Fort Collins council signals support for bringing passenger rail resolution back in June

Fort Collins City Council stopped short of taking a vote Tuesday on a resolution tied to Front Range passenger rail, but members gave enough support in a work session for staff to bring the item back June 16 for possible formal action. Councilmember Chris Conway said he heard support from at least three members, with “a couple more” still weighing the proposal, and Mayor Emily Francis said she felt there was enough backing to move it forward.

The discussion centered on the Front Range Passenger Rail District’s request for city support of a station narrative for Fort Collins ahead of a possible regional ballot measure. District officials have said communities that provide a supporting resolution or letter could receive a 10% increase in local-return funding. For Fort Collins, the presentation said that could raise the city’s projected local return from $75 million over 25 years to $82.5 million for station-area and multimodal improvements.

Conway said he was encouraged by what he described as creative thinking around using existing rail corridors rather than building new tracks. He also asked about the proposed service pattern and whether riders traveling from Fort Collins to Denver would have to change trains in Westminster because BNSF would host service from Fort Collins to Westminster and RTD from Westminster to Denver Union Station.

Sal Pace, the rail district’s executive director, said the district is operating under a tight schedule driven by two separate deadlines: negotiations over a 25-year access agreement with BNSF, which he said the district is trying to finalize by July 6, and a target date for station narratives from participating communities. Pace said the district had aimed for June 30 for those narratives, but expected to extend that deadline after Broomfield asked for more time.

Pace said the district is not asking Fort Collins to sign an intergovernmental agreement or memorandum of understanding now. Instead, he said, the immediate goal is agreement on a station narrative that could be used if the district goes to voters. If a ballot measure passes in 2027, he said, negotiations over how local-return dollars would be spent would come later and would be driven by local communities, with financial modeling assuming those funds would begin flowing in 2028.

Francis cautioned that council would not be able to complete full additional analysis before June 16, but said staff would return with whatever answers they could assemble in that timeframe. Pace said the district board could formally consider extending the station-narrative deadline at its Friday meeting.