Longmont advances First and Main campus-transit hub package; final ordinance votes set for June 23

Longmont City Council on June 9 advanced a package tied to the proposed downtown academic campus and transit hub at First and Main, but the city’s public agenda record shows the two ordinances received first reading only and were scheduled for a June 23 second reading and public hearing.

The package included Resolution 2026-34, approving an intergovernmental agreement with the State of Colorado on behalf of Front Range Community College for pre-development work on an urban campus in downtown Longmont, along with Ordinance 2026-41 for additional appropriations tied to Front Range-related expenses and Ordinance 2026-42 for a phase-two development agreement with Vertikal Richmark LLC on a mixed-use project.

During the June 9 council meeting, city staff said Front Range Community College would contribute $4 million for predevelopment work, with that money to be appropriated through Ordinance 2026-41. Staff also said Ordinance 2026-42 would cover schematic design through construction drawings, entitlements and development of the 6.83-acre site east of Main Street.

Staff told council the broader financing model would extend beyond that predevelopment contribution. In the same meeting, staff said Longmont anticipates issuing debt and using tax increment financing, and that Front Range would enter a 30-year lease with an option to buy the campus after 10 years.

For downtown residents and transit riders, the main practical questions are how the site would function as a mobility hub and how much car infrastructure it would include. Staff described the First and Main facility as Longmont’s intended downtown bus rapid transit hub, while several council members questioned the amount of surface parking and pressed for stronger pedestrian and bike connections.

Earlier city descriptions of the project outlined a five-story transit hub with about 600 parking spaces and a ground-level bus station serving up to 10 buses. The city said the site is intended to connect CO 119 bus rapid transit, RTD regional buses, local bikeways, Ride Longmont microtransit and possible future Front Range Passenger Rail service.

The same city announcement said a Coffman Street extension from First Avenue to Boston Avenue is planned to improve access for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. Longmont’s 2025 Transportation Mobility Plan also identifies first-and-final-mile bicycle and pedestrian connections to the 1st and Main mobility hub as a priority.

What remains unclear from the records available to Badger is the exact vote tally on Resolution 2026-34 and the full text of the three June 9 items. The available agenda and meeting records support that council moved the First and Main package forward June 9 while leaving final ordinance approval for a later reading.

If the project is ultimately built as outlined in city records, it would bring a permanent Front Range Community College presence downtown, make First and Main the city’s main local-and-regional bus transfer point, and reshape the south end of downtown around transit, academic space, parking and new pedestrian and bike connections.