April 15th, 2025, by Rebecca Powell | Forft Collins Coloradoan
The clock is now ticking on two petitions proposing the former Hughes Stadium land become a natural area, just as a panel of 20 residents specifically created to explore all the options is getting started.
A citizen group wants voters to weigh in on whether the 164-acre plot now owned by the city of Fort Collins should be designated as a natural area, with no other uses allowed.`
Four years ago, voters required the city of Fort Collins to purchase the former Hughes Stadium and zone it as Public Open Lands.
The zoning district of Public Open Lands can include a natural area, but the 2021 ballot question did not ask whether the parcel should become a natural area, which is limited to even more strict uses than the open lands zoning.
Advocacy group PATHS, which stands for Planning Action to Transform Hughes Sustainably, is circulating two petitions. The group was also behind the 2021 ballot initiative.
One petition, which calls only for a vote on making the Hughes land a natural area, needs 5,079 signatures to get on the next regularly scheduled election ballot.
Another petition includes the natural area question and would also ask voters to block any future sale, lease or conveyance of the land to a third party. This initiative asks for a special election, which requires more signatures, about 7,600.
Organizers have 63 days to gather signatures.
The Coloradoan has made multiple attempts over several days to contact PATHS organizers to get more information about the effort. None have replied as of the afternoon of April 14.
Petitions are due back to the City Clerk’s Office with the required number of signatures by 5 p.m. June 11.
What exactly did voters approve in 2021 and why are there petitions now?
In April 2021, voters approved the citizen-initiated ballot question that required the city to purchase the land and to zone it as open lands. It passed with 69% of the votes.
The approved ballot language, written by the citizen organizers, asked the city to acquire the land “for the purpose of using it for parks, recreation and open lands, natural areas, and wildlife rescue and education.”
But PATHS, on its website, says the “legislative intent” behind the question isn’t being honored by the city as it plans for the future of the land. PATHS says the intent was made clear by the “whereas” clauses of the ordinance passed when the measure was referred to the ballot.
“What voters understood that they were voting for, was to CONSERVE Hughes as PROTECTED open space like a Natural Area with a the possibility of a SMALL 5-acre wildlife center, with LOW-impact, LOW-maintenance recreation,” the website states.
Nick Frey, who campaigned for the 2021 ballot issue with PATHS and is a volunteer with the Fort Collins Bike Park Collective, said while he can’t be sure of what each individual petition circulator communicated to potential voters, collectively the campaign was about preventing residential development from happening on the site.
“We didn’t want to irreversibly develop this into a bunch of private housing, and that was it. There wasn’t really any discussion about what it should be,” Frey said. “It was more like what it could be.”
After the election, the city began conducting outreach with the community regarding their hopes for the land, based on the legal parameters of the ballot question: for “parks, recreation and open lands, natural areas, and wildlife rescue and education.”
The city heard from a contingent of people who wanted to see it used, at least in part, as a bike park. Other ideas floated in the outreach period include a natural area, a wildlife center and a place for Indigenous cultural activities, among others.
What about the civic assembly process?
This petition effort was launched just before a 20-person panel known as the “civic assembly” met for the first time to help determine the future of the site.
The residents on the panel were randomly selected while also being representative of certain city demographics. They will, over the course of two weekends this spring, get information about the site, the proposals and public feedback.
The civic assembly is hearing presentations from different groups, including PATHS, Overland Mountain Bike Association, First People’s Conservancy Center and the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program, among others.
The idea is to use consensus building during facilitated discussions to make recommendations to council, which will be the ultimate decision-maker.
The first weekend of the assembly was April 12-13. The next and final weekend, which is set to end with recommendations to council, is May 3-4.
Council could make a decision about the land in August, according to a city timeline.
A successful citizen initiative could be referred to the ballot in August or September, depending on how long it takes the clerk’s office to review signatures and whether there are any protests of the petitions.
If voters were to approve the ballot issue, it would override any plans for the Hughes land that were decided by City Council.
But it’s also possible that City Council could decide to put the civic assembly’s recommendations on the same ballot, Ginny Sawyer, policy and project manager with the city, told the Coloradoan. If both ballot issues were to pass, then the measure with the most yes votes would take effect.
Colin Russell, one of the delegates to the civic assembly, told the group during its April 13 session that he believes the petition effort undermines the process of the civic assembly.
“Twenty people put their heart and soul and time into this, and we worked hard and tried hard and listened and deliberated,” Russell told the Coloradoan, saying he initially felt angry and crestfallen.
He said he was surprised that PATHS did not talk about their petition effort when they presented to the civic assembly. Instead, city staff informed the panel after all presentations were given.
Another delegate, also speaking to fellow civic assembly delegates, noted the citizen group is exercising its rights and following an established process, even if she thinks the timing is discouraging.
Sawyer said while council showed its commitment to having an inclusive process by spending $150,000 for the civic assembly to be run by Healthy Democracy, there’s also a different system that allows for people to use the initiative process.
“Democracy can be messy,” Sawyer told the Coloradoan.
“We encourage the assembly to take their work seriously and dig in and come up with recommendations that they all can get behind,” Sawyer said. “We’re not going to stop our process because we do believe it’s a unique and inclusive process.”
Read the full article here.
