By Mary Wolbach Lopert

As had been previously reported in the Courier, the Niwot Local Improvement District, which includes Historic Downtown Niwot as well as Cottonwood Square, is in a bit of a pickle when it comes to paying back bonds issued for street and drainage improvements.

With another eight years to go before the bonds are paid back at current rates, certain town planners are looking at other venues for raising revenue.

In a Courier exclusive, we can tell you that the town is looking at hiring a meter maid to monitor parking meters. While the exact placement of the meters hasn’t been finalized, there is a prototype for the maid uniform. A Courier reporter was able to capture a glimpse of the uniformed lass.

According to our source, the meters will be installed on both sides of Second Avenue. Due to prevailing winds and gravitational forces, the parking configuration along Second Avenue will be revised, such that the north side of the street will change to parallel parking and the south side will have lines painted for diagonal parking.

It was further noted that such changes might help with regional global warming.
In keeping with the historic theme of the town, wooden nickels will be accepted for use in the meters, with the town hoping to resell them as antiques. Plugged nickels are also being considered, though one official remarked that they weren’t worth a whole lot.

In honor of the town’s namesake, Indian head pennies and buffalo nickels will work in the meters, and anyone using them will be entitled to free lifetime parking privileges in the new four-story high rise parking garage being planned for the intersection of Niwot Road and 79th Street, once the flyover is complete.

Photo by Lefty Lenslouse

In a Courier exclusive, here is the semi-final version of Niwot’s own lovely Rita meter maid, Georgina Thomacita. Town fashionistas have given final thumbs up to the uniform. Ms. Thomacita has signed a conditional contract with final approvalcontingent upon the waxing of her legs.

“Road Dogs” Scuttle Overpass Plans

By Chien Deschamps

County officials have halted construction plans for the overpass at Highways 52 and 119 due to the environmental impact on our local prairie dog population. In a recent study made by the Boulder County Department of Urban Habitat (DUH), a rare breed of rodent, the “Road Dog” (lat. caninus appius), uniquely adapted to dodging traffic, was discovered among the local colony. The species was first found in Prebles Meadow.

Grant money has been issued for further study. According to DUH, the newly identified species has no unique markings, so it is nearly impossible to isolate them from the animals more commonly found on the road. As such, the entire population falls under a protected status.

Given the unique species designation for the road dogs, the county has instead decided to build a series of prairie dog pedestrian pathways under Highways 52 and 119 as well as under the rail-road tracks. “We anticipate that these measures will significantly reduce injuries and death due to traffic incidents.” stated Otto Kahr, chief project engineer.

Khar also said, “Although we understand that the overpass was intended to ease automobile traffic congestion at that intersection, we feel that the importance of this study and its impact on the local prairie dog colony will have broad community support. The road safety and commuting options for all Boulder County citizens must be considered.”

“Additionally,” Kahr continued, “construction of the tunnels will consume all of the funding originally earmarked for the overpass.”

For additional information and road closures, please call 1-800-ROADDOG

Photo by Chien DesChamps

Construction of “pedestrian” underpasses beneath Highway 52 to serve the needs of the local prairie and Road Dog colony began in March with completion expected by June 2005.

The Future Of Niwot

By Ron Goodman

During almost 40 years of architectural practice, this reporter has spent many hours on the supplicant’s side of the podium during public meetings, and recently, on the other side, as a planning commissioner. Rarely is the atmosphere as constructive and cooperative as it was on Saturday morning, March 5, at the Left Hand Grange.

Niwot Business Association (NBA) and Niwot Community Association (NCA) leaders as well as several nonaffiliated residents represented the Niwot community. Graham Billinglsey, land use director, Clark Meisner, county transportation director, and staff presented a slide program entitled “Planning in the Niwot Area.”

The presentation reviewed the last 20 years of change and looked at the future. Significant features of the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan, (BCCP), and the Niwot element, in particular, were reviewed.

The BCCP defines the Niwot Community Service Area (CSA) as the area bounded by the Diagonal Highway to the west, Highway 52 on the south, Morton Heights and Overbrook on the east, and Meadowdale and Johnson Farm on the north.

In addition to building permits and subdivision approvals, the last 20 years have seen open space acquisitions, construction on the Boulder Tech Center and formation and implementation of the Niwot Improvement District (business areas in Old Town Niwot and Cottonwood Square) in 1992 and the Niwot Rural Community District, (properties along Second Avenue) in 1993.

Population in the CSA has grown from 2,100 in 1985 to more than 4,300 in 2005. Niwot has a total of 1,546 housing units (2000 census) of which 87 percent are owner occupied. The potential number of housing units under current zoning is 1,666 in the CSA.

The median household income in Niwot is almost $87,000 compared to almost $42,000 nationwide. The same 2000 Census showed 227 individuals living below the poverty level in Niwot. This is 5.6 percent of the population, compared to a 12.4 percent poverty rate nationally. A discussion of the future and how the BCCP regulations might not continue to work in Niwot followed.

Pretty Much The Same
Billingsley indicated that Niwot is close to build-out, with 100+ homes to be added in the CSA area. “I do not see any significant changes.” he said. The Intergovernmental Agreements, (IGAs) negotiated by the county commissioners during the last 10 years with the neighboring cities, Longmont, Boulder, Lafayette etc., have set the limits of growth until 2023. Open space purchases in the Niwot area have further limited Niwot’s growth as well as infringement from adjacent cities.
“Longmont will grow east and north in the next 10 to 15 years,” Billingsley said. “Growth will be internal, increasing density within the cities.”

Renting retail space for office use also reduces the available number of shops, but property owners rejected limiting first floor pace to retail use, according to the county staff.

Safe Crossings At HWY 52 And 79th Street
Intersection And Underpass To Be Completed By June 2005

By LuAnn Piccard

Two construction projects to improve traffic safety are under way. The first is at the intersection of Highway 52 and 79th Street; the second will link the Niwot Loop and Cottonwood Trail open space trails and create a pedestrian underpass. Both projects started in early March and will be completed in June 2005.

Mike Thomas, Boulder County transportation department project manager, said, “The two projects were initiated for separate purposes and funded from two different sources. The pedestrian underpass is funded through the seven-year transport sales tax approved by voters in November 2001 and levied on all Boulder County cities at the rate of one tenth of one cent [per dollar].”

He continued, “The intersection improvement project has received Federal Safety funds. However, given their close physical proximity and construction time-frame, there will be coordinated traffic control to minimize disruption.”

The City and County of Boulder retained the firm of Kirkham and Michael to do the design work and manage the intersection construction.

The intersection improvement project will include left-turn slots, a signal light, widened turn lanes for traffic merging onto Highway 52 and improved guard rails. “The work has gotten off to a fast start,” said Steve Plasters, consulting engineer for Kirkham and Michael.

“Construction began on March 4, and within days, the key structural elements under the roadway had been completed. This pace was necessary to enable the White Rock Ditch irrigation water to be turned on by March 20,” Plasters explained.

He continued, “One of the key challenges of the project is the elimination of several utility poles that surround the intersection and burying the wires. This operation is especially tricky due to the location of several gas mains on the northeast corner of the intersection.”

The pedestrian underpass, which will eventually link the two local open space trails, is under construction approximately one-half mile west of the Highway 52 and 79th Street intersection. Thomas said, “The work necessary to link the trail systems will begin shortly after the underpass is completed.”

Wayne Ellis, the Boulder County Transportation engineering technician who is overseeing the construction of the pedestrian underpass, said, “This is an interesting project because the open space on the north side of 52 is the responsibility of Boulder County, on the south side of 52, the land is Boulder City open space and Highway 52 is a Colorado state highway. The planning and completion of this project requires the cooperation of all three entities.”

For residents who expressed concerns about the safety of the Highway 52 and 79th Street intersection, this work is a welcome improvement. The addition of the pedestrian underpass to link the well used open space trail system will also benefit the community.

For more information, contact the Boulder County Transportation Department 303-441-3900.

Districts Discuss TABOR

By Thomas George

While the State Legislature debates possible changes to Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), we asked a number of public districts in the Left Hand Valley area to tell us how TABOR had affected them, and what, if anything, they would do to change it.

Left Hand Water District

Kathy Peterson, manager of the water district, explained that her organization is a public enterprise, and not a taxing district. Because Left Hand Water covers all of its costs through service fees, including the cost of district elections, it is almost entirely unaffected by TABOR.

Under TABOR, the water district was obliged to declare its status as an enterprise, but Peterson said this was merely a formality. “We never intended to levy a tax, and we would not,” she said.

Mountain View Fire Protection District
The Mountain View Fire Protection District would have been hamstrung by TABOR’s requirements, according to Deputy Chief Steve Pischke, but it has “debruced.” The district won approval from taxpayers to exempt it from certain TABOR limitations.
TABOR, Pischke said, would have imposed a ceiling on the fire district’s revenues, hampering efforts to use outside funds. For example, under TABOR, winning a federal grant worth around $170,000 to replace old breathing apparatuses would have forced the district to refund that amount to taxpayers, essentially nullifying the grant.

While TABOR no longer carries a significant effect on the fire protection district, Pischke said the Gallagher Amendment has been more of an issue. That amendment limits to 45 percent the portion of property taxes that can come from homes. In the Left Hand Valley, where homes make up the lion’s share of the property value, the district’s ability to collect revenue through property taxes is significantly limited.

St. Vrain Valley School District
Like the vast majority of Colorado school districts, the St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) has also been debruced, exempting it from the most rigorous TABOR limitations. Still, said SVVSD Board President Sandy Searls, the combined effects of the Gallagher Amendment, TABOR and State Amendment 23 have had a major effect on the school district.

Though school funding is protected, at least in theory, by Amendment 23, which mandates the state to increase its spending on K-12 education by the rate of inflation plus one percent each year, some school programs are being cut by the state, Searls said.
State funding for libraries, preschools, all-day kindergartens, school breakfasts and other programs that fall outside the state’s definition of education have been cut back. Searls lamented that these cuts most directly affect students with special needs or who come from low-income families.

Searls said the SVVSD was supportive of efforts to amend TABOR at the state level, hopefully allowing the state to keep revenues that would currently be refunded to taxpayers. Searls was also hopeful there would be an end to the “ratcheting down effect,” where each year’s revenues are locked closely to those of the previous year.

Searls said the school district was encouraged by state House Bill 051194 in its preliminary form, but would “have to wait and see how the bill come out” before giving official support.

Boulder County Publishes Youth Risk Behavior Survey

By Mandy Sutyak

Boulder County Public Health has published its 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. This survey, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), provides reliable local data on risk behaviors among the county’s high school students and breaks down the data between St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) and Boulder Valley School District (BVSD).

This is the first year that the survey has been conducted in SVVSD. The survey covers unintentional and intentional injuries, tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use, sexual behavior, nutrition and physical activity, and school climate and harassment.
Among the key results:

• 25.4 percent of SVVSD students currently smoke cigarettes compared to 19.2 percent of BVSD students
• 48.8 percent of SVVSD students currently drink alcohol compared to 44 percent of BVSD
• 22.6 percent of SVVSD students currently use marijuana compared to 24.8 percent of BVSD students
• 45.6 percent of 12th graders in SVVSD were sexually active compared to 36.7 percent of 12th graders in BVSD
• 59.3 percent of sexually active students in SVVSD used a condom last time they had sex compared to 71.8 percent of students in BVSD.

Asked to comment on the results with respect to sexual activity, Jor-El Godsey, Executive Director at the Life Choices Pregnancy Center in Longmont said, “It’s challenging to compare St. Vrain schools to Boulder schools when the ethnic and socio-economic differences are significant. The Life Choices program leverages students’ goals and objectives and then how short term decisions can have long term consequences.”

SVVSD demographic information shows a white population of 76.2 percent and a Hispanic/Latino population of 19.6 percent. This compares to a white population in BVSD of 82.3 percent and a Hispanic/Latino population of 10.3 percent
Susan Levy, executive director at Women’s Health in Boulder commented, “The data doesn’t lie. We believe that the differences between the sexual activity of kids in the St Vrain School District compared to Boulder Valley School District is explained by the differences in school district policy toward comprehensive sexuality education. BVSD has taught comprehensive sexuality education for years and, despite what some would have us believe, it has not encouraged increased sexual activity, and has resulted in safer sex among those teens who choose to be sexually active. This is good news.”
The introduction to the survey states “This provides the school district with an unprecedented opportunity to partner with communities in which our youth reside. We can use these findings as a catalyst to improve the prospects for all of our youth as they move toward the future as healthy, educated, and productive adults.” It is signed jointly by Charles Stout, MPH, Public Health Director, Boulder County Public Health, George Garcia, Ed.D, Superintendent, BVSD and Randy Zila, Ed. D, Superintendent, SVVSD.

The full survey is available at www.co.boulder.co.us/health.

Family Therapist

By Louise H. Alderson MS, LMFT, CFLE

Springtime! Let the games begin. Children of all ages are looking forward to participating in athletic activities. They want to have fun, be physically active and be part of a competition.

Parents and other adults, through their attitudes and behaviors, influence the type of experience children have. Consider the following suggestions that will help create a positive experience for children.

Begin by identifying your child’s expectations. What is the basis of these expectations? Are they based on your needs or your child’s? Do they fit your child at this age – both interest and ability? If this is a new experience for your child, you may want to talk with other parents or the coach to help with your decisions.

Athletic activities for children are about having fun while learning how to be part of a team. Children learn best in a positive climate that focuses on the only aspects they can control – their effort and approach to the sport. They benefit from learning that mistakes are opportunities for improvement.

Avoid placing excessive pressure on a child: maintain realistic expectations. Children develop at different rates and have varying levels of interest and commitment. They are discovering who they are, so they need a variety of experiences to help them find their answers.

Children need emotional support before, during and after games. They determine their self-worth and physical competence from the praise or criticism they receive from parents, coaches, and other adults. Make specific comments that can help direct and encourage a child’s improvement. Find something positive and constructive for every game.

Support the competitive spirit by encouraging good sports conduct among all children. These lessons will become important life lessons that they can apply throughout their lives. Do not criticize the coach, referee, players or parents of either team. If a problem arises, address it with the adults, away from the children.

Support the coach. He or she is volunteering time to provide the opportunity for children to play. Parents can share the responsibilities of the behind-the-scenes tasks and enhance their child’s experience. Getting to know other parents can also support a child’s relationship with teammates.

One of the downsides of children’s athletic activities is the inappropriate behavior of some parents. If you are a parent that is easily agitated, there are a few things you can do to control your outbursts.

• Take a deep breath, count to 10 or take a walk around the parking lot
• Alleviate your frustration by understanding where it comes from within you
• Treat others the way you would like to be treated

Bad behaving parents can ruin the experience for their own child as well as the others. Not only do they lose their child’s respect, they may also discourage their child from playing sports.

Most parents want to help make their child’s experience in an athletic activity a positive one. Five ways to be a successful sideline parent include:
1. Resist shouting out instructions to your child, the coach, or referee. Save your comments for after the game – then make them positive.
2. Show appreciation for the play of the other team. They are children too.
3. Don’t undermine the coach. Save your comments for after the game – then make them positive.
4. Leave the referee out of it. Teach your child to respect authority.
5. Help kids cope with other parents’ outbursts. Explain that some adults get carried away. Suggest you’ll talk with other adults about the situation if it continues.

Books are available on all aspects of children’s sports. Check your favorite bookstore for titles that meet your needs. Enjoy your season of fun from the sidelines while watching your child improve in ability and self-confidence game by game.
Louise H. Alderson, MS, LMFT, CFLE is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Certified Family Life Educator in private practice. She helps families, couples, and individuals with challenges during the various stages of their lives. Louise may be contacted at 303-447-2054.

Kate Quinn Qualifies For National Snowboarding Championships

By Mandy Sutyak

Niwot resident Kate Quinn qualified to compete in two events at the 2005 United States of America Snowboard Association (USASA) National Championships at Copper Mountain Resort April 2 to 9. Quinn will be competing in the Giant Slalom and Boardercross® events in the Junior Women’s category.

Quinn qualified for the championships through the Copper Mountain Snowboard Series. This is Quinn’s first year competing in Boardercross® which involves four riders simultaneously going down the same track, through gates, over blind jumps and around hedges, rollers and sidewalls. It’s not an event for the faint-hearted.

While the start is critical, it’s not everything. “My first time, I thought I was going to throw up I was so nervous, but then I got silver (medal) and it was so cool,” Quinn said.

In Quinn’s second race of the season, she got a slow start and thought that she’d blown it when she missed a gate. But then she saw that two other competitors had fallen and were out of the race. To the cheering encouragement of the crowd, she un-strapped one foot and climbed back up to the gate. Completing that gate and making it to the finish line gave her second place.

Quinn is in her fifth season snowboarding, but has skied since she was a preschooler. She switched to snowboarding because a friend persuaded her it was fun. Now Quinn snowboards every weekend with the Winter Park snowboard team. On Sundays she works individually with a coach. There is no Boardercross® at Winter Park, so they work at absorbing the terrain.

Every sport has its bumps, though. In early February, Quinn broke two bones in her wrist and possibly one in her thumb. The injury happened on a 30-foot long rail where Quinn was performing a stunt. On the first “180” her tail edge caught on the rail and off she rolled.

It’s too soon to know when Quinn’s cast will be coming off, but when asked if she still planned to compete in the Championship, Quinn looked down shyly, smiled and nodded her head.

Photo Courtesy of Karen Quinn

Kate Quinn qualified for the National Snowboarding Championship.