New ways to tell council you want open space — not annexation

We have two big announcements regarding the potential annexation and development of the rural land at Baseline and 119th.

The official petition is live! There’s now a Change.org petition where Lafayette, Erie and Boulder County residents can tell our leaders we want them to act to preserve our eastern gateway as open space. We’d appreciate it if you sign and share the petition. (Heads up: After you sign, you’ll be asked to donate money to Change.org. None of this money goes to Preserve Lafayette.)

First opportunity to tell council what you think. At its Tuesday, April 1 meeting, the Lafayette city council is scheduled to review Texas developer Kairoi Residential's annexation petition for this land.

Rest assured, this DOES NOT mean the city has to annex the land. This is just the first step in the annexation process, showing the petition language is in compliance with the state’s annexation requirements and the petitioners own more than 50% of the land. You can read more about this process in the FAQ section on our website, PreserveLafayette.org.

You can also check out the annexation petition and the supporting documents on the city’s webpage for this development. The narrative that accompanies the petition is worth a read. It doesn’t give any specifics about the developer’s plans, but does say they want commercial and high-density residential zoning. The narrative also states that the developer DOESN’T HAVE ALL OF THE WATER for whatever they hope to build, and that they expect the development to increase demand—and costs—for city services, including police and fire.

Before the council votes on this petition, you will have two opportunities to tell them what you think:

• During public input at the April 1 meeting (beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers at city hall, corner of S. Boulder Road and Public)

  
  

• During a public hearing before council votes to determine if the property is eligible for annexation (this will likely be in May—we’ll tell you the date when we know it)

If you’d only like to weigh in at one of those meetings, the public hearing is most important. You can also email council at any time using this form.

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We will be presenting the comments from the Change.org petition to council at both the April 1 meeting and the public hearing, but it’s important for council to hear directly from you as well. Council’s job is to represent the people of Lafayette—not Texas developers or Wyoming landowners—so it’s vital for them to see how engaged residents are about preserving our eastern gateway as open space. Remember, four council seats are up for election in November.  

We’ll also be handing out our beautiful I Support Open Space stickers and our snazzy new Preserve Lafayette stickers, designed by Lafayette resident and open-space lover Claudia Carle of Good Coffee Media, at both meetings. We look forward to seeing and talking with you!

Thanks VERY MUCH for your ongoing support for preserving Lafayette’s eastern gateway as open space.

The Preserve Lafayette team