Happy New Year, Superior! I hope you are starting out 2020 feeling rested, refreshed, and ready for the exciting year ahead. I spent quite a bit of time over the holidays thinking about my personal new year’s resolutions, and am pretty excited about the goals I’ve set for myself. As it relates to town business, I have an intern working on a survey to go out in the next week and get a better idea of how I am doing as a leader. I am looking forward to hearing from you and incorporating your feedback into my approach as a Trustee!

From my family to yours, I hope you had a merry Christmas and happy New Year!

This morning, I hosted January’s First Friday at 1500 Coalton Road along with Trustee Sandie Hammerly and Trustee Kevin Ryan. 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 January’s First Friday include:

• 1500 Coalton Road: We kept returning to this topic again and again throughout the morning, with many residents chiming in on amenities and activities they’d like to see in our new community space. Our Board held a special meeting on Monday December 16th to review some initial concept designs from OZ Architecture (which you may view here); unfortunately, I was unable to attend that meeting, but I met separately with OZ and Town Staff and provided my feedback. This morning, some of the desired amenities discussed included senior services, a masseuse, study hall space for kids, a community room that is reservable for local groups, and designated “noise zones” (red, green, and black) to help guide behavior.
• Dark Sky initiative: We had two middle schoolers from the local scout troop join us at this month’s First Friday, and they provided a lot of valuable input on community center amenities! However, they also brought up the potential for Superior to become a dark sky community and reduce light pollution that prevents us from seeing the Milky Way. We talked about replacing some of our streetlights that “broadcast” light out with downlights that would illuminate the street without polluting the sky, as well as the potential for individual culs de sac to opt out of street lighting. A Trustee suggested that the scouts work with our Advisory Committee for Environmental Sustainability (ACES) to refine this idea and move it forward.
• Tesla: A resident asked about the status of Tesla’s opening; they are currently working on interior finishing and have said they expect to complete work in mid-January. Another resident asked whether there would be a grand opening celebration, and while I don’t have information on this, I confirmed with our Superior Chamber of Commerce Director TJ Sullivan that Tesla joined the Chamber in June of 2019, so there will likely be some sort of ribbon-cutting ceremony organized by the Chamber.
• Improved cellular service: Last year, Town Staff reached out to all the major cellular service providers to try to improve service; Sprint was not interested in doing so, AT&T had some initial discussions but didn’t ultimately move forward, and Verizon proposed using small cell technology to help eliminate dead zones. Our Board approved the initial agreement in February 2019; now, Verizon is also proposing construction of a macro facility in Community Park. This is slated to come before the Planning Commission on Tuesday, January 7th; the agenda and supporting documents are here.
• Airport noise: For the first time in months, no one at First Friday brought up Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport and concerns about the noise that planes generate overhead. I specifically asked First Friday attendees whether they noticed a difference since RMMA updated their Fly Quiet program last month and posted signs asking pilots to be courteous and try to curb the noise where possible. The general consensus was that the noise hasn’t been particularly bothersome lately, but it’s unclear whether that was due to the Fly Quiet program updates or simply because there is less flight traffic over the holidays / in the winter cold.
• Traffic and safety: There was some discussion around our Transportation & Safety Committee guidelines for moving forward with traffic calming, and whether the 85th percentile speed is really an appropriate barometer. A Trustee pointed out that when calculating the 85th percentile speed, we dive into the data to exclude outliers going 17mph or slower. We also discussed using electronic measures to monitor and ticket dangerous driving, like traffic enforcement cameras. While it’s my understanding that red light cameras can actually increase accidents (as people suddenly brake to avoid going through a red light), I’d really like to see us make use of photo-radar cameras to detect and ticket speeders. Although these don’t always bring in as much revenue as expected (here’s an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal on speed cameras around the country), I think they would provide a valuable psychological deterrent to speeding – which I see as currently presenting much more of a danger in Superior than failure to stop at a red light / stop sign.
• Jefferson Parkway: Finally, a resident asked about the proposed Jefferson Parkway Public Highway, which would connect highway 93 and 128 and run right by Superior (via Indiana and 128). Just this morning, the Arvada Press published an article about the recent roadblocks to the parkway’s construction, with both environmental and economic concerns posing barriers. It’s my opinion that the environmental concerns (over stirring up dangerous dust around former nuclear facility Rocky Flats) greatly outweigh the benefits, and I would not like this road to move forward.

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 January 13th at Town Hall and speak up in public comment, or email the full Board at townboard@superiorcolorado.gov.