November 2020

Hi everyone – here’s my update for things going on in and around Superior for November 2020.  Read on for more information about the upcoming election, street racing on US-36, Crumbl Cookies, affordable housing, Verizon’s macro tower, and more…  

P.S. –  depending on the outcome of the election, this could be my last monthly town update.  It’s been an honor to serve the community and thank you for reading the past few years.  We live in a truly amazing place.

Election

Tuesday, November 3 is Election Day and as of this morning 72% of registered voters in Superior have already voted!  If you’re not registered to vote, you can register up through Election Day.  There is a ballot box located in the parking lot at Town Hall where you can safely drop off your ballot (without the need for postage) up until 7pm on Election Day.  To track your ballot and see that it gets counted, sign up for Ballot Track through the Boulder County Clerk & Recorder. 

This year, three Trustee positions will be up for election.  Trustees Kevin Ryan and myself are running for re-election.  The other candidates for Trustee are: Tim Howard, Paige Henchen, Chris Ochs, and Gladys Forshee.  If you’re looking for more information about the Board of Trustees race, here are some helpful links:

• Boulder Weekly’s Vote Guide
• Daily Camera’s Voter Guide
• League of Women Voters candidate forum
• Superior Chamber of Commerce candidate forum
• League of Women Voters Vote411 Guide

Don’t forget to Vote!

COVID-19

On Friday, October 23, CDPHE issued a new Public Health Order limiting public gatherings to no more than 10 people of no more than 2 households. To date, there have been 89 cases in Superior.  We are continuing to urge everyone to get a flu shot and to continue to wear masks whenever you are inside in a public place or whenever you cannot maintain 6 feet of physical distance from others while outdoors.  

Affordable Housing

On October 12, 2020, the Town Board adopted Superior’s first-ever affordable housing ordinance.  The ordinance imposes a requirement on all new residential housing projects to construct 15% deed-restricted, permanently affordable residences.  In addition, the ordinance allows for a fee-in-lieu of constructing affordable housing on projects that involve less than 10 units.  This is a great first step at addressing the need for attainable housing in Superior.  

Also, I would like to see Brixmor (the owner of the Superior Marketplace) partner with Superior, the Superior Urban Renewal Authority, and RTD to redevelop a portion of the Superior Marketplace to include an affordable housing project within walking distance of the RTD BRT station at US-36 and McCaslin.  Not only would such a project help Superior make progress at the County’s goal of achieving 12% affordable housing by 2035, it would also help the businesses in the Marketplace benefit from increased pedestrian foot-traffic from those who live there.  I made this recommendation at the recent Town Board Worksession and staff will be taking the next steps.

Verizon Macro Tower in Community Park

In January 2020, the Town Board approved Verizon Wireless’s proposal to replace an 81-foot tall light pole along the first base line at Scanlon Field in Community Park, with with a 100-foot telecommunication antenna/light pole as well as equipment platform to the south of ball field, to enhance Verizon’s telecommunication services within this area of Superior. 

At the time of the project approval, Verizon was planning for construction this past summer.  COVID-19 has delayed this project.  Verizon has reconfigured its budget and timelines for projects due to the pandemic.  However, Superior’s project remains in the firm’s queue of budgeted and committed projects, but the construction schedule has moved to spring of 2021.  The final engineering and construction design reviews by Town Staff have all been completed and the permit is ready to issue.  I know this has been a frustrating wait.  I will continue to push for this project’s completion.

Rock Creek HOA Annual Meeting

For those of you who live in the Rock Creek neighborhood, the Annual Meeting of the Rock Creek HOA will be held virtually on November 19 at 6:00 p.m. via Google Meets.  To get an invite to the Google Meet, please sign up here.  The meeting agenda is available here and they will be considering approval of the annual budget as well as the election of members to the Board.  

Street Racing on US-36

There have been regular street races that have been occurring on US-36.  These races originate late at night at the Superior Marketplace, where hundreds of cars gather and then proceed to race down US-36 towards Denver.  These races are not just happening near Superior — there are regular races on I-25, I-225, I-76, and elsewhere.  US-36 is patrolled by the State Police, not the Boulder County Sheriff.  Law enforcement is aware of the problem, unfortunately, they lack the ability to catch many of these cars that travel faster than police cruisers.  We invited Sgt. Troy Wolf to October 26, 2020 Town Board meeting where he spoke to law enforcement’s plans to deal with the problem.  We look forward to hearing more from the Sheriff’s Office in future about how this issue is being addressed.

Pickleball Courts

Our newest community amenity is set to open to the public on November 7.  Approved by the Town Board in May 2020, six pickleball courts have been constructed in Autrey Park (in addition to benches and shade structures) next to the skate park and dog park.  Final site grading, surfacing and lining of the courts is complete and nets/fence rails are scheduled to be installed this week.

Renewable Energy Goals 

At our October 19, 2020 worksession, I asked the Town Board to adopt a goal of powering Superior Town facilities 100% from renewable energy sources by no later than 2022.  This is achievable and I want Superior to lead on this issue.  I’m also encouraged that the Town will be hiring a full-time sustainability analyst in 2021.  I’m looking forward to working with this new employee to help Superior become a more environmentally sustainable place.

Upcoming Construction in Superior

As many have noticed, grading and infrastructure work is underway at the Superior Shores development on Coalton Road (across from Sonic/Chick-fil-A).  This project will involve building 94 townhomes and was originally approved by the Town Board in September 2018 and amended in July 2020.  

Boulder Creek’s WEE Cottages will be built as Phase 2 of their Rogers Farm development along McCaslin Blvd. and 2nd Avenue in Original Town.  This project will involve 58 single-family homes.  

Lastly, construction on Parks 1&2 and the Marshall Street Bridge across Coal Creek in the Downtown Superior development is expected to begin later this year.  Once completed, we will have an additional access point to Downtown Superior and some amazing parks alongside Coal Creek. 

CenturyLink Open Space

On October 12, 2020, the Town Board approved a Conservation Easement with Boulder County and Jefferson on the CenturyLink Property, which will protect and preserve the land from development in perpetuity.  I want to thank Boulder County and Jefferson County for their generous contribution of $3.75 million towards the $15 million purchase price of the property.

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On October 26, 2020, the Town Board selected the “Coyote Ridge Open Space” as the official name of the former CenturyLink property.  Thank you to all of the residents who participated in the survey process — “Coyote Ridge” was the overwhelming community favorite.

Crumbl Cookies

I’m excited to welcome a new business to Superior in the coming months.  Located next to Panera, in the Superior Marketplace, Crumbl Cookies (https://crumblcookies.com/) will be opening up to offer a delicious variety of freshly baked sweets.  I just so happened to be at a work-event this past week where there was a box of Crumbl Cookies and let me just tell you — these things are legit!  I highly recommend the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookie.

#MinuteWithMark

From now until Election Day, join me for 60 seconds every Sunday to hear about my views on important topics for Superior.  The last Minute with Mark was posted today.  So far, topics have included: (1) the top 3 issues facing Superior; (2) oil & gas development;  (3) affordable housing (4) the town’s response to COVID-19; (5) open space; (6) the economy; and (7) communication and community engagement.

Please visit my Facebook page to watch them all.

Low Down with Trustee Lacis

Would you like to meet with me one-on-one to discuss anything related to the Town of Superior?  If so, consider signing up for a “Virtual” Lowdown with Trustee Lacis. We’ll set up a Zoom Meeting.  Please shoot me an email at markl@superiorcolorado.gov and we’ll find time to meet.

Airplane Noise

In summer of 2019, the Town sent a survey to residents to ask them about impacts from airplane noise.  987 Superior residents participated in the survey.  The first question of the survey was “Is aircraft noise a concern for you?”  84.3% of responding Superior residents responded “Yes.”  

At the Town Board Worksession on October 19, I proposed that the Town Board send a letter to the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners to suggest that they consider implementing landing fees at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport.  Jefferson County owns RMMA and the Jefferson County BOCC has oversight over the airport.  As a general aviation airport, RMMA is an outlier in that it does not impose landing fees, whereas most general aviation airports do.  The airport consultants that Superior hired have suggested that landing fees could help curb some of the noise impacts that Superior residents have faced from the increased operations of the flight schools that fly touch-and-go loop patterns directly over the southern Rock Creek neighborhood.  Other communities have implemented landing fees as a strategy to reduce airport noise.

Separately, on October 26, the Town Board approved an Intergovernmental Agree (IGA) with the Jefferson County BOCC, Boulder County BOCC, City and County of Broomfield, City of Westminster, City of Arvada, Town of Superior, and City of Louisville, to create a Community Noise Roundtable.  Trustee Kevin Ryan and myself were appointed by the Town Board to serve as Superior’s representatives on the Community Noise Roundtable.  I hope the Community Noise Roundtable is successful in finding solutions.

Finally, for those who live in the Rock Creek neighborhood, the Rock Creek HOA has filed a lawsuit in Boulder County District Court, Civil Case No. 2020cv30837. 

The lawsuit seeks to invalidate the Avigation Easements that were entered into by Richmond Homes during the construction of the Rock Creek subdivision.  It will be interesting to see how this case plays out. 

A copy of the Complaint is available here:

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