Left Hand Valley Courier - All Local, All The Time

Niwot residents will soon be seeing reminders to renew their Niwot Community Association memberships in their mailboxes, email in-boxes and along Niwot Road.

The membership drive will kick off the week of Feb. 17, with an email message to current members and posting of the “Burma Shave” style signs along Niwot Road, NCA President David Limbach told board members at their March 13 meeting.

Currently Niwot residents can join the NCA by paying with a check or through PayPal. NCA board members are exploring adding Venmo by PayPal, a mobile payment service linked to a bank account, to the payment mix.

NCA annual dues are $30. Membership is open to Niwot residents, and residents living in areas west of Colorado State Highway 119 including Lake Valley and North Rim, along with Gunbarrel Estates and The Homestead subdivisions in Gunbarrel. Those areas are part of the membership area because they have issues of mutual concern with Niwot and most of the areas have Niwot Elementary and Niwot High School as their home schools.

The NCA sponsors an annual cleanup day in May and the town’s July 4 parade, coordinates informational meetings on community issues, runs candidate forums, brings issues of community concern forward to Boulder County Commissioners and county departments, and coordinates work on area trails and open space with Boulder County.

Community Issues

Currently the NCA, along with the Niwot Business Association and Boulder County Transportation, is hosting a community survey asking residents to weigh in on possible configurations and locations for a new Niwot bus station along Highway 119 to accommodate future bus rapid transit. The survey will be open until Feb. 28 and a link to it can be found on the NCA’s website at http://www.Niwot.org.

The NCA also is keeping its membership informed about upcoming meetings about the county’s proposed revisions to the land use code for downtown Niwot’s three-block commercial zone. The Boulder County Planning Commission is set to hold a Feb. 20 public hearing on proposed changes, and Boulder County Commissioners are expected to consider planning commission recommendations at a public hearing March 12. A modified six-month moratorium on processing development applications for the NRCD expires March 20.

Trails and Open Space

As the ADA compliant bathroom at Left Hand Valley Grange Park on Niwot Road is completed, NCA members are starting to explore whether a bicycle repair station can be installed at the park. “We will start that conversation soon with the county,” said Craig Rahenkamp, NCA trails and open space chair.