The Greeley City Council has instructed city staff to give downtown projects a higher priority moving forward after a heated discussion about priorities across the city.
On Tuesday, city staff informed the council that there are 21 city projects in the works, and only six of those projects have been fully funded. Four are pending funding. These projects range from large projects such as the Cascadia project in west Greeley to smaller projects like the stormwater infrastructure project to address flooding issues.
City staff sought consensus on project priorities during the city council’s work session on Tuesday. During the city’s strategic planning retreat last year, the council had labeled nearly every project both important and urgent.
“If everything is in the high-priority urgent box, then nothing is high-priority urgent,” Councilman Brett Payton said regarding last year’s prioritization decisions.
The only urgent projects the city didn’t list in 2024 were the redevelopment of the Greeley Mall and growth in the subarea north of the Poudre River.
The council on Tuesday focused on the four downtown projects that are in the works: the Downtown Civic Campus, the redevelopment of Lincoln Park, redesigning the 8th and 9th street plazas and replacing several arts and recreation buildings downtown, such as the Active Adult Center and the Recreation Center.
The Downtown Civic Campus project is the largest of the four, with plans to construct a new city hall, a new courthouse for Weld County’s 19th Judicial District and a new administration building for Greeley-Evans School District 6. This project is estimated to cost $125 million to $160 million. Though the city has supported the project, officials are now realizing they may not have the funds for it.
“The council is unanimous on our desire to be part of the Downtown Civic Campus,” Mayor John Gates said. “As I view this data, I realize we don’t have that kind of money sitting in an account somewhere.”
The four downtown projects presented by the city would cost the city an estimated maximum of $430 million, which doesn’t include the plaza costs, as those have yet to be determined. Currently, the city has $11 million in one-time funding, but city staff recommends saving that to help bridge the gap between the city’s expenses and the revenue it is bringing in.
The city has no other ongoing resources to commit to projects unless it takes on additional debt or raises taxes, which would require voter approval. Gates opposed this idea, and Councilman Tommy Butler was more than opposed to the prospect.
“I’m pissed off that this hasn’t been our focus. This project (the Downtown Civic Campus) is so incredibly important for making our downtown prosper, and I don’t see a real effort to fund it,” Butler said. “If we do go forward with West Greeley, I think that asking voters to vote on that is a losing proposition. I don’t think a ballot initiative is going to fly with this community.”
The city council ultimately instructed city staff to find ways to fund the downtown projects as their main priority.
“I believe we have to find a way,” Gates said. “I believe we are committed, and I believe we have to find a way to fund downtown without having our voters give us money for it.”
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