Hi neighbors! In Monday night’s Town Board Work Session and Meeting, we held a worksession with PROSTAC and discussed potential future parks and their public engagement process, heard a presentation from Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport Director Paul Anslow on future growth plans, heard an update from the airport consultants we hired to address noise concerns, approved a manager change for Old Chicago, approved a construction contract with Asphalt Specialties for the 2019 Street Rehabilitation Project, and held an executive session with our Town Attorney to discuss ongoing litigation. Ready to find out more on what happened? As usual, you may read this post in written form, or scroll to the bottom for a video recap.

Disclaimer: While I do my best to represent an honest and accurate portrayal of meetings and events, the following should be considered an editorial that represents one person’s interpretation of the meetings. At the request of my fellow Board members, I am keeping their points anonymous rather than trying to attribute my interpretation to them personally. For the most unbiased and complete information, I would encourage residents to watch the meeting video itself and draw their own conclusions – visit the town website at SuperiorColorado.gov for the official meeting video and meeting minutes. Finally, I’d also encourage you to check out EngagedCitizens.us, which is a fantastic free tool created by one of our own residents. Engaged Citizens includes a repository of agendas, documents, and meeting videos, and allows you to search within a video to jump to critical parts. I hope you find it as helpful as I do!

Work Session

Monday’s Board Meeting kicked off with a working session with PROSTAC. First on the agenda was the proposed Riverbend Park – PROSTAC is hosting community engagement sessions this Wednesday, May 15, and then on site at Riverbend on Saturday June 1. I suggested that if the sticky note approach is used for the May 15 session at Town Hall, different colors be used to represent opinions from households in different zones, as one more data point. We also discussed trail connectivity in downtown Superior, and one Trustee expressed concerns that kids in Rock Creek are not able to get to Downtown Superior without going along 36 or McCaslin; discussion followed around whether temporary trails could help alleviate this. We discussed a potential park on the corner of Rock Creek Circle and East Yarrow Circle, which Rock Creek School owner Shantie Toolsie has put forth a proposal to fund and give to the community. Finally, we discussed the need for an update to PROSTAC’s master plan, as their current iteration was developed in 2005, and while PROSTAC keeps an updated list of prioritized amenities, the list is rather piecemeal since it’s not anchored in a broader vision of what should go where.

The work session concluded with an interview of Vicki Kupfner for potential appointment to the Superior Historical Commission (SHC).

Board Reports

During Board reports, one member of the Board brought up the recent tragedy at STEM School in Highlands Ranch, and encouraged school leaders to come to the town and let us know what they need. I wholeheartedly agree with my fellow Board member that it’s time for us to take action rather than just offering “thoughts and prayers” for school shootings, and I have also been starting discussions at my company to brainstorm how we can help solve the mental health crisis in this country.

Public Comment

During public comment, numerous residents of Louisville and Superior spoke up complaining about noise from Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (RMMA). Another resident voiced her complaint about the condition of 2nd Ave due to construction. Finally, a resident called for the town to designate the (lowercase) open space at Riverbend and also at Pitkin to be permanently designated as nature preserves.

Presentation – Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport

Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (RMMA) Director Paul Anslow provided an overview of the history of the airport, and shared some graphs around the number of operations (flights) and how it’s changed over time. Director Anslow stated that while he doesn’t think RMMA could handle the traffic that Centennial Airport does (as one of the busiest general aviation airports in the US), he believes that RMMA could sustain 290,000 flights per year at max buildout.

Director Anslow clarified that tonight he was asked to speak about growth plans for the airport, but offered to come back at a later date to speak about noise abatement and flight patterns. Several Trustees still asked questions about flight patterns, but Director Anslow replied in general terms and, in my opinion, largely deflected the concerns.

Presentation – Airport Noise Consultants

Also on the topic of RMMA noise, independent consultants Jim Allerdice and Jason Schwartz from ABCx2 Consulting presented progress on four tasks they’ve been hired to complete: baseline assessment, industry engagement, community engagement, and strategy management. The baseline report has been completed; you may read a copy here. I was really happy with the content they created in this report, and would encourage anyone with noise concerns to read it in its entirety.

On the community engagement front, ABCx2 has created some fact sheets and FAQ documents, and are planning a community workshop in July; more details to come on this. With regard to industry engagement, Jason noted that he’s been happy with RMMA’s willingness to meet and consider ideas.

Finally, in reviewing the key findings, Jason pointed out that local traffic makes up the majority of noise complaints. ABCx2 identified some initial noise mitigation ideas (seen below), including outreach to flight schools and local pilots, to drive awareness of noise sensitive areas like Superior.

One Trustee asked about requiring touch-and-goes to instead require a full stop, as recommended by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), and while the consultants didn’t think RMMA would be likely to agree to this, they conceded that this would dramatically constrain traffic.

Consent Agenda

On the consent agenda, item 3D (approval of the Planning Commission Work Plan) was pulled from the consent agenda; it was tabled for the Board to review the changes and discuss at a later date.

The rest of the consent agenda (approval of meeting minutes, a proclamation for National Kids to Park Day, approval of a permit for alcohol in Purple Park for a graduation party, and appointment of John Bain to PROSTAC) passed unanimously.

Item 4 – Approval of a Manager Change for Old Chicago

Old Chicago applied for a manager change last month; however, in the application, there was a discrepancy uncovered – an arrest in April 2018 was not disclosed. The applicant apologized for the oversight in not sharing a pending investigation, and shared the outcome of the court date last week. He told us entered a plea bargain to plead guilty to the DUI, and will have six months of incarceration with work release, plus two years of supervised probation. He does not currently own a vehicle and will not be driving; he is taking Uber/Lyft daily to get to work. The applicant was very candid about the mistakes he has made, and openly talked about how he has redirected his life away from alcohol and toward other things – like setting an example for his nephews and participating in the Strongman sport. One Trustee said that he was impressed by the applicant’s story and would like to have the applicant speak to our local students.

The applicant’s direct supervisor at Old Chicago sent a letter of reference to the Board, and also spoke in the meeting about the applicant’s character. He said the applicant’s performance has been “extremely solid” across multiple locations, and that he has shown great enthusiasm and drive, as well as a high level of accountability for himself, his workplace, and the other employees. He stated that he trusts the applicant 100%.

Town Attorney Kendra Carberry reminded us that a DUI in and of itself would not be sufficient grounds to deny the manager change, but that we should be deciding whether the applicant is of good moral character. The Board voted 6-1 to approve the manager change, with Mayor Pro Tem Mark Lacis providing the dissenting vote.

Item 5 – Construction Contract with Asphalt Specialties for the 2019 Street Rehabilitation Project

The proposed annual Street Rehabilitation Project for 2019 includes reconstruction and
repairing Coalton Road from Indiana Street to Rock Creek Parkway as well as four other
projects. We received bids from two contractors to complete this work, and unanimously approved a contract with Asphalt Specialties Company to do the work for $2.83M – well below the initially budgeted estimate of $3.47M. The contract was approved unanimously.

Item 6 – Executive Session with Town Attorney

Finally, the board went into executive session with Town Attorney Kendra Carberry regarding ongoing litigation. The meeting ended shortly after 11pm.

Wrap Up

Thank you so much for taking the time to read / listen to this recap – I hope it is helpful! Our Board is always open to hearing your comments, questions, and concerns – you may always email your feedback to townboard@superiorcolorado.gov, or to me specifically at lauras@superiorcolorado.gov. As a reminder, any messages sent to a government email are part of the public record and will have your name attached; if you feel the need to write in anonymously, you may always comment at the bottom of my blog post recaps.