We are hearing rumblings that Council will delay voting on the land swap until after the City Council election. There is NO reason to delay the vote as the negative effects of this land swap will not change in a few months. The only real reason to delay is so that their vote won’t impact their chances of election/reelection.
If you care about keeping our Open Space lands from development, please contact our City Council members and tell them your thoughts at: https://longmontcityxm.
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Background/What’s going on?
Longmont’s Open Space Program is under attack from Longmont Public Works and Utilities. Public Works has proposed a land exchange where land purchased by Open Space tax dollars would be exchanged for land owned by Public Works/Utilities. This entire proposal was predicated on partnering with Boulder County to build regional compost infrastructure.
In January, 2025, Longmont City Council directed staff to pursue a compost partnership with Boulder County, which included exploring city-owned properties. Boulder County wants to build a large-scale composting operation and does not want to use Boulder County land, nor do they want to go through their own stringent land use process. The proposal involves a swap of the Distel property, purchased with Longmont Open Space dollars, for the Tull property, which was purchased with Public Works and Utility dollars. The City purchased both properties from Aggregate Industries in 2019.
The Open Space Program fully intended to purchase both properties for Open Space, as was outlined in the 2001 Integrated Reclamation Plan. That plan was drawn up and approved by multiple City departments and past City Councils to protect this entire riparian and wildlife movement corridor along our St. Vrain Creek and Boulder Creek corridor. At the last minute, Public Works argued that their department needed Tull for clean infill from development. Their needs prevailed and 138 acres of the Tull property went to Public Works. Public Works modified the reclamation plan to meet their needs. Now, just 6 years later, Public Works wants to swap these two properties so Boulder County and City development can happen on Distel.
Open Space knew that the purchase of Distel included temporary industrial development that would go away with reclamation. Now Public Works want to make the industrial development permanent with their operations. Tull is in the floodway and not as readily suitable for development as Distel. The proposal for industrial development at Distel carves out just 8 acres for Boulder County’s compost infrastructure and 57 acres slated for City of Longmont infrastructure. The City has said they’d like to move the Fire Training Center on Martin to Distel, and build a municipal training center pad for police, fire, and snow vehicles, and perhaps, a warehouse. Both properties are in Weld County and the neighbors are very unhappy with what was proposed to be Open Space. They have repeatedly expressed alarm about industrial development being incompatible with their rural homes and the surrounding area. Development in this area will create an industrial large donut hole in the middle of open space and agricultural land, creating additional fragmentation of wildlife habitat and the severing of wildlife movement corridors.
Why Friends of Longmont Open Space believe this is a bad idea
*We fully understand the need for Boulder County-supported regional compost infrastructure as well as Longmont Public Works’ desire for moving and developing infrastructure. However using Open Space lands to accomplish these projects is improper.
Ethics of Open Space: Open space is of high value to Longmont residents. When open space is acquired, many conservation factors are weighed with location being a primary factor. Once a location has been established it is meant to be permanent and not a future candidate for relocation or land exchange.
Last November, Longmont passed an extension of our Open Space Sales Tax indefinitely with 74% approving. Clearly we place high value on open space including riparian and other habitat protections. People supported taxing themselves because they didn’t want Open Space developed. That includes not being bartered or traded for development. Both Distel and Tull have high ecological value because of their proximity to our whole St. Vrain wildlife movement corridor.
The regulations for the disposition of Open Space in the Longmont Municipal Code https://library.municode.com/co/longmont/codes/code_of_ordinances/326720?nodeId=PTIICOOR_TIT14PUSE_CH14.52OPSPDI requires proof of a net benefit to the Open Space Program prior to its sale, transfer, or disposal. That this swap would result in a net benefit to the Open Space program has not been proven. There are several claims that Public Works staff have made concerning net benefits that have been repeatedly challenged by the public, neighbors, and the members of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB). We also disagree with the City’s assessment:
On June 3, City Council sent the land swap proposal to PRAB for their review and recommendation. On June 23, PRAB rejected the proposal as submitted. This now goes back to City Council on June 22. Longmont Friends of Open Space are very concerned that City Council will ignore PRAB’s recommendation and move this proposal forward.
When voters approved open space taxes, there wasn’t talk of disposition. Rather there was talk of open space being in perpetuity. The disposition ordinance was adopted by a previous City Council rather than the voters. Voters never thought of open space as a commodity that could be traded away; even for a contrived net benefit. Disposition of Open Space has never happened in any other municipality in Boulder County and is a very big deal. This land exchange changing the designation of Distel as Open Space to Public Works property would set a dangerous and very troubling precedent and would violate the publics’ trust.
Longmont has 3,200 acres of Open Space lands. Boulder County has 104,000 acres of Open Space. Boulder County would never consider using, swapping, disposing, doing ANYTHING with open space due to the betrayal of public trust. We agree. We don’t understand why our City Council is leaning toward approving this. While our Federal public lands are being disrespected and exploited, we expect better from our local city council. Precedent, public perception, and trust in government matter; especially in this turbulent political climate.
It was the vision of former city councils to establish and support our natural resources/lands. That’s why they started our Longmont Open Space program 25 years ago. Under council’s direction, an extensive integrated reclamation plan was developed to protect our entire St. Vrain Corridor. We need to stay the course and complete that well-developed plan. Six previous mayors supported this plan and concept.
There is a many decades old Bald Eagles nesting area in close proximity (just under ½ mile) from both properties. There were many more nests just 10 years ago. After the 2013 floods, the creek moved, resulting in a lot of old trees dying. Certainly development and industrial disturbance has also negatively impacted the eagles’ viability. More industrial disturbance is problematic. There is the added worry about adult eagles opportunistically foraging on compost rather than healthier food sources and feeding the scraps to their young. It is highly likely the fledglings will follow suit to their detriment.
Not one Longmont resident spoke in favor of this land swap at 3 City Council meetings nor at 3 PRAB meetings. Approximately a dozen people spoke in opposition at these same meetings.
To summarize, we support compost infrastructure– just not on Open Space. We understand the desire for economic development on Martin and have no issue with moving the Fire Training Center for apartments or whatever – just not moved onto Open Space. We have no issue with the City’s desire to pursue a partnership with Boulder County for compost infrastructure, just don’t pursue Open Space as the location.
We want our Open Space lands respected and protected. City Council should too. Like PRAB, they should reject this proposal on August 12. Why have advisory boards if their advice is not respected? This whole idea was well-intentioned when City Council directed staff to pursue it in January. It’s great that Longmont supports regional compost infrastructure. All involved need to go back to the drawing board, with Boulder County using their deep sustainability dollars to purchase land that is not designated Open Space. Likewise, Longmont can look at other city-owned properties that are not Open Space to pursue the infrastructure it needs.
What can you do?
- Attend City Council on Tuesday, August 12 @ 7:00 at the Civic Center. No need to speak. Just show up in solidarity. Please wear green.
- Please contact our City Council members and tell them your thoughts. This only takes 5 minutes. You can be short and sweet. https://longmontcityxm.gov1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4PEnCSjZVVwit8i
- Join our Blog to stay informed and get more info (sign up is on left side of this homepage toward the bottom)