'Livermore is like a Picasso': Residents share community values, development concerns

LIVERMORE — Over 175 residents gathered with Larimer County Commissioner John Kefalas and county staff Thursday to discuss the future of the community.

The meeting came after three residents asked the county to develop a “character plan” that would study potential land uses around The Forks Mercantile and Saloon — a store and restaurant at U.S. Highway 287 and County Road 74E — with the intent of creating a community vision for the future. Those residents have crafted a proposal that aims to remediate water issues but would include some development to help pay for it.

But not all residents are on board with their ideas.

“Livermore is like a Picasso — you shouldn’t mess with it anymore,” Debra Benton, who’s been a Livermore resident for 24 years, told a crowd at the Livermore Community Hall. Community members were sitting and standing next to sepia photos of ranchers and landscapes.

Kefalas and county planners held the meeting to get feedback from residents in the rural community. Larimer County has enough funding —about $50,000 — for one character study this year. The county’s comprehensive plan identified 13 communities, including Livermore, and only one can get funded for its own character plan.

Update: Here's why Livermore won't get a county-funded character area plan after community meeting

Larimer County Principal Planner Matt Lafferty said at the event that character area plans are high vision documents about the community.

“What is our vision for the next 10, 20 years? How do we want to see land use unfold? Do we not want to see it unfold?” Lafferty said.

Proposed Livermore Rural Center plan dominates conversation

Though Thursday's meeting was focused on discussions about the community's concerns and future as the county prepares to select a community to get a character plan, the Livermore Rural Center plan proposed by the three residents dominated the conversation.

The proposal, prepared by Bob West, co-owner of The Forks; Cheryl Rennels, who owns a nearby ranch; and Zach Thode, Roberts Ranch manager, shows a desire to create a more reliable water source for the restaurant; Livermore Elementary, which trucks water to the school; the church; and fire station.

But water systems are expensive and can't occur without growth to help pay the costs. The plan suggests some housing; lodging such as short-term rentals; and additional commercial space like a small grocery store, dental office and other services not currently available.

After seeing a map of some of the proposed development, some residents said they felt they were not included in this process and the proposal didn’t represent them.

“They have a carwash, there’s an Airbnb, all those things are printed over our neighbor's houses,” Jason Hanson, a Minnesota native who has been in Livermore for 25 years, told the Coloradoan.

“I can't even make out the drawing of what it looked like," Hanson said. "But it was like a bike rack on my property. And nobody contacted us to talk to us about this idea that they had.”

Thode, who was among the three residents who proposed the Rural Center plan, said he believes "that private property rights are No. 1."

“I don't want somebody else to tell me what to do on my private property," Thode said at the event. "And I don't want to tell you what to do on your private property. So, it's very important that we maintain that balance."

Other residents attended the event to get clarifications on what the proposed plan was.

“There’s so much right information, false information. I just want to hear from the horse’s mouth what this meeting is,” Glen McMillan told the Coloradoan. “I have no problem with growth. I've made my living off of growth, I’ve been a construction worker my whole life.”

Originally from rural Wisconsin, McMillan worked on construction projects, including the Sears Tower in Chicago. McMillan’s sister lived in Colorado for 45 years, during which he’d come to visit. After retiring, McMillan decided to move to Glacier View Meadows, where he’s been living for the past eight years. Glacier View is a community between Livermore and Red Feather Lakes, with children there attending school in either of the neighboring communities.

McMillan said growing up, many of the farms went under over the years and small businesses allowed young people to get jobs close to home.

“Kids up here in Glacier View and Red Feather Lakes, there's not a lot of opportunity for them, for jobs,” McMillan said.

The Forks offers some of this employment, but bringing more businesses can increase that, he said.

“But I got to see all the pros and cons before I can make a true decision on how I feel about it," he clarified.

Some residents acknowledge there is a water problem but did not agree with the proposed plan as the solution for it.

“I'm not against some level of development, but this particular set of ideas is driven very clearly by the people who will profit from it the most,” Kathleen McNutt told the Coloradoan.

McNutt, who moved to Livermore in 2022, has been active on the social media platform Nextdoor to gather members for discussions.

To be clear, there are no development applications from the Rural Center plan that have been proposed or approved, according to the county.

'People who live in Livermore moved here for a reason'

Although many of the residents are not native to Livermore, they shared why they moved there and why they want to conserve it during the meeting and in interviews with the Coloradoan afterward.

“People who live in Livermore moved here for a reason: to be away from the hustle and bustle of a town and to have wide open spaces," Benton said in an interview with the Coloradoan. "They want to go to Fort Collins if they need things, they don't want Fort Collins to come to them. This is the last community in Northern Colorado that still has the character and culture of what Colorado was.”

“We live here because we love the space," Nicole Hanson told the Coloradoan. "We love the land. We love the wildlife, the beauty of it, the peace of it. People come here for a reason. We come here for what Livermore is today, not what somebody wants to turn it into.”

What's next for Livermore, community plan process after Thursday's meeting

Larimer County Director of Community Planning, Infrastructure, and Resources Lesli Ellis told the Coloradoan in an email that the county "will determine next steps in the next week or two based on the input we received at the meeting and that we are still reviewing, and that which is still coming in."

In addition to water problems, many residents at the event echoed concerns about traffic safety, due to a series of car crash fatalities, and demanded stronger enforcement of speeding laws.

"I do know that regardless of the timeline of developing or making the decision about the character area plan, we do want to have conversations up there aiming towards building trust, but also responding to some of the issues that came up last night," Kefalas told the Coloradoan. "... But in the end, we have to make a decision. If Livermore doesn't want a formal character area plan, that's going to be their call. And then maybe there's some other ways we can support their efforts."

Coloradoan reporter Pat Ferrier contributed to this report.

Ignacio Calderon covers climate and Larimer County government for the Coloradoan. Contact him at ignacio@coloradoan.com.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Livermore residents share development concerns, values with county