New director hired for RLUC

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

Larimer County has selected a new director for its Rural Land Use Center, a program that helps agricultural landowners generate income from clustered housing developments while preserving part of their land for continued agricultural use, wildlife habitat or scenic open space.

Linda Hoffmann, who grew up on a family farm in northeastern Kansas, will take over the director's job on June 16. She replaces Jim Reidhead, who served as the RLUC's first director for more than 10 years.

Hoffmann comes to Larimer County from Nolte Associates, an engineering firm with offices in Colorado, Utah, California and Mexico. She is a principal in the business and director of the Fort Collins office. She also serves as forum leader for sustainable design. When Hoffmann changes careers, she will be one month shy of 22 years with the company. Her annual salary with Larimer County will be $91,217.

Hoffman has a five-year professional degree in landscape architecture from Kansas State University, where her studies included research on agricultural land preservation. She noted that her own "quirky background" from family farming to business and engineering, along with public outreach, complements the myriad demands of the RLUC.

"It's the package, not just one thing," she said of the RLUC, "and I don't bring just one thing. I bring a complete package."

Hoffmann noted that her family, with no next generation to take over the farm, is facing the same challenge as many Larimer County farmers.

"The thing that intrigues me about the Rural Land Use Center," she said, "is that this is such a universal issue - families moving out of agriculture. I don't want production homebuilders to turn everything into cookie-cutter subdivisions."

Noting that the rural land-use process is voluntary, she said, "In order for it to work, it has to be a win-win."

Responding to the frequent comment that "all the easy projects are done," Hoffmann said, "We have to learn from wisdom gained from earlier projects. There is plenty of creativity out there, and we just have to do more of it."