Broomfield, CO: Mayor Pat Quinn Interview

Pat Quinn
Years in Broomfield: 28
Elected Mayor: 2007

Prior civic involvement: Boulder County Parks and Open Space advisory committee 1988 - 1993

Q: Why do people enjoy living in Broomfield?

A:  Broomfield is a great place to raise your kids. Our small-town feel results in a lot of families moving here. It’s a great place to raise your kids because of our schools and another thing that makes Broomfield really unique is we have a 40% open land goal. Because of the open land policy, we have a lot of areas set aside for playing. We have a lot of areas set aside for trails too. We’re a suburban area, we’re not a rural area. Major housing developments are bounded by Open Space. So, everybody has access to Open Space and that’s our goal. This results in the small town feeling that families want to move to.

We have the Flatirons Mall, a regional mall that we consider to be the best in Colorado. After you’ve been hiking and enjoying open spaces, you can enjoy one of the best malls in the country.

Q: What projects are you excited about concerning Broomfield right now or any exciting news?

A:  The number one project is the McWhinney project. They also call it the MBX project. Part of what gets me really excited is the research park aspect that will be within 35 minutes of Fort Collins, 20 minutes of Boulder, 30 minutes of the Fitzsimmons medical center in downtown Denver. We’d love to see all sorts of small entrepreneurial businesses generated from our own applied research center; I’d like to see that become the alternative energy capital of the world. We’d like to see 20, 30, 40 years of attracting those types of businesses. We’ve already attracted some solar technology companies putting their worldwide headquarters here.

At Flatirons Crossing we’re trying to help them redevelop the Village area into a special gathering type place where we can keep the restaurants up there and generate a new enthusiasm within that area. We’re talking about a unique hotel there that’s going to attract visitors.

Arista is also incredibly exciting; the concept of good urban planning now is to have transit oriented developments. Arista’s got the Broomfield Events Center; a movie tavern is going up and there’s been all sorts of family-type entertainment groups that are talking about locating up there. There is office space and a hotel planned. We also anticipate high density residential close to transit options, where you don’t need to take your car. Light rail will also run there, and the Bus Rapid Transit on [Highway] 36 is going to go right past Arista. It will be a place that’s exciting to go to that will have its own energy.

Q: What motivated you to become mayor of Broomfield?

A:  One answer on that is and remains public service. I grew up in a family that just really believed in public service. My public service for the last 20 years has been helping Broomfield and Boulder County get open space programs going, and it’s safe to say we’re well on our way to achieving that goal and the 40% Open Land Goal was kind of a dream to me, growing up in this end of town.

I’m a CPA by trade and I now help grow small businesses and when the current Mayor was termed out, I felt like that was a great opportunity to combine all of my backgrounds, public service through Open Space and being a business person. I am grateful that my business has been very successful. It allows me financially to afford to take the time to be Mayor, to be here with you today. So, it all came together and it worked.

Q: What are the biggest challenges facing Broomfield now and the future?

A:  We all talk about having a small town feel. To me, the biggest challenge is, we’re going to grow to, let’s say, 90,000 people. We’re 50,000 now. How do we integrate all those people and maintain that community feel? We’ve got a regional mall and all these hotels attracting people from around the world. We want to develop an applied research park. We want to attract top businesses. How we maintain our character - I consider that to be one of the bigger challenges I face as Mayor.

We have a long range perception of our needs. We have a 20-year financial plan to provide the infrastructure that we need to make it all work. We want to make sure that we do have places for people to live and we want to make a totally sustainable community. We have a master plan backed up with this financial plan and our goal is to have people live, work and play within Broomfield.

I came in absolutely an advocate of open space. I recognize that we cannot have our open space unless we have businesses to back that, from Ball Aerospace that has its headquarters here to small businesses. But you can’t have those businesses unless you have residences for them to live in and that’s the backbone of our financial plan.

Q: How do you envision the evolution of Broomfield’s residential housing stock?

A:  We have a comprehensive plan for adequate residential units to support our businesses and to support our commercial areas. The McWhinney project has 7,400 residential units planned. That’s overwhelming. 20 years ago Broomfield was 20,000 people. An additional 7,400 residential units, I presume that adds up to somewhere around 15,000 more people.

At Arista, for example, we’re trying to plan for high end units, low end units, entry units and complete developments that are integrated. We think that’s the best type of community to have, because your community’s made up of all these individual neighborhoods. We plan to have options from a first home you can afford to the nice home on the hill because you’ve had a successful life.

It’s absolutely essential that our housing stock evolves in the context of a wider financial plan. The problem is a residential neighborhood doesn’t generate enough revenues to pay for the services you provide them. So, you’ve got to offset your residential units with commercial units and its how you plan for that that makes for a great city.

Q: Is Broomfield doing anything special to attract businesses?

A:  Broomfield recognized early on in the game that in order to achieve our Open Space goals and our financial goals, we needed to attract shopping centers, we needed to attract developments. And I speak as a CPA who helps a whole bunch of businesses. The number one thing Broomfield does to attract businesses is we let businesses and developments know that if you come here, we’re going to be straightforward with you. We’re a good place to do business. When we take you through the planning process, you’re going to consider it fair, you’re going to consider it reasonable. And to me, that’s the number one thing Broomfield should do to attract businesses.

When a developer comes in from out of town, they have a model that they want to apply and they want to maximize their profits. I’m not saying that’s always the case, but that’s generally the model. Broomfield says, “Well, just a second. We live here. We’re going to be here long after your development is completed. We want to make sure your development meets goals within the community.” When you say that, you have a huge impact on that business. The businesses want to know, “What does that mean?” and the more you can translate that to them quicker and get them through the process, everybody’s better. But, after a while, all the developers get it. They understand what Broomfield wants. I think we’re great at that.

Secondly, when we want something, we’ll put together a package to get it. The regional mall’s a perfect example; as a CPA I think it makes sense. Broomfield basically will dedicate up to 50% of sales tax revenue to the improvements you’ve got to make to make it what we want it to be. And that becomes a model that’s viable for our financial plan and viable for the developers. I don’t know if it’s incentives as much as it’s co-investment. We have a collaborative mindset.

Third, a city becomes viable if it can generate small businesses. 50% of the people in Colorado are employed by businesses less than 50 employees. That’s a high percentage compared to the rest of the country. We encourage the growth of our small businesses.

Q: Could you share a couple of your favorite “only in Broomfield” experiences?

A:  You can’t talk about “only in Broomfield” without taking about Paul Derda. The head of our parks and recreation department is a guy named Paul Derda. Paul is this kind of gregarious, larger-then-life person. We have named our Rec Center after him.

Also, I’ve been here for 28 years and I have gone to Broomfield Days over half of those years. We have a reviewing stand for the parade - we have bands playing, the dancing 3 and 8 year olds, politicians walking through - and Paul Derda kind of ties it all together as the Master of Ceremonies. Paul Derda kind of personifies Broomfield Days. When I visit the newer neighborhoods, like up at Anthem, trying to help new residents feel like part of Broomfield, I tell them, “You must go to Broomfield Days. It’s a little bit corny, but that’s the point.” It’s fun stuff. You really haven’t experienced that community feel in Broomfield until you’ve gone to Broomfield Days with Paul Derda being the MC. It gives a community personality and it makes people proud to live there and it’s just something to look forward to each year.

My other example is on the other end of the spectrum. When I moved here in 1981, Broomfield was a small town – about 24,000 people. When we opened up our regional [Flatiron Crossing] mall in 2000, people were just overwhelmed that a mall of that class was going to be part of Broomfield. There was a sense of pride: at our grand opening Raquel Welch was there. It was like this big deal. This was Broomfield moving forward, recognizing in order to have the amenities that we want and to have the Open Space that we want, this mall was the right thing to do. Darn, we’re proud of what we’re doing here and the recognition we got regionally and nationally for that mall was just real exciting.

Q: What do you enjoy most about living in Colorado?

A:  Oh, the mountains and Open Space and the feeling that we’re an active community. With the pedestrian atmosphere of Broomfield, and Colorado, we’ve always been able to attract young people from Massachusetts and California because of our outdoors. We’re into activities whether it be skiing or hiking; having 300 days of sunshine doesn’t hurt.

I have 3 daughters that have graduated, going the entire way through the Boulder Valley School District. And I have two little girls, ages 7 and 3. I could live anywhere I want, but I’m just going to live here, now, forever, because of those two little girls. I moved here from Nebraska in 1964, but I’m never leaving.