Longmont's growth prompts criticisms, councilmembers' reactions

Jun. 20—Longmont's growth, the form it has taken and the changes in the community that have resulted have prompted concerns from some of its longtime residents.

Longmont's population exceeded 99,000 by the end of last year, the city's Planning and Development Services Department staff estimates. That's a 15.4% increase from the 86,270 people the 2010 U.S. census counted living in Longmont in April 2010, and nearly 40.1% more people than the 2000 census reported living in Longmont.

"Growth as its own creature is not beneficial to its surroundings. As one productive industry fades, then sure, replace it with another. But let's not have growth for its own sake," 20-year Hawthorne Circle resident Richard Juday said.

Juday argued in a recent Times-Call guest opinion, in emails and in an interview that Longmont's staff and City Council have been too deferential to developers proposing annexations and potential developments on the properties those developers want to bring into the city.

Several councilmembers, however, say the city's current growth policies are intended to maintain and improve the quality of life for current and future residents, including efforts to increase Longmont's inventory of affordable housing.

Mayor Brian Bagley, when asked to comment about Longmont's growth and its impact on the community, said Longmont has grown because people find it "a pretty desirable place to live," Bagley said.

Bagley, who's completing his 10th year as a councilmember — six as the Ward 1 council representative followed by holding the mayor's post since November 2017 — expressed his opposition to "locking the door" policies that would halt Longmont's geographic expansion and the kinds of development the community wants for itself.

"You've got to manage growth as it occurs," Bagley said.

Councilwoman Polly Christensen said in an email, "Humans have been flocking to cities since there were cities. Moving is what humans do: We seek a better situation for ourselves and our children.

"Growth is not unique to Longmont or even Colorado. Growth and change has its positive and negative points, but growth does have substantial impacts on planning for the future of everything: schools, water, air quality, city infrastructure, city planning, employment opportunities," said Christensen, who's completing eight years as a councilmember at large.

Christensen said she agrees with criticisms that councils have often rubber-stamped annexation and major development proposals.

"We have historically been a town run behind the scenes by powerful, wealthy special interests, and that continues today," she said. But she added, "I do not want to stop development; I want better development: smarter, more efficient, more creative, more varied. To stop all growth, residential or commercial, would be to suffocate Longmont.

"There is a great difference between the out-of-control toxic growth of cancer versus the lovely blossoming of our gardens in the spring. But our gardens also need weeding, pruning and tending," Christensen said.

Juday, who ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 2005 and 2008, charged that developers "waltz in, bury the prairie dogs, scrape the land flat, set up metro districts to finance the infrastructure work, build and sell houses and make some tens of thousands of bucks," a profit he contended may amount to the "hundreds of thousands."

"They then hook the houses up to city services and abscond. That leaves the city and previously existing residents to have the existing facilities diluted by the newcomers."

Juday said that when he and his wife, Darcy, chose to settle in Longmont in 2001, "it had an attractive, small-town feel that appealed to both of us, along with the open space and farmland that surrounds Longmont. Unfortunately that small-town aspect is under threat by pressures to grow. Particularly as the country opens again into a, hopefully post-COVID era, those pressures will only increase."

Councilwoman Marcia Martin, who's completing her fourth year in the Ward 1 council seat that represents most of southwest and some of southside Longmont, said in an email that "Longmont is getting smarter on how to 'complete' a city to function in a mode where land area can't increase, and (where) population growth is very slow.

"But those who say that our population must be capped are not allowing time or space for the wiser planning objectives we have now to take effect. While much can be done with infill and redevelopment opportunities, Longmont should still expand to the extent of its planning area. We need the wiggle room to balance our housing inventory, improve walkability and move towards higher density and mixed use, reclaim asphalt in favor of smarter public transit options, and more," she said.

Martin said, "We have city management that is both responsible and visionary. The city has sent away the last three annexation referrals with admonitions to come back with concept plans that align with the new city objectives for higher density, mixed use, and a different kind of urban planning than we had 30 years ago, where our current problems have their roots."

Councilman Tim Waters said, "I haven't heard a lot" from constituents concerned about growth except in the context of people's complaints about traffic, an issue on which he said he understands "there's a lot of frustration."

However, "I don't think " growth "is a topic that's going to go away," said Waters, who's in his fourth year on the council.

The reality, Waters said, is that Longmont's annual population growth has been "generally less than 2 percent a year," even if it feels and looks to be higher. In some ways, Longmont and its housing market are still trying to recover from the 2008 recession, he said.

Waters said Longmont shouldn't lose it goals of providing housing for the homeless, more affordable housing for low-income residents, and market-rate housing that's "attainable" and affordable for people with jobs in the community — including, he said, people who teach, respond to emergencies and work in the city's hospitals..

Councilmembers Aren Rodriguez, Susie Hidalgo-Fahring and Joan Peck could not be reached for comment.

Former Mayor and Councilmember Roger Lange and former City Manager Gordon Pedrow suggested in emails and interviews that Longmont reestablish specific "quality of life" criteria to use in evaluating annexation and major development proposals, similar to benchmarks they said the city used during parts of their tenures but later abandoned.

"The growth rate is a big issue right now," said Lange, who was a councilman from 2000 to 2007 and mayor from 2007 through 2009.

He said, "I think the City Council should agree on an appropriate rate of growth and then measure it monthly and share it with the citizens of Longmont. That way everyone will be informed and can provide input to the council on how they are managing the growth issue. Right now there is no accountability to anyone on City Council or city staff. Building permits continue to be issued without how it will impact the growth rate, and on and on it goes."

Pedrow said that in reestablishing such benchmarks, "it would appear to me that a community involvement process should be undertaken so that existing residents can help determine how growth is now impacting their lives and will in the future. This type of process would help the community determine what impacts to mitigate and what entity should pay for the impacts."

Both Lange and Pedrow said that a large proportion of the Longmont housing being developed recently appears to be apartment complexes, rather than single-family residential structures.

According to the city's active development log, proposed apartment complexes and other multifamily structures totaling more than 1,700 units are currently under review with the city, and more than 400 units are labeled as "under construction."

"There seems to be a sizable number of apartment complexes under construction right now in Longmont. I am not against apartments, but the mix of living units should not be leaning strongly one way or another. I think the apartment mix is being overbuilt," Lange said.

Pedrow, who was Longmont's city manager from 1993 to 2012, said, "My concern about the large number of huge apartment buildings going up all around the city is what the impacts are on our existing residents and infrastructure. In many cases, developers are coming to the city and asking for zoning changes so that they can build more units than they have a right to build by existing zoning or where they need variances in order to build. These actions have impacts on existing residents and neighborhoods."

He said, "The council philosophy seems to be, 'We can build our way out of high housing costs and rents if we just keep allowing more apartment units. We will let the market and developers decide what is best for Longmont. In the past, this approach has resulted in a predictable cycle: rapid building, overbuild, market crash. Most of our community does not benefit from this cycle. Usually, out-of-town developers and financiers walk away with the money while avoiding the impacts."

Pedrow continued, "Existing residents live with the impacts. I think that a more thoughtful and beneficial approach for the community would for the council to engage the community in an authentic discussion about growth, where councilmembers actually listen to the residents."

The city does not expect to get official U.S. Census Bureau data for Longmont from the April 2020 formal national census count until August or September, but city staff has reported that its own research and data analysis indicate Longmont had 99,570 residents as of Dec. 31. City staff members say an estimated 40,058 dwelling units were available for occupancy by the end of last year, and that an estimated 4.1% of those housing units were vacant at that point.

Martin said the city's current push for more affordable housing for its low-income residents and the workforce has been "a qualified success. Developers are cooperating. In fact, they are exceeding expectations in that respect. We need to move faster to work the kinks out of the new (development) code" and its "inclusionary zoning" housing code provisions that require a certain percentage of new housing meet affordability standards,

"The city can help by moving fast on these changes and continue to be firm on requiring that developers support the city's vision. The public can help by understanding how local government is working to protect and enhance life in Longmont. A backlash against developers and growth of any kind is not helpful," Martin said.

Bagley said, "If there's no more growth and no more building, the cost of living in Longmont is going to increase," adding that "closing the door to development" would have "adverse impacts on the provision of affordable housing" and the tax revenues needed to fund the government services expected by Longmont's residents.

Juday believes the situation calls for a citywide discussion.

The council "should open a citywide dialogue to get a coordinated sense of where the community wants to go," he said. "Innumerable situations have changed since the present council were elected, and the platforms on which councilmembers were elected have been affected. As the country opens into rapid change, now is a propitious time to commence discussions of the city's future."