Greeley Forward and Greeley Demands Better officials met in a long-awaited forum, where both sides presented arguments on the upcoming special election ballot item that will decide the zoning of the Catalyst and Cascadia projects.
On Friday, the League of Women Voters Greeley-Weld County held a forum where Greeley Demands Better co-chairs Brandon Wark and Rhonda Solis went up against Greeley Forward representatives Tom Donkle and Marcus Pachner. Both groups were given the opportunity to speak and persuade potential voters to their side for a special election scheduled for Tuesday.
Ballot item 1A asks Greeley voters whether the city should repeal Ordinance 30, 2025, and, in doing so, repeal the planned unit development zoning for both Catalyst and Cascadia projects. If 1A passes, the city will not be able to apply that zoning again for one year, which would delay the project for that time or until the city applies a different zoning to the site, according to Acting City Manager Brian McBroom.
The Catalyst project is a $1.1 billion city-owned entertainment district that seeks to construct a luxury hotel, a Mattel-branded water park and a new hockey arena for the Colorado Eagles to Greeley’s far western side at U.S. 34 and 131st Avenue.
Cascadia is a residential and commercial development spanning more than 800 acres surrounding the Catalyst area. The Water Valley Company earlier this month announced a partnership with Guild Mortgage to offer a down-payment assistance and affordability program for houses costing up to $832,000 — which Water Valley CEO Martin Lind estimated at 40-50% of the houses in Cascadia.
Greeley Demands Better make their case for voting yes
Wark and Solis said their biggest issue with the projects was the city’s lack of transparency about how it would pay for the project. In December, Greeley Demands Better filed a Colorado Open Records Act request to obtain the draft of a city-commissioned study by Hotel & Leisure Advisors, which said the project would not be financially feasible.
Due to what they described as a lack of response from the city about the study, Greeley Demands Better commissioned its own study from Newmark Valuation & Advisory, which indicated that the project could be short $2 million to $3 million from the projected revenue. Wark and Solis said when these revenues fall short, the burden of debt repayment will fall to the Greeley taxpayer.
Brandon Wark, one of the co-chairs of Greeley Demands Better, speaks during a League of Women Voters public forum between the opposing sides on ballot issue 1A at Family of Christ Presbyterian Church in Greeley on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (Brice Tucker/Staff Photographer)“Catalyst is a high-risk project, placing all the risk on Greeley taxpayers. We don’t believe it adds up when we really crunch the numbers,” Wark said. “The city council’s already talking about potential tax increases this year, and we have city staff saying that revenue is not meeting expenses. So there’s a lot of risk and a lot of concerns.”
The city has said the four studies it commissioned, of which the feasibility study is only one, should not be viewed in isolation. The initial feasibility study itself says its evaluation does not consider the additional sources of revenue included in the city model.
The city has long maintained this project will not add any new taxes to residents, as debt service for the project will be funded by revenue generated by Catalyst and Cascadia. Additionally, any additional taxes on residents would be subject to a public vote, and the tax’s purpose would need to be clearly defined, as required by the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights.
Greeley Forward: Why residents should vote no
Pachner and Greeley Forward said the city revenue issue Wark referenced would be addressed by Catalyst. The committee’s latest estimates indicate that construction of Catalyst and Cascadia alone will generate $738.2 million in construction-related spending within Greeley.
Pachner warned that if 1A were to pass, the city could miss out on an additional $11 million in sales tax annually, as well as 1,385 new jobs that are needed to grow Greeley. In total, he said, all the studies say the city will earn $75 million in revenue in the first 10 years of the project.
Marcus Pachner speaks in favor of voting no on 1A while gesturing at a graph during a League of Women Voters public forum between the opposing sides on ballot issue 1A at Family of Christ Presbyterian Church in Greeley on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (Brice Tucker/Staff Photographer)“If we don’t do this project, there will be zero business going downtown and zero money coming in,” Pachner said. “So while we’ve heard a lot about what those earlier expenses are going to be, this shows very clearly what the net profit and impact of those expenses are going to be.”
City staff have said the estimates in those studies were not based on conservative or aggressive models, leaving open the possibility that the proposed numbers could be higher or lower than what was presented.
On March 3, city staff is scheduled to present a summary of all four studies and the latest financial model, providing a clear, up-to-date picture of the project’s costs. City staff have chosen to wait until after the election to share these numbers, as the result could affect those figures.
Ballots went out earlier this month, and voters may return their ballot by dropping it off at one of four secure, 24-hour drop box locations:
Aims Community College Cornerstone Building, 5401 W. 20th St. Greeley City Hall, 1000 10th St. University of Northern Colorado University Center, 2101 10th Ave. Weld County Election Office, 1250 H St.Ballots must be received by the city clerk by 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24 to be counted. Voters who have not received a ballot or need a replacement may obtain a ballot at Greeley City Hall.
The city will release the first public count of votes around 8 p.m. Tuesday at bit.ly/SpecialElection26.
Follow the Greeley Tribune’s ongoing coverage of the Cascadia development and stay up to date on all project milestones at GreeleyTribune.com/Cascadia.
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