City annexes prime industrial property

LONGMONT — The Huff property, a large parcel of land that the city of Longmont annexed in May, awaits development.Maureen Huff, the owner of the property, has yet to receive many serious offers. She said she has mainly had only private investors, who are looking to resell the land, inquire about it.

“Everything is just kind of status quo,” Maureen Huff said. “Before 9-11, everyone was looking at it.”

The annexation was requested by owners Maureen and Donald Huff of 10442 N. 75th St. The 156-acre parcel is east of 75th Street directly adjacent to the west side of Vance Brand Airport.

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“It’s got a mix of business light industrial and general industrial zoning,´ said Brad Schol, planning director for the city of Longmont.

Schol said he foresees more high-tech businesses moving into the area with Amgen Inc. and Seagate Technology LLC already located nearby. However, there are no current prospects to his knowledge.

“It’s a well-situated, large parcel that doesn’t have a lot of constraints to development, such as a flood plain or odd geological features,” Schol said. “Development of the property is likely to add jobs to the community as well as spin-off economic activity and tax revenues.”

Under the annexation agreement, the Huffs dedicated 6.75 acres of the land, with historic water rights, to the city for municipal purposes. Longmont City Manager Gordon Pedrow said that land would be used for municipal utilities, specifically water storage facilities.

The Huffs also provided the city a seven-year option to buy 13.25 more acres with historic water at $20,000 an acre, which is half the market value, according to Jennifer Vecchi, principal for Tetra Tech RMC, a civil engineering firm in Longmont. An additional five acres could be purchased by the city during the same period for $30,000 an acre. That land and 30 acres of airport property has been a proposed site for a new Front Range Community College campus.

“In concept, that’s what the city council has looked at,” Pedrow said. “That’s a master plan concept and has not gone forward at this point.”

Front Range Community College just relocated to a new Boulder County location at 2190 Miller Drive in Longmont in August in order to consolidate its Boulder County operations and provide for a growing student population.

Pedrow noted that the land could be used for any public purpose. However, if the city had no specific plans for the land when expiration of the city’s seven-year option to buy at a low price drew near, the city probably would not exercise that option, Pedrow said.

For now, Front Range Community College is happy with its new location and has no immediate plans to build a new campus on the Huff property, said President Tom Gonzales.

“We ended up where we are because it was so much more feasible in the interim,” Gonzales said.

He said the need for Front Range to consolidate its Boulder County campuses quickly this summer did not allow for the planning of a new campus on the Huff property. The school is leasing its new site from Pratt Management Company LLC.

Gonzales noted the fact that the college is currently in a seven-year lease as a reason the Huff site may not be in the college’s future, provided the college even needs a new site.

“Down the road, there might be something more suitable to build on,” he said.

However, Gonzales did not rule out the possibility of a new Front Range Boulder County campus being located on the site in the future.

“We’ll keep our options open in the future,” he said. “The money just isn’t available right now in the Legislature. Who knows if this whole thing opens up down the road and the economy shifts?”

The availability of space and room for growth at the Huff site is one major attraction for the college, Gonzales said. Being near the airport also could provide the college the opportunity to add a flight program to the curriculum. However, Gonzales said that would be very expensive.

“We’ve not said yes to that,” he said. “That would come with further discussion.”

“I’d love to see the college start,” Huff said. Half-joking, she added, “As long as they reserve one seat for me in all classes until I die, it’s OK.”