To PROTECT Hughes, Voters MUST Vote YES on 303 (Protection) *AND* NO on 2H (Development). If 303 & 2H BOTH Lose, the 2H High-impact Development Still Goes Forward for Hughes.
Caption: To protect and preserve Hughes for low impact recreational uses and conservation of land and wildlife, voters must VOTE YES for our 100% Hughes Natural Area citizen initiative (303), and NO for the City Council and special interests giveaway (2H) which leaves no guarantee for Hughes’ future.
The City Council’s referred ballot measure that puts Hughes on the slice-and-dice chopping block for development, including high-impact uses that DID NOT MAKE THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE CIVIC ASSEMBLY, is an anti-democratic affront to the citizen-initiative process, petition gatherers, voters, taxpayers, and residents of Fort Collins.
Voters should also know that the only way that Hughes can be protected, and the only guarantee for any Natural Area acres at Hughes at all, is if Measure 303 (the citizen ballot measure) receives more than 50% of the vote *AND* it beats the number of YES votes that City Council’s special interest ballot measure, 2H, receives.
But, and this is important, if both initiatives lose, which unfortunately, is possible, particularly if the pro-Hughes development faction continues to successfully confuse voters, the City’s Hughes development plan still wins, because in yet more political maneuvering, Council also enacted their 2H development concept for Hughes as law (an “Ordinance”) on September 2, 2025.
2H is blank check for the development of Hughes. There is NO SITE PLAN or other design specifications associated with Council’s ballot measure to be voted on. There are NO MINIMUM ACREAGES in their development proposal. Just vague acreage ranges that also include ZERO, including ZERO possible acres for a Natural Area. Furthermore, there are 40 acres unaccounted for, which is likely meant to EXPAND the habitat-destroying Bike Park and open air zoo-like Nature & Wildlife Office Campus after the vote passes, if 2H wins.
To protect and preserve Hughes for low impact recreational uses and conservation of land and wildlife, voters must VOTE YES for our 100% Hughes Natural Area citizen initiative (303), and NO for the City Council and special interests giveaway (2H) which leaves no guarantee for Hughes’ future.
