Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
Matthew Breman and Mike Bennett - City of Fruita - Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
Christi sits down with Fruita Mayor Matthew Breman and City Manager Mike Bennett to talk about all the exciting things happening in Fruita, Colorado right now! They also talk about growth, city planning and more in this month's Full Circle Podcast.
If you prefer to watch your podcasts, head to our YouTube page to check this episode out!
Learn more about the city at Fruita.org
Christi sits down with Fruita Mayor Matthew Breman and City Manager Mike Bennett to talk about all the exciting things happening in Fruita, Colorado right now! They also talk about growth, city planning and more in this month's Full Circle Podcast.
If you prefer to watch your podcasts, head to our YouTube page to check this episode out!
Learn more about the city at Fruita.org
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Speaker 2:The Full Circle podcast, compelling interviews and incredible tales from Colorado's Western Slope, from the mountains to the desert. Christy Reese and her team here from the Movers Shakers, and characters of the Grand Valley and surrounding mountain towns that make the Western slope the place we all love. You'll learn, you'll laugh, you'll love with the full circle. Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Full Circle Podcast. I'm your host, Christy Reese, and I am honored today to have as our guest, Matthew Breman and Mike Bennett from the city of Fruita . Matthew is the mayor, Mike City Manager. Gentlemen , thank you for being here.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having us.
Speaker 4:Yeah, thanks for
Speaker 2:Having us. We love Fruita . Yeah, we really do. What a great , uh, town it is. And , uh, it's a town or a city? City. It's a city of Fruita . Yeah.
Speaker 3:Just about 14,000 people. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 2:And that encompasses what area?
Speaker 3:Uh, 6.8 square miles, and we go from the south side of the interstate, the co capelli area , uh, a little further east, and then all the way to, it's kind of jagged. It's not a perfect square, but , uh, it's 16 road. And then how far north do we go?
Speaker 4:About L Road.
Speaker 2:L Road. Okay. And then it's un unincorporated Mayes County that's right above that. Yeah. Lots of development going on in Fruita . Um, how do you feel about development , uh, north? It's something we need, we need more housing. Um, it's , is it a , a double-edged sword or what's what's your thoughts on
Speaker 3:Development? I , I have my own thoughts. I'll let you go first though.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I would say that the development that's, that is occurring right now is all within a , a planned , uh, area. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , that's called either within the city limits or within the city's future growth area . So we've spent a lot of years planning and , uh, in 2019, we engaged over 4,000 of our residents to update our comprehensive plan that led to how we grow, where we grow. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and revisiting the previous decade old , uh, comprehensive plan. And so we're seeing, we've made specific changes related to the feedback from the community. That's wonderful. And we're seeing the fruits of those , uh, code changes immediately from apartments in the downtown area. Yes.
Speaker 2:That's super exciting. Uh ,
Speaker 4:Yeah . We have, you know, affordable or workforce housing , uh, near the new elementary school, and we have single family homes , single family attached detached. So , um, it's all been planned. The infrastructure is planned for that growth to fill in to those areas. So I always often say it's like a coloring book, and it's zoned for certain types of development, and we're seeing it happen. But we grew from 2008 to , um, or , uh, let's see, we , we grew from 98 to 2008 and like double digit , uh, percentage growth rates year over year. And we've averaged 1% for about 10 years. And we're hovering in that 2% right now.
Speaker 2:2% growth in your population every year.
Speaker 3:But there's 1200 homes , uh, on paper under development. So it can take 5, 7, 10 years to build out. But to answer your question, is it a double-edged sword? Yes. We need the housing, we need workforce housing, we need all of that. Um, but we also wanna maintain kind of a small city feel the hometown feel. Everybody gets to know the neighbors, and trying to balance that growth with the feel of fruita and still respect the agricultural roots that are there, but yet understand the needs of our growth. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative> . I , I think every municipality struggles with that to some extent. Right. Keeping the character of the town and not losing that charm , uh, but providing for the people that wanna live there. 'cause lots of people wanna live in Fruita .
Speaker 3:It's a cool place to live.
Speaker 2:It's a cool place. And it's not just mountain biking, right? No. What do you love about Fruita ?
Speaker 3:Um, love the music. A lot of live music going on in futa. Um , Thursday night concerts are my favorite. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> love going down there. You get to see your neighbors. That's kind of what I consider more hyper-local events. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , you get to see a lot of people, you know, that's probably my favorite. Uh, I am starting to get into the biking scene more. I've kind of drug my feet getting into it, but I , I , I just bought a new bike the other day and jumping into that one.
Speaker 2:Right . Does it cost more than your car?
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:<laugh> . Okay. Good . They say
Speaker 3:A trend , but you're asking the wrong question , which is the cost of the car, cost of the bike. <laugh> . That , that's probably my favorite. Um, you know, I love, you know , going to the grocery store and you go to get one thing and you know , it can be 45 minutes. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . 'cause you just run into people, you know, and you have all those side conversations and you find out how people are doing. And I mean, that's the joy of it. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> ,
Speaker 2:What do you think, Mike? What's your favorite things about Fruita ? Yeah. I,
Speaker 4:I love the people. Uh , the people are so positive. Love the area I lived, my dad was in the Army, so I grew up all over the country. And I, it was, it was such a welcoming community, and I felt that for the last 10 years. Um, obviously the access to the outdoors is so easy. It's, it's so easy to incorporate in , into your life and not have to plan a trip. You know, you can get out and hike. I love to hike. Um , we love to camp. My family and I , uh, we love to mountain bike. Uh , there's a lot of water opportunities now, even more than there used to be. Um, but I , I'm with Matthew. I love the Thursday night concerts. Uh , it's a , it , it's just, and we've added other hyper-local events, like the movie nights in the, in the park in the fall and things like that, because it's just, it's fun to be with people. You always see people, you know. Uh, and it's, it's really positive, positive. Of course, we have, you know, the, the tough things we have to work through as a community. But , uh, people have a lot of love for living in Fruita , and that's a lot of fun to be a part of, not only working, but living in the community.
Speaker 2:And I will say, as you know, we have an office in downtown Fruita . The business community is so welcoming. I mean, like, roll out the red carpet. It was, it's been really wonderful. Um, speaking of business is the commercial , uh, center , uh, and infrastructure and, and the businesses that are there keeping up with the , uh, growth in the population.
Speaker 4:Yeah ,
Speaker 3:They are. And , uh, there's been a lot of new growth that's happened. The farm, I don't know if you've been out there. Yes . The fruit of arts. Yeah . Um, that's great. The kind of along that line, the old powder coating building that's being redone, that will become a commercial space. We're getting more and more of that coming in. Uh, and I do think it is keeping up. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> .
Speaker 2:Awesome. I wanna , um, go back a little bit and talk about your personal journey to Fruita and the Grand Valley. So let's start with you Matthew. Um, when was the first time you came to the Grand Valley?
Speaker 3:Probably , uh, 2003. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . Uh , I remember that. 'cause my son turned one when he was here, and it was our first visit. Uhhuh
Speaker 2:<affirmative> . You had relatives in the area?
Speaker 3:Yes. My dad , uh, moved out here. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. And what'd you think? You were just visiting, you weren't looking to move at the time?
Speaker 3:This is horrible to say out loud. Um, for us, it was kind of like sushi. So, which is the first time somebody says, oh, let's go have sushi. You're like, really? Yeah . <laugh> , why would anybody wanna eat raw fish ? Eat this. So you go, and then you're like, oh , okay. Second time, they're like, do you wanna go have sushi? And you're like, yeah, sure. I get it. Like, okay, I'll do it. And the third time you're like, I would love some sushi. And it was really our third visit here, which my wife and I were looking for a change of life , uh, style. We never lived and worked in the same city and all that sort of stuff. And it was just like, yeah, this is it. Yeah . Uh , it was maybe a bottle or two of wine and some conversation at lunch, and we're like, yeah, let's make this happen.
Speaker 2:I've talked to a lot of people, you know, being in real estate , uh, talking to them about their first impression of town. And a lot of people who came here without having been here before to think about moving, say they fly in and they're out there in the North desert where it's kind of dry. They're looking at the landscape and thinking, Hmm , I don't know. And I say, you just gotta spend a little time here and you'll figure it out. Let me tell you .
Speaker 3:Yeah. And Mike talked about it. It's just part of when we decided to move it was we wanted a community where we could get involved. And not every community is like that . And here it was, oh, you want to get involved and willing to roll up your sleeves? Like, come on in. Like, it was very, very welcoming, unlike any place I'd ever been.
Speaker 2:And you worked in Florida for a long time in , uh, about 20 years. Nickelodeon and Disney. Really? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , interesting background. How do you think that that background has helped you , uh, in your leadership role in Fruita Now?
Speaker 3:Uh , that's not where I thought you were gonna go with that question.
Speaker 2:<laugh>.
Speaker 3:I , um, the great thing about the entertainment industry is it creates, you have to be both business-minded and creative all at the same time, and be able to deal with when the roof caves in, how do you make it work? Like, okay, there's gonna be lots of challenges, and you just kind of learn that this the normal pace of things, and you just roll up your sleeves and you get things done. But it's that balance of, you know, how do we be creative about how we solve these business problems? I mean, that was part of what I, my job was at Disney was, here are very real business problems. Be creative in terms of how you solve it, and it kind of dovetails really well.
Speaker 2:And you have a marketing background as well. Yes. Which I know helps in all forms of government. I mean, just thinking creatively about your town and how we can promote it.
Speaker 3:Yes. Always thinking about that, the communication that needs to happen. It feels like half of the job of what we do is making sure we communicate. And Mike has a phenomenal team. Uh , Sierra out there does an amazing job of getting that communication out. But it's always part of that thought process. If we're gonna do this, how do we make sure that the public understands? How do we communicate it effectively? Um, and minimize, you can't get rid of it, but minimize the opportunity for misunderstanding. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 2:Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, same question for you, Mike. How did you get to the Grand Valley and to Fruita specifically?
Speaker 4:Yeah, the , uh, I went, my undergrad was in , uh, journalism and public relations and marketing, and then later I did a Master of Public Administration. And after grad school, I was moving to North Carolina for my first job with , uh, uh, city of Hickory, North Carolina out there. And I remember driving through the Valley, and I remember coming down through seeing, you know, Palisade and seeing those orchards and just kind of seeing the vistas and, and thought, this is, this is beautiful in a different way than a lot of places. I had le I lived. And then that was that. Right? Then I worked in North Carolina. I was there almost nine years, had a, had a really fun career with , uh, or time period with , uh, the city there and learned a lot. And then got to a point where we were debating if we stay in North Carolina or if we come back west and we wanted to be in Colorado. I I went to high school in Cheyenne, Wyoming and fell in love with Fort Collins and Colorado while I lived there. And we decided , uh, we would look in Colorado and we were visiting some family out west when I saw the posting for Fruita and just felt like I should look into it more. And the more I looked into Fruita , the more excited I got. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And the more I looked into the whole area, the more excited I've I got. And it, it worked out. And we've , uh, my family and I, we have three kids and we just, we love it. We , we don't wanna leave the area. We love this, this place. And , uh, it's just been a wonderful , uh, career. It's been a , it's been great. Uh, as far as work goes , um, what I really love about the fact of, like we talked about earlier of the , the people and , and people wanting to , uh, continue to fill this small town atmosphere is when we engage with them, we really dove deep into what does that mean? Because all, all of us could answer that question differently. And the values that came out of the community feedback is something that we deliberately focus on when we make decisions. And it's fun to be part of that because there's a, there's a real purpose and there's a deliberate approach to when we look at economic development, when we look at housing, when we look at , um, marketing the area, those are at the forefront. So that as we grow, we're, we're only building upon that value. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> that , uh, those values that mean the most to the community that the
Speaker 2:Residents have expressed to you. Right ? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. That's awesome. Um, how, how often do you work together? I mean, as mayor and city manager, what's your , uh, daily relationship like? What's your communication like?
Speaker 3:We have a standing one-on-one every Thursday, which was scheduled for an hour. I don't think we've ever made it less than an hour and 45 minutes <laugh>. So , uh, we have that as a standing meeting. And then , um, I'm very guilty of sending emails out at odd hours <laugh> , uh, and a lot of it kind of goes back and forth that way. And then it's a lot of texts. You know, yesterday something came up, I'm like, Hey, Mike, can I give you a shout? And he is like, yep . And that was, you know, half hour phone calls . So we talk probably daily. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> ,
Speaker 2:Because you are seeing, I'm guessing you're seeing the , the issues arising quickly. They come there , things are coming into your office and you're disseminating information to the mayor and the the other government officials. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah. A big part of my role as city manager is to make sure that the mayor and the city council are informed about , um, that they're informed that they have the information they need to make policy decisions. And then that I'm making sure that we as a team of all the employees at the City of Fruit are implementing the policy and then overseeing all the operations. So it's a, it's a full-time job for me, and it's a part-time for the mayor, but it takes a lot of time. I don't think people realize how much , uh, time is volunteered by city council members and especially a , a , a mayor. And it's a lot of fun to work with Matthew. Um, I, I think because we're both super passionate about it and we just enjoy it and have a lot of fun. And so , um,
Speaker 3:We also have similar management styles. True. Yeah. Uh, and that , uh, I'm so appreciative of Mike. 'cause I'm like, I'll send him a spreadsheet. 'cause that's part of how I process. And I'm like, Hey, I have a stupid idea, <laugh> , and send him a spreadsheet. And I'm like, what do you think? And I'll be like, help walk me through this. Okay. I see where you're going with this, not how I took it. And then we just kind of have this ability to take each other's ideas and just build upon them. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> .
Speaker 2:Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Mike, what do you think are the biggest changes that you've seen in your tenure with City of Fruita ?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Well , some of the exciting changes have been just building the team. We have overqualified exceptional people that work at the city of Fruita . And it's, it's so much fun to work with them. And I remember , uh, I remember starting the job about 10 years ago. October will be 10 years. And there were great people that worked there, but there weren't a lot of people that worked there. And we haven't added a ton of positions. But as we've grown and tried to meet the demands of the community, we've been able to recruit some really talented people. People that could, that can do my job, that can do many jobs at the city. And that creativity , uh, that's been a big change. I mean, we're able to do a lot more than maybe we , uh, could do earlier. And we were, we were doing a good job. I, I feel like we've taken it to , um, from Good to Great. And , uh, I, the other would be in the community. We've definitely seen a major change with housing. I'm sure I don't, you know, you , you're very aware of that. Um, but the cost of housing and, and that's not Fruita alone, but that's definitely something we've experienced. And that was at a rapid rate. Um, you know, we also came from a time of maybe one type of product. And yeah , so we're meeting that , uh, demand of multiple types of products. But the, but the prices are high. And that, that's a challenge for those that wanna live in Fruita , where once it was a community that you would get that first, maybe that first house. Um, and a lot of young families did that and moved into Fruita . And now it can be a little more challenging , uh, price wise , depending on, depending on circumstances. Uh, so we're working really hard on that. Um, I would say , uh, those are probably two big changes that I've seen. Um, and then otherwise we've, we've been able to add a lot of amenities and a lot of , uh, more localized events , uh, to compliment , you know, what, what people wanted to ex want to experience that lived there. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it , it's such a nice compliment to the, to Palisade and Grand Junction and what they're doing. It's, I mean, you can go find something fun to do any day of the week in the Valley. It's so great. Um, Matthew, what do you think are the biggest challenges , uh, facing the city of Fruita right now?
Speaker 3:Uh, managing the growth , uh, is always gonna be a challenge. It's a good challenge to have. I'd rather have that than the opposite. Um, and once again, trying to keep up , uh, the feeling, the kind of vibe, the funkiness of fruita and making sure that continues as we continue to grow. Uh, that keeps me up at night. And so does looking at , uh, you know, how do we pay for things? What are the capital projects? What do you know, we need to try to stay ahead of , um, you know , how do we, you know , make sure that our infrastructure stays up to date , how , and it keeps up with the growth, and how do we, you know, not get so far behind that now it's like 10 times the cost to try to get it up to speed. That, and then continuing with economic development, as we grow, we're gonna need that to expand. Uh , and how do we create those opportunities for people to come in and start their business or grow their business in Fruita ?
Speaker 2:'cause you have a business park out there. Yes.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And
Speaker 2:We do, like on the river, close to the river , um, I mean, everywhere is close to the river in Fruita , right? Yes.
Speaker 3:And we also have , um, uh, it's the working title is the launch. I don't know if you're aware of this. It's the Old Lagoon property. Yes. Where we now have 41.25 acres there that we're just starting to figure out now that we've acquired it, what to do with it, and you know, how to grow that and how to have that developed in a way that fits our community, that allows, you know, the riverfront access and maybe access to Yeah , actually like a boat ramp and possible concerts, but also how do you mix that residential and commercial, and how do you work through that? So that continues to grow, build out opportunities for businesses and residents. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , but still keeping it funky. Fruita . Yeah.
Speaker 2:This is so great. Um, before the recession, there were a lot of plans for businesses on the South commercial , uh, sites, and that slowly started to fill in, but there's still some space over there too, correct?
Speaker 3:I don't know if there's much space left. Uh, family Health West has taken over a lot of that. My understanding is all the MP lots have been purchased, so none of those are currently , uh, I don't think are for sale. Um, and the owners of those are just waiting for the time, but there's not that much space left over there.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I think there's only maybe one small, very small retail space, but all the rest is purchased waiting for various development .
Speaker 2:Yeah. Awesome. Um, we talk a lot , um, in the, you know, the conferences and everything that we have on the economy , uh, and the Grand Valley about the collaboration between the municipalities and between the chambers and everything. But it , it's really evident , uh, in the last couple of years that everybody's working together. How do you see that benefiting fruita and what are some of the better collaborations that you feel that you have that have been just a , a , a big benefit to Fruita ?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Collaborations are a huge part of our success. We often credit the fact that most of the, the accomplishments that we've made have been through some partnership of some sort. I mean, the project that Matthew's talking about along the river, super exciting , uh, public private partnership and the way we're going about it, it's a true partnership with a , with a private developer. And, and we really, we're really excited about that. Um, we do work very closely with all the government entities in , in the Valley. Uh, one of the nice things about local government work is you share information regularly. I mean, for one, it's, it's already , uh, public. Um, but it's, but we learn from each other. There's, there's really not, it, it shouldn't be looked at as a competition in any way because it's, it's more of a collaboration. I love the way you, you worded that because, you know, grand Junction's this, this hub, and , uh, it's definitely the retail hub and, you know, the airport and the , the university and all these things that benefit all of our communities. And then each community has, you know, our own individual character character. Um , and it compliments everything. Uh, we've had some good collaborations with, with, I would say each of 'em , we've, we've coordinated a lot with , uh, grand Junction's , uh, planning development department with, as we've gone through a , a comprehensive plan and land use code update. They've been going through those and, and comparing and learning from each other how we address ADUs and , um, so many different things like that. The list could just keep going on. We work with the county, their services, the county provides , uh, all of the communities. And you know, there's , so there , there's, there , there really are a ton of partnerships. We do a lot of marketing with Palisade. Yeah . Um, yeah .
Speaker 3:The Chambers work really well together. Chambers , they do , uh, you know , joint membership, joint events, that's been great. But in terms of working across the Valley, there's never, like, nobody's trying to get that gotcha moment. Yeah. And it's, you know, those conversations happen when they're appropriate. Like, you know, just so you're aware this is what's going on and this is what's gonna happen and, you know, let's, can we sit down and can we talk about this issue that's coming up that we have to figure out? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . Yeah . Which is nice to be able to pick up a phone and call somebody and get a call back . And it's very much like, how can we help you?
Speaker 2:Yeah. There isn't a feeling of competitiveness among the communities here, which is really nice. It's like, wow, if you have a great thing happen in Palisade or Fruita or Grand Junction, everybody else is happy about it. For
Speaker 4:Sure. Well ,
Speaker 2:<laugh>
Speaker 4:I would say the most
Speaker 3:Part. For the most part. Yeah. I mean, there's times I'm like, you know, we just had a community survey and I was like, did uh , junction take the same survey? How'd they do <laugh> ? Like , you know .
Speaker 2:Right. And how does the university , uh, affect things in Fruita ? Um, do you have a relationship with them? Are there any, any ties to Frida or any , um, offsite collaborations with the university?
Speaker 3:There's not, at least from my point of view, there's not a direct collaboration. But the university worked closely with , uh, the business entities, the Chamber, in terms of workforce development. They work closely with , uh, like their handshake program for internships. I know from the city, you know, that we work closely with them. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . Um, and I do know, you know, there's a lot of people within the community work at the university, volunteer at the university as well. I mean, it is still a big part of what we do. And then when you, you know , on the weekends, there's certainly a CMU presence uhhuh there in terms of the student bodies.
Speaker 4:Yeah . Yeah. I had the op , I have the opportunity to teach an intro introduction to public administration class at CMU. And so, just in a small way, it's been fun because we've had interns , uh, that we've met through, we just had, we had one in the last time I taught that class , uh, that did communications. And it was through , uh, the Workforce Center and the Chambers program and CMU program where , uh, and it , and it worked out great. And so having the , so we have, we have a lot of small connections, definitely personal connections with, with a lot of the people that work at the , at CMU. And I hope to see more and more of that. I, but they provide a , just having that in our area is, is, is a massive , uh, uh, benefit for workforce. It's a ma I mean, it , there's so much energy that comes from a campus and from a university and a community. It's so exciting. We're fortunate to have that.
Speaker 3:I've been at chamber meetings where CMU is there, and it's a workforce discussion. It's like, all right , how can we get, you know, our students plugged in more to what's happening here? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and making sure that those connections and the communication continues. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 4:<affirmative> , I think they , they do such a good job as well of, of figuring, of creating programs or adjusting programs for the needs of the workforce. And not even the current work workforce, but looking ahead at , uh, you know, what types of jobs we see coming to the area. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You have to do some projections. And I do think there, there's creative leadership at the university that does think about the whole county and not just Grand Junction. Definitely.
Speaker 4:Which I appreciate. I agree. Yeah .
Speaker 2:What do you think are some underutilized resources in the fruit area that you would like to see? Have more of a role?
Speaker 3:Wow .
Speaker 4:That's a good one.
Speaker 3:That's one gonna be gotcha .
Speaker 2:There's, there's so many, but there's so many things about fruit . I mean, you've got great hiking. You've got the Colorado River that runs right through , um, you've got mountain biking, you have dinosaur bones , uh, so many things. Is there something that, that needs a little more promotion or attention? Or do you feel it's pretty well balanced? I
Speaker 3:Think it's pretty well balanced. I don't know if people realize that how much music we have going on. Uh , there's almost, there's live music almost every night in Fruita . You know, we're known for, we're known for great stuff, mountain biking, pizza, beer. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , like, you know, a little bit more. I wish , you know, people were a little bit more aware of some of the local music that happens in Fruita . Um, yeah . I , I can't really think of anything that's like, so
Speaker 2:Where do people find out about what's going on? Where's the best place to find out about the music going on in Fuda for people listening and watching?
Speaker 3:There is, the Chamber does a pretty good job, promot promoting, but , uh, the city website's got stuff. But look at , uh, the Copper Club base camp . They always have stuff going on as well. Yeah .
Speaker 4:I would say a lot of the social media sides of the businesses and definitely of the city. Uh, there's a lot that's shared for that. I, I think , uh, one of the things that's , uh, that , that could be underutilized , um, is, oh my gosh, now I just did it. I totally, totally went blank on . I'll think of it later. So , okay. <laugh> ,
Speaker 3:The Bark Park, the museum trying to go through? No , we have
Speaker 4:A ,
Speaker 3:We have a new bark park . Yeah.
Speaker 2:A new Bark Park . Talk about that. Tell us about the new Bark Park .
Speaker 3:Um , I guess it was two years ago. There's land next to the, a museum out there, the dinosaur museum. And I don't remember whose idea it was, it may have been mark's, but people wanted a dog park in Fruita for a long time. And we had this land and the opportunity came up and it was within the budget, and then kind of started small, so to build it out, and then now we're adding to it. But yeah, now we have our own bark park . It's very cool. There's a small park, small dog park, a large dog, dog park. And , uh, we use it quite a bit. And it's great because I meet probably half the people aren't local. Oh , they're coming in from the Utah area. They have dogs with them, and they stop there. They utilize the park. And you have some great conversations. Uhhuh <affirmative> .
Speaker 2:That's great.
Speaker 4:I would say that the effort to promote the variety is, is there and worked on regularly. Um, we will, whether we promote it or not, we will always get a lot of attention for mountain biking. And so sometimes people think we promote that only , uh, but we promote the full variety in , in all the efforts we do , uh, especially on the tourism front. And , uh, but we get a ton of attention for that because we are really known for that across all, across the world. And , uh, and so it's been a benefit. But you're right, there's so many things to do. And I think the more we more people discover the fact that within two to three hours, you can be at so many really cool places. The fact that you can enjoy, you know, these sunny , uh, winter days in the thirties that you can go hike or ride your bike. But if you want to go up to Powderhorn and ski, I mean, those things are s it's so awesome <laugh> , you know, to live here and experience that. Um, I, I think we
Speaker 2:Almost don't wanna share it, right ? It like
Speaker 4:I know we almost,
Speaker 2:We love it here.
Speaker 3:And Mike is famous different. Mike , Mike, the hit US Chicken Uhhuh <laugh> is famous around the world. <laugh> <laugh> .
Speaker 2:Yeah. He gets some pretty good press.
Speaker 3:It , it's literally, my wife was in Florida and they did a whole article while she was down there about Mike, the headless chicken festival in St . Pete. <laugh> . I mean, it's unbelievable his popularity <laugh> not to take away from you. No, but ,
Speaker 4:Uh , but to your comment, Christie , I think we, we've put a lot of effort over the years in promoting , uh, promoting both the variety, but also, you know, how to take care of the, the , the environment that we enjoy. And we've, we've put a lot of funds into actually creating ways to maintain trails and to build trails in a more sustain , sustainable manner. And in a way that those of us that live here still have this experience , um, that you can have on a weekday or a weekend. And sometimes those weekends get a little busy. And, and so we want to, when we look at what we're prioritizing, we look at community first and then tourism second. And that's , that's a value that came from our community. And so we feel really good about the fact that we started early in those efforts, in those messages, especially watching other communities that kind of got so far. And then they were trying to step back really quickly and say, whoa, whoa , whoa , now we need to think about this, this, and this. And we have too many people. And , uh, so we've, we've tried to, we've tried to, with within the influence we have, we've tried to work really hard on that.
Speaker 2:So when you talk about that , um, community first I'm envisioning like, and , uh, you have some money to do something with, think about the connecting trails in town before you go put a bunch more money into mountain bike trails or whatever. Right? Like making sure you're , your core is really , um, community friendly. Right.
Speaker 3:I just had a conversation with somebody two weeks ago that had just moved to Fruita and was amazed at how she could bike anywhere in town because of the trail system within the , the community. And that for her was just a win. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Um, so what are you most excited about for the future of Fruita ? Are there some projects that you see down the road or some things that you're shooting for long term that get you excited?
Speaker 4:Definitely. I'm really excited about the riverfront , uh, property that was mentioned earlier . Earlier. We have a , uh, we are finalizing our agreement with our private , uh, uh, partner , uh, to Forex Ventures. And we've had some public meetings about, you know , uh, a everything we're talking about now. Um, and it's exciting because we're looking at this large open space area that is in the floodplain reworking, the, the bank , uh, rerouting the trail that already goes , uh, through this property to the state park, and , uh, connects to north the north side of Frida and then goes all out to Loma or, you know, it's the , it's part of the Riverfront trail system. And , uh, so we're really excited about that. Uh , there's also a , a huge commercial piece to it. And , um, and then some residential and just, it'll be our first time to connect to the river. I mean, this is beautiful when you, when you connect your community to the river. And, and , uh, we we're working with really good , um, uh, contracted , uh, experts on, you know, the river and the embankment , uh, and those types of things. So that's, that's exciting because that'll be , uh, that'll be an additional space that compliments the community doesn't take away from other areas. We've, we've been really deliberate about the timing of when that, when that would work. We, we looked into it pretty heavily years ago, and it , it , it didn't work at that time. And, and now the , the market's where it's at, where I , I think we've filled in, in the downtown , uh, we've, we're filling in and on the south side and a lot of these areas. So it's, it's, it's good timing for that. And , uh, it's, it's a project that our community's been pretty excited about. Um, another one is Matthew mentioned is , uh, on South Mulberry. Uh , the city purchased property that used to be , uh, powder coating. It was kind of a non-conforming , uh, grandfathered use. And then they expanded out to the, the business park. And , uh, we purchased the property and then we, and then we sold it to a private , uh, owner who with tied to a parking agreement and a real, and a , uh, economic development agreement. So , um, there are, there are pieces in there where they are working quickly right now to redevelop the, the building, and then it creates more , uh, more retail space , uh, that they're, that they're working hard to, to fill in. And so we're excited to see that, 'cause it's right in the core of the city. Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's a win-win. Um , yeah . Getting them out to the business park too. Amazing. Yeah. Anything you wanna add to what you're excited about Matthew? Um,
Speaker 3:You know , right now, fruit isn't a great spot. We're very, very fortunate. And, you know, we got here from work that was done five to 10 years ago, and the effort that, you know, people that came before me, that they put in the foresight they had, and that got us to where we are today. So what I'm excited about is the ability to say, okay, we're here now and we're in a good spot that we can, we have the opportunity to look down the road five to 10 years, and what can we do now to make sure we kind of keep this special? I mean, fruit is kind of special, and how do we keep this going down the road? So I'm super excited about that. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>,
Speaker 2:Can I, can I see your water bottle for a second?
Speaker 3:Uh, oh .
Speaker 2:And I just , uh, I wanna wrap up with , um, a great marketing campaign , um, where you were involved in this, in , in , when you were city manager, when this came about. This came
Speaker 4:About just before. Just before I started. Yeah . Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Um, it's a big, it's a big leap. You have to be really brave to do something like that. Right. And it's worked out great.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And Steve and Denise, he who are in the copyright, right, there are, you know, some of our historians in the, in the community. And , um, you know, they, they did that , uh, copyright. And then the Chamber actually did the promotion of the WTF. And then on the other side is the , uh, uh, the , the city's logo city logo,
Speaker 2:Which is great. A
Speaker 4:Cool story. Business cards. Yeah. A cool story about that, that most not a lot of people realize is that our downtown advisory board that we had , uh, in 2000, somewhere in the 2012 timeframe, they created that logo for the downtown advisory board, and they took a sprocket from , uh, farming and ranching equipment. And that's where the gear actually came from. Oh . So it , it gets related to bikes because it, it , it works well with that. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . But , you know, if you talk to someone like Tim Fry used to give a hard time about, do you wanna see what a real , like bite ? And I said, I know, but it's from farming and ranching from ranch . And then we ,
Speaker 2:Which there's a very long history of that in the
Speaker 4:Area. There is. And we, we love it because it , it kind of ties everything together. It's forward motion. When you look at our , uh, strategic priority areas, you see why we exist as we to provide core services. And it's a gear in the middle. And when that gear is humming along really well, what do we want to have a , a positive impact on? And then, and , and then you see those, those strategic areas and other gears, and of course they're all gonna be moving forward. And it, it just, it, it takes every bit of fruita in such a simple logo. We hope that will last a long time. And so it's kind of a fun story of where it comes from.
Speaker 2:It is , and I don't know if I said to those people that might be watching that don't know. This is, it's welcome to Fruita <laugh>. It's important. It is important. Yes. And, and Fruita does welcome everybody. We want everybody to come visit Fruita . It is a great place to visit, a great place to live, great place to have a business, wonderful community. Thanks for all that you two do to make it a wonderful place to live.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you for having us. This has been fun. Yeah,
Speaker 2:Thank you. Anything else you wanna share?
Speaker 4:Anything you can think of? No,
Speaker 3:Not off the top of my head. All right . You've covered quite a bit. Yeah ,
Speaker 2:We did. Yeah . Okay. Um, well thank you to Matthew Breman and Mike Bennett from the City of Fruita . Uh, make sure you , um, go to their website. Um, make sure you check out the music scene. Uh, there's so much to do out there. Yeah . We want people to go and enjoy that music and see the beauty of Fruita . It's just great. So , um, you don't have any volunteer opportunities we need to talk about?
Speaker 4:Oh, you know, we always have, we tend to have some openings on our boards and commissions, and we have numerous boards and commissions, and we have really active boards and commissions that, that honestly do a lot of work and benefit for the community. Um, so those are great opportunities. I will say, too , uh, one thing to add is that we put a lot of information out that not everybody's aware of, but , um, as part of my job, I, I send an update to the city council every week, but it's public. So there's, we have a lot of people that are signed up to receive kind of as a newsletter. They receive that every Friday. It's on the website. You can go back to, not that you might want to go back and read all those, but you can, you can start and you , and it's a really easy,
Speaker 2:And you can sign
Speaker 4:Up, you can sign up , uh, right on fruit.org , and it's a weekly update, and it's just, it hits the highlights really quick, and it's where those events are and things like that. Um, it's, it's a , a really good way to keep
Speaker 3:Up . There's a question of the week, which, you know , people are asking. There's all the development. If people wanna know what's being built, where that's all in there.
Speaker 2:Great. Great resource fruita.org . Okay. Thanks everybody for joining us. This is Christy Reese. We'll see you next time on the Full Circle podcast. Thanks for listening. This is Christie Reese signing out from the Full Circle Podcast .