BY KIM GLASSCOCK

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

About 40 Niwot residents attended a June 27 meeting hosted by the Niwot Community Association to discuss ways to pay for repaving subdivision and local access roads.

The NCA meeting was held to explore whether Niwot residents were interested in creating a taxing district to fund paving projects. The discussions were spearheaded by Niwot residents Dick Piland and Pat Murphy.

“This is a way to explore moving forward on this issue,” Piland said at the meeting. “The NCA is trying to determine what Niwot residents want to do about the poor condition of some of our roads.”

The issue of funding road rehabilitation arose in 2009, when unincorporated Boulder County residents began asking county officials to repair deteriorating subdivision roads.

In response, county officials pointed out that changes made in 1995 to the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan placed the responsibility for rehabilitating subdivision and local access roads on the local residents who benefit from using the roads, and not the county.

The county is responsible only for maintenance, such as pothole repairs, crack filling and snow removal, according to Boulder County.

County officials have acknowledged that the county did not do a good job of communicating the 1995 change in responsibility to county homeowners. But in any case, county officials say there are no county funds available to pay the estimated $20 to $25 million currently needed to rehabilitate the roads.

In December 2009, a subdivision paving working group made up of residents and county officials recommended that the deteriorating roads should be addressed immediately, and agreed that both the county and homeowners should pay some of the costs.

But through an advisory vote last fall, 58 percent of unincorporated Boulder County residents who voted rejected a county proposal to create a local improvement taxing district to fund paving subdivision and local access roads. Boulder County commissioners have said they will not form any LID without backing from a majority of residents.

However, further analysis of the advisory vote showed that residents who lived in county areas where the roads are rated fair or poor actually approved the LID proposal by more than 70 percent. The vote from Niwot residents was evenly split.

At the June 27 meeting, a straw poll taken of attendees showed about two-thirds of those in attendance were willing to tax themselves to pay for road rehabilitation, while the remaining third felt that road rehabilitation should be only the county’s responsibility.

“Boulder County is shirking its responsibility,” one resident said. “What are the legal ramifications of suing the county?”

“It would be tough to do, according to a lawyer I talked to,” Piland replied. “As a governmental entity, the county has legal protections.”

“If you are mad about this now, you are late to the mad train,” Piland added. “Believe me, nobody was angrier about this situation than I was. But we can’t go back to 1995 and change that sneaky move the county made back then. However, we can take charge now and at least get it done the way we want it done. I think we need to do something pragmatic.”

The NCA proposed that residents in the county’s designated Niwot Service Area form a LID to fix deteriorating residential and local access roads. The proposed area would include most of Niwot, Piland explained, except for neighborhoods with private roads and some of Old Town Niwot.

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

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

In addition, 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 any proposal.

Piland said county officials also are considering a proposal to designate Longview Drive and Somerset Drive as collector roads, since the roads connect Niwot Road and Highway 52.

Any road projects would be overseen and run by Boulder County. Bids would be solicited from contractors for the work. County officials would use the pavement quality index figures for each road when deciding the sequence of road projects.

Three different proposals to finance road improvements were discussed at the June 27 meeting. All would require approval by a majority of affected property owners. Piland said county officials have indicated that the earliest a vote on any proposal could be held would be fall, 2012.

Residents could choose to form a local improvement district (LID), which would assess a flat rate for each property included in the LID. “It would be the same amount of money due for a home valued at $30,000 as for a home valued at $300,000,” Piland said.

Because a LID involves mandatory payments, Boulder County can issue bonds to finance the road projects and get work done earlier, before all the money is collected. Once the cost of the work and the bonds is repaid, the LID could end, Piland said.

A second option is to form a public improvement district (PID). Under a PID, a mill levy is passed and the amount of tax collected is based on the home’s valuation. “The amount of tax collected increases or decreases with property value,” Piland explained.

Tax revenues in a PID accrue much more slowly, so road work would be done as funds allow, Piland said. Bonds can be issued under a PID, but because of the slower collection method there would be more costs for bonds. The taxes collected under a PID do not end; taxes will continue to be collected and the money used for continuing road repaving projects.

A third option is to create a hybrid of a PID and a LID. The first five years would have a higher tax rate, while year six and beyond would have a lower tax rate. The advantage of this proposal is that it avoids much of the bonding costs and gets roads repaired more quickly. However, it has higher costs for homeowners in the early years.

Forming a PID/LID hybrid or a PID were the favored options among those attending the June 27 meeting, but a large number also voted for “none of the above.”