Why is Longmont circumventing the will of residents (who, last November, overwhelmingly voted to extend the City’s Open Space sales tax) by attempting to rush through a land swap to build on City Open Space? The properties in question, which lie in northeastern Longmont north of Weld County Road 20 1/2, are known as Distel and Tull, and were purchased in 2019. Distel was purchased for future Open Space, while Tull was purchased through Public Works. Now, just 6 years later, the City wants to swap the two, supposedly to build a Boulder County-owned compost facility on the Distel property.
The idea of siting a compost facility on Distel popped up at a City Council meeting in January and the land swap proposal was sent to the City’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) for a yea or nay. It’s coming back to Council later this month for a final decision on the swap. PRAB recommended nay, but will City Council listen?
Why the rush, anyway? Boulder County’s Compost Feasibility Study, which includes an analysis of potential sites, doesn’t come out until later this year. Following its release, there will be multiple rounds of public feedback and analysis. The whole process could take months or years and, in the end, there’s no guarantee Boulder County will choose Distel. There are also a number of as-yet unanswered questions regarding the swap, chief among them what the City will build on Distel if the compost facility plan falls through…