In collecting dozens of referendum petitions against the recent Fort Collins City Council land use code, two citizen themes emerged. Petitioners were angered at the short-term process used to move the new land development code from city staff to City Council approval. Two title readings in two weeks gave insufficient notice and time to analyze the 472-page code. Specific development changes, i.e., the proposed Prospect Road and Lemay Avenue use conversion, require time and hearing processes. However, the new land development code changes most if not all residential zones in the entire city – absent the typical Fort Collins public policy due process typical for single sites.

Petitioners were also angered at how the new land development code drastically changes neighborhood characteristics without their input. The council’s goal of increasing housing density by 53% citywide impacts individual homeowners and homeowner associations – without a densification citizen mandate. Since few established single-family neighborhoods have vacant land, existing houses would be scraped and replaced with multi-family housing. Further, there is a disconnect between the perennial affordable housing goal and the densification goal – something called “financing.” Whether the new construction is a detached carriage house or condos, mortgages will be repaid with rent charges at the prevailing rate. Higher density does not necessarily produce affordability – as expensive downtown condos have increased density but not affordability. 

One would expect that the City Council and city staff would be informed of public policy development principles. For example, from Dr. Phillip Boyle’s analysis of public policy development across the spectrum, from local to federal government agencies, revealed that such policies fall into four categories: liberty – I, me, my; economics – enterprise, tax rates, etc.; community – strengthening or depleting social factors; and equity – fairness for individuals and groups.  He also found that when public polices favor one or two categories, to decrement of the others, such polices are not sustainable – to be changed by referendum or revolution. By analysis, the new land development code obviously favors economic interests, to the decrement of other public policy categories.

The citizens of Fort Collins expect full due process and sustainable public policies.

— M. L. Johnson, Ed.D., Ph.D. fellow, Bighorn Center for Public Policy