Earthmovers fashioning Timnath's transformation

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

Timnath's transition has started. It will be a slow but sure process now that earthmovers are carefully sculpting former farm fields to soon yield an exceptional 260-acre private golf course.

The course will be unlike any ever seen before in northern Colorado, according to developer and passionate golfer Byron Collins. Built by the nation's top designer, it will become the centerpiece of Collins' Harmony project, a premium development on a square-mile parcel a mile east of the current Timnath townsite. Plans show that a mix of 515 residential units could be built there in the next 15 years.

Harmony's recent launch marks the first step in a long march that eventually will increase the town's population almost 50-fold from the current 230 people to more than 11,000.

The original town of some 200 acres will grow to a community of nearly 16 square miles wedged tightly between Fort Collins and Windsor. It will extend from County Road 34 on the south to Highway 14 on the north. Interstate 25 generally will become its western boundary and County Line Road the eastern one.

The mostly modest homes in the original townsite will be surrounded by pricey new properties.

It's a change, like any other, filled with some anxiety for current residents-- but at the same time garners real excitement about the prospect of building a uniquely connected and self-contained community essentially from scratch.

It's been a long haul getting this far. The process stated about a decade ago when residents realized that Timnath was in the eye of a storm of surrounding development. They decided to take control of the situation before it took control of them. Dedicated volunteers spent countless hours developing the comprehensive plan and standards to guide the eventual development of the town when developers came knocking.

Several were poised, particularly Jon Turner, who is in the process of gaining approval of his Timnath Ranch project. Expected to accommodate a mix of 1,694 residential units in the next 20 years, it is located on 595 acres bounded by Harmony Road on the north, County Road 36 on the south, County Road 3 on the west and County Line Road on the east.

Jerry and Mary McMorris also were prepared to fill in a couple more big pieces of the puzzle with their Timnath Farms properties. The 470-acre northern portion lies between the original town and the Harmony project. The 375-acre southern section is immediately south of Turner's Timnath Ranch property. Together, the McMorris properties could one day accommodate a mix of almost 2,250 housing units.

But Collins was the first of the big three to start turning dirt in late March on the farm that had belonged to the Nelson family for more than a century. A low-key businessman and developer of several upscale Fort Collins subdivisions, Collins said he had earlier worked with Rodney Nelson developing his property into what became the Willow Springs subdivision.

As a member of the county planning commission, Nelson recognized that development would inevitably arrive at Timnath's door, Collins said, and called on him again when the time was right to develop his property near Timnath. Relations with the town proceeded exceedingly smoothly until early 2003 when matters suddenly became "very adversarial," Collins recalled. The situation deteriorated to a point that he finally stopped working with Timnath and pursued development of Harmony under the standards applying to the unincorporated county.

A dramatic turn took place a year ago, however, following the town board election and resignation of the town's first full-time administrator. Timnath officials invited him back into the fold, Collins said, and he agreed to return.

Real obstacles remain even as the town's transformation starts. The principal problem remains the costly issue of dealing with the Boxelder Creek overflow, which continues to threaten the town with flooding and inhibit further development. And now the town must defend itself from a Larimer County lawsuit challenging the method Timnath planned to finance such capital improvements.

But beyond all the challenges remains a continuing commitment to create a unique community built around water with wide swaths of open space, a solid downtown and cohesive neighborhoods all bound together by an elaborate trail system.

"I think we've gone beyond what most communities have," said mayor Donna Benson. "What we really want to do is create a community where people can live there, shop there and enjoy life there."