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MINUTES
CITY OF FORT COLLINS
FUTURES COMMITTEE MEETING
Date: January 12, 2015
Location: CIC Room, City Hall, 300 LaPorte Ave
Time: 4:00–6:00pm
Committee Members Present: Committee Members Absent:
Wade Troxell, Chair
Bruce Hendee
Gino Campana
Darin Atteberry
Gerry Horak
City Staff:
Jeff Mihelich, Deputy City Manager
Dianne Tjalkens, Admin/Board Support
Sam Houghteling, Graduate Management Assistant
Invited Guests:
Chris Hutchinson, UniverCity Connections/Trebuchet Group
Dave Edwards, Chair UniverCity Connections
Community Members:
Kevin Jones, Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce
Dale Adamy, citizen
Wade Troxell called meeting to order at 4:06pm
Approval of December Minutes:
Gino moved to approve the December minutes as presented. Gerry seconded.
Motion passed unanimously, 3-0-0. Darin arrived after vote.
Chairman Comments: Wade introduced the Futures Committee role to the speakers and said
that UniverCity Connections has become a good tool for having discussions about the future of
Fort Collins.
Think Tank Item 1-2015: UniverCity Connections (UCC)—Community Forums: Chris
Hutchinson and Dave Edwards
The forums will inform the Downtown Plan and City Plan. UCC was created in 2006 by joint
agreement of Darin and the CSU president. Grassroots community building/visioning.
Leadership involved in strengthening connections between the City and
CSU. Board is a funding entity: Bohemian Foundation, CSU, DDA, and
City. “Visionings” have produced FortZED, Homeward 2020, Urban Lab,
and The Poudre Runs Through It. UCC does not house the projects, but presents and informs
those who want to be engaged, develops common language and understanding of the issues.
Upcoming forum: housing affordability, community character, enhancing City plans—finding
common ground around demographic shifts and planning processes:
What do we want the story of our place to be? (sustainability);
How can we all live and work here? (jobs and housing attainability);
How do we prepare for growth and change? (water, etc.)
In process of finding speakers. Forums will include open discussions. The City planning staff
will be present.
Comments/Q & A:
• We have been discussing future of land use, how do we grow, do we go vertical or
horizontal?
o We are going in depth regarding who and what we are going to be when we grow
up. If we maximize densities and redevelop along Mason and Mulberry, we have
a population number to plan for. Regarding attainability, we can look at
sustainability goals in relation to housing costs. When we look at numbers and
take emotion out of it we are better able to give clear direction to City
management. Can we change the story that is told 30 years from now?
o Rather than allowing the default, we can be intentional in planning what we want.
o It is not a number; today Fort Collins is a better place. What makes it a great place
is people and the kinds of opportunities provided here.
o If we plan well, we can have the kind of place we want. Forum speakers can tie in
to work and play, job growth, Nature in the City, etc. Take the emotions out, and
show what needs to be achieved to get there.
• If this process is robust and engages people, what if they want more? We have a time
frame in which to get these important documents updated.
o The City Plan update is scheduled for 2017.
o If the forum is more successful than what is anticipated, can we extend it?
o Other partners can bring in broader alignment to support the community
conversations.
• We need to define boundaries. We are now butting up against other communities. City
Plan must fit in with the other plans in northern Colorado. If we don’t work with the
county, others will take those spaces over outside of GMA. Regional connections plan is
the bigger issue.
o To realize the logical consequences of various actions around the GMA is
important.
o The word “growth” is a challenge. In talking about the economy using the term
“evolving” instead. We do not have to grow but we have to evolve.
o Part of the process will be to find common language that suits the purposes.
o As large organizations, we need a planning framework between CSU and the
City.
o A challenge of land use planning is finding a balance of housing types to give
choice.
• This forum should not end; it should be dynamic and continue beyond the master plans.
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o UCC is a neutral convener and provides a table where City
representatives can be part of the discussion without having
to guide it.
o We don’t have an ongoing forum that allows for thought leading to happen.
Through economic health strategies the City is becoming the go-to place for
innovation. Also engage a national and international audience. This is an
opportunity to lift Fort Collins on a stage.
o There is a more varied citizenry now, with more opinions on what they like and
don’t like for the community.
o Benefit to UCC is that there are no decision makers, but dialogue. Some of the
things we are talking about like size are inevitable. We know we will get to
250,000 population, so what about getting ahead of it and making sure the city is
still friendly, has a great downtown, etc. Without planning we’ll need luck to keep
the same quality.
• How are you doing outreach to get unique perspectives at each meeting?
o The scoping group has several suggestions for speakers for each topic area. They
are looking for those who will stretch our thinking, rather than the standard
speakers.
o We will use the resources we have, without having a lot of money to spend. Will
invite and encourage and use the media. Hopefully it will grow and build because
it will look like something people want to engage in.
• Real community is the combination of where people live and work. Those are significant
connections. Look back at older planning documents and see what they got right and
where they had blind spots to look for the blind spots we have now. Are there some
things we can identify that we did really well, and others we can learn from? We can use
this to determine what to incorporate in this new process.
o It would be valuable to have Cameron Gloss share those thoughts in retrospect to
inform our future thinking.
o The urban growth boundaries now as opposed to what they were and what was
planned.
o We have communities within our community: there are districts like IT and
brewery. We can talk about if that is okay or if we want to bring them back
together.
o Fort Collins is also like a neighborhood in the northern Colorado region.
• Chris and Diana Hutchinson are the project managers of this forum; they are working
with Cameron Gloss and Kelley DiMartino.
o Is there a deep level of commitment from the University to UCC?
o Yes.
o CSU has been intimately involved in the planning process. They are using their
networks to bring in the younger people. We have broad base support, and staff
and faculty have been encouraged to attend. Looking at April, May and/or June
for the forums. How can we optimize the mix of people who can attend?
o Our boards and commissions are well established and advise Council on a broad
range of topics, but that is one vehicle for input. A broader base can be reached
through social media.
o People get engaged in the UniverCity Connections forums because no one
determines who can be at the table.
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• We have discussed having more identifiable neighborhoods and
having discussions within neighborhoods. As you think of
communities, helping facilitate and structure neighborhood
conversations.
• In Fort Collins people look for the greater good. As long as we continue to have that in
our city, we will be evolving and dynamic. There is nothing richer than a face to face
conversation.
• Through the visioning processes UCC was able to look at what is doable and achievable.
This forum is much shorter term than the Futures Committee horizon, but to keep people
engaged, you must have actionable items.
DO: Next Steps
• Kelly DiMartino will make sure staff and Council are invited to the forums and advise on
how to reach out to the broader community.
• Members are requested to bring forward agenda items for this year’s meetings.
Future Meeting Topics Discussion
• February 9—Community Dashboard
• March 9—Mountain Vista Planning
• Unscheduled—Police Resource Allocation Study
Meeting adjourned at 5:08pm.
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