Loveland stops work in West End; developer still wants an acceptable use

LOVELAND — The city of Loveland has discontinued all planning staff activity in the West End Neighborhood as a result of the City Council’s directive to the city manager to “strongly consider” stopping activity in that zone.

City Manager Steve Adams, in a letter to the council, said that after the council’s input and comments from the neighborhood “all city action for this project has concluded.”

A survey that city planning staff was conducting in the neighborhood ended Oct. 20, he said, and staff has not processed the results. 

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At issue was an effort by city staff to “rectify nonconforming uses” in the West End neighborhood — three or four properties do not conform with the single-family zoning of the neighborhood.

One of those properties is owned by long-time Loveland resident Barry Floyd, who has developed numerous small properties over the years, especially in the downtown area. He purchased the historic Feed and Grain building just east of downtown to avoid its demolition and held it until ArtSpace began redevelopment of it as a live/work space for artists.

Floyd bought the property at 914 W. Sixth St. through a 1031 tax exchange in 2015 for $600,000 from Fort Collins company Calix LLC. The medical clinic that had been there as a permitted nonconforming use had already closed, and after 10 years of vacancy, it lost its status under city ordinance.

The building is 11,100 square feet with some of the space on a second story. Floyd has rented the upper story as a residence, but it is now vacant. The building was constructed in 1967 and remodeled in 1994. The building has a two-inch commercial water tap and three-phase commercial electric — which results in higher rates than what residential customers pay.

Efforts by the city to bring the property — and others in the neighborhood — back to a conforming uses resulted in a buzzsaw of opposition from neighbors, who spoke regularly at City Council meetings. They were afraid of multi-family uses entering the neighborhood.

Adams told the council that most of the time, city staff does not pursue zoning or overlay zoning without a property owner or developer submitting a formal request. 

“A property owner could apply to the Development Services Department to rezone property, rectify a nonconforming use, or develop in accordance with the R1e Established Low Density Residential standards. The application would be reviewed in accordance with the development review process.”

Adams said that Floyd approached the city Oct. 18 and indicated continued interest in doing something with the property, perhaps using it as a memory care facility, which could happen using overlay zoning. Floyd met with the city again Thursday when he learned what he would need to do to convert the property to memory care usage, which would begin with a formal application to the city.

“It appears that the neighborhood would accept a memory care facility there,” Floyd told BizWest Thursday night. More than a year ago, he had a letter of intent from a memory care operator to convert the property to that usage. 

“I’ll be trying to reach the people who offered a letter of intent” to see if the letter is still valid, he said.

Floyd said his priority right now is another parcel, not in the West End neighborhood, that he’ll likely work on first. In the meantime, he might try to rent the upper floor for a single-family residential purpose in order to defray some of the expenses of the property.

“I don’t think I’ve ever done a questionable project,” Floyd said. When the building was occupied, he said, “I don’t think there was ever a police report connected to it. Now, there are plenty, and it’s me calling the police because people are sleeping behind the building in their cars. A vacant building doesn’t do anyone any good.

“I’m not trying to do a commercial property with high density. It’s time to do something with it.”