Timnath considers leaping Interstate 25

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

Timnath is exploring the possibility of reaching west across Interstate 25 to stake claim to prime commercial property recognized as an important gateway to Fort Collins.

If it decides to proceed, the town's action would be a bold incursion into one of the designated growth management areas that identify the territory municipalities eventually expect to annex.

Mayor Donna Benson said Timnath initiated the process of revising its future land-use map after receiving informal inquiries from six property owners interested in annexation to the town.

Among those six was developer Jay Stoner, owner of 100 acres at the southwest corner of Interstate 25 and Harmony Road. Currently located in unincorporated Larimer County, the property is designated as part of Fort Collins' growth management area.

An element of intergovernmental agreements negotiated between the county and municipalities, GMAs are aimed at promoting orderly growth by directing urban level development to the cities and towns best able to provide the necessary services. They also are intended to avoid turf wars by identifying municipalities' future spheres of influence. Development proposals within those areas are referred to municipalities for consideration rather than to the county.

Fort Collins advance planning director Joe Frank said he was not aware of Timnath's action. He said the city likely would be concerned about it because the land has been within its growth management area since 1981.

"It's an important piece of property," said Frank. "It's one of our gateways into the community."

Benson emphasized that the process is just getting started and Timnath has not made any commitment to incorporating the property into its boundaries.

"All these people are coming to us and all we're saying is let's get some input," she said.

"I don't have any say in it," Stoner said. He said his top priority now is working with neighboring property owners to draft a master plan assuring the high-profile site is developed to the highest possible standards regardless of which community annexes it. He described it as a destination development that will feature shops, offices, restaurants, housing and possibly a hotel and convention center all grouped around 30 acres of lakes created from reclaimed gravel pits.

"That's really up to Timnath, that's not my call. Overlapping growth areas, that's not my call either," Stoner said. "Preference-wise, I don't have a preference."

Stoner said he became involved with Timnath only after approaching town officials to discuss alternatives for bringing costly sewer service to the site. "I went to Timnath just to see what was going on and came away with an invitation to join the party," he said.

However, Stoner said, it seemed that Timnath was more ambitious about making the intersection developable. While Fort Collins once again seems to recognize the value of partnerships between business and government, he said, "Fort Collins still has a reputation it's living down. Timnath doesn't have that."

Stoner added that he did not see a problem with Timnath expanding its GMA to include his property.

While Benson said Timnath "won't even talk to people in the Windsor GMA," she added that the town recognizes no such obligation with Fort Collins because the city continues acquiring community separator lands within Timnath's GMA without the town's consent. Fort Collins has acquired through purchase or conservation easements 165 acres as part of a plan to preserve separations between communities. Timnath contends Fort Collins' actions are unauthorized because it never signed onto the plan.

"Our GMA hasn't been honored," said Benson.

"The issue of separators is a separate issue," said county manager Frank Lancaster. Otherwise, he said, the county can act legally to enforce GMAs if they are defined in formal intergovernmental agreements with municipalities. But one is not in place with Timnath, so the town has no recognized GMA.

Draft intergovernmental agreements previously were presented to the town, but none was signed apparently because of the turnover in administrators, according to Lancaster. He said the county has long wanted to negotiate an IGA with Timnath and agreed to do so in the recent settlement resolving its lawsuit challenging the town's creation of an urban renewal authority. (See story on page 6.)

If Timnath proceeds with annexation of the property within Fort Collins' GMA, Lancaster said, it would be a "real deal-breaker" in negotiating that joint intergovernmental agreement. As a result, he said, "the whole package would go south" and the county no longer would be bound by the terms of the lawsuit settlement.

"That would burn the bridges with the county and the city of Fort Collins," Lancaster said. "Everything falls apart real quickly if you don't cooperate."

Timnath planner Tim Katers said he expects the proposed changes in the land-use map to go before a planning commission for a public hearing later this month or in September. The commission will in turn make a recommendation to the town board.