LOUISVILLE, Colo. — Plans to build new gas stations in Louisville will have to wait until next year, as the city doubles down on its efforts to combat climate change and promote the use electric vehicles.
On Nov. 1, the Louisville City Council passed an emergency moratorium on the construction of new gas stations, which may last until September 30, 2023.
This comes several weeks after an infuriated Louisville resident expressed his concerns about climate change impacts amid the prospect of a new gas station that is pending approval in the city.
Louisville Ward 2 Councilmember Maxine Most told Denver7 Friday that the moratorium doubles down on the city's commitment to sustainability.
"We are responding to the climate crisis, we're responding to citizens' concerns about how our community is moving forward relative to the climate crisis and what kind of steps we're going to take as a community to ensure that our commitment to sustainability, and our commitment to the to the future of our children is considered before we take any additional steps," Most said. "Any community in the state of Colorado understands the impact of a climate crisis because we just lost 560 plus homes to a massive wildfire on the 30th of December when we should have had two feet of snow on the ground."
Residents at the Nov. 1 council meeting weighed in on the matter, with several voicing support.
"I think this pause button allows us to do more research, understand evidence of need and to align our planning with our climate action goals," one Louisville resident said.
Others like Jeff Sheets, vice president of sales and acquisitions at Koelbel and Co, which submitted an application to build a new gas station in Louisville, said the moratorium may not serve the city's bottom line.
"I understand on its face, the moratorium appears that it would increase electric car usage. I don't really think this will have any effect on electric car usage," Sheets said. "I think it's going to somewhat inconvenience those people that are driving gas cars."
Councilmembers Chris Leh and Dennis Maloney both voted against the emergency moratorium, calling into the question the process to pass it.
"I'm going to reiterate the comments that I made two weeks ago when the idea of an emergency ordinance came up. My objection at that time, and it is today, is that we're doing it so quickly. We're not having, what I believe, is sufficient conversation with the community," Maloney said at the Nov. 1 council meeting. "Do we need to get away from fossil fuels? Absolutely ... I would like to have more of a discussion without this panic of saying we absolutely have to do an emergency ordinance."
Leh had similar feedback.
"I am very concerned about the process that we're going through, because I don't know that it has any limiting principle to it, and I just don't know that this is the way we're really supposed to govern," Leh said Nov. 1.
Louisville Ward 1 Councilmember Caleb Dickinson, who voted to pass the emergency moratorium, called it necessary.
"The idea is just that when you pass a moratorium on something ... you don't want to do that over a three-month period, because then people are applying while you're having the conversation about pausing. And so the pauses typically do happen in that emergency style, which is just faster," Dickinson said.
Dickinson also added that Sheets' pending application will not be impacted by the moratorium, but future applications will be until September 2023.
Most said there's potential for the city council to end the moratorium before Sept. 2023 or possibly extend it.