A huge church-sponsored retail and housing development once headed for Longmont is being courted by a neighboring community for its potential as a revenue generator.
Firestone Mayor Mike Simone said he wants officials in the southwestern Weld County town to consider annexing the 340-acre LifeBridge Christian Church’s Union project. The town of Mead also is looking at the Union proposal.
The development drew fire in Longmont, including from those who questioned its tax-exempt status as a religious institution. The church has since dropped its bid to be annexed into Longmont, saying the issue had become too divisive.
Simone said he does not believe church developers will have the same problem in Firestone.
“Some in Longmont didn’t want the town involved with a religious development, and some of that is just being anti-religious,” Simone said. “Well, we ought to look to see if it will benefit Firestone.”
But Jen Gartner, who led a successful petition drive to have the Union annexation into Longmont put to public vote, said religion did not factor into criticism of the Union proposal.
“In fact, if LifeBridge just wanted to build a church to accommodate its growing congregation, there would be no problem,” Gartner said. “But there was a number of unanswered questions about how much of a strain this development would put on Longmont services.”
The Longmont City Council in August approved annexing Union, slated to be built north of Colorado 119 and east of Weld County Road 3, into the city. The development calls for 142 acres of homes, 57 acres for religious or civic uses, and a 150,000-square-foot arena.
Church supporters said the development would bring more than 2,000 new jobs to Longmont and be a scenic gateway into the city.
But many argued that because it was a church project, it would be exempt from local taxes while still enjoying city services.
City estimates showed that $610 million of commercial and residential development in Union would be taxable, but about $200 million of religious and civic uses would be exempt.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
