Happy Monday, Longmont! Here’s your obligatory reminder to go to King Soopers to claim a free donut, since the Denver Broncos beat the LA Chargers yesterday. I love football.

Today — breaking down the ground-breaking of Longmont’s new transit center, a local is arrested for stuff you don’t want to be arrested for, and a potential name for the city’s new rec center.

Let’s dive in.

Just like your husband building a backyard patio deck, Longmont has begun a project two decades after coming up with the idea.

Friday afternoon, the City of Longmont celebrated the groundbreaking of the 1st and Main Transit Station. It’s the first concrete step for an ambitious downtown renewal project that’s been two decades in the making.

The $70 million project involves a five-story transit center and an extension of Coffman Street. The transit center will include a bus station with 10 bus bays, about 700 parking spaces, bicycle storage and provide connections to regional bus service and passenger rail service, which is slated to be ready in 2029.

That $70 million price tag may give you pause, but Longmont is getting help:

The city made an initial investment of $17.6 million and will borrow money to cover the remainder of the project via certificates of participation — a form of long-term financing. Longmont plans to repay this money using tax revenue generated by redevelopment, private development parking fees, and money from the Public Improvement and Street funds.

Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2027 but probably much later.

Zooming out:

The transit center is the first development of a much bigger transit hub that involves a dramatic revival of the surrounding area. Here’s what the city has planned:

Commercial and apartment construction is planned to begin in early 2027 and finish by the end of 2028.

Zooming out further:

Longmont City Council hopes Friday’s groundbreaking marks the beginning to the end of a vision for “a vibrant Main Street and a river corridor, stretching from the Sugar Mill to the Fairgrounds, that provides a residential, cultural, and entertainment epicenter while sustainably respecting the natural environment,” per a statement from the project website.

Longmont man arrested for child sexual exploitation: 39-year-old Bryan Glyn Tylor turned himself into police last Thursday on an arrest warrant for 12 counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of tampering with physical evidence, per the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office. After police conducted a search warrant for Tylor’s 16th Avenue Longmont home, investigators found thousands of pictures and videos related to child sexual exploitation. Tylor allegedly attempted to tamper with the evidence investigators found when law enforcement first arrived to execute the warrant.

Victims in plane crash identified: Three-year-old Isabella Gingrich and 43-year-old Aaron Gingrich were the sole victims in last week’s deadly plane crash, per the Office of the Boulder County Coroner. The pair took off from Vance Brand Municipal Airport in a private, single-engine aircraft on the evening of October 4 and crashed south of the Flatirons later that night. The crash site wasn’t found until the following morning around 10:15. It’s still unclear what caused the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading an investigation.

Still no precipitation in October: 1/3 of the way through October and Longmont is yet to record any measurable rain, according to National Weather Service data. Historically, Longmont records almost half an inch of precipitation by this point in the month. Longmont also set a city record for the hottest October 6 ever, when temperatures reached a peak of 90 degrees and tallied an average of 68.5 degrees, both of which were all-time highs.

In Longmont City Council’s latest meeting, members voted to begin the process of naming the city’s new recreation center the Lehman Recreation Center.

Councilmember Jake Marsing, who made the motion to kickstart the process, said the family’s role in preserving the YMCA building has been too valuable to overlook.

“The Lehman family has been tied to this facility and this YMCA for years,” Marsing said. “The recent purchase of that facility to become our second recreation center does not happen, frankly, without them stepping in.”

The Lehman family is best known for their ownership of the Longmont Daily Times-Call from 1957-2011. But they were, and remain, active philanthropists and prominent champions of community causes.

Not so fast…

The idea faced pushback from Councilmember Crystal Prieto who wanted to debate the issue at a future study session. She expressed interest in recognizing prominent community members who made significant contributions to the city that weren’t financial.

“I’ve lived in Longmont my whole life and don’t know this gentleman,” Prieto said. “On the east side of town, as well, I’m not sure many of those residents and community know him.”

The topic will return to city council and must pass through a first and second reading to take effect.

Key: Sport (win - loss, ranking (if in Top 25)): most recent result. next scheduled event.

From 1974 to 1987, silver more than doubled gold's returns. After 2008, it beat gold five-fold in three years. Since March 2020, silver is up 402% against gold's 186%. Our research team's free playbook explains why, and how the team would position.

Get the Free Playbook