Spurred by a with Boulder County over the minimum wage and ongoing concerns about deteriorating neighborhood roads, a grassroots group is seeking to make Niwot the newest town in Boulder County.
“Itap defensive,” said Niwot resident and business owner Nick Little, who is president of the Niwot Incorporation Committee. “We want to be governed by ourselves.”
Little said incorporating will give Niwot direct control over its economic and land use policies, as well as the ability to raise money for road repairs, apply for municipal grants and protect its small-town character. While the town is surrounded by Boulder County open space and conservation easements, he said, there’s a concern a conservation easement could be terminated for housing, as recently
He and the other commission organizers hosted their first town hall in December, then in January, attended by about 300 people in person and another 150 online. A survey of about 200 attendees found about 60% in favor, or leaning toward yes, on incorporation. About 17% were undecided, while 23% were leaning no or were opposed.
“We’re hoping to get a broad level of support,” Little said.
Volunteers now are working to finalize ballot language before starting a petition drive. Along with Little, the Niwot Incorporation Committee’s leadership includes resident Steve Lehan, resident Paula Hemenway and incoming Niwot Business Association president Deborah Fowler.
Lehan was part of a different group that advocated for incorporation in 2019. He said the effort lost steam during the pandemic, but was driven both by the need for road rehabilitation and concerns over a two-year, on new development in Niwotap downtown. His interest originated in trying to address the road issues as an HOA member.
“In all aspects, we’re a town,” Lehan said. “We just don’t have a town government.”
A multi-step process
The small community of roughly 4,100 residents off Colo. 119 between Boulder and Longmont is celebrating its 150th birthday this year. Niwot was platted — but not incorporated — in 1875, two years after the Colorado Central Railroad extended its tracks northeast from Boulder to link farmers to markets in Denver and Wyoming.
If Niwot becomes a town, it would be the fifth smallest in Boulder County. The smallest four, based on population, are Lyons with about 2,500 residents, Nederland with approximately 2,000 residents, Jamestown with about 250 residents and Ward with roughly 200 residents. Communities that remain unincorporated include Allenspark, Gunbarrel, Hygiene and Gold Hill.
Looking statewide, supporters said, Niwot would be the 86th largest municipality out of 273 total.
The most recent Colorado community to incorporate was Keystone, where residents voted in 2023 to become a town. Residents then voted on a town charter, with Keystone officially incorporating as a home-rule municipality in 2024.
Incorporating requires multiple ballot measures and three separate elections.
First, the Niwot group needs to secure enough signatures, about 150 registered voters who own property within the proposed town boundary, to get an incorporation measure on the November ballot. The ballot also needs to include the election of nine commission members to write a home rule charter and measures to authorize sales tax and property tax increases.
Along with signatures for those measures, organizers need to submit incorporation documents to a district court judge for approval, with a goal of filing that information by the end of March.
If voters approve the incorporation measures in November, Niwot residents next would vote on the charter, with a target date of May 2027. If the charter is approved, the last step is for residents to elect town council members, with a target date of August 2027. The goal, organizers said, is for Niwot to start collecting sales tax revenue in 2028.
Like Lehan, Hemenway first got involved as an HOA member trying to find a way to fix the roads.
Boulder County has had a policy since the mid-1990s that, while it will cover routine maintenance for subdivision roads — plowing snow and sealing cracks and potholes, for example — paying the expenses of major rehabilitation and repaving work is primarily the responsibility of the owners of properties served by those subdivision roads.
Hemenway said if the HOA paid to repair neighborhood roads, the HOA also would have to take on 100% of the liability for those roads — something the HOA wasn’t willing to do, given they would continue to be owned by the county. So last summer, a group of residents looked into creating a Niwot Public Improvement District to assess a community-wide tax for the repairs. But, she said, the property tax hike was high and community support limited. Thatap when she began to explore incorporation.
Along with a better revenue model to solve the road issue, she said, incorporation creates more predictability for businesses considering investing in Niwot. A town would also wield more power with which to negotiate and lobby. When Xcel Energy recently decided to shut off power during high winds, she said, there was no Niwot government to negotiate where that would happen. She also pointed to Niwot being overlooked during the planning for a new Colo. 119 bike path.
”It all boils down to local control and who makes decisions,” she said. “Most communities our size are incorporated.”
She said she and the other organizers are setting up workshops so residents can delve into the details about the big issues, including the proposed town budget, roads, and fire and emergency services. Another town hall is likely in the spring.
Reduced fire service cost a goal
The documents that need to be approved by a district court judge include a proposed multi-year town budget that lays out estimated revenues and expenses.
The proposal is to create a 2.5% sales and use tax and add 4 mills to property taxes to fund town expenses, including public safety, public works, staff and administrative costs, and repayment of a bond issue for major repairs to the roads. For the owner of a home valued at $1 million, the organizers estimate the property tax cost as $250 more a year.
The organizers, who contend Niwot is overpaying for fire services in comparison to surrounding communities, also say the best-case scenario is to negotiate a better deal with the Mountain View Fire Protection District or switch to a different district.
Mountain View’s cost for the Niwot community, at about $3.4 million a year, is proportional to property values and equals about $830 per resident, according to numbers compiled by the organizers. The cost per resident for the Boulder Rural and Lyons fire protection districts, is about $450 per resident, they found. They’re hoping to negotiate a similar per-resident cost.
Once the town is incorporated, organizers suggest the new town council consider replacing Niwotap roughly 16-mill property tax that goes directly to the Mountain View Fire Protection District with an eight-mill property tax that would go to the town to pay for fire and emergency services. The eight-mill property tax would only be imposed if the town negotiated its own fire services contract, either with Mountain View or a different district.
Organizers say their analysis shows that the same level of fire and emergency services can be provided at a lower total cost, which would allow for a net reduction of about 4 mills in property taxes, largely offsetting the sales tax increase.
For road repairs, they’re estimating it will cost $13 million to $15 million to bring all 29 miles of roads up to excellent condition, including reconstructing about seven miles, adding an overlay to about five miles and chip sealing another five miles.
For town services, the plan is to “contract out as much as humanly possible,” including contracting with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office for a full-time deputy, contracting for routine road maintenance and snow removal, and contracting with a judge for municipal court. The town would add a manager, clerk, mayor and council.
Concerns raised by residents have included not wanting to pay more for roads that they believe the county has a responsibility to repair, that adding another layer of government is unnecessary, that incorporating creates too much financial risk, and that it could lead to urbanization of Niwot. Organizers emphasized that no developers or outside interests are involved.
“This is coming from residents who care about Niwot and want to make it better,” Hemenway said. “The time is right.”
