LIDs Proposed For Niwot Road Paving - June 2011

BY KIM GLASSCOCK

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Deteriorating roads in most of the Niwot subdivisions and no Boulder County plan to fix them have prompted the Niwot Community Association to look at the possibility of forming one large Niwot area local improvement district to assess properties and fund residential subdivision and local access road repaving.

The NCA will sponsor a public meeting about the proposal for an LID at 7 p.m.  on Monday, June 27 at the Left Hand Grange.
At the May 4 NCA meeting, members voted to explore the idea, according to Dick Piland. He and Pat Murphy are heading the group exploring the idea.

“We are at a preliminary stage,” Piland said. “We are still working to confirm what properties are included or excluded, what the cost per parcel might be, and when any vote could happen.”

The possible assessment cost per parcel has not been determined, Piland said. He is working with Boulder County staff to try to have preliminary figures available for discussion at the June meeting.

Piland said county officials have said forming a new LID could be on the ballot in either November 2011, or spring, 2012.

The need for a local solution to road repaving became apparent last fall after a majority of residents in unincorporated Boulder County, through an advisory vote, rejected a county proposal to create an LID for paving subdivision and local access roads. Boulder County commissioners said they would not form any LID without backing from a majority of residents.

The county’s overall LID proposal was rejected by 58 percent of those voting. But further analysis of the advisory vote showed that residents who lived in areas where the roads are rated fair or poor actually approved the LID proposal with a more than 70 percent approval rate.

“The NCA saw an interest in Niwot, and so we are exploring this idea,” Piland said.

Creating a large LID is a more economical option than having each Niwot neighborhood create its own LID, Piland said in an interview May 12.

“It would be a logistical nightmare for all the neighborhoods to create their own LIDs,” he said. “And many neighborhoods have non-functioning homeowners associations, so having HOAs figure out paving options for the neighborhoods won’t really work either.”

As proposed, the large LID would include most of Boulder County’s designated Niwot Service Area, Piland said. However, a few neighborhoods with private roads and some areas of Old Town Niwot currently are not included.

Neighborhoods currently not included in the proposed LID include Niwot Hills, Quiet Retreat, Brittany Place, Legend Ridge and Goldbranch. Countryside Condos and Cottonwood Park Condos also would not be included, as their roads are privately owned by those condo associations.

Piland said that county officials have indicated that they will maintain responsibility for repaving roads in Old Town Niwot, which includes Murray Street, Franklin Street, First Avenue, Second Avenue, Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

Boulder County currently maintains and repaves collector and arterial roads. In Niwot, those roads include Niwot Road, 79th Street, Monarch Road and 83rd Street. Properties that are accessed from those roads also would not be included in the proposed LID.