Downtown business leaders, DDA urge council to preserve Remington Street public parking amid proposed housing plan
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Summary
Downtown business owners, the DDA and residents urged the council to preserve or replace the 160 public parking spaces at the Remington Street lot after notice of an affordable housing proposal; they asked for greater stakeholder engagement and adherence to a 2022 MOU.
Several downtown business leaders and the Downtown Development Authority told the Fort Collins City Council on April 15 they were surprised by recent discussions about redeveloping the Remington Street public parking lot for affordable housing and urged the city to preserve or replace the existing 160 spaces.
Dave Lingle, chair of the DDA board, said downtown stakeholders only learned in recent weeks about plans that could remove the lot and that an existing February 2022 memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the city and Housing Catalyst requires replacement of the 160 public parking spaces when the city leases or sells the Remington lot. "We respectfully urge the council to reaffirm its commitment to the 2022 MOU and the council adopted downtown parking plan and its foundational principle which is to collaborate with downtown stakeholders and actively seek input and participation in solutions," Lingle said (Dave Lingle, public comment, 04/15/2025).
Business owners described potential economic harm from removing downtown parking. Holly McElwee, owner of Kilwins on South College Avenue, said the Remington lot is "priceless" for downtown businesses and that almost "90% of downtown visitors drive by car," urging alternatives that would not sacrifice downtown parking (Holly McElwee, public comment, 04/15/2025). Carrie Hewitt, founder of The Cupboard, said she estimated a thousand visitors come from that lot on busy Fridays and Saturdays and warned that eliminating accessible parking could act "as a tourniquet on the people" who sustain downtown commerce.
Mark Korb, a property owner and former attorney, said stakeholders had not been adequately contacted and asked the council to slow the process to allow meaningful input. Jim Hewitt, another downtown business owner, also urged replacement of lost spaces and said a parking study for the project "is flawed because it does not include weekends or evenings," the busiest times for downtown.
Council members said staff will slow the schedule and that the earliest the item would come to the Council Finance Committee would be June; the city manager and staff reiterated there is not an active development project underway and that the city is seeking more stakeholder conversation (City staff remarks, 04/15/2025).
No formal council vote occurred on Remington lot policy at the meeting. Several council members and staff committed to additional conversations and noted the DDA offered partnership to pursue replacement parking solutions and financing options.
