LONGMONT — A cease-fire may soon be declared in the border war between Longmont and Firestone, where new leaders are pledging to tone down rhetoric and amp up cooperation.
Firestone’s newly elected mayor, Chad Auer, recently made overtures for peace by sipping coffee with Longmont mayor Roger Lange and appearing before a full Longmont City Council to promise a better working relationship.
This was a far cry from former Firestone mayor Mike Simone’s declaration in March that some on the Longmont council were anti-religious for turning away an annexation proposal from LifeBridge Christian Church’s Union parcel.
Simone was term-limited and couldn’t run for re-election in April. His favored slate of town board candidates — who appeared ready to keep tensions high against Longmont — was solidly drubbed at the polls in April.
The new mayor, a charter school principal, promised to strengthen ties with Longmont and other cities in the region to best manage growth.
“I think the voters sent a pretty clear message that we have a responsibility to collaborate with our neighbors,” Auer said. “This is absolutely an effort to really try and find some win-win situations.”
To that end, Auer last week offered a compromise plan that will ensure Longmont keeps open space on its eastern border while allowing Firestone to annex the Union parcel.
Already council members are happy with the friendlier attitude expressed by Auer and other new town board members.
“I think they’ve already made it clear they want to sit down and talk to us and work with us on certain issues and we welcome that,” said Longmont councilwoman Karen Benker.
As outlined by Auer, LifeBridge would be willing to sell to Longmont a 120-acre parcel it owns between Colorado Colorado 119 and Weld County Road 26 as open space.
If Longmont buys that land, developers of the adjacent Firelight Park would also be willing to sell its 74 acres to Longmont and drop plans to annex into Firestone.
In return, Longmont must stop efforts to annex rights-of-way along Colorado 119 and Weld County Road 26 that would block LifeBridge from developing the 350-acre Union parcel and a possible annexation into Firestone.
The proposal not only would curtail expensive court battles over annexation rights along Longmont’s eastern border, said Auer in a letter to the Longmont council, it would “also be the first major step in establishing a long term positive and constructive . . . relationship between the city of Longmont and the town of Firestone.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
