Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the Board’s authority regarding Nyland Outdoor Common Areas?

Nyland’s outdoor common areas are specifically the purview of the Board, under Nyland’s CC&Rs (section 3 and specifically 3.5 and 3.7). Similar to how the board is responsible for the safety of the pedways by making sure they are free and clear of snow and ice and by replacing sidewalks that are damaged, the board is also tasked by the CC&Rs with managing Nyland’s outdoor common areas for safety and within the values of the Nyland community.

The Board fully supports community-wide decision-making processes, where appropriate. The early stage of the coronavirus pandemic, when the state issued the “Stay-At-Home” order, was a unique situation — we faced a public health emergency, in which the Board felt it necessary to act fast to ensure safety and to comply with public health authorities. Now that there is less of an emergency, the Board is re-opening all the outdoor common areas with restrictions, and encourages a community process (separate from and not managed by the Board) to consider revisions to these usage policies if needed.


2. Why is the board imposing additional restrictions above what the City, County and State have imposed?

The pandemic is far from over, with the number of new cases per week currently increasing in 36 states, including Colorado. The virus has been proven to spread from people who have not experienced symptoms — so any one of us could have the virus and be infecting others without knowing it. There is still no reliable treatment for COVID-19, nor a vaccine, nor is there certain sustained immunity after recovery.

Outdoor transmission from passing contact is very low-risk, according to current scientific consensus. However, as the number of people gathered in an area increases, and with people tired of distancing and isolation, it is likely that some outdoor gatherings will result in longer-duration mingling between some participants, with a higher risk of viral transmission. This effect seems particularly to occur in the area of the two courts and path. Non-distanced gatherings in such a central public space can have the effect of weakening norms around distancing and damaging the sense of community safety for people for whom infection risk is a matter of life-and-death importance.

For this and the additional reasons below, the Board has focused on setting a maximum number of users for some of our community-owned outdoor spaces that is lower than the maximum set by public health authorities for larger public playgrounds, etc. In determining parameters for each area, the Board considered many factors, including:

• Size of each area
• Placement of each area, i.e., courts on either side of main pathway to the farm, with only a narrow margin of separation
• Different typical and possible use-cases for each area, and specific use requirements and safety considerations for each
• Customary patterns of usage of each area
• Nyland community norms of equitable access and respect for different viewpoints, preferences and needs
• Proportion of community members who are at-risk (themselves or their family members) due to age or underlying health conditions
• Dogs running free in a crowded area contributes to the collapse of distancing mentioned above, hence the on-leash requirement, which is already Nyland policy, but some guests may not be aware of it.

Links:

Colorado “Safer at Home” Website:
https://www.bouldercounty.org/families/disease/covid-19/

Colorado Public Health Order 20-28 SAFER AT HOME AND IN THE VAST, GREAT OUTDOORS:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SGpUbcOFI6W0gdkXntKtSW9pitGoBF6H/view

Boulder County COVID-19 Website:
https://www.bouldercounty.org/families/disease/covid-19/

Boulder County Public Health Facial Covering Order:
https://www.bouldercounty.org/news/boulder-county-public-health-extends-facial-covering-order-to-protect-health-and-support-the-local-economy/

City of Lafayette COVID-19 Website:
https://www.cityoflafayette.com/2473/COVID-19