Public Improvement District Meeting
BY KIM GLASSCOCK
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More than 45 Niwot area residents turned out for a Dec. 7 informational meeting about a proposal to create a public improvement district to finance road reconstruction and repaving of subdivision and local access roads in Niwot.

The meeting was sponsored by the Niwot Community Association, whose members voted in July to support moving forward with a ballot proposal to create a “front-loaded” public improvement district.
The PID would raise tax revenues to specifically fund road repaving and rehabilitation for subdivision and local access roads in Niwot. It would apply to property owners on those roads. Information efforts about the PID are being led by NCA members Dick Piland and Pat Murphy.

Paying for road repaving and rehabilitation has been a contentious issue for more than two years, after county residents were told that a provision had been added in 1995 to the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan that local access roads will be rehabbed and resurfaced by the users and local residents who benefit from using them. Despite many protests from county residents, the provision remains in effect.
In a fall 2010 advisory vote, 58 percent of unincorporated Boulder County residents rejected a county-sponsored proposal to create an overall local improvement district to collect taxes for paving subdivision and local access roads.

“I think many people didn’t even vote in the advisory vote because they didn’t understand what it was and just threw it away,” said David Nelson of the Waterford Park neighborhood. Nelson, who serves on his homeowners’ association board, said he talked with several neighbors who had been unaware of the issue and had not voted.
“I suggest that the county commissioners reach out more to residential homeowners and then hold another countywide advisory vote,” he said.

Lake Valley Homeowners Association board member Amber Donnelly said her neighborhood is also studying how to pay for rehabbing its roads, and would prefer a “more global” solution. “There’s more ability to fund something countywide, than just neighborhood-by-neighborhood,” she said.
Unincorporated Boulder County has about 10,000 parcels of land, according to Boulder County Transportation Director George Gerstle.

But there’s no guarantee that the proposal would pass if another countywide advisory vote was held, Piland said. In November, both the Crestview and Pine Brook Hills neighborhoods voted down ballot proposals to form local improvement districts to pay for road reconstruction.

NCA member Kathy
Koehler pointed out that it could be to Niwot’s fiscal advantage, with its concentration of homes, to form a district that follows the boundaries of the county’s designated Niwot Service Area. “That way we don’t pay for miles and miles of road with very few homes on them,” she said.

Some homeowners at the meeting wanted the county to shoulder the responsibility for repaving and rehabilitating roads.
“The county is not using our taxes in line with our priorities,” said John Moinester. “I suggest that we start a fund for suing the county to make them take responsibility for the roads.”

“Why do we have more money being allocated for open space purchases and bike paths instead of using it for roads?” asked another resident.
Gerstle explained that Boulder County residents had voted-in targeted sales tax increases that could be used only for specific purposes, which included open space and trails funds.

“Every dollar that my department can legally spend on roads, we do,” he said.    
Piland explained that the PID proposal for Niwot is a mil levy tax, not a property assessment. The amount of tax due will be based on each property’s valuation, he said.

The proposal calls for the PID to be “front loaded,” which means the tax rate would be higher for the first five or six years. This would allow road work to begin earlier as funds accrue and would avoid the additional costs of borrowing. Issuing bonds to borrow funds can add as much as 35 to 40 percent to the total cost, he said.
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.
As proposed, the PID would include most of Boulder County’s designated Niwot Service Area, which includes approximately 18 miles of road, according to Gerstle.

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

A few neighborhoods with private roads currently are not included, he said. Neighborhoods currently not included in the proposed LID include Niwot Hills, Brittany Place, The Hills and Legend Ridge. Countryside Condos and Cottonwood Park Condos also would not be included, as their roads are privately owned by those condo associations.
There are scattered Niwot streets that were never accepted by the county and designated as public roads, Piland said. Those property owners would still be taxed through the PID if they use a local access or residential street to get to their private street.

“There’s a hodge-podge of private streets in Niwot,” Piland said.
Homeowner associations with private streets have the option to petition Boulder County to accept their streets, contingent on the PID being approved and the streets meeting Boulder County road standards, Gerstle said.
Piland said the NCA will identify the proposed PID boundaries by Jan. 6 and identify address exclusions by Jan. 20, 2012. This information will be given to the Boulder County Transportation Department so that a preliminary service plan for Niwot can be developed by Feb. 15. The service plan will include how many miles of road and how many homes are included in the PID, along with determining what work is needed on the roads.

A property assessment report will be presented by March 1 to the Boulder County Tax Assessor’s office. The tax assessor’s office will then calculate the mil levy rates needed to fund the preliminary service plan with the PID. 
“This will give us an idea of how much funding will be needed initially,” Piland said.

The final service plan will be presented March 30, and the full, formal PID proposal will be presented at an open meeting of the NCA on April 4.
The NCA will okay or turn down the PID plan at that point, Piland said. “But of course it can’t be created unless it is approved by voters in November,” he added.

A public forum will be held on April 11, so that members of the public can come in and find their road and see what will be done to it.
On June 1, residents of the proposed PID will start to receive another advisory ballot asking if they want to create the PID. Results would be due June 15.

“Boulder County Commissioners have said they will not put a formal proposal on the ballot for any road tax district without backing from a majority of the affected residents,” Piland said. “They want to see if we are serious here.” He added that commissioners would be looking for 51 percent or more approval of the proposed PID.

If the PID proposal is approved on the advisory ballot, commissioners will place the proposal on the Nov. 6 ballot.

If the proposed PID is approved on the advisory ballot, the NCA and county commissioners will create a five-member PID advisory board. That board would advise county officials on spending and work priorities. Boulder County would perform or contract for all the road work done, he said.

Advisory board members must be residents in the PID area. So far, Piland and Stephen Bailey of Niwot have volunteered to serve on the board. Piland said he would like to see an accountant, engineer and lawyer volunteer to serve, if possible.