Greeley Deserves Better likely to drop lawsuit threat ...Saudi Arabia

GREELEY — A citizens group that is collecting petition signatures in an attempt to derail the city’s approval of a complex $1.1 billion financing plan for a project in west Greeley is likely to back off from its threat to sue the city over an alleged violation of the Colorado Open Records Act.

“The city did give us a large batch of documents Friday,” the Greeley Deserves Better campaign’s attorney, Suzanne Taheri of Denver-based law firm West Group, told BizWest in an email. “We have advised them we will not move forward with litigation provided the remainder are provided timely. We have also asked for an estimate of what is remaining.”

Kim Kappel, communications manager and public information officer for the City of Greeley, confirmed in an email Tuesday morning that all documents sought in the group’s CORA request “will be released today.”

Taheri had filed a notice Thursday stating the campaign’s intent to sue on Monday if the city didn’t release the records it sought in a CORA request submitted June 12 and paid for June 25. In a news release dated the same day, the campaign quoted Taheri as saying the City of Greeley’s response was “a week overdue” and declaring that “we will not allow the city to stonewall legitimate requests for transparency on a deal of this magnitude.”

However, Kappel told BizWest on Tuesday that “the requestor’s attorney was notified on July 11 via voicemail,” six days before the campaign’s news release that announced Taheri’s intent to file the lawsuit, “that the response would be delayed due to the volume of documents — more than 4,000 documents and emails requiring review. Since then, staff have worked diligently to remove duplicates, identify non-responsive content, and ensure compliance with legal requirements. The request will be fulfilled in its entirety.”

Greeley Deserves Better is working to put an item on the Nov. 4 municipal ballot to ask voters to repeal an ordinance approved May 6 by the Greeley City Council that authorizes the financing plan for an entertainment district on city-owned land near Weld County Road 17 and U.S. Highway 34 that would include an ice arena, hotel and water park and anchor Windsor-based developer Martin Lind’s proposed Cascadia mixed-use development.

The group’s CORA request sought documentation about the Cascadia deal negotiations, including:

The city’s financing plan includes using $115 million worth of “certificates of participation” to lease several high-profile city facilities to Salt Lake City-based Zions Bancorporation as collateral to pay for the first phase of the core entertainment district dubbed “Catalyst.” The 46 city-owned buildings include City Hall, the city’s police department, City Center North, the Ice Haus and three fire stations.

The buildings would still operate normally until the city repays $115 million. That repayment should take 15 to 25 months, council members were told, at which time the city would issue $641 million in bonds, to be financed through a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, with the city having a moral obligation on the reserve fund by maintaining it at $33.2 million on an annual basis. For any year in which the project didn’t generate revenue, the city is obligated to make sure that the reserve fund remains whole.

To be developed by Lind’s Water Valley Co., the project will include the city-owned core entertainment district with a new arena and home for Lind’s Colorado Eagles minor-league hockey team, three sheets of ice for youth hockey programs, a high-end 351-room hotel, a spa and conference center, a 100,000-square-foot 12-slide water park that Lind predicts will attract 350,000 visitors a year, a central plaza as a gathering space designed for community events and socializing, and a “Cascadia Falls” water feature with an adjoining amphitheater.

Through Vima Partners LLC, one of the entities he controls, Lind in May closed on the $4.956 million purchase of the land on which Catalyst will rise from Kerr-McGee, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY). Vima then deeded the parcel to the City of Greeley.

Meanwhile, Water Valley will own Cascadia, an adjacent mixed-use project that is anticipated to include 11,248 single-family units, 4,980 multifamily units, 1.65 million square feet of retail space and more than 8.9 million square feet of non-retail commercial space. Lind has said the residential element would offer a range of housing options across the spectrum that would support Greeley’s goal of providing accessible and affordable housing.

Greeley Deserves Better must collect 4,518 valid signatures from registered voters residing in Greeley by Aug. 6 to put the issue on the municipal ballot in November. If passed, it would invalidate the present funding arrangement and essentially pause, but not end, the project.

This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2025 BizWest Media LLC.

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