City Council - Special Meeting

We know from the research we've done here that about 3/4 of what they eat in terms of their diet is snowshoe hairs. Bottom line of links conservation and keeping links on the landscape comes Thanks. Um, city of Lewisville City Council jointly with the town of Superior Town Council. Um, so welcome everybody. Um, why don't we take um a roll call? I don't know if we're taking roll calls for both or what, but uh go ahead. I mean, I can fumble my way through both. I'm sure you can. Council member Hefner

here. Council member Kerna. Okay. Present. Council member Fehey here. Council member Dickinson here. Council member Cooperman here. Mayor Prom Hamilton here. Mayor Lei here. Sorry, give me one second.

I apologize. I was not expecting to do this. You want to do it, Matt? Matt can [laughter] do it. He knows us. Yeah, I got it. [laughter] Council member Shaw, here. Council member Miller, here. Council member Couch. Good job. Here. Council member Foster here. Council member Carcraft here. Mayor Prom Serbu here. Mayor, I'm g to screw this one up. Laces. Close enough. Laces, here. Thank you. [clears throat]

We made it through that. That's good. Um, if you could uh join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Why don't we go around the table and introduce ourselves and why don't you start, Mayor?

Hi everyone. Thanks for having us here at Lewisville City Hall. I'm Mark Lacis. I'm the mayor. I've been on town council now for 10 years since 2016 and uh looking forward to this evening. So, thanks. [clears throat] Uh city council person Caleb Dickinson, ward one of Louisville. Um he serve on the joint issues committee for superior. So, love the collaboration. Excited for this meeting. Heather Kracraft uh superior council person for what 16 16 months. So, one of the newbies,

Matt Maggley, town manager. Stephanie Miller, council member. Jason Serbu, mayor prom. Deb Fehees, city council, Ward Two, uh, for six and a half years.

Uh, Josh Coopermanman, I also represent W one. I've been on council for about a year and a half. Uh Mike Foster's town council for Superior and I too have been on council for about 18 months. Um Judy Kern W, which is over by the rec center for those of you who don't know. I'm we serve like very close to Superior. Um is it Jen Cowish a council member uh this is my fourth year and most importantly may the fourth be with you. Dietrich Hefner of Lewisville W three. Chris Lei, uh, mayor of Lewisville. I've been mayor for two and a half years, I think, and on council a little bit longer than that. Um, Mayor Prom.

Good evening, everyone. Barbara Hamington, mayor prom. And then we got a couple of folks in the back. Sure. I'll start us off back here. I'm Kathleen Kelly, city attorney. Sam Fox, deputy city manager. Jenny Klein, city clerk.

Okay, great. Thanks again for being here. Um, we've got [clears throat] about six items on the list tonight to discuss. Got it started a few minutes. um late, but we're going to get out of here no later than 8. I've promised my council and Mayor Lasis that we would do that. So, um if we get out earlier than that, that's fine. But um the first one is um joint recognition or a coordination of joint recognition of events and projects. And I mean this one um I think grows out of some thought that maybe we would have um some collaboration on fifth year um commemoration of the fire and um in part the activities that go with that and in part some assistance in terms of raising money for the what is a beautiful um I don't know installation. I don't know how to describe it. It's

remembrance. A remembrance which is um really terrific. Um and there are a variety of of different programming activities that we've um kind of discussed in here. And I guess [clears throat] to to kick that off, I maybe [snorts]

um we ought to start with a commemoration. Um I know that um we have over time kind of stumbled a little bit on this. Um we did initially um I think based on some artwork that was installed downtown, but we have and we've really taken the lead or we've we've let uh Marshall together uh take the lead in many ways to help guide us. Um, and I think they've [clears throat] met with our um, city manager and I'm I'm glad to to um, hear, you know, if you've got some initial thoughts on that and then maybe we can throw that open and we can talk about some of the other events too. Um, our staff is participate in the

Great. Um, you want to jump in, Mark?

Yeah. Um, yeah. I'll just uh start off with just an introduction on the uh remembrance uh memorial installation that's been uh planned now for for several years. Um we've we've had a subcommittee of dedicated volunteers in uh Superior who have worked really hard uh to put together [clears throat] this uh remembrance um event. My personal opinion is you know this you know the Marshall fire impacted all of our communities Boulder County, Lewisville and Superior. So, you know, at the outset, I love the idea of having a shared collaboration with Lewisville and with Boulder County, frankly, um, uh, and Superior, like I don't we don't need to necessarily own this event. And if we can have something that is a unifying community installation that speaks to all of us, fantastic. There's strength in numbers, and if we can work together to pull this thing off, um, that's great. um the the subcommittee and it's it's in the packet so you can take a look at all of the the designs. We're pretty far along in terms of uh you know what the design is going to look like, where the location's going to be situated for those who aren't familiar. Uh the location right now is uh it's picked on uh a hillside overlooking original town. So, as you head up Macasslin, there's uh if you've been in in Superior over there, there's these rings that are up on the side. As you get to the um Orman Ro trail head, which goes off into the Boulder County Open space. So, there's a parcel of land right there in the hillside where uh the remembrance would be situated um overlooking where the fire came. It was, you know, intentionally selected for that site. Um, and designed in a way that um, it it's it's it's so, you know, just precisely designed with, you know, the way the sun is going to hit at a

certain time to kind of reflect where the fire came and, you know, the all the all the victims uh, of the fire. And so, um, if you haven't taken the time to to look through kind of what's what's been planned, um, I would encourage everybody to to do so. So, you know, I have no uh no concerns about sharing in this this project. Um but I also want to respect the work that's been done by the subcommittee. So, I wouldn't want to all of a sudden, you know, kind of open up and second guess any of the work that they've been done because basically all the work that they did, they they brought it to town council and we just gave them the thumbs up like and and they were they were the ones that were really like leading this uh event and we were kind of coming into it more from a very high level approval process and then how can we help facilitate the fundraising that's need needed to make this thing actually a reality because I think the the dollar signs were something like4 to5 million uh in terms of what is actually uh needed to raise and and I think the intention right now is to uh you know not have that funded out of the the budgets of the communities but to just raise that from the contributions of the generosity of the community. So, I'll stop there. Happy to let anybody else chime in there. But in terms of of joint planning on the the five-year event, I think that that's a great idea as well. Um, you know, the the more the marrier and why why have competing events? Just have something coordinated and let's work together on on those events.

Others? Um, quick question. Um I I saw Matt [clears throat] you did a nice memo about kind of what's um what is sort of proposed I guess is that something that the the subcommittee has come up with too or is that something um I guess I'm looking at the celebration itself. Uh yeah, it's just a couple ideas that our staff um has been working on. Um but welcome any feedback that you you might have on it. Um council, any feedback? Yeah, council member.

So [clears throat] So again, I'm Judy and uh for anybody who I think there's only two of you who don't or three of you who don't really know me. Um so uh I not only live on the west side of town, I'm one of the people who was a total loss in the Marshall fire. So I lived through this, right? I was at home the day the fire happened. I mean, would I say I lived through it? I literally lived through it. Right. So, and I'm sitting here today um at the behest of my community because of the Marshall fire. So, this is an event that is very near and dear to my heart. I mean, I'm lucky in a lot of ways that the fire happened. I have gotten to know a couple of amazing people, especially specifically from Superior that I would never have met before. um worked with them and worked, you know, had an opportunity to work with all of you a lot, right? I've seen Jason at a lot of things. I think we all do best when we recognize that all of us came out of this stronger because of each other. And I think that is a a sentiment that is shared among everybody who was impacted by the Marshall fire. So I think um I thank you. I I appreciate the the openness and the willingness to say, you know, like this isn't going to be a superior thing. Lewis, Bill, go figure out your own thing because those of us who are part of this, this is a very blended community experience. These both of these events um and the big project um for the remembrance project are going to be things that we share forever. I mean, I plan to stay the rest of my life living here, probably in the lot that burned to the ground that I'm rebuilding. And I actually go up to the trail up above where I'll park in Keybank parking lot. Um, and so, and I always tell people, I'm like, "It's on the right hand side right before you get to Key Bank. It's like some of the best views in our like whole community." Um, so it I think it's great and I appreciate a lot of the detail that went

into the consideration for people who are less physically capable or able to um explore these spaces. And I feel like all of the other events that we've done like with Marshall together bringing all of us Boulder County, Superior, and Lewisville residents continuing with the five-year would be in keeping with that tradition. Um, I mean, think about it. We just met two weeks ago at Bambi Brewing. It's another Marshall um together event and we all feel very bonded and connected. So, I'm here to say thank you to everybody I know and I represent that this means a lot to and would like for us to be together on this instead of divided. Thanks.

Thank you for that. Yes, Council Member Fehey,

I will echo everything that Judy just said and say I'm the other Lewisville council member who lost their home in the fire and [snorts] I was also home when the fire came through. Um, I just think that it's wonderful that the towns are coming together and cooperating because that's what makes us strong communities individually is when we can work together and partner and really accomplish big things. And I think it's important to continue that partnership so everybody knows we work together. We don't oppose each other. So I and I think that the people planning this have done an exceptional job. It's going to be not just the location, but the sculpture itself. And it's just everything about it is is just going to mean a lot to everyone who was impacted by the fire. And that's not only the people who lost their homes in the fire, but people who lost friends because they lost their homes. So, thank you for everything you've done.

Sounds like Oh, go ahead, Council Member Dickensson.

Yeah, I mean, I think I would just, you know, speak to the um Oh, why is it in Superior not Lewisville mindset? Um, and I think, you know, it's it's on all of us as leaders of our community to be able to, you know, voice [clears throat] the why. Like, we we don't need to. It can't be in both. Like, it's okay. Um, this is wonderful. It's a beautiful spot. It is um a remembrance of the fire, not of the particular home that was lost. It's it's a place that all people can go. And so I you know I think there there will be Louisville residents that ask that question that say why don't we have anything in Louisville like why is you so I think it's easy for all of us to be like oh it's great but then we're going to have to carry that torch for years um even off council of like why why is that space not in Lewisville? I think there are a lot of reasons and I and and so I totally support it. I think it's great and I just know that I'll have a role to play over the next decade or 30 years of repeating to answer that question. And so the only thing I say is, you know, we have not there aren't competing designs right now. There aren't two designs that we're trying to decide between and which one should we do or should we do half of each or how do we like make this work. There there's only one real design that's that's gotten this far that is is planned and and has a ton of support behind it. And so that's one of the reasons and we don't need to compete, right? We don't need to like well well so so I I love what I'm hearing from everybody else and just kind of throwing that out there for for all of us to be able to repeat [clears throat] that again and again and again over the years as we do this together. um and what support we can put towards it as the actual city of Lville versus just yeah we also support this concept and what's exciting and we hope

you raise money and all those things but you know is there a role for our municipalities to play in in that fundraising and in that um yeah in in the need for that because what we don't want to see is it doesn't it doesn't get built for another 10 years um because the fundraising just isn't coming to fruition. So, how much are we putting our voice behind that fundraising and getting it to the finish line? Cuz um it is expensive and it is amazing and we want it to be um done well and done, you know, soon, not rushed, but you know, sooner than later. So, um fully supportive and excited that it's happening. I um I think one thing that might help um that is the the group that worked on this they did so much community engagement and heard from fire survivors over multiple years and I think if there's a way to share that um primarily focused on the fire community um so that they can see the kind of the process of how we got here so that they have some because it's going to elicit feelings and and and empathetic connection of the recovery And I think that's a good way to start with um if they can get a presentation or education or if Marshall together can support and trying to bring them into it um from from that space I think that will go a long way to if the fire survivors are supporting it then they get to be the lead voice in all of this and and other people that have an issue with it then that's fine. yourself.

Yeah, just [clears throat] want to quickly add, you know, one of the things that came up and you can see this in the design inspiration, the two architects that came through with their concepts. This one actually went out and talked and listened to people. If you look at the inspiration pictures, it's not all superior, right? It this fired I don't even think they knew which city or which community they were in when they're looking for the inspiration. Um, you know, we don't have like as you look at a couple of these pictures like wait, that's not I don't It took me a minute. I was like, wait, that's not here. Um, so you know, as we think about it, like the other the other firm sort of like, well, I'm just going to build what I want to build, but this community, this this design team, I I do recommend you try to have them talk to your council because what they use for the inspiration, I don't think that I mean, we were all like, oh my god, like, wow. Um, there's a lot of tears that were that were shed because it's like, wow, I didn't remember that. I didn't want to remember that. And you guys have now found a way to incorporate that into it. like the the white rings to signify the snow that fell the stupid day like after the fire, right? Um yeah, so those are the kinds of things that this was always designed to be all for all of us. And I think trying to raise money for two would make this a near impossibility that either of them ever get built because any any uh donor would sort of have to decide which one would I donate to and I don't want to do this one and then you know alienate the other community. So I won't I'll just sit on the sidelines. So, I think there's a lot that can be benefited, you know, by by joining hands and incorporating Boulder County into this um as much as possible because all three communities went through this together and we all came out of it together.

You can also the the location of of this remembrance is uh I think uniquely situated because you can really see all three communities. You can see Boulder County, you can see Lewisville, you can obviously see Superior. So, it is inclusive of all of us. So when when selling it to the community, I think that that plays a part.

Do you have any suggestions um as to next steps um that we can because we're we're kind of coming into this and I'm I'm glad to hear some of those kinds of things. I mean staff can obviously they already very involved but um if there are suggestions that you might make we may reactivate a little bit our joint issues committee to perhaps take a little bit active role.

Yeah. I mean I'd like the idea of maybe having the firm that's working on this come and present to the to the Lewisville Council and answer any questions and just kind of engage you you and and your community. um on the project would be a good first step.

Any other thoughts on that? I really appreciate um the welcoming that you're uh bringing and um I think these communities grew together in many ways as a result of this horrible um circumstance. But um it's really pretty impressive. The the one last thing that I'll just add is um I think we're we're going to need I mean I like the idea of having the the present presentation from from the design firm. Um if you want to speak to the subcommittee itself that that was the genesis of of all this um I'm sure that they'd be more than happy to talk as well. Um, but once you know, assuming that you guys are on board, um, having a coordinated front with the fundraising arm, I think is going to be really, uh, strategically important for pulling this thing off. I think we're going to shock ourselves in terms of like how much money actually we'll be able to to raise, but we just need to be smart about it. And we've had some conversations. One of the the dicey issues is, you know, how to receive uh donations, you know, is it going to go to a 51c3? Is the the town or the city going to going to receive it? And we've had some conversations with community foundation, I believe, um to to maybe serve as the kind of the pass through entity to receive those donations and help us uh kind of just deal with the logistics of that. Um, but that's still an open question as to when that's going to happen and how we're going to execute on it. But when when that happens, we're going to want to make sure that our messaging is really tight. We're coordinated on on all of the social media and and getting the word out there so we can raise the money and then make this thing a reality. a question. Is it possible to partner also with some of the private or like

Marshall Together um some of the fire recovery groups and help have them help us with the fundraising? I mean, I I don't see why not. Um I I think we we are still at the very like beginning of like how do we logistically deal with raising four to 5 million to actually fund this thing. So, if anybody has a really good way to to make this happen, whether it's Marshall Together or or somebody else,

I'm I'm just wondering if we do a group like that because they are communitywide, they will answer the question about why are we doing this in Superior because it's a communitywide effort and they support the community. Yeah, we had the initial discussion about uh Superior Rising potentially being involved, but that is not a possibility based on the way it is structured and capable of of handling this type of raise. So, but maybe Marshall together is different. [clears throat]

Thanks. If I may, um I also just want to uh kind of bring up a point of sensitivity that we're going to be doing fundraising for a project and we have community members who did not have the money to rebuild their homes. They have had to sell. They have had to relocate. Um and I mean this fire drove them from their homes. And I want to be very sensitive that, you know, there there is a lot of money that's been raised and those people still couldn't find a way back. And that's something that I'm very aware of and want to make sure that as those kind of comments come up or people are making donations that we separate this and recognize that this is something else and it's, you know, the celebration of just like how resilient all of us have been through this, right? because I think the resiliency piece goes beyond the people who were directly impacted by the fire and so it does have a have a broader community impact. I just thought that I would throw it out there because it's since I heard about this and and how expensive it's going to be to do something. It just it just hurt a little bit knowing um knowing some of the people that are just not as fortunate. Thanks.

Thank you everybody on that. I it sounds to me like one um staff can work together to get the um the design firm to come over. That sounds like a wonderful kind of first step and then to keep in touch um perhaps councils can kind of keep in touch about how to proceed on other uh pieces of this. I want to uh move on a bit. Um, I think that's probably true on other uh projects, too. I I think the the ones that we've listed or that have been listed there are great. And I really do want to give kudos to Matt. Thanks for putting some of the stuff together uh for us. um because I think we can it seems to me there's a lot of events that we could probably partner um and create some um economies of scale on on a number of them. So appreciate that. Um why don't we move on to the improving safety of bicycle commuters and pedestrians to Monarch K through8 school and Monarch High School. Chris, I had one other item that was related to joint work that I kind of wanted to bring up um and see how everybody in Superior felt about this. So, there are a lot of different um like recovering resilience events like wildfire safety things, what have you. They're happening in both of our communities. And um I was actually discussing this with city manager Langley cuz I said, you know what would be so amazing is if we made sure that information made it to superior residents to come to these like we already advertised like touch a truck and fun stuff like that and everybody comes but some of our educational things and I was hoping because um Allison James has done such a spectacular job

for Superior in a lot of her specific events um and I wanted to see how you felt about inviting Lewisville residents to participate in those and vice versa as a collaborative effort on safety and healing and everything. Let's just make sure that our disaster people are and public safety people are are talking to each other and whoever's in charge of getting those coordinated and the message out. I agree 100%.

Thank you. I like that. Appreciate it. There's one last couple of events on there that may be worth um touching on too and we can cover this, but Pride um be nice to have if the communities are interested in having a joint event. That's one. The MLK Junior um holiday is another. Um there may be others that we want to think about, but I think um those are maybe worthwhile and we can have staff and council coordinate a little bit on that. All right. Now, uh the improving safety and I'll throw it to Mayor Lis.

All right. Um thank you, Mayor. Uh so appreciate the partnership that uh Lewisville and uh Superior already have on improving safety on 88th Street for all of the pedestrians and bicyclists that are going to and from Monarch K through8. Obviously a lot of our kids uh either go to those schools, have gone to those schools, will go to those schools. So they're super important to to all of us. And I think that the improvements that we've put in right now uh with with the the flexible ballards are uh a step in the right direction. And um I think you know we already had a lot of people that were driving to and from the school at least going to and from uh on the superior side that were going against traffic on the on the east side of of 88. So those uh those ballards are definitely helping. Um, I know that there's a lot of uh improvements that are planned with the Red Tail Ridge development that we're uh excited to see come to to fruition. So hopefully we can have an update on kind of what what we're going to expect. One of the things that is uh kind of a a lasting um ask I think from from Superior that we would love to see uh achieved um is on the west side of 88. There's the sidewalk that ends in between a Vista and the bridge. So there's there's a sidewalk on the west side of of 88th Street Bridge. It goes into Lewisville. It stops. there's no sidewalk and then there's like a little bit of a sidewalk that picks up at a vista and having a completed sidewalk I think on that west side of the road would just make for a better roadway make for a safer uh way for the kids to get to school. Um and then you know in a ideal world we wouldn't have bicyclists going immediately in the opposite direction of

traffic. They'd be going with traffic and be more protected. Um, so, so that's that's kind of one one ask. Uh, in in terms of, uh, additional news, we just heard today from C DOT that, uh, we're getting a grant for for Ced to do the improvements on the bridge. That's correct. Yes. So, so that's that's a great step in the right direction. But what's that? Fiscal 29. Fiscal 29. So, we're pushing to get 27. [laughter]

We're trying to advance it. Um but uh Mayor Lei, if if you wanted to to touch on kind of what we should be expecting in terms of the improvements with Campus Drive and with Red Tail Ridge, um I was I met with Mayor Lei a week or so ago and when I was riding on on 88th Street coming to to town hall to city hall that morning, I don't have kids that go to Monarch yet. They're going to start in the fall. Uh, so I'm I'm going to start understanding kind of what everybody is is dealing with, but I didn't recognize that the sidewalk on now on the east side of 88th Street stops right at at Campus Drive and that there is no sidewalk. So, you know, as I got to the to the light there, there were two kids on ebikes that probably weren't street legal. Um, but they were stopped at the the red light. They didn't turn and go down the road. they were waiting to cross to get onto the sidewalk on the other side of the street. So, it was just one of those things that like I didn't realize that there wasn't a sidewalk on that side of the road to begin with. Um, but just that intersection is not functioning in an ideal manner. So, if you want to give an update on what we can expect, the campus drive connection and then the the bike improvements. I think I may um involve Rob in that um because he's got the latest

um I was trying to find a graphic because picture is a thousand words but I haven't been able to find it yet. But so so basically um what Red Tail Ridge is building from Rock Crest, which is the new road on the south, um is a new uh off- streetet trail that will lead to a trail that it'll be a pave trail that goes through the open space to an underpass to get to the Monarch campus. So from Yes. Think Yeah. page 48 in the packet.

Yeah. Um so I I can pull that up, too. So, um, yeah, we we we we did a lot of work with Red Tail Ridge, um, the developer to try to find the the best school route. We were thinking about that the whole time. So, within their property boundaries, um, that's where that trail starts and then so you you cut across. So, it's a more direct route than going up to the campus drive intersection and then making a right turn. We're hoping most uh ped bike folks who are going to the campus will take that route and then have an underpass under campus drive. Um so that that's what's planned with the Red Tail Ridge development as far as getting from that Rock Crest and 88th intersection up to Campus Drive.

Is there an ETA on when that would be done?

Um I don't have anything real specific on the ETA. Um although I I know they're trying to get um you know, Campus Drive is starting the east side of the construction um this summer and then they'll open the east side hopefully for next year and then they'll work on the west side um over the next summer the following summer. So the whole the whole thing won't be done. Um I don't have anything real specific on those sidewalk and trail connections. Uh but they do have to be done with the first phase of their development. I know the hospital um of Advent Health is probably the first development to be going in, but that's a two-year construction project from this summer. Um so that would be their motivation to get all those trails and roads in. So it could be um up to two years, hopefully sooner.

I just want to add a comment. Um, and I love that the developer is going to help sort of improve a lot of because both my kids have graduated from Mohigh and it's it's always been a challenge trying to go and and Heather's snickering because it's it's it's like leaving a concert like every day trying to get out of there like, "Oh, look, I left 2 minutes late and now it's going to take me 20 minutes to get home." And the bikers to their credit have figure out you get home faster on a bike. It is just amazing. like the kids are coming home and people are on electric uh scooters, one wheels and everything else, but there's not an easy way just to get from the school to Superior on a protected path anywhere. Um, and I think with what we did with the Ballards, there's a lot of concern on our side like what you know cuz the Ballard started getting knocked down like on day one. It's actually kind of hilarious. It created an optical illusion and people just mowed them over. We got that fixed and what we want to do is try to encourage more people to bike or walk to school. But if they get to the Louiswisville site and there's not a safe connection from the the bikeway that is 88th back to the sidewalk, people are not going to do it. Um, you know, it's I think it's like $5,000 a little concrete bypass to get it connected to the sidewalk. You still got to cross 88th or sorry, you got still got to cross cross campus drive. And I kind of feel like it's a small investment today to alleviate, you know, what might be at least 2 years before the developer is done. Um, you know, I I want to support the transition away from motor vehicles to the school as quickly as possible. You for those of us that had kids at the school, there used to be buses that served a lot of the kids to the school. Those all went away in the pandemic, 2020, and since then, traffic has become bonkers. Um, I'm sure you've seen the backup on Dylan that goes all the way out to 96. It's it's tremendous. But if more of those kids can just ride their bikes, I think we we solve two things. By making the bikeways safer, you take a lot of the cars off the road and you know, and then we can wait patiently for the developer to finish their work. But we I I think at least speaking for ourselves, I never

trust a developer schedule because they've always missed them unless they're building houses. Um everything else kind of seems to operate at some other timeline.

Other thoughts from our council or staff. Go ahead, council member. [clears throat] Well, whatever. There are some intersections in your neighborhood I don't like either. Okay. [laughter]

No, in all seriousness. Yeah, I know. I'm going to um I think you're right. Like it is it is an incredibly important thoroughare for so many kids. I actually lived here when Monarch became a thing, right? And I actually, you know, there's a lot of part of me is like it's superior is high school. It is Los High School. I get I mean it's our high school, right? But that's the way to get there and we as a full community. I think that's the nice thing about this version of this conversation. We have not done a good enough job making that a safe route to school. Period.

So we have a role in that. You guys have a role in that. We all have a role in that. And I think um that's loud and clear. And I think there are long-term solutions, Rob, that are coming and that's great. And there are short-term solutions that we've looked at. I know like I can picture a side. We've had these conversations about the bike path on the west side and the sidewalk and how they can connect and the underpass. And it's, you know, it's weird, but you in the end you also have a bridge that's limited on what it can the capacity that can go over the bridge. But I think it's a just like campus drive, it's a high priority. And yet, you know, we've waited for a developer to give us campus drive because it's millions and millions of dollars. And we're happily, you know, waiting for a developer to kind of help with this trail as well. But I I fully concur that um this is something that, you know, we want to look at both sides of the bridge and make sure that the whole path works sooner than later. So, I'm in support of of of looking at it again from our side. And council member Fay,

I I just want to mention that well first uh for when Monarch was opened, my youngest children uh were the first class to go all four years at the high school. Um I am looking forward to having a second access to that when campus drive goes through so that everybody won't be on one street coming in. They'll be able to come from two different directions. So that also may help with Superior's traffic coming over so the people farther to the east won't have to come over the bridge there. So anyway, um I but I think it's really important to get the the whole in and out. I mean at the fire if school had been in session that would have been a nightmare. So I I really am looking forward to a second inn-out access point. Yes. Council member Kern,

to your point, Mark, about crossing at the light with the bikes, though. Um to go heading I think you're you're talking about you're on the um the east side of 88th and you're heading north. Correct. Yeah. It's just safer to cross at the light versus turning right and having to cross where there is no safe crossing to the school. I think that's why they always keep encouraging the kids to cross there and there is no easy way to immediately take a path. Yeah, we don't want them on that side. We want them to cross at a light. I think that was probably the original plan. I I I'm in uh concur though with uh Council Member Dickinson. I think it's a good idea to complete the sidewalk on the west side of 88th if we can. Um because you're right. I I so after the fire, I lived in Saddlebrook for a bit. So did that drive 88th to Dylan a lot and seeing how many kids were doing both sides of the street and then they would jump over and yeah, that's not fun, is it? So I agree. I think it would be a good idea to try and make that safer in the next couple of years. Yeah, council member Coopermanman,

when you were talking about um were you talking about the same improvement to the sidewalk on the west side as the mayor? Yeah, it's it's a good point. Um yes, I definitely want the west sidewalk, but I realize that's probably, you know, a couple extra zeros compared to the number I threw out. What I'm talking about is the the sort of quasi bikeway that we've now formed on on the east side of 88th with the ballards. There's no safe way to get from that asphalt to the concrete. There's a dirt path in between, which is okay, but not on a scooter, not on a onehe, not on a lot of Let's concrete that out and make that safe, that piece, and then they can get to the traffic light cross and move on. Okay, that helps. Thank you. But I don't disagree. We need the sidewalk and everything else, but later.

Okay. No, thank you. on that west side. And I'm trying to visualize this and I can't remember if there's a fence or not, but there is a there is a sidewalk or a path that leads down. It's not right up against the road, but is there a way to create and it will be exponentially cheaper um to connect the sidewalk on 88th on that west side um southwest side to that path just in the interim while we're waiting the two years plus potentially for the developer to create a safer path for those that are taking that. if we can just direct kids to use that already existing sidewalk. It's a really small little stint. I don't know what the elevation is, so I don't know ADA compliance and everything else, but if there's a way to just connect that so there's an existing sidewalk that they can use, maybe that's a solution in the short term. I think it probably would be incumbent on me at this point to um mention the budget. Just something that we've got to kind of take into consideration, but I I and I happen to agree with what has been said by other council members um around needing to be good citizens, good partners on that. But um we'll have to we're going through a two-year budget cycle um that uh begins next year, but the work on that is happening. And so, you know, this should be something that is a discussion item for our capital improvement projects budget. So, I think that's probably where we'll be. But I I really appreciate you raising it and and I want to say that I appreciate all of the work Superior has done and the resources have gone into making um 88th

safe on so much of it because that's a lot of work and a lot of money and we really appreciate it and also appreciate the grant that you're going after because I think that's also going to be really helpful. Um, good. Shall we move on? Let's do it.

All right. Um, the next item is comp plan and development and project updates. Um, we probably Superior and Lewisville could go on and on about how excited we are about our comp plans, but I'm gonna push the staff to provide most of the information and so we can make sure we we get to everything on the list. So, is that you, director? Yeah, I'll talk I'll talk about our comp plan. I'm not going to talk about there. That's right. We should just switch and then see.

Um yeah, that's a really good idea. We both have a lot of opportunity areas. I notice that's the terms that we use. Um so if Jenny, if you can

give me the screen. So I've got 10 10 slides just to do a quick overview here and I'll really focus on land use. As you all know, a comprehensive plan is way more than land use, but that's the most interesting part of them for sure. Um, so our ours took about two and a half years to develop. We update ours every 10 years by our ordinance. So we were a couple years behind because of the Marshall fire, but we finally got through it. I see we adopted ours within about a month of each other, it looks like, too. Um, but we had great community input. Um, and there were some key themes I wanted to highlight before getting into land use that were really endorsed by city council early on in the process. We had our vision statement and these six core community values. um you know we had completed a housing plan in 2024 which really provided a pretty good base and framework for what we were looking at. We've had very little residential growth over the last decade or so. Um you know compared to our commercial growth and there was a lot of talk about equity of course resiliency with the fire sustainability. Um so we were looking at how to get more housing options and then also doing it you know in a smart managed incremental residential growth you know water infrastructure needs to keep up um fiscal balance. So there's a lot of policies about that a lot about walkable connected places um as well that permeate throughout the plan. Um so we did focus on four opportunity areas. So ours are Centennial Valley around the Macasm corridor, Red Tail Ridge, our downtown area including the east side of the tracks because of the train coming and then our South Boulder Road corridor. Um our housing needs assessment that we did in 2024 um indicates that to keep up with regional growth, we need about 2500 new housing units. So we really focused on that with the land use plan. We could certainly accommodate more, but we have

a lot of policies about at least within these next 10 years um really trying to hone in on meeting our housing needs assessment numbers. Um and we really focused on those opportunity areas. That's where we have some vacant land and um some infrastructure that already exists or is being built within those areas. Um we also focused on residential um spurring investment and economic vitality. So that we don't you don't always think about the residential components, but um some of our past policies have really focused on fiscal balance. And so we we looked at it in a little bit more um holistic way um and also looked at market feasibility um because h having just straight commercial zoning, market feasibility isn't there and we've had some areas of town that have really struggled. Um I also wanted to mention our existing neighborhoods. We really pointed those out that we wanted to maintain existing neighborhood character. We do have one really notable policy that came out of the comprehensive plan adoption though which is related to um housing. Um we do have a policy that we'll be considering allowing duplex development in those existing single family neighborhoods. Um so that's something we'll be exploring coming out of the plan. Um so I on each of these corridors um quickly the Macccasm corridor which of course we share um our previous land use policies were really commercial only. We we didn't allow any residential. This new comp plan um supports flexibility and mixed residential uses um while taining really focusing the commercial on the mccasin corridor that that you know that fronts most of the traffic. Um we we have a developer Cobal & Company that owns all of the vacant land really in that area and so we have an opportunity to work with them on maybe a new neighborhood type development in

that area. Um and then see what happens outside of that. Um a a big change in land use policy is this orange area. this. So, this is this parcel that CU bought or part of this orange area is the parcel that CU bought for um for staff and graduate [clears throat] student housing. So, we're going to be working with them on development plans, but we did open up that area to allow four and fivetory development, which we've never had in Lewisville before. We've been limited to three stories. So, that's that's a change in urban design for us as well. And it would really focus on that um the bus stop that we share with Superior as well. So, um I and I think it's more in character with your downtown as we're envisioning that area. Um Red Tail Ridge, which includes the old A Vista, not the old. I mean, it's it's still there, but maybe someday will be the old Advent Health campus. So, this orange area is where they're building their new hospital campus. Again, in these areas, it was all commercial zoning. Um, this comp plan would support more flexibility, more residential, um, and allow up to fivetory development in and in the pretty immediate vicinity around the Advent Health campus. Um, there is a change here too, kind of these pink and brown areas would be to potentially allow residential and mixeduse development. So instead of just having industrial and commercial, potentially working with that developer to create some neighborhood scale residential development to meet that housing needs assessment. Um South Boulder Road and downtown um again on South Boulder Road specifically, our past policies over the last 10 years have been no residential development. So we have opened up the door at least through these policies to start working on potentially more mixeduse development. Um, and then, um, as I'm sure you've heard, we're expecting the train now in 2029.

Um, I know I always hesitate to say that. There's always there's always laughs and everything. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, there's, you know, we keep seeing momentum, so we're still really hopeful. It's on track. Yeah. So, um, so, so a lot of this, uh, development really f, you know, there we we've had existing policies, so we're going to continue with those policies around downtown and what we call downtown East Lewisville on the other side of the tracks. And then we're really opening up the potential for maybe some redevelopment that could be mixed use and include some residential in that area. So, those are really like the the big high level changes that we're seeing. Um, just a couple things on transportation. Um, we have been working with Lafayette and C do DOT on a pretty big what we call the future 42 project. So that'd be expanding a portion of Highway 42 to four lanes from two. Um, part of it is to accommodate hopefully future bus service that we don't have along that corridor, but it also includes a lot of improved um, uh, pedestrian and bicycle amenities and paths in that area. Um and we've also called out on this plan you know several areas where we want to invest not just you know where we were just talking in Red Tail Ridge but other areas where we want to improve road crossings and intersection crossings and there's more to be determined on that but we have called out you know the main areas as well as improving connections with that hopefully new development on the west side of Mccasin um you know there's some new um you know more pedestrian friendly development patterns that we're envisioning as that new development comes in on the west side of Mccasin. Rob, [cough]

sorry, can you point out the um underpass there on 42 be

uh Yes. And we are um in kind of the final stages of design of building an underpass under Highway 42 that aligns with the train station. So, we have an underpass under the railroad tracks that connects historic downtown to our downtown East Lewisville. And then, um we are working um hopefully next year um starting an underpass under Highway 42 that would connect into Lafayette, the Cole Creek Trail System and the sports facilities we have over there. That would also help support the train the train station the future train station especially if it grows beyond just you know three three trips a day or whatever it is to start. Um you know we will need more parking. So this is in close vicinity to that. So that's a really we think that's a really great connection for um you know really you commuting as well as recreational connections uh in that area there. Um so implementing the comp plan um really the big thing that's coming out of the comp plan is we're going to really redo our whole land development code. It's it's several decades old. It's um you know been cobbled together over the decades. And so we are hiring a consultant. It's probably a year and a half process to do a comprehensive land development code rewrite. Rewriting all of our design guidelines for all the parts of the city. Um and we are starting a new impact fee study, development impact fee study. Of course, you know, there's more demands on city services. So, that's one part of that puzzle. Um is updating our development impact fees. We've got a few other plans that are underway um that are kind of building off this comprehensive plan. A big one is we're doing a parks, recreation, and open space, and trails um comprehensive plan for the whole city. We haven't done one of those in quite some time. So that's going to

hopefully align with the plan growth of the comprehensive plan and you know future city investments in parks, recreation, open space and trails utility system plan we're finalizing too to align with the comprehensive plan. So we've got a lot to do in the next few years to align with the plan documents. So that was um hopefully not too long highle overview of the the big changes that we're looking at. Do you all from Superior particularly have questions about um that? Yeah,

just one quick one. Um there's it says total capacity 4,000 to 5,000 additional homes over time. I'm curious what if any infrastructure upgrades you guys need in terms of water, wastewater treatment, sewer, or do you have or and water rights? Do you have all that in hand already for an additional 5,000 homes? Call it 15,000 people. That's like doubling the population for the city, isn't it? Yeah, we we we've got a we've got about 8,000 housing units right now. So, there was a lot of um

discussion um and I [laughter] about that. So, so one of the things is that we're we're trying to again we're trying to align with the housing needs assessment. So, there's a lot of I'd say confusion about capacity. So those capacity numbers were if all of those areas that we talked about that are changing land uses actually went residential and none of them were commercial and they all kind of maximized their potential. [clears throat] So we are trying to plan infrastructure-wise for 2500 units um at least with this iteration of the plan. I would say the wastewater treatment plant we're doing some really major upgrades with the Red Tail Ridge development that we think when they're complete we'll have enough capacity. Um I think on our water systems plan um you know not being on the engineering side but we've um coordinated heavily with them um the windy gap project is going to provide us quite a bit of water. I would say that our um my understanding is our plant p plant um plant capacity and water rights have a lot of capacity but maybe not for the full buildout. So there would have to be some water rights acquisitions that we would get through the expansion fees.

Got it. Thank you. anything to add to that? Just a quick question, Rob. Um, for your count for housing, what do you what is your percentage of it for affordable mid-market attainable housing?

Right. So, our so we are working under the 12% kind of countywide target. So, um, you know, we have an inclusionary ordinance that requires 12% um for new development. That always doesn't cut it, right? Because if you just add 12% to what we have now, it's really hard to get to that full 12%. So, um, you know, city council recently has dedicated some some funding for affordable housing and we are trying to work with affordable housing developers outside of our 12% inclusion area to bring some projects to the city. Um, so and then, you know, I think we've recognized that without building any housing at all, you're going to get absolutely no affordable housing either. So, I think that's part of the strategy of opening up the door a little bit to trying to hit our housing needs assessment targets um for growth is that at least we'll start getting closer to the 12% by getting the inclusionary or getting inclusionary funds and then trying to find other avenues for for that. We also um our housing study also focuses on um duplexes and multifamily as hopefully getting somewhat natur I know that's naturally you know occurring affordable more likely if you're doing duplex type development and multifamily. So we're focusing on that not exclusive but focusing on it.

And are you guys looking at 80% AMI or are you trying to be a little bit more aggressive with that? Um so we are so we will probably be updating our inclusionary housing ordinance and um some of the things that we'll probably be looking at for example is for home ownership we'll probably um go to higher um median incomes potentially for that's what we'll be proposing to city council of course it's up to them but you know we'll be proposing um you know going up to some higher AMIs for home ownership for example um but we we do have a focus of kind of 80 and below for the rental segment still. Um and our current what we currently have adopted is 80 and below whether it's ownership or rental.

Okay. So I know you know both both of the 100% AMI for Lewisville and Superior is very similar. I think it's within $5,000 of each other. The problem we have is you go down to Broomfield and turnpike it drops to 120,000. So it's about it's a 60 it's a $40,000 change from where we are to Broomfield and then from Broomfield to Westminster it drops by like 60 some thousand dollars. So there our AMI at 80% is a much more affordable 80% for them and for Westminster. So how do we how do we make it more inclusionary so that the individuals who are trying to get the biggest bang for their buck are able to afford to live closer to wherever they want to rather than having to more or less um and nothing against Broomfield, Westminster, fantastic towns, but if it's if it's $200 $300 cheaper a month, why would you come up here to live when you can have the same opportunity for the same type of unit and save considerably more?

Yeah. So it's it's a complicated problem to solve I would say and that's why we are trying to take a multi-pronged approach.

Um you know I I think that one of the things that we're trying to be cognizant of is um market feasibility. Um and we are in a different market than Westminster and even a little bit different market than Boulder. Um so we every time we look at these um you know we're trying to do some economic feasibility analysis to understand what we can do because if we just go in and say well we're going to change our inclusionary ordinance so that it's 25% inclusionary and it's a really low AMI we're going to get nothing because that's not market feasible. So we're just trying to do our best to to find the right sweet spot.

Yeah. No it's a really tough one. We're struggling with that as well. I mean we want to do the best we can for everybody. I I appreciate your insight with that. Thank you. Yeah.

Yeah. Thank you. Uh so from our end um we just completed our process as well. Took about a year and a half um I think for us to complete that. Hadn't been updated since 2012. So it was time even though it wasn't really I mean it was time. So, uh, [laughter] a lot of our elements were the same as as Lewisvilles as far as, uh, the key important items, sustainability, um, affordable housing, housing, additional housing, diversifying our revenue base, which is our commercial base, um, multi multimodal connections, and maintaining neighborhood characters. We're we had seven opportunity areas, and that was it. Um, so we're getting close to buildout in the next probably 5 to 10 years. I would think we'd probably be there.

[clears throat]

Um, three of the areas were in the northwest part of town, which was original town, Superior Marketplace, and then the properties west of Superior Marketplace, and then the other areas moved to the south into the Rock Creek neighborhood and to the east over by the Broomfield Mall. Um, flexibility was key for us on um, opportunity areas for being flexible as far as uses that could be added to those areas. So, they all pretty much include housing, commercial base, retail, office, open space. Um, and there's one property that has light industrial and that's on the west side of town. But, um, you know, we have an inclusionary ordinance as well, which is 15% for affordable housing listed at 80% AMI. But um uh yeah, so flexibility for uses was key for us on all our opportunity areas in town. And there's a we included a map that shows the the seven areas. We own that number I think it's six area which is at Colton and McCaslin. We bought that back in 2014, I think. So um we're not sure what we're going to do with that yet. Uh there's been a lot of discussion about it, but um right now it's zoned as commercial. And what we're seeing with a lot of these properties that we have three or four that are zoned commercial and the applications we're getting for them are residential primary multi- um multi-tenant apartments.

Thanks, Matt. Um I'll just add um we passed and adopted a sustainability action plan. Um a parks and wreck open space master plan, our Coyote Ridge master plan. Um so all of these were in in addition to the the housing needs uh assessment plan um pursuant to the state statute that we all went through. Um, so all of that was incorporated into the into the master planning process here with with the uh comprehensive plan update on on the the map that was showed above. We are expecting development applications. There's there's one that's been submitted on the 76th Street property. So that's if you go to the Costco and fill your gas, the property immediately that you're looking at to the west, um, that's property that's in Boulder County. They are proposing to build 350 unitsish [clears throat]

close to something like that. Um that land is in Boulder County, so it would require an annexation into the town of Superior. Um that application has been set for hearing in June, June 8th. Um so there's first there the annexation and then the reasonzoning and then the the development plans. Um, separate from that, the property on 88th Street across from Red Tail Ridge that's known as the Zaharius property next to the reservoir there, there is a development application that they've submitted as well. Yeah. Um, and so we're expecting to see that probably in July this summer. Yeah. Yeah. So, they're coming. Uh, that's another 250

300 uh housing units. Um both of those properties are, you know, would require reszoning to allow um residential on those those plans. You know, the thing that we've been working on over the past decade now has been downtown Superior. Uh so that is has been really the the biggest change in Superior over the past 10 years since the last time we did our comprehensive plan update. Um we're approaching buildout on the kind of residential component side of things and there's a couple commercial properties that um are still uh remaining out in

kind of the potential uh land. Um just this past month we approved or last month actually we approved a application to um build a food hall and a pizzeria right on Main Street in Superior Drive. That was last week. That was last month, right? Yeah. Last month though, I don't even know anymore.

Um just yesterday. Uh we just approved it. um felt like years ago. And uh other than that, uh we've had some discussions over the years uh with Boulder County Housing Authority about potentially there's a parcel of land that RTD owns in the Superior Marketplace in parking lot next to Whole Foods. Um where Boulder County Housing Authority was interested in doing an affordable housing transit oriented development there at Superior Marketplace. that got put on hold because it was kind of in in the process right as the fire happened and having that discussion while so much of our community was still picking up the pieces was not the right time to have that conversation but I anticipate that that conversation will restart.

We have started those. Yeah.

Yeah. So, we'll we'll be um coming, which coupled with all of the exciting stuff that's happening over by the the Cineabar property might make that whole area a very interesting place for for computers. Um I know we talked about this, Mayor Lei, but um we're all cognizant of the concerns that the school district has about um declining enrollment. And you know, we wanted to make sure that the message that we're sending with the comprehensive plan is that we are going to be partners with uh developers to make sure that people can afford to live in our communities and send their kids to Boulder Valley schools because we want to make sure that those schools stay strong as well.

Council questions for Yeah, go ahead, Council.

I'm just wondering, we're talking about multimodal transportation. I'm also wondering, we're very actively trying to promote that in Lewisville. What about buses? RTD seems to be um less than helpful in adding bus routes and making them more easily accessible to everyone in the town. I mean, okay, they'll they'll do the, you know, the flat iron flyer down 36, but how do you get to that bus stop? So, I'm wondering if we could somehow get them to do a little bit more regional and that would also help with the students with they're not getting the school buses if they could take public transportation.

Well, we just um signed the contract on the the bike share.

That's correct. Um, so the ebike share that's um I know a number of communities are partnering on that, but we're going to have at least 20 ebikes installed in Superior that that are available. Um, and we've got the 228 running through town. You know, the the issue that we have, I'm sure you're seeing kind of similar issues with the 228 is just ridership levels are just extremely low. And you know, if I ever pass a 228 and see somebody in it, that's striking. It's always empty. It's always empty. So, it's it's kind of hard to, at least from my perspective, to ask RTD to do more when what they're currently offering, you know, isn't being utilized to the way that it should be. But they did make some uh changes to the 228 route a year or two ago to to route it down into downtown Superior. So to try to um kind of target the areas that are more pedestrian friendly and where people could actually live without a car and uh avail themselves of you know multimmodal options. So that's a good a good thing.

Council member Curtain. Yeah. Thanks. So, I hear this. Actually, it was interesting cuz um I laughed a little bit that we closed our movie theater. I heard a bunch of teenagers this summer saying, "Oh my gosh, I so wish Louisville had a movie theater."

And I'm like, "Well, you should have said something to your parents cuz we would have." Um, but it's interesting because these kids, I mean, these were like, I don't know, like 13, 14. They can't easily get out to the mall to go to the movie theater where they could go spend their money and watch a movie. And I think to Deb's point with microransit instead of us relying on RTD, to your point, mayor, to provide service where they don't have enough ridership to justify the money that they would need to spend. Um maybe this is something that we can all like look into as like we're putting in new communities like and we're getting more you know residential in that maybe microtransit is something like you know Erieb just passed Lafayette has the Lafayette free ride so they all have microtransit

um and you know Boulder does a really great job they've got lots of easy to get on and off buses and if we have a way for people to like easily and reliably pop from Costco to the Lewisville library. Can you imagine what that would do for our communities and how that would change the way people live and how kids get around and maybe they would jump on that instead of their illegal ebikes. So, any other questions? No. Yep. Council member Cooperman. Um, do you [clears throat] have any uh residential developments that have built uh affordable units under your inclusionary housing ordinance?

[cough and clears throat] And you have a field new option or I assume we have we adopted our ordinance in 2019. Yeah, that sounds right.

Um so all the development that has been happening in downtown was entitled before that ordinance was on the books. Um we just uh broke ground on our first actual affordable housing project in it's in downtown Superior. It's the Kite Route Crossing. It's a 55 plus senior uh affordable housing um plan, but we haven't had you. So So the development applications that we're going to be seeing uh with this annexation on 76th Street and then the Zarius property will really be the first opportunities for our council to approve or deny an application and they'll be big enough to trigger the 15% Yeah, Council Member Dickinson.

Yeah, [clears throat] I I would just say that, you know, I I'm really excited about especially as your, you know, main street area matures over the next five and 10 years that this this idea of Yeah, I mean, ebikes are great in that, you know, they get people around quickly, right? And kids around quickly and so bike paths become a lot more accessible. Like, oh, wait, that's it? It's like 5 minutes to get from sports table to downtown Louisville and vice versa. It's 5 minutes to get from Louisville Middle School to sports sports table, right? And so, um, you know, educating people about that route and that like you don't have to go over the highway. There's an underpass and there's these great bike paths on both sides and and being able to get back and forth from our communities. Uh, like you said, you have a high density. I mean the the design of that main street area in Superior is highdensity you know multimmoal transportation like I I shouldn't have to have a car I can get back and forth to places. So you know I think again in this round table this idea of like you know getting away from oh we don't want superior residents to come to Louisville to shop and eat and things like that. Well, we don't want like Louiswis residents going over to Superior to shop and eat. Like, no, we we want our residents going back and forth and shopping and eating at our places and having more diversity of options and all those things, right? Be able to go back and forth. Um, and so, you know, I'm really excited about interesting ways that we can it's it's a version of wayfinding, right? That's like this way to Lewisville, this way to Superior, this way to Sports Stable and all the fun things you guys have there, and this way to downtown and like really thinking about how you connect those in more of a narrative of, oh, that's really fun. That's like the path the path to fun. That's really great. I can't wait to go there. And I can't I can't even think about the number of Louis residents who have never gone

through that underpass to get south of town, right? they've never they don't even really understand that how accessible it truly is because we're not pointing people in that direction for that purpose and we're probably not doing that on either side of that tunnel. Right. So, I think that's that's another interesting thing. I've been talking to Lafayette a lot about the same concept um of their downtown to our town downtown with bikes and walking, but I think that's another similar, you know, uh I think mutually beneficial fun way to be, you know, in community. So happy to talk about that more.

I want to go quickly back to the RTD thing. Um, you know, with our downtown, we thought if we reoriented the 228 to go through downtown instead of Rock Creek, it'd be an easy way for people to get on it. And one of the things we came quickly to realize is a 30-foot bus couldn't make the turn and to try to switch to a shorter bus would have to come out of Lafayette and, you know, lots and lots of words that basically said RTD won't do it. So, you know, as you think about redevelopment or development in new areas, definitely integrate RTD planning to make sure that you build the corners the right way. Because for us, I I see it as a hugely missed opportunity to just I [snorts] mean the the bus goes up Rock Creek Parkway. It passes like 12 homes and like four stops at maybe there's one person per year sitting there. But if it had just rolled down downtown, there's just everybody sees the bus like you live in a downtown. Oh, the bus. Let me hop on it and get over to the, you know, whatever. Um but that's that ship has sailed because we just didn't think about it. No, it was no one no one's radar because you think a bus can make any turn, but apparently it can't. So,

we found that same thing over here in DTO. That exact we that exact same thing at our public works was like, "So, we're gonna have to cut the whole corner [laughter] if the bus is going to go there." Yeah. Yeah. Do you have anything else on that?

No. Uh, just in terms of uh uh project updates, we're going to be doing a couple huge road road projects. So, Rocky Parkway is going to be under construction. We're going to have to close off 88th for a couple weeks. So there's going to be people who are coming from Lewisville into Superior and people who are trying to go from Superior into Lewisville who are going to be inconvenienced for about two weeks right around the 4th of July. They're going to have to take the b the the detour all the way up uh mccassen and to to Dylan. Um but separate apart from Rock Creek Parkway, uh we're going to be redoing both of our pools this summer and uh doing a big project at our community center. So, we passed a bond uh ballot measure in 2024, went to the voters, did a sales tax increase, and we're putting those uh bond proceeds to work investing in a bunch of capital projects, parks, pools, and roads this year. So, very exciting.

Playgrounds and playgrounds. We just we just did community park playground. And uh there's going to be some video of some council members on the merrygoround kind of wheel carousel there. [laughter] So, [cough]

I was just going to ask it if because I I and I don't know where I read that if it was somewhere in the packet or something else that you guys had that went out um about the 88th Street being closed and I was thinking I'm like oh my gosh I was thinking of all the people that are going to get routed along Dylan, you know, past the golf course and those neighborhoods and I was thinking we should probably update those neighborhoods of some potential increased traffic from people not being able to to use that. So Good. Um, if we don't have anything more on that, lots of exciting stuff going on. We've got some projects coming, but they're not quite here yet. Um, you'll probably hear about those soon enough, I think. Um, except for Red Tail Ridge, which is obviously very much underway. Um, should we jump into RMMA?

Sure.

Okay. If you want to take the lead on that. So, um, Mayor Lelay and I just went to to Washington DC with the Northwest Mayors and Commissioners Coalition. Um, it was a great, uh, trip to DC. We we go to DC, uh, each and every year with this group, uh, where we generally focus on road and rail projects. It's a transportation focus group, but this year we expanded the the focus of that group to include aviation matters because of all the issues that are coming out of Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport. Um, they're not just affecting Superior, they're not just affecting Lewisville, but with flight path changes and the training activities that are coming out of the the airport, it's affecting Boulder County and it's affecting Longmont and it's affecting Lafayette and it's affecting Erie. So um the entire group uh you know came together to uh set up some meetings. We met with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation and then we also met with the Federal Aviation Administration um uh to kind of just open the door, have a preliminary conversation with the FAA. It was really a starting point. It was, you know, the goal of the uh of of the meeting wasn't necessarily to uh solve any of the problems, but necessarily to show them who we are, uh advocate on behalf of our residents, and the focus was really on safety issues because that was the issue that was unifying the group as a whole. um you know there are some communities that are impacted by the noise and the lead pollution more than others but the safety issues were something that the entirety of the group was uh concerned with and that's what the FAA is uh definitely focused on. So that's kind of where the the the subject of those conversations went. I think we had a really good meeting with the transportation infrastructure uh committee. They asked for um details and and data on um crashes that have originated out of the flight schools and

uh the federal aviation um group there was about 12 uh members from the the FAA there. Um and you know I think they they took it serious. They they certainly are concerned about safety uh incidents and uh wanted to open up the door to uh referring any safety incidents in the community to the FSDO office in Denver, the flight standards division office, I think it's called. Um so, you know, there have been a lot of people that are calling, you know, the airport reporting noise and feeling like their complaints are just going into a black hole and never being acted upon. Um, but I think what what I took away from that uh that meeting is that like for example, there was I'm sure most of you have heard about it or or heard it, but there was a a jet that flew about 300 feet above Superior on a Friday morning. It was having a mechanical issue. Um, and it sounded like it was going down. It sounded like there was like a missile that was going to land in Superior. So, our entire community was up in arms about what was going on. they felt, you know, obviously this is not a safe uh condition. So that was reported to the FSDO office. The FSDO office investigated and reported back about, you know, what what happened in in that situation. But in terms of what we're going to telegraph to our uh to our residents, um I think referring them to the FSDO office to report safety in incidents if there are people that are flying too loud, if there are people that are flying in an unsafe manner. Um those are the types of things that they want to hear about separate from from that meeting. And then Marille, I'll happy to let you kind of fill in any additional stuff on that. Um, as you know, uh, Superior and Boulder County were parties in a lawsuit against, uh, Jefferson County and Rocky Metropolitan Airport, uh, related to the the flight school traffic out of RMMA. um right now

where that case is postured. So we got a decision from the Colorado Court of Appeals in early March uh that ruled against us on the issue of noise and basically said that our uh case on on lead pollution could go forward. Um that case we have as a town council authorized our council to file a petition for a ridicers to the Colorado Supreme Court. Um, the way appeals to the Supreme Court work is you have a an appeal as a matter of right to the Colorado Court of Appeals, but when you go to the Supreme Court, you need to ask for permission. So, we're asking for permission. And as we go in in through that process, we are soliciting uh amicus filings from neighboring jurisdictions. So, what an amicus filing is, it's a friend of the court brief. And basically what we're we're asking for neighboring communities that aren't parties to the litigation but are interested in the Supreme Court hearing the case uh to submit an amicus that essentially says we you know the municipality of X says that this case should be heard by the Supreme Court. It's important to our community. Not necessarily weighing in on the merits um but just weighing in on um yes, we want the court to take this case at all. Um, and so that's kind of where we're posture right now. We have uh commitments from Lafayette and from Broomfield already that they're going to be submitting amicuses. Um, and this doesn't go to the merits. If if the case does get accepted by the Supreme Court, there is an opportunity to weigh in with an amicus brief whether you're for it or against it. You could do that if you want or not. Um, but we would love to have Lewisville uh join in on just submitting an amicus. could be as simple as just a one-pager that says this is a an an issue that that merits the Supreme Court ruling on it. And just briefly, the reason why we're taking this appeal

at all, what the Colorado Court of Appeals said in our case is so they they dismissed this without ever getting to the merit. So, we've never had our day in court to actually prove that there's uh a public nuisance from the the operations at the airport. And so the Colorado Court of Appeals said that the court can't hear it because the case has been preempted. And what the the by federal law and what the the court of appeals said was that the airport and Jefferson County as the owner of the airport, they have the power as the owner of the airport, as the proprietor of the airport to address noise, but the court can't order them to address the noise. And so what that is is doing is it's basically leaving residents with a right but without a remedy. So you have there is an ability to rectify harm caused by the airport but the court is basically saying we're powerless to enforce that remedy and we think that that's wrong and we think that people should have a remedy. Whether you actually prevail is, you know, up to the the jury and and and the the factf finding at at a trial. Um, but we just want to have our day in court and we think that the public should have the ability to rectify a nuisance that's being caused whether it's at an airport or or elsewhere. Um, and so that's what we're uh suggesting is worth the Supreme Court taking a look at and that's what Broomfield and Lafayette are joining in that request and we hope that Lewisville would be interested in participating as well.

Thanks Mark. I want to go back to the meeting that we had with the Northwest [snorts] Mayors and Commissioners Coalition a little bit. You covered it quite well. Uh Mark, as you might imagine, took the lead in that discussion and um did a a wonderful job at focusing. It was actually a very positive discussion um with uh the FAA and with the committee. Um I had a couple of additional takeaways from that. Um I I think one of them um certainly was their concern about or their they're paying attention to our concern about u safety um and the safety of um a lot of flights from the training the schools over um heavily populated areas and schools. Um, and there were a number of people um, in our group who piped up on that um, including including me. Um, I think what was somewhat interesting to me was on on both of those meetings, not just um the FAA meeting, but also the meeting with um the subcommittee was that they both used the same terms when they talked about um having externalities imposed on us uh regarding safety without any ability to kind of discuss those or have any role in it and they both used the term you you should have a seat at the table and I thought you know we didn't raise that so I mean we explained it and that would be a natural um I think conclusion but I found that very interesting as majority staff on the subcommittee and uh was

commonly uh getting complaints about wanting to shut down airports and stuff like that they wouldn't want any That wasn't what our point was, but they found that a little fairly compelling and I think the FAA did too. Jurisdictionwise, they don't really have any ability to impose that, but I think that's something we can certainly raise when we're talking to RMMA, when we're talking to the county commissioners. Um, we had and expressed our somewhat confusion with the FAA's many different bureaucratic pieces and trying to get to the right group of people. It was wonderful to have people who were local and people from the FAA. Mayor mentioned 12 people and I think I don't know like what was it sort of six and six. I mean, there were a bunch of people from the building who were there and there were all of these local folks and lawyers and others um who participated. And what I thought was really good is they sort of routed us not only to the the safety folks, which is important, um regarding aircraft and some of the aging aircraft that we all see above us. um as well as [clears throat] air traffic control because that has been I mean that's a problem nationwide getting personnel there and um the more flights the more I think the need for air traffic control and that's something we can raise with another uh office here. So that was really good. The things that were less clear I think were two questions that um the mayor raised. One was a letter that uh the MCC had sent last November. Is

that right? Um which hadn't been responded to and we encouraged them to respond to that which we'll see whether they do that. Um [clears throat] and then uh we talked a little bit about capacity. Is this airport at capacity? What effect might that have on how the ground operations um leasing and all that stuff might work? They don't ne that's not something they touch as you might imagine at the FAA but um you know they do care about what the capacity of the airport is and we didn't get any answer either as to whether they're we're at capacity or are at capacity or who decides that. Um so that was a little bit opaque. Um but um I think you know our follow-ups um and we talked about this when Mayor Lasis and I did a interview with I think it was channel 7 a week and a half ago that we were someone in our group should be in touch with the ATC folks and and the folks who deal with safety and follow up with concerns that we might have one with that. And um I think making some use of this seat at the table idea with some of the decision makers at RMMA and otherwise. One other thing that I didn't mention was the FAA was very conscious of how poorly the noise round table went. They were visibly I think um concerned that that had gone so terribly off the rails and that was good. There's a part 150 noise study that's coming up which everybody

is going to participate in and I think they'll make extra efforts to try to make that a really strong um effort to try to you know take complaints concerns and and hopefully there'll be something comes of it. Is that fair? Y are there questions? Um but yes, council

I have one not question but comment I guess. Um I'm concerned the noise doesn't particularly bother me but looking out my window and watching a plane flying right at my house and not convinced that it's going to make it over it. I'm wondering about the regulations regarding altitude over residences because I don't think that the it's [snorts] probably the pilots the pilots flight school pilots that are doing this but they're not flying as far west as we requested before they go north. So they're coming over the Enclave, which is where I live, and that's way up on the hill on Macaslin, and they just don't have their full altitude by the time they get over us. And so they're supposed to be going past us before they go north, but they aren't. And so I'm wondering if there's any way that we can keep track of how many flights are going under altitude over residential neighborhoods.

Yeah. So we it's great point Deb. Um and so we we brought some materials with us. Uh some of them were were maps that not only showed kind of the plat the path of the traffic but also the uh altitude of the planes in those particular patterns. So you know red was under 500 feet, orange was 500 to 750, yellow was above that. So, you know, that was one of the um policy kind of proposals uh uh that we brought to the FAA. We had a laundry list of, you know, things that could be adopted by by the FAA. Like, you know, as a broad brush, we said training operations over densely populated residential areas and schools, all things being equal, is a bad idea. So, if you can put it somewhere else where you're not going to crash into a school, um let's put it in in different areas. And I think that that that kind of general concept, especially in in a place like Colorado where there are alternatives in terms of where you could actually train, um made sense. And they also acknowledged that, you know, they're not allowing training operations over Midtown Manhattan. You're you're not doing touchand goes, you know, from Reagan International over the White House. Like they have the ability to control the the airspace. Um and there are some some decisions that could be made. Um, and one of them was, you know, raising the pattern altitude to 1,000 feet versus the 500 feet. Um, to to give people a little more peace of mind. That would help with the noise, that would help with the lead pollution, that would help with the safety concerns. Um, for sure,

Council Member Cooperman, um, just curious, what is the timing on this amicus brief that you're looking for?

Yeah, so it's a little bit in flux. Um, so the the decision from the Colorado Court of Appeals came out I think on March 12th, something like that. And typically you would have 42 days to submit your petition for a red certary. We've authorized our lawyer to do that, but as an intervening step, Jefferson County filed a petition for reharing on the lead issue. So, they're asking the Colorado Court of Appeals to essentially do it over and uh reconsider their decision where they, you know, basically ruled in their favor on noise but in our favor on lead. And so, they're asking them to uh reconsider the lead issue. So, that kind of puts everything on hold until the court of appeals acts. once the court of appeals acts. Um, and you know, I can't predict when that's going to be, but I think it's 28 days after that decision when our petition for the ritiary would be due. So, long and short, uh, I am happy to connect our council with your council and coordinate on the timing and make sure that everybody is prepared to meet any deadlines. Yeah. and we'll manage that on our own council um separate um separately. But thanks for mentioning it. Um why don't we unless there's anything else on RMMA um go to the next item which I think is one that you had raised.

Yeah. So the last last issue is um so there's an an IGA that uh Superior and Lewisville entered into long before any of us were on our respective councils here. Uh it was first um entered into in 1997. Then there was an amendment in 2005. So, uh, this IGA, uh, facilitated the land swaps on both sides of US 36. So, what downtown Superior is is now was previous in in Lewisville and what is now in the interchange over by uh I guess it's kind of behind Cable Labs in the 36th. That was a portion that was in Superior. That's now in Lewisville. Um, you know, the land swap occurred, the boundary realignment was done, uh, property was annexed. Um, as as part of that, uh, IGA, there was a revenue tax, a revenue share. Uh, so all sales tax generated on uh, Superior side, a portion would go to Lewisville. And then any any sales tax that was generated on on Lewisville's side, a portion would go to Superior. Um all of the sales tax that is is being generated is being generated currently on Superior's side and is going as a revenue share to to Lewisville and there is no uh sales tax that is being produced on the property in Lewisville that is being shared with uh Superior. Um as a kind of ballpark in what the dollar figures are uh it's about $150,000 to $200,000 a year that is being um collected. Sure.

And then uh a portion of that is then being shared. Yeah. 50% of the 2 what the sales tax at the time was 2.7%. So it's 50% of that.

So um my ask for for the council is to consider a reasonable sunset on this agreement. This agreement is perpetual. It has no ending point. And we don't think that that's actually legally viable. and to to to have a an agreement that has these kind of legal uncertainties. Uh I think it would be in everybody's best interest to just figure out an amendment for us to figure out this problem kind of once and for all and then not deal with a potential dispute happening down the road um related to its enforcability. So, um I don't necessarily have a specific proposal. Something like a 10-year phase out might make sense. Um but wanted to just throw this out there as this is something that we think um it has served its purpose. It's 25 years old and we should consider sunsetting it as all good agreements should sunset under Colorado law. It's true.

My wife right now and she would disagree. Yeah. [laughter] Listen, we all sunset. Any um any thoughts from council members in Lewisville? Rousing interest in that proposal. Um [laughter]

there's there there's there's a what I have learned in my 10 years of doing this is there is um there's a problem with binding future councils on taxation decisions going forward. We can make decisions that, you know, affect the budget decision, but making a decision that's going to affect future us in 10 years, in 20 years, is potentially problematic uh from an enforcability perspective. So, one way to fix that would be to amend this so it's not a problem and then put up a reasonable sunset so we can uh solve it once and for all. I mean, I [clears throat and cough] I'll just speak to it briefly that like I you know, I don't know all the all the details of it. Like you said, it it's uh you know, certainly before my time on council, um I was in I was in high school. Uh but but yeah, I mean on on on the front end, it's like well yeah, I mean it was a deal we all well our communities all entered into a long time ago and and there's this you know revenue sharing from this area. Well, this is our area. So, I mean, you guys can it's kind of in your neighborhood. If you guys want to develop it and do stuff, then we'll just give us a piece of it. Um, and like that that makes sense to me at its core. And so, you know, I'm I think it's interesting to bring up that like it's not really happening on the other on the other side. There's not a revenue share kind of coming back just because it hasn't been developed in that way. Um, but, you know, I've never thought of it as we do our budget. It isn't like this huge dollar amount that's this, you know, major issue. Um, but at the same time, you know, you guys are really finally developing that area, you know, a lot and there's this potential now for like finally this land swap is going to have a, you know, a fiscal benefit to

Lewisville, uh, and obviously to you guys. What do you, what is the percentage that goes back to Louis Soldina? Someone must know. It's 1.35%. Half So half of the 2.7 and and the current but the current taxes changed or it's still 2.7. No, it's still okay. Still 2.7. So it's half of the Our sales tax has gone up, right? But the agreement has it at 2.6. That's what I'm saying. So of the 2.7 portion,

50% goes to us, but of the actual portion you're collecting, it's now less than 50% that's gone to us total, right? Anyways, and then all the other taxes that you're not getting. Um, but anyway, so that you know, that's as little as I know, right? It's like, oh, how much does come to us and how much would come to us in the next 10 years? And you know, I think you know, uh, actually, not not to joke, but like my when my parents finally settled their, you know, situation with the divorce, like, yeah, I have to pay you every year for the rest of my life. This isn't a great relationship. Let's find a settlement, right? It wasn't just like, well, how about you stop paying me in 10 years? It was like, well, okay, so how can we, you know, pay more now to be done or how can we? So, I think those are interesting conversations if you guys want to think about um, you know, I I don't find it to be I'm not in your shoes. So, I don't find it to be a negative situation right now. It's like, yeah, it's fine. I don't see what the problem is. Um, but, you know, trying to figure out what is what you guys deem is fair because I think as the mayor kind of pointed out, it's like, no, we're

we're good. We're we're good, but but, you know, I hear your concern that maybe it's not enforceable and maybe there's going to be an issue down the road and maybe there's a good way to solve it before it becomes a bigger issue than it is. And so, you know, I think that's certainly something for the our staffs to look at and think about and what what would what would make sense for everybody. I don't think and I'll just add Lewisville has been very generous in um in any of the economic kind of development incentives that we've been offering to new businesses. Um Lewisville has agreed to contribute towards

those new businesses. So you're given the money back already in various degrees with with these incentives. So um probably will be a wash um you know in terms of what the economic development like incentives have been versus the uh the revenue share. But you know I I always think about these kind of perpetual agreements and I think like a thousand years from now like we're still going to be sharing 1.35%. Like really? Like we have this issue in in in in Superior with like the the fences in the Rock Creek neighborhood and people think like we should be painting these fences forever and I'm like a thousand years from now like we're still like painting these fences like but you know so I I think with that kind of broad-based policy concern putting a a cap in in these deals

Yeah.

makes sense. The last thing I say to that is just because you brought it up is I think it's interesting that um we do the same like BAPS right the sales tax rebates for periods of time and then like it's sort of a a no win for a period of time and then it becomes a big win and so again like sunsetting it anytime soon. It's like well we've been rebating everything that's going to come in and then sunset it and we don't get we don't get the day where we're we're not rebating anymore. So you look at these like 20-y year windows or 30-year windows and like oh the first 10 years maybe 5 years we're going to rebate a bunch but the next five years won't rebate and by year 10 or 20 it really has had a benefit and so they are kind of long windows. I agree maybe a thousand years isn't the right window. Um, but I think that's another another piece of it too. And I totally support I'm glad you guys came with the one you did to try to do even more. But totally support the idea of, you know, again, all boats rise, right? Like you guys having a thriving, you know, main street area is good for Louisville, right? It's awesome. So wanting to be a part of that and and share that growth and and benefit in that growth. And then if there's a smart way to simplify it or get out of it over time, like that's worth looking at. Certainly,

if there's a proposal, you're welcome to make it. Okay. Well, we will uh we will probably straight Well, no, I'm looking at the time. [laughter] We'll we'll we'll submit something uh to you for your consideration. Um and you know, we'll we'll see where it goes.

Fair enough. And Mark, I just wanted to add in fairness to Lewisville, there was a piece of land there that we're supposed to be getting eventual tax dollars from and then seed dot comes and does the on-ramp onto mass and suddenly it's a detention pond. So there's not really any economic incentive we're getting out of that. But you know, anything that you know, like Mayor Lacis has said, um any consideration for the town as far as our inclusiveness and our and our willingness to really partner together going forward is is definitely appreciated. So just wanted to put that out there. All right, it's uh straight up 8 o'clock. Um unless there is something else, I will entertain a motion probably from our council for the next great step.

Go ahead. Actually, Jen just made a good comment and wanted to see if there maybe anybody had some like closing thoughts or remarks before we adjourn. I appreciate that [laughter] we've met and that we've stayed within our our time and and there'll be other I think there'll be other meetings. Um I'm looking forward to the the ones particularly on the um on the fire commemoration which I think will be really good and we ought to do this more often than we do because three times in 12 years 11 years or 12 is too few. So I will make a motion to adjurnn. Second.

All in favor? I. Any opposed? [laughter] So Caleb usually does that on our side. Thank you all.