Niwot Elementary Honors 7Everyday Hero
 
By Cindy Silvis
 
Niwot Elementary School honored their beloved Walter Shevchik, better known as “Grandpa,” on March 4 with an all-school assembly. Mitch Jelnicker of 7 News, a Niwot High grad, was on hand to make the presentation. In January, the PTAC nominated Shevchik to be a Channel 7 “Everyday Hero” because of his selfless giving.Channel 7 filmed the assembly and gave Shevchik a plaque.


Image of Walter Shevchik

Grandpa has been volunteering at St. Vrain Valley elementary schools for 13 years.Originally, Shevchik’s daughter, Dolly More, was a teacher at Mountain View Elementary and was having concerns about several of her students.Grandpa taught himself the art of origami, then taught the skill to students having difficulties with spatial relationships.
 
When More transferred to Niwot Elementary, Shevchik followed.He began a reading program for More’s students while continuing his origami.He also began helping students in all grade levels at the request of other teachers.His skills became known district-wide and soon Shevchik found himself volunteering at Central, Indian Peaks, Burlington, Rocky Mountain, Loma Linda, Mountain View, and Niwot Elementary.
 
Grandpa is a first generation American.His parents arrived at Ellis Island from Poland and then settled in Pennsylvania.
After graduating from high school, he joined the cavalry.Shevchik, who did not speak English when he started school, taught English to non-English speaking people while stationed in Japan.
 
After retiring from the Army, he and his family settled in Dayton, Ohio where he and his wife started a special education program.They believed education was the key to the future.
 
Shevchik moved to Colorado with his daughter after his wife died.Along with his many hours of volunteer work in schools, he is also an active member of the Niwot Optimist Club, works on community fundraisers, and also helped with a Methodist Church after-school program.
 
“I just want to tell you that I’m not the important person here,” said Grandpa as he accepted the 7Everyday Hero Award.“These faces here on the floor are the important people.You all make me feel good.I want to thank you for helping me.”
 
He began experiencing severe back problems two years ago, so now relies on others for transportation.Shevchik will turn 88 years old in June.“I want to thank the Niwot community and the St. Vrain Valley School District,” added More.“It is so wonderful that the district allows intergenerational people in classes.Teachers are so flexible.Parents donate their time to drive my dad.The Community School provides paper for his origami.We want to thank everyone for helping my pop.”
 
The 7Everyday Hero Award let the schools and community thank Walter Shevchik for all that he has done for the children in our community.
 
 
Photo by Mary Kay Cialone

 

Preserving Our History

By Lisa Whitehead

 
A piece of our rural history, fading fast after 140 years of Colorado’s weather and destined for the wrecker’s ball, gained a temporary respite while local preservationists seek to save it for yet another generation.
Barn image
The dilapidated barn on the corner of the Diagonal Highway and Airport Road will stand a bit longer as Historic Boulder seeks financial backers willing to pay to move the barn to a new location and stabilize it or adapt it to a new use.The building has been altered before.Constructed in the 1860s as a family home, the house was gutted between 1910 and World War II and turned into a barn, an unusual transformation.
 
When Samuel and Luvesta Williamson moved to this area in 1864, mining dominated the mountains and farming dominated the valley.Samuel, Boulder Valley’s oldest pioneer prior to his death in 1923, built a two-story, Greek Revival-style home for his family.He raised two families in this house, eight children with his first wife, Luvesta, and two grandchildren with his second wife, Marsha Corzette Williamson.Neighbors bought the Williamson property in 1909. Some time before World War II, they gutted the home to turn it into a barn.
 
According to records from Historic Boulder’s Gail Gray, Mr. Williamson was “simply a farmer,” yet his way of life “is the root of what this community is all about.”Samuel, Luvesta and their brood of eight worked their quarter section with draft horses, sweat and dedication.Their days were filled with tasks such as planting and harvesting food for the family and their animals, milking cows, collecting eggs, chopping wood and carrying water.Modern conveniences make it hard to envision such a life.
Current owner of the barn,North Star Seven, is willing to sit on its demolition permit and has even offered to donate the demolition costs (approximately $8,000) toward preservation.However, moving costs alone could range up to $100,000, so considerably more funds are needed.
 
“We would love to see the barn retained,” said Denise Grimm of the Boulder County Land Use Department. “It would be wonderful if we could find the right match of people who are interested in reusing it and those willing to fund it.”Historic Boulder is seeking just that combination, and asks that interested parties contact Gail Gray at 303-444-5192.
 
“It would also help if the general public could write the Boulder County Commissioners and ask them to please continue to give support to the barn, as saving it will undoubtedly be a complicated affair,” Gray said.“Every day that it stands is a gift.”
 
Can you solve the mystery?The Williamson Ditch crosses 73rd just north of Dodd Reservoir.First dug in 1862, it was originally the Williamson-Kazey Ditch.Is it part of the original Williamson farm?

Photo by Lisa Whitehead


 
 
 
 
 

Gunbarrel Site Planner Awaits Further Development
Businessman Joins Effort To Shape Community’s Future
 

By Charmaine Ortega Getz
 
Developer Michael Tagliola has a plan for a site in Gunbarrel that involves commercial and residential space – but first he wants to see “a holistic vision for the area as a whole.”
 
If that sounds like something that would come from a Boulder resident, which he is, it may surprise people when he says it’s more about being from Heatherwood and Heatherwood Elementary, the Gunbarrel area school he attended as a child.
 
Not long ago Tagliola (37) had an idea for a 10-acre, $17 million technology park in Gunbarrel, but the tech market decline and the recent roiling of Gunbarrel’s zoning has redirected his focus. Community opposition to Terry O’Connor’s proposed Gunbarrel Town Center project galvanized the Boulder City Council in December to direct that a study of the commercial area it governs be done. After an initial community meeting Feb. 26, the city Planning and Development Services Department began conducting working group meetings with members of the Gunbarrel Community Association and area developers to come up with three or four options for public review and comment.
 
For Tagliola, his original “iPark” concept went on the back burner as he realized he could become more than just financially involved in the mission to shape Gunbarrel’s future. That involvement has evolved into “Gunbarrel Flats,” a mixed-use project on four lots at the end of Spine Road north of Lookout Road, a site soon to be vacated by Front Range Community College’s  Gunbarrel campus.
 
Tagliola says he wants to develop a smaller footprint than the controversial Gunbarrel Town Center plan. He proposes as much as 70 percent housing for a less-transient, home-owning community, anchored with businesses and perhaps another school.
 
Tagliola’s co-developer is John Quinlan, owner of Quinlan Construction. Two other principals are Tagliola’s father, Paul, and George Matsik.
 
The final design concept is still “fluid” because Tagliola wants to keep an open mind as he solicits community input and participates in the Gunbarrel Commercial Area Plan’s Working Group.
 
Tagliola said that if the residents of the Gunbarrel area don’t want annexation, it is harder to get the kind of amenities that come with it. Amenities remain difficult to pay for and some compromises have to be made between aesthetics and practicality.
 
“In order to have civic use, or public use, you need land. The only way to make that happen is to densify. Which means you need buildings that are three-, four-, five stories in places. So if you want pocket parks and things like that…and if you really want some nice retail, some nice restaurants, if you want to create some sense of place, that ambiance is built with two-, three-, four-story attached dwellings that create that sort of energy the retailers want. And they want that sort of architectural density and bulk of the rooftops and such.”
 
The developer said his door is open to area residents concerned about his plans. Mike Walsh, a longtime Gunbarrel Community Association member, vouched for that. “He doesn’t have a fixed design, that’s the fundamental difference. Mike Tagliola has from day one been very open and very inclusive in soliciting input from the community and the various neighborhood associations. He’s gone to all the meetings, held a public meeting and otherwise been very open. I think his approach is very refreshing. Whatever Mike ultimately decides to do I think people won’t be too upset as they will feel they had their input solicited.”
 
Fellow GCA member Paul Klamer was more cautious. “If there needs to be more rooftops in order to support the amount of retail needed, it makes more sense to put residences in the area he’s thinking of.”
 
Options for the Gunbarrel Commercial Area Plan will be presented at an upcoming next community meeting, not yet scheduled. The option deemed to be the “best fit” by city staff will be taken to the Planning Board and City Council for adoption.
 
For more information contact:  Gunbarrel Commercial Area Plan, http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/buildingservices/long_range/gunbarrelcap.htm or call City of Boulder Planning & Development Services 303-441-1880
 
Michael Tagliola, 303-530-9226 or michael@cpsintermountain.com
 
Gunbarrel Community Association, http://www.gunbarrel.net or call members Mike Walsh, 303-530-1117 or Chuck Simmons 720-933-2882.

 
 
 
 

 
Prairie Dog Village Approved April 1st

By Ron Goodman

As a long time critic of the county commissioners, Mai Bakyard wearily observed, “It was late at night and they got a chance to approve that application when no one was really awake to oppose it. It was like sneaking under a wire fence at night to steal vegetables.”
 

“I think that the Prairie Dog Village is a great proposal,” Commissioner Stewartship commented before the final vote. “We burrowed the idea from Jefferson County.It is the first residential stage ofa town center in Gunbarrel.”The application approved was for a 75 unit multi-family development on designated open space in central Gunbarrel.
 
Another sleepy critic of the proposal complained, “Construction is not allowed on open space.”The county building inspector, Jerimia Georgie Girl agreed that earth moving, even in the small quantities needed for the project, “...required a building permit and an EIS, Environmental Impact Statement.”
 
“In addition,” Georgie Girl commented, “even if most of the construction is underground, it is still a structure. Permits and soil testing should be required.”
 
The most controversial part of the approval was the commissioners’ agreeing to the request for an NRA shooting range on the adjacent out- lot.“We will clearly mark the range boundary,” newly appointed commissioner Mayor said, (Since his election, Tom has been contemplating a name change.A commissioner whose name is “Mayor” is causing a lot of confusion when he uses his RTD pass.)“Any prairie dog residents who stray over the line, or under the fence, will be subject to the good graces of the NRA,” Mayor said sheepishly. NRA president Charleton Gotone commented. “A place known as Gunbarrel is a natural for a rifle range.”
 
Someone in the audience whispered, “He used to be a cattle rancher.” "Don’t forget that this project also incorporates a wildlife study center,” Commissioner Paul Turnover said, justifying his vote.“The underground structures with glass walls will permit direct observation and study of residents’ activities.”Planner Graham Cracker noted, “It will have the look and feel of an ant farm, just on a larger scale with the prairie dogs.”
 
“I don’t care what they say,” Bakyard said as she wearily left the hearing, “they have dug themselves into a hole with this one. And that ‘Adopt a Prairie Dog’ road sign initiative, that will never get anywhere on the ballot.”

 
 

Savoring An Outdoor Room

By Lisa Whitehead

 
An iced glass, a good book and a rocking chair on the deck.The enticing aroma of kabobs wafting over diners sprawled about the patio.Decks and patios invite visions of relaxation and friendly gatherings.
Local realtors agree that an outdoor room in the form of a deck or patio can be a great feature, but don’t plan on recovering the cost.Pat Murphy of Niwot Real Estate notes, “If the deck is exotic, with benches and a “Better Homes & Gardens” look, it will give you that extra oomph.The next family will like it, however they probably won’t pay the cost of putting it in.”
 
So do it for your own pleasure.As Eli Buzas of Colorado 1st Properties advises, “I firmly believe that you have to do it for yourself, not for the next owner.You should always build your home for your lifestyle, not for resale.”
 
Decks can be constructed from a variety of materials, but redwood is your best option for a durable, wooden deck.A professional can build one for $15 to 20 per square foot, excluding extras like trellises, benches, and pergolas.They “create your own look, make your individual statement,“ said Ken Botts of Innovative Home Designs.
 
For most homeowners, the main drawback is maintenance.Annual refinishing is recommended to protect wooden decks from the sun’s vengeance.Your diligence determines how good your deck looks and how long it lasts.
 
Mary and Brian Lopert attached a striking wrap-around deck to their house when remodeling.“Our give-a-mouse-a-cookie remodel started with the idea of expanding our kids’ bedrooms, and grew from there,” explained Mary. “We needed to fix the entry, decided to expand several other rooms, and thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to have a big deck?’”They enjoy lovely views of the Flatirons, but Brian dutifully power-washes, sands and restains the redwood deck every year.
 
Tom Sullivan of Tom Sullivan & Associates observed, “The trend is away from redwood and toward synthetic, composite decking,” eliminating maintenance drudgery.Treks and Choice Dek Plus are two eco-friendly products made from wood fibers and recycled plastics.Botts claims, “Choice Dek has a nice groove to it, so it doesn’t look so extruded.It’s not trying to simulate a wood grain. It just offers its own nice pattern, which also improves traction.”
 
Brad and Jeanette Walters recently added a handsome deck combining Choice Dek planks with resurfaced redwood railings salvaged from their previous deck.They paid more for the recycled planking, but note that maintenance costs are nil.Brad spent “more time painting [their house] than sitting on the deck last summer, but I’m planning to change that this summer.”
 
Sheri Valentiner frequently sits on her expansive patio.“I derive huge personal enjoyment from our patio.We sit out here to have dinner and play ping-pong.It’s a great place to relax and socialize.”Valentiner’s concrete patio, colored and stamped to resemble stone and shaded by a wooden pergola, was the first thing she added to her new home.
 
Like decks, patios can be created from a variety of materials.Concrete patios cost between $3 and 12 per square foot to install; colored and stamped are the high end of that range.Concrete patios “can be stamped in a remarkable variety of patterns,” said Botts.“Nowadays, we can match the concrete to almost any color you want, then stamp it to look like stones, bricks, even log planks.”Sullivan noted that existing concrete can also be stained to match an addition or enhance the original.
 
Maintenance for concrete patios is minimal.“If you’re going to drive on the concrete,” said Bob Jensen of
Boulder Flatworks, Inc., “we recommend you reseal the surface once every three years with a clear, polyurethane-like sealant that repels U.V. rays and prevents fading.But patios can go much longer before resealing, especially if you’re not concerned about fading.”
 
Bruce and Donita Heurich traded their redwood deck for a colored concrete patio, and couldn’t be happier.“We sealed it the first year,” said Donita, “and haven’t ever since.You just hose off messes, and it looks great year after year.”The Heurichs installed a matching retractable awning to shade their patio, and the result is charming.
 
If you’re contemplating an outdoor room, go for a walk, talk to neighbors, consult with professionals.Study the unique characteristics of your yard.Do you have a view?Are you seeking privacy?Can you incorporate shade trees into your deck?Would you like to highlight your gardens?
 
 Your final plan should incorporate usefulness, maintenance and beauty that suits your lifestyle.Enjoy the result.
 
 
 
 

“Bears” Found In Niwot
 

By Bob Jones
 
Gayle Packard-Seeburger, general manager of the Niwot Sanitation District, reported that Water Bears (Tardigrada, i.e. slow walking animals) have been sighted at the Howard Morton Water Reclamation Facility.


It appears that they have found a home in the facility’s a-basin.These tiny multi-cellular critters (typically 0.1 – 0.5 mm long), always delight microscopists and plant operators.Their presence means that the water is just right.
 
Doug Walker, plant operator, confirms this sighting.He managed to provide visual proof of their presence by photographing them through the District’s microscope.
 
Water Bears are cute and fuzzy looking.They have four pairs of stumpy legs and move with a slow lumbering gait.They look like a microscopic bear.
 
Water bears, while quite common (though not necessarily in wastewater plants), require a clean environment to survive.You can find them on the top of the Himalayas, living under solid ice.They’re very versatile, and many species can be found in milder environments including oceans, lakes, ponds and meadows.Some even prefer stone walls and roofs.These bears are unique in that they:
The staff thinks the bears have created a permanent home in Niwot.Packard-Seeburger said this is a very good sign and another confirmation that the plant remediation, completed last year, is successful.
 
There are other indicators which show a successful project completion.Ammonia is usually non-detectable and all other parameters are well below the limits established by the state.The effluent quality is uniformly excellent.The water bears prove it.
 
The Niwot Sanitation District is pleased with its new plant and can provide tours, upon request, to the public.If you would like a tour, please call 303-652-2525.If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll see a bear.
 

 
 


 

One Ringy-Dingy Too Many
Area Residents Battle AT&T’s Billing Blunders

 
By Mary Wolbach Lopert
 
For those of us old enough to remember the 60s TV series “Laugh-In,” it may be time to resurrect Lily Tomlin’s character, telephone operator Ernestine and her tag line, “We’re the phone company – we don’t care, we don’t have to.”
 
Beginning last November, Gunbarrel and Niwot residents started receiving phone bills from AT&T that billed local calls at long distance rates.“It started with the November bill for the calls that were made in October,” said Niwot resident Terri Von Loh.“Everything out of the 652 (prefix) was billed as long distance.”When she called customer service Von Loh was told that calls to numbers less than 15 miles away were indeed long distance.In actuality, the local calling range is 30 miles.
 
As a Gunbarrel resident, I can personally attest to this problem.When I received my January bill for calls made in December, not only were calls to Niwot billed as long distance, calls to Gunbarrel numbers were also.Before I called customer service, I went online to <www.mapquest.com> and checked the exact distance, as measured by a Global Positioning System (GPS).
 
From my house, prefix 530, to my friend’s house, prefix 652, the exact distance is 2.78 miles. The distance from my house to another Gunbarrel residence, prefix 516, is 2.89 miles.All calls made to these numbers were billed as long distance.We were also billed long distance rates for our dial-up Internet connection, a Boulder number that we have used for years.
 
Bert Steele of The Niwot Market really felt the sting from local Internet connections being billed as long distance calls.“We can be on the Internet for hours downloading invoices,” Steele said. For the billing period of October through December 2002, Internet connection charges were in excess of $1100.
 
“As bad as it was, I wasn’t paying attention to these bills.I sent them to the bookkeeper and they were paid,” Steele continued.While the overcharges have been recognized, Steele said he didn’t have the time to spend 45 minutes on hold while trying to get someone at AT&T to fix the problem.
 
There are people like Steve DuPu, who have a telecommunications background. It only took him three days to have his problems fixed.“AT&T installed a new billing system which started to bill local calls at long distance rates.”
Terry Bote, spokesman for the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) agreed.“It was a billing problem that occurred in the switch,” he said.“Local calls were not being I.D.’d as such. When you make a local call and it goes through the switch properly, all the (long distance) billing information ‘goes away.’The switch didn’t work.It was passing the information along as a long distance call.The information from the switch to the billing information was in error.”
 
One source who worked for Qwest said that at the same time AT&T was putting in the new billing system, Comcast Corp. was acquiring AT&T, resulting in many layoffs.Between the new system and the layoffs, “people were overworked or stressed and as a result the database was corrupted.These databases are what tell the company what is long distance and what is not.”
 
So instead of taking three days to fix my billing, it has taken almost three months.First, the customer service number printed on my bill was no longer in service.When I did find the right number, I had to endure an interminable phone menu. If I called on a Monday, when the phone volume was the highest, I was simply disconnected.
 
I ended up talking to three separate customer service representatives, each one ruder than the last.When I tried to explain my GPS measurements, they either didn’t know what I was talking about or said their system was saying these calls were long distance, so it must be right.Then each rep told me that my problem would be referred to a billing specialist and I could expect an answer in either three days or 7-to-10 days depending on which rep I spoke to.
 
After nearly a month without hearing from any billing specialist, I called back and talked to a supervisor.When I was again told that my account had been turned over to a specialist, I requested to speak to him or her.“Billing specialists don’t talk to the public,” I was told.
 
It was at this point that I decided to take my husband’s advice and call the PUC.I explained the problem to Leslie Handmaker from external affairs. The next day, Joanne Griego, a Tier III Escalations Specialist, called me back.It took another month before my account was settled.I could tell that it wasn’t an easy matter for Ms. Griego either, because at one point she told me that Comcast might have to issue a check for the disputed portion of the bill since AT&T wasn’t budging.
 
I am happy to report that my bill has been settled, or at least I’ve received documentation from both Ms. Griego and Ms. Handmaker stating as much.Unfortunately, Terri Von Loh hasn’t been as lucky.She too called the PUC.In one conversation the PUC told her not to pay the AT&T bill, while AT&T called and asked her to pay it because “the bill is on the old billing system.”
 
Bote verified that AT&T/Comcast has two billing systems that don’t communicate with each other.“Comcast assures us that they are being proactive in checking the bills to make sure that customers are being properly charged. We will continue to follow up to make sure that the solutions are taking place and all the appropriate credits have been issued.”
 
Von Loh said, “AT&T is so out of control.I’m disappointed in the PUC that they haven’t gotten back to me.”
If you are still battling AT&T, call the PUC.According to my source, “Comcast is not used to being in the telephone business and not used to having the PUC being involved in their life. The PUC has to log every complaint and they keep yearly records of complaints by carrier.They can fine them or have hearings.Qwest was fined big time for not being timely in putting in phone service, etc.Dealing with the PUC can be a very unpleasant task.”
 
The PUC’s email address is <pucconsumer.complaints@dora.state.co.us>. The local telephone number is 303-894-2070, or just in case you think that’s a long distance charge, their toll free number is 1-800-894-2025.
 
Remember, it was Ernestine who said, “You’ve angered me and when you anger me you anger me and all the power necessary to tie up your lines for the next 50 years.”
 
Be A Watchful Consumer 
 
The best thing consumers can do is to check their bills every month.“Customers shouldn’t assume that the charges (on their bills) are accurate,” PUC spokesman Terry Bote said. “I find mistakes on my bill just like anyone else.” 
                                   
Bote stated that the PUC can help consumers. If a disputed charge isn’t resolved, the PUC can pursue the complaint on behalf of the consumer to get those charges removed.He suggested giving AT&T/Comcast two billing cycles to get the charges settled.