Loveland OKs Centerra South plan, gives first nod to Schmer annexation

LOVELAND — A developer’s plan to add up to 2,277 housing units in the 150-acre Centerra South development won narrow final approval from the Loveland City Council on Tuesday night. The council then unanimously gave an initial nod to annexing the 122-acre Schmer Farm property just to the east — although acknowledging the vastly increased traffic burden the developments will cause.

The 5-3 vote, with Mayor Jacki Marsh, Mayor Pro Tem Jon Mallo and council member Erin Black dissenting, greenlights McWhinney Real Estate Services Inc.’s proposed annexation agreement and amendment to the Millennium General Development Plan, the guiding document for development of approximately 3,000 acres on both sides of U.S. Highway 34 that includes a mix of land uses including residential, commercial, civic and industrial.

The amendments concern zoning standards to allow the addition of proposed residential units allocated to “Parcel B,” which is one of four large areas governed by the Millennium GDP. The 2,277 units, in addition to five already approved, will be placed in “Parcel B-13,” the Centerra South development bordered on the north by U.S. 34 (known as Eisenhower Boulevard), on the west by Hahn’s Peak Boulevard, on the east by Rocky Mountain Boulevard and on the south by the Great Western Railroad. A subdivision built by Greeley-based Journey Homes is to the west, while the proposed Schmer Farm development, which received first-reading approval Tuesday night, is to the east.

In response to council comments McWhinney representatives heard before the Millennium GDP received initial approval on Feb. 5, Kyle Harris, the developer’s senior vice president for master-planned communities, said the developer has committed to participating with its consultants in a Loveland-wide traffic study and working with the Loveland Housing Authority to make at least 5% of the total housing deed-restricted for people earning at or less than 80% of the Area Median Income. 

Addressing council member Andrea Samson’s request at the last meeting, Harris also said McWhinney committed to make around 475 homes in the development south of Mountain Lion Drive available for sale, and that it was in conversation with another developer to provide around 150 condominium units for sale north of Mountain Lion Drive.

Council member Steve Olson, in support of the project, termed the overall Centerra development the “shining star” along Interstate 25, and Dana Foley also voted in favor despite noting that he feels affordable housing doesn’t generate enough tax revenue to cover the city’s cost of service for those units.

The council put off until its next meeting final approval of 25 years of vested property rights for Centerra South, which give developers and other property owners the legal right to rely on approved development plans for the specified vesting period even if zoning regulations change during the intervening time period. According to a city staff report, “extended vested-rights requests are typically made for large-scale multi-phased projects.”

Its first-reading approval of the Schmer Farm annexation advanced Evergreen DevCo Inc.’s partnership with Schmer Family Farm Inc. to build a 30-acre commercial development, potentially including a King Soopers grocery store and gas station, on the northwest corner of the 119-year-old farm east of the Centerra South parcel and south of U.S. 34 between Rocky Mountain Avenue and I-25, except for a property that contains an existing hotel and convenience store. The other 92 acres would be preserved for continued agricultural use.

Before final consideration at the council’s next meeting on March 4, Evergreen and the city attorney’s office agreed to work on details that would make the cost of the project plus road improvements viable given the city staff’s prediction that the increased traffic both developments would generate would eventually become unsustainable.

City traffic engineer Randy Maizland told the council that Centerra South and Schmer would add a total of 22,600 daily vehicle trips to U.S. 34 by 2029, with even worse congestion and delays thereafter.

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