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`Big -box'
By TONY SALANDRAN
The Coloradoan
Mmword frequents
city's vocabulary
6-za-9y
moratorium ahead?
Moratorium is a noun that
Fort Collins City Council
members are beginning to use
more than ever.
Tuesday night marks the
first time the governing body
approved a development mora-
torium, according to longtime
city employees.
And the council will con-
sider yet another moratorium
July 5 that temporarily would
ban developments classified as
"big -box retail."
Greg Byrne, the city's direc-
tor of community planning
and environmental services,
said the July 5 proposal is de-
signed to give staff members a
chance to define where they
want to place the large retail
projects whose developers are
beginning to explore Fort Col-
lins as a possible site.
He said how "big -box retail"
is defined is among the priori -
Growth
ties, but it would include such
projects as super -size depart-
ment and grocery stores, such
as Wal-Mart and Kmart.
Such developments have
vastly different impacts on
traffic, the neighborhoods and
the environment compared to
what Fort Collins city plan-
ners have dealt with in the
past, Byrne said.
Exactly how long a mora-
torium is needed to study the
issues — outlining what to ex-
pect, where they should be
placed in the city and what
the designs should include —
is not yet clear.
Councilman Will Smith said
a "big -box retail" moratorium
may be needed.
"Are people ready to be the
site of a regional shopping
center?" Smith asked.
He said when retail shop -
Other actions
Issues addressed Tuesday by the
Fort Collins City Council:
Council members gave final
approval to appropriate $623,245
for streetscape improvements on
Linden Street between Walnut
and Jefferson streets.
Council members annexed 17.9
acres known as the Strachan
Farm property and zoned it
low -density planned residential.
Council members approved on
initial reading the annexation of
155.6 undeveloped acres known
as the Harmony Farm property.
ping center developers
talking about attracting
pers in a 50-mile radius,
the city needs to stop
think about the future.
Constriction will start sometime
in July and finish this fall.
The undeveloped land, east of
County Road 9 and north of the
Hewlett Packard plant along
Harmony Road, will become part
of the city July 1.
Council will consider on July 5
the final approval of the land
annexation, which is on the
southeast comer Harmony Road
and County Road 9.
are Assistant planning director
shop- Joe Frank said those super
then stores "are the new kid on the
and block, and we know they are
looking at Fort Collins."
"Are we willing to become a
magnet for surrounding shop-
pers?" he said. "There are
shopping centers in the city
that total 95,000 square feet.
Now, when the anchor stores
in a center are getting bigger
than that...
"We're talking about plan-
ning for the future, not plan-
ning for the moment."
However, officials were not
sure if moratoriums were
going to be the city's answer
to difficult planning questions.
"I don't know if this is any
trend," Frank said about the
two proposed moratoriums.
"It's too early to tell. These
seem to be unique situations. I
don't know if we're going to
use them again."