Thursday, July 21, 2016

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stown, Mellon said. Loveland was putting us last in the
grand scheme of things.
With their minds made up
about heading north, Johnstown just needed to find a
way to prove to its doubters it
was a little town that could do
what Martinez and the board
envisioned.
Unbeknownst to Loveland,
its attitude had set the process
in motion for little Johnstown
to bloom.
Gary Gerrard, a developer,
had bought 155 acres of land a
mile away from the interstate
along Highway 34 for
$750,000 in 1998. When he acquired it, he said Haefele had
spoken with him about annexing into town.
Johnstown really didnt
have any way to serve it, Gerrard recalled of his talk with
Haefele. It didnt really go
anywhere.
Johnstown wasnt Gerrards
first choice when it came to
annexation. That went to
Loveland. Loveland was already established in the area
with its outlet stores, but according to Gerrard, the town at
the time had implemented a
no-growth policy and let Gerrard walk.

The Johnstown Breeze 7

Having been in the Northern Colorado area since 1986,

Petersons background led
him to knowing Gerrard, as
well as Joel Wiens and Dale
Boehner. Wiens and Boehner
had purchased land in the same
area around the same time as
Gerrard, and combined, they
had 1,100 acres.
Peterson said after he
grouped the three men together, and detailed a proactive
strategy, they spoke with Johnstown about how they could
benefit from each other. He
added he and the developers
did meet with Loveland a few
more times before speaking to
Johnstown, but were met with
the same lackadaisical attitude.
Loveland said go away,
dont bother us, recalled Peterson about dealing with their
officials. (Loveland said) its
going to come to us anyhow.
On Oct. 2, 2000, by a 6-1
vote, Johnstown town board
members annexed the 1,100
acres, Chad Young being the
solo no vote.
I think were biting off
more than we can chew, said
Young after the vote.
Peterson estimated annual
sales tax revenues from retail
businesses in the area could be
as high as $5.5 million by the
time development was completed in 15 to 20 years. At the

time, Johnstowns annual sales

tax revenue was about
$250,000.
But Loveland wasnt going
to let go without a fight: The
town with love wasnt showing
it when it came to the lush land
Johnstown planned to make its
own. In attendance at the Oct.
2 meeting was Lovelands assistant city attorney, who alleged Johnstowns annexation
was illegal on several points.

ing the big bully, Russ Anson,

former Johnstown town attorney, said. We had the legal
backing. Their argument was
weak.
Anson chalked up Lovelands case as merely a lot of
puffing. Anson, who retired in
2014 after two decades with
the town, said it was important
for the board to keep their focus despite what Loveland officials were throwing at them.

I think this move makes maybe the

closing of one era for Johnstown, but I
think it also heralds the beginning of a new
one, Mellon said in a story in The Breeze
after annexing the land. I think we as a
board had to do this to set things for the
next generations in this community.
Those points were that
Johnstown wasnt following
state law in regard to publishing public notices for annexation, and was ignoring rules
about amounts of land that
must touch existing town limits before any annexation could
proceed. Loveland also had
questions and concerns about
how Johnstown was planning
on serving the area.
I think Loveland was be-

I think at the end of the

day there were two things that
carried us through, Mellon
said. Yes, we were sure we
could do this: Were the little
train that can, the little engine
that can. Two, the board was
totally ticked off that Loveland
was trying to do this to us, essentially telling us that were a
bunch of hicks and only they
could do it right.
After the October annexa-

tion meeting, Lauricello said

Johnstown officials met with
Loveland four times in hopes
of forging a relationship between the two, but according
to Lauricello, Loveland never
responded.
A month later, on Nov. 6,
Johnstown received an official
letter from Loveland to reconsider the annexation; a move
that was a step closer to a legal
battle between the municipalities.
The Johnstown board formally rejected the letter a
month later in December. No
Loveland officials were at that
meeting according to reports.
Hell yes, former board
member Allen Schaff stated
when the request was made to
reject the Loveland letter.
Despite it looking like tensions between Loveland and
Johnstown would end up inside a courtroom, they never
did. Loveland never took matters further, giving way for
Johnstown to begin its quest.
I think this move makes
maybe the closing of one era
for Johnstown, but I think it also heralds the beginning of a
new one, Mellon said in a story in The Breeze after annexing the land. I think we as a
board had to do this to set
things for the next generations
in this community.