8 The Johnstown Breeze

2534 from page 6

Talks with property owners to
secure land for the new station
are ongoing.
We see as it develops, and
more people move in out there
and businesses move out there,
the call volume is going to go
up, Ward said. Right now the
call volume is not that high in
2534, but its going to get there,
so we have to be ready.
There were 208 calls for
service in the area last year,
130 being rescue/EMS calls.
Just like Loveland has its
presence in the area in the form
of fire protection, it has it on
the educational side, too.
Thompson School District
R2-J covers North Johnstown.
At the rendezvous, Diaz was
manning a booth in support of
items 3D, a $11 million mill
levy override, and 3E, a $288
million bond, that would improve R2-J schools, and potentially get a K-8 school in the
2534 area.
I dont think they can fit
us, said Diaz about sending
her children to RE-5J. I think
theyre already at capacity.
H o n e s t l y, t h e a m o u n t o f
schools in Johnstown proper
cant fit us.
Throughout the last few
months at RE-5J School Board
meetings, the board has stated
Johnstown must grow within
school district boundaries to
move forward on building a
new high school. Talks between the school board and
Johnstown Council have taken

Thursday, October 27, 2016

place to identify ways to get

growth going, including using
metropolitan districts for funding.
Regardless of the district,
Mayor James, after wrapping
up his final chats with Thompson River Ranch residents on
Oct. 8, said hes talking to
school board officials from
Johnstown and Loveland to
help in any way possible, because if 3D and 3E pass in a
few weeks, a new school could
be coming to Johnstown. It
may not be the one Johnstown
people identify with, but its
Johnstown nonetheless, he
said. A forward thinking concept that residents must acknowledge sooner rather than
later.
Im almost embarrassed to
admit this, James said, that
we meet regularly with RE-5J,
but we need, now that were a
multi-county, multi-school district municipality, Thompson
School District and Town of
Johnstown need to have the
same kind of work session as
we do with RE-5J. We need to
meet with them as much as we
meet with RE-5J.
Denise Montagu, Thompson School Board of Education
Member, District C, wrote in an
email that if those two items
pass, the next step, the foremost one, would be securing
land for the school in 2534.
James said he and Montagu
have initiated general conversations between both boards.
The board has had highlevel discussions with regard to

the need that exists in that

area, Montagu wrote. Once
the funding is in place and the
property is secured, I would expect the project to move forward in a timely fashion. As an
example, once High Plains (K8 school) was approved, it was
opened within approximately
16 months of groundbreaking.
High Plains School opened
in August.
Its Montagus opinion that
a new school be located in
Thompson River Ranch, to
make access easier for families
to get there.
As for the relationship between both boards, Montagu
wrote she, like James, wants to
see meetings take place between both parties. James,
Montagu and Thompson
School District Superintendent
Stan Scheer had what looks to
be the first of many conversations between the boards last
week.
I believe that we must
work together to address the
tremendous growth that is anticipated in that area, both in
the immediate future, and in
the coming decades, Montagu
wrote. We must be thoughtful
about how we meet the needs
of the residents in that area ,
those who reside there currently, and those who are yet to arrive, as it pertains to public education. I am confident that we
are all committed to this endeavor.
With Loveland having its
fire protection and school district inside of Johnstown,
maybe its just basic ideology
for many that since the area sits
adjacent from Centerra, or
maybe its when calling a business in 2534 and the person answers with a greeting of thank
you for calling so-and-so of

Loveland, that keeps many

from seeing it as Johnstown.
Town pride is important to
an extent to Johnstown Town
Council, with them making
strides to ensure Johnstowns
new identity doesnt drift away
from the historic south. Day
and night both reside beneath
the same sky, and council is
trying to get its residents to
look at both areas as one town.
My biggest regret is we
havent been able to meld the
community as tightly to that
area, bring them into the ethos
of Johnstown, Mellon candidly said. At some point, I want
them (residents in 2534) to feel
the pride of being in Johnstown.
Were not on Parish Avenue
anymore
Is it 2534? New Johnstown?
North Johnstown? Loveland?
What is the correct way to
identify the area? The latter is
one councilmembers like
James and Mellon would prefer
not to be used, and plans to put
the Johnstown brand on the
area are in motion.
The main branding tool
council is banking on is the 1.1
million-square-foot marketing
village, Johnstown Plaza. An
introduction video on the
plazas website, that gave the
vibe of it being merely a name
not a part of a municipality,
projected 10 million affluent
customers a year.
Franklin said Johnstown
Council has worked with plaza
owners and Loveland to get
signage with the Johnstown
name in the area, but moreover
he said, its the citizen campaign movement that has been
ongoing for years that looks to
enhance branding. It includes
sending residents the towns
newsletter and promoting its

Facebook and website.

That is a campaign to keep
people interested in the fact
that theyre a part of Johnstown, while we have all this
stuff going on related to Loveland, Fort Collins and the
North Front Range, Franklin
said.
Next September, Johnstown
and its plaza will be getting a
game changer, regional draw
as Town Manager Roy Lauricello put it, in Scheels. The
260,000-square-foot sporting
goods store looks to be the cornerstone in the plaza that has
two phases. The first expected
to be completed in 2018, the
second in 2020.
Carson Development, the
company that designed the
plaza, contacted Scheels last
January, wrote former Mayor
Mark Romanowski in an email.
Romanowski, whose eightyear run as mayor ended this
year, wrote that Steve Scheel,
chairman of Scheels, had been
targeting the Front Range as a
destination for a decade.
After many meetings, discussions and due diligence,
Steve Scheel decided, along
with Carson (Development),
that Johnstown was a perfect
municipality to work with and
to establish the regions premier sporting goods destination, Romanowski wrote. As
mayor, I was extremely proud
of our community and the
council that we succeeded in
landing a huge economic catalyst for our small town.
The former mayor wrote
economic competition is
tremendous in the area, stating
that Loveland, Windsor and
Fort Collins were competing
against us for Scheels.
In fact, Loveland and their
council flew to Fargo, North
Dakota, to work out a lastminute deal to win over this
economic package, Romanowski wrote. Ultimately,
Mr. Scheel contacted town staff
and myself, to assure us that
they were coming to Johnstown.
Its a safe bet many of those
projected 10 million customers
wont know theyre shopping
in the Town of Johnstown or financially backing it, but with
$5 million in use taxes on construction for commercial development, customers can say
theyre shopping in Loveland,
or wherever, all they want.
Additionally, the plaza is
projected to generate $6.17
million, with another $3.94
million per year in sales and
property tax revenue. The tax
on construction, for instance, is
utilized to fund public buildSee 2534 on page 9