Severance approves four-district plan for Bower North

The Severance Town Council approved the consolidated service plan for Bower North Metropolitan District Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, subject to conditions in the ordinance.

The ordinance approves a four-district structure for Bower North, and the service plan identifies District No. 1 as the proposed operating district. The applicant requested a 35-mill maximum debt-service levy, a 10-mill operations-and-maintenance levy and a 45-mill aggregate cap. The applicant also requested a 40-year imposition term and a $34.425 million total debt cap. The ordinance says the service plan exceeds town standards for aggregate mill-levy maximums and imposition-term limits, citing project costs, an undeveloped tax base, phased development and financing obligations expected to extend beyond initial development. The ordinance says the additional authority is balanced by limits on total indebtedness, projected mill-levy requirements below authorized maximums, coordinated financing and other protections for residents and taxpayers.

The ordinance bars the districts from issuing debt until they reimburse the town for attorney and consultant charges incurred in reviewing the service plan. The ordinance also bars the districts from issuing debt, imposing debt-repayment mill levies or fees, or levying special assessments on or before the effective date of any development or land-use approvals for Bower North. The ordinance says town approval does not waive its legal powers over the districts, district property or improvements and does not guarantee their financial viability or the results described in the service plan. Ordinance 2026-11 takes effect 30 days after publication.

The applicant said the capital infrastructure estimate was a little over $41 million. The applicant said the anticipated project fund would be $28 million, less than the infrastructure estimate, and that the developer would cover the difference, which would not be a liability of the town or districts. The applicant said private borrowing could carry rates ranging from 10% to 14%, while metropolitan-district debt could be issued in the 5%, 6% or 7% range under reasonable assumptions at the time. District financing could spread improvement costs over 30 years so homeowners could pay their share over time rather than having the costs included in the first purchaser’s lot price, the applicant said.

The applicant described Bower North as a proposed residential mixed-use community of approximately 153 acres, immediately south of Hunter’s Crossing and entirely within Severance. The attached service plan describes the subdivision as approximately 150 acres, with 278 detached homes on 6,000-square-foot lots, 31 detached homes on approximately 1.25-acre rural residential lots and 60 attached duplex or townhome units. The attached service plan plans a commercial and retail parcel of at least four acres, expected to accommodate about 65,000 square feet of neighborhood-serving commercial space. The attached service plan describes about 21.76 acres or more of parks and open space, excluding right-of-way landscaping, and proposes a roughly 2.32-acre neighborhood park with a playground, picnic and grilling areas, flexible court space, a multi-use flex field, dog park, shade structure and loop trail.

The attached service plan says open-space tracts will include interconnected trails, outdoor exercise equipment and picnic and grilling areas, with trails connecting residential areas to parks and designed to integrate with future regional trail and open-space systems. The applicant said off-site improvements to Tiller Street and Tinsman Avenue would include landscaping, sidewalks and bike lanes, and that the project would make traffic-signal improvements at Teller and Tinsman and contribute toward a signal at 392 and Teller Street. The applicant said the project would include a significant off-site sanitary-sewer extension to the town’s development. The applicant said the project would include a non-potable water system to irrigate parks and open space, plus potable and non-potable water stubouts for possible future extensions.

No one spoke during public comment, Mayor Matthew Fries said. The service plan says the operating-district board may include developer appointees during buildout, while the other district boards may initially include appointees and are expected to transition to directors elected by eligible electors and end users under applicable law. The applicant said a project-wide overlay district would coordinate district operations and maintenance, with the first resident eligible to serve on its board upon moving in, subject to elections every two years. Fries said he had received complaints about homeowners’ lack of representation in metropolitan districts as development progresses and called the overlay district “a huge step in the right direction to try to get Homeowners involved in the, in the future and vision of their, of their neighborhood.”

Town staff said new subdivisions must have a non-potable water system, that the town’s new land-use code requires the matter to go before the council for a decision, and that a future public hearing would consider a variance related to the requirement. Staff said the proposed district would provide non-potable water for open space, not residential lawns, and that a future variance request would address the lawns. Staff said Bower North was no longer in the town’s water service area, which now covers only its existing service area. If the future variance were denied, the district would have to return to seek another option or determine how to address the issue, staff said.