Timnath, county resolve urban renewal feud

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Currents

A settlement is looming in the lawsuit between Timnath and Larimer County that has complicated the growing town's plans to finance millions of dollars in road, bridge, drainage and other public improvements.

Although both declined to discuss details until the agreement is finalized, acting town administrator Becky Davidson and county administrator Frank Lancaster confirmed that an agreement appears near.

"It's 100 percent in Timnath's court right now," said Lancaster. "They're writing it up."

Davidson said the verbal agreement is being translated into a document that she expects to be ready early this month. "I thought we'd be done by now," she said. When it is, she said, the town and county will make a joint statement.

The agreement is expected to make financial concessions to the county, which in a lawsuit filed a year ago had challenged Timnath's creation of an urban renewal authority. The county asked the court to void Timnath's actions taken in late 2004, contending that the town abused its authority by designating all lands within its urban growth area as an urban renewal area--including more than three square miles of farmland it had recently annexed. That lawsuit was dismissed in August by the district court, which found the county had no standing to contest the decision. The county then took its case to the Colorado Court of Appeals.

Designating lands as a URA allows the town to retain all additional property taxes resulting from the increased value of the property for 25 years following its development. That "tax-increment financing" then can be used to repay bonds issued to fund capital improvements. At the same time, it freezes tax revenues to the county at the lower assessed valuation of that property prior to development.

The county protested that would effectively subsidize the cost of development in Timnath by siphoning off tax revenues the county needs to serve those additional residents.

"The issue that was always there was the loss of tax revenues," said Lancaster. "Our interest really was the use of county revenues being diverted away from county services and the impact on county government."

The agreement apparently addresses the county's concerns by limiting further expansion of the urban renewal authority area. "The URA will stay the same size," Davidson confirmed.

While the county gained some concessions, Davidson said Timnath also got something it wanted. "We want to move on and start working on projects and bond on projects," she explained.

Timnath has identified a lengthy list of public improvements needed for current residents and to provide for its anticipated growth from a town of 227 to one of as many as 12,000. Developers, the town and the urban renewal authority would share the nearly $78 million estimated cost.

Among the big-ticket items are: $4 million to $6 million for Boxelder Creek drainage and improvement projects; nearly $9.7 million for old town improvements; $6.9 million for construction of the four-lane Main Street parkway looping around the current downtown; and almost $4.7 million for replacement of the Harmony Road Bridge over the Poudre River.

In a separate but related development, agreement also is near on a plan for sharing Timnath's tax-increment financing revenues with the Poudre Fire Protection District to finance construction of a new fire station.

According to fire district manager Guy Boyd, when those rebated TIF revenues are sufficient and the number of calls approaches 500 a year, a new fire station would be built on a portion of the four acres set aside for a new Timnath municipal complex on the south side of town adjacent to the new parkway. That station is projected for construction in 2010.