This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Written by Isaac Furtney
On Tuesday, July 9, Longmont City Council held a public hearing on an appeal against the Planning and Zoning Commission’s Mountain Brook Subdivision Plat proposal.
The plans include the development of 66 acres west of Hover Street and south of Rogers Road being built into multiple housing types such as 149 town-home dwellings, 110 single family detached dwellings, 25 detached multi-family dwellings, 8 attached duplex dwellings, as well as a piece of land to be later developed in accordance with zoning.
The 8 attached dwellings are being built by Habitat for Humanity and the 25 detached multi-family dwellings are being built by the Veterans Community Project for homeless veterans.
Three streets will be built to provide access to the subdivision. The proposal also requires storm-water detention ponds and common amenity areas.
The proposal had its first hearing on May 22 of this year when it approved the plat on 11 conditions. However, these conditions were not enough to appease the appellate parties.
Kevin Gallagher and James Enright expressed concern that the development would:
- Change the character of the rural and agricultural area into another urban development--negatively affecting property values
- Be too close to the airport and suffer woes from low flying aircraft
- Affect the floodplain
- Impact local wildlife such as raptors, possibly defying the Migratory Bird Treaty Act
- Negatively impacting local traffic and possibly modifying Rogers Road
- Increase the possibility of annexing properties along Rogers Road into the City of Longmont
Council voted 4-2 with council members Waters and Martin against and council member Finley absent, to direct city staff to address the concerns around the airport, traffic, drainage issues, and the impact on wildlife.
