The Longmont City Council has ended negotiations with construction company Amrize over a proposed land swap that could have cleared the way for a new county composting facility. But councilmembers reaffirmed their commitment to working with Boulder County to build one elsewhere on city property.
The council voted unanimously on Oct. 7 to halt discussions with Amrize, which leases the Distel and Tull properties for gravel operations. City Manager Harold Dominguez told councilmembers the company “failed to respond to numerous attempts for information.”
“The deal flipped on its head, and it’s more advantageous for us to not move forward,” Dominguez said.
The proposed swap would have transferred the Distel parcel from open space to city utilities, making it available for municipal use, including a compost site favored by staff for its limited ecological restoration potential compared to the other site on the swap, Tull. But residents raised concerns about possible underground contamination, impacts on eagle habitat, and noise and traffic from the facility. The project has implications beyond Longmont. The proposed facility was intended to help Boulder County solve a regional challenge: the lack of a local composting site.
The county currently contracts with A1 Organics, hauling compostable materials to a facility about 50 miles away. Boulder County is midway through a feasibility study for a new compost facility, first determining what type of composting to pursue and now evaluating where it could be built. The Distel property was expected to be a leading candidate.
“I would like to see us continue our efforts with the county on a composting facility,” said Councilmember Susie Hidalgo-Fahring. But without the land swap, it’s unclear where one could go.
Mayor Joan Peck said that a previous evaluation by the county and Longmont found Distel and Tull to be the only viable locations. Tull may present more ecological and other challenges than Distel.
“I had rode around with [the county] as well all over the county in proximity to where we are and there is no land,” Peck said. “We can talk about it forever, but the reality is we’ve already looked into that.”
