Greeley City Council rezones industrial lot in neighborhood against residents’ wishes

GREELEY  —  A longtime local businessman hoping to unload a final 16-acre vacant property that had been zoned industrial for 44 years will get another chance to find a buyer now that he can market it for uses that are in higher demand. Landowner Brian Bartels was finally able to push through an embattled rezone of the former Hewlett Packard property from industrial light density to residential high density. Area residents have opposed the idea of building more apartments for two years because it would allow apartments and intensify an existing daily traffic headache.

The Greeley City Council held a public hearing on the rezone issue, in which neighbors came out in force to discuss. But ultimately, council members said, they had to vote on whether the rezoning met city standards and policies. Bartels, back for his third try on the project, located directly north of Westridge Academy off 71st Avenue and 10th Street, made his case.

“One thing I’ve learned is that real estate development is based on demand and current market conditions, and those change all the time,” Bartels said during the public hearing on Tuesday. “The surrounding land is a perfect example of this and why it works.

“All of the homes here are built on RH-zoned parcels,” he told the council Tuesday. “The market didn’t deem we needed multifamily, so we built single-family homes. And a residential high lot was turned into a school because that’s what the market needed.”

Under the residential high zoning, developers have a variety of multifamily use options, plus single-family residences and townhomes.

The Greeley City Council unanimously approved the rezone, with councilman Johnny Olson absent, after lengthy public testimony.

Bartels took the same project through the city process in 2022, gaining unanimous consent by the planning commission, but it was killed on a 3-3 vote when it went to the city council. He tried to resubmit it but learned when a project is denied, the applicant must wait a year before bringing it back. He had to wait out the year before his third try.

Bartels brought back the proposal virtually the same as it was in his last try, but this time, he did not have a specific buyer lined up. When the project was denied, he lost his buyer, which was a multifamily builder. This time, he said, he had no buyer, but he opted to sell five acres to Westridge Academy to try to make more room for the school’s traffic and parking, an attempt to appease surrounding homeowners.

Residents weren’t swayed by the concession, knowing that even without that 16-acre property, more apartments are slated for the area. Though the council was only approving a rezone, the residents spoke against it as if multifamily was a a done deal.  

“This is a case of profit over fit for the neighborhood,” said Trish Trombino. “Others have talked about the number of apartments already slated for the neighborhood, and clearly there is an over-concentration of affordable housing in our neighborhood.”

But “fit” is apparently in the eye of the beholder. Residents saw an industrial light lot as a potential site for a gas station or a daycare center, or even an assisted living facility, all allowed in the industrial light zoning. Those in the city, however, saw other potential industrial light uses that weren’t so palatable.

“The things that can go in there are hotels, pawn shops, auto mechanics, a homeless shelter or a bar, and to me those things are inappropriate for this neighborhood,” said Council member Deb DeBoutez. “So we need to change the zoning from industrial light to residential.”

The council, one by one, thanked residents for speaking up. They vowed to work harder to get traffic issues in that neighborhood under control. In the last year, the city installed four traffic humps and put in a four-way stop sign, which neighbors say have not made a dent in the traffic problem.

“This is a difficult decision. You talk a lot about traffic and parking improvements, and I want to make sure we do that. If this passes or doesn’t, it seems to be a giant problem in your neighborhood,” Council member Tommy Butler said. “We’ve been working with the police department recently to do some photo radar. In problem areas, we will be able to start doing photo radar, which should hopefully bring down the speeding.”

The problem with the area is that there are few roads to help residents get out of the subdivision onto collector streets, forcing traffic onto 66th Avenue. During school hours at Westridge, parents park along the streets, blocking neighbors’ access into or out of their driveways.

City traffic engineer Scott Logan told the council that there are plans to improve roads and extend some through the property to ease the traffic.

“Within the HP redevelopment, we’re looking at options to improve flow, left in right out on Eighth Street, to eliminate trips through 66th Avenue; and also they’re proposing an extension on 68th Avenue to the north that would extend to Fourth Street,” Logan said.

Mayor John Gates said he didn’t want the residents to think they hadn’t been heard with the vote not going their way.

“We might be oversaturating (on apartment buildings), but the fact is, that’s not what’s before us,” Gates said, pointing out that the question for the night was whether the application to rezone met the city’s standards and policies. “I would love to see single-family out there, but we can’t at this point control that.”