Housing, open space, amphitheater pitched as Hughes Stadium's future

Housing? Amphitheater? Open space?

Colorado State University on Wednesday began the long process of charting the future of Hughes Stadium, its former football venue at the base of the foothills off Overland Trail in west Fort Collins.

More than 200 Fort Collins residents weighed in on the land, traffic and open space around the stadium during the first of two listening sessions held by CSU and its consultants, ICON Venue Group.

Opinions fell into three general camps: Keep the 160 acres as open space, build housing that is affordable and accessible to local residents and CSU staff, or create a music venue.

More: Obituary: Hughes Stadium, 1968-2016

CSU has said Hughes will be torn down to make way for whatever comes next. The stadium, as is, has little value. CSU previously estimated demolition costs at about $3 million.

The university says it doesn't need the land and hopes to sell it or enter into a long-term lease with a developer "to monetize the real estate value of the property."

Howard Nornes, a 40-year Fort Collins resident, said CSU's decision should be about legacy. "The one thing that I perhaps honor and appreciate more than anything else is what past (city) leadership has done to develop our open spaces," he said.

"Forty years from now what will the community treasure the most? A bunch of houses or natural space?" For Nornes, the answer is open space.

Others, however, endorse one of CSU's priorities: creating workforce housing for some of its faculty and staff. As home prices and rents increase, so does the affordability gap for some of CSU's 1,800 state classified employees who can make as little as $10 an hour depending on position.

The median June rent in Fort Collins was $1,291, according to the quarterly Multifamily Housing Vacancy and Rental Survey conducted for the Colorado Division of Housing.

A one-income household would need to earn more than $24 an hour to afford an apartment in Fort Collins and spend no more than 30 percent of their income on rent.

Quiz: Test your Hughes Stadium knowledge

Selling the Hughes Stadium land at a discount could decrease construction costs and result in more affordable homes, said on resident who left comments at one of six discussion centers set up at the Drake Centre.

Erin Mitchell lives two minutes from the stadium. She would like the land to be used for a recreation center or amphitheater.

"We're already used to the noise," she said. "It's such a great natural area, it could be the Red Rocks of Northern Colorado. Low-cost housing for CSU faculty and staff "wouldn't be terrible" either because they are part of the community.

"We don't want to see another high-end development."

As Overland Trail gets more homes it also gets more traffic. As with most potential developments, neighbors wanted to know more about traffic and flow, questions CSU couldn't answer.

Colorado State and ICON are talking with Fort Collins city leaders about annexing the site into city limits. If that happens, the property would be developed according to city codes and would likely include a traffic study, said Tim Romani, ICON's chief executive officer.

Jim Hibbard, a former city employee, said the property needs to be annexed so Fort Collins will have some control over the development process.

As for what he wants Hughes to be? He favors open space. "I'm not anti-development but I would love to see open space there, although I don't think there's money for that. The next best thing is to make sure traffic, transportation and utility impacts are mitigated."

Jocelyn Schott and Dominic Buttice, a teacher in Poudre School District, moved to the neighborhood a few months before Hughes' last football games. They use the trails and open space on the stadium grounds to ride bikes, walk their dogs and play Frisbee golf.

Timeline: A look back at Hughes Stadium

Schott and Buttice acknowledge the need for affordable housing but said they worry adding hundreds of houses will make it difficult to access the open space and stress nearby schools, including Bauder Elementary, just a few blocks away.

While Bauder has room to grow, it also has a somewhat transient population and needs some stability, Buttice said.

What's next?

Colorado State University will host a communitywide open house from 6-8 p.m., Oct. 18 at the Drake Centre, 802 W. Drake Road.

After that it will solicit proposals and evaluate the qualifications, capabilities and development plans from developers before it makes a recommendation to the Board of Governors.