Skip to main content
Spanish Chinese Arabic German Swedish Russian Italian All languages
City of Fort Collins
 

Business

Business

Contact Us Newsletters
home city services Business General Improvement District (GID)

What's the Downtown GID?#

View full map

GID’s are originated by petition of a majority of registered electors of a city who own real property in the proposed district.  GID’s have been used to construct public improvements in established neighborhoods and to build and operate parking districts and have been used to build public infrastructure on land intended for commercial or residential development.

A municipality’s governing body (for Fort Collins, the City Council) sits as ex-officio board of directors for the district. The City of Fort Collins Municipal Code, Chapter 22, authorizes the specific administrative rules and requirements for General Improvement Districts.

The City of Fort Collins Downtown GID is a tax district formed by property owners in 1976 for the purpose of funding parking, pedestrian, and street beautification improvements. See the map in the Resources section of this page for the specific Downtown GID boundaries.

The GID receives revenues primarily from a mill levy set by City Council members acting as the Governing Board. The mill levy has remained at 4.94 mils since 1992. The GID receives other revenues from a share of vehicle registration tax, and interest on the fund balance.

The GID is managed by City staff, and City Council sits as the governing Board. Examples of past projects include College Avenue corner plazas, medians and street trees; Oak Street Plaza with its fountains; Linden Street streetscape; recent sidewalk replacements; and on a smaller scale, the sidewalk bike dismount signs and decals.

View Downtown GID Map

General Improvement District (GID) 2021 and 2022 Year in Review#

We made significant improvements with paver replacements, addressing safety concerns as well as visual improvements, contributed to sidewalk work for some of our local businesses, and replaced several tree grates that were broken, unsightly, and not ADA compliant.

Paving and Sidewalk Work ($70k over two years):

Every year Engineering provides the GID working group a prioritized list of intersections that needed repair and replacement in the GID area. The following work has been completed:

  • 110 N. Howes – alley driveway concrete work.
  • 201 S College (Blue Agave) –paver replacement.
  • 120 W Olive (near West Oak St Alley) – paver repair.
  • Ace Hardware – sidewalk and tree grate replacement.
  • 261 Pine – removed and replaced concrete tripping hazards.
  • Mountain Ave east of College – significant repair work including removed and replaced sidewalk chases, sidewalk, and apron construction

Oak Street Plaza ($170k total GID project cost) - The reopened space features a flatter area and a more centrally-located splash pad feature, which will allow for pedestrians to get through the area more easily.

DDA Alleys: Tenney Court North and West Oak Street ($300k in 2021) - In 2022, two new alleys were completed: Tenney Court North that features vinyl wrap mural installations at select locations on the façade of the Civic Center Parking Structure, and West Oak Street Alley with fan art structures at the access points

Downtown Parks Maintenance - Flagpole replacement in the College Ave median at Oak St. – the flagpoles in the median had significant deterioration at the base of each pole. Replacement was necessary for safety reasons.  This project was initially scheduled and budgeted in 2020 but due to delays from the contractor, work was completed in 2021.

View the 2021-2022 Annual Report

Oak Street Plaza

Oak Street Plaza

GID 2023 Projects#

  • Paving and Sidewalks – $75,000 for customary upgrades and repair and maintenance to pavers and sidewalks in the GID. This includes:
    • Review of Oak Street between Mason St. and Oak St. Plaza (sidewalk and forestry repairs) – the GID team did a walk about on Oak Street in May 2022. Work anticipated in 2023.
    • Review of south side of Jefferson Street between Pine and Linden (see pictures) – the GID team did a walk about on Jefferson Street in September 2022 after a business owner expressed concerns about the condition of the sidewalk and the tree elements. Work anticipated in 2023.
  • Parks and Forestry – $50,000 for priority projects including tree replacement on medians along College Ave., new waterfall/water feature at the North and South medians at College and Mountain Ave, and pressure washing the median half walls to maintain structural integrity. Includes the purchase of café tables and chairs for Linden Street (February 2023)
  • Downtown Holiday Lights – $90,000 for downtown holiday lights (cost shared with DDA).
  • Capital Improvement Plan update – the GID will present to the Board a new capital improvement plan in the first half or 2023. The GID has worked with City departments, the DDA and business stakeholders to put together the priority capital projects for the next five years.