Hello, neighbors! Can you believe September is already here?! This morning, I hosted September’s First Friday at Sticks Coffee in downtown Superior along with Trustee Sandie Hammerly; we were joined by Trustees Kevin Ryan 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 September’s First Friday include:

• Traffic calming in South Rock Creek: A resident expressed concerns about the speed bumps that have been installed on Castle Peak; he believes they aren’t effective and that people are able to quickly go right over them. He asked us to reevaluate the design if/when we implement similar solutions on Yarrow and Rock Creek Circle. After the meeting, the resident sent me an interesting report citing studies on the effectiveness of various traffic calming measures.
• Land Rover statistical analysis: A resident mentioned that he is taking a data analytics course, and is doing a project on the introduction of breweries to a town and how they impact home values, DUIs, and other statistics; he thought this kind of analysis could be valuable to track depending on what we do with the former Land Rover facility at 1500 Coalton Road. While we have not yet begun the public engagement process for 1500 Coalton Road, I set up my own survey here for residents to weigh in; once you have completed the survey, you may also see all the results. (And you will see that several people have suggested turning it into a brewery.)
• Yard waste: A resident noted that many people are putting their leaves, sticks, and other yard waste into garbage cans, and asked the group how we can encourage people to take yard waste to the facility at Honey Creek Lane rather than mixing it in with garbage? We discussed the possibility of a community group selling recyclable bags for yard waste that would be picked up on a certain date (like the Boy Scouts do with Christmas trees), or the town providing these bags for free – making carrying yard waste to Honey Creek Lane less onerous. We also brainstormed around coordinating people who have leaves with people who want leaves for composting – perhaps creating a portal to match these people up.
• Tesla building: As usual, a resident inquired about whether Tesla is truly coming to Superior 🙂 As far as we know, the answer is yes – the interior finish plans have been approved, and we anticipate an opening later this year.
• Marshall / McCaslin intersection: A resident said she believes there is not enough delay between when the light turns red on the left turn from the west side of Marshall Road and when it turns green on McCaslin; there are too many near misses. Another resident said she regularly sits at that light and counts the cars that run the red light; she regularly sees 8 cars running the light (at one time), and one time saw 13. I have passed this concern along to our Public Works Director for consideration.
• Zephyr in Tryptich: A resident brought up the art installation in the traffic circle at Main Street and McCaslin. A Trustee reported that the CAPS committee has asked that we press pause on the landscaping to complete this installation, to revisit the original design and ensure that the rocks are a match. The artist will be making another trip out to Superior to provide direction.
• Preservation of Tract H: A resident asked the Trustees what we are doing to proactively encourage wildlife to return to the wildlife corridor on the north side of Waterford Estates (Brandon, Wiggins, and Karval). This area has had quite a bit of disruption from construction, and she asked us to put together a plan to restore the ponds. I noted that we’ve primarily heard from these residents when a development application comes before us, but to me, this was a new request to be proactive – and I am bringing it up to our Town Manager to potentially have it on a future Board agenda.
• Bathrooms in parks: A resident asked that we consider ensuring that all future parks built in our town should have bathrooms; she remembers raising her kids when Purple Park didn’t have bathroom facilities, and is eager to ensure that we have bathrooms in all parks now.
• Century Link 5G: A resident in Waterford, who is also an employee of Century Link, has agreed to put a 5G cell in his house. While neither the Town nor the Waterford or Rock Creek HOA can prevent such installations, at our last Board meeting, the Board voted to sign an agreement with Century Link to ensure that the Town is at least notified of them. The Waterford HOA president attended First Friday and said that she plans to require residents in her neighborhood who make installations to notify all the residents in the neighborhood. Another resident asked about the risks of 5G; while there is a lot of misinformation on the internet about this topic, a Trustee pointed them to a New York Times article on the studies around the risks (linked here).
• Pickleball: Finally, several residents came to express their support for building pickleball courts in Superior, and shared some details around potential designs if were to consider moving forward. Specifically, they suggested that we invest in softer surfaces than concrete (which is very hard on the joints), and also said that tournaments require 12 courts – so if we are planning 6, that’s fine, but if we’re planning for 10, we should consider going up to 12 courts. Right now, we do not have any items on Board agendas to construct pickleball courts, but I noted these suggestions for future.

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 September 9th at Town Hall and speak up in public comment, or email the full Board at townboard@superiorcolorado.gov.