HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 12/27/2022 - 8 - Memorandum From Sylvia Tatman-Burruss And Ginny Sawyer Re: Future Of The Former Hughes Stadium Site – December 21, 2022
City Manager’s Office
City Hall
300 LaPorte Ave.
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221.6505
970.224.6107 - fax
fcgov.com
MEMORANDUM
Date: December 21, 2022
To: Mayor and City Councilmembers
Thru: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Tyler Marr, Deputy City Manager
From: Sylvia Tatman-Burruss, Senior Policy & Project Manager
Ginny Sawyer, Senior Policy & Project Manager
Re: Future of the former Hughes Stadium Site
Bottom Line:
City staff has recently begun to engage community members and internal City department staff
in exploring potential future uses on the former Hughes Stadium site. Preliminary conversations
began with City staff in September of 2022. A private consulting firm, Kearns & West, has been
retained to carry out the community engagement process to follow on outreach conducted
during the previous Development Review process in 2019-2020. The statistically valid survey
conducted through the Parks & Recreation Masterplan has also been used to inform some of
the recreational needs expressed by community members and where gaps may exist that could
be filled by uses on the former Hughes Stadium site. Staff and the consulting team are at still at
the beginning of the process and a greater outreach push is planned for early 2023.
Summary of Recent Outreach Events
November 16, 2022: Recreation Focus Group and meetings with Tallon Nightwalker,
Director of Northern Colorado Wildlife Center and Carin Avila, Executive Director of the
Rocky Mountain Raptor Program.
o Recreation focus group included representatives from the local cycling
community, a Parkour group, Poudre School District, the Fort Collins Baseball
Club, and Radio-Controlled Rock Crawlers. These contacts were collected from
the outreach conducted through the Parks and Recreation Masterplan.
December 9, 2022: Presentation and discussion with the Planning and Zoning
Commission
December 14, 2022: Presentation and discussion with the Land Conservation and
Stewardship Board (LCSB)
December 15, 2022: Presentation and discussion with the Natural Resources Advisory
Board (NRAB)
December 15, 2022: Presentation and discussion with the Disability Advisory Board
(DAB)
DocuSign Envelope ID: 54045E07-EE48-4A17-B60E-2B8B1D037010
Planned Outreach Strategy
In coordination with City staff, the Kearns & West consulting team has summarized the
feedback received through the former development review process and has reviewed
the information from the Parks & Recreation survey to identify gaps in community
feedback.
Outreach to the Indigenous community and individuals will begin in January, 2023,
conducted by Valerie Small, Indigenous Community Engagement Specialist, Rachael
Johnson, Senior Specialist in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Ron Hall of Bubar &
Hall Consulting.
Staff has connected with one member of the PATHS (Planning Action to Transform
Hughes Sustainably) community group to better understand their vision for the future of
the site and as a contact to additional PATHS members.
A postcard mailing is planned to go out in early January to nearly 700 residents adjacent
to the site, in addition to social media posts to Nextdoor, Facebook and other City
outreach platforms.
An OurCity site specific to this project has been created and has been “soft launched”
with a short survey for community members: https://ourcity.fcgov.com/future-of-hughes
The postcard and other media outreach will direct community members to the OurCity
site for outreach opportunities and other information related to the future of the former
Hughes stadium site.
Next Steps
Staff will continue to gather feedback on future potential desired uses through the
OurCity platform.
Once initial feedback is gathered from community members on the future re-use of the
site, staff will refine a set of scenarios that include a list of potential uses, timelines for
implementation, potential funding sources, and any known trade-offs.
When the purchase of the former Hughes Stadium site is finalized, staff will submit a
press release with information about the transaction, links for engagement, and the date
for a Council Work Session to discuss future potential plans on the site.
A Council Work Session is tentatively planned for March, 2022.
At the Council Work Session, staff plans to outline community feedback, potential use
scenarios, and how scenarios align with community feedback.
Future next steps will be developed with Council direction and communicated once
further defined.
DocuSign Envelope ID: 54045E07-EE48-4A17-B60E-2B8B1D037010