Former farm corridor ripe for growth

Drive east along Colorado Highway 402 after it crosses Interstate 25 and the view is mostly still of rolling farmland dotted here and there with homes.

But that’s likely not for long as development in Northern Colorado goes. The road intersects the jurisdictions or municipal growth areas of at least four communities, from Loveland and Johnstown at the interstate, through Johnstown, Greeley and on to Evans, where it becomes 37th Street, one of that community’s main east-west thoroughfares.

The Colorado 402 corridor’s connection with bustling I-25 is economic-development magic, offering a straight-shot transportation link to the interstate corridor’s growing status as an employment, retail and entertainment center in Northern Colorado. The main question mark in most cases is the ability to extend water, sewer and other utilities along the corridor.

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Another question is what to call the road itself.

Colorado 402 actually terminates, on its eastern end, at the interstate. Beginning at U.S. Highway 287 on the western end, the highway stretches a mere 3.92 miles total, connecting U.S. 287 with I-25. At I-25, Colorado 402 becomes Larimer County Road 18. That road continues east for about 2.5 miles before it hits the Weld-Larimer county line. At Weld County the road number changes to 54. It’s another 10 miles to the point where Weld County 54 becomes 37th Street. A couple more miles east lies the Evans city boundary.

A little bit of history: Colorado 402 joined the state highway system in 1950 and was paved by 1954. The 2004 daily traffic count on the highway at I-25 was 11,200.

Whatever it’s called, the corridor has not escaped notice.

Most of the cities it touches see the corridor as a potential major site for mixed-use development. On the west side of the interstate, the 402 corridor falls within Loveland’s growth management area boundaries.

“The intent is for that corridor to be part of the city, long term,´ said Gary Wilson, Loveland’s community and strategic planning manager. “We even go to the south there, several miles.”

While currently the closest annexation boundary is still roughly three miles from the interstate, Wilson said annexation of property along the corridor could take place relatively quickly if landowners there came together. “We can annex road rights-of-way to extend our boundaries,” he said.

Johnstown moves in

At the interstate, Johnstown already has annexed the northeast and southeast corners of exit 255, Colorado 402’s eastern end.

“We’ve been annexing some property near I-25 over the past several years,´ said John Franklin, Johnstown town planner.

An active project known as the Villages at Johnstown is under way near the interchange, Franklin said. The 271-acre project is a mixed-use development with commercial and light industrial uses. Residential development – primarily single-family detached housing – is planned for the project as well.

Franklin said the Villages at Johnstown has achieved preliminary plat approval and single-family residential development is in the review stages.

At the northeast corner of I-25 and Larimer County Road 18, an approximately 40-acre project known as the 402 Exchange Business Park is proposed. “It has been annexed and the owner is working on some details,” Franklin said. The 402 Exchange Business Park would feature highway-oriented commercial projects, he added.

Head east along County Road 18 and along the southern side, the Village at Johnstown property extends for about another mile and a half. On the north side, the Thompson River Ranch residential development extends to about the intersection of county roads 18 and 3E.

East from there much of the land is still in Larimer or Weld counties. “We have it in our comprehensive planning area but no one has come forward yet to annex property in that area,” Franklin said.

The path to annexation is eased by the opening of a new wastewater treatment plant that serves a large basin about a half mile north of County Road 18 in the vicinity of County Road 3, Franklin said. In addition, a major water line is located in the vicinity of the intersection of 3E and 18.

As the road moves east, away from the interstate, Franklin expects largely residential development to occur along the corridor first. “Our policy is to encourage higher density residential, such as town homes, near the major arterial and then lower densities further away.”

Continue east and Larimer County Road 18 gives way to Weld County 54 and then to Evans’ 37th Street. Most of the current development along 37th Street in Evans is residential, although the town is working to encourage more commercial growth, officials there say.

“There is a lot of commercially zoned property around 37th Street and 47th Avenue,” noted Jim Flesher, City of Evans senior planner. That commercial development would be largely service and retail. “There are no industrial zones along 37th,” Flesher said.

As the corridor extends through Evans “it’s kind of a mix,” Flesher said. “There are some estate lots developed in the county along the south side of 37th. There is commercial zoning. There’s some open space, some wetlands and typical residential surrounding the commercial areas.”