By Brendan Henry
The Surveyor

The town board convened for its regular bi-monthly meeting on Tuesday, discussing water resources, the road and sidewalk project for 2024, the naming of Mountain Vista Park, a discussion on parks capital projects and an introduction to general code amendments. Mayor Pro Tem Mike Grace and Trustee May Albrecht were absent from the meeting.
During public comment, two residents expressed concern about gates on public roads in Berthoud, specifically in the Heron Lakes development, with one resident urging the board to adopt an ordinance to ban said gates. The board will discuss the topic in the upcoming weeks.

Pete Johnson, the town’s water attorney, presented an updated water supply-demand outlook. The town has recently acquired 50 additional Colorado-Big Thompson units and two additional Windy Gap units, and the updated outlook continues to evaluate three supply scenarios: No yield from the town’s Windy Gap units, average yield from the town’s Windy Gap units and firm yield from the town’s Windy Gap units.
For water demand, the outlook incorporates updated water demand data and utilizes a water bank accounting tool developed in 2023 to more closely analyze the difference between the town’s actual demand—based on treated water production at the town’s water treatment plant—and committed demand—including both actual demand and water service commitments the town has made but that are not yet included in the actual demand. The difference between actual and committed is classified as unrealized water demand.

The updated outlook assumes that the town’s unrealized water demand will grow proportionately with the town’s actual demand, meaning the town will continue to issue water credits at a rate proportionate to the growth in actual demand. The town says that these demand assumptions are very conservative, and can be further refined through an evaluation of the projected water demands associated with the town’s undeveloped area and expected annexation areas.

Public Works Operations Manager Keith Knoll presented updates on road and sidewalk improvements from 2022 and 2023, while also providing an overview of future improvements from 2024 to 2026. Last year was the busiest year in the town’s five-year road and sidewalk improvement plan thus far, with Sixth and Seventh Streets getting considerable sidewalk updates finished.
For future improvements, invitations for bids will be posted for concrete, chip seal, crack seal and patching. Second Street is intended to be narrowed with the addition of gutters to the sides. Residents have asked that speed bumps be implemented, something that the town will consider.

Town staff has been working with Baseline Engineering to develop construction and bid documents for the Second Street plan, an extension of Franklin Avenue between First and Second Streets, the patching and sealing of County Road 10 East and Water Avenue in addition to Berthoud Parkway, First Street, 10th Street and the Peak View neighborhood. Staff also prepared bid documents for sidewalk repairs and ADA improvements on Massachusetts Avenue, Seventh Street, Sixth Street, Turner Avenue, Lake Avenue and Welch Avenue between First and Second Streets.

The board unanimously approved for staff to go to bid on the 2024 concrete, chip-seal and asphalt projects.

Knoll remained front and center for the next agenda item, the naming of Mountain Vista Park. He presented digital renderings and design concepts to the board on the town property known as the Richardson property. Staff has been working with DTJ consultants in the past year to be nearly complete with the construction documents, and part of the process with staff and the PORT committee was to rename the property—ultimately coming up with the name Mountain Vista Park.

The park is to include four baseball fields, two softball fields, an aquatics facility, a playground, a concession stand and connectivity to the bike park.
Lauren Roth, a member of the PORT committee, spoke about her concerns about artificial turf, which is intended to be used for the baseball fields, regarding the turf being a health risk. She would also like to see a greater capacity for the outdoor pool. Another resident and member of the PORT committee spoke to the board in support of Roth’s concerns regarding the pool. There was a proposed plan for a pool at Town Park that was removed, and as Town Administrator Chris Kirk said, the pool was added to the Mountain Vista Park plan.

Kirk said that a survey to gain public input on the aquatics area could be a good idea, and the board discussed a possible name change due to people mistakenly referring to it as “Mountian View Park.” The idea behind naming it Mountain Vista Park is for the marketable acronym “MVP.” This is intended to be added to the survey as well.

After a short break, Knoll returned to go over the town’s park projects. Knoll began with Pioneer Park’s community garden, where the current goal is to make the garden ADA-compliant by creating taller beds. Smaller projects include a bug hotel and compost spot, and the town will be looking at cost estimates in the next month.

The next project involves the Jankowski property, with town staff, PORT and Colorado Open Lands looking for ways to utilize the land.

There are early plans for improvements to the bike park with the intent to expand the children’s area. This comes from concerns of bike park users seeing children going slow on the pump track.
During public comment for the park’s update, one resident expressed concern about irrigation for the proposed arboretum. The resident wants to preserve green space in the town to preserve the positive mental health effects that greener spaces provide. She would also like to see minimal fencing for the arboretum.

The final agenda item, general code amendments for Ordinance 1334, was led by Community Development Director Anne Johnson. Updates include corrections of spelling, movement of sign-code references, correction of spelling and other revisions to add clarity.

The next town board meeting will be held on March 12.