Ross Cunniff: Open Letter to City Council, October 17th, 2023 Land Use Code, 2nd Reading

Good evening Mayor and Council.

Tonight I want to talk to you about disinformation. In the past year's discussion of land use, the biggest single item of disinformation has been that "these changes are needed to make Fort Collins affordable." This is not true. A councilmember who supports the land use code revisions has even said, "this will not make housing any less expensive." Let that sink in for a bit.

In other words, if your housing is unaffordable now, it will still be unaffordable after the new Land Use Code is fully in effect and implemented. This is not how the land use changes have been sold to the public.

This fundamental dishonesty in how the changes are presented is part of why so many people don't trust the City Council to make this decision. Additionally, this "affordability" narrative has tainted the "feedback" process the City engaged in, to the point that we believe you have not accurately sampled community sentiment.

Therefore, I am asking this Council to refer these changes to the ballot. Let the public decide after an open public debate. Even better, vote "no" on the code tonight and instead create true affordability mandates that provide more than crumbs to the residents who so desparately need affordable housing.

Thank you.