GREELEY — A citizen-initiated ballot measure that sought to derail a city-approved financing plan for an entertainment district in west Greeley was overturned Sunday by a hearing officer who ruled that ordinances such as the one passed by the City Council in May are administrative in nature and thus cannot be repealed by voters.
Even if the ruling is overturned in court, city spokeswoman Winna Ironkwe told BizWest Sunday afternoon, it effectively means Greeley voters will not get to decide on repealing the plan at the Nov. 4 municipal election. She said the soonest voters could get their say would be next year, either in a special election or as part of the November 2026 general election.
“The Hearing Officer therefore overturns the initial determination of petition sufficiency made by the Greeley City Clerk and declares the initiative cannot be sent to the ballot for a vote by the citizens of Greeley,” hearing officer Karen Goldman wrote after taking testimony from both sides at a public hearing Tuesday.
Greeley Deserves Better, the group that launched the petition drive to overturn the city’s risky financing plan for the $1.1 billion “Catalyst” project, still has two avenues left to keep it from going into effect: They can appeal the hearing officer’s ruling in Weld District Court or the Colorado Supreme Court, and they still have a pending lawsuit against the city that contends that the financing plan is unconstitutional because it violates Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
Greeley City Clerk Heidi Leatherwood had certified that the petition gatherers had collected nearly 1,000 votes more than were needed to force the City Council, at its next regular meeting Tuesday, to either place the measure on the Nov. 4 ballot or reverse its decision. However, that certification was immediately met by a protest filed by four Greeley residents that led to Tuesday’s hearing.
Attorney Christopher Beall of Denver-based Recht Kornfeld PC, a former Colorado deputy attorney general and deputy secretary of state, lauded Goldman’s ruling in a prepared statement emailed to BizWest Sunday afternoon.
“We are gratified that Hearing Officer Goldman agreed with us that this petition was fundamentally unconstitutional and never should have reached the ballot,” Beall wrote. “From the beginning, this process has been clouded by Dark Money, unlicensed signature gatherers, and outside interests trying to manipulate Greeley voters. Today’s decision affirms that the law – and the integrity of Greeley’s own process – comes first. This ruling is a win for transparency, fairness, and the people of Greeley.”
At issue is an ordinance approved May 6 by the City Council that authorizes the financing plan for the entertainment district dubbed “Catalyst” 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 project. The plan includes $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 entertainment district on city-owned land.
Greeley Deserves Better co-chairs Pam Bricker, former executive director of the Greeley Downtown Development Authority, and business owner Dan Wheeler had said voter approval of the repeal would not necessarily kill the vision and the project, Bricker and Wheeler said, but would force renegotiation under terms more favorable to taxpayers.
Bricker, Wheeler and their attorney, Suzanne Taheri of Denver-based West Group Law + Policy, a former deputy Colorado secretary of state, have yet to respond to calls and texts from BizWest seeking comment.
Editor’s note: This is a developing story.
This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2025 BizWest Media LLC. You can view the original here: Catalyst petition invalid, hearing officer rules
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