March 2021

Hi everyone — Here’s my update for March 2021.  The new Verizon cell phone tower is finally coming.  More about the tower and other topics such as the Airport Roundtable, new oil and gas setbacks, and traffic/crash data found below.

Airport Noise Roundtable

The next meeting of the RMMA Community Noise Roundtable is Monday, March 8, 2021 at 9am.  We will be hearing from the FAA and Air Traffic Control regarding flight paths and noise issues related to flight paths.  Please consider attending and/or participating in our virtual Roundtable meetings by making public comment.  To visit the Roundtable’s website, please follow this link.

Traffic/Crash Data

Every year the town publishes a detailed report of vehicle traffic crashes.  In 2020 the total crashes decreased by 23% (133 to 103 crashes), most likely reflecting the decrease in travel due to the pandemic.  The McCaslin/US 36 interchange had the most crashes with 12, followed by McCaslin/Marshall with 10.  The Town has been tracking crashes at the McCaslin/US 36 Diverging Diamond (including the McCaslin/Marshall intersection) before, during, and after its construction in 2014-15. Comparing the pre-construction period with the post-construction period, average annual crashes decreased by 26% (from 28.3 to 21). 

The next Transportation and Safety Committee is tomorrow night, March 1, if you’re interested in hearing more about this data and other traffic calming initiatives.

Oil & Gas Setbacks

At the February 22, 2021 Town Board meeting, we approved an amendment to the oil and gas regulations adopted by the Town Board in April 2020.  The Town’s previous setbacks were set at 1,000 feet from trails and surface water, and 1,500 feet from Town boundaries, residences, schools, public facilities, parks, etc.  The amendment now sets our setbacks consistent with recent COGCC guidance at 2,000 feet from the property line of all residences, schools, hospitals, medical clinics, senior facilities, daycares, parks, trails, and water.

Coalton Camera

A live camera has been installed at the Coalton Trailhead!  Check http://boco.org/coalton to see live conditions and how full the parking lot is. The camera rotates through four positions every 5 minutes and images are updated from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. #boco_trails

Verizon Tower

At long last, Verizon will be constructing a new macro tower at Community Park to address coverage issues throughout Superior.  Due to this construction, the area in Community Park (near Scanlan Field) will be closed for approximately 12 weeks, weather depending.  We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.  

PROSTAC is now PARC

Our Parks, Recreation, Open Space, and Trail Advisory Committee (PROSTAC) will be rebranding to “PARC” (Parks and Recreation advisory committee).  While the change has not yet been considered or approved by the Town Board, this change is a good improvement and will allow OSAC to focus on open space and trails, while PARC can focus on parks and recreation.  

At its February 17, 2021 meeting, PROSTAC announced that Tolls Bros. will attend the committee’s March meeting to plan the Tract H Playground (which will be located South of the Tolls Bros. Downtown Superior development.)   Some ideas that PROSTAC is looking at for inspiration include https://momonthegoinholytoledo.com/2019/09/17/secret-forest-with-a-hidden-treehouse-in-toledo/ and https://www.beanstalkbuilders.com/anakeesta.  PROSTAC encourages community members to attend its March meeting to view and provide feedback on concept park plans from Toll Bros. representatives. 

Planting 75 New Trees

One of the things that the Board has prioritized over the past few years is substantially increasing the number of trees planted in Superior.  After all, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.  Planning is underway and we’ll be planting 75 new trees this spring. Locations will focus on areas where we have lost trees in the last couple of years due to disease and decline. 

Affordable Housing, Town 15 Development, and Property Taxes

I’ve received several emails this past month from residents wanting to know my position on some very important topics.

Affordable Housing: Currently, Superior has no affordable housing units.  This is a problem because it means that the majority of people who work in our stores, teach in our schools, serve as first-responders… cannot afford to live where they work.  To address this concern, in October 2020, the Superior Town Board adopted an ordinance that requires developers to build 15% of all new residential units constructed as permanently deed restricted affordable units.  This is a good first step.

On February 22, 2021, the Town Board heard a concept plan presentation by ElementProperties, LLC, which is seeking to develop a parcel of land owned by RTD near the BRT Station at US36 & McCaslin (in the Superior Marketplace).  We are very early in these discussions, but Element suggested that it is looking for a subsidy in the range of $5 to $10 million to make the project a reality.   Of course, before any project like this is approved, we’d need to fully understand the impacts (i.e., traffic) on the surrounding neighborhood.  Needless to say, this is a complex problem with no easy solution, but I am encouraged that we’re at least having these discussions as this is certainly an important initiative.  I’m not in favor of the Town fully subsidizing this project for $10 million, however, I do think we should explore alternative funding sources (Federal, State, or other) and then analyze the project’s feasibility in light of those alternative funding sources.

Town 15 Property: The Town acquired the property formerly known as the Richmond 15 property about a decade ago.  The property is zoned Regional Activity Center, which allows for commercial uses.  Recently, while working on an update to the Town’s Parks, Recreation, Open Space, & Trails Master Plan, our PROSTAC committee and parks consultant developed some concept plans for potential uses at the Town 15 property.  See the concept plans below.

While I appreciate the efforts to develop a vision for the Town 15 property, I am not convinced that the property should be developed.  The proposals we’ve seen all involve spending between $10 and $20 million to develop the land into various community amenities.  I like the idea of bringing additional amenities to our community, but we need to consider the costs of doing so.   It’s also important to note that the Town Board has never actually discussed what we’d like to see on the Town 15.  Before anything gets decided in the future, we must go through a thorough community engagement process.

Property Tax Mill Levy: It’s property tax season.  Many of you have probably already received your property tax statement from the Boulder County Assessor.  If you look at your property tax bill, you’ll see that Superior only represents about 8% of the total property taxes you pay.  Most of the tax goes to BVSD (47%), Boulder County (23%) and the Fire District (19.5%). For more information, I wrote about this topic previously in October 2019.

Although Superior currently collects 7.93 mills, we are authorized by the voters to collect up to 12.127 mills, but the Town Board has for a number of years authorized a credit to taxpayers.  Raising property taxes by that 4.197 mills, would raise $1.05 million per year and could support a debt issuance of $16 million.  The net cost to taxpayers would generally be about $150-$200 per home per year.

At a recent Board work session, we discussed whether or not to raise the mill levy.  We have a lot of unfunded capital improvement projects: roads, pool upgrades, water treatment plant projects, etc.  In my opinion, I do not support raising property taxes.  Especially considering the impact of the pandemic on our residents, I think it would be a mistake to increase the cost of living for our residents.  Furthermore, property taxes (because of the manner in which they are calculated) have a disproportionate impact on commercial tenants, who often pay these taxes through triple-net leases.  We need to be mindful of unintended consequences and do what we can to help our local small businesses thrive — not give them another obstacle to navigate in this already difficult time.

COVID-19 in Superior

Through February 25, 2021, we have had 358 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Superior.  Across Boulder County and statewide, rates are going down.  

Vaccines are now being given to those in category 1B.2 (Coloradans age 65+, pre-K-12 educators, child care providers, and certain state government employees).  Gov. Polis recently announced that Colorado will open up a new version of Phase 1B.3 on March 5th. This phase includes several new groups: Coloradans 60+, Coloradans w/ 2 or more qualifying high risk conditions, grocery store workers, and agricultural workers.  Phase 1B.4, likely to open up in late March, will include many new groups: Coloradans 50+, food service/restaurant workers, higher education faculty & staff, US Postal Service workers, manufacturing workers, & more.

For specific information from the State on the specific Phase of vaccine distribution, please see: https://covid19.colorado.gov/for-coloradans/vaccine/vaccine-for-coloradans.  For more information on obtaining a COVID vaccine, please visit: www.boco.org/COVIDVaccines.

Kindness Rocks

Recently my kids experienced “Kindness Week” at Eldorado PK-8.  The school set up a cart with “kindness cards” that you could deliver to someone who needed a little kindness.  It’s a beautiful reminder that an act of kindness can go a long way.  Maybe we could all think about saying “Thank You” more often.  Maybe an email to your kids’ teacher to let them know you appreciate them.  Show some more grace on social media.   And be sure to check out the new Superior Kindness Rock garden at Wildflower Park.

First Fridays & Lowdown with Trustee Lacis

On the First Friday of every month, starting at 7:45 a.m., Town Board members host “First Fridays” which is an opportunity to drop in for a casual conversation with your elected officials to ask questions and get updates on things going on around town.  To participate, visit this link for more information.

In addition, please consider meeting with me one-on-one for a “Virtual” Lowdown with Trustee Lacis.  Please shoot me an email at markl@superiorcolorado.gov and we’ll find time to meet.