LaPorte cement plant to auction nearly 3,000 acres

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

About 3,000 acres of land at the Holcim cement plant north of U.S. Highway 287 will be auctioned Sept. 17 at the Hilton Fort Collins. Auctioneers are J.P. King Auction Co. of Gadsden, Ala.

Holcim spokesman Tom Chizmadia said the international company selected an auction "because of varied interest in the property." "It just brings more people into the process," he said.

It also leaves local agencies interested in buying large blocks open space out of the picture. K-Lynn Cameron, director of the Larimer County Open Land Program, said she tried to work with Holcim on an open lands purchase, but was unsuccessful. "It would be great if one person bought it all, and we could work with them," she said.

John Stokes, director of the Fort Collins Natural Resources Department, said the city has no plans to bid on the property, but he was disappointed with Holcim's decision to auction 35-acre parcels. "Splitting it into a bunch of little pieces is not optimal for land planning," he said. "It's disappointing that they're going in that direction."

At press time, land surveys were not complete and the number and size of all the parcels had not been determined. One parcel at the entrance of Withrow Ridge Subdivision along North Overland Trail is about 11 acres, but the rest of the property will sell in sizes of 35 acres or larger. Buyers who want more than 35 acres will be able to group parcels at the auction. Anything less than 35 acres would have to go through the county's subdivision review process before it can be divided and sold.

Holcim has named the property Boettcher Farm Estates in recognition of Charles Boettcher, who established the cement plant in 1927. Holcim shut down manufacturing operations on Aug. 31, 2002, but its distribution terminal at the south end of the property will continue to operate for an indefinite period, Chizmadia said.

The office and industrial buildings are also on the auction block, though they are not zoned for continued commercial use. Noting that the property is zoned O-Open, or residential, county planner Rob Helmick said a person who purchases the buildings for a business use will likely need a zone change or special review. Anyone who needs help evaluating the property's potential use is welcome to call the planning department at 498-7683.

Meanwhile, Holcim has been busy reclaiming its mined lands. "They're going at reclamation at a fairly aggressive fashion," said Carl Mount, senior environmental protection specialist with the Colorado Division of Geology. It's possible grading and seeding could be completed by the end of the year, he said.

Because mining at LaPorte started long before the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act, different rules cover different parts of the 5.5-mile quarry operation, Mount said. For any land mined after October 1977, the company will have to prove that it can establish vegetation that's equal to what's growing on surrounding unmined areas, he said. Depending on variables such as rainfall, it generally takes two to three years to get plants to grow in Colorado, he added.

The value of Holcim's property for tax purposes has dramatically declined since 2001 when just the main plant and adjacent 390 acres were valued at $10.2 million, said Jon Cowling, chief appraiser for the commercial division of the Larimer County Assessor's Office. Many of the buildings have since been demolished, and the value of that parcel has dropped to $664,000. The surrounding agricultural land has an average value of $56 an acre.

At least one entity stands to gain from residential development of the Holcim property - LaPorte schools, which have struggled with keeping enrollment high enough to maintain programs. On average, 10 homes generate about one junior high student and four elementary students, according to Poudre School District officials.