Boulder East County Mayor Forum
On Monday I spent a couple of hours at the new Erie Recreation Center. I wasn’t lifting weights or running on a treadmill. Instead I was getting an opportunity to hear from four local mayors about what they think the future looks like for housing and economic development in their respective communities.
It was interesting to notice the distinct difference in their apparent fluency and clear understanding of the economic situation in each of their cities. I’ll give you some highlights of what I learned from the mayors of Broomfield, Longmont, Lafayette, and Erie in subsequent posts.
First, I wanted to give you a very rough rundown on some overall observations.
Broomfield’s mayor, Patrick Quinn, provided some decent data on different projects and plans for locations around the City and County of Broomfield. He emphasized some points of the city’s comprehensive plan, including a fully-approved FasTracks stop at the Arista center near Hwy 36 and Wadsworth.
Quinn seemed optimistic about the future growth and economic strength of Broomfield including both the western region due to some already approved new commercial and residential development influenced by nearby ConocoPhillips, as well as in the eastern and north eastern parts of Broomfield.
Longmont Mayor, Roger Lange, started out by commenting on the city’s focus on environmental issues, segued into some thoughts about the recent slowdown of new construction, and added that he has some concern over the reality of FasTracks coming to Longmont and the aging Twin Peaks Mall.
Lafayette mayor, Chris Cameron, gave a rundown on how Lafayette is in the midst of an obvious reduction in residential real estate development, but seemed encouraged by the prospect of seeing Lafayette get its first hotel. The new hotel will be part of the SOLA project, with another residence inn type of hotel in the works as well.
Erie mayor Andrew Moore gave his typically engaging and dynamic presentation, showing that he didn’t need to read the lines in his power point visuals, and was clearly on top of every issue facing Erie economic progress.
He spoke briefly about his continued efforts to change the historical perceptions of Erie, and gave a clever two-minute video of the town’s raw water pipeline project.
With some specifics about current development projects, the lowdown on the local schools, which often confuses everyone, and finishing with comments about ConocoPhillips’ impact, the smaller retail developments pending and of course the Velodrome, I got a more clear handle on what’s happening in Erie.
You can read more specifics in future posts which will focus on the comments from each mayor as I break down the info from the forum by city.
I’m glad that you are reading my blog, and hope you will find the time to explore other details of my website if you’re contemplating doing anything in the regional real estate market. I’d be honored to help you with your real estate needs, just call or email when you’re ready so we can talk about your plans.
-Zachary Epps, full-time professional Realtor and EcoBroker
Related Reading
Comments
Got something to say?
