Loveland Council Passes Annexation for McWhinney

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Shot Over the Bow
Staples Farm Group Planning To Bring Issue Back To Council

Loveland - July 22, 2008

A group of 14 Loveland residents calling themselves the "Staples Farm Core
Team" sent an emial today (right) to their supporters and cc'd Loveland's Mayor,
City Council and staff. The letter is protesting the recent decision made by
Loveland's City Council in secret not to purchase Staples Farm for public use.
see their website and background.

Among the people named as members of the "Core Team" is Barry Floyd who
purchased the Feed & Grain downtown Loveland for preservation when the city
failed to act in saving the historic downtown edifice.

At issue is the $6.6 million the City of Loveland has access to via open lands
set-aside funds (lottery and sales tax dollars) but refused to use to purchase
Staples Farm. The GoColorado funds and some of the Larimer County Open
Space sales tax are instead being reserved for purchasing land City Manager,
Don Williams, wants the city to buy but hasn't yet revealed details to the public
according to supporters of Staples Farm who spoke "off-the-record" with Mayor
Pielin.

Among the private schemes the City Manager has floated is using the Open Land
funds to subsidize the developer by paying them to build less homes. The group
of investors who bought Staples Farm intended to exploit the property's boundry
with Loveland's bike trail, Big Thompson and the narrow swath of open space on
either side of the river by crowding it with new homes for more money. The
property isn't in the City of Loveland and is still zoned as agricultural use in the
county but the investors are asking Loveland to annex the property and approve
higher density zoning to residential estate.

The investors bought the property for approximately $940,000 and are looking
to sell for over $1 million to recover any costs associated with their various failed
proposals to build a subdivision on the land. According to an annonymous
source claiming to be in city hall, the city paid appraisal of the property came in at
approximately $1,030,000. Don Williams, City Manager, is refusing to release
the appraisal or any other documents related to the secret decision.

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 1:05 am

First, we want to say how sorry we are that your enthusiasm for Staples Farm land, your
work in the July meeting's executive session on SF to craft your purchase
recommendation options for City Council, and your belief that the process would be fair
were all betrayed by Director Havener's scheduling a surprise executive privilege session
with City Council one week ago, with no notice to you or the public. Since March, we
have appreciated your support for our efforts and for the land at risk of development if it
cannot be purchased to be kept as open land. We also want to remind you that I am only
one of the core leadership team and our base of supporters broadens daily. So, at the
end of this email I will list the names of core team members on whose behalf I am sending
this email to you.

We, however, remain optimistic and hope that you will retrench and go forward to bring a
recommendation to City Council, as is your right (not Director Havener's). We also want
to let you know that we have been hunting for partners in the purchase so that you would
not need to feel you had to recoup costs by planning to develop a few houses on the land.
In fact, I had talked with Mayor Pielin two Mondays ago (the 9th and same day that
Brian H, in response to my inquiry, announced that the appraisal had been delivered but
would not be released to the public or even to commissioners until you were sworn to
secrecy). The mayor told me not to worry, that Staples Farm would probably be bought
through the commissioners' recommendation to City Council. He then added that putting
a few houses on the land would be a likely route to offset what he thought might be about
a million dollars to purchase the property.

I advised that we did not just believe that the land should not be developed by a private
developer, but that this land,should certainly not be developed by the city instead of by a
private developer. That approach seems like a conflict of interest for the city or at a
minimum a violation of the purposes for which this city is entrusted with GoColorado
funds and a share of the Larimer County Open Space sales tax, voted in by citizens to
save open land and river corridors and special echo systems for the public's use or
viewing or sheer pleasure of knowing it is safe for wildlife habitat, passage or, simply, for
future generations to have leavening the concrete of homes and highways. If this practice
with open lands funds is encouraged by support staff and the Parks & Recreation
director, we hope Council and the City's top administrators examine how the practice of
using open lands funds to purchase land and then build some houses on the land to
replenish open land funds spent on the purchase can be legitimate, and how and where
any surplus funds generated by the sale of homes developed on the public's land are
used? and who provides oversight and what checks and balances are in place?

Beyond these concerns about process and its reasonableness, even if technically legal, are
the broader reasons we and many believe open lands' purchase costs should not be
recouped by developing some of the land purchased with open lands' funds. Specifically
with regard to the Staples Farm land, we oppose development, whether by a private
developer or as directed by the Parks & Recreation Department or someone else in city
government, for specific and pressing reasons of public safety as well as the profound
disconnect between the reason that open lands funding is available and such a use for that
funding:
-- the dangers to homes and home-owners in the river's flood plain (which extends just
about to 5th);
-- the damage to the river from the 5 feet of fill required for each house to, theoretically,
be high enough to be 'safe' from flood waters;
_ the inaccessability of the land due to private ownership of some? most? all? of the land,
even if it is protected from further development through conservation easements;
_ the interruption of the wildlife corridor or foreseeable conflicts between wildlife on the
move or staying for awhile and 'land-owners';
_ the present and future need for Lovelanders to have access and limited use (community
&/or youth gardens, teaching sites for naturalists, open places to explore and lie on to
look at the sky, day or night, 'catch and release' location for young fishers with adult or
parental assistance, access to one of a sequence of 'gold circle' trout fishing sections on
the Big T from the western edge of Loveland, through all of Staples Farm land riverbanks
(including those of the pasture on SF's eastern border, and on through the city past (or
part of) Fairgrounds Park and on through east Loveland)
_and, finally, the fact that the rapid pace of recent development and, as people say to us,
"roofs and houses everywhere you look", and the concommitent loss of small patches of
'open space' in neighborhoods or formerly vacant lots, which have left many in this
community grateful for one coherent open place along the river lined with old
cottonwoods, easily accessible but spared the destruction of construction.

I then told the mayor that we had been searching for funds which he said he knew, and I
asked him if we were able to bring between $300-500,000 to the table to support the
Commission's request to Council to purchase the land, would that be enough to make it
unnecessary to "recoup' purchase costs by building 'some homes' on the land. He said
that probably would and would also be welcomed by the Commission. I then asked if the
Commission's purchase recommendations to Council had ever included private partners
such as we would be instead of the governmental partners which seemed to be a standard
pattern. He answere that there have been private group partners in the past and their
participation had been very welcome. I advised then that, in such a case, it would be our
intention (and that of any partner we brought to the table with us) to have a significant say
in how the land is used, where the public could step on (and even work) the land and
where the paths would be raised above the land to avoid interrupting movement of small
creatures, and where the walkway would take people to a variety of mini-open spaces
along the river or in the open for picnics, play or dreaming. Again, the mayor said that
made perfect sense and would be a welcome partnership.

I thanked him for his time and encouragement and said we would proceed to follow up on
some excellent (and very compatable possibilities). I did not ask him to keep silent about
this and, actually thought he might let you all know about our direction and on-going
effort, in the privacy of your execsession at the end of your regular monthly meeting on
Wednesday, July 11 when you had time for discussing and, hopefully, crafting an offer to
purchase Staples Farm. In fact, we had fairly high hopes that we might have a tentative
partnership name and dollar amount to let you know about before the regular meeting was
convened. Unfortunately, we did not and thought it would be inappropriate to tell you
specifics about a parternship that was still only in the talking and consideration stage.
Perhaps, Mayor Pielin did tell you of our hopes for a great partnership which would bring
significant monety and a wonderful use for part of the land which would support and
complement the more general public use we envision for the rest of the land. If so, maybe
it just sounded too 'pie in the sky" to count on!

So, we want you to know we deeply appreciate your intention and your work to use
Open Lands funds to purchase the 15+ acres we know as Staples Farm. We would like
to highlight, equally, the benefit to the Big Thompson if its north bank from Taft through its
crossing under 1st street on its way further east is undeveloped. We know that care of
the Big Thompson is a major goal for the city's Open Lands' funds and we fully support
that goal.

We're sure you remember that the SF parcel currently for sale is bordered to the east by
10+ acres used as pasture for a few horses and/or cattle for more than 25 years. The
Mannons own that land and have stated that if SF land is developed, they will give up and
sell which would probably lead to additional development -- thoroughly completing the
destruction of the magic of 25 open acres along the river from Taft to the
Loveland-Greeley Ditch. Conversely, we have let them know of the parameters and
possibility of securing a conservation easement for their land to keep it open. They have
discussed this possibility with John Lewis, and he has reported to you at your May
meeting, that when Mr Mannon retires they would like to build a small home in which to
live (at northern end and out of flood plain) and a small barn for their animals. Further, if
SF is saved from development, they would like to work with the Open Lands
Commission to craft a conservation easement that will keep their land from being further
built on, in perpetuity. The entire 25+ acres contiguous land along the Big T and south of
5th street would be saved forever for the enjoyment and use of this community -- young
through old; now and into the future! This is worth another effort for you to prepare a
purchase recommendation to City Council and we believe we will be able to bring
partners and significant funding to the table to be ensure the land is saved, undeveloped,
for the community and for the future.

When City Manager Don Williams revealed, last Monday night after the executive session
which Director Havener had requested, he stated that City Council had disapproved the
purchase of Staples Farm. The sole authorizing criterion for Open Lands purchase
interest to be cloaked in an executive session is that it be relevant to/part of strategizing or
crafting a purchase negotiation. It was illegal for City Council to make a decision about
whether or not the purchase would be made within an Executive Session from which the
public was excluded. It also enitrely bypassed the Commission's role and responsibiltiy
to bring its recommendation for land purchases to the City Council for its consideration in
public with formal advance notice and the opportunity for public comment.

During the same post-exec session interview, City Manager Williams also said that the
Open Land Commission might still recommend purchase of Staples Farm to City Council,
if it so wished. We will keep you apprised of our fund-raising and
partnership-development work and hope we can go forward together to purchase Staples
Farm and keep it undeveloped and open for the use of this community and all our
children. Your goals and legitimate process were hi-jacked by Director Havener in
disregard of your intentions. Luckily, the secret meeting he convened with City Council
regarding Staples Farm, based on the City Manager's description of the outcome, will not
withstand the slightest scrutiny or objection.   What happened to due process? What
happened to the citizens' right to know? What happened to accountability for a
Department head who has overstepped his bounds and violated the trust of citizen
commissioners?

Again, we thank you for your hard work and for your commitment to protecting the river
and open lands. We will keep you informed of our progress and request, now, that
Chairman Zawacki ask that we be on the agenda of your August meeting, if you and he
are willing to re-engage in the process and to work with us as partners if we can bring
community organization(s) whose goals are congruent with ours and significant funds to
the table to secure the land called Staples Farm. Sorry to be so long, but the disregard of
your role and your work and the violation of public process engineered by Director
Havener have been very disruptive and created many questions and much cynicism among
the citizens. We lost heart for a very short while, but are stronger and more determined
now, than ever.

We also want to let you know that we will resume asking people to sign a simple petition
to bring eventually to City Council asking that Staples Farm land be purchased by
dedicated Open Lands funds in partnership with the community. We are sure you
remember the snapshot of support for Staples Farm we brought you with almost 550
signatures on a petition which just a few of us had collected in just a few days to show
you the level of community support that is out there to be tapped or roused to anger.

Once again, we thank you, volunteer citizen commissioners, for the welcome you have
always given us and the enthusiasm you have always demonstrated for this unique remnant
of old lands and old ways in the heart of our city at the western edge of old downtown,
named for the farmer Roy Staples who gave the city the land for Taft Avenue and whose
last home was on the 15+ acres we are trying to save as open land along the Big
Thompson, which is called Staples Farm.

We look forward to being able to continue working with your Commission on behalf of
community, now and in the future.

Sincerely, the Staples Farm Core Team:             Sharon Anholm
                                                         Hans Bakker
                                                         Talma Boyanovsky
                                                         Mary Carraher
                                                         Mona Claycomb
                                                          Joan deMuro
                                                          Barry Floyd
                                                          Lynn Kincanon
                                                          Virginia Lucy
                                                          Donna Rice
                                                          John & Regina Roberts
                                                          Larry & Gayle
Ruiter                                                                                                        Andy Smith
                                                          Lou & Christine Turf

Below is a copy of the July 22, email sent by Virginia Lucy
on behalf of the group organized to save Staples Farm.

This morning, City Manager Don Williams responded to my 7/22 email on behalf
of Staples Farm Supporters and clarified that it was his decision to ask for the
City Council to go into executive session to give staff direction. He further
advised that, "The reason is simple it is very hard to get the best possibe price
when you announce to the world your intention to buy and then begin negotiations."

City Manager Williams, I appreciate your prompt reply and clarification. We do
not understand, however, why the need to get the best possible price should
override the commission's process and intent to bring its purchase
recommendations to Council; nor why the commission or its chair were not
informed of the decision before seeing it on television or learning of it the following
morning from the press.

The appraisal revision which Director Havener had requested and received before
meeting in executive session with the Open Lands Commission had already
reduced the appraised value to about 60% of the sellers' asking price in contrast
to the originally appraisal which had assessed the land's value at something over a
million dollars. When this land along the river had been appraised close to or
better than the asking price and then the requested revision had reduced that
appraisal value to 40% below the asking price, it does not seem that the possibility
of crafting an even lower offer was worth the human and civic costs of such
process upheaval and exclusion of commissioners and the public. At a minimum,
it certainly does not seem worth a decision in executive session not to purchase
Staples Farm, which you reported after the executive session and which appears
to violate the City Charter's provision regarding Executive Sessions that, "no
formal action, no final policy decision, no rule, regulation, resolution, or
ordinance... shall be adopted or approved".

Another element of the equation which seems very relevant is that Open Lands
funds for purchase have accrued to 6.6 million dollars (with an additional
approximate $3 million dedicated to maintenance and construction needed for
open lands) over years of both conservation easement and fee simple purchases
which total through 2007 to $6,800,518 (and no funds have been spent so far this
year to for either fee simple or conservation easement purchases). Since the
program's inception, the city's fee simple purchases (with the exception of only
three properties -- Hidden Valley 1st & 2nd and Lazy J Bar S Parcel 3)) have
involved partners and donors. Out of $22,015,870 spent since the program's
inception on land purchases, the city has spent only $5,988,582 or about 27% of
the money spent by partners and donors to save land. Donors have contributed
18% of the total funds with which to purchase property.

The dedicated funds to protect and preserve open lands and the Big Thompson
River corridor are provided the city to use on behalf of Loveland citizens, now
and in the future. These funds cannot be diverted to any other city purpose and
most of them come from GoColorado and the city's share of the citizen-initiated
Larimer County sales tax to preserve open space.   It is clear that your, Director
Havener's and the City Council's approach to spending these funds has been very
conservative. That is certainly a wise approach to governance and provision of
city services. But 12 years after Loveland's Open Lands program began with
dedicated funds, it might be time to diversify our approach to saving "living" land,
water and air for the future. The sole purpose for providing Colorado and its
communities with open lands funds is to use those funds to save open land, water
and ecosystems which are vanishing at a faster and faster pace as population
growth and urbanization threaten the quality of life which was rooted in and
enriched by the diversity and health of the natural world around us. More and
more of that natural world disappears daily and towns and cities which do not
save as much as they can to weave through their land and leaven the concrete and
streets of development with green and the sounds and sights of nature will lose
what can never be replaced.

Our community, all of northern Colorado and much of the entire state have
become the fastest growing and urbanizing areas in the entire west. Open lands
and waters and access to them is not something that will just stay on a shelf until
we decide it's time to make another purchase or until we can find others to fund
the majority of the costs. These are vanishing resources and efforts to preserve
them must not simply go on a linear path. If we continue to exclusively follow
wuch an approach, by the time we get there, more and more will have been
irretrievably lost. This funding is not permanent either -- it is to do our best to
save and secure, now, those lands, waters, viewscapes, wildlife habitats, small to
large pieces of open and secluded areas where children can experience the earth
and her creatures first-hand and adults can refresh themselves near home but
away from the sounds and sights of our fast-paced urban lives.

We can understand better the approach this city has taken to securing open lands
in the past now that we can understand your belief in safeguarding the fiscal
resources and minimizing expenditures essential to good governance had led you
to believe the same approach would be best for saving open lands and other
vanishing treasures of the natural world in and around Loveland. We can respect
and appreciate your care and responsibility for assets essential for governance.
We ask you now to recognize, respect and appreciate that vanishing and
irreplaceable natural lands and open spaces need to be saved now because they
won't be around to be saved in the future. And they are essential assets for a
healthy community of children and adults still in touch with the natural world in
their daily life and their own town.

Parks & Recreation Director Havener, I apologize for believing it was your
initiative that disregarded the work of the Open Lands Commissioners who had
hoped to make their official recommendation for the purchase of Staples Farm to
City Council in a public meeting. We have heard from varied sources (none of
them on the Open Lands Commission) that you are very impatient with public
input which may delay or impede the course you have set for your department or
some project within it, including your warnings in orientations for new Parks &
Recreation employees, that your focus, first, last and always, is to achieve success
and adequate funding for your department and that 'bottom line' will outweigh any
objections or perspectives expressed by citizens which do not align with the
course you have set. And we let those things we have heard, and small things
such as your never returning calls when we have left messages on your phone (as
opposed to City Manager Williams who always has) lead us down that dreadful
path of starting to assume that your oft-stated dislike of Staples Farm as "nothing
but a dirty horse pasture" (yes, many quotes or purported quotes have also been
relayed to us) is clouding your judgement or increasing your distaste for having to
deal with citizen input/support for this land.

So, I would also like to apologize for having let a combination of your observed
behaviour and comments others have passed on as yours and the evil genie of
assumption combine to the degree that I have begun to assume you are and will
remain an enemy to Staples Farm becoming one of Loveland's open lands. I hope
you are not and believe that it is in your interest and the city's to support something
that so many value and is truly irreplaceablly sited at the edge of old town and
accessible, someday we hope, to the young and old of this communty, for now
and as forever as the future can provide.

We do not seek to oppose you in the administration of your Parks & Recreation
Department. We do believe however that the value, purpose and goals of a
program to save open lands is to do just that and requires the application of a
different mindset and a different appraisal of intrinsic value.. And since recognizing
the value or draw of a piece of open land is not the same as your work developing
golf courses or ball parks or recreation centers or any one of the many organized,
structured or constructed venues your department provides for this community,
we hope you will acknowledge that open and unstructured land, even just on a
riverbank and near a 'horse pasture' can do as much and maybe even more for a
community and those who dwell in it, and most importantly, that the two
approaches to human recreation are only different -- not in conflict.

A perfect example is one you provided this community when you built the great
walking and bike trail along the Big Thompson's south bank and north of the
baseball parks, skate board park, children's playground , community park shelter,
etc. which your department also built for this community. Almost all who enjoy
the walking/biking trail and many in the playground and park shelter look across
the river to the cottonwoods along it and the open land beyond the trees (yes,
Staples Farm and the Mannons' pasture) and they love it being there -- open and
peaceful and along the river, enhancing their walk or ride in a way that happens
only there and along other parts of the river where the land on its other bank is still
open and undeveloped.

Open Lands Commissioners    As the Staples Farm Rescue Team ,we thank you
for your interest, your support and your recognition of this land's special place,
physically nestled along the river in the heart of Loveland, and in the hearts of so
many Lovelanders. As fellow Lovelanders, we thank you for being community
members who step forward to partner with the city in its commitment to listen and
learn from its citizen commissioners and the citizens whom they represent.

July 23 Notice by Virginia Lucy after hearing from Don
Williams, Loveland City Manager, in response to the
letter (right) sent July 22, 2008.