Berthoud tables one subdivision, OKs another 

BERTHOUD — Faced with neighbors’ continued protests about a high-density development and its potential impact on area wildlife, the Berthoud Board of Trustees Tuesday voted to delay until February the question of whether to approve annexation of 98 acres for the proposed 416-unit River Trails subdivision.

Another proposal closer to the existing town, the 165-unit Fickel Farm Fifth Filing, cruised to unanimous approval. Both proposals came from Berthoud-based TB Group and had been approved unanimously Oct. 24 by the town’s Planning Commission..

River Trails, envisioned for east of First Street and south of Larimer County Road 6C, would include 188 single-family homes, 132 duplexes and 96 multifamily units, as well as trails, parks and other open spaces.

A parade of neighbors had spoken against the project at the Planning Commission meetings, and many of them either spoke again to the Town Board or submitted letters in opposition. They cited the potential for increased traffic, disruption of the agricultural nature of the area in which they lived, effects on the migration of deer and elk there, and the possibility of interference with Preble’s jumping mice — an endangered species that the developer contended lived along the river, not in the plowed farm fields where the subdivision was proposed.

Some of the trustees acknowledged those concerns and bristled at the applicant’s contention that if the town rejected River Trails, it would be submitted for approval by Larimer County and likely would be built anyway. Jon Turner of TB Group, manager of applicant River Trails LLC, reminded the board that the town would have more control over the development than if it were built in the unincorporated county.

Trustees also were wary of TB Group’s intention to form a metropolitan taxing district to help pay for the needed infrastructure.

Mayor William Karspeck, however, defended the project, arguing that the conclusions of the planning staff should be trusted.

The board’s role Tuesday night was to approve, deny or table three different motions: one to annex the parcel, one to rezone it from Rural Residential to Suburban Residential, and one for the neighborhood master plan.

Trustee Brett Wing asked Turner whether the housing density in some areas of the project could be reduced as a compromise, and Mayor Pro Tem Sean Murphy suggested cutting the density in half, but Turner responded that the number of units was necessary to pay for the improvements the plan called for, including the paving of County Road 6C — and besides, he added, such an idea would be unlikely to affect either the impact on wildlife or neighbors’ opposition.

In the end, the board voted 5-1 — with only Karspeck in opposition — to continue a fact-finding hearing into the application until Feb. 11 and to deny the River Trails neighborhood master plan. Its votes to continue consideration of the annexation itself until Feb. 11 and to deny the requested amendment to the zoning map passed unanimously.

The Fickel Farm application faced much smoother sailing and won approval on a 6-0 vote.  On two parcels totaling 14.5 acres south of Mountain Avenue near Pyramid Peak Street, applicants TB Group and StackLot LLC proposed building 50 paired home lots and 115 townhomes. They asked the trustees to rezone the property from Planned Unit Development — its status since 1997 — to Urban Residential. 

Plans also include a pocket park and a connection to a regional trail.

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