By Rudy Hemmann
The Surveyor

The Berthoud Town Board approved changes to the Vantage and Heron Lakes subdivisions at its Tuesday meeting.

A proposal brought forward by Bill Zech, acting as agent for ALC V, Berthoud LLC, regarded zoning changes for portions of the Vantage project.

The Vantage Subdivision (formerly presented as Easthaven and Westhaven) is located at the northeastern quadrant of the intersection of Larimer County Road 17 and Bunyan Avenue.

According to a staff report furnished by planning staff, Zech’s request was for rezone of a 23.242-acre parcel from a residential Planned Unit Development (PUD) to multi-family residential (R-3), a 125.803-acre tract from PUD to single family residential (R-1) and a 9.721-acre parcel from PUD to multi-family residential (R-3).

The trustees had little comment regarding the request, and a motion to adopt an ordinance reflecting the above rezone request was made, seconded and approved unanimously.

The next request was brought forward by Jon Turner acting as agent for Hillside Commercial LLC (the Heron Lakes development), and this request also contained its share of rezoning. Again, according to the staff report for this item, Turner requested the following: rezone of a 12.418-acre parcel from single-family residential (R-1) to multi-family residential (R-3), a 26.098- acre parcel from agricultural (AG) and R-1 to AG, a 2.541-acre parcel from AG and R-1 to multi-family mixed use (R-4), and an 8.222-acre parcel from AG and neighborhood commercial (C-1) to C-1.

Also requested were the Heron Lakes Fifth Filing Final Plat approval to create 179 single family lots, and one tract of multi-family development over a total of 65.42 acres, as well as a request for an overall amendment of the concept plan.

Once the trustees became fully orientated to the rezone request and the Fifth Filing Final Plat discussion by the board was brief. A motion to adopt an ordinance reflecting the Heron Lakes rezone as stated above was made, seconded and approved unanimously.

The above motion was quickly followed by a second motion approving the Heron Lakes Fifth Filing Final Plat and revised concept plan was made, seconded and approved unanimously.

In other action the trustees approved Scott Banzhaf and Richard “Dick” Shepard to the Planning Commission, Milan Karspeck and Patricia Karspeck to the Tree Advisory Committee and Brian Laak to the Historic Preservation Committee. All five were appointed to three-year terms beginning September 1, 2016 and expiring August 31, 2019.

The trustees held discussions which were centered on the roles of the three Parks, Open space, Recreation and Trails (PORT) planning committees which the board established at the meeting held on July 12.

According to trustees who attended the initial, joint meeting of the committees, there was a great deal of confusion regarding exactly what task each committee was being asked to perform. The trustees who had questions came away from the discussion better informed regarding the goals of the committees.

The trustees were also treated to a presentation by Dr. Dan Maas, chief operating officer for the Thompson School District. His presentation centered on the importance of the passage of two ballot initiatives which the Thompson Board of Education is considering placing on the November ballot. Other items discussed were a swimming pool and other projects directly related to the Berthoud community. District Superintendent Dr. Stan Scheer was also present and took part in a question and answer session which followed the presentation.