Firestone voters to decide on Union
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Firestone voters to decide on Union
FIRESTONE — Firestone voters will get to decide whether their town annexes the 350-acre Union property east of Longmont.
Firestone’s board of trustees voted 5-0 on Thursday to put the issue to a town election, which will be held Sept. 30. The town board approved the annexation in May, but a petition afterward by the group InformFirestone required the trustees to either kill the annexation or send it to the voters.
“I welcome the motion, whatever it may be,” Trustee Charlie Thomas said before the board voted. “I think we’ve spent a lot of time on this, and ultimately, we have a lot of other matters we need to address.”
This marks the second time that a referendum has been proposed on the Union property owned by LifeBridge Christian Church. A question on whether Longmont would annex the property was originally slated for a Jan. 29 vote, but LifeBridge withdrew its annexation request before then.
Setting the election this time proved challenging. Since the petition was ruled valid July 11, the vote had to come on a Tuesday sometime between Sept. 9 and Dec. 8. However, another state law says that a special election can’t be held 32 days before or after a primary or another election.
That left the board with just four choices: Sept. 16, Sept. 23, Sept. 30 and the general Election Day itself, Nov. 4. Town attorney Sam Light said the first two dates would mean a very tight schedule but that a general election might cause the issue to get lost in the shuffle.
“Typically, municipal items get buried,” Light said.
“People come in and they vote for the president and some state offices,” Trustee Butch Walb agreed. “Some of the local items don’t even get voted on. It’s a Firestone issue, and I think we need to keep the focus on Firestone in this election.”
The board voted 4-1 for the Sept. 30 date. The lone holdout was Trustee Matt Holcomb, who wanted it placed on the general election ballot.
“I’d like to save the community some money,” he said. “And I like the convenience of having it all at once.”
No formal cost figures were available Thursday, but town manager Cheri Andersen said a special election would likely cost the town about $10,000, which was the bill for Firestone’s April election. She estimated that merging it with the general election might save $2,000.
Dan Sanger of InformFirestone said he had hoped for a November vote, to allow more time for an informed discussion. That time frame could get even tighter, because Andersen still has to draw up the ballot language and time has to be allowed for a hearing if anyone objects to the wording.
“We’re into getting the information and getting it out there,” Sanger said. “I guess we’ve got a pretty short time frame to do it. But I guess that’s what we’re going to do.”
Sanger asked the board if it would make information on the annexation available, including some background that was originally on Firestone’s Web site. Light said the town had to tread carefully — it could supply factual information with pro and con arguments, but the board couldn’t take sides except to vote on a resolution supporting or opposing the measure. Individual board members, though, can participate in the election.
Light said it’s been at least a decade since Firestone had a local issue come to the ballot by petition. In fact, no official in the room could remember the last time it had happened.
“I think this is a very exciting time for Firestone,” Holcomb said. “Whatever happens … a group organized themselves, got in front of our citizens and put it to us. That’s exciting whatever happens. It’s government in action.”
Several other trustees agreed. But they also continued to support the annexation.
“My personal belief is that this is the right thing for the community,” Trustee Greg Foster said before the board’s vote. “It may not happen tomorrow, but as our children grow up, there’s an opportunity there to help the town of Firestone.”
“It is Firestone’s future,” Walb said.
Trustee Paul Sorensen, a member of LifeBridge, removed himself from the discussion and did not vote.
The town board also held a closed-door session later in the evening to get legal advice on its annexation dispute with Longmont. The Longmont City Council has been trying to annex land that would keep Firestone away from Longmont’s city limits, a move that could cut Firestone off from both the Union development and the Firelight Park development along Colo. Highway 119.
Scott Rochat can be reached at 303-684-5220 or srochat@times-call.com.
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