Out here in the Wild West (and don't think we're not) a town's honor rides on many things, not the least of which being the town's promise to newcomers of opportunities available no where else. We're a frontier – perceptually, if no longer geographically. And yet, we need geography to cooperate in our illusion of possessing an independent spirit fostered by isolation. We need community separators: prairie and open farmland separating our city from those that are somewhat nearby.

The League of Women Voters published a letter to the editor of the Coloradoan today (reproduced below with highlighting mine) supporting community separators in Northern Colorado. I'm glad to see public discussion of this issue, but I wonder what triggered the League to write at this time. Is a pivotal decision concerning community separators immanent from the County Commissioners or the Timnath or Windsor city governments? Should we be monitoring the debate over a particular development project? Is there a petition being circulated for a ballot initiative? Is something happening we need to know about?

I've lived in Fort Collins for 15 years and seen the city double in size. I've seen Timnath, Wellington and Windsor emerge as Northern Colorado towns now offering more than just a Main Street and cafe. I've seen the success (planning-wise and psychologically) in creating permanent open space between Fort Collins and Loveland. I believe that success needs to be broadly reproduced throughout Northern Colorado.

Keep City Separators
The League of Women Voters of Larimer County wishes to express its strong support for maintaining community separators between the cities and towns of Northern Colorado based on league consensus at the national, state and local levels. Also, the people of this area have consistently supported open space or very low-density development between their communities. Community separators help cities and towns keep their own identity, allow for a sense of place and avoid relentless sprawl.

Northern Colorado has been an area where employers and entrepreneurs have located because of its desirability and quality of life. The communities' attractiveness and priority for open space are important aspects of their desirability. Maintaining separators between communities will help Northern Colorado continue to be an attractive place for future employers.

The Larimer County Master Plan and the Fort Collins City Plan, both of which the League of Women Voters of Larimer County participated in, support preservation of the rural and historic character of Larimer County and its communities. In 1995 Loveland and Fort Collins agreed to pursue community separators between those two cities. That plan has been implemented. Then, in 2003 Fort Collins, Timnath and Windsor crafted a plan to allow each community to maintain its own identity.

We urge Fort Collins and the other communities in this area to aggressively pursue the implementation of community separator at this time.

Georgia Locker, chair of Growth Team
League of Women Voters of Larimer County

For more information about the status and importance of community separators in Northern Colorado, see Glen Colton's letter to the editor of the Coloradoan from February 25, 2008, which I've reproduced and discussed here.