Good morning, neighbors – and happy October! It was lovely to see so many of you last weekend at the sunny and beautiful Oktoberfest, and we’re now getting into a beautiful time of year for cooler weather hiking as we prepare for ski season. I love that every season in Superior has something delightful to look forward to 🙂

This morning, I hosted October’s First Friday at our newly acquired property at 1500 Coalton Road along with Trustee Sandie Hammerly; we were joined by Trustees Ken Lish and Neal Shah. As First Fridays are casual in nature, and we often break into simultaneous discussions of different topics on the two sides of the table, it’s tough for me to fully recap the discussion. However, I hope it is still useful for me to give a short rundown of the topics I heard, which can help provide a pulse of the town.

Topics discussed at October’s First Friday include:

• Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport noise: Many of the residents who attended First Friday had also attended Monday night’s joint study session with the Louisville City Council and our airport consultants, and shared their opinions on the work so far. (You can read my thoughts on the report here.) One resident asked about the possibility of purchasing the airport, but this would be far beyond the budget that Superior and even Louisville jointly could amass.
• Landscaping: A resident noted that this year, our landscaping included perennials rather than just annuals, and asked whether they would still all be removed for winter; if so, she inquired as to whether the perennials could be given to residents rather than thrown away. I’ve asked our Town Manager to follow up on this.
• Promenade Drive: Remarking on the recent approval of the Toll Brothers application, a resident asked about the timeline to construct the connection out to 88th Street. We are planning to make improvements to 88th Street next year (including adding turning lanes), and the thinking is that we will find a way to build from 88th Street to the Toll Brothers property line at the same time, at a cost of $1.3M – this is currently in our 2020 budget. However, Toll Brothers will likely not complete their portion of the connection for a few years.
• Zaharias development: A resident asked about the Zaharias property, which is currently under review for development; as such, members of our Board cannot comment on the application. However, I’d like to remind residents that we have a Development Projects page on our town website, where you can see a status report for all pending applications, a map of Downtown Superior with links to approved / pending applications, and see detailed plans for everything in progress. It’s a great resource that I hope you find helpful!
• Open Space fund: Our Open Space fund currently has $4M; we currently use it to fund various projects as well as acquire land. However, at our next Board meeting on Monday October 14th, our Board will be discussing whether to continue using Open Space funds for side projects or reserve it only for acquisition of Open Space. We were also asked about why the Century Link property is ranked higher on the OSAC acquisition list than the Zaharias property; you can read that in OSAC’s 2018 Summary Report and Recommendation Update here.
• Playground in North Rock Creek: After a lengthy public engagement process, we did not move forward with a playground on Riverbend; however, as part of the Toll Brothers application, we added a stipulation that the developer build a $300,000 park at Tract H. This is not currently contemplated to have a restroom (since it is a neighborhood park, not a community park); however, the design has not yet been determined, and the developer will be working with our PROSTAC committee to develop this.
• 1500 Coalton Road: We held this month’s First Friday at 1500 Coalton Road (the former Land Rover facility), and it was a great success! Residents enjoyed seeing the facility, and we could all hear each other a lot better than in a coffee shop. However, this did invite questions around what our future plans are for the space, and whether this can be used for community space in the interim. We have issued an RFP for architects to share their designs / vision for the space, which will close on October 11; after that, we’ll select an architect, and then will commence community engagement to ultimately determine the amenities and design. In the meantime, a reminder that I created my own resident survey here to begin brainstorming; I’d encourage you to provide your input and also read through the other responses.
• New email system: In our most recent Superior Sentinel, we announced an updated website and new email communications system called GovDelivery; residents were confused whether they would need to sign up again or automatically be migrated over. I checked with our Town Manager and all current subscribers will automatically transition to GovDelivery and will continue to receive all updates posted by the town. If you would like to adjust your subscription settings, you may log in with your currently subscribed email address.
• Pickleball: Our current 2020 budget has $400K slated to build six pickleball courts at Autrey Park. Our budget has not yet been approved by our Board; we will continue to discuss the budget in our October 14th Town Board meeting, and encourage public comment on the various line items. You may access our 2020 budget plan and commentary here.

Hope to see you at next month’s First Friday! If you have thoughts on these or other topics, I would encourage you to attend our next meeting on Monday October 14th at Town Hall and speak up in public comment, or email the full Board at townboard@superiorcolorado.gov.