ARCHIVED December 9, 2005 12:00:00 am

New owners plan diverse uses for cement-plant land

By Sue Lenthe

With planned uses ranging from paint ball to open space, ranching to subdivisions, Holcim Inc.’s sale by auction of its defunct cement plant and 2,886 surrounding acres is likely to color the landscape of a substantial chunk of northern Larimer County for years to come.

The Miller family purchased 123 acres that patriarch Chuck Miller has long leased as part of his ranching operation in the Buckeye. The Millers will place a conservation easement on the property in an effort to preserve its agricultural use.

Mark and Cindy Loader bought the farm in the form of a dreamed-of 35-acre parcel. Before they take up residence, the Loaders will first build a barn and facilities on the property for their horses.

Jim Quinlan, the owner of Jax Outdoor sporting goods, snagged 35 acres complete with a 34,000-square-foot aluminum dome that was part of the Holcim complex. Under the business name Thunderdome Property LLC, Quinlan is pursuing plans for an indoor paintball field.

The auction, which took place Sept. 17, drew 183 registered buyers to bid on the nearly 3,000 acres of land as well as 885 shares of water from the Colorado-Big Thompson project. Holcim Inc. shuttered the cement plant in 2002.

Carl Carter, spokesperson for J.P. King Auction Co., said the weekend event ultimately brought $16.8 million for the land and water. Of the 183 registered bidders, 32 actually obtained property.

Buyers shelled out a total of $7.5 million for real estate parcels ranging in size from 11 to 302 acres. The water went for $9.3 million through an agreement in which the Fort Collins-Loveland Water District purchased all 885 shares.

The biggest buyer of land, according to J.P. King records, was Mile High Properties of Fort Collins. The business bought six different parcels, approximately 231 acres total, for $1,081,318.

A Texas-based company made the next biggest purchase, spending $855,474.40 for nine 35-acre parcels. A Cheyenne, Wyo., company bought about 300 acres, Carter said.

Surprises in store

New owners of the land may be in for some surprises, said LaPorte resident Tim O’Hara. O’Hara is a 12-year resident of the area with a six-year tenure on the LaPorte Area Planning Advisory Commission. As LAPAC chairman he has overseen the completion of a two-and-a-half year community planning process resulting in the LaPorte Area Plan.

About 80 percent of land sold by Holcim at the auction falls within the plan’s boundaries, O’Hara said.

An observer at the auction, O’Hara called the event “a disaster.”

According to O’Hara, “No one did any due diligence on the land.” He said elements such as the existing LaPorte Area Plan and the possibility of water contamination problems may have escaped notice by many of the buyers.

Ironically, the plan actually has its roots in Holcim’s tenure as a LaPorte neighbor, O’Hara said.

“When Holcim first started burning different things and having pollution problems, a group of citizens got together to be the watchdog.” From that group came the LaPorte Area Planning Advisory Commission, which now is a county body.

In general, O’Hara said, the LaPorte Area Plan calls for controlled growth. “We want growth within the LaPorte core area. Commercial use areas are identified along the County Road 54G corridor. Most of the sale area falls in the northern part of the plan’s boundaries, an area mostly outlined as low-density residential.

“There’s plenty of room for growth,” O’Hara said, “but not 35 acres of tract houses.”

Subdivision is on the minds of some buyers of the Holcim property, said Russell Legg, chief planner with Larimer County. Legg said some buyers “have contacted us and the planning commission about seeing if higher density was appropriate.”

Legg said that the current zoning of O-open on much of the land would call for a minimum lot size of one unit per 10 acres.

In some areas infrastructure, or the lack of it, could limit subdivision at this point. Sewer services, for instance, are not available in a large portion of the area.

Conservation and paintball plans

Thunderdome Property, meanwhile, has already submitted an application for a special review process, Quinlan said. “We’re very early right now; I’ll know more after our Dec. 1 meeting with the county. At this point I don’t know of any insurmountable roadblocks, and we’re hoping for a smooth approval.”

Should the proposal ultimately be approved, Quinlan hopes the “world-class paintball facility” planned could take shape by the coming spring.

For the Loaders, who purchased 35 acres off Larimer County Road 60W, the auction results represent the culmination of years of planning. “We’ve been wanting land for a long time, my wife and I,´ said Mark Loader.

His wife trains people in the Parrelli natural horsemanship method. The couple also rehabilitates abused horses. Within a few days of their mid-November closing, the couple was busy putting up fence.

The neighbor to the south already had cattle on her 35-acre plot, Loader said.

Far to the north, the parcel purchased by the Miller family, at 123 acres is relatively small. But it represents a piece of a much larger conservation effort.

The parcel connects with the 16,000-acre Roberts Ranch, the former Red Mountain Ranch and the Soapstone Grazing Association. Conserving the 123-acre piece is part of protecting the borders of these remaining large holdings, said Mary Beth Simon, who is married to Dan Miller, whose family has ranched in the Buckeye area since 1965.

Said Simon, “Even though this was a small project in the Buckeye from community members, it lent itself to a huge conservation effort, which will probably amount to around 75,000 acres.”