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With the new 600,000 sq. foot Amazon building being built and two other industrial buildings, just south of that Amazon one, being constructed, just how much will Loveland's population, traffic, crime and whatever will grow. Sure seems like a whole lot of construction going on on the eastern side of Loveland.
Was just in Windsor a month or so ago and couldn't believe the growth there. Really unbelievable!
With the new 600,000 sq. foot Amazon building being built and two other industrial buildings, just south of that Amazon one, being constructed, just how much will Loveland's population, traffic, crime and whatever will grow. Sure seems like a whole lot of construction going on on the eastern side of Loveland.
Was just in Windsor a month or so ago and couldn't believe the growth there. Really unbelievable!
I'm the sure the growth rates will be very high due to the much higher real estate prices in Boulder due to more restrictive zoning- funneling most of the growth to nearby towns like Erie, Lafayette, Longmont, and Loveland- and anywhere in between.
With the new 600,000 sq. foot Amazon building being built and two other industrial buildings, just south of that Amazon one, being constructed, just how much will Loveland's population, traffic, crime and whatever will grow. Sure seems like a whole lot of construction going on on the eastern side of Loveland.
Was just in Windsor a month or so ago and couldn't believe the growth there. Really unbelievable!
In your Las Vegas thread, I noted that Las Vegas has an 850,000 square foot Amazon distribution Center.
It employs 4000 -- but only 1500 are full time employees. The rest are part time.
Think about it: Just how many workers would that mean moving to Larimer County for a much smaller facility?
Just guessing, but I would expect that the Loveland Amazon center, being 2/3 the size will have about 2/3 the employees. So, roughly 2600 employees. But, only about 970 full time jobs.
People don't usually relocate for part-time jobs. (But I bet a lot of CSU students will be happy to have them!)
Also, Amazon tends to hire local workers first.
So, you're probably not going to see an "explosion" of population in Loveland and/or Larimer County simply because of the new Amazon facility.
What you will see are MORE jobs for locals, both full and part time.
More jobs, in my opinion, is never a negative for an area.
More jobs generally means less crime. Not more.
(P.S. As I mentioned in your Las Vegas thread, Amazon is building TWO new facilities in Las Vegas, both of which will be bigger than the one in Loveland. So, if you're worried about Amazon destroying Loveland, you might want to research where Amazon will be building in Vegas if it ends up on your final list).
Was just in Windsor a month or so ago and couldn't believe the growth there. Really unbelievable!
Some factual data about the growth in Windsor CO, from the U.S. Census Bureau and the town of Windsor city government:
Population in 2020 36,697
Projected population in 2022 40,300
So, Windsor has added about 4,000 new residents in the last two years...a little less than the time you've lived in Loveland. If that's "unbelievable" to you, well, OK.
We've actually looked at a few homes in Windsor in the last year. What I've noticed is many of the newer developments seemed geared towards 2 bedroom homes and smaller homes in general (we are looking for a 3 bedroom with at least 2000 square feet).
This makes some sense because the percentage of the population of Windsor is much older than the surrounding areas -- 28% are over 65. And that's a larger share than it was 10 years ago.
So, maybe all those seniors you know who are moving out of Loveland are actually moving to Windsor and not out of Colorado.
As I mentioned in your Las Vegas thread, the population of Larimer County hasn't changed that much in the last decade -- something like 2% from 2010-2020. But the population of Weld County grew 33.8% in the same 2010-2020 period. Of course, not much was out there in Weld County, aside from Greely and agriculture in the past. So, plenty of room to build.
I don't know for sure but I suspect that there is still much more land available for development in Weld County and also fewer restrictions on growth in Weld. In Larimer County, it seems a sizable chunk of the land is already protected (city, county, state, federal). Less so in Weld County. And, both the County and some of the cities (i.e. Fort Collins) are a little more picky about regulating growth. So that no doubt contributes to the growth in Weld County.
In any case, growth doesn't bother us two baby boomers. We've done the rural small town thing for 38 years, and recognize that as we age, we need to be closer to shopping, healthcare, entertainment, etc. We'd rather live in a growing area with those things than a dying area without.
Plus, we figure we'll be long gone before all of Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming are completely built out. Nothing stays the same forever. Including us.
I just want to add a few more thoughts on growth and new development in Northern Colorado (and *perhaps* other U.S. areas as well).
Quite a bit of the growth of new home developments in certain areas (including, I suspect, Weld County and Larimer County) has been due to historically low mortgage interest rates, as well as lower interest rates for business loans for developers.
As the "cheap money" of very low mortgage rates and business loan rates increase (and it is likely we're not done with either yet) that is likely to slow the growth of new housing developments to some extent.
How much? Who knows? But people tend to stay put more often in the house they have (or the rental they have) when high interest rates price them out of buying.
The average days to sale has already risen in both Larimer and Weld Counties. More rate hikes will slow the market even more. Remains to be seen how developers considering new projects will react in terms of investing in new housing when it's harder to unload the homes.
But the housing markets in both Larimer AND Weld are already cooling, which would suggest the population growth rate will slow for a while too. (Of course, other factors also come into play so this is probably an oversimplification to some extent).
Also, don't overlook the importance of water. At a certain point, there won't be enough water available to sustain housing growth in NO CO. It will be interesting to watch how the water rights situation plays out, especially with the new reservoir being built in Larimer County to supply water for locations outside the county. From the sounds of it, Larimer County will probably end up on the short end of the stick when that is finished in terms of access to Poudre River water. (That new reservoir sounds like it will be an AMAZING new boating location though!).
And frankly, the construction of the new reservoir and the re-routing of 287 will likely create MORE jobs in Larimer County over the next five years than the Amazon warehouse will. If you truly believe that more jobs = more crime, then that project should be on your worry list as well.
Speaking of worry lists, since you already strongly dislike Loveland and the surrounding area and have decided to move out of Colorado in 7 months, why are you even wasting your time being so worried and upset about more jobs and new houses in the area?
You'll be long gone before the new Amazon facility kicks into high gear.
80,000+ people now, (>2500 people / sq mile) lots of rooftops, asphalt and privacy fencing.
Future Population Explosion In Loveland? The 'explosion' is over, now it is just a constant 'flood -tide'. filling to overflowing, just like all the popular places to live in the USA.
Contrary to your opinion, many people are still desiring to live and to move to Loveland. It's a really nice community, but not one I can return to as 'home'.
BTW; Amazon is a very small employer in comparison to what facilities used to be in Loveland. My employer had over 5,000 workers when Loveland was <30,000 pop. Now it has NONE in Loveland. Kodak was a huge employer for the region (while in Windsor). No more.... But... the workforce chose to stay because they liked Loveland and Windsor. many went from engineers to grocery baggers, just to keep their families content living in the area. Many commuted daily to Denver just to keep food on the table and still be able to live in NoCo.
Obviously different strokes than you. (Despise wherever you live, due to 'others', ...of course).
Last edited by StealthRabbit; 10-23-2022 at 07:30 AM..
Actually, we are surprised that there are some people here don't even know about the new Amazon going up. I mentioned it to a young girl who was taking money at a McDonalds down the street and she told me "I'll have to check that out.
There just seem to be some kind of major draw to Loveland for young folks. Just trying to figure out what it is.
80,000+ people now, (>2500 people / sq mile) lots of rooftops, asphalt and privacy fencing.
Future Population Explosion In Loveland? The 'explosion' is over, now it is just a constant 'flood -tide'. filling to overflowing, just like all the popular places to live in the USA.
Contrary to your opinion, many people are still desiring to live and to move to Loveland. It's a really nice community, but not one I can return to as 'home'.
BTW; Amazon is a very small employer in comparison to what facilities used to be in Loveland. My employer had over 5,000 workers when Loveland was <30,000 pop. Now it has NONE in Loveland. Kodak was a huge employer for the region (while in Windsor). No more.... But... the workforce chose to stay because they liked Loveland and Windsor. many went from engineers to grocery baggers, just to keep their families content living in the area. Many commuted daily to Denver just to keep food on the table and still be able to live in NoCo.
Obviously different strokes than you. (Despise wherever you live, due to 'others', ...of course).
Why wouldn't you return to as 'home'?
And, an FYI for you, we didn't leave Colorado in 2007 "due to others". We didn't leave Huntersville, NC "due to others. And, we didn't leave Jacksonville, Florida "due to others".
But, we have now decided that we really shouldn't have moved to Loveland in the first place, but Boyd Lake looked so tempting for boating, we did. Our first visit to Loveland was in 2004, during the Larimer County Fair. Of course, Loveland has changed quite a bit since then. And, since we've been here now for three years, we've decided "that's enough" for different reasons............just like anyone else who would decide to move from where they live to somewhere else.
IOW, there are some leaving Florida and moving to Tennessee and even here to Loveland. A guy that works in Maintenance now, lived for numerous years in Miami.
"the construction of the new reservoir and the re-routing of 287 will likely create MORE jobs in Larimer County over the next five years.. .
LOL- 5 years? The reservoir and 287 re-route probably won't happen for at least 20 years due to funding ( each year the cost goes up!) and the environmental reviews. We have a cabin on Haligan Reservoir and Ft. Collins wants to expand the dam there too. The project was supposed to start a few years ago and now it looks like it will be another few years until it gets underway.
Since we have private fishing on the North Fork of the Poudre below the dam the fishing will be ruined for a few years- bummer!!
LOL- 5 years? The reservoir and 287 re-route probably won't happen for at least 20 years due to funding ( each year the cost goes up!) and the environmental reviews. We have a cabin on Haligan Reservoir and Ft. Collins wants to expand the dam there too. The project was supposed to start a few years ago and now it looks like it will be another few years until it gets underway.
Since we have private fishing on the North Fork of the Poudre below the dam the fishing will be ruined for a few years- bummer!!
I was not aware that Haligan Reservoir was being expanded. Thanks for that tidbit of information. It must be frustrating for homeowners in that area, and understandably so.
I'm talking about the Glade Reservoir. The City of Fort Collins isn't building it, and, in fact, has fought against it out of fear it will damage the Poudre as a water source for the City. The project is being built by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District to supply water to Weld County reservoirs.
Some work already began this summer, but, you're right: Northern Colorado still needs final federal approval (which sounds like a done deal). But, perhaps Northern Colorado Water is being overly optimistic about a 2028 completion date? The City of Fort Collins seems to feel that it will happen on that timeline too. In any case, if the project proceeds, it will certainly create lots of jobs between the construction of the reservoir and the re-routing of 287. As you say, though, that may be spread out over a longer period than just five years.
It sounds like the reservoir and the re-routing of 287 will change the landscape of Northern Larimer County forever, which is very sad to me, as that is such a beautiful area. I've been following where it will be because we have looked at a few homes north of Fort Collins and are concerned with how close they may end up being to the re-routed 287. We're already seeing properties for sale around Ted's Place and North LaPorte touting the Glade Reservoir as a "selling point."
Regardless, it seems highly likely that the whole issue of water rights in Northern Colorado --especially who has the right to water from the Poudre -- is going to have an impact on where and how (and if) future growth occurs in Larimer and Weld Counties. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of the sad saga of the Owens Valley in California, another beautiful area that was vastly changed by its water being pumped to LA.
The water situation in Northern Colorado is the main reason we are hesitating to buy a home there.
Sigh. There's never a perfect answer in life, is there?
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