A strategic plan that outlines rules for developing the road known as the “backbone” of Berthoud is currently in the works, ahead of an anticipated commercial development increase in the town.
The Mountain Avenue Corridor Plan will set rules for any development that occurs on the corridor from Interstate 25 to U.S. 287, with the intent of keeping Berthoud’s small-town feel as it grows, said Curt Freese, the town’s community development director and Mountain Avenue Corridor project manager.
“The town is growing extremely quickly,” Freese said. “We’ve got to make a plan. That’s part of growing up, and that’s what I think all the cities in this area that we appreciate have done.”
The plan, which received $140,000 in town funding, will be developed by Freese and a five-member team of town staff, with input from the public.
About three miles of the corridor in question is Colo. 56, also called Larimer County Road 8. The plan will seek to keep that area largely farmland, while relegating commercial development to the areas closest to arterials Interstate 25 and 287, Freese said.
The town has seen steadily increasing residential development in the past few years, and in 2018 the town has already issued a record of 465 house permits, he said. The town is finally seeing some commercial interests but has some buffer time before they begin building. Currently, it is expensive to do commercial development due to tariffs placed on imported steel and aluminum this year by the Trump Administration. Freese said the town has seen pricing for some proposed projects already, but due to the influence of the tariffs, those commercial developments in the town are being rethought.
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