Council Has Double Rigged the Election in their Favor. Voters MUST vote YES for a Hughes Natural Area *AND* NO on the Council’s Ballot Measure
The City Council’s vague and misleading 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 voters, taxpayers, and residents of Fort Collins.
However, if that wasn’t enough, now we have learned that the only way the Hughes Natural Area citizens initiative can protect and preserve Hughes as a Natural Area (truly) for ALL, is if the citizen initiative receives more than 50% of the vote *AND* it beats the overall number of votes that the City Council’s competing Land-Use Roulette ballot measure receives.
But, and this is important, if both initiatives lose, which unfortunately, is possible, particularly if the pro-Hughes Development faction successfully confuses voters, the City’s slice-and-dice Hughes Development plan still wins, because in yet another manipulative move by this City Council, they passed it as law (an “Ordinance”) on September 2, 2025.
Note that there is NO SITE PLAN associated with their ballot measure. There are NO MINIMUM ACREAGES in their Hughes 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 zoo-like Nature & Wildlife Office Campus after the vote passes.
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, and NO for the City Council and special interests vague, open-ended Development head fake which leaves no guarantee for Hughes’ future.
