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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020CV30833 - City Of Fort Collins V. Planning Action To Transform Hughes Stadium Sustainably Corp, Et. Al - 020A - Exhibit A - Lopez AffidavitDISTRICT COURT, CITY AND COUNTY OF LARIMER, COLORADO Larimer County Justice Center 201 Laporte Avenue, Suite 100 Fort Collins, Colorado 80521 (970) 498-6100 ♦COURT USE ONLY♦ PLAINTIFF: THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS, COLORADO, a Colorado home rule city and municipal corporation, vs. Case Number: 2020CV30833 Div.: 3B DEFENDANTS: PLANNING ACTION TO TRANSFORM HUGHES SUSTAINABLY CORP., a Colorado nonprofit corporation; and ELENA M. LOPEZ, MELISSA ROSAS, AND PAUL PATTERSON, each in their official capacity as a petition representative of the persons signing the petition for a citizen -initiated ordinance relating to the City of Fort Collins rezoning and acquiring certain real property Attorney for the Defendants: Michael Foote, #34358 Foote Law Firm, LLC 357 S. McCaslin Blvd. Suite 200 Louisville, Colorado 80027 Phone: (303) 519-2183 Fax: (888) 804-8679 mjbfoote@gmail.com AFFIDAVIT OF ELENA M. LOPEZ I, Elena M. Lopez, being duly sworn under penalty of perjury, state and declare as follows: 1. My name is Elena M. Lopez. I am over the age of 18 and I have personal knowledge of the matters set forth in this Affidavit. 2. I am currently a resident of the City of Fort Collins and have been a resident of Fort Collins consecutively for the last 6 years, and cumulatively for 10 years. I live in Council District 5. 3. While a resident of Fort Collins, I have often used the City's Natural Areas, also known as public open lands or open space. 4. It is my opinion, and the opinion of many of my friends, neighbors and acquaintances, that the City's existing Natural Areas are one of the main positive features of living in Fort Collins. 5. I have noticed over the last several years that the Natural Areas have become more and more crowded, with recreation trails widening and bifurcating and breaching protected wildlife areas. As more people move to Fort Collins, more people use its Natural Areas. The Natural Areas are suffering from extreme overuse, overcrowding and degradation. As Fort Collins booms with rapid growth and becomes more densely crowded, the number of relatively large parcels available for new open space is being lost to development, and our chances to save our Last remaining Fort Collins open spaces for future generations and for our local wildlife are fading quickly. 6. I believe the City Council has neglected to appropriately expand acquisition and extend connectivity between Natural Areas and our public open space to keep up with escalating use and our ballooning population, and the City Council certainly is not adequately grappling with the projected population growth and development that Fort Collins will experience in the next 10 years and beyond. The City's current policies regarding acquisition of properties with vital conservation value need to be reviewed. I have publicly advocated for those changes, including the expansion of the City's existing Natural Areas and publicly -accessible open space, and the obvious need for acquisition of new properties. 7. I am an indigenous Chicana and one of the founders of Planning Action to Transform Hughes Sustainably ("PATHS"). My three fellow board members, also indigenous Chicanas, have a profound connection to all North American lands, including and especially open lands like the Hughes property. The decision to organize and fight to protect this last remaining large parcel of open space for all members of our Fort Collins community, as well as for our precious local wildlife that are faced with ever shrinking habitat and increased human interactions (including fatal vehicle collisions), was decisively easy. Hughes is an extraordinarily beautiful parcel of land. It has been enjoyed for many decades by local residents as a peaceful site for walking, running, birding, sight-seeing, dog walking, and self -reflection, among other activities that feed the spirit and soul. Wildlife abounds at Hughes, and migration routes for large and small mammals and migratory birds run along the western aspect of property near the hogbacks. Situated between the protected City of Fort Collins Maxwell and Pineridge Natural Areas, Hughes provides an opportunity to extend and connect two of the most popular and high traffic Natural Areas in the City's open space portfolio. An opportunity like this presents itself very rarely, really almost never, in a town that is now a mid -sized City, and that continues to grow seemingly exponentially. 8. I believe the property formerly home to the Colorado State University Hughes football stadium would be an excellent property to acquire in an effort to obtain more open space within Fort Collins. In addition, and critically, the Hughes property would create and maintain a valuable connection (both ecologic and human) between Maxwell and Pineridge Natural Areas. 9. What ultimately happens with the Hughes property will have significant long-lasting effects on Fort Collins. If the Hughes property is acquired as open space, it will allow residents like myself and many others to freely enjoy the quality of life we associate with Fort Collins, no matter what the size of our pocket books or bank accounts. If it is developed, the City's residents will suffer a detrimental reduction in quality of life, and lose an opportunity that we will never recover or replace. 10. I have publicly advocated for the transformation of the Hughes property into public open space because I believe it is currently one of the best ways for the City Council to expand its Natural Areas program and expand connectivity between existing high -use Natural Areas with high conservation value. 11. Under the direction of myself and other leaders in PATHS, our volunteers collected over 8,300 signatures — more than twice the required number — to put the Hughes property question on the Fort Collins ballot on April 6, 2021. We were able to collect those signatures despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and exposure to the ever-present hazardous smoke and ash from the Cameron Peak wildfire. Our success in this endeavor speaks not only to the perseverance of our members and volunteers, but also to the tidal wave of support that we experienced from our fellow Fort Collins residents and voters. 12. I firmly believe that the overwhelming community support for our position stated at City Council and countless other community meetings, as well as our success in gathering petition signatures, shows without a shadow of a doubt a widespread desire for more open spaces in Fort Collins, and the conversion of the Hughes property to public open space will be one way to achieve that increasingly important policy goal. As a founding member of PATHS, I am confident that our members feel the same way I do about the City's critical need to expand and protect Fort Collins open space while we have the opportunity, and before it's lost forever. FURTHER, Affiant sayeth naught. STATE OF COLORADO COUNTY OF LARIMER Ph Subscribed and sworn to before me this I` day of,h. , 2021, by Elena M. Lopez SS. iv( Elena M. Lopez LYNDSY CROCHET NOTARY PUBLIC STATE OF COLORADO NOTARY ID 20204002375 MY C0MMI5SI01 EXI 7"'x ` 1 17, 2024 LYNDSY CROCHET NOTARY PUBLIC STATE OF COLORADO NOTARY n 90204002375 MY COMP" :1' fs ,IAr 17, 2n24 Notary public