City Council calls for local control rules in big land projects could delay approval of Northern Water’s Northern Integrated Supply Project by a year.

By Michael Booth, The Colorado Sun, November 4, 2021.

Fort Collins has placed new barriers in front of Northern Water’s $1.1 billion plan to build a dam and pipeline network along the Cache la Poudre River, further slowing a decades-long project backed by 15 growing Front Range communities and water districts.

City government put a hold on the kind of pipeline and infrastructure work Northern Water needs for its Northern Integrated Supply Project, saying Fort Collins will pause for a year to write new regulations under state “1041” permitting laws that encourage local control of big land use projects. Fort Collins’ planning commission had rejected a NISP pipeline proposal through city open space last summer, but Northern Water’s board overrode the decision, as is allowed by state law.

“I’m a strong proponent of local control, and communities having a say in charting their own destiny and projects that positively and negatively impact them,” said city council member Kelly Ohlson.

Northern Water says it has already complied with local approval protocols, including receiving 1041 approval from surrounding Larimer County, and will study its options if Fort Collins tries to force NISP through a newly created layer of planning.

“We think that we’ve completed” the city’s Site Plan Advisory Review process, which was the standard before Fort Collins started talking about creating 1041 rules, Northern Water spokesman Jeff Stahla said. “We’re really going to take a close look at exactly what was passed by the city council.”

“As has recently played out in Boulder County, without the 1041 process, local people are left with damaged ecosystems, additional noise and pollution, unsightly structures, lost recreational opportunities, reduced property values, and ultimately a compromised quality of life,” Pelz said. “Generally, water managers in Colorado don’t build a dam in their constituents’ own backyards.”

Placing a hold on new projects and asking staff to create a 1041 process for the first time was not meant to target Northern Water specifically, though it will likely delay their Fort Collins projects, city council member Kelly Ohlson acknowledged. A new group of city council members taking office after spring elections learned Fort Collins could use the state’s 1041 law to influence projects rather than just react to them, Ohlson said.

“I’m a strong proponent of local control, and communities having a say in charting their own destiny and projects that positively and negatively impact them,” he said.

See the full article HERE.

See an earlier related story HERE.

Photo credit: “Cache la Poudre River” by qurlyjoe is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0