Greeley Deserves Better Files Zoning Referendum to Halt Progress on Billion-Dollar Ice Arena
This halts any forward movement on the $1.1 billion event center
Greeley, Colo. (September 24, 2025)
Yesterday, Greeley Deserves Better, a grassroots campaign that is pressing the City of Greeley to find a new funding solution for the billion-dollar ice arena in Greeley, filed a request for referendum on the project’s zoning, which was approved last week.
“Put simply, the Catalyst project is contingent on zoning. Once the petition is turned in and found sufficient, the zoning ordinance cannot go into effect until voters decide, halting any forward motion of this deal,” said Greeley Deserves Better attorney Suzanne Taheri.
Greeley Deserves Better submitted a request for the referendum, which includes naming two proponents and the ordinance number. Once the petition format is set, Greeley Deserves Better will have 30 days to collect signatures from the date the ordinance was passed. The city clerk has five days to issue the petition for signatures.
“At this point, the citizens of Greeley will now get to decide on the zoning,” said Taheri. “Any legal actions from the proponents of the Catalyst deal would only delay the vote of the citizens and the effective date of the ordinance. The Greeley City Clerk has already admitted she has a conflict of interest in this matter. We are calling on the City to appoint a neutral designated election official that won’t work against the citizens. With a neutral process, we expect the City to approve this referendum immediately with no further unnecessary delays or monkey-wrenching of the process so signature-gathering can begin. The citizens deserve a smooth and transparent process.”
The bipartisan effort is chaired by Brandon Wark, a candidate for Greeley City Council in Ward II; and Rhonda Solis, former Greeley Evans School Board member and former Board of Education member from Congressional District 8.
“I’m running for office to ensure that Greeley remains affordable for our hardworking families. This $1 billion deal mortgages our city’s buildings, guarantees profits to the developer, and puts all the risk on taxpayers to build a ice arena and entertainment center. Not only could this lead to a less affordable cost of living in Greeley, but it could also tie up resources that we need to keep Greeley safe and prosperous,” said Wark. “The Cascadia project looks awesome, but the financing of it is extremely problematic. City Council should go back to the drawing board and find a financing mechanism that doesn’t mortgage our kids’ futures.”
Wark is not the only one who is concerned about this boondoggle. Democrat Solis cites lack of accountability as a reason she is spearheading this referendum.
“A hallmark of my public service has always been accountability. How can we demand accountability from some government functions, like education, but not others? It’s this type of hypocrisy that erodes the people’s trust in representative government,” said Solis. “I fought hard to provide additional funds for Greeley’s kids to attend college. Proposing to spend a billion dollars to benefit one developer is absurd. Spend that money to meet our citizens’ basic needs. There are families in the 8th Congressional District who are desperate for a hand up. Blowing $1B on a hockey rink – without serious accountability measures in place – offends even the most basic understanding of being a good steward of taxpayers’ dollars.”
Recent polling shows that 87% of informed voters support repeal once they understand the financing structure. Further, 92% of respondents believe the developer should provide financial guarantees, 87% consider this issue important in determining their November vote, and 69% of respondents are less likely to vote for candidates who supported the deal.
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