September 13, 2019
LAR Announces City Council Candidate Endorsements
The Longmont Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors has confirmed the recommendations from the Government Affairs Committee to support the following candidates in the 2019 City Council election.
Mayor
Brian Bagley – Brian served eight years on City Council before being elected mayor in 2017. He is pragmatic and said that while he doesn’t support the City’s inclusionary housing requirements, he knew that supporters had the votes to pass it and he worked to make it more palatable to developers. Likewise, he doesn’t support the wildlife and environmental policies of the current City Council, but he did the best he could to make the regulations less onerous for development. Brian said one of his top priorities for a second term is economic development.
Ward 1
Tim Waters – Tim is running unopposed. He often aligns with Mayor Bagley on key votes that are important to LAR (for example, the Mountain Brook development on Rodgers Road). He supports inclusionary housing because he thinks it will help create more housing for young families. However, he did help ensure that developers’ feedback was considered before the ordinance went through the public hearing process. Tim also said he is “committed to the notion that development needs to occur.”
Ward 3
Regan Sample – Regan is a REALTOR® and it would be very beneficial to LAR if he were to be elected because he understands and supports our industry. He opposes inclusionary housing. He supports the concept of affordability, but he does not believe inclusionary housing will accomplish that. Regan argued the City needs to “drive the City’s economic engine.” He believes good partnerships can create a welcome environment for businesses and a consistent City message and plan can help businesses thrive. In turn, that will encourage people to live in Longmont.
At-Large
Jeff Moore – Jeff served one term on City Council until he was ousted by Marcia Martin 2017. He is not a fan of inclusionary housing because he believes it will increase home prices and doubts it will make Longmont more affordable. Jeff said he thinks some current members of Council want to reduce the amount of property that is available for development by creating overly strict development regulations. He also believes Longmont’s development process is too complicated and costly. According to Jeff, the Longmont Area Economic Partnership is doing a good job in terms of its economic development activities and the City can help by providing infrastructure to support economic development efforts.
Tax Questions Headed for Ballot
The Council placed several important questions on the November 5thballot. First, voters will be asked to make the City’s .75 percent transportation sales and use tax for operations, maintenance and improvement of city streets permanent. This tax was scheduled to expire in 2026.
In addition, voters will decide if they want to fund an aquatics center and ice rink by raising the City’s sales and use tax from 3.53 to 3.71 percent and bond up to $5.5M. The sales/use tax would expire in 2039 and would be used to repay the bond debt. The facility would feature a 50-meter, 10-lane competitive swimming pool, a leisure pool; a single sheet of National Hockey League-sized ice; and a fitness area. Mayor Brian Bagley argues the rec center is, in essence, an economic and development tool, because he believes this amenity will attract new businesses to town.
IRES MLS: Come Home to Colorado 
Inclusionary housing is a red herring. It does not allow for affordable normal starter homes or retirement homes and limits the buyers to NO investment growth in their home. That is too restrictive and does not encourage the affordable homeowners to create their own space as their goal is still to own their own home without the government authorities looking over their shoulder monitoring and restricting their every idea for improvement in their “own” home.
Let’s stop making development a greedy money grab for rich developers and just build nice normal homes. This is creating a sick society.
The greedy developers are cutting corners at every opportunity in the construction process causing unnecessary repairs very soon after completion. Improper shortcuts and omissions are not noticed / overlooked by inspectors – or, are they just approved so the builder makes even more money on the sale?
Developers are not held accountable for road maintenance to access roads and neighborhood disturbance by huge construction trucks causing more costs to the taxpayers.