Greeley City planning staff told the Planning Commission on May 13 that the city’s Grow Greeley area-planning campaign will begin public design events this summer for western and eastern subareas and that a shortfall in 2025 revenue has prompted internal budget reviews that may affect some projects.

The Grow Greeley campaign intends to coordinate subarea and neighborhood planning ahead of a full comprehensive plan update in 2028. Jackson, a community development planner, told commissioners the Grow West area plan will include a public presentation and community design session at 6 p.m. July 9 at the Aims Welcome Center, followed by a consultant-led charette week beginning July 11. Jackson said the consultants will return in the fall with alternatives for further public review and that the Grow West plan is expected to wrap up in 2026. “We’re gonna talk about the overall Grow Greeley campaign and that area planning strategy,” Jackson said.

Why this matters: the subarea plans will guide land use, transportation, housing and infrastructure decisions for parts of the city likely to see new development, including a large proposed planned unit development (PUD) and annexation applications in West Greeley. Brian, a Community Development staff member, told the commission the city has received its first formal application tied to the Cascadia project: two parcels proposed for annexation that would wrap around the city-owned Entertainment District. “The initial proposal by the applicants, and the applicants are both the city of Greeley and the Water Valley Company…It’ll include the 100-acre entertainment district, which the city now owns, plus an additional 720 acres that sort of wraps around,” Brian said, describing a single PUD application covering roughly 820 acres.

Staff said the commission will likely see the annexation applications in August and PUD applications to follow; because of the project’s size, staff plan a July 8 work session to review PUD approval criteria in general rather than discuss the Cascadia application specifically. Jackson said concept plans in a large PUD will be more general for the bulk of the acreage, with more detailed plans for the 100-acre Entertainment District where more design work has already been done.

The commission also heard details about Grow East. Jackson said the Grow East plan is being co-managed by Public Works and Transportation and Community Development and that the city has contracted Rick Engineering for that work. Staff mailed about 60 letters to landowners with at least 40 acres in the East subarea and had received only three or four responses as of the meeting; a community design meeting for Grow East is tentatively targeted for mid-August. “This will also have a speak up Greeley page, and it will have a community design meeting,” Jackson said.

On funding and timing, staff said the area plans are funded for 2025 and that the city began budgeting for subarea planning in 2023. “We started budgeting for our sub area planning efforts in 2023. And so we’ve been kinda squirreling away resources in order to conduct these efforts,” one commissioner observed during discussion. Staff noted that while area plans are funded for this year, other projects and future work depend on next year’s budget approvals.

Budget outlook: Brian told the commission the city’s revenue for 2025 is running below projections and that staff are looking at ways to limit expenses this year and adjust 2026 budget requests. City leaders plan a budget retreat at 3 p.m. July 8 to discuss priorities; the retreat will be held in the same building in a conference room because council needs the main chamber to set up for the retreat. Brian said the city does not, at this point, intend staff-level layoffs or changes to daily operations but that some projects could be affected as budget adjustments are made.

Commissioners pressed staff on the fiscal implications of land-use choices. Jackson and other staff said subarea planning gives the city an opportunity to examine infrastructure needs, transportation, utilities and the fiscal impacts of different land uses — particularly in East Greeley, where staff identified power and utility constraints that limit immediate private development. Staff and commissioners discussed prioritizing industrial and small manufacturing sites near the airport and First Avenue corridors as potentially more stable sources of revenue than retail alone, and suggested early coordination with Weld County on airport-related development because the county and city jointly own and operate the airport.

Public engagement: staff encouraged commissioners to attend the July 9 Grow West event and the July 8 work session on PUD criteria. A Speak Up Greeley engagement page will host surveys and event information; staff said they will monitor survey usability after commissioners flagged mobile survey formatting problems. Jackson said consultants will present initial alternatives after charette week and return in the fall for additional public review.

Votes at a glance: The commission approved the minutes as presented for the May 13, 2025 meeting after a motion and second; roll call indicated four commissioners present and the motion carried.

Next steps: staff plan the July 8 PUD-criteria work session, the July 9 community meeting for Grow West, charette week beginning July 11, and further public review of alternatives in the fall. The Grow West and Grow East plans are scheduled to conclude in 2026 to inform a citywide comprehensive plan update targeted for 2028.