Longmont, CO: Mayor Roger Lange Interview

Roger Lange
Years in Longmont: 35
Elected Mayor: 2007

Prior civic involvement: elected to City Council in 2000; Board member of the Longmont Area Economic Council; Longmont Planning & Zoning Commission, Boulder County Resource Conservation Advisory Board

Q:  Why do people enjoy living in Longmont?

A:  First is the feeling that we have a small town feel and the people are quite friendly here, which I think is kind of unique for a community this size, but it’s always been that way since I’ve been here. I’ve lived here more than 30 years, and it seems like regardless of the size, it still keeps the small town character and that’s what people really appreciate about our city. Longmont is also a stand-alone community; it’s got its own identity. It doesn’t merge with other communities and I think that’s important to people.

The other thing that I think people enjoy about Longmont is our downtown. It symbolizes perhaps some downtown that people had in their past with a nice character to it. You bundle all those things up together and I think that’s why people enjoy settling in Longmont.

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

A:  I think if there’s one thing that’s probably captured the public’s interest more than anything at the present time is the redevelopment of the Twin Peaks Mall. We’ve got a mall that is maturing and is, like a lot of other malls around the country, in need of some updating. We’re going through the process now of trying to decide exactly what that’s going to look like and how we’re going to go about doing it. You get three schools of thought from people. They either want a lifestyle mall, somewhat of a traditional indoor mall, or some type of a hybrid.

We’re in a fact finding situation right now and haven’t made the decision. We’ve had a lot of community meetings trying to get input from the general public. We’re hearing from all different individuals around the community. It’s a very significant thing to work through because it’s important as a sales tax revenue source and it’s important for people to have the opportunity to shop in their community and not have to go other places to buy goods that they feel they need.

We’re also trying to decide exactly what we’re going to do with the area around the proposed [FasTracks] train station site. That’s down the road a ways, something that will happen in the 2014 time frame. I think it’s critically important to the community, and we are in the process of planning what we want things to look like. Transit-oriented development is a big thing, regardless of where it happens. You just look at where they build train stations and people like to live there. It’s a very convenient way to get a commuting solution to their needs. There are a lot of good things that are going to come out of it.

Q:  What motivated you to become Mayor of Longmont?

A:  I didn’t think much about it until I retired. I was seeing some openings come up on City Council and I thought, “Well, I might as well try it because I might like it.” I didn’t know if I would or would not. Being the Mayor really wasn’t my aspiration. I had been on city council for six years and I enjoyed the work. The existing mayor was term limited and I thought I would be someone that would be able to guide and facilitate a City Council team. That’s a lot of what you do as a mayor - you’re in a facilitator’s role. I felt I had that to offer. Fortunately for me, the voters felt the same way and it’s all kind of history now.

I just like being able to contribute to the community, because I think the community has given me a lot and it’s my way of giving back. Not every thing goes your way, but for the most part I’ve felt that it’s been a very positive experience for me.

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

A:  One of the biggest things facing Longmont and probably many other municipalities is the economic situation and what we do with our budget. I think clearly the biggest challenge is one of making sure that we continue our citizen involvement. We have a big challenge to come up with a balanced budget, especially if we have some short-fall on our revenue projections.

If we don’t generate the revenues that are necessary to do what we’re doing now in way of providing services to our citizens, it appears that we’re going to have to look hard at what we decide to fund. We don’t know exactly what it’s going to be like, but last year we got a taste of [budget cuts] and what we decide to do as a community may end up with some choices that not everybody likes. But, that’s part of the process.

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

A:  At some point housing development will be more redevelopment in nature. We will have to go to existing areas and decide how we redevelop them. Rather than the building outside the city limits that we have experienced for a long, long time, we’re going to probably be doing a lot of rebuilding within the existing city limits. We can see that we will be coming to a build-out situation. It’s a finite amount of land that we’re dealing with; open space that pretty much surrounds us.

Many parts of town probably would be good candidates for redevelopment. One area in particular would be our downtown where we’ve talked about doing mixed-use. I mentioned if we get FasTracks here, there will obviously be redevelopment, which would include more residential.

Q:  Is Longmont doing anything special to attract businesses?

A:  I think they feel we’re a business friendly community and we’ve got a couple things going on. We work hard to attract businesses that we think are a good fit for Longmont.

For a considerable amount of time the Longmont Area Economic Council, this is a recruiting arm for primary employers. [Director] John Cody is very experienced. He’s good at what he does and we appreciate having his talents helping us. The metrics he’s tracking are extremely helpful when making policy decisions.

We are also trying to look at all sizes of businesses and try to attract them to the city. We hired an economic development expert for the city a couple of years ago and their job primarily is to look at the whole economic arena, not just large business and primary employers, but the whole business spectrum. We’re trying to offer the city as their best possible scenario and I think there are certain things about Longmont that a lot of businesses like.

We have some incentives, but I wouldn’t say they’re significant. We hope that what Longmont is as a community and what we have to offer will be attractive to businesses and so far, it has worked pretty well for us.

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

A:  We try and offer the community a lot of different entertainment and learning experiences; I think a couple of things are special in Longmont. The community appreciates the annual event called Rhythm on the River - the city sponsors that. It gets a lot of attendance and I think Rhythm on the River is something very significant for Longmont.

Another thing we’ve got going on is our second annual Art Walk. We shut down Main Street and that gets a very large attendance because a lot of people just walk to downtown. Some ride their bikes, and people just enjoy that experience of being able to come downtown, not worrying about traffic and looking at all the different stores that display and sell art. We have quite a few artists in Longmont and that’s a big part of what this is all about.

This was an interesting personal observation on ‘only in Longmont.’ I was in Chicago about three weeks ago. I was reading through the Chicago Tribune and there was a picture from Longmont. It was a picture of a cow that had its head stuck under a fender well of a pickup truck. There are a lot of small town things happening here that’s good to have in this community.

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

A:  Obviously first it’s the mountains. Plus, I come from the Midwest and I like changing seasons. You get that in Colorado.

If I was a younger person and if I wasn’t retired I would say that there are a lot of employment opportunities in Colorado. And I think that is significant because it’s well known that we have a very skilled workforce in Colorado and that draws employers here, because there is talent here. They take care of their needs from an employment standpoint, so it’s just a good place to live and work and play. Colorado meets a lot of those parameters that people are looking for.

I think living in Longmont you have a lot of choices of what you want to do in the way of leisure entertainment. We’re not that far away from Denver; whether it is sports or musical entertainment, it’s just down the road. There’s just an awful lot to do here. Colorado has a lot of opportunities and Longmont has a lot to offer too.