FoCo in 15 Minutes | Southeast Community Center, Massive Battery Project, Airport Expansion & Flock Debate

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Can you guys believe we are already in the second week of June? We have seen 90 degree temperatures. It is Middle of the summer already. So I hope you guys are getting out and enjoying some pool time as I did this past weekend It was glorious. This is living in Fort Collins the podcast We are talking to you about things that have happened things to do City Council recap. Let's jump right in Well, the long-awaited 10 plus year project is going to break ground June 10th the Southeast Community Center is having a groundbreaking ceremony June 10th you have I can already see the the fences are up the 10 acres the 10 acre piece of property is ready to get going with a an expected open date of 2028 so that is so very exciting and I will say I am jealous of That area you've got twin silo Park You've got fossil Ridge High School, you've got the Technology Innovation Center Community Park Hub DC Oaks over there lots of cool development and happening and now you're going to have a $100,000,000 community center with a public library that grand opening is going to be on June 10th from 2 to 3 p.m There are going to be some fun things city managers Council members all the above I will say that is an exciting project a once-in-a-generation project that happens in Fort Collins PRPA is breaking ground on the largest battery project in northern, Colorado on June 4th, they broke ground on what is going to be a 400 megawatt battery storage project that can power 18,000 homes now, I will say the one interesting thing that I believe To be true is the the biggest bottleneck for you know clean energy is our battery storage and I don't know. You know if we can get that higher That's where you know the dark calm Nights and days that happen when the sun's not showing and the winds not blowing and our clean energy Can't bring us the power. We need we need these large battery storage now, you know, this is a 140 million dollar Project and it's gonna generate seven million dollars in property taxes over the next 20 years So this is a big deal and I will say that with the PRPA serving Fort Collins Loveland Longmont and Estes Park being able to provide energy for 18,000 homes, you know nowhere near enough by any means, but it's just about Starting to take steps forward. So June 4th, we broke ground on that the Platte River Power Authority pretty cool Talking about breaking ground again the 20.6 million dollar runway Widening project at the Northern, Colorado Regional Airport is set to start taking place this June and finish by sometime late summer in the fall time period this is going to meet FAA standards for commercial airline services that you will allow your 737s to come in land comfortably and this again is on top of the 20 million dollar terminal That we just built and opened up one year ago the final kind of Domino to fall on this airport from becoming a commercial Airline Consistent operation is going to be the tower and if I were a betting man, I would say by 2029 Fort Collins Loveland Regional Airport has consistent commercial airlines flying out of there The Fort Collins Urban Renewal Authority is going to use eminent domain to acquire the El Palomino Motel on North College Avenue now They were under contract on this property for two point six million dollars But actually withdrew their offer after due diligence showed that the property just wasn't worth that amount between methamphetamine Contamination asbestos groundwater contamination and the amount of money that it's gonna take to bring this property back to shipshape They said no It's not worth two point six million dollars And so we are actually going to go through the process of eminent domain to acquire this property now this would be the third property bought by the Ura in essentially the last two years They bought the Albertsons back in July of 2025 and then just a month later In August of 2025. They bought the budget host motel. That was also a blighted hotel motel meth contamination and Well, yes, I'm not a huge fan of you know, kind of government getting into private business I will say it will be nice to have these Buildings, especially on an area like North College that has seen and is seeing so much development take place Kind of be removed from the equation that was Detracting from what could be a really cool stretch of road along North College Avenue So we'll see how that all goes But this year you'll actually start to see outdoor events and public Entertainment opportunities that are going to be happening at that Albertsons location. So Already some cool things happening in those areas craft beer production contracted 4% which is actually less than what they had assumed it was in April and Fort Collins, Northern Colorado the Mountain West region actually held up better than the country overall with just 1.5% production drop It's pretty pretty crazy, you know craft beer is also outpaced the broader beer category Which fell five point seven percent by volume. This is pretty interesting Obviously craft brewing is massively important to Fort Collins in Northern Colorado with New Belgium Odell's Cooper Smith's why so many different craft brewers in the area of verboten stodgy, you know The list goes on more than 20 breweries microbreweries in Fort Collins alone Not including the rest of the Mountain West region Northern Colorado all that now they provide a ton of jobs Good income GDPs. So we want to make sure that it stays strong, but there's been this massive push you know as society to drink less and But drink coffee and caffeine more which I am a hundred percent guilty of So it'll be interesting to watch as we move forward but that being said It's important to the northern Colorado region that craft brewing craft brewing stay strong but at the same time Balancing it with health and people being so health conscious. So we will keep on top of that There were a couple of different house fires that I read about and saw one in Fort Collins a house fire Displaced a family lost everything. I believe there are gofundme accounts out there and It just kind of I had hit home because I had a rental property just a few Well, probably at this point now two months ago Because somebody was welding in the garage catch fire fortunately put a fire authority got out there quickly Took care of the situation Fortunately didn't displace either of the families that were living there, but it was Massively emotional and you know, these things happen so fast I remember when I was a kid and I was going to basketball practice and this was before cell phones my mom or somebody had get to call and They the person who was calling them was just in a frenzy and they say We just stopped a fire in the kitchen I had I me had left a candle burning by one of the drapes hanging over the sink and Fortunately when my sister saw it had caught on fire and they had stopped it, but I was just like dang It just happens so fast. So if you're able to You know help out there is a gofundme out there But just make sure staying vigilant these things happen. They're accidents but cause so much emotional Monetary, you know damage and so hopefully this family is able to get through it. Okay City Council, there was only four council members there. So, you know, they pushed a couple of the votes back Public comment continues to surround flock cameras Man I I I I'm not even I'm done. Yeah, I'll move forward. I don't care about that anymore. So It is important that we make sure that the vendor that we're using is Reputable that we watch out for the city of Fort Collins But if it helps city police do a better job and we're able to have good guardrails. I'm all for it might be the You know quiet minority is my opinion on it that are you know being loud at these council meetings But I do believe yes good oversight Making sure that there's good vendors, but helping police leveraging technology. I'm for it They moved forward and updated business incentive policy looking at kind of property taxes sales tax rebates to try to entice businesses to move here And I think having that come and for the first time since 2015 I think that's a super important deal because economy a good strong economy is what will allow us to You know be a strong city moving forward Let's see here. Oops That was kind of it. It was kind of a slower slower meeting. There was a couple of ordinances passed You know dates and deadlines for how you can file You know Court orders things of that nature, but nothing nothing too crazy. Those are the two biggest things Flock cameras continue to dominate public comment business incentive policy approved four to zero There was a couple council meetings canceled July 7th and August 4th As for things to do this week and weekend There is going to be the grand opening for the southeast community center tomorrow, June 10th There is an art festival for Co fringe performance art festival, June 11th through 14th throughout downtown Saturday June 13th is going to be the ground grand opening of the pooter river trail celebration 45 miles contiguous paved trails from Bellevue, Colorado to Greeley, Colorado very exciting Sweetheart city car show Saturday, June 13th 9 a.m. To 3 2 p.m.

At 4650 Sunview Drive in Loveland, Colorado Fort Collins foxes baseball starts off down at City Park all summer long $10 tickets something fun to do with the family June 10th is their first game as Well as the sounds of summer Lagoon concert series beginning tomorrow, June 10th as well Every Wednesday night 6 30 to 8 30 p.m. Super cool backdrop I definitely am partial to these they brought Janae on when they were she was gonna go off to the 2016 Olympics at Rio and They did a cool little send-off for her. So always supported Supportive of the lagoon concert series Now this is the living in Fort Collins Podcast we are working on our studio slowly, but surely for in-person podcast Guest to go if you can think of anybody that you believe would be a good guest or a repeat guest, you know, we've had Coaches on athletic directors city managers chief of police mayors If you know of anybody who you think would be a good guest I would appreciate an email connection letting them know that hey, we're building this out. We should have it built out This will be in person This will be in person Here in the near future. This is living in Fort Collins the podcast I appreciate you guys all watching until next week. Have a great day