City Council has voted to add the Open Space Sales Tax permanent extension to the November 2024 ballot! Thank you to everyone who signed our appeal and/or showed up to City Council to show your support for the measure.
We’re looking for people to show up at City Council on Tuesday, July 23rd wearing green to show your continued support. The Longmont Natural Resources department will be making a presentation tomorrow regarding the Open Space program and future acquisitions/maintenance costs in response to a City Council request for such information. You will only need to remain for the public invited to be heard portion of the meeting.
We will also have Open Space Yes! owl yard signs for you if you’d like to take one for this election season.
City Council has voted to add the Open Space Sales Tax permanent extension to the November 2024 ballot! Thank you to everyone who signed our appeal and/or showed up to City Council to show your support for the measure.
We’re looking for people to show up at City Council on Tuesday, July 23rd wearing green to show your continued support. The Longmont Natural Resources department will be making a presentation tomorrow regarding the Open Space program and future acquisitions/maintenance costs in response to a City Council request for such information. You will only need to remain for the public invited to be heard portion of the meeting.
We will also have Open Space Yes! owl yard signs for you if you’d like to take one for this election season.
Please consider showing up wearing green to the June 25th Longmont City Council meeting to show your support for putting the permanent extension of Longmont’s Open Space Sales Tax on the November 2024 ballot.
This Tuesday, June 25th, Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek will be presenting to Longmont City Council YOUR appeal asking that making Longmont’s Open Space Sales Tax permanent be put on November’s ballot.
If you remember, Longmont residents overwhelmingly supported an Open Space sales tax and it was passed in 2000 and extended in 2007. The tax, which anyone who purchases anything in Longmont is already paying, is 2 cents for every $10 you spend and goes toward acquiring and maintaining our Open Space properties. If not extended or made permanent, the tax will expire and money for our Open Spaces would have to come from the City’s general fund.
We’re asking supporters of Open Space to come to the June 25th City Council meeting at 7pm at the Longmont Civic Center and dress in green.
Join Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek at Roger’s Grove on Sunday, April 28th for a free bird walk. We’ll see what spring migrants have arrived, including our breeding Bank Swallows.
Meet at the picnic pavilion near the parking lot at 6pm and sign our appeal to make our open space sales tax permanent.
Join Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek at Roger’s Grove on Sunday, April 21st for a free bird walk. We’ll see what spring migrants have arrived, including our breeding Bank Swallows.
Meet at the picnic pavilion near the parking lot at 8am and sign our appeal to make our open space sales tax permanent.
The City of Longmont will celebrate National Trails Day on Saturday, June 3rd, at the Button Rock Preserve. The city is recruiting volunteers to build steps along the Hummingbird trail.
If you are a hiker, this is an opportunity to give back to the community in a meaningful way by helping to maintain our trail system at Button Rock.
You can register and find more information regarding the Button Rock event here:
https://joinus.longmontcolorado.gov/ActivityVolunteerRegistration/26c277b8-df6c-4458-bd7b-970358f35bcb
There will be snacks and live music along the lakeshore at the top of the trail at the end of the project.
Longmont City Council will be voting on whether to approve a resolution to submit a ballot question to be voted on on election day (November 8, 2022). If Council approves the resolution, voters would be asked to approve issuing up to $20 million of storm drainage revenue bonds to finance the completion of the Resilient St Vrain flood mitigation Project (RSVP). On Tuesday night, City Council can either approve the proposed ballot language, modify the language and approve, or neither approve the language nor put the language on the ballot.
Stand is asking that City Council amend the proposed ballot language to include the following language (in red) ensuring that the City will not use our Storm Drainage fees to destroy Bank Swallow habitat at Roger’s Grove during flood mitigation work:
Without imposing new taxes or increasing existing taxes, and while preserving the established Bank Swallow habitat at Roger’s Grove, shall the City of Longmont be authorized to borrow up to $20,000,000 for the purpose of financing storm drainage system improvements, including but not limited to improvements to the St. Vrain Creek drainageway from Sunset Street to Hover Street to protect downstream areas from future flooding; and shall the borrowing be evidenced by bonds, loan agreements, or other financial obligations payable solely from the City’s storm drainage enterprise revenues and be issued at one time or in multiple series at a price above, below or equal to the principal amount of such borrowing and with such terms and conditions, including provisions for redemption prior to maturity with or without payment of premium, as the City may determine?
Please consider showing your support for Bank Swallows at the Council meeting by wearing green and signing up to speak during public invited to be heard.
If you are unable to attend the meeting or are unable/unwilling to speak, please consider sending an email to Council urging them to consider adding language protecting the Bank Swallow colony at Roger’s Grove in the ballot measure.
You may contact City Council using the following link: City Council and Mayor Contact Form
Some potential talking points for an email to Council are below:
- Any plans the City might consider to use storm drainage fee bond $$ to mitigate future flooding along the St. Vrain Creek must be designed so our bank swallow habitat will not be destroyed.
- I do not want my tax dollars nor fees used by the City to wipe out the Bank Swallow habitat at Rogers Grove.
- Please include language in the flood mitigation plans in the area of Rogers Grove that will ensure protection of the nesting habitat of Bank Swallows.
- Our St. Vrain greenway, particularly near Rogers Grove, is a very special natural environment including the presence of nesting Bank Swallows who migrate many thousands of miles every spring/summer to have babies. Please use your authority as our council and representatives to ensure protection of this precious and rare habitat for this species, which is listed as “a species of special concern” in Longmont’s Wildlife Management Plan.
- I understand the favored option for Longmont’s flood mitigation project in Roger’s Grove will almost certainly wipe out the rare nesting Bank Swallow habitat, which currently hosts 30-50 nesting pairs of the smallest of our North American swallows. These special, threatened birds travel every April from Central and S. America and the Eastern Caribbean to nest and have babies. I don’t believe I can support a ballot measure allowing my storm drainage fee increase to be used to ruin this habitat.
- Please use your position as our elected city officials to direct City staff involved with flood mitigation plans to come up with a plan to protect our special, rare, and sensitive Bank Swallow colony habitat by Roger’s Grove. I will continue to monitor this development and will vote on the proposed ballot measure accordingly.
As Council meetings are now virtual, we ask that you send in comments regarding the annexation to City Council prior to the meeting (contact Council members here) and/or call into the meeting on Tuesday the 11th to express your concerns. You can watch City Council meetings live from your computer through the City of Longmont’s YouTube Channel or via the Longmont Public Media Channel at https://longmontpublicmedia.org/watch.
Anyone wishing to provide Public Comment must watch the Livestream of the meeting and call-in only when the Chairperson opens the meeting for public comment. Callers are not able to access the meeting at any other time.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CALLING IN TO PROVIDE PUBLIC COMMENT:
The toll-free call-in number is: 888 788 0099.
Watch the livestream (instructions above) and write down the Meeting ID when it is displayed at the beginning of the meeting.
WAIT for the Chairperson to invite callers to call-in and then dial the toll-free number, enter the Meeting ID, and, when asked for your Participant ID, press #.
Mute the livestream and listen for instructions on the phone.
Callers will hear confirmation they have entered the meeting, will be told how many others are already participating in the meeting and will be placed in a virtual waiting room until admitted into the meeting.
Callers will be called upon by the last three (3) digits of their phone number and allowed to unmute to provide their comments.
Comments are limited to three minutes per person and each speaker will be asked to state their name and address for the record prior to proceeding with their comments.
Once done speaking, callers should hang up.