Niwot PID Proposed For Paving  November 2011
BY KIM GLASSCOCK
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Next year, Niwot residents may be asked to approve creating a front loaded public improvement district to generate property taxes to pay for repaving and rehabilitating subdivision and local access roads in Niwot.
Members of the Niwot Community Association voted in July to support moving forward with a ballot proposal to create a public improvement district. The PID would raise tax revenues to specifically fund road repaving and rehabilitation.

Tax revenues from the district can’t be used for any other purpose, explained NCA member Dick Piland, who is spearheading the effort.
Who pays for paving local access and residential roads has been a contentious issue for two years. The issue surfaced after residents in unincorporated Boulder County neighborhoods began asking county officials when their roads would be repaved. 

County officials replied that residents in unincorporated Boulder County are responsible for the cost of rehabbing and resurfacing local access and subdivision roads. They point to a provision added in 1995 to the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan which states that local access roads should be rehabbed and resurfaced by the users and local residents who benefit from using them.

Homeowner  associations and many residents of unincorporated Boulder County objected to that change in policy, saying the provision was added without communicating to residents. But Boulder County officials have held firm.
The need for a local solution to road repaving became apparent in last fall’s advisory vote, in which a majority of unincorporated Boulder County residents rejected a county proposal to create an overall local improvement district to collect taxes for paving subdivision and local access roads.

Boulder County Commissioners said they would not form any LID without backing from a majority of residents.
Two Boulder County neighborhoods, Crestview Estates and Pine Brook Hills, have proposals on the Nov. 1 ballot to form individual LIDs. If the proposals are approved, the county will be able to issue bonds on behalf of the neighborhoods to finance the road work.

However, the cost of repaying the bonds will raise the total price of the projects by 35 percent and 41 percent, respectively.
The NCA decided to support creating a front loaded PID after hearing from Niwot residents at a public meeting in June. That decision was confirmed recently after seeing the repayment costs associated with the two ballot proposals for local improvement districts.

Piland said, “We think a front loaded PID should not require any bonding, so we can keep costs lower.”

A front loaded PID would tax at a higher rate for the first five or six years, Piland explained. This would allow road work to begin earlier as funds accrue. After the initial period, the tax rate would drop. Taxes collected under a PID do not end; funds will continue to be collected and used for future road repaving projects, Piland added.
To create a PID, property owners in the proposed district must approve a mill levy. The amount of tax collected is based on the property’s valuation. “The amount of tax collected increases or decreases with the property’s value,” Piland said.

The NCA has proposed that the county’s designated Niwot Service Area form the boundaries of the PID. The proposed area would include most of Niwot, Piland explained, except for neighborhoods with private roads and most of Old Town Niwot.
Neighborhoods currently not included in the proposed area include Niwot Hills, Quiet Retreat, Brittany Place and Legend Ridge. 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 take responsibility for repaving roads in Old Town Niwot, which includes Murray Street and Franklin Street, along with First, Second, Third and Fourth Avenues.
In addition, Boulder County will continue maintaining and repaving collector and arterial roads. 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 a PID proposal.

Piland said he and county officials are discussing whether residents on private streets and roads can petition to have their streets and roads accepted by the county and designated as public.
“We have a few cul-de-sacs and neighborhoods which have never had their streets accepted,” Piland said. “I’m talking with county officials about an agreement to allow those streets to become public and be a part of the PID if it is formed.”

Piland is working with Boulder County officials to do the legwork necessary to get a proposal for a PID on the November 2012 ballot.
Piland plans to bicycle around Niwot to determine exactly which streets and homes should be included in the PID boundaries. He also expects to visit homeowner associations and go door-to-door with informational flyers.

Community meetings will be held in the spring, summer and fall to get information out about the PID vote.
While funding for the road work would be provided through the PID, Boulder County would perform or contract for all the road work done. A five-member local advisory board for the PID would advise county officials on spending and work priorities, Piland said.