West End Neighborhood Project

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As of Oct. 20, all City action for this project has concluded.

The Community and Strategic Planning Division is looking into ways to adjust the land use allowances in the West End Neighborhood to help accommodate existing uses and structures that do not currently align with the zoning but are compatible with the neighborhood. One possibility is the use of an overlay zone that would allow flexibility in land uses without rezoning property. Information about overlay zones is provided below, and a survey link is included to collect neighborhood feedback on land uses in the neighborhood.

A Brief History

Earlier this year, City staff withdrew a rezoning application for several 6th and Douglas properties that would have rezoned the properties from low density residential to high density residential. Staff committed to exploring other options and finding a solution that would be more acceptable to the neighborhood while providing reasonable opportunities for the use and reuse of existing historical properties.

Goals of the Program

Protect the neighborhood character.

Preserve the unique character of the neighborhood, allowing existing structures and uses to coexist harmoniously with the neighborhood's identity.


Illustration of a clock.

Acknowledge historic uses and determine appropriate future uses for the neighborhood.

Honor its heritage while embracing its potential for modern vitality and relevance.


Illustration of a puzzle piece.

Provide a variety of land use opportunities to meet the needs of the residents.

Encourage inclusivity within the neighborhood, ensuring it remains a desirable place to live.


About Overlay Zones

An overlay zone is a planning tool that can be used to create special standards and adjust land use allowances within a defined boundary. The overlay does not rezone property but instead adds a layer of unique standards and criteria that apply only to properties included within the boundaries of the overlay zone.

Land uses not permitted in the standard zone district can be added in the overlay to complement and align with the goals of the neighborhood. For example, in the City’s low density residential zones, a memory care facility is not a permitted land use. But within an overlay zone, memory care could be added as an allowable use.

Special provisions, such as the requirement for a neighborhood meeting for specific land uses, could be included in the overlay parameters to ensure opportunities for the neighborhood to be informed and participate.

In this neighborhood, the overlay zone would not change the zoning of the property, and it would remain as low density residential.

Overlay Zones in Loveland

Overlay zones have been used to address development in specific areas of Loveland. The City currently has four overlay zones that are established in the Municipal Code:

  1. Airport Influence Area Overlay – includes land use restrictions on property within the airport influence area to ensure compatibility with airport and FAA regulations.
  2. Enhanced Corridor Overlay – provides alternatives and incentives for new development, redevelopment and infill development along Eisenhower Boulevard and Highway 287.
  3. The Wildland Urban Interface Overlay – to align with the recently adopted Fire Code provisions that strengthen wildfire resiliency in areas of the City more prone to the risk of wildfires.
  4. North Cleveland Overlay – provides opportunities for residential properties to convert to low intensity commercial and office uses while maintaining the historic residential character on Cleveland Avenue.

How an Overlay Zone is Created

Creating an overlay zone involves three basic steps:

  • Define the purpose.
  • Identify the boundaries of the overlay.
  • Develop rules that will apply within the overlay.

Approval of an overlay zone would require public hearings before both Planning Commission and City Council.

Share Your Voice

Now through Oct. 20, please take a few moments to share your feedback and help us determine if there is neighborhood interest and support in establishing an overlay district.

The Community and Strategic Planning Division is looking into ways to adjust the land use allowances in the West End Neighborhood to help accommodate existing uses and structures that do not currently align with the zoning but are compatible with the neighborhood. One possibility is the use of an overlay zone that would allow flexibility in land uses without rezoning property. Information about overlay zones is provided below, and a survey link is included to collect neighborhood feedback on land uses in the neighborhood.

A Brief History

Earlier this year, City staff withdrew a rezoning application for several 6th and Douglas properties that would have rezoned the properties from low density residential to high density residential. Staff committed to exploring other options and finding a solution that would be more acceptable to the neighborhood while providing reasonable opportunities for the use and reuse of existing historical properties.

Goals of the Program

Protect the neighborhood character.

Preserve the unique character of the neighborhood, allowing existing structures and uses to coexist harmoniously with the neighborhood's identity.


Illustration of a clock.

Acknowledge historic uses and determine appropriate future uses for the neighborhood.

Honor its heritage while embracing its potential for modern vitality and relevance.


Illustration of a puzzle piece.

Provide a variety of land use opportunities to meet the needs of the residents.

Encourage inclusivity within the neighborhood, ensuring it remains a desirable place to live.


About Overlay Zones

An overlay zone is a planning tool that can be used to create special standards and adjust land use allowances within a defined boundary. The overlay does not rezone property but instead adds a layer of unique standards and criteria that apply only to properties included within the boundaries of the overlay zone.

Land uses not permitted in the standard zone district can be added in the overlay to complement and align with the goals of the neighborhood. For example, in the City’s low density residential zones, a memory care facility is not a permitted land use. But within an overlay zone, memory care could be added as an allowable use.

Special provisions, such as the requirement for a neighborhood meeting for specific land uses, could be included in the overlay parameters to ensure opportunities for the neighborhood to be informed and participate.

In this neighborhood, the overlay zone would not change the zoning of the property, and it would remain as low density residential.

Overlay Zones in Loveland

Overlay zones have been used to address development in specific areas of Loveland. The City currently has four overlay zones that are established in the Municipal Code:

  1. Airport Influence Area Overlay – includes land use restrictions on property within the airport influence area to ensure compatibility with airport and FAA regulations.
  2. Enhanced Corridor Overlay – provides alternatives and incentives for new development, redevelopment and infill development along Eisenhower Boulevard and Highway 287.
  3. The Wildland Urban Interface Overlay – to align with the recently adopted Fire Code provisions that strengthen wildfire resiliency in areas of the City more prone to the risk of wildfires.
  4. North Cleveland Overlay – provides opportunities for residential properties to convert to low intensity commercial and office uses while maintaining the historic residential character on Cleveland Avenue.

How an Overlay Zone is Created

Creating an overlay zone involves three basic steps:

  • Define the purpose.
  • Identify the boundaries of the overlay.
  • Develop rules that will apply within the overlay.

Approval of an overlay zone would require public hearings before both Planning Commission and City Council.

Share Your Voice

Now through Oct. 20, please take a few moments to share your feedback and help us determine if there is neighborhood interest and support in establishing an overlay district.

As of Oct. 20, all City action for this project has concluded.

  • Project Update from Brett Limbaugh

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    Madam Mayor and Loveland City Council,

    Development Services staff is providing an update on the West End Neighborhood project and related community outreach to address some misunderstandings that have emerged. Three previous emails sent to the neighborhood on July 18, 2023, July 31, 2023, and October 2, 2023 confirmed the following.

    • The City withdrew its re-zoning application for this neighborhood on July 18, 2023.
    • The City planned to engage with interested stakeholders to explore other options that are receptive to the reasonable concerns of participants in this process, while meeting the needs of the City’s Comprehensive Plan and Unified development Code.
    • The City would create a special project webpage to allow for participation from all residents in the neighborhood and interested parties. That webpage includes a survey for neighborhood feedback open through Oct. 20. The webpage is letstalkloveland.org/west-end-neighborhood-project.

    Those emails from myself and Principal Planner Kerri Burchett are attached.

    As stated, the survey is simply meant to collect viewpoints from all residents about land uses in the West End Neighborhood to help the City inform next steps on possible future land uses.

    Also, the Let’s Talk Loveland webpage includes questions that have been raised from the neighborhood during the engagement process and has a place for residents to pose their questions directly for staff to address. We have attached those FAQs as well and encourage Council and residents to review those for additional clarification.

    Please let us know if you have any questions.

    Thank you,

    Brett A. Limbaugh, AICP
    Director
    Development Services Department
    410 E. 5th Street, Loveland CO 80524
    O: 970.962.2346 | D: 970.962.2521
    E: Brett.Limbaugh@cityofloveland.org

    Attachments:

  • A Letter to City Council and the Community

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    Councilor Samson as well as Paula, Gail, Doug, and Cindy,

    As the City continues dialogue about the future of the West End Neighborhood in terms of zoning and land use, I wanted to take a moment to address Councilor Samson’s questions as well as some concerns that have been raised about the most recent engagement efforts happening on the City’s community engagement platform, Let’s Talk Loveland.

    The main concerns we heard through public comment at the Oct. 3 City Council meeting that I can address were that this new engagement effort and survey questions do not align with previously communicated preferences and concerns with the survey structure including questions about demographics.

    I would first like to address some background about the application on behalf of Development Services, this new phase of engagement and the Let’s Talk Loveland engagement platform.

    The City’s Development Services Department heard varying perspectives on desired land uses from residents during the initial rezoning efforts earlier this year. The City withdrew this rezoning application on July 18, 2023, and as promised through the withdrawal letter, this new engagement effort is meant to identify alternative options that are receptive to the reasonable concerns of participants in this process while meeting the needs of the City’s Comprehensive Plan and Unified Development Code. Through the City’s development review process, the applicant is required to lead public engagement efforts with support of the Development Services Department. Because the City was the applicant here, the Development Services Department engaged our team in the City’s new Communication and Engagement Department to manage this next phase of engagement using our Let’s Talk Loveland platform.

    The City’s Let’s Talk Loveland has become one of our main digital engagement channels for specific projects, such as this engagement effort. It has been extremely effective in helping the City connect with residents, ensuring that each member of our community has the opportunity to contribute to decision-making processes in various stages. It has also been well received as a place where individuals can share their feedback and perspectives directly to the City on a specific project. With any City engagement effort, our priority is to make sure we are hearing from all involved parties, and this platform has allowed us to do that.

    The West End Neighborhood project webpage and survey were designed in response to the withdrawal of the City’s rezoning application and the City’s commitment to explore alternatives based on neighborhood feedback. As mentioned in the July 18 memo, reasonable feedback and concerns will be considered in the next recommendation for the process. We want to emphasize that this is not a scientific survey by design. The intent behind the survey is to engage with individual residents and involved stakeholders within the neighborhood to gather feedback and perspectives on land use for an overlay zone seeking opinions on the possibility of an overlay zone. While scientific surveys have their merits and are used for larger Citywide survey efforts in the community, this informal approach allows for open dialogue and inclusivity in gathering community input and feedback.

    This page and survey provide a space where all participants can have an equitable say in the next step of the process. The survey questions capture opinions on an overlay zone, with additional clarification provided to ensure that participants can share their thoughts on boundaries and land uses, regardless of their stance on the overlay. The survey has a question that allows participants to indicate support or opposition of the overlay zone, and subsequent questions allow them to voice their opinions on the boundaries or size of the overlay zone should one be pursued. The original map of the rezoning application that was withdrawn was included as a base map, as it is familiar to the neighborhood. Participants can indicate different desired boundaries on the survey if the overlay is to be pursued.

    We appreciate the specific feedback on survey layout and questions and want to clarify that demographic questions are included to help us better understand our community. These demographic questions are standard for many of our projects as well as any scientific survey efforts that we partake in. Similar questions are also asked during the account creation process on Let’s Talk Loveland. With the West End Neighborhood survey, staff disabled the requirement to create an account to remove an extra step or barrier that could have affected participation.

    Loveland is a growing, evolving community and staff makes every effort to reach decisions that are in the best interest of our community at large. The voices of our community matter, and we appreciate the passion and engagement around this project. The survey results will guide decisions on the next steps, and the input we receive is invaluable in shaping the future of the West End Neighborhood and our City.

    If you have further questions or concerns about this project page or survey, please reach out to me, Logan Garcia in our Communication and Engagement Department, or Kerri Burchett. We would also like to encourage residents to reach out to City staff directly with any concerns or questions as that is usually the fastest and most direct way to address these items. On behalf of our Communication & Engagement Department, I also welcome the opportunity for our team to begin better engaging with the West End Neighborhood so we can bring them into additional efforts we are making to improve communication and engagement between the City and our community.

    We will also post this information to the West End Neighborhood Let’s Talk Loveland site.

    Sincerely,

    Nicole Yost
    Director of Communication & Engagement
    City of Loveland