By Matthew Popkin

Managing Longmont’s growth is necessary and increasingly complex. One strategy, however, can solve multiple challenges to achieve Longmont’s full potential: reinvesting in long-neglected areas of our downtown river corridor and sugar factory. This would provide more housing without changing the character of existing neighborhoods; slow traffic growth; reduce sprawl; and support new and existing businesses. Now more than ever, we need to get serious about reactivating these sites and discuss what’s possible.

The sugar factory, flour mill, and other industrial sites are daily reminders of past productivity and neglect posing health and safety hazards. When I toured the sugar factory in 2023, I saw up close the crumbling old equipment and other contamination from decades of neglect. Sadly, the site is also a hub of hazards from trespassing, vandalism, and drug activity.

Everyone in Longmont is impacted by these sites. There are meaningful costs associated with public response to fires, medical emergencies, criminal activity, and code violations — even beyond the city’s legal boundary. The city is often a first responder to fires — like the blaze just months ago in March — and illegal activity at the sugar factory (despite it being a county enclave), yet does not get tax revenue to offset such costs. From 2019 through 2024, Longmont’s police and fire departments responded to 191 calls for service — with the most calls over the past six years being in 2024. Plus, these property owners don’t pay taxes to Longmont for responding to these incidents.

We also have a cost-of-living crisis in Longmont. Longmont’s 2023 housing needs assessment revealed “the median sale price of $611,421 is only affordable to 32% of Longmont households,” meaning we need both more housing and a greater variety of housing options. The demand for housing has increased despite limited available land to expand our housing supply, driving housing prices higher. But where we build more housing matters greatly.

Cleaning up and reinvesting in the sugar factory area and other lower downtown properties near the river could make Longmont one of the most exciting places on the Front Range. Where else offers the size, character, history, and proximity to existing businesses and restaurants? I know I’m not the first to write about the future of the sugar factory, and I’m excited that the City Council unanimously agreed in February that reactivating these sites must be a 2025 priority.

For over a decade, I’ve helped communities with similar sites plan, fund, and transform these types of sites into assets for modern cities. I’ve seen cities across America invest in their future while also maintaining their character. Lansing’s Knapp Centre with housing, retail, and a business incubator was a department store in disrepair. San Antonio’s Pearl District — a bustling marketplace along its riverwalk — was an abandoned brewery and logistics hub. Green Bay’s old Shipyard is poised to become a state-of-the-art riverfront destination. The list goes on.

Longmont has this potential too. The ambitious 2023 Sugar Factory + STEAM plan builds on years of preparation by city leadership and staff, but making redevelopment a reality is the toughest climb. The next steps include enabling Longmont to access environmental cleanup funds, making it easier to redevelop these complex areas, protecting public health by enforcing code violations as cleanup begins, and collaborating with Boulder County to capture new redevelopment financing without raising taxes on residents.

When done effectively, rehabilitating these former industrial sites — already in prime locations near infrastructure, businesses, and trails — is exactly how we can attract much-needed housing, welcome new customers to support our existing businesses, create new workforce and economic development opportunities, and ultimately turn Longmont’s industrial past into an innovative future.

There are also three major risks to inaction: 1) creating a greater hazard; 2) losing key sugar factory structures — relics of Longmont’s history; and 3) allowing developers, not residents, to drive where and how Longmont grows.

Major redevelopment does not and should not just “happen” to Longmont. Bold collaboration is needed to strategically and responsibly reactivate these legacy sites. This will help sustainably manage our growth, preserve our city’s character, protect our open space, and make living in Longmont more affordable.

Matthew Popkin is the city council member for Longmont’s Ward 2 residents and the chair of Longmont’s Urban Renewal Authority. You can contact him at matthew.popkin@longmontcolorado.gov.