By Brendan Henry
The Surveyor

Berthoud’s town board held their regular bi-monthly meeting on Tuesday with a wide range of topics to cover after failing to meet the quorum at the last gathering. Topics included the trustee vacancy appointment to replace former trustee Jeff Butler, public hearings on the flood mitigation code, Chapter 30 code amendments and Ludlow annexation and zoning and ended with yet another addressing of the mosquito spray policy.

Mayor Will Karspeck opened the meeting up for the public to share their concerns. Public interests included Second Street and it’s poor condition with potholes and with added concern over emergency vehicle access and effectiveness. There was also a debate among residents about short-term rentals and Airbnb with residents complaining about excessive noise and traffic while those that run Airbnb properties defended their ability to do so.

Additional concerns included the bike park, with residents mentioning an increase in both vehicle and bike traffic and parking in residential areas that cause disruptions. One resident complained that the walking trail he frequents is now populated by reckless bikers.

Resident Katie Clopper told a vivid story of her son being bullied at the playground off of Meadowlark Drive and Mt. Meeker Avenue and hopes that something can be done to keep the parks safe.

Up next was the filling of the trustee vacancy. Both candidates, Chris Kurtz and Brett Wing, are on the town’s planning commission.

Kurtz interviewed with the board first. Kurtz grew up in Ohio and moved to Colorado, getting himself a water engineering job. Falling in love with Berthoud, Kurtz and his family moved here in 2019 and filled a vacancy on the PORT committee, eventually ending up on the planning commission as the Vice Chair.

Kurtz feels that growth is the biggest issue for Berthoud, wanting to try to “thread the needle” when it comes to balancing expanding the town while also maintaining the small-town charm.
Wing was born in London, as his father was in the Air Force. He moved to Colorado, working as a cart pusher and bagger at Safeway until he worked his way up as president of ShopRite. After moving around frequently, he wanted Berthoud to be his home for retirement.

Feeling that Berthoud is a beautiful and magical place, Wing wished to address growth within the town, speaking of water and housing costs as being potential future issues.
The trustees quickly wrote their votes down and handed them off to be tallied. Trustees Karl Ayers, Sean Murphy and Tim Hardy along with Karspeck and Mayor Pro Tem Mike Grace voted for Kurtz, with Trustee May Albrecht being the lone voter for Wing. With no further discussion, a motion to approve Chris Kurtz as the new trustee was passed unanimously and this was followed by Kurtz’s swearing-in for his newly appointed position.

Community Development Director Anne Johnson presented the flood map of Berthoud that was adopted by the board two years ago and proposed that the board accept a flood plan for the town. The approval of a flood plan for the town was passed unanimously.

Johnson also presented changes to verbiage to the town code, which was unanimously approved in a motion.

The board also voted unanimously to adopt Resolution 2023-19 and Ordinance 1323 approving the annexation of 0.436-acre of land known as “Ludlow Sliver Annexation” and to accept the Planning Commission recommendation to rezone the subject property to SR – Suburban Residential with the adoption of Ordinance 1324.

The trustees signed off on a resolution to approve mosquito spraying in the town when the vector index reaches 1.0 or higher for two consecutive weeks after months of discussion and compromise on the topic. The motion to approve this was passed unanimously.