Public Comments

Larimer County extends to the Continental Divide and includes several mountain communities and Rocky Mountain National Park. Over 50% of Larimer County is publicly owned, most of which is land within Roosevelt National Forest and Rocky Mountain National Park. We have over thirteen county parks, two state parks, Roosevelt National Forest and Rocky Mountain National Park, which are treasured places for our communities. These all combine to provide a wide spectrum of recreational opportunities that are enjoyed by both residents and visitors. Horsetooth Mountain Open Space and Reservior are well known in our Northern Colorado region and are examples of the wide spectrum of recreational opportunities. Larimer County shares many interests that unite our communities in unique ways in Congressional District 2. First, Larimer County is fortunate to have Rocky Mountain National Park inside its borders. Larimer shares our beautiful National Park along with Boulder and Grand Counties. This special park has 4.5 million visitors come through our counties each year to tour the Park and is a shared interest that unites our Counties with search and rescue teams, infrastructure, and communications between local, state, and federal agencies. Having one Congressional office to build relationships with and advocate through in these matters is important and critical to getting issues resolved for residents and communities. In 2020, when Grand Lake, Estes Park, and other mountain communities had to be evacuated because of the multiple wildfires, it would have become more complex if our Larimer County had different federal representation than our neighbors of Boulder and Grand Counties. This unique challenge is another shared interest that requires coordination or built relationships with federal partners, our Congressional Representation, and State agencies. The National Weather Service even issues weather advisories to Grand, Boulder, Larimer Counties in a common group together because of our shared weather patterns impacting our counties. At the beginning of May, the National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings to our combined areas due to shared weather patterns moving through our burn scar areas and regions that had the potential to impact our residents and visitors. Our counties’ Emergency Management Departments and Search and Rescue Teams perform some training together to provide each other backups during natural disasters and large rescues, which is another shared interest because of our shared geographical common terrains. Our communities share many public policy concerns. Larimer, Boulder, and Grand County have much in common in public policy. First, our Larimer County is looking to receive federal emergency watershed protection funds and resoures since our county has the headwaters for many critical watersheds impacted by the recent wildfires and drought. We share this concern with Boulder and Grand County. After the 2020 wildfires, we are working to recover from these fires, mitigate burn scar flash flooding and for future wildfires. Emergency Watershed Protections are an important priority for Larimer since this impacts so many in water quality, flooding, and recovery from the Cameron Peak Fire. Second, Boulder and Larimer counties have been working together for a while now in the NoCo Places 2050 Group. NoCo Places 2050 is a collaboration of our two counties and other agencies that are involved together to address growth and its impacts on our public lands. This collaboration is looking at possible systemic changes in the way public lands are managed and looking at how policy changes can help. This work requires an approach that is collaborative with federal, state and local governments who must work together to identify ways they can cross bureaucratic boundaries to more effectively and efficiently allocate and share resources. Our three counties share this policy interest which is a challenge for more than just public land managers. Due to other diverse interests, whose decisions have an impact on the number of people visiting our public lands, we must be involved together in developing solutions. These solutions must involve policy or decision makers in the areas of conservation, sustainability, transportation, tourism, economic development, and many others. I believe that Larimer County is in a good place with it’s current Congressional Districting and Representation. We are a diverse and unique county. Our community extends beyond our county borders to our Boulder and Grand neighbors as we come together in times of natural disaster trials and look to work collaboratively to share resources and relationships to improve our resiliency and find solutions to our common challenges. Please consider the unique shared landscapes, geographical terrain, shared tourism destinations, shared recreational use challenges, and natural disaster challenges that impact our Larimer County when considering your redistricting decisions. Thank you.

Rural Colorado has lost its voice in this state. Agriculture is a major contributor to the Colorado economy and any redistricting decisions need to factor this into the equation. Thank you.

I want to thank the commission staff and commissioners for the time they are putting into this effort to redistrict the Legislative districts of Colorado. Below you will find my written comment for consideration as you draft a preliminary legislative map. I live in the very northwest corner of the city of Colorado Springs. I have called this neighborhood my home since the Spring of 2012, though my husband and I have been raising our family in Colorado Springs since 2010. The northwest side community of Colorado Springs has been made stronger recently by healing and rebuilding after the loss of 2 lives, the destruction of 346 homes, and the burning of 18,000 acres during the Waldo Canyon fire in June 2012. For all of us living north of Highway 24 and west of I-25 since the summer of 2012, it has been a challenging era made up of extended evacuation, lengthy reconstruction, stronger community-led communication efforts, and important reclamation activities. More specifically for me, my community has been defined by the early childhood programs and public schools that occupy our family’s weekday routines. My community today is comprised of K-12 school families attending the Academy District 20 schools, and geographical features, rather than straight lines, define these school boundaries. If you had to draw straight-lines, I would say my community borders are I-25 on the east, the Rampart Range (of mountains) on the west, Garden of the Gods Road on the south and Academy Drive within the US Air Force Academy (USAFA) on the north. While technically some of these neighborhoods are part of another school district, District 11, working families in this part of Colorado Springs are involved in the same youth sports, scout troops, day cares, pre-schools, after school care programs, and summer day camps. When my children are old enough to attend high school, it will require our family to access our public high school, Air Academy High School, via the South Gate of the USAFA (which is on North Academy Boulevard as it crosses I-25). While we are not a military family, our family’s activities will require us to be “on base” regularly. When we commute there by car, we will use the commercial services of North Academy Boulevard. As a working parent, I am all about convenience in combining car trips and errands when transporting children to before and after school activities. Academy Boulevard is a part of my community, where I find my preferred grocery stores, gardening shops, bookstores, drive-through/ quick service restaurants, and chain coffee shops, mainly between Woodmen Road and the USAFA South Gate. Likewise, the same is true of minor residents of the USAFA who attend their neighborhood public schools, as these students need to be transported “off base” to attend their neighborhood middle school (Eagleview) on Vindicator Drive. In my years as a public school parent on this side of the city, I have found that the school administrators, teachers, and parent associations welcome and involve military families for the limited time that they may reside in our community. So truly, our north west side community extends across a military base boundary. As the redistricting commission may or may not know, one interesting thing about being a non-military family living adjacent to the USAFA, is that we cannot freely access it or drive through it, when we are given permission to visit. So, the North Gate of the USAFA, or anything north of USAFA, is not something most residents of my neighborhood can access easily. Also, no visitor can access the west side of the USAFA. As a result, any area north or east of the USAFA is NOT something I consider part of my community, as it would require me to drive several miles on I-25 and then exit to city streets again. Any area west of the USAFA is only accessible by driving through Teller County before traveling on unpaved gravel roads in El Paso County, again, not part of my community. Thank you for considering my written comment. My hope is that the preliminary map developed for districts within El Paso County reflects my community (which includes the families residing on the USAFA, but not families who are residing north, west, or east of the USAFA). I hope that the map is also drawn in a manner that is fair and representative.

1)Larimer County should remain intact. Fort Collins, being the County seat, is the center of Larimer County courts. County services like mental health and Sheriff functions are coordinated through our very mixed urban and rural county. From Estes, Loveland, Berthoud, Wellington, Fort Collins, and mountain communities like Red Feather and Livermore, our extensive county parks bind us as a common community of interest. The citizens of Larimer County all paid for the fairgrounds Ranch. Speaking of parks, Colorado State University has very strong programs in forestry and natural resources that support our community interests in our vast County, State, and National parks in Larimer County. Carter, Boyd, Dowdy Lakes, along with Lori State and Rocky National Park, the Poudre and Thompson Canyons, just to name a few, all further bind CSU and Larimer County into a community of interest. In public education, the southern part of Fort Collins is served by the school district based in Loveland (that includes Berthoud) Thompson School District, binding Fort Collins and Loveland. Commercially, there are more businesses with offices in both Fort Collins and Loveland than in Fort Collins and Greeley or Loveland and Greeley. The close distance of Fort Collins to Loveland makes trail systems, art, restaurants, and retail all one community. Please keep Larimer County intact. 2)Larimer and Boulder counties should be in the same US Congressional district. Boulder and Larimer have a similar mix of rural and urban communities. But the biggest similarity is the community of interests concerning higher education. The complimentary scopes of Colorado's flagship public institutions, CU and CSU, are undeniable. Higher Ed funding and university culture are of common interest. One example is the atomic clock, broadcast from Larimer County but a project of the atmospheric science departments of CU and CSU. CU Health is the dominant healthcare system in both counties. Commercially, the Bustang bus and highway 287 along with 119 follows the economic corridor from Fort Collins to Loveland, to Berthoud, to Longmont to Boulder. Enough said. Larimer and Boulder are a community with common interests that should be in the same district.

How can you tell which public comments are REAL versus comments that are FAKE?

A three-judge panel of the United District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled unanimously that 34 congressional and state legislative districts had been subject to unconstitutional gerrymandering, violating voters' First Amendment associational rights. The court also found that 27 of the 34 challenged districts violated the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by diluting the impact of their votes. This type of ruling has happened in many states and Colorado should do the same in the case of Park County. The towns of Bailey, Shawnee and Grant have been divided by the Highway 285 boundary that separates Congressional Districts 5 and 2 after the 2013 gerrymander. The northeastern portion helped elect and re-elect their representative only to have their vote negated by the stroke of a pen. Re-unite Park County! ... please.

Rural residents/businesses have interests in Congress, and deserve representation in our state. Our agricultural production is vital to our state's economy. Rural counties in Eastern Colorado are a community of interest because of energy, which is important for our economy's success. Making two large rural districts would allow the other six to be compact (Western Slope, Eastern Plains are historically recognized as communities of interest.) The counties of the Eastern Plains, being mostly agricultural, and ranch, have nothing in common with the urban, suburban counties between Colorado Springs and Fort Collins. Your consideration in these imperative matters, is appreciated.

Dear Congressional Redistricting Commissioners, I am writing to express my concern with our County Commissioners' request for Grand County to join the congressional district currently represented by Congresswoman Boebert. Our county is not primarily rural in that the main economic driver is tourism. It is not ranching. Our water issues are directly tied to the front range, in particular the district represented by Congressman Neguse. So for us to have a voice in our water issues we need that connection and representation. Contrary to the statement that "we are a Republican county", Trump won our county by only 120 or so votes out of thousands cast. The combined registered voters who are Independent and Democrat outnumber the registered Republicans. The county is rapidly growing in the eastern region which is connected more with the front range than with Summit, Eagle, Garfield or Mesa counties, not to mention the more southern counties. If the County Commissioners feel so strongly that our district should be changed, perhaps a better solution would be to move west of Byers Canyon to Boebert's district and east of Byer's Canyon remain unchanged. Is there a law that requires congressional districts to be by county? With a county as large as Grand County I would think a line could be drawn for redistricting. But the best solution would be to leave our congressional district as it is. I feel this is a partisan move by our County Commissioners with a disregard of their constituents. As a registered voter who participates in ALL elections, I am requesting that Grand County's congressional district remain unchanged. Sincerely, Monica Sandstrom (submitted by email 5/6/2021)

I like the idea of 2 rural districts so my rural voice is heard and not diluted by the metro area. So many times rural areas are overlooked and not heard because of the numbers in the metro areas.

I have lived in Larimer County for over 50 years and have enjoyed similar interests with other residents of this county. Next to the foothills, we are drawn to the natural geography in RMNP and the many mountains, rivers, lakes and abundant wildlife in the foothills and mountainous environment of this county. Open space preservation, national park protection, environmental conservation/protection and clean air and water have always been important values for citizens of Larimer County. Re-districting Larimer County with Boulder County would make much more sense as they are very similar in cultural, geographic, and economic interests. Re-districting Larimer with Weld County makes no sense as they are vastly very different places to live and work with very different core values. The contrast between Larimer and Weld is large and the two counties should never be re-districted together. Weld county’s economy is dependent upon Oil and Gas, Feedlots/Slaughterhouses and Agriculture. Larimer County is similar to Boulder County with Tourism, Outdoor Recreation, High tech, Bioscience, Pharmaceutical, Clean Energy Industry and Educational employment. Larimer and Boulder are adjacent to the forests of the foothills/mountains and care deeply about preservation and enjoyment of the land and must prioritize forest management due to climate change and the potential increase of forest fires. Weld County is on the open prairie and is deeply interested to pillage the land for oil/gas extraction and seem to have little concern about their water and air quality. Larimer and Boulder are contiguous without a geographic division while Larimer and Weld are completely divided by I-25. Weld citizens have threatened to try to annex into Wyoming while Larimer and Boulder residents would never dream of leaving Colorado to be a part of Wyoming. As you can see, Larimer County shares many common interests and public policy concerns with Boulder County while it shares none with Weld County. Larimer County should not be re-districted with Weld County now or any time in the future.