Loveland’s development services director to resign

LOVELAND — Brett Limbaugh, who has been development services director for the City of Loveland since 2016, will resign effective Sept. 18 to take on a similar role in a larger city in Florida.

Limbaugh, 59, will start Oct. 7 as development services director for Cape Coral, a city of about 220,000 people west of Fort Myers on the state’s southwest Gulf Coast.

Limbaugh told BizWest on Wednesday that he had let his department’s staff know last week of his plans to leave Colorado.

“I’m just ready for a change,” he said. “It’s not unusual for folks in my position to move around every five to seven years, so actually it’s been a couple, three more years than is average.”

Limbaugh’s departure marks the latest in a year of upheaval in Loveland city government.

Voters last November elected a city council majority far more skeptical of new development and the financing tools the city had used to attract it, and also modified the city charter to give themselves final approval of any development projects that are proposed or changed under Loveland’s Urban Renewal Authority.

The new council majority rescinded the urban-renewal and financing agreements for McWhinney Real Estate Services’ proposed Centerra South mixed-use development that the previous council had approved in April and May 2023. That resulted in a lawsuit that ultimately was settled with McWhinney agreeing to pay $750,000 in exchange for restoration of the URA and a promise to protect it from future legal challenges.

The new council attempted to fire City Manager Steve Adams and City Attorney Moses Garcia. In both cases, because the city charter requires a supermajority — six votes on the nine-member council  — in order to hire or fire for those positions, the new council was unable to do what it wanted, how it wanted. So it instead negotiated exit agreements with the pair, and on Tuesday sent a ballot issue to voters that would require only a simple five-member majority to take such actions.

Municipal Judge Geri Joneson also resigned in February, creating a clean sweep of the three positions that directly report to the council. Those departures were followed by the resignation of Kelly Jones-Sage, the city’s economic development director, who cited a toxic atmosphere in Loveland as her reason.

However, Limbaugh said Wednesday that those controversies did not have a role in his decision to leave.

“I’ve been living in Colorado my entire life with the exception of about five years I spent in Rapid City, South Dakota,” he said, “so I’m looking for kind of a change. I love the mountains. I love to ski and climb. But I’m getting to the point in my life where I’d like a little bit warmer climate.”

Adding that he will turn 60 in October, Limbaugh added that “it’s come to that point in my life where shoveling snow’s not a heck of a lot of fun anymore.”

Escaping the snow led Limbaugh to look for positions on the west coast of Florida, he said. “There were a couple of opportunities that came up that I applied for and went through the entire interview process down there and was able to obtain the job.”

In a letter informing Mayor Jacki Marsh and other City Council members of Limbaugh’s impending exit, Acting City Manager Rod Wensing wrote that “I wanted to take this opportunity to express my personal appreciation to Brett for his dedication and commitment to the city in the eight-plus years that he has led our Development Services team here in Loveland. 

“I have had the opportunity to not only hire but also work closely with Brett during his tenure here, and have seen firsthand how his leadership contributed to our success.”

Wensing’s letter noted that during his time in Loveland, Limbaugh had:

• Consolidated and reformed three municipal code chapters into a single unified development code.
• Created and reformatted the code-enforcement rules, regulations and requirements into a single nuisance code.
• Resolved water-pump station financing to spur development on the northwest side of Loveland including the annexation and zoning of properties to include more than 5,000 residential units and commercial-development entitlements.
• Restructured and standardized the annexation and development agreement process.
• Performed the public outreach and planning process that led to the adoption of the Colorado Highway 402 Corridor Plan.
• Prepared a three-phase process leading to the adoption of the downtown parking plan.
• Reformatted and adopted the International Building Code section of the Municipal Code.
• Directed the rezoning of The Ranch and The Brands projects in northeast Loveland.
• Revised the city’s Heart Improvement Plan.

Limbaugh took the reins of Loveland’s development services department on March 21, 2016, succeeding Greg George, who had retired at the end of 2015 after 12 years in the position. Limbaugh had served 13 years in various city government roles in Commerce City, three years as entitlement manager for Edgemark Development Services in Denver and then five years as director of community planning and development services for Rapid City before being hired in Loveland.

In a prepared statement that Wensing included in his letter to city officials, Limbaugh wrote that “it has been a pleasure working with everyone in the Loveland community, and I will always be proud of our accomplishments. I leave knowing that the community is in a better strategic position to handle the development challenges and opportunities in the future.

“I am deeply proud of my staff in the development services department and wish them continued success in Loveland or wherever they may land in their careers,” Limbaugh wrote. “I will be following the progress of Loveland, and I’m confident that the future is bright and you will continue to be innovative and serve as a model for other communities. I appreciate the opportunity to be your development services director, and I will remember you fondly.”