Niwot LID discusses snow removal

The Niwot Local Improvement District Advisory Committee (LID) welcomed its newest member, Sarah Cioni of Belle Terre, to the March 7 meeting. Cioni was appointed to fill the business position vacated by Bruce Raberler, who did not seek reappointment. Cioni said, "Speaking as a business member, the LID is such a gift to us."

Mary Coonce was selected to serve as treasurer of the LID, a position Rabeler previously held. A reception to honor Rabeler and recognize his contributions is planned for a future meeting.

Mark Ruzzin and Natalie Springer, liaisons from the Boulder County Commissioners' office, reported that LID revenues for 2022 exceeded $292,000, the highest total ever for the 1% sales tax collections. Expenditures for the year were $227,000, putting the LID's reserve fund at $372,000.

The two funding requests submitted were approved. Deb Fowler, vice-president of the Niwot Business Association, requested funding for Lucky Niwot Day, held Saturday March 11. The event is billed as a family-friendly variation of St. Patrick's Day.

"The focus will be on keeping foot traffic busy around town to encourage people to go in the stores and restaurants," Fowler wrote in the application. The event costs included musicians outdoors at several locations downtown and in Cottonwood Square, carriage rides, a 4-leaf clover walk led by a Leprechaun fairy, an outdoor poetry reading, face painters and Irish dancers. Restaurants planned to offer Irish-themed food and beverages.

The total estimated costs, including advertising and promotion, were $5,297. The NBA proposed to fund $500 of the cost with the LID covering the $4,797 balance.

The other funding request was also submitted by the NBA to cover the annual costs of maintenance, which included "watering, weeding, feeding and trimming of foliage within the business district and the Sculpture Park" ($6,000), snow removal ($4,500), electrical bill (Xcel) ($3,000), and hanging banners, miscellaneous repairs ($2,500)" for a total of $16,000.

A mention of snow removal prompted a lively discussion among LID members. NBA President Eric Bergeson indicated that the NBA Executive Committee had discussed moving the snow piles out of the downtown area next year. LID member Cornelia Sawle noted that the snow piles this winter have taken up parking spaces and have yet to melt. She urged the NBA to "put it where the sun shines."

LID Chair Scott Firle responded, saying, "Now it's where the sun doesn't shine." Bergeson said the plan was to move it to the vacant lot north of the new parking lot "where the sun shines."

The LID will host the Boulder County Commissioners on March 27 at 3:30 p.m. at the Left Hand Grange, an annual event that includes a discussion of issues important to Niwot. The meeting is open to the public.

One of those issues is the planned bikeway-pedestrian path down the median of Colorado Highway 119 (the Diagonal). Several LID members met in a zoom meeting with Boulder County's Kathleen Bracke, Deputy Director, Community Planning & Permitting - Transportation, on March 9 to discuss safety issues involving the current design of the Niwot Road/Diagonal Highway intersection.

At the top of the list is the lack of an underpass to Niwot which would go under the Longmont-bound lanes, allowing safe and easy access to Niwot from the bikeway. The current design includes a transit center where the Park & Ride is now located, including a platform to allow pedestrians to easily board a bus.

Bergeson said, "The message should be safety around the intersection for bikes and pedestrians." The LID hired local architectural firm Fletemeyer & Lee to study the access to Niwot as part of a larger plan for transportation improvements. They designed a conceptual plan for an underpass leading to Niwot that would exit near 1st Avenue at Whistle Stop Park. Firle suggested that a bike-share program at the transit center should also be considered.

Noting that funding for the underpass appears to be an issue for the project, LID member Heidi Storz said, "The project could be done in two phases - one under Highway 119 and later under the railroad tracks."

At the March 9 meeting, several members of the LID gathered in the Fletemeyer & Lee conference room to present their views to Bracke and one of the county's engineers. "It went well," Bergeson said later. "She listened, she explained how the whole thing is funded. She was very sympathetic. She asked if we could get some real (measured) elevation data on our proposed tunnel location. We agreed and Fletemeyer & Lee are going to do that."

Bergeson said, "It comes down to money. They appreciated the conceptual work with Fletemeyer & Lee." Many of the LID members attended, including transportation subcommittee members Bergeson, Storz, Firle, Sawle and Jeff Knight, as well as Coonce and Lisa Rivard.