The Longmont City Council unanimously approved a plan on Tuesday for a roughly 26-acre property to go through the city’s annexation review process for possible future development.
The land is currently zoned for agriculture in unincorporated Boulder County. The property is northwest of the U.S. 287 and Park Ridge Avenue intersection on the far north side of Longmontap planning area.
The project applicant, NLA Investors LLC, is requesting that the property be zoned “Residential – Mixed Neighborhood,” which would allow attached residential units at densities ranging from six to 18 units per acre.
A concept plan attached to the council’s packet of materials indicated that higher-density residential units might be built closer to U.S. 287 and lower-density ones would be built closer to an existing neighborhood to the west. Exactly how many units and what type of housing the developer intends to build on the property have not yet been publicly announced.
“This step simply allows the applicant to proceed with making a formal annexation application,” Rogelio Mares, Longmont public information officer, said in an email prior to Tuesday’s meeting. “We are typically seeing 9-12 months of review process for annexations, if the applicant is authorized by city council to proceed.”
By and large, the City Council appeared comfortable with the concept plan as presented, but some members, including Longmont Mayor Joan Peck, suggested that the developer might want to propose some residential amenities, such as childcare.
“I was thinking the exact same thing, childcare would be beautiful, wonderful and even a library would be nice over in that area,” Councilmember Shiquita Yarbrough said.
Longmont Principal Planner Jennifer Hewett-Apperson noted how much of the land north of the property — up to the boundary of the city’s planning area — is permanently zoned for open space use, which is either owned by Boulder County or is otherwise encumbered by permanent conservation easements.
“We don’t have a lot of space left in Longmont for annexation,” Hewett-Apperson said during Tuesday’s council meeting.
