Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek is organizing a group to participate in Longmont’s annual Clean Up, Green Up celebration! This year, the Clean Up, Green Up kickoff is Saturday, April 6th at 7:30am at 7 S. Sunset Street in Longmont. As part of the kickoff, the City of Longmont will be providing volunteers with free coffee, juice, and donuts!
Due to the reseeding going on along the St. Vrain, Stand will be cleaning along Lefthand Creek. If interested in helping out, please email standwithstvraincreek@gmail.com.
All volunteers should wear weather-appropriate clothes and sturdy shoes as well as bring their own work gloves.
Let your voice be heard! Longmont is updating its Wildlife Management Plan and is holding the first of several public meetings THIS Thursday, March 7th from 6 to 8pm at 7 S. Sunset Street.
We need YOU to come out in support of our wildlife and habitat protection. We literally cannot protect Longmont’s wildlife without you! The meeting will be discussing Longmont’s 150 foot riparian setback that is established in the Longmont Land Development Code. This buffer, which prevents new building within 150 feet of St. Vrain Creek, is crucial to protect species that live, breed, and commute in and along the river corridor as well as to keep our river clean and protect against future floods.
Comments on the Wildlife Management Plan will be used to inform the second phase of the Land Development Code update (dealing with regulations regarding streams, wetlands, riparian areas, and wildlife) as well as standards for development along the river corridor.
If you are absolutely unable to attend the meeting, please send your comments to Dan Wolford via email: dan.wolford@longmont.colorado.gov or via phone: 303-774-4691 and plan to attend the second meeting on Thursday, April 4th.
Jamie Simo of Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek sat down with Maeve Conran at KGNU Community radio to talk about what’s happening with the St. Vrain corridor in Longmont. The interview will air between 8:15 and 8:30am on February 25th in anticipation of Stand’s Remarkable Riparian Zone presentation on Wednesday, February 27th.
Please attend this second meeting of an advisory panel to continue discussion of future development of the St. Vrain river corridor so that the process is as transparent as possible. The meeting is scheduled for Friday, February 15th from 8:30am to 11:30am at the Longmont Museum.
8:30 Opening remarks (Council Member Waters)
Reminder of why we are here – create a transformational vision for the St. Vrain Corridor
Where we left off last time
For today’s meeting – look at your ideas in a visual representation, provide feedback and create narratives on specific sections
For the process – second of three meetings (first was brainstorming), second is the graphic representation of the brainstorming session and narrative writing, third meeting is action planning (online platform congruent)
9:00 Present Visual Representation of Brainstorming from 1/11/19
Daniel Tal, DHM Designs
What elements do you love?
What do we need to know to be successful?
10:15 Where we are going (small group narrative writing)
At your tables, consider what you have heard today, and discuss what is possible for the future. Write a brief narrative statement on the assigned graphic corridor.
Consider:
What are the greatest possibilities as we continue river restoration and envision future development along the river corridor?
How do we preserve the natural beauty and important environmental qualities of the river?
How do we attract a stronger presence of higher education in Longmont along the river corridor?
What opportunities do we not want to miss given the Opportunity Zone in which part of this corridor sits?
11:00 Share narrative of ideas and next steps
Meeting #3 – Action planning – what is it going to take from Longmont to realize it? What does the
Council need to do to open the gates? What would it take for you to commit to making this happen?
Parallel Community Involvement Process – take graphic to community for comment (Cinco de Mayo,
Rhythm on the River, online engagement)
On Wednesday, February 27th, Longmont Political Revolution is sponsoring a presentation at the Longmont Public Library featuring Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek and Front Range Nesting Bald Eagle Studies.
Stand’s half of the presentation, titled “The Remarkable Riparian Zone: What’s Happening With Our St. Vrain Greenway?” will explain why a functioning riparian zone is crucial to a healthy river system and how it can help mitigate future floods. It will also detail some of the goings-on regarding the St. Vrain river corridor, including current construction.
Last year a member of Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek made us aware that the Osprey nest platform on N 75th Street was threatened by a new housing development. Construction equipment rolled by directly beneath the nest platform even after the birds had returned from migration, no doubt the cause of the nest’s failure last year.
Thanks to your efforts in contacting Boulder County’s commissioners and Longmont officials, the nest platform is being moved to a more suitable site!
Longmont’s Natural Resources Department is holding its first public meeting open house regarding the update to the City’s Wildlife Management Plan (WMP). The WMP was first adopted in 2006 and it’s due for an update.
This first meeting will focus on Land Development Code changes with regard to the new prairie dog policy, the work being done with the Resilient St. Vrain flood mitigation project, and riparian setbacks. Other meetings will follow.
We ask that you please attend this meeting if you are able. This meeting will help inform updates to the Land Development Code regarding the 150-foot riparian setback and how Longmont deals with wildlife in general.
The meeting will be held at the Sunset Campus (7 S. Sunset Street, Longmont, CO) on Thursday, March 7 from 6-8pm. Snacks will be provided.
If you need translation services or other special accommodations, contact 303-651-8416 or service-works@longmontcolorado.gov
For any questions, contact Dan Wolford at 303-774-4691 or dan.wolford@longmontcolorado.gov
A second meeting of an advisory panel to continue discussion of future development of the St. Vrain river corridor to meet goals B3 and B4 of the Longmont City Council’s workplan has been scheduled for Friday, February 15th from 8:30am to 11:30am at the Longmont Museum. The session is open to the public as observers and we are asking Longmont residents to attend if their schedule allows so that the process is as transparent as possible.
The Longmont City Council developed a workplan (available here) in 2018 to direct their actions and help them meet their goals for the city. Section B of the workplan contains the City Council’s goals for “Longmont’s places”:
In 20 years, Longmont will have a developed Main Street from Pike Road to Highway 66 and a river corridor that stretches from the sugar mill to the fairgrounds as a vibrant economic, residential, cultural and entertainment epicenter that is sustainable and respects the natural environment. This area will:
Goal B1: Have a diverse housing stock with higher densities and access to high quality public transportation, food and jobs
Goal B2: Protect and respect our natural public amenities as part of the development process
Goal B3: Become a nationally recognized geographic center of science, technology, engineering, education, arts, and entrepreneurism
Goal B4: Bring together private industry, local government, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education as well as the St. Vrain Valley School District to ensure the highest quality, best prepared workforce in the western United States
January 11 2019 first session of advisory panel notes.
On Friday, January 11th, City Council convened the first meeting of the advisory panel. The notes to the left were compiled from that meeting (click on picture to to see the full notes).
Although the first meeting was also open to the public, it wasn’t publicized very well. Therefore, Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek is seeking to publicize the second meeting to a wider audience. The agenda for the second meeting is below (click on the picture to view the full agenda).
Agenda for the February 15th advisory panel meeting.
Additional supporting documentation for the panel meeting is below:
On Tuesday, February 22nd, Longmont City Council settled on a timeline for the “second phase” of amendments to the Land Development Code (LDC). These amendments encompass not only that portion of the LDC dealing with riparian setbacks and wildlife protection, but also the timeframe for completing supporting tools/documents such as a sustainability system for evaluating development and that portion of the Wildlife Management Plan that deals with development along riparian corridors/near open space areas.
This timeframe indicates August 1, 2019 as the due date for such amendments. The timeframe was based off of a timeframe developed by City Staff (see below).
Timeline for second phase LDC amendments as proposed by City Staff. Except for the RSVP and Main Street Corridor, these pieces of the LDC have a deadline of 8/1/2019.
To view the full discussion of the Longmont Development Code amendment priority and timeline discussion, watch the following video, which has been cued up to the start of that discussion:
The City of Longmont’s Public Works and Natural Resources Department will be updating the City’s Wildlife Management Plan this year. The Wildlife Management Plan codifies the City’s policy toward wildlife, human-wildlife interaction, and wildlife habitat. The first public engagement meeting should be announced soon.
If you would like to be a part of this public process and have your voice heard, please contact Jim Krick via email at jim.krick@longmontcolorado.gov or by calling 303-651-8451.
We will post public meeting dates as soon as they are available.
Last year a member of Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek made us aware that the Osprey nest platform on N 75th Street was threatened by a new housing development. Construction equipment rolled by directly beneath the nest platform even after the birds had returned from migration, no doubt the cause of the nest’s failure last year.
