Superior, CO: Mayor Andrew Muckle Interview

Andrew Muckle
Years in Superior: 12
Elected Mayor: 2006

Prior civic involvement: City Council in 1998 and 2002

Q:Why do people enjoy living in Superior?

A:  People enjoy Superior for a variety of reasons, including our proximity to employment and the attractions in Boulder County. We are close to mountains and trails; we purchased large amounts of open space that are directly connected to Superior on the west side of McCaslin Blvd. I think a lot of people move here because of the quality of life issues that Boulder County affords.

Many people in Superior work in Boulder and the neighboring communities; it is relatively easy because of our access to [US Highway] 36. There’s the Original Town that dates back to the coal mine days and the turn of the 20th century. People move into Original Town if and when they’re drawn towards being in sort of a small town, a relatively unregulated community. There are a lot of Original Town families that go back multiple generations. Then there’s the newer Rock Creek Ranch subdivision, which is the bulk of the community.

Another big factor given our demographics - being a large, young family community - is a significant interest in the Boulder Valley School District which includes our schools. When people are looking to relocate, especially if they have children in primary grades, they often are looking to communities in the Boulder Valley School District.

Q:What projects are you excited about concerning Superior right now or any exciting news?

A:  There are things that we have projected based upon our Comprehensive Plan and our development of the Town Center. However the market is a little tough right now. Town Center developments here and throughout the country have been put on hold; although I think that being in Boulder County we will probably be one of the first Town Center projects to move forward in the area and even in the country, but it’s still probably several years out.

We’re continually identifying the Center’s next projects, which would involve commercial, retail and somewhat novel housing stock - at least novel from what we currently have in the town of Superior. There’s been discussion about moving the town hall into the central core of that project; having that become a community identifier. Those discussions are very preliminary.

We’ve purchased several hundred acres of Open Space in the last couple of years as we have a dedicated Open Space sales tax funding stream. Our last remaining big projects are what I’d call partial project purchases; we try to coordinate with other municipalities that would be interested in joint purchasing.

We’re also trying to figure out how to provide library services. We could choose between building a small library here or partnering with another jurisdiction providing library services. This is an ongoing discussion.

Q:What motivated you to become mayor of Superior?

A:  It’s kind of crazy that I’m actually in the position that I am, because it’s nothing that I ever anticipated doing, quite frankly. When we moved to Superior, we didn’t have kids, but I knew that I wanted to be involved in the community some how. So, I started working with schools and the community representatives and did that for 2 to 3 years and about that time the urban renewal authority project got started. I was a member of a community group that discussed what we would like to see in that project. People now know that as the Costco and Target shopping area. In 1998 I was thinking about applying for the planning commission because I enjoyed that experience, but that was also the time that the election cycle was coming forward and there was a vacancy. I ran and fortunately I was elected. I enjoyed those first four years. We talked about a lot of interesting things that are really outside the realm of my day-to-day work life. In 2002 I was honored to be re-elected.

I was fully anticipating 2 terms and then going back to my day-to-day work life and family issues. During that time our mayor resigned and I encouraged our Mayor Pro Tem, Mark Hamilton to run but for various reasons he decided not to. We were going to have significant turnover on the Board, and after some reflection and discussion with my family I decided to run for mayor in 2006.

It’s not something I ever envisioned doing, but it’s been a great honor and honestly it’s interesting and a great opportunity to meet wonderful people.

Q:What are the biggest challenges facing Superior now and the future?

A:  I think developing community identity, expanding our housing stock and diversifying our revenue stream are the cornerstones of what we need to think about. We’re still a bedroom community and we’re working on developing into a more “full-serve” community.

The diversification of housing stock is gaining traction and it is something I’ve always been interested in. I’ve lived in Boulder County all my life and have family members, including parents, that live here. I understand that we don’t really provide opportunities for empty-nesters and senior citizens in Boulder County in general. I find that to be a big problem and one that Superior would like to participate in solving.

The way that we would solve that is diversification of our housing stock to provide that opportunity. I don’t know that I’ve been able to get enough agreement with my colleagues on that. Anything that involves residential building is somewhat controversial, because we would like to develop our commercial base mostly. But, it’s an important issue that we want to be able to help at least in our small way to solve in terms of providing other housing opportunities.

We are highly dependant upon the MarketPlace which includes the SuperTarget. And I think high concentration of a few retailers is not a long-term winning composition. I think that part of our Town Center visioning includes providing opportunities for retailers which would help us in the long term in terms of our diversification of revenue.

We have very strong finances, so we don’t have to make any snap decisions about what to do in terms of building new things or changing our budget around. We have a significant amount of money in the bank, so we have the luxury of being able to think about these things.

Q:How do you envision the evolution of Superior’s residential housing stock?

A:  Basically we’re a bedroom community, but we know that this is just a snapshot in time and that we need to provide opportunities to those who would like to live in town and age if not specifically in the same building, but in town. To provide those opportunities we must develop a different form of housing stock compared to what we have right now, be that patio homes or clustered developments or lofts/condominiums over retail with relatively low maintenance. It’s a direction that I think that we need to move.

There is some interest in developing the “active senior” type of product and a property owner that is part of the Town Center project has interest in that. But, once again, residential development is always somewhat controversial. We had a project in the Original Town that was contemplated which would include smaller patio home- type products that would provide at least one of those elements that I think are important. Any infill development is even more complicated than any general development and so that has been put on the back burner, but I’m hoping that that project will move forward.

The single loft/empty nester/young professional who don’t want to have a high maintenance product; loft or condominium over retail or commercial; these are products that I think will be seen in the Town Center development when that moves forward. The Remington Home product is probably more likely to occur in the near future, once again, the town center vision is going to be several years out just because of the market.

Q:Is Superior doing anything special to attract businesses?

A:  We try to be a business friendly community, understanding that businesses are the bedrock of both our finances as well as our community identity. We try not to alter the market too much, but we do have an economic development plan that encourages businesses to move here if they’re over a certain size and provide certain amounts of employment. The short answer is, yes, we have development tools that we are willing to use when businesses are looking to move into the area.

To promote business development, we’ve actually gone out and done a visioning process for the Town Center project to determine what that area should look like. We have been actively marketing that locally and to national firms. We have put the Town Center area into our Urban Renewal Authority and that will provide tax increment funding possibilities for retailers or other developers to move into that area. Whether or not that means direct financial incentives and whether or not the town will build infrastructure and pay for that with bonds, that’s yet to be clarified.

We understand that this is a slowly developing project that will eventually promote businesses moving into our area, but it’s just a very tough market right now in terms of building commercial, office and retail areas.

Q:Could you share a couple of your favorite “only in Superior” experiences?

A:  One of the things that I really enjoy is meeting the people that have lived in Superior for multiple generations. They have a unique historical perspective on this. They have great insight into what’s happened to the area and understand what Superior looked like before we got to the point that we’re at right now. That’s really one of the highlights of living here in Superior and being Mayor.

We have some nice community events. We have the 4th of July parade, a downhill one-mile race, which two years ago was the best outdoor mile in the United States and so that’s something that we’ll develop. The parade and activities down at our community park during the Labor Day Chili Cook-off are very well attended and that’s growing every year.

Q:What do you enjoy most about living in Colorado?

A:  I’ve basically lived in Colorado all my life and in Boulder County specifically and I can’t imagine really living any place else, much to the chagrin of my wife, who’s from the East Coast. But, you know, at least for me, what I enjoy the most is just living by the mountains, living in an area that has great outdoor opportunities in terms of walking or cycling or hiking, getting out and doing things. The weather is fantastic. The people are great and I love living in Boulder County which is a relatively progressive county that focuses on environmental issues. All of those reasons are a perfect fit for me. I love living here. I wouldn’t really want to move any place else.