City on South Platte charts ‘road ahead’
EVANS — Infrastructure improvements are top of mind these days in Evans, the growing city just south of Greeley on the South Platte River.
The city’s infrastructure campaign, “The Road Ahead,” was created to help residents track and understand the major improvement efforts throughout Evans through its own YouTube channel. It’s working to get citizens involved in “Evans TV” and use it as part of its “Business Blast” economic-development outreach.
There’s a lot to keep track of, from expansion of its six-year-old wastewater treatment plant to a widening project along 37th Street that involved relocating some Atmos Energy gas lines.
Evans police long ago outgrew the 9,500-square-foot building they now occupy, and planned for a new building spanning more than three times their current space.
The Evans Area Chamber of Commerce, which serves nearly 200 members, had to relocate to make way for the new police station. It now operates at the Riverside Library and Cultural Center, where the city has arranged for the chamber to rent a space.
Founded in 1867, Evans was Weld County’s first town, incorporated before Nathan Meeker helped establish Greeley.”
Besides the city’s capital improvements, Lincoln, Nebraska-based Allo Communications LLC installed a fiber-optic network to Evans to offer fiber-to-the-premises internet, phone and video services.
All those improvements are needed to support continued growth in Evans, such as the 430-acre Tuscany subdivision and Greeley-based Baessler Homes’ Liberty Draw, which add 357 single-family homes and 349 townhomes.
Founded in 1867, Evans was Weld County’s first town, incorporated before Nathan Meeker helped establish Greeley.
“In 1871 the St. Louis-Western Colony brought 400 people to settle the area,” according to the Evans Area Chamber of Commerce website. “Evans became a supply town and highway stop, known for its rowdy lifestyle in comparison to the temperance colony of Greeley. It was known as the ‘Queen City of the Platte.’ It was briefly the county seat of Weld County until a party of raiders from Greeley stole the county records and burned the courthouse.”
Today, Evans boasts a growing base of industry. It benefited from oil and gas exploration, with many energy producers and affiliated companies setting up shop in the city.
The 2013 flood heavily damaged or destroyed 200 homes in the Evans area, but Greeley-Weld Habitat for Humanity and Commonwealth Cos., with the help of a state disaster grant, partnered on two projects that would build 95 new affordable homes.
Despite Evans’ independence, the town has fostered good relations with its larger neighbor to the north. Both cities consummated a revenue-sharing agreement for a retail district in 1980 to resolve an annexation dispute. The two cities operate a joint bus system, Greeley-Evans Transit.
Evans’ school district merged with Greeley’s in 1962, establishing Greeley-Evans School District 6. Prairie Heights Middle School opened in September 2015. This newest addition to the district offers a unique design of grade “pods” to facilitate same-grade interaction and collaboration.