My series of articles recapping some of Greeley City government’s accomplishments and progress in 2014 continues. This month, I’ll focus on the City Council’s Economic Health and Development priority.
Here are a few examples of our progress. While oil and gas extraction made for a brighter economic picture in Northern Colorado in 2014, it also brought with it the realization that public health and safety should be balanced with property rights. That brought about staff’s effort to engage all parties and resulted in a successful series of forums that attracted over 500 people for a civil dialogue. That occurred simultaneously with the good news that, assisted by City staff in Community Development, Noble Energy would be doubling their office space in Greeley.
Another business that made a huge leap was Rice’s Honey. Due to their success, this long-standing Greeley business housed in a small space on 8th Avenue moved to the vacant Kendall Printing building on 29th Street and began major renovations. Coincidentally, Rice’s Honey was featured in the Greeley Unexpected campaign.
Other projects that experienced notable success included the University and Creative Districts. In fact, the Greeley Creative District has been very successful promoting our creative community and holding popular public art events such as the Bronco Ice Sculpture, Dance Crosswalk, the Chalk-a-Lot Guinness Book of Records event and the Agriculture Fest and Feast. The district is now one of only twelve in Colorado that have been officially designated and recognized by the State. The district also won two statewide awards this past year.
After an interrupted start in 2014, the downtown hotel and conference center project is on track to proceed this year. A feasibility study completed last year and an RFP published in February of this year show very positive signs from potential developers. The targeted site is the south half of the Lincoln Park Annex block, which when built-out will add even more energy to the continuing development and new businesses opening in our downtown.
As always, Code Compliance staff continued their ongoing efforts to help improve our neighborhoods and Building Inspection staff assisted homebuilders create high quality housing for residents.
Next month I’ll highlight progress we’ve made improving Greeley’s image.
Roy H. Otto
City Manager