Voters in Lafayette decided Tuesday that the city should annex a piece of land on which a Lowe’s home improvement store is slated to be built.
In the city’s first special election in at least 20 years, residents voted for annexation by about a 55 percent to 45 percent margin.
When the votes were finally tabulated late Tuesday, more than 6,400 mail-in ballots had been cast, with 3,510 for annexation and 2,913 against it.
“I think it’s a victory for Lafayette by Lafayette,” said resident Dave Trumbo, who led a group supporting the annexation. “People really turned out, and I’m very pleased with the outcome.”
Representatives from the group opposing annexation could not be reached late Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Karen Norback, an organizer of the anti-annexation group Preserve Lafayette’s Eastern Edge, said she was optimistic about the election.
“We feel confident that we’ve had a really strong message,” Norback said. “But until the numbers come through, we don’t know.”
Norback said about 100 people have worked with the group to fight the annexation and that many more had requested yard signs.
Trumbo, the leader of pro-annexation Vote Yes for Lafayette, said he counted about the same numbers for his group.
The ballot asked residents whether they wanted to annex a 32-acre parcel east of Old Town Lafayette – near Baseline Road and 119th Street – and zone it for big-box retail. Lowe’s has plans to build a store on the property.
Trumbo said a Lowe’s would bring much-desired revenue to city coffers.
“Since Colorado cities live and die on sales tax, a tax generator like a Lowe’s is an important part of the city,” he said.
Norback said building a Lowe’s on the property would eliminate the buffer between Lafayette and a large development in neighboring Broomfield.
Plus, she said, the store would bring more traffic and would destroy a valuable wetland and wildlife-habitat.
The home-improvement store still must undergo the normal city review process before ground is broken.
The Lowe’s battle was not the only fight in the northern suburbs over a big-box development.
On Tuesday night, residents opposed to having a Wal-Mart built on the site of an aging poultry plant gave Broomfield City Council members petitions containing more than 1,400 signatures.
Meanwhile, another group in the city has been collecting signatures in support of building a Wal-Mart to present at a future city council meeting.
Broomfield Assistant City Manager Kevin Standbridge said the city has not yet decided what will be built on the Barber poultry site near 120th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard.
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
