Just like most things in government, changes don’t come overnight and that was especially true with the Fort Collins Land Use Code. Rewriting a code that hasn’t had any major changes in 25 years takes time. 

Last week I introduced who I am and why I am studying the Land Use Code situation in Fort Collins. This week I wanted to do my best to give a comprehensive timeline of what’s happened so far. 

From minor updates to the total rewrite, to the repeal of the Land Development Code, to the formation of citizen interest groups, there is a lot to cover.

My main resources for this task were the Coloradoan and the Fort Collins City Council meeting records. It’s important to note that the city would often make minor adjustments to the land use code but nothing major came until around June in 2022. 

From what I was able to find, just in the year 2019, the Council adopted 11 different changes to the Land Use Code, all minor adjustments.  

Issues like affordable housing are complex with no one way to address it. Policies that aim to solve complex issues like affordable housing are multidimensional. They have to be in order to be effective. 

The way I see it, Fort Collins started to look at affordable housing, identified the quick fixes but ultimately saw the writing on the wall and decided it was time to update the land use code.

Housing Strategic Plan

In January 2021, the city came out with the Housing Strategic Plan  and it is a comprehensive look at affordable housing in Fort Collins. The plan starts with Fort Collins’ vision for the future and then dives into problems and possible solutions. 

In the plan, the City identified the seven greatest challenges they are facing when it comes to affordable housing. 

Some of these challenges include things like the pure lack of affordable housing that people need, lack of city funding to encourage affordable housing and the fact that job growth continues to outpace housing growth. 

Image: Page 40 and 41 of the Housing Strategic Plan, greatest challenges 1-12. Courtesy of Fort Collins.

Image: Page 42 and 43 of the Housing Strategic Plan, greatest challenges 13-21. Courtesy of Fort Collins

Image: Page 44 and 45 of Housing Strategic Plan, greatest challenges 22-26. Courtesy of Fort Collins. 

What was most impressive was the 26 strategies that the City identified. This included changes to the land use code like removing barriers to development of accessory dwelling units to creating a new tax or fee to fund affordable housing directly from the city. 

Land Use Code

By June 2022, the City of Fort Collins was underway updating the land use code. A document as long and as detailed as the land use code is never easy, and that is the experience the city had.

Throughout the process of rewriting the land use code, the city held public comment and hearings. According to the website, it appears that the city held a considerable amount of public discussions, which can be found here under “What was the community engagement process for these code changes, and who was involved?” tab at the bottom. This is an important piece of information to keep in mind later down the road, as community engagement is something I will be exploring. 

Land Use Code Adopted

On Nov. 1st, 2022, the council approved the Ordinance 114, 2022, which adopted the Land Development Code. The name was changed from Land Use Code to Land Development code. On the city’s website, they said this was to better reflect the purpose of the document.

The Land Development Code was set to go into effect on January 1st, 2023 but a petition was filed to stop the code from going into effect. 

Preserve Fort Collins

In response to the Land Development Code being passed, Preserve Fort Collins, a group of citizens that did not approve of the Land Development Code was formed. Around the same time that Preserve Foco was formed, Foco Forward was also formed. 

Foco Forward was formed by City Council members Julie Pignataro and Mayor Pro-Tem Emily Francis. The group was concerned about what they believed to be misinformation that was spreading about the land use code. 

Referendum 

The successful referendum was presented to the city council by the city clerk on Dec. 30th, 2022.  The petition needed 4,228 valid signatures but collected 6,447 valid signatures. The Preserve Fort Collins group was able to collect 7,443 signatures but 996 were presumably deemed invalid. 

According to Fort Collins referendum guidelines, petitioners had 20 days to circulate the petition and return it to the city clerk. 

A Nationwide Issue

Affordable housing is not just an issue in Fort Collins or even in Colorado- it is an issue that most of the country is facing right now. 

When the Colorado General Assembly convened for the 74th regular session on Jan. 9th, the first bill introduced in the senate was about housing. The bill, SB23-001, would create a public-private partnership to allow state owned land to be developed for housing. 

Governor Jared Polis’ State of the State had a major focus on affordable housing. The attention from the state legislature and the Chief Executive of the State further emphasize how big of an issue affordable housing is not just in Fort Collins but in Colorado. 

What’s Next?

Preserve Foco had a couple reasons they wanted the Land Development code repealed. They thought it would fundamentally alter certain parts of Fort Collins, such as Old Town and they were unhappy with what they deemed was a lack of public outreach by the city. 

FoCo Forward approved of the plan and thought that it was the right direction that the city needed to move in.

As the city goes back to the drawing board to look at the Land Development Code, how will they ensure both sides can walk away satisfied, if that is a goal of the city? 

The obvious remains obvious here. Something has to be done. The City cannot just move on from the Land Development Code and worry about it in a few years. What will be different, if anything, this next time around?

I hope that this timeline gives a better idea of what has unfolded so far. There is a lot to digest and if you made it this far, congratulations and thank you. 

Next week I will take a look at the Growth Management Area, another key factor in the Land Development Code. This is one of the key factors in development in Fort Collins.

Until we meet again, feel free to reach out to my email with any questions or comments. 

Reach me at michael.stella@colostate.edu or @Michaelstella_