NEDERLAND — As the Town of Nederland’s other boards spent the month of March focused on initiatives pertaining to affordable housing and the municipality’s partnership with its energy provider, the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Advisory Board (PROSAB) pushed an exciting new opportunity, one that Town staff was unsure on how to prioritize. 

During the “Other Business” portion of the Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting on March 17, Trustee Luke Miller—BOT liaison to PROSAB—brought up an urgent matter regarding the Boulder Valley School District’s (BVSD) decision regarding whether to apply for the Colorado Department of Local Affairs’ Community Schoolyards Grant Program. 

The program aims to evolve traditional schoolyards into accessible parks, with a focus on transforming the landscape of schools in underserved and underfunded communities into places that provide ecological strength and increased social opportunities. 

“Those involved are looking at a plan to improve the eastern end of the middle school field with some features that would be a little bit more useful for the community,” Miller said as he explained about the proposed impact to Nederland Middle-Senior High School (NMSHS). “There could be walking trails, boulders for scrambling, some signage about wildfires and water use, some plans for mountain bike features.”

Miller was bringing the matter before Town staff and his fellow Trustees on behalf of PROSAB and BVSD. The particular request was for a letter of approval to be drafted and signed by the BOT, establishing the Town of Nederland as the school district’s “community engagement partner” in the future improvements to the middle school field.  

The letter was required before the grant deadline of April 1, leaving very little time for the Town and BOT to assess the designs and plans for the project—which BVSD had yet to provide—and evaluate the conditions involved with being the district’s partner. 

Town Manager Jonathan Cain, having previously worked on this grant for another municipality, expressed issues with the language pertaining to the Town’s long-term financial obligation, as well as the potential liability involved and the Town’s lack of capacity for such an endeavor, given the time constraints. 

“My concern is that you’re supposed to be at a level where you can say what the budget is and describe the project in those fiscal details,” Cain said. “I don’t think you can sign an agreement for a facility that you don’t understand. To understand what the requirements are for the Town we need to know what the facility looks like and what the implications are for the liability.” 

PROSAB Chair Sam Ovett was present to provide Trustees with additional context and explained how he was pulled into working with BVSD at the “last minute,” but despite the rough timeline was working to complete an acceptable plan to meet the April 1 deadline.

Ovett expressed not wanting to “miss the opportunity,” as the grant had the potential of providing up to $150,000 for planning, and $850,000 for construction. 

Though Ovett stated he would be responsible for creating the plan and drafting the letter of approval for the BOT to sign, Cain clarified that a legal review process would be necessary, and that, if the goal was to have the letter for the grant applicant signed on Tuesday, March 31, the required information would have to be delivered to Town staff no later than Monday, March 23.

By the time PROSAB met for their monthly meeting on March 19, Ovett had no updates to provide. However, Board members had some questions about the potential reach of the grant, including whether they should submit more complicated plans involving a bouldering wall and mountain biking infrastructure, and if the grant could help fund the long-awaited Old Town-to-NMSHS trail and sidewalk construction.  

Cain explained that the Town is actively pursuing a big grant opportunity—the Colorado Energy Office’s Local Impact Accelerator grant—to fund that greatly anticipated trail project. 

Additionally, Cain specified that if the opportunity for the Community Schoolyards Grant Program was lost, there would still be opportunities for schoolyard improvements through state grant programs such as Great Outdoors Colorado and the Energy/Mineral Impact Assistance Fund. 

 Unfortunately, the matter never came before the BOT on March 31, and BVSD never completed an application for the grant opportunity by April 1. There was $3,800,000 available for municipalities who applied to the Community Schoolyards Grant Program in 2026, and there is no indication that the program will return.