Loveland's Independent News Source |
Larimer County Pulling Out of South Catalyst Project? |
Embattled Loveland City Manager, Bill Cahill, may have overplayed his hand with Larimer County on the South Catalyst Project |
DOWNTOWN LOVELAND TIMELINE August 27, 2015 (Larimer County internal Document) 3/2013: County begins looking for options in Downtown LV 5/2013: City brings Civic City Plaza to the table, but quickly retracted after first meeting that involved the Parks. 6/2013: Loveland asks the County to consider being part of South Catalyst project and build a new county office 8/2013: County budgets building at $13.5M at county owned property on 10th Street adjacent to P&C. 8/2013: Board approves ballot issue to ask voters if we can build a new courthouse 11/2013: Voters approve the ballot issue and County holds internal kickoff meeting 11/2013: Loveland begins property acquisition – indicates completion in six months 12/2013: City provides first draft of IGA and introduces Michaels Group as proposed developer for the project and negotiations begin 1/2014: City holds reception to discuss project and officially selects Michaels Group as developer 3/2014: City holds kickoff meeting with all parties (Developer, City’s architect, RNL, and County). Projections are that all properties will be under contract by mid-2014, commencement of construction 3/2015 and completion 8/2016 5/2014: County engages consultant team for the project 5/2014: Developer indicates market study is complete 6/2014: County commences programming with the internal business groups 9/2014: County Guiding Principles formed for the project: Community Connection – serve the community efficiently and effectively Civic Awareness – Enduring symbol of the community Partnership Thoughtful Integration: collaborative and inclusive process 9/2014: County holds design charrette and selects 2 blocking diagram options 12/2014: Review of budget for downtown project indicates $15M and County Commissioners allocate funding 12/2014: City and Developer hold site charrette 1/2015: Loveland requests that we add Courts and District Attorney to the project with Loveland agreeing to take on the additional cost. 1/2015: County receives approval from the BOCC for complete design services for the project 2/2015: Preliminary blocking diagrams provided to City to include Courts based on existing conditions to be validated at a later date 2/2015: City is asked to implement a parking and traffic study – none done to date 2/2015: Developer/City/County identify new schedule for project with property acquisitions to be completed by 4/2015, construction commencing 2/2016 and completion 2/2017 3/2015: County began programming with Courts and DA 4/2015: All parties agree to have a neutral Master Planner sketch the entire project. Plan is constructed with all parties. County is provided a 1/2 block between 2nd and 3rd. 4/2015 Loveland rejects the Master Plan proposal. 5/2015: County staff and county supported architect firm spend considerable time on concept plans to include the Courts/DA in our project 6/2015: Loveland decides to not proceed with Courts/DA because of identified costs 7/2015: City conducts survey of 6th Street County employees as part of Economic Development efforts 7/2015 Larimer County proceeds with plans for ½ of block two however Loveland only offers ¼ of block two. 7/2015: Larimer County agrees to move to block one despite the small amount of space as it meets most of guiding principles 8/2015: City removes Michaels Group from project 8/2015 Larimer County requests Loveland to perform a parking study, that the IGA will include assurances that the County will have adequate (number specific) public and employee parking and location of parking. Larimer County also requested that the City of Loveland take financial responsibility of covering the first street ditch and annual maintenance. 8/2015 Newspaper article covering Loveland council meeting states that Loveland may not want County building 8/2015: The County project team recommended the building locate at an alternate location for the following reasons: 1. County’s objective to provide a building that meets County guiding principles may be in conflict with the City’s ability to collect adequate property tax 2. Lack of a South Catalyst Master-plan for downtown and uncertainty of future plans 3. Excessive timeline delays by the City of Loveland including site acquisitions, changing building requests, lack of a developer, ……….. 4. County is a long term property owner with growth potential that will be compromised with the site constraints of the 1st Street location. 5. Construction costs continue to escalate and our allocated budget is at risk |