In this issue of City News, you’ll find out how to xeriscape your garden, explore your Natural Areas this summer and celebrate cultural observances that are just around the corner!

- Kelly DiMartino, Interim City Manager

Independence Day Community Celebration

Independence Day is about one month away and this year, we’re celebrating on Saturday, July 2! Get ready for an amazing line-up of your favorite Fort Collins events, all presented by Elevations Credit Union and the City of Fort Collins. Start your morning with a round of golf or a 5K, then grab your friends and family and head to Mountain Ave for the parade. In the afternoon, cool off at City Park Pool for only $3! Then head to City Park to enjoy some food from the food truck rally and listen to live music until the fireworks begin at 9:35 p.m.

For a full line-up of events visit fcgov.com/july2

And remember: All fireworks, including sparklers and snakes, are illegal to sell, possess or use in Fort Collins.

Learn, Party & Swap at the Xeriscape Garden Party

The Xeriscape Garden Party is a celebration of water-wise landscaping. Start or improve your own garden with tips from local non-profits, City departments and Colorado Master Gardeners.

LEARN
Join the celebration virtually! We'll have:

• Weekly webinars with expert speakers
• Water-wise gardening tips and resources
• Compost bin and rain barrel sales
• Prize giveaways

PARTY
We hope to see you in-person at our downtown Xeriscape Demonstration Garden for interactive vendors, local resources, live art demonstrations, family-friendly activities and more.

Saturday, June 18
9 a.m.-noon
300 Laporte Ave.

SWAP
New this year: Pollinator Plant Swap

Dig up, divide and donate pollinator plants grown free of chemicals from your garden. No plants to swap? No problem! You don’t need to donate to take plants home.

Residential Trash and Recycling Service

Want fewer trash trucks in your neighborhood? Fort Collins is considering creating a communitywide contract for residential trash and recycling collection to help further zero waste goals and bring uniform pricing to all households in a neighborhood. This would mean that rather than each household selecting their own trash hauler, the City would engage in a competitive proposal process and then contract with one hauler to service single-family homes in a neighborhood. If a household wanted to select a different hauler, they’d need to pay an opt-out fee.

Join the conversation at two upcoming virtual events.

• Thursday, June 9 from 7–8 p.m.
• Friday, June 10, noon–1 p.m.

Say No to the Flow

There is a time and place for everything—it's just not now and the Poudre River when it comes to tubing. Throughout May and much of June, the river flows at medium to high levels through town (higher levels up the canyon). The water is fresh snow melt: It's ice cold and contains a great deal of debris. Considering these factors, the Poudre River is not safe for novice recreation at this time.

Poudre Fire Authority (PFA) responders rescued 20 people from the Poudre River in 2021, 18 of which were in town and trapped on or even under debris piles. PFA is hoping you can help significantly decrease that number this season.

While many expect a "lazy river' experience through Fort Collins, that's not what the Poudre River delivers during this time. Due to the Cameron Peak Fire burn scar, the river contains an increase in debris pileups—creating more hazards and even less predictability. For now, Say No to the Flow.

Learn more about the Poudre River, river recreation safety tips, PFA swiftwater rescue technicians and more at Poudre Fire Authority: Play It Safe on the Poudre.

2022 Natural Areas Explorer is Here!

The Natural Areas Explorer is your guide to the outdoors all summer long. Choose from various programs such as Junior Naturalists, skygazing, stewardship, group hikes and so much more! All programs are free and open to the public. View the Explorer online or look out for printed copies at trailheads in your local natural areas.

Celebrate Pride History in Fort Collins

June brings Pride Month in Fort Collins, a time to celebrate and uplift our LGBTQ+ neighbors and coworkers. Fort Collins has always had LGBTQ+ community members, but the history of the fight for legal equality and social acceptance is rarely told. It is a story of struggle and resilience in the face of discrimination and violence, as LGBTQ+ community members carved out spaces to be safe and welcome as they lived and loved in Fort Collins.

For Pride Month, the City’s Historic Preservation Services Division has a webpage and walking/biking tour highlighting important places associated with the history of our LGBTQ+ community. Check it out at www.fcgov.com/historicpreservation/pride. Colorado State University is also working on an expansive history of LGBTQ+ people living in Northern Colorado through the Queer Memory Project of Northern Colorado.

CSU's Pride Resource Center is hosting a number of events this month, and has also put together a broader community calendar, including local activities such as the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Department's LGBTQ+ Community Hike.

Help Shape the City's Budget

What are your top priorities for the community? How do you think the City should invest its resources next year?

The City of Fort Collins is beginning to develop the 2022 budget, and there will be opportunities throughout the summer and fall for you to influence that process and share your ideas for which programs and services to fund. Even if you only have a few minutes, your input matters.

• Visit fcgov.com/23-24budget to learn more, make funding suggestions, or take a short survey to help the City prioritize which kinds of services to fund.
• Review the proposed budget offers (funding requests).
• Download the Budget Engagement Toolkit to host a conversation with your friends, neighbors or community group about which services or community priorities matter most to you.

The City creates a biennial budget every two years using the Budgeting for Outcomes (BFO) process. BFO focuses on outcomes and results, rather than organizational structure, and puts the community’s values and priorities first.

Juneteenth

Juneteenth is an annual holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States and has been celebrated by the Black and African American community since the late 1800s. This year, the City will be joining other local partners to sponsor a communitywide celebration from June 17 -19. Events will include dance, music, art, theatre, health & wellness, vendors and more. Please visit https://www.focojuneteenth.com/ to see the full schedule and join the festivities.

Juneteenth is also now an official City holiday which will be observed on Monday, June 20. Visit fcgov.com for specific closure information closer to the holiday.

Kick off Summer with Bike to Work (or Wherever) Day!

Kick off the summer season in Fort Collins with Bike to Work Day! This year’s summer event is on Wednesday, June 22, from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Participants who ditch the car in favor of a bike, scooter, transit or their own two feet can find free breakfast at stations located all around Fort Collins. Pick out a station or two or visit as many as you can!

A list of free breakfast stations around Fort Collins will be available online before the event. Don’t forget to take a short survey (info available at breakfast stations) to help us continue to improve this event.

To learn more, visit www.fcgov.com/btwd.

Creativity & Culture at The Gardens

The Gardens on Spring Creek is excited to bring you a new art installation by local artists Dan Huling and Todd Kundla through February 2023. 

Celebrating both the beauty and the ecological functions of birds, including seed dispersal, pollination and pest control, the installation will feature nine unique bird communities.

Using found objects collected from across the area, Bird House Village explores the concept of house and home through the view of birds. Utilizing materials like large tree stumps, driftwood, salvaged piano parts, scrap wood and a large collection of odds and ends, the artists have created a variety of sculptural micro-habitats and clustered dwellings that create niche bird neighborhoods throughout the gardenscape.

Join us for the exhibit opening night! 

The Gardens on Spring Creek will be hosting a First Friday event on Friday, June 3 from 5–7 p.m. to celebrate the opening of the new exhibit. The last admission will be at 6:30 p.m., and the first peek at our new installations also includes a full cash bar.

Affordable Housing Project Receives More Than $2M in Grant Funding

In May, the City was awarded $2.2M from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs’ (DOLA) Innovative Housing Strategies Program for the Kechter Townhomes Project. This project will build 54 permanently affordable, for-sale townhomes in southeast Fort Collins.

Statewide, 14 winning applications were awarded to celebrate local governments who have made strong commitments in reducing barriers to affordable housing development.

The land for this development was a part of the City’s Land Bank program, and City Council approved the sale of the parcel in November 2021. The development will be built by TWG out of Indiana and will be sold to Elevation Community Land Trust who will in turn sell homes to income qualified buyers. Construction has begun and is expected to take about 18 months. To learn more about the City’s Land Bank Program, visit fcgov.com/socialsustainability/landbank. To learn more about buying these homes, visit elevationclt.org.

Serve on City Boards and Commissions

Applications are open for volunteers to serve on 15 City boards and commissions.

Board and commission members advise City Council on issues related to housing, the environment, transportation, planning and development, human services, utilities, and cultural and recreational services.

Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled; however, interviews will begin in mid-June, so interested community members are encouraged to apply by June 10. Applications are available through Engage, the City’s volunteer portal.

Police Services Launches 25 x 25 Initiative

Fort Collins Police Services is on a mission to take 25% of police reports online by the year 2025. This is quicker and more convenient for many community members and uses police resources more efficiently. Reaching ’25 by 25’ starts now! If you need to report incidents like vehicle break-ins, theft, vandalism and other cold crimes, visit fcgov.com/PoliceReport.

After you submit the report, you’ll get a confirmation email and police will contact you with any updates in your case. If you have questions or prefer to speak with an officer, you can still call the non-emergency number at 970-419-FCPD. Make sure to always call 911 for active or emergency situations.  

Service Opportunity for Teens

NextGenServe is a new teen service club for youth ages 11-18. Teens have the opportunity to volunteer around the City while learning about career opportunities in public service and making new friends. The program has 12 teens participating in the weekly program, with an additional eight spots remaining for teens who want to join as drop-in volunteers for specific projects of their choosing.

Projects include gardening, packing and serving food, working with younger kids, beautification projects and more! Project partners include all City departments, Larimer County Humane Society, The Growing Project, Food Bank of the Rockies, FoCo Café and Loveland Youth Gardeners.

Experienced staff provides supervision and mentoring, and participants receive round-trip transportation from Fort Collins City Hall to the project sites. Check out the Engage calendar for project dates and details https://engage.fcgov.com/.

Quality Water - It's Our Priority

At the City, we take water quality seriously and are committed to providing safe, high-quality, reliable drinking water to our customers. Our treated drinking water consistently surpasses state and federal standards for purity, and staff continually monitor water quality from source to tap. We take pride in being able to offer some of the best drinking water in the country. We provide outstanding water by: 

• Monitoring and managing our water system for post-wildfire impacts in our source water
• Monitoring for lead, copper and other possible contaminants throughout the water system
• Maintaining a long-standing corrosion control program to prevent the deterioration of water pipes
• Participating in voluntary monitoring programs to identify emerging contaminants
• And more!

Water Quality Report

Learn more about your local drinking water, including where it comes from and how it compares to federal standards in this year’s Annual Drinking Water Quality Report at fcgov.com/WaterQualityReport.  

For questions or a paper copy: utilities@fcgov.com, 970-212-2900 or V/TDD 711. Esta información sobre la 2021 calidad de agua potable puede ser traducida, sin costo para usted, 970-212-2900.

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Communications & Public Involvement Office

215 N Mason St

Fort Collins, CO 80524