The Associated Students of Colorado State University, in partnership with the Straayer Center for Public Service Leadership, hosted a public forum between six Fort Collins City Council candidates in the Lory Student Center Oct. 12.

Moderated by CSU student leaders, including ASCSU Director of Governmental Affairs Michael Stella, incumbent and challenger candidates for the available positions on City Council outlined their qualifications, priorities and planned initiatives if elected.

The event, which serves as the latest in CSU’s Year of Democracy project, allowed the candidates to remark on current Fort Collins policies and initiatives, provide solutions to pertinent issues facing the Fort Collins community and work to garner public support ahead of the election.

Housing costs

In line with most comparable cities across the United States, housing prices in Fort Collins have risen exponentially in past decades, primarily affecting the younger members of the Fort Collins population.

Sympathizing with young people, each candidate offered their outlook on the housing situation, detailing potential solutions and pledging their commitment to remedying the issue if elected.

District 2 challenger and former Councilmember Eric Hamrick said he believes the solution to the housing crisis can be found through further analysis of the issue, outlining his plan to address community concerns related to the lack of availability of affordable housing alternatives.

“I think it’s a complex issue, and it has to be studied before we react,” Hamrick said. “We have to have definite and specific measures to enact before you have any effect on affordable housing.”

The rest of the panel largely agreed with Hamrick’s assessment, which became a common theme in the discussion moving forward.

U+2 residency policy

In conjunction with rising cost of living figures in Fort Collins is the U+2 residential ordinance, which continues to serve as a strong point of action for ASCSU officials.

ASCSU recently made strides toward lobbying city officials to consider revising or even completely repealing the policy, believing the ordinance unduly restricts the CSU student community from obtaining affordable off-campus housing.

The policy was originally enacted to encourage the increase of nuclear family homes in Fort Collins, but even after strict enforcement began in 2007, over 1,200 primarily family homes were suspected to be in violation of the policy as of 2019, according to CBS Colorado.

District 6 incumbent Emily Francis said she disagrees with the policy’s definition of family and believes the frequency of violations is indicative of the shortcomings of the policy, contending significant changes must be made in order to better support the Fort Collins community as a whole.

“I do think that Fort Collins can craft a policy that works for Fort Collins,” Francis said. “I think we definitely need to remove the family definition. I don’t think it’s working for Fort Collins.”

When the candidates were later asked if they would support a complete repeal of the U+2 ordinance, all but two answered “yes,” with Hamrick and District 6 challenger Alexander Adams saying the existing policy can be edited to better support residents.

Student involvement

Garnering student involvement and participation in local and state government processes has been a significant priority of the Straayer Center in their work with CSU’s thematic Year of Democracy, with voter registration initiatives and increased opportunities for government involvement being presented to students from all majors.

The candidates represented in the forum largely echoed such a sentiment, saying increased student involvement in city initiatives will significantly benefit the Fort Collins community moving forward.

“When I’m decision making, I’m thinking about the folks who are going to succeed me in this city,” said Melanie Potyondy, District 4 challenger and school psychologist for the Poudre School District. “I want to be making sure that this city is set up for (young people).”

The five other candidates echoed Potyondy’s belief in ensuring the Fort Collins community fully supports the next generation of government officials and political activists.

Homelessness

Building upon the discussion surrounding the issue of affordable housing availability, candidates also discussed the growing number of individuals without housing in Fort Collins, detailing their proposed initiatives and pledging their support to alleviating the issue of homelessness in the Fort Collins community.

District 2 incumbent Julie Pignataro said several ongoing Fort Collins initiatives designed to reduce homelessness are working but that more can be done to fully solve the problem.

“With our population growth, the number of homeless has not increased at that same rate,” Pignataro said. “A lot of what we’re doing is already working.”

The majority of the candidates supported Pignataro’s sentiment, contending that Fort Collins City Council can still do more to ensure the availability of affordable housing for its residents.

Sustainability

With the push for carbon neutrality and environmental conservation ramping up across the United States, the shift away from the use of fossil fuels toward sustainable energy alternatives has become a top priority for Fort Collins City Council.

Fort Collins, as part of City Hall’s wider sustainability initiatives, has pledged to achieve an 80% reduction in greenhouse gases and zero-waste by 2030, serving as one of the more ambitious policy goals on behalf of a city government across the country.

Adams, a CSU class of 2020 alumnus, said he believes more can be done to help Fort Collins reduce its carbon footprint ahead of the 2030 target by implementing a distributed energy system, which allows for the consistent presence of power in solar- and wind-heavy power grids.

“Implementing a distributed energy system would be good economics and would allow us to feasibly achieve this goal,” Adams said.

Other candidates noted Fort Collins’ notoriously poor air quality in comparison to other comparable cities, offering their support in reducing emissions moving forward.

Transportation

Public transportation has been a consistent point of interest across the Fort Collins community, with plans for additional Transfort and Max routes repeatedly discussed within City Hall.

In particular, CSU students have voiced their concerns surrounding the availability of reliable, safe and clean public transport, advocating for additional routes extending to underrepresented areas of the city.

District 4 incumbent Shirley Peel said she supports the city’s efforts to expand access to public transportation more evenly throughout the community while also preserving existing city infrastructure.

“I support our plans that we have in place, but I’ve also heard concerns about our infrastructure and its safety,” Peel said.

Fort Collins City Council and mayoral candidates will continue to campaign ahead of the Nov. 7 general election.

Reach Sam Hutton at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @Sam_Hut14.