PID Boundaries Set
BY KIM GLASSCOCK
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Boundaries have been set for the proposed Public Improvement District, which would finance road reconstruction and repaving of subdivision and local access roads in Niwot, if approved.
As proposed, the PID would include most of Boulder County’s designated Niwot Community Service Area, which encompasses about 18 miles of roads, according to Boulder County transportation officials.

Niwot Community Association executive board members unanimously approved those boundaries on Jan. 4.

The NCA is coordinating the move to form the proposed PID. In July 2011, NCA members supported moving forward with a ballot proposal to create a front-loaded public improvement district, which would raise tax revenues to specifically fund road repaving and rehabilitation for subdivision and local access roads in Niwot. The tax would apply to property owners on those roads.

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, said Dick Piland, who is heading information efforts for the PID proposal.

Since the proposal calls for the PID to be front loaded, the tax rate would be higher for the first five or six years. This rate would allow road work to begin earlier as funds accrue and would avoid the additional costs of borrowing. Issuing bonds to borrow funds could add as much as 35 to 40 percent to the total cost, Piland said.

After the initial period, the tax rate would drop. Taxes collected under a PID do not end; funds continue to be collected and would be used for future road repaving projects.

Exempted Properties

Boulder County will continue to maintain and repave collector and arterial roads. Those roads include Niwot Road, 79th Street, Monarch Road, Neva Road and 83rd Street. Properties that are accessed solely from those roads would be exempted from the proposed PID, NCA members agreed.

County officials also said that they will maintain responsibility for repaving roads in Old Town Niwot, which includes Murray Street, Franklin Street, and First, Second, Third and Fourth avenues, so those roads are not included.

A few neighborhoods with private roads also are not included. Neighborhoods currently not included in the proposed PID include Niwot Hills, Brittany Place, Quiet Retreat, 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.

“I walked all those neighborhoods and left flyers explaining what was under consideration and asking residents to contact me if they wanted to participate,” Piland told NCA members. “I got no responses.”

There are some scattered Niwot streets that never were accepted by the county or designated as public roads. Among them are a few streets in the Meadowdale area and in Cottonwood Park West. Those homeowner associations are exploring working with Boulder County to have their streets accepted and to participate in the proposed PID, Piland said.
Service Plan, Tax Rates

The proposed PID boundaries have been given to the county transportation department so that transportation employees can develop a preliminary service plan for the PID by Feb. 15. The preliminary plan will identify the miles of road included in the PID and the current condition of those roads, and lay out a preliminary scope and plan for needed road work.

The Boulder County Assessor’s office will provide a property assessment report by March 1, which will then be used by the assessor’s office to calculate the mil levy rates needed to finance the proposed PID. A final service plan is expected to be ready by March 30, and that plan, along with the final PID proposal which will include tax mil rates, is expected to be presented to the NCA on April 4.

On April 11, the NCA plans to hold an open forum meeting to present the PID proposal to Niwot residents. NCA members also expect to attend neighborhood and homeowner association meetings to discuss the PID proposal.

Homeowners in the proposed district must okay the PID proposal in an advisory vote set for early June before Boulder County Commissioners will place the proposal on the November ballot. If preliminary approval is given, ballot wording will be developed and the issue will be put on the official November 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,
Piland said. Boulder County would perform or contract for all the road work done, he added.