Fort Collins City Council recently outlined several long-term projects to take place over the next two years. Councillors also released key demographic data. KUNC’s Programming & Operations Manager Desmond O’Boyle spoke with Rebecca Powell, senior government accountability reporter for The Coloradoan, about her reporting on those subjects.
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The City Council recently met for a retreat at Canvas Stadium and later unveiled 12 broad priorities. For instance: Hughes Stadium. In 2021, voters directed the city to buy the land and turn it into an open space or natural area, parks or recreation space, or a wildlife refuge.
“The city has already been doing research or outreach on what people want it to become,” said Powell. “A couple of ideas have really come to the forefront there, and one of them is creating a bike park. This would be for non-motorized bikes to recreate there, and it could even become a regional draw."
Another idea is to use the land for a nature and wildlife center. The city could partner with a nonprofit to make the area a place to restore the natural environment and be a respite for wildlife. That plan could also include some low impact recreation options, like trail walking. But, Powell explained, there are concerns that recreation and environmental restoration might not be compatible with each other.
Some of the broader council priorities include transportation and mobility, specifically focused on getting more people to use “active” modes of transportation like biking or walking instead of driving cars. Another priority is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by helping to electrify buildings and reduce the amount of waste going into the landfill.
“Then there were some priorities around economic health, to kind of boost the economic workforce and promote healthy economic opportunities in the city. And of course, affordable housing is the big one,” said Powell, “because the city has a goal of having 10% of all of its affordable housing officially be affordable housing, and right now they're hovering just around 5 percent.”
The Council also released demographic data. One finding was that prior to 2015, around 70% to 80% of median wage earners could afford a home in Fort Collins. Today, that number has plummeted to 20 percent.
“The second data point that was interesting was on commuting. So, the number of people living outside of Fort Collins but then commuting in for a job is up by about 15 percent,” said Powell. “That impacts the roads and the greenhouse gas emissions goals that we're (the city of Fort Collins) working toward.”
Powell said most of the council’s priorities are in line with what residents seem to be concerned about, with housing at the top of that list.
