FoCo in 15 Minutes | Warmest Winter on Record, Airport Changes, New Jessup Farm Saloon & City Priorities

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Spring is in the air, spring is in the air, but I don't know if that is a good thing. Well, I mean honestly who can complain with about an 85 degree sunny day like we had yesterday and the day before? Kids were out at the park having fun, enjoying themselves, but we had our warmest December through February on record since the record was set in 2000. Nearly four degrees warmer than our previous record, an average of 40.5 degrees. It felt that way. It was warm, it was sunny majority of the time. February didn't accumulate any snow and we are quite below our our averages and I there was a somebody told me this which is it kind of took a second for me to put it all together but now we're significantly below our average and our average is a C. So if we have an A plus winter plus a B winter, a C winter is our average and we're significantly below that average winter in Fort Collins. For numbers sake, we have had 12.1 inches through February versus an average of 34.2 inches. Now I mean we are still early March and some of our biggest heaviest snows have been in April and March. So 32.2 inches March 17th through the 19th in 2003 and then 22.4 inches in April of 2013. So there is still time.

I would much prefer the snow we had this last weekend. We actually tried to go out to El Dor to go skiing but that pass was just a little bit dangerous and you know a wife and kid were in the car and turned that around came back didn't feel like it was worth the risk but super solid wet snow hopefully like five or ten more of those bad boys come through just one day very wet that's what I'm looking for. So you know please give us that but this is live in Fort Collins. Come to you every Tuesday. Go about 15 minutes long talking about things that are happening. City Council meeting review and things to do this week which we are getting into that St. Patrick's Day weekend. So a ton of things to do around the community.

Northern Colorado Regional Airport. Two big things that are happening there. Well a lot of big things honestly. I've talked about it a time before but I had on our podcast the director of the airport and he said I think it's one of the largest untapped assets in all of northern Colorado and I looked and he said it could match what the city of Colorado Springs is doing and I look to see what they are doing and they have 16 to 17 destinations and I think like four carriers. They have Southwest, United, Delta, American, and Allegiant and he thinks we could compete with or have similar type of productivity at that airport. Well they're currently working on the widening of the airport. It's going to take longer than originally expected because they were going to shut down runways and that was going to interrupt too much business so they're going to take a little bit longer but my guess is that will be done this year and that'll be two of the three items that need to get addressed and the third is a tower and just last week there was a conversation that there is going to be a physical control tower in the works. Now it's not a for sure thing but the FAA has awarded or has put us on a priority list for a grant to get that physical tower. Now that could be this year we get the grant and work gets done next year or the following year or five to ten years out so I'm not suggesting we're going to have commercial airlines anytime in the next couple of years but three years potentially and I would say before 2030 is what the goal was for the director of the airport when we had him on to the podcast.

There's been some I think hurdles that they've faced since that time but I think by 2030 we will see a continuous commercial servicing airline out of Loveland to who knows how many destinations. It would be nice if there was a handful maybe ten but that being said those are all in the works and could substantially change the dynamics of northern Colorado's economy visitation. I mean Fort Collins is a tourist destination and talk about consistent reliable flights in and out of Fort Collins. Now I do have a friend who lives literally right by that airport and I asked him about that I said what would you think if we had consistent commercial flights coming in and out of over your property and he has one of the nicest properties in all of northern Colorado let alone Fort Collins private lakes tons of acreage lined with trees absolutely gorgeous and but he has also one of the best out views outlooks on life and he says you know what if I want to let that ignore annoy me in my life I got I got other things I should worry about so I just I appreciated that because I'm sure there is going to be pushback and kickback from people living in and around that area especially English ranch or eagle ranch estates excuse me wonderful development but right in the flight path of potentially 17 destinations on a daily basis so if that's not for you which is funny I talked with a client one time about that and I said you know you might want to steer clear of this airport or this neighborhood if this is a concern for you and they said and she goes well actually I just started training to get my pilot's license so that's not a big deal like okay well then this is perfect you know go for it so just buyer beware and know that that is potentially coming um has anyone been to the dezo that is over by I think troutman and college and then there's a miniso sorry if I'm pronouncing that wrong miniso and this is more of a a Chinese pop culture collaboration and it just opened up near the world market at the Fort Collins council tree that area by the way is also like absolutely kicking butt just landed in ikea in their 64 000 vacated um storefront which used to hold urban air so now there's going to be an ikea there deza or not dezo miniso is going to be there I mean talk about I think just a really cool shopping center on the southeast side of Fort Collins that's absolutely kicking butt but I haven't been there apparently there is like tik tok finds and snacks and pet items and and all of that so I'll have to go check out whether that be dezo or miniso because I did see lines waiting to get in when those were getting um going to be grant for the grand opening so I guess I'm missing out on something uh the sugar beet saloon opened up at Jessup farm it was just kind of a rebranding it looks like of the old barrel house um and that's kind of a 140 year old barn there I've been there just one time super cool vibe Jessup farm too is also kind of one of those neighborhood centers which we'll talk about city council priorities here in just one second but neighborhood centers Jessup farm always is like an exciting thing for people who live in bucking horse or rigged in farms even and you know want to just be able to go have breakfast at Jessup farms or ice cream or get a workout in there's a little bit of a commercial center there which is which is really fun and it's actually not even that little because now the pickler is there as well um daycare cool little things that are happening there now uh city council did adopt their priorities five priorities down from 11 priorities in 2024 to 2026 down from 30 priorities before that and I think upwards now I don't know if uh the city account city mayor um Emily Francis was being you know she was just kind of joking but she said at one time when she was on council there was like 99 priorities so I don't know if that was in jest but um it has shrunk from 30 to 11 to 5. I'm a big believer in um you know focus and what they wanted to ensure is like nothing in here necessarily focuses on environment but that's kind of intertwined with all of their um priorities so like they want to make sure environment is definitely up there but here are the five priorities promote affordable actually I'm going to go here let me yeah promote affordable now they're kind of long-winded promote affordability and sustainable growth by making development predictable efficient and cost effective I think that's probably one of the biggest things they could do to help business the economy and developers in Fort Collins there have been developers that we've talked with builders that don't touch Fort Collins because of essentially all of the red tape and you know the numbers have to make sense there has to be such a large margin for them to be willing to go through some of this headache we've talked about it on episodes past but I think that's a big important thing that the city council could do to help the city of Fort Collins development cost of housing moving forward don't give up any of our kind of standards but make it a much more and they should be able to with technology these days the process and I actually just have my own experience on something totally different and I'm not going to say names I'm not going to say what I was doing because last thing I needed is somebody to watch this and be like the next permit you put in Patrick we are going to absolutely red tape the mess out of you and you're never going to get through so I'm going to leave that totally ambiguous and unnamed but I just went through a whole bunch of hurdles over two months for a very small very very small project but ultimately basically was like told you don't need this blah blah blah blah and talk about frustration because time is money and I on a very very small scale I experienced that frustration when it would have been so very easy to figure out what I needed to get done how I needed to get done and the communication and anyways I can only imagine on the next size up the next size up all the way to a you know thousand acre development how crazy it must be so if that's a priority I'm in full support of it the next one bolster a thriving economy with a focus on small business neighborhood centers and quality job creation city council wants to attract primary employers they want to provide incentives for the first time since 2015 and I'm happy to hear that they believe that a strong city begins with a strong economy which is like let's help the small businesses again if they're doing a small change of use in a space how can we make it so that it's not so burdensome for them to go from a restaurant to a office or an office to a coffee shop and make it somewhat attainable and affordable and keep these businesses here and also not have the brain drain from Colorado State University where they get a degree here and then go elsewhere attract startup culture building businesses keep them here and then those primary employers bring them in provide incentives I know the city of Fort Collins is talking with employers right now and this will help potentially bring and bolster some of those opportunities accelerate progress toward vision zero which is eliminate all traffic related fatalities and serious injuries by 2032 I mean I love that this is at a forefront of five priorities there could have been 30 11 but this is one that made the you know let's keep Fort Collins road safe we're a platinum rated bike community we're spending millions of dollars on underpasses overpasses protected bike lanes paved bike lanes and speed zones I know that's kind of a contentious topic of the Avis systems automatic vehicle information systems where they can get you a speeding ticket but it's like saying hey there was some statistics I don't have it to back it up right here but essentially of all the serious injuries and fatalities like 90 of them happen when a vehicle is going more than 40 miles per hour so I love that that kind of made it and keep our roads safe people keep people safe here especially those that are are biking and leveraging all the amenities that we have connect community to council actions they just want to be I think more transparent more readily available however that gets done they're kind of saying some things I'm like yeah that kind of just sounds very um influencer ish but they just want to be a little bit more transparent available people can access it however they want to access it that was a goal of theirs or priority and then finally ensure the city organizations long term financial sustainability I think this is great in the sense I think they're going to start to look internally you know government has a way of bloating and they're looking of like how can we optimize how can we make sure the systems we're using are the best we have aging infrastructure is it the best infrastructure city sales tax how can we keep city sales tax dollars here how can we you know promote all of that stuff that's extremely important for the city of Fort Collins so I am full support of the city council priorities again you don't see the environment anywhere in there but that means that that but they're they want to ensure that the environment is woven into everything like the vision zero you know that's getting more vehicles off the roads more buses more people on bikes that's the environment the types of business they want to provide you know to recruit here environmentally friendly biotech companies so they're very focused on that as well like I said this is St. Patty's Day weekend so some things to do founded in focus started this week so if you're an entrepreneur you want to go get some resources connect with other entrepreneurs March 9th through the 12th at the Fort Collins senior center 9 a.m to 5 p.m each day great plates downtown Fort Collins again March 1st through the 14th last few days doing that 15, 25, 35, 45 dollar plates that you can get a little bit of a discount but they're asking you to spend the additional money that you would have spent to donate to go to the food bank Harlem Globe Globetrotters are in at ball arena tomorrow night 7 p.m at blue or blue arena not ball arena blue arena Barney on the block down in Greeley there are parades or things going on in Fort Collins Greeley Loveland so all over the place but Barney on the block and Greeley 2 to 6 p.m downtown Greeley Sharon oh the green 5k March 14th 9 a.m starting at Odell Brewing Company uh st patrick's day party at mythmaker st patty's festival in wellington it is all over the place tons of things to do have a very safe st patrick's day you know i love that you guys are all supporting me my name is patrick my my grandma's names that i was named after was patricia so this is our holiday um they named it you know um with respect to all of our doings so uh i hope you guys have a great rest of your day if you guys have any questions feel free to comment below i'll make sure to get back to you appreciate you guys watching and enjoy yourself