ARCHIVED  March 1, 1997

Lure of tax revenues drives annexations

Several townships along Interstate 25 from Denver to Fort Collins have been busily working to annex what could become lucrative property adjacent to the highway.More commercial development along the heavily trafficked road means greater sales-tax revenues to the small communities.
In November, the Town of Windsor annexed about 3,000 acres on the southeast corner of I-25 and the town’s exit road, said Joe Plummer, Windsor planning director.
The area that was annexed extends southeast to Crossroads Boulevard and back to the River Ridge subdivision.
The land on the southeast corner of the I-25 interchange is vacant now, but there are site plans for a car wash and a convenience store. Plummer said construction could begin by late spring or early summer.
“The property owners asked to be annexed to Windsor,” he said.
He said town officials agreed to the annexation “so we could have control of our own destiny.”
Although a citizens group opposing the annexation appealed the decision, town residents voted on the issue Nov. 5 and approved it.
Greater tax revenues will be generated by the annexation of the commercial site.
“It will be a lucrative site,” Plummer said.
He said the northwest corner of the interchange now houses a commercial trucking company.
The town of Johnstown recently annexed a 120-acre parcel on the southwest corner of I-25 and Colorado Highway 56 in Weld County, said Edwin Hill, town administrator.
Previously zoned as agricultural land, some 50 acres of this land has now been zoned for commercial and light-industrial use, with the remainder as single-family housing.
He said sales-tax revenues on commercial property there could result in up to $1,000 per acre for the township.
Johnstown had already annexed land at the interchange at Colorado Highway 60, putting the town’s boundaries only about two miles away from this coveted property at Colorado 56.
He said the town would like to annex all four corners of the interchange at Colorado 56, “but you have to have a property owner willing to annex.”
The nearby town of Berthoud also was interested in annexing the southwest corner of I-25 and Hwy. 56 and is expected to sue Johnstown over the dispute.
Anna Lenahan, administrator for the Town of Berthoud, said the town approached the property owners on the southwest corner of Colorado 56 about the possibility of annexing to Berthoud instead of Johnstown.
Although Berthoud was unsuccessful in annexing that parcel, it has annexed several other pieces of property east of Berthoud toward the interstate, she said.
In early February, Berthoud annexed Weld County Road 1 all the way to the Johnstown annexation and also took in the right-of-way on Colorado 56.
Because the state limits how much a town can annex in any given year, Berthoud doesn’t expect to annex much more property this year, she said. However, in 1998 it could attempt to annex some other corners at the interchange of I-25 and Colorado 56, Lenahan said.
Johnstown also plans to annex another 2,000 acres on both sides of I-25 south of Colorado 56.
Meanwhile, the Town of Dacono has been holding discussions to consider annexing the southeast corner of I-25 at Colorado Highway 52, said Sherry Albertson-Clark, town planning director.
The town has already approved a tax-incentive package for developers of the property, about 160 acres of undeveloped land, she said.
The property at the Dacono interchange has been proposed for mixed-use development, with hotels and motels, gas stations, fast-food stores, offices and industrial use, she said.
“The city has approved an incentive package to encourage development there,” she said. “The city would like to see development of this parcel.”
In recent years, Dacono has annexed right-of-way along I-25 from Colorado 52 south to the Erie exit, she said.
A factory-outlet mall has been proposed for the northeast corner of I-25 at County Road 8, the Erie exit, she said.
An incentive package already is in place, but developers must go through a formal process with the city to authorize construction, she said.
“Ideally, building could begin in a couple months,” Albertson-Clark said.
The mall, proposed by Oxford Development Co. of Tucson, Ariz., would be geared toward sports retailers, including sporting clothes and equipment, she said. Oshman’s Super Sports has already been named as one of the first tenants, with a proposed 50,000-square-foot store, she said.
The concept for Dacono Factory Stores has been in discussion stages for about four years, she said. It has bogged down partly due to the Colorado Department of Transportation’s plans to widen I-25 at that location with one additional lane on each side of the interstate, which will affect the property.
“They’ve got some big issues to work through,” she said.
Plans call for the mall to house a food court, sports park with soccer and softball fields,and a stage for special events, she said.
The final phase of development calls for hotels and motels, free-standing restaurants and gas stations, she said.
“The city council would like to see other areas annexed in the future,” Albertson-Clark said.
Erie, which straddles Boulder and Weld counties, has thousands of acres in its planning area. Some, with frontage along I-25, as well as land farther to the west, is under consideration for annexation. The land would support both residential and commercial uses.
Mead, on the other hand, recently approved a policy that forbids annexations without voter approval. Still, land that was annexed prior to the referendum fronts I-25, with plans for residential projects.
ÿ

Several townships along Interstate 25 from Denver to Fort Collins have been busily working to annex what could become lucrative property adjacent to the highway.More commercial development along the heavily trafficked road means greater sales-tax revenues to the small communities.
In November, the Town of Windsor annexed about 3,000 acres on the southeast corner of I-25 and the town’s exit road, said Joe Plummer, Windsor planning director.
The area that was annexed extends southeast to Crossroads Boulevard and back to the River Ridge subdivision.
The land on the southeast corner of the I-25 interchange is vacant now, but there…

Christopher Wood
Christopher Wood is editor and publisher of BizWest, a regional business journal covering Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties. Wood co-founded the Northern Colorado Business Report in 1995 and served as publisher of the Boulder County Business Report until the two publications were merged to form BizWest in 2014. From 1990 to 1995, Wood served as reporter and managing editor of the Denver Business Journal. He is a Marine Corps veteran and a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder. He has won numerous awards from the Colorado Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the Alliance of Area Business Publishers.
Categories:
Sign up for BizWest Daily Alerts