Town Administrator              June 6, 2019

Erie/Lafayette/TOEURA Agreement
Last week the Erie Board of Trustees approved, and this week the Town of Erie Urban Renewal Authority (TOEURA) and the Lafayette City Council also approved an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) that resolves litigation between the parties concerning the Nine Mile property at the SE corner of State Highway 287 and Arapaho Road, as well as administrative proceedings concerning State Highway access permits on SH 287 and SH 7.
 
A key provision in the IGA is sharing on a 50/50 basis the tax revenue and any costs to incentivize development on both the Nine Mile site (referred to in the IGA as the “Erie Development Parcel” and the property on the SW corner of SH 287 and Arapahoe Road (referred to in the IGA as the “Lafayette Development Parcel”).
 
While there were good reasons to vote against this IGA—because it does not fully compensate Erie for the lost revenue as well as higher development costs Erie will now face to develop the Nine Mile site as a result of Lafayette’s previous attempts to stop development of that site, and because it does not guarantee that anchor tenants will choose the Nine Mile site—the majority of Trustees and TOEURA Commissioners concluded the numerous benefits resulting from the IGA outweighed those issues. Among the benefits of sharing revenue and costs associated with incentivizing development as required by the IGA, are the following:

• More effectively achieving the highest and best development potential for the area, which will maximize the private property values and public tax revenue generated by the area
• A more diversified portfolio of tax generating properties that is less subject to economic variability that could otherwise affect Erie and Lafayette individually
• Reducing the need to offer incentives to achieve the same public benefits associated with location of businesses in the area
• More effectively planning the area to optimize success of retail sites and foster higher functioning transit oriented development ("TOD")
• Identifying other actions that mutually benefit the Erie and Lafayette in a way that would be impossible without collaboration. 

Other notable provisions in and benefits from the IGA include:

• Settling the current litigation, including Lafayette paying Erie’s legal fees and costs.
• “Influence Areas” within which both jurisdictions agree to cooperate on annexations.
• Granting to Lafayette a conservation easement on the southernmost 150’ portion of the Erie Development Parcel.
• Cooperation on providing fire flow (water service with sufficient pressure and volume for fire-fighting purposes) to the Erie Development Parcel.
• Lafayette’s agreement to support CDOT granting Erie a three-quarter movement intersection to access the Erie Development Parcel.
• Lafayette’s agreement to issue the access permit for the Parkdale development on SH 7, and to close the intersection at SH 7 and County Line Road (with the properties currently served by the latter intersection having access through the intersection planned for the Parkdale development).

• Regarding Lafayette’s Water Reclamation Plant, agreement on odor control, visual screening, water rights impacts, and financial responsibility for access to the Plant.

You can view the complete IGA at this link.