Niwot Transportation
BY KIM GLASSCOCK
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A small group of Niwot residents attended a meeting of the Niwot transportation stakeholders working group on Oct. 26 to discuss parking and transportation recommendations for the town.

The recommendations stem from discussions during meetings of an informal working group composed of members of Niwot community groups and Boulder County staff employees.
That group has been studying transportation, parking and connectivity issues in Niwot since spring, and hired transportation consultants Fehr and Peers of Denver and traffic engineering and planning firm Fox Tuttle of Boulder to create a preliminary transportation plan for Niwot. 

At an Oct. 13 public meeting at Niwot Elementary School, Niwot residents had the chance to rank 23 possible transportation and connectivity projects. Those rankings were then used to put together a short list of action items.

Residents at the Oct. 26 meeting were concerned that too few Niwot residents had been able to rank the projects, or even were aware that the projects were being discussed. “Not many people attended the Oct. 13 meeting, so only a small group registered their opinions,” said Sharon Lally. “I think you need to get more input from residents.”
Fehr and Peers created a transportation website – niwotmoves.com – at the start of their work. It contains the report and descriptions of the proposed projects, and also had a link to a survey that residents could take to give their opinions and a place for comments. However, the survey and comment period closed on Nov. 14.

The Niwot Community Association sent out a link to the survey and the website in its member newsletter on Nov. 6, urging Niwot residents to participate in the survey. The Niwot Business Association’s weekly newsletter also had a link to the survey and website, and the Left Hand Valley Courier’s website included information about the survey and website.

Once the survey results and comments were collected, the consultants planned to revise the transportation document to reflect all the input and submit it to the transportation working group for discussion, according to Carlos Hernandez of Fehr and Peers.

Based on the Oct. 13 rankings, three projects received the top votes for being completed in the next year or two. The top project – ranked as simple – would improve the pedestrian crossing at Niwot Road and the entrance to the Niwot Market in the Cottonwood Square Shopping Center.

It calls for adding a second marked pedestrian crossing east of the existing one and extending sidewalk connections on the north side of Niwot Road to the crossings.
A second project to improve the pedestrian crossings to the east and west of Franklin Street on Niwot Road also received top votes.

The third short-term project involved realigning Niwot Road and Second Avenue. That complex project calls for eliminating the current “Y” intersection configuration to create a “T” intersection.

The current triangle median on Second Avenue would be eliminated, creating room for wider lanes. The easternmost lane would be removed and the area filled with landscaping.
Two pedestrian crossings would be added to Niwot Road to bracket the intersection, and sidewalk connections from the Cottonwood Park sidewalk to the pedestrian crossings also would be added.

Signage on bicycle and walking trails should also be added, residents agreed. Some projects, however, should be completely rejected, such as one that would create a roundabout at Niwot Road and Second Avenue.

“That would kill the proposed sculpture park and our existing sculptures,” said Marni Ratzel. “And roundabouts make it hard to walk and bike.”
Parking recommendations for the Old Town business area also are part of the proposed transportation plan. A parking study done by Fehrs and Peers found that only 60 percent of parking in the Old Town business area is used on non-event days. However, the county’s current parking code suggests that there is a 20 percent shortage of parking.

Hernandez told residents that the plan recommends that the county provide more parking flexibility for Niwot, based on parking usage. This is a strategy followed by the City of Louisville, Hernandez said, that has had great success.
Until parking utilization in Old Town Niwot’s business area reaches 75 percent, the plan suggests that county officials put a moratorium on county parking requirements and not require additional parking if a building changes its use.

Business owners should request that their employees park at the edge of the business area, and signs limiting parking to four hours were recommended. Additional bike parking should be installed on Second Avenue. The consultant suggested that a parking utilization study be conducted annually on a non-event day in August.

Once parking utilization is between 75 and 85 percent, new uses in buildings would have to provide two spaces per 1,000 sq. ft. of land use, the report suggests. Only half of those spaces must be provided on site; the rest can be shared parking in the business area under a county-approved shared parking agreement. Bicycle parking also must be included.

At this level of use, the town should stripe on-street parking spaces on Second Avenue, and consider 45-degree angle parking on both sides of Second Avenue. Niwot also can consider finding land for a parking lot for business employees near the downtown area, according to the report.