The Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) met on Tuesday, December 5, 2023, at 7 p.m. to vote on many changes to Nederland Municipal Code (NMC). The seven separate ordinances involve the keeping of animals, allowing paid parking in certain zoning districts, several housing related initiatives, and permitting private businesses, such as child care, to operate on public land.

The BOT approved the participation of Town Administrator Miranda Fisher, Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) Executive Director Kate Masingale, and an as-of-yet undetermined third guest in a six-month training workshop held by Downtown Colorado Inc. (DCI) in Durango starting in April, 2024.

The NDDA contracted with DCI for $12,500 in September 2023 to better synchronize the Authority’s own goals with the Town of Nederland’s priorities and to build actionable initiatives.

The workshop, named the Colorado Challenge Community Program, is intended to provide attendees with training in community revitalization and property redevelopment.

According to the Agenda Information Memorandum prepared by Fisher, the challenge program will “help establish a list of opportunity sites for investment, build a stronger community team to connect public and private resources to get things done, and help shape a funding strategy with a timeline and talking or proposal points to share with funders.”

The official agenda for the December 5 BOT meeting listed six of the same items previously discussed, reviewed, and voted on by the Nederland Planning Commission on Wednesday, November 29. That meeting is covered in further detail in an article on page 33 in this edition of The Mountain-Ear.

Trustees were presented with Ordinance 852, which repeals and replaces Articles V and VI of NMC Chapter 7 and amends Sections 16-6 and 16-32 of NMC Chapter 16 to further regulate the keeping of pets and livestock.

Town staff had recommended to the BOT to use more concrete language regarding the keeping of animals, particularly larger hoofed animals, after complaints were reported by residents involving the health and welfare of goats being kept on their neighbor’s property. Trustees passed the responsibility of drafting an ordinance to the Planning Commission, who have been working on the draft for nearly two years.

Commissioners voted to approve recommendation of Ordnance 852 on Wednesday, November 29, 2023.

The 14-page ordinance imposes limits on the number of dogs and cats allowed per household, regulates noisy animals, as well as animals running “at large” without restraint, and also details the permits and requirements involved in keeping domestic livestock.

Small domestic livestock is defined as chickens, hens, turkeys, and ducks. Domestic hoofed livestock is defined as horses, goats, and llamas. However, Commissioners have recommended to further amend the ordinance to add mules, yaks, alpacas, and sheep to the list of domestic hoofed livestock.

Trustees opted to table action on Ordinance 852 and instead reschedule it to the January 2, 2024 agenda as a discussion item to allow enough time for the Board to fully assess the work done by the Planning Commission.

The BOT were presented with Resolution 2023-50, drafted by Town Attorney Jennifer Madsen, which formally states the Trustees’ decision to fill the vacancy on their Board, left by the resignation of John Mountain, by regular election scheduled for April 2, 2024.

The resolution is meant to act as a safeguard, allowing the Board to open the application process and continue searching for potential candidates for appointment while also ensuring that the seat will be filled by election if no appointment candidates come forward.

Town staff recommended opening applications on Thursday, December 7, and requiring applications due by January 12, 2024. A special hybrid meeting to provide potential Trustees with the basic fundamentals of the position would be scheduled for Tuesday, January 9, with applicants’ attendance expected to be mandatory. Trustees would interview any potential applicants during their meeting on January 16.

Nomination petitions for the April election are due between January 2 and January 22; any potential appointee would also be expected to run in the April election as a prerequisite to being considered for appointment.

The BOT voted to approve Resolution 2023-50 and directed Town staff to open the application process for Trustee appointment on December 7.

The Board was tasked with voting on Ordinance 854, which amends NMC Chapter 16, Section 16-32, changing the Use Group Table (UGT) to allow a Special Review Use (SRU) process for proposals that involve private businesses built and operated on a public-zoned lot. The SRU proposal would go before the Planning Commission for review and a public hearing.

Though the ordinance would affect any public-zoned parcel of land, the idea to draft the ordinance resulted from the proposal from TEENS, Inc. to construct and operate a childcare facility on Town-owned land at 750 West 5th Street.

Commissioners voted to approve recommendation of Ordinance 854 during their meeting on November 29.

Trustee Eric Coombs-Esmail wished to amend the ordinance to include language that would prohibit for-profit businesses from operating on public land. Coombs-Esmail stated his belief that private enterprises do not serve community interests in the same capacity as non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations.

Concerns were raised that relying on the SRU process was not an ideal “catchall” approach in comparison to ensuring strong code language that clearly defines what is and what is not permitted.

Trustee Jesse Seavers reiterated that the resolution before the Board was for the single change to the UGT to allow for a private school on public lands. Seavers stated that he felt any further projections regarding what businesses should and should not operate on public land were irrelevant to the action before them.

A motion was made to approve Ordinance 854, amending NMC Chapter 16, Section 16-32 to allow for private childcare centers in the public zone district, without any amendments. The motion was seconded and approved.

Also on November 29, Commissioners had voted to recommend Ordinance 853, which came before the BOT for final approval on December 5.

Ordinance 853 amends NMC Chapter 16, Section 16-32, changing the UGT to allow use-by-right for public and paid parking lots in certain zoning districts, including the Central Business District (CBD), Neighborhood Commercial, General Commercial (GC), all Public-zoned lots, and any High Density Residential-zoned property within the CBD.

The five-page draft ordinance includes language that specifies the design and operation standards for parking kiosks and parking signs with scannable QR codes, as well as requiring paid-parking operators to provide signage that states the cost per hour for parking and “the limited period of time for which parking is lawfully permitted.”

Paid parking has been added by Town staff, and approved by Trustees, as a line item in the 2024 Town Budget, and is projected to bring in $57,500 in yearly revenue.

The Board liberally discussed whether it was necessary to draft clarifying code language due to the belief, raised during public comment and seconded by Seavers, that code language should not dictate over personal freedoms. A question was asked of Madsen regarding whether NMC needs to list what is permitted versus the assumption that if it is not strictly prohibited in code it is therefore allowed.

Madsen specified that the language surrounding UGT details that if a specific use is not listed on the table it is considered prohibited. Seavers stated his belief that the UGT language should be changed to encourage innovation and creativity instead of stifling advancement.

In response to Seavers’ suggestion, Madsen recommended that a process would need to be created for identifying what uses are allowed. She explained that allowing carte blanche any use that is not listed on the UGT would create issues in the democratic process. Madsen also stated that the code language seen in Ordinance 853 is standard across most municipalities across the country.

Despite public comment asking the Board to consider the negative impact paid parking will have on outlying neighborhoods and businesses, Ordinance 853 was passed by a 5-1 vote.

Trustees were tasked with voting on four separate code amendments that arose from the results of the Housing Needs Assessment, conducted by the Town of Nederland and Bohannan Huston Inc. Though each amendment is different, the aim of each code change is to codify and allow certain incentives for the development of affordable and alternative housing.

Ordinance 851 involves amending Article IX of NMC Chapter 16 to institute an administrative variance for up to a 15% deviation for all yard and bulk requirements, except for height. Allowing Town staff to administer the variance eliminates the current variance process with the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA).

Ordinance 850 involves amending NMC Chapter 16, Section 16-98 to allow for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) to be built before construction on a primary residence begins, allowing for the property owner to live in the unit while construction continues. Construction of the primary residence must also be completed within three years of the date on the certificate of occupancy issued for the ADU.

Ordinance 855 amends NMC Chapter 16 to change the UGT to allow alternative housing structures, such as Tiny Home Villages, Duplexes, and Triplexes, SRU to be built in all residential zones, including Public, but not in CBD, GC, or Industrial.

And Ordinance 856 amends NMC Chapter 16 to allow for up to 50% yard and bulk variance for deed restricted “affordable” housing through review by the Planning Commission. All four ordinances were approved by the Commission for recommendation to the BOT.

After brief discussions on each of the four code amendments, the BOT voted to approve Ordinances 851, 850, 855, and 856. Ordinance 855 was approved with an amendment allowing Tiny Home Villages in all residential zones outright, as opposed to requiring the SRU process.

The Nederland Board of Trustees meets on the first and third Tuesday of every month. Their next scheduled meeting is on Tuesday, December 19, 2023, at 7 p.m. and can be attended either online or in person at the Nederland Community Center. For more information go to: https://townofnederland.colorado.gov/ board-of-trustees.