Growing frustration with subdivision roads and Boulder County

On March 12, the Niwot Community Association (NCA) held a Subdivision Paving Summit at the Left Hand Grange in Niwot. The meeting was led by NCA President David Limbach and Liz Marr, NCA Board Member and member of the Subdivision Paving Coalition (SPC). Approximately 35 members of the community attended the spirited and collaborative session.

The meeting had a number of objectives, including:

• Review issue history and update the community on recent activities

• Give Niwot neighborhoods a forum to share their experiences

• Brainstorm potential solutions and actions

• Assess the level of community commitment

• Develop core messaging and advocacy Boulder County's Subdivision Paving website states, "The Boulder County Comprehensive Plan (BCCP) provides guidance on gravel and paved roads accepted for maintenance in unincorporated Boulder County. The BCCP stipulates that funding for major repairs should be prioritized for the county's arterial and collector roadways, and that funding of local access roads (aka "subdivision roads") shall be the responsibility of those served by the road (property owners).

"While the county does not conduct major repairs (full roadway resurfacing) on subdivision roads, our Road Maintenance crews still conduct the following operations on these roads: snow removal, pothole patching, clearing of ditches, culverts, and other drainage structures, replacement/repairs of sidewalks, and roadway crack sealing and patching to maintain public safety."

The most common theme of the meeting was the difficulty in working with Boulder County. The challenges were varied and extensive, and include:

• The Summerlin neighborhood southwest of Longmont worked for over one year with a county recommended consulting firm to survey their roads and issue a request for proposal. They received bids from six contractors and chose one. Despite following the guidance of the county, they were not able to obtain the necessary permits, leaving them with nothing but frustration, deteriorating roads and no mechanism to improve them.

• Another neighborhood was told by Boulder County seven years ago that the cost to rebuild their roads would cost $2MM to $2.2MM. They obtained a bid from a contractor in 2023 for just $1.1MM, leading them to believe they had been misled by the county in the past.

• The Niwot Meadow Farms neighborhood was told by the county that better road maintenance (e.g. crack filling, sealing and patching) would improve the longevity of their road by up to 20 years. Yet, in the time it took the county to respond to their road maintenance requests, the cracks grew too wide and deep and fixes were no longer an option.

• Many community members complained of submitting requests for road maintenance to the county via their website and not hearing back for years, if at all.

Liz Marr said, "NCA and SPC were pleased with the widespread representation of unincorporated subdivisions, not only in the Niwot/Gunbarrel area but throughout the County. The number of represented county-wide subdivisions combined with the energy among meeting attendees speaks to the level of concern and anger among affected property owners about the county's lack of commitment to rehabilitating and maintaining roads in unincorporated subdivisions."

Much of the discussion centered around how to obtain financing to rebuild the roads throughout the Niwot subdivisions. Public improvement districts, mill levies, grants, private financing and sales taxes were all discussed as potential solutions. There was widespread agreement that votes matter and Niwotians, which represent about 17% of the county's voting populace, should vote for county commissioner candidates who support the funding of road improvements in the community.

Marr went on to say, "We plan to hold additional meetings and although we have connections with many unincorporated Boulder County subdivisions, we are still missing contacts for some." She asked for subdivision leaders who would like to be part of the SPC coalition to email [email protected] or [email protected].