Fort Collins, Timnath battle over boundaries

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

Effort to preserve an open space separation between Fort Collins and Timnath already has deeply divided the two communities philosophically, if not physically.

The conflict between the two now threatens to escalate into a nasty turf battle with each community poaching property the other considers within its eventual boundaries.

The dispute already has led to harsh words and threats. Timnath has accused Fort Collins of acting in bad faith by continuing to secretly negotiate for separator conservation easements within the town's growth management area. Timnath officials repeatedly have demanded that Fort Collins cease all such efforts until reaching an intergovernmental agreement to work in partnership with the town.

Doggedly disregarding those demands, the Fort Collins City Council recently reaffirmed its commitment to pursuing such easements, which the city staff insists must be stealthily negotiated because of Timnath's apparent efforts to sabotage the deals and open the separator area to potential development.

Now an all-out brawl could break out if Fort Collins pursues expansion of its growth management area east across Interstate 25 to outflank Timnath and take control of the separator.

That proposal gained momentum with the recent request from a group of developers controlling hundreds of acres east of I-25, extending from Vine Drive to Prospect Road. They asked Fort Collins to consider casting aside its caution about crossing the interstate to annex their properties and enable commercial development to occur within city limits.

If Fort Collins takes such an action, Timnath, which has already extended its growth management area north to Highway 14, is threatening to begin annexing lands already designated as part of Fort Collins' GMA - the territory designated as a municipality's eventual boundaries.

"If they don't recognize our GMA, I don't know why we have to recognize theirs," Timnath mayor Donna Benson said at a June 29 town board meeting. She said a number of developers within Fort Collins' GMA have approached Timnath about annexation.

"I'll be happy to take their tax dollars," added Timnath trustee Danny Byerly.

Discussion reopened

Timnath and Fort Collins have reopened discussions in an effort to resolve the complex and uncomfortable controversy. Based on a recent meeting between the two, Benson said she is trying to stay optimistic about reaching some accommodation. But she remains disappointed by Fort Collins' expressed intention to accelerate its aggressive effort of acquiring conservation easements within the separator area.

"The lines of communication are open," said Fort Collins Mayor Doug Hutchinson, while acknowledging that the council has directed city staff to continue negotiations with property owners.

At issue is whether Fort Collins will continue preserving from development properties within Timnath's GMA without first reaching an agreement with the town.

Following completion of the Fort Collins-Timnath-Windsor Community Separator Study in 2003, Fort Collins started negotiations to create a separator between the communities on some 800 acres east of I-25 and north and west of Timnath. So far the city has spent $1.2 million to purchase conservation easements forever limiting development on 160 acres west of Timnath Reservoir. Eventually the city expects to spend $6 million for similar easements within the separator.

But last fall, Timnath trustees adopted a resolution requesting that Fort Collins cease conserving land in the separator until negotiating an intergovernmental agreement with the town as called for in the original plan. The town expressed concerns that the conservation easements could interfere with pending capital improvements such as the County Road 5 bypass, Boxelder Creek storm drainage improvements and trail system construction.

Benson said Timnath wants to see the separator area remain open, but also wants to ensure the town's needs are taken into consideration when acquiring conservation easements.

"Fort Collins has notoriously stepped on people," she said.

In the meantime, Timnath also amended its comprehensive plan to extend its growth management area north to Highway 14. Intended in part to enable annexation of a 416-acre parcel at the northeast corner of Prospect Road and County Road 5, which is slated for residential and commercial development, the move effectively leapfrogged the separator that previously would have defined the northern reaches of the town.

Larimer County planning director Larry Timm said Timnath's GMA is "meaningless" to the county because it was imposed unilaterally without a formal intergovernmental agreement. Such an agreement is required, he said, for the county to recognize the area slated for eventual annexation and ensure any interim development there is in keeping with the town's standards.

Timnath "didn't see any use for an IGA," which is aimed at fostering cooperation and avoiding urban sprawl, Timm said. But even if such an agreement were in place, Timm conceded, it would be a voluntary pact that wouldn't prevent Timnath from expanding its GMA or annexing lands within Fort Collins' GMA.

"Timnath has not entered into a cooperative agreement with anybody. I think that's something that should happen with this separator," Timm suggested.

Mayor Benson agreed, contending in a June 16 letter to her Fort Collins counterpart "the intent was always to create a cooperative effort between Timnath, Fort Collins and Larimer County." But given that no agreement was ever reached among the three, "no acquisitions should be made," she wrote.

Despite requests to stop acquiring conservation easements within the separator, Fort Collins has proceeded. Adding to the insult, Benson wrote, the town has learned of negotiations "at the last hour which, at least as interpreted by the town of Timnath, indicates the city of Fort Collins staff and council have absolutely no intention of being a partner in this process."

Assistant city manager Tom Vosberg said Fort Collins had every intention of partnering with Timnath and still does. He said both once appeared very near reaching a relatively simple intergovernmental agreement almost identical to the one negotiated earlier with Windsor.

But, he said, it suddenly fell apart after Benson was elected as Timnath's new mayor and former town administrator Joe Racine was dismissed.

"Then Timnath's politics changed," Vosberg said. "It stunned us that they came blowing in at a meeting and said 'What the heck is this separator plan?' We got off to a really bad start. We were stunned that the process we had initiated was not recognized."

By then, he said, negotiations for conservation easements in the separator were well under way and Fort Collins could not have backed out even if it wanted to. Subsequent attempts to reach agreement with Timnath have been stymied, Vosberg said, because of the town's insistence on an unnecessarily detailed IGA.

"There's been a lot of confusion about what those IGAs are supposed to contain," he said.

Characterizing the current relationship with Timnath as an awkward one, Vosberg said, "I don't feel like we are in a partnership situation with them."

He said Fort Collins could not consult with Timnath regarding proposed conservation easement purchases because it learned the town was approaching property owners, asking them to spurn those offers and annex to Timnath.

"We'd rather have the landowners talk to us," conceded Benson. "It has been adversarial, no doubt about it."

Vosberg said Fort Collins believes it is cooperating with Timnath and wants to further that partnership.

"It has to be a mutual cooperation, but I don't see how that's possible with the history," said Timnath trustee Charlie Snider.

"It's hard to be good neighbors," Benson concurred, "when it doesn't work both ways."