Fort Collins council refers multiuse plan for Hughes Stadium site to November ballot after protests; amends language to increase tribal consultation

Fort Collins City Council voted 6-1 on Sept. 2 to refer a council-drafted ordinance setting a multiuse framework for the former Hughes Stadium site to the Nov. 4, 2025, municipal ballot and simultaneously denied six formal protests that argued the ballot language was misleading.

The council’s referral followed a consolidated protest hearing in which six residents and petitioners said the council’s submission clause and accompanying ordinance misstated the civic assembly’s recommendations, left up to 40 acres of the site unspecified, and allowed broad discretion to develop the site. After the hearing the council adopted specific edits to the referral language to clarify Indigenous consultation and to change phrasing about existing uses before voting to send the matter to voters.

Why it matters: The Hughes site vote will let city voters decide between competing measures and a city-referred multiuse framework. Protesters said the council’s language could permit large built facilities — including a bike park and a wildlife/conservation campus — in ways they said were inconsistent with the civic assembly’s recommendations. Supporters, including delegates to the civic assembly, said the council’s measure implements the assembly’s work and appropriately frames a multiuse outcome for voter consideration.

What the council did and why: The council first adopted an ordinance on second reading earlier in the evening, then considered a separate resolution to refer the ordinance to the ballot. Council members amended the…