April 2021

Hi everyone — Here’s my update for April 2021.  North Rock Creek is getting a new playground!  Read on below to find out more about this new park, my thoughts on the Boulder mass shooting, potential tax ballot measures, and more…

Boulder Shooting

It’s taken me a few days to process the mass shooting that occurred at the King Soopers in Boulder on March 22.  Ten innocent people were murdered by someone who legally purchased an assault-style weapon in Arvada on March 16, just six days before the shooting, after passing a background check.  My heart breaks for the loss of life and for the families who will never be the same.  But, “thoughts and prayers” offered by politicians quickly fade into the background and nothing changes.  

We need reform.  Assault weapons are weapons of war, they don’t belong in our communities.  I support a reinstatement of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, to ban not only assault weapons but large capacity ammunition magazines.  If that can’t pass at the Federal level, then Colorado should impose a similar ban.  I would also support the repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which currently shields gun manufacturers and retailers from civil liability.  Just like the numerous tobacco lawsuits in the 1990s resulted in historic settlements to reduce youth smoking and changed the way the industry marketed its products, gun manufacturers and retailers should bear some responsibility for enabling mass shootings.  I will be writing to our elected officials and encourage you all to do the same.  

COVID-19 in Superior

Through March 25, 2021, we have had 414 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Superior.  For the past 2 weeks, new positive cases have increased.  Please continue to exercise caution: wear masks, wash hands, keep your distance, and get vaccinated when eligible.  Vaccines are now available to those in phase 1.B.4.  For 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.

In addition, the State has recently changed the color dial for COVID-19 risk in our communities.  We are currently at level Yellow.  For an explanation on capacity restrictions for each level, please click here.

Airport Roundtable

In March, the RMMA Community Noise Roundtable heard a presentation from the FAA and RMMA Air Traffic Control about flight patterns, the process for changing flight paths, information on Part 150 Noise Studies, and instructions given to pilots to avoid noise sensitive areas, among other topics.

The next meeting of the RMMA Community Noise Roundtable is Monday, April 12, 2021 at 9am.  We will be hearing from ABCx2 (consultants who were hired by Superior and Louisville) to present on an airport noise study they prepared.  We will also be hearing about noise complaints and RMMA’s future development plans.  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.

Repairing Damage to Grass Along Sidewalks/Trails

Following the March blizzard, snow plowing operations caused turf damage along trails and sidewalks.  This damage will be repaired over the next week as weather permits.  If you see specific areas of turf damage that have not yet been adequately addressed, please submit a report through our Superior Click and Fix app.

Parks Updates

Parks 1&2 in Downtown Superior

Work on Superior’s newest parks in Downtown Superior continues.  The Marshall Bridge abutments have been poured and box beam girders are being fabricated.  Sanitary sewer installation and grading of Parks 1&2 are underway.  

Playground Near Toll Bros.

Planning for a playground at the north end of Rock Creek (in the Toll Bros. development at the southern-edge of Downtown Superior is underway. The park and playground is planned to include a shade structure with seating (2-4 picnic tables, 18×24 structure), a challenge course, a tot lot play area, a big kids play area, earth mounds and mine tunnels.  The cover photo of this blog post is a concept rendering of this new park.

Purple Park

In the coming months, the playground equipment at Purple Park will be getting a long-overdue update.  Our PARC committee is collecting community input on the design and improvements the community would like to see.  Send them your thoughts and suggestions here: PARC@superiorcolorado.gov

Potential Tax Increases & Ballot Measures

Over the past few months, the Town Board has discussed potential sales tax and property tax measures to help fund our capital improvement projects budget (i.e., roads, bridges, pools, etc…)  There are two principal proposals on the table: (1) sales tax increase and (2) property tax increase.

Sales tax

Currently, Superior generally collects a 8.445% sales tax, which consists of several different parts.  .16% of that sales tax is collected by the Superior/McCaslin Interchange District (SMID.)

The SMID .16% sales tax is set to sunset in 2022.  Town Staff is recommending that in lieu of allowing the .16% sales tax to sunset that we go to the voters and ask to raise our sales tax either: (1) to 8.445% — essentially keeping our sales tax the same by repurposing the .16% SMID sales tax, or alternatively (2) to increase to 8.8% — by repurposing the .16% SMID sales tax and adding an additional .355%.  A .16% sales tax would bring in about $400k per year and would support additional debt issuance of $6.7 million; whereas a .515% increase would bring in about $1.3 million per year and support a debt issuance of $22 million.

As a point of reference, here’s a comparison of sales tax rates in our region:

• Boulder – 8.845%
• Louisville – 8.635%
• Lafayette – 8.485%
• Erie – 8.485%
• Superior – 8.445%
• Broomfield – 8.15%

Property tax

Superior currently collects 7.93 mills, but we are authorized by the voters to collect up to 12.127 mills in total.  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 this juncture, I do support extending the .16% SMID tax.  We are already used to paying this tax and it will help fund additional projects (like updating our pools).  As for increasing our sales tax beyond 8.445%, I would need to hear a compelling reason to do so.  We are still living in uncertain economic times and I think it is a mistake to increase sales or property taxes in a pandemic.  That said, I have asked Town Staff to speak to the schedule for our capital improvement projects plan, so that we can better understand how delayed certain projects would be if we do not find funding.  

As part of that discussion, I will also ask Town Staff to explain and potentially revisit our current reserve policy — which is funded at 75% of the Town’s budget.  Our Town’s reserve is close to $9 million right now and our current policy at 75-100% is significantly higher than all our neighbors. Furthermore, this policy was implemented over 10 years ago — and it is important to note that as a Town, we just survived a pandemic, and not only didn’t dip into it, we actually added to it.  All of these factors need to be discussed and understood before we ask the voters to increase our taxes.  Personally, I believe that we can still be safe and conservative and drop our reserve 50% and free up $4.5 million right now for CIP projects (like the pools).  

I would highly encourage you to send your feedback (townboard@superiorcolorado.gov) about raising taxes to the Town Board and/or attend a meeting.  We need to hear more from our residents on this issue.

Events 

On April 9, the Town and our CAPS Committee will be hosting a small outdoor event from 7:30pm to 9:30pm at Grasso Park, featuring a live DJ timing music to our spring Grasso Lights show, called “Look on the Bright Side.”  The event will allow a limited number of attendees to enter the “immersive” area for 15 minutes at a time in order to comply with the State COVID-19 outdoor events guidelines. 

On April 16, the Town is hosting a Virtual Arbor Day. The virtual event will include artful activities for families and a tree giveaway.  

More about both of these events will be coming out on the Town’s website.

New Businesses

If you haven’t yet tried Boss Lady Pizza or Tequila y Mezchal, both located in the Rock Creek Village shopping center (near Safeway), you’re in for a treat.  Boss Lady Pizza brings NY Style pizza to Superior and they have a ton of different interesting pies, and offer pizza by the slice.  Tequila y Mezchal has authentic Mexican cuisine and margaritas.  I’m a big fan of both and hope you continue to support our great local businesses.

Undergrounding of Xcel Power Lines in Original Town

Undergrounding work will be starting in Original Town south of Coal Creek. Residents will receive notices about survey work that will be starting for the project.  The Town Board heard a presentation from Xcel about this project back in January 2020.  I’m glad Xcel is moving forward with providing more reliable underground utility services to Original Town residents.   

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 in this month’s First Friday on April 2, 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.