In the Region

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MEAD AND WELD COUNTY CONTINUE LAND BATTLE
On February 7, Town of Mead officials approved a wastewater treatment facility study, partially in their effort to hold Weld County at bay. One week later, on February 14, the Weld County Commissioners approved plans for an $8.1 million sanitation district that covers virtually the entire area the Mead Town leaders approved its study on. The area in question is east of Mead and I-25, aka the proposed East I-25 Sanitation District that encompasses more than 15,000 acres currently designated in Weld County for mixed-use development. At the heart of the dispute is the desire of landowners to avoid the Town of Mead jurisdiction and $8000 per unit fees to serve their combined 3300-acre properties that are contiguous to Mead’s eastern boundary. Instead, the property owners want to move ahead with financing of their own sanitation district and develop in unincorporated Weld County under county rules. Weld County regularly supports urban scale development. Timing and certainty are additional issues. Weld County property owners believe the first phase of the East I-25 Sanitation District would be operational by early 2006 and that land use rules would be stable. Under Mead’s approach, landowners would have to wait until at least 2009 before sanitation services are available and there is a good deal of uncertainty as to future land use rules. At this point, Mead may have to settle for a wastewater treatment plant west of I-25 and face being wedged between burgeoning retail development along U.S. 287 north of Colo. 66 and large-scale residential development in Weld County east of I-25.

JOHNSTOWN APPROVES 600 ACRE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Johnstown Trustee approved a 600-acre preliminary plan for 1600 residential units in early February. The development is known as the Thompson River Ranch and is east of I-25 within the Big Thompson River drainage basin but the planned homes would not be in a floodplain. The parcel is part of a larger planned growth area known as the ‘2534’ development that could nearly double the population of the Town, currently home to about 5500 residents. The proposed ‘2534’ development also includes nearly five million square feet of commercial buildings. The location of Thompson River Ranch has the neighboring communities of Fort Collins and Loveland concerned about quality of life and environmental issues.