City of Loveland’s Firefly Meadows trailhead concept approved by Larimer County planning commission amid neighbor concerns

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The Larimer County Planning Commission on Aug. 20 approved the City of Loveland’s location-and-extent application to establish a trail loop and small parking area at the Firefly Meadows open-space parcel south of U.S. Highway 34, but the decision followed robust public comment from adjacent residents about wildlife, safety and private-road maintenance.

The City of Loveland owns the 78-acre parcel, which it acquired using Great Outdoors Colorado grant funds and which is subject to a conservation easement. The project area is mostly agricultural with wetlands adjacent to the northern boundary, and city staff told the commission the plan is a concept-level proposal to create a roughly 1.8-mile soft-surface trail loop that mostly follows existing two-track and farm roads to minimize new…