Make Longmont\'s Open Space and Use Sales Tax Permanent
Dear SpeakOut! user
We, the undersigned, urge Longmont Mayor and City Council members to protect Longmont’s important and sensitive current and future Open Space areas from the intrusion of damaging urban development. Specifically, we are asking Council to place a measure on our 2024 Longmont ballot asking residents to make our 0.2-cent Longmont Open Space sales and use tax permanent for the purpose of land acquisition as well as maintenance and enhancement of Open Space areas.
Make Longmont\'s Open Space and Use Sales Tax Permanent
Dear SpeakOut! user
We, the undersigned, urge Longmont Mayor and City Council members to protect Longmont’s important and sensitive current and future Open Space areas from the intrusion of damaging urban development. Specifically, we are asking Council to place a measure on our 2024 Longmont ballot asking residents to make our 0.2-cent Longmont Open Space sales and use tax permanent for the purpose of land acquisition as well as maintenance and enhancement of Open Space areas.
Please attend the next advisory panel meeting for the so-called “Building STEAM” (STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, the arts, and maker spaces) initiative on September 13th from 9am to 12pm at the Longmont Museum in the Kaiser Classroom.
This advisory panel is planning the future of development along the St. Vrain corridor and it is very important that environmental voices are heard in this effort as most of the voices in the room prior to this have been businesses and developers. This next meeting will be a brainstorm session about the next steps in the process and what the City Council should consider as they move forward with the plan.
You can see the progress of the advisory panel online at: https://engage.longmontcolorado.gov/building-steam. The Main Street Corridor plan is progressing hand-in-hand with this and its progress can be found at: https://engage.longmontcolorado.gov/main-street-corridor-plan
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.
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)
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:
