The City of Fort Collins Planning and Zoning Commission on July 17 recommended that City Council adopt the Natural Areas Strategic Framework as a component of City Plan, saying the framework will provide a 10‑ to 20‑year structure for natural‑areas management. The commission voted in favor of the recommendation; commissioners cited long public engagement and alignment with city goals.

Kelly Smith, senior environmental planner with Fort Collins Natural Areas, told commissioners the framework is the result of an 18‑month engagement process and incorporates ballot language from two local measures that fund natural‑areas work. "We did go to city council on Tuesday for first reading. This plan is considered a component of city plans, so it has to be passed, via ordinance," Smith said, adding that council approved first reading unanimously and the item is scheduled for second reading for final adoption.

The framework is shorter and more focused than previous documents, Smith said: earlier master plans ran 150–200 pages; the new strategic framework is roughly 40 pages and designed to be more usable for staff and the public. It organizes the city’s natural areas into six geographic management zones that staff update on a roughly seven‑year cadence; staff undertake about one zone update each year and expect each update to take approximately 18 months. The plan is intended to sit above site‑level management plans and guide restoration, stewardship and future management‑zone updates.

Commissioners asked whether the plan would maintain, decrease or increase existing levels of maintenance. Smith said the plan aims to maintain current service levels with potential for increases where community demand and storm impacts require greater work. "We're seeing a desire from our community, for example, to learn more about the trail difficulty," she said, describing a staff effort to digitize and map trail difficulty across 114 miles of trail using a wheeled device with GPS and coordinate the data across jurisdictions and with a statewide mapping app.

Commissioners also discussed restoration priorities, noting that some former pasture lands will be restored to native habitats through zone plan updates; Smith said those projects are multi‑year efforts and that urban properties are more complex to restore.

The commission’s recommendation to council was introduced and adopted with the finding that the strategic framework updates the 2014 Natural Areas Master Plan and is consistent with the vision, goals and policies of City Plan. The motion, as recorded in the hearing, directs staff findings and the analysis in the staff report as the basis for the recommendation. The commission’s recommendation will be transmitted to City Council ahead of second reading.

No members of the public addressed the commission on this item during the hearing. Commissioners expressed support for the department’s public engagement and presentation; one commissioner described the natural areas program as a prominent community asset.

The Natural Areas Strategic Framework will next appear before City Council for second reading as an ordinance amending City Plan components; a final adoption vote by council will determine the plan’s legal status.