The Fort Collins City Council on Tuesday evening approved a faster review process for many housing developments, authorized nearly $9 million in potential tax rebates for a $1.5 billion Broadcom expansion and directed city staff to prepare a six-month moratorium on certain data centers.
The three decisions addressed separate but significant questions about how Fort Collins will manage housing growth, economic development and emerging demands on city infrastructure.
Councilmember Chris Conway was absent from the Oct. 6 meeting. The housing ordinance and data center resolution each passed 5-1, while the Broadcom incentive agreement received unanimous support from the six council members present.
Council moves housing projects to administrative review
Council gave final approval to Ordinance No. 118, 2026, which shifts many residential developments to Basic Development Review, an administrative process that does not require a Planning and Zoning Commission hearing.
The ordinance applies to several housing types, including single-unit detached and attached homes, duplexes, multifamily housing and mixed-use residential developments in most zoning districts where those uses are already allowed. Lower-density housing in commercial and employment districts will retain a higher level of review, reflecting the city’s preference for denser development in those areas.
The measure passed 5-1, with Councilmember Amy Hoeven opposed. Councilmember Melanie Potyondy, who joined Hoeven in opposing the ordinance on first reading Sept. 15, voted in favor of it at final approval.
Supporters described the change as one of several steps the city can take to make housing construction more predictable, efficient and less expensive. The ordinance does not expand where residential projects are permitted or change the development standards those projects must meet. Instead, it changes the process used to evaluate projects that already comply with the city’s zoning rules.
The change could substantially reduce application costs. City staff estimated a Basic Development Review application costs $16,900, compared with $49,250 for separate project development and final plan reviews. Applying the lower review fee to qualifying projects submitted between 2022 and 2026 would have reduced city development-review revenue by an estimated $873,400.
The proposal originated with the council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Affordable and Sustainable Growth. The committee asked staff to identify regulatory changes that could help advance the council’s goal of making development more predictable and cost-effective.
The ordinance takes effect Oct. 16.
Broadcom agreement offers performance-based tax rebates
In a separate 6-0 vote, council approved Resolution 2026-116, authorizing a business investment assistance agreement with Avago Technologies Wireless Manufacturing, LLC, which operates as Broadcom in Fort Collins.
The agreement supports an approximately $1.5 billion modernization and expansion of Broadcom’s semiconductor manufacturing campus at 4380 Ziegler Road. The project includes a roughly 26,000-square-foot clean-room retrofit in Building 2, a 38,000-square-foot expansion of Building 4 and major investments in semiconductor manufacturing equipment, automation, research and development, climate-control systems and pollution-abatement equipment.
Broadcom’s Fort Collins operation traces its history to a Hewlett-Packard wafer fabrication facility completed in 1981. Following a series of corporate spinoffs, mergers and acquisitions, the operation became part of Agilent, Avago and eventually Broadcom.
City staff said the investment would support and retain about 1,000 manufacturing jobs and add approximately 100 permanent positions. The new jobs are expected to pay between $66,000 and $135,000 annually. Broadcom currently employs about 1,350 people in Fort Collins, including more than 1,000 in its Wireless Services Division.
Under the agreement, Broadcom may receive rebates on portions of city sales and use taxes generated by qualifying investments. The incentives include a 25% rebate on eligible unrestricted taxes associated with construction, manufacturing and automation equipment, climate-control systems and research and development expenses. Qualifying pollution-abatement equipment may receive a 100% rebate of the eligible base tax.
The agreement caps equipment and expense rebates at $6.957 million and construction-material rebates at $1.974 million, for a combined maximum of approximately $8.9 million.
The rebates are performance-based. Broadcom must first make the qualifying purchases, pay or remit the applicable taxes and submit documentation to the city. Future rebate payments will also require annual appropriations by the council.
The agreement includes a $500,000 holdback tied to Broadcom reaching 1,115 employees in its Wireless Services Division. The city may release the money incrementally as the company moves toward that employment target.
City officials estimate the project could generate approximately $50 million in sales and use taxes over 10 years, leaving about $43 million in net new city revenue after the maximum incentives are paid.
Council’s approval of the agreement reflects the framework established under the City’s Business Assistance Package Incentive Policy, adopted by Council through Resolution 2026-076 on June 2, 2026. The policy was created to guide the evaluation of economic development incentive requests and ensure public assistance is directed toward projects that advance the city’s economic goals.
Council directs staff to prepare data center moratorium
Council also voted 5-1 to approve Resolution 2026-117, directing staff to return Oct. 20 with a proposed six-month moratorium on certain data centers.
Councilmember Josh Fudge cast the lone dissenting vote.
The resolution immediately directs the city not to accept development or permit applications for “covered data centers” while the formal moratorium is being prepared. That category includes data centers proposed as a primary use and data centers accessory to another use when their anticipated peak electrical demand exceeds 10 megawatts.
The resolution defines a data center as a facility primarily used to store, manage, process or transmit digital information. The definition covers associated servers, network equipment, cooling infrastructure, backup power systems and commercial cryptocurrency mining operations.
City staff said data centers are not currently listed as an allowed primary use in Fort Collins and that the Land Use Code does not contain regulations tailored to them.
Council members have discussed concerns about the potential effects of large data centers on electric capacity, water consumption, utility costs, noise, light, heat and surrounding land uses. Staff told council during an Aug. 25 work session that existing substation locations and available electrical capacity would significantly affect where large-load facilities could be served.
The proposed moratorium would give staff time to study whether data centers should be permitted in Fort Collins and, if so, what regulations should address their location, design, resource consumption and operational impacts.
Council is expected to consider the formal six-month moratorium Oct. 20. The final ordinance could revise the proposed 10-megawatt threshold or establish additional criteria for determining which facilities are covered.
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