Development proposal for Holcim land riles neighbors

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

The first person to propose a multi-lot development for the former Holcim cement plant property north of LaPorte received little support at a neighborhood meeting on Sept. 12.

Neither the owners of individual 35-acre lots carved from the Holcim land sale nor longtime LaPorte area residents to the south like the idea of having 56 homes clustered on mostly one- and two-acre lots overlooking Curtis Lake. The project has been named The Lake at Big Horn Conservation Development.

Rockridge LLC is developing the 569-acre parcel west of North Taft Hill Road. Heading up the development is David Santistevan of Sandbox Development, which has offices in San Diego, Calif., and Windsor.

A neighborhood meeting is the first of several steps required to gain county approval of a residential development. Under the county's land-use code, Rockridge is required to cluster building sites and preserve 50 to 80 percent of the parcel as private open space.

Representing the developer, Bruce Hendee of BHA Design said Northern Colorado Water Association will provide water after upgrading its facilities. Sewage disposal will be handled through shared leach fields, he said, and the developers plan to form an improvement district to pay for some infrastructure.

Some neighbors contended the developers should stick with 10-acre lots, but planner Rob Helmick said after the meeting that the land-use code no longer allows that lot size when the parcel to be subdivided exceeds 30 acres.

Neighbors also asked about size and height restrictions on homes, but they were told those issues would be part of the covenants for the development and nothing had been determined at this point.

The biggest conflict at this stage appears to be over homeowners' association rules. Holcim created the Boettcher Farms Estate Association when it auctioned off 3,000 acres two years ago. Some of the landowners are complaining that the higher-density developments will be able to outvote the others and place unreasonable restrictions and costs on the larger lots.

One vocal opponent, John Lynn, is the only person to have built a home on his lot to date. "I moved from southeast Fort Collins to get away from that kind of development," he said.

Rather than settle the homeowners' association dispute in court, Lynn said, many of the property owners would prefer to split off from the new developments.

Most certainly, Larimer County is not going to mediate the disagreements.

"We won't get in the middle of a homeowners' association dispute," Helmick said. "We are controlled by the zoning, not by the civil agreement."

Following the meeting, Santistevan said he was sure that issues raised at the neighborhood meeting could be resolved.

"We're excited about doing a first-class project in LaPorte," he said.

Tim O'Hara, who lives north of LaPorte, told the crowd that LaPorte needs more families. Cache La Poudre Elementary School could close unless it draws more students, he said.

The next steps in development review are a meeting with the LaPorte Area Planning Advisory Committee, a public hearing with the Larimer County Planning Commission and a final hearing with the county commissioners. No hearing dates have been set.

Those interested in following the hearing schedule can find meetings and agendas posted at www.larimer.org. Citizens can subscribe to a notification list at the same web site.