Larimer OKs 45-unit subdivision near Berthoud

FORT COLLINS — Larimer County officials on Monday, after adding some conditions, approved a preliminary plat for a proposed 241-acre subdivision southwest of Berthoud that would include 45 two-acre residential lots.

The River at Overland Crossing, officially the Lemmon Family Trust Conservation Development, is proposed for the southeast corner of Larimer County Roads 4 and 24, and county commissioners on March 25 had delayed approval of the plat for two weeks while further study could be done.

The Larimer County Planning Commission and the county’s Development Services Team recommended that commissioners approve the development as long as it included public connectivity through the property to the regional Little Thompson River corridor trail.

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At Monday’s land-use meeting, responding to county commissioner Jody Shadduck-McNally’s concerns about the development’s effect on the river, the panel added the requirement that no trails be built in the riparian area near the river, no structures would be approved within 150 feet of that area, and that signs be posted in open-space areas in the development stating that pets must be kept on leashes to avoid interaction with wildlife.

The county Planning Commission had voted 8-0 on Feb. 21 to approve the preliminary plat.

Developer Alex Hoime, vice president of the Colorado division of Tait and Associates Inc., representing land owner HT Land Partners LLC, told commissioners he could make those requirements work.

Christine Torres, a real estate agent at Re/Max Alliance in Loveland who represents HT Land Partners, said local custom builders would construct the homes, which she estimated would sell for $2.5 million to $4 million each. 

Home also has developed Berthoud Lake Enclave, with ten quarter-acre lots, and Harvest, with 93 lots ranging from a quarter to a third of an acre. Both Berthoud-area developments used custom builders were done without using metropolitan taxing districts, Torres said..

Since the property for the River at Overland Crossing is more than 30 acres and located outside a Growth Management Area, the county’s required land-division process for the parcel is a “conservation development,” which requires that a certain percentage of the land be set aside as open space in a residual lot, while still allowing for the division of smaller lots in seven clusters.

Based on the zoning and the utility infrastructure already in place, the required ratio of developable land to residual land is half and half. The developer’s plan proposed that 7.3 acres of the site would be dedicated as right-of-way for County Roads 4 and 21. Of the remaining 234 acres, about 24 are non-developable because of their location in the Little Thompson’s floodplain, leaving the total project site at 209 acres. Given the 50/50 developable-to-residual land ratio, approximately 104.5 acres is eligible for development while the same acreage must be conserved in perpetuity.

The property is currently being used for agricultural purposes, with the remaining portions being undeveloped land. The subdivision will be served by the Little Thompson Water District and the residential lots will utilize on-lot septic for their sewer requirements.