Annual Meeting of the Niwot Community Association

The annual meeting of the Niwot Community Association (NCA) was held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23 at the Niwot Community Hall. Guest speakers were Jim Webster, Boulder County Wildfire Partners, Paul Ostroy, Fire Management Officer for Mountain View Fire Protection District (MVFPD) and Dr. Don Haddad, Superintendent of the St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD).

Annual elections were held for the NCA board. David Limbach was re-elected to the office of President, Emily Limbach was re-elected as Director of Communications, Vicky Dorvee was re-elected as Director for Trails and Open Space, and Liz Marr was re-elected as Director for Subdivision Roads.

NCA representatives for areas within Niwot were also re-elected: Neal Anderson (Area 2), Jeff Server (Area 4) and Derek Curd (Area 8).

Limbach reviewed NCA accomplishments and activities of 2023. He presented a page of the board's activity highlights for each month of the year, which filled the screen with fine print. Limbach reviewed the annual events, namely Clean-Up Day, the Slepicka Tractor Show, the Fourth of July parade, National Night Out and the Veterans Banner Ceremony for banners hung up downtown and in Cottonwood Square.

He described the role of the NCA as an advocate for the Niwot community with Boulder County government through communications with the Board of County Commissioners, Community Planning & Permitting and Parks & Open Space. He noted that the NCA has representatives serving in the Niwot Local Improvement District (LID) Advisory Committee, the Niwot Business Association, the Niwot Design Review Committee and the Subdivision Paving Coalition.

Niwot Clean-Up Day is coming up on May 18. New materials to be collected this year include tires (not on rims) and bicycles (for Community Cycles refurbishment). On-site yard waste will be run through a chipper if the noise is not too disruptive.

Limbach concluded by describing the interactions that the NCA has with all of the other Niwot organizations, and also the services provided for events by the NCA Road Crew.

Next on the agenda, Anderson introduced Webster (Boulder County Wildfire Partners) and Ostroy (Fire Management Officer for Mountain View Fire Protection District), who tag-teamed a presentation on wildland fire risk throughout Niwot and mitigation efforts funded by the sales tax increase that was approved by voters in 2022.

Webster and Ostroy described how the Marshall Fire and other wildfires propagate. They noted that wind-driven embers from fires can travel two to five miles and ignite new fires, which means that all of Niwot is at risk, not just areas that border open space. They emphasized the need to create a five-foot radius of defensible space around each home, space that is clear of flammable vegetation and structures.

"Fences are fuses" is a slogan illustrating how wooden fences can lead flames directly to the home. "Junk your Juniper" is a campaign that will be launched soon to address how junipers are one of the most flammable landscape fuels, and how to mitigate that risk. Another project will be to provide free yard waste chipping to the plains communities. More information is available at the website http://wildfirepartners.org/

Everyone was reminded to sign up for the BOCO Alert system to receive notifications about wildfires and other emergencies. To sign up or check your status see the website http://BOCOAlert.org/

Dr. Don Haddad, Superintendent of the St. Vrain Valley School District, provided a review of schools and addressed issues of importance to the Niwot community. Haddad described how the district is the seventh largest in Colorado., with 33,000 students and plans to grow to 70,000 in the next thirty years. Total assets in the district are over $8 billion dollars. Most of the time available was used for questions and answers from the NCA board and the audience.

The first questions were about home value assessments and property taxes. Haddad said, "There is no extra money" and described how it is a myth because budget growth is making up for money lost in previous years. He said that 85% of the budget goes to pupils and to teacher salaries, who were recently given a raise. Haddad described how there will still be a need for a bond issue on the ballot, which will not raise taxes, but that the school board will decide if the bond is needed. The district has been able to pay down its debt earlier than expected. Haddad noted that the mill levy was reduced by 1.147 mills by the board for this year.

The next questions were about the Niwot feeder school system. Haddad responded that SVVSD plans to build three new schools and another innovation tech center for growth in the eastern part of the district. Declining enrollment in some schools in the Niwot feeder system raises the issue of closing schools. Haddad said that there are no closures anticipated in the next decade but that consolidating school grades into one school is an option, for example Sunset Middle School and Indian Peaks Elementary School.

Automobile traffic to and from Niwot High School was mentioned as an ongoing problem. Haddad reported that SVVSD buses carry about 700 pupils for Niwot schools each day. Around 500 get to and from school by other means, including walking, biking and private vehicles.

Haddad said that traffic is a problem at many schools and SVVSD buses are their solution. Asked if the SVVSD will consider making use of the public Regional Transportation District (RTD) buses, he said that for safety reasons, the district will only use SVVSD bus drivers so RTD will not be a solution.

David Limbach offered the NCA email address of [email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] if there are more questions.

There are openings on the Niwot Community Association board for Secretary, Events Manager and Area 6 representative, which includes the Homestead and Gunbarrel Estates subdivisions. Contact [email protected] if you are interested in volunteering for the board.