The Longmont City Council in the early-morning hours of Wednesday decided not to move forward with a plan to build housing and businesses near Vance Brand Airport, after listening to numerous residents voice strong opposition to it.

The ModernWest 2 concept plan under consideration included a mix of “high-density residential uses and commercial/industrial uses,” according to a staff memo. The 27.25-acre ModernWest 2 site is generally south of Rogers Road and east of Airport Road, just southeast of Vance Brand Airport.

ModernWest 2 developer Derek Guarascio said he has been committed to building all-electric residential units and tailored the development to be in compliance with Envision Longmont, the city’s multimodal and comprehensive plan.

“Designing a true, mixed-use community enhances sustainability by allowing residents to work in the same community where they live,” Guarascio said.

The Longmont Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the proposed ModernWest 2 concept plan amendment in a 6-1 vote at a public hearing on June 26.

However, the Longmont Airport Advisory Board recommended “in the strongest possible terms” in a letter that the City Council vote against the ModernWest 2 concept plan amendment.

“I am personally in favor of more housing in Longmont. However, I believe that it needs to be built-in locations where it doesn’t conflict with existing land uses,” Longmont resident Harrison Earl said during Tuesday’s regular session. Earl chairs the Airport Advisory Board but made clear that he was speaking as a private citizen Tuesday.

“You’ve heard over and over tonight that this is an incompatible land use by both the FAA and CDOT,” Earl said.

The FAA in 2023 also said that the proposed ModernWest 2 development was an incompatible land use.

“As recipients of over $6.2 million dollars in Federal Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funding since 1988, the city of Longmont is obligated to comply with certain federal grant assurances,” according to the FAA letter to Levi Brown, Vance Brand airport manager from John Sweeney, community planner at the FAA’s Denver Airports District Office.

When asked earlier this month if Longmont was still in jeopardy of losing grant funding for Vance Brand Airport should the ModernWest 2 development proceed, the FAA said its position on the matter “has not changed.”

CDOT’s Division of Aeronautics also said it viewed the ModernWest 2 development as “incompatible with the Longmont/Vance Brand Municipal Airport” in a letter July 25 that was sent to Jennifer Hewett-Apperson, Longmont principal planner.

“We quite simply view a new residential development less than 1/2 mile off the end of a runway at an important and busy general aviation airport runway as an incompatible land use,” David Ulane, CDOT aeronautics director, said in an email.

Members of the Longmont City Council did far more listening than talking during Tuesday’s regular session, given the volume of people who showed up to speak about ModernWest 2. Nearly every speaker voiced opposition to the development.

In response, the council asked its staffers to write up a formal resolution to deny the ModernWest 2 concept plan amendment. No specific date for the meeting has been determined.

“We have asked the FAA, as has the city staff, why they feel it’s incompatible, and they won’t answer,” Guarascio said in a separate interview. “The reason, we feel, is because we do meet all the regulations, and there isn’t anything that … speaks to compatibility.”