Thursday, July 21, 2016

2 The Johnstown Breeze

2534: Small town, big vision

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Email: editor@johnstownbreeze.com
P.O. Box 400, Johnstown, CO 80534

By Zant Reyez
The Johnstown Breeze

Editors Note: This is the first

in a series of stories about development of the 2534 area
in the northern part of Johnstown. Additional stories will
run in the coming weeks
throughout the remainder of
the summer.
JOHNSTOWN The history of 2534 runs as far and as
deep as the infrastructure that
now resides in new Johnstown.
It (2534) was in a lot of
ways the groundbreaking (for
what Johnstown is today),
Johnstown Councilmember
Troy Mellon said. We learned
a lot for future developments.
Having that experience really
drove Johnstown in a direction
to be planned.
But to get there, the town
had its battles both externally
and internally, the threat of legal ramifications, and had to
prove that little Johnstown
could handle such an immense
undertaking.
This was a big deal, Mellon said. It was like the
Louisiana Purchase to the United States.
Around 1997, Mellon, who
was elected in 1998 to what
was then known as the board of
trustees, said there was a move
to update Johnstowns comprehensive plan. At the time, the
vision was we cant see us past
(Highway) 402, Mellon said.
Johnsons Corner was probably the big reach.
In 1998, then Mayor Tom
Martinez and then Town Administrator Vern Haefele attended a meeting in Loveland
about the outlook for the major
interstates and highways in the
state, including Interstate 25
and Colorado Highway 34, the
asphalt lifelines of the Front
Range that lay about a halfdozen miles to the north of
Johnstown.
Martinez, who was mayor
from 1996-1999, said while at
the meeting speakers said to
them, where you guys are at,
its a perfect opportunity for
you to build up commercial
sites and things like that.
After that meeting, thats
what really influenced me,
Martinez said. As I started
looking at everything, I started
thinking to myself Well one
thing Ive always wanted to do
is look at what Johnstown is
going to be like short term and
long term.

He recalled asking Town

Clerk Diana Seele if Johnstown
had undertaken a growth plan.
She informed him one had been
done in the late 1970s that only
encompassed the current Johnstown area, nothing beyond.
With that in mind, Martinez
started thinking about the town
just not bringing in the truck
stop and its world famous cinnamon rolls, but something
greater. As a first step, Martinez met with then owner of
Johnsons Corner, Chauncey
Taylor.
Man, you dont know how
much I would love to be annexed into Johnstown instead
of Loveland, cause Loveland
is giving me all kinds of grief
about this and that and the other. Maybe you guys can work
with us, Martinez recalled
Taylor telling him.
Around the same time, a
boom was starting to take
place along the northern Front
Range. A new crop was being
envisioned for the large tracts
of farmland that surrounded the
small towns along I-25: houses.
Developers were approaching
farmers to purchase their land,
and then coming before town
boards proposing subdivision
projects.
Former Real Estate Editor
at the Rocky Mountain News,
John Rebchook, said there was
a movement in the state to become the next Silicon Valley.
The effort was attracting companies into Denver, bringing
families, but not necessarily
meaning they wanted to live in
the big city.
People were trying to pitch
small town living, said Rebchook, who now runs the blog
Denver Real Estate Watch.
In 1997, the population for
Weld and Larimer Counties
was 399,639, according to Patty Silverstein, president and
chief economist for the Jefferson County-based Development Research Partners. In a
five-year span, the population
increased every year, hitting
453,393 in 2001. The data was
a part of an analysis done by
Development Research Partners on data done by the Colorado Demography Office.
From 1997-2001, the net
migration average for the counties (the number of people
moving in compared to out),
was 9,491. In 2001, the net migration number hit its peak at
13,409.
Call it an epiphany, or fate,
but upon conclusion with his
talk with Taylor, who later annexed into town in 1999, Mar-

tinez came up with an idea that

changed the course of Johnstowns history.
All of a sudden this bright
light came on, Martinez remembered. What can we do
about taking over I-25 on the
east side all the way to (Highway) 34, and east along (Highway) 34 to Country Road 17?
Tom Martinez said if were
going to move this (town) line,
lets really move it, Mellon
said. Everybody said well
never be there.
The thinking for Martinez at
the time was one of wanting to
have Johnstown have its own
influence in the area and not
letting neighboring communities swarm over them. He
coined it as thinking globally.
We gotta be our own person, Martinez said. If Johnstown didnt, residents would
wake up one day and be a part
of Loveland or Greeley.
From Johnsons Corner, the
town planned to annex to just
short of the interchange of I-25
and Highway 34 along the
right-of-way of the interstate.
Mellon said to get to the area
took around 10 annexations, all
done simultaneously.
Martinez said he wanted to
speak with surrounding communities about Johnstowns endeavor and how they could
work together to come to an
agreement about overlapping
planning areas. Johnstown officials approached Loveland.
They wanted to give us the
gristle, recounted Mellon
about initial talks with Loveland City Council members.
Loveland handed an offer to
Johnstown that would have
given them property along I-25
and Highway 34, but as Mellon
put it, the non-money making
areas.
At about this time, along
came a realtor and former Fort
Collins city planner who would
be the connection between developers and Johnstown that
would make the idea a reality.
Tom Peterson, who has over
30 years of experience as a
planner, spoke with new Town
Manager Roy Lauricello.
He (Peterson) said Roy,
do you understand whats going to happen if you agree to
this? Lauricello recalled.
Youre giving up some very
valuable land up there.
And with that, little brother
decided they didnt need a big
brother.
We just kinda said this
makes no sense to JohnSee 2534 on page 7