to provide comprehensive reports analyzing each step in the Trails Master Plan drafting process.

Parks Department Director Nicki Dunn provided PROSAB with an update on her meeting with the graduate students to tour Nederland’s parks and trail systems. Dunn noted that it was beneficial for the students to receive a visual representation of the many complications in drafting the Trails Master Plan. Such complications include achieving trail connectivity throughout Nederland while also dealing with accessibility, ADA compliance, and intergovernmental lot line issues.

Dunn and PROSAB board members will continue to hear updates from the graduate students, who plan on returning for weekly work sessions on Tuesdays.

PROSAB continued their discussion concerning the proposed project of renaming the Indian Peaks Open Space, implementing signage, and designating it as an area allowed for public use. This proposed project is in its early development stages, has yet to be finalized and voted on for approval, and is still subject to various public discussions and review by Nederland’s boards and commissions before becoming actionable.

The concept includes giving the space (located between the Caribou Room and Tejas Lane) the recognition it deserves as a Town asset by adding signage to its path entrances and by naming it after long-time resident Tammy Forest. Forest is a retired Nederland Elementary school teacher whose family has resided in the mountains for generations.

Though communication with the Forest family has begun and preliminary work on signage for the open space is under way, board members expressed a desire for the project to be properly drafted and undergo the public process. PROSAB wished to have continued discussions with neighbors of the property and other public stakeholders concerning the renaming of the land.

There was a desire among board members to separate the issues involving the Indian Peaks Open Space into different agenda items, each requiring public discussion and a vote of approval from PROSAB. These issues include renaming the land to the Tammy Forest Open Space, designing and mapping the land’s trail system, creating and implementing the signage, and going before the Board of Zoning Adjustment to request a Parks and Open Space zoning designation.

PROSAB Secretary Sam Ovett provided board members with an update on the proposed Bicycle Pump Track project. The Pump Track concept has been spearheaded by Ovett and by Trustee Jesse Seavers. Seavers, who is Owner and President of High Performance Earthworks, recently stepped in for Trustee Eric Coombs-Esmail as the BOT liaison to PROSAB.

The concept is in its preliminary stages, with early designs and a drafted plan having yet to come before the board for review and approval. The proposed location for the pump track is Chipeta Park, though there are questions regarding its size and whether it will consist of dirt or asphalt.

Ovett is also waiting on final numbers from professional skate park and bicycle playground contractors American Ramp Company (ARC) for work constructing a pump track. Ovett plans to compare the options of contracting with ARC, contracting with a local company, or contracting with ARC to collaborate with a local company.

PROSAB also heard from Ovett concerning updates on the proposed Downhill Flow Course project. Town Administrator Miranda Fisher stated that the Town expects to be six months away from finalizing a handover of the Wingate property. The Wingate property was donated to the town of Nederland by Mary Quinlan Wingate after her death on June 11, 2020. The property, which provides trail access to the Big Springs neighborhood and to West Magnolia, is considered by Parks Department Director Dunn to be the best property for the potential construction of a downhill flow course.

Board members recommended that other locations apart from the Wingate property be investigated as potential options when putting together a project proposal open for board review and public discussion. PROSAB members desired to see a pros and cons list for three possible locations for the downhill flow course, and wanted to include neighbors of the proposed locations in the conversations moving forward.

Seavers proposed that PROSAB fund his attendance at International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) Trail Labs, an intensive workshop that acts as a comprehensive introduction to the trail development process.

Seavers, who worked a data entry job at IMBA headquarters in Boulder, spoke on how Nederland has an opportunity to represent the mountain biking community in the Peak-to-Peak region. Seavers would like to attend Trail Labs not just as a networking opportunity but as a chance to learn the trail development process in order to better serve the community as a Trustee, and build something for the town to use for years to come.

The trip, including the $600 cost of admission to Trail Labs, air travel, and lodging would cost an estimated $1,350 per person attending. The BOT only has $2000 in available funding for Trustee training, which is meant to cover all seven Trustees. Fisher reminded PROSAB that there is an option of utilizing a portion of the $24,000 available in the Conservation Trust.

Dunn expressed a plan to request funds from the Trust for projects concerning Ned Rink and soil amending for Barker Meadows Park, though she noted that the cost of $1,350 for sending one individual to the Trail Labs would not affect her request. However, board members expressed interest in the benefits of sending Seavers as well as a member of Town staff, preferably Dunn or someone from her team.

PROSAB voted to approve providing a $1,350 match to fund a member of Town staff to attend Trail Labs on the condition that the BOT fund Seavers from their $2,000 training budget.

Board members provided an update on the Spring and Summer 2023 timeline for projects affecting Barker Meadows Park and Guercio Field, funded by Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) grants. The Town has until the end of March to complete spending the $284,000 grant, which was awarded to Nederland in 2018.

Dunn noted to board members that Town has reached out to GOCO for an extension until September to complete the parks restoration projects. Trees, benches, tables, and concrete for the projects have been purchased and are either being held or have been received. Soil amending and hydroseeding for Guercio Field are scheduled for late March to early April, which will cause the field to be shut down completely for a few months.

Fisher mentioned that if the Town is not awarded the extension, the remaining funds from the grant can be used in the last few weeks of March to buy the bushes and shrubs still needed for the projects.

The Nederland Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Advisory Board meets on the third Thursday of every month. Their next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 16, 2023, and can be attended online.

For more information go to: https:// townofnederland.colorado.gov/parksrecreation open-space-advisoryboard