GREELEY, Colo. — The buzz in Aunt Helen's Coffee House is what will happen to the future of downtown Greeley if the Weld County Justice Center moves from the historic courthouse downtown about two miles north to county land on O Street.
We heard this when Denver7 | Your Voice went to the coffee shop in Greeley last week to sit down with residents and hear all about living in the small city, where discussions ranged from their favorite parts of the town to where their concerns lie.
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For eight years, Aimee Hutson has owned Aunt Helen's Coffee House along 8th Avenue in downtown Greeley. She was one of the several people who lent us some time to chat about where the city is headed.
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The proposed move for the Weld County Justice Center would kill downtown businesses, Hutson told Denver7 | Your Voice this week, when we met up with her again.
"I would say a large population of our customers are city, county attorneys, judges," she explained. "The mayor is in here constantly, and just losing that momentum is what I'm most worried about right now."
The historic Weld County Courthouse, once called the "Jewel of the Plains," is running out of room in a county expected to get several new judges in the next few years.
Last fall, Gensler, a global architectural, design, and planning firm, presented Weld County with a plan to move the county operations to O Street, where the Weld County administration building, sheriff's office and jail are located.
"We are the third-fastest growing county in the United States," said Commissioner Perry Buck, chairperson for the Weld County Board of Commissioners. "Slowly, but surely, we have moved into buildings. We had two call centers out here, and we've now turned those into our county clerk and recorder's office, our assessor's office. So, we've just been very frugal and in recycling buildings.... We can't just keep putting bubble gum and baling wire to fix things. We really have to plan for the future."
However, county downtown employees and visitors, such as jurors, spend an estimated $2.65 million annually downtown, according to one study presented to the county.
So, a group of Greeley leaders stepped up with an alternate plan to keep county offices downtown by creating a combined campus with the City of Greeley and the Greeley-Evans School District 6 Administration building.
Bianca Fisher, executive director of the Greeley Downtown Development Authority (DDA), said the DDA has already committed $1 million to help build a parking structure and the City of Greeley has offered $10 million.
"There's been all this great momentum moving forward, and we really see this project as the next piece of that puzzle to secure the future of downtown Greeley," Fisher said.
Adam Frazier, president of Greeley-based Richmark Real Estate Partners, explained that their plan would involve land swaps and demolishing buildings downtown for the unique, tri-government municipal campus.
"I think we've shown all three entities that there's an opportunity here," Frazier said. "Not only can we expand each government's footprint to meet their future growth needs, but you can do it while putting an absolute shot in the arm to the economic vitality of this downtown."
Meanwhile, Weld County has hired two firms to examine the costs of both proposals to determine which is more cost-effective for taxpayers.
On O Street, there are concerns about expensive infrastructure, including roads, sewer lines, and electricity. Downtown, the cost of demolishing buildings and stormwater issues must be considered, Buck said.
"Weld County is very fiscally responsible. We have no debt. We pay for everything in cash," she said. "So there's a lot to look at, and this is probably one of the most momentous decisions, I think, in my lifetime, and I think for all the county commissioners."
The commissioners are scheduled to find out the results of the cost comparison study in May, and Buck said they will likely meet with residents again before deciding on a plan in June.
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