STEADY AS SHE GOES.

• Author: TAYLOR, HELEN
• Position: Economic development in Fort Collins, Colorado - Statistical Data Included

FORT COLLINS IS ENJOYING SOME OF THE BEST TIMES IN ITS HISTORY, BUT WILL THE CITY BE ABLE TO MAINTAIN THE DELICATE BALANCE BETWEEN BOOM AND BUST?

For the self-dubbed "Choice City" the accolades keep pouring in: Retirement Places Rated ranks Fort Collins the No. 1 place to retire; Reader's Digest considers it the third best place to raise a family; Business Opportunity Index 2000 called it the fourth best place for business opportunity; and the A&E Network deemed it the "10th best city to have it all."

Fort Collins is preening like the front-runner at a beauty pageant, trying to keep cool as the contest heats up and the toughest questions lie ahead.

A well-educated workforce, healthy local economy, highly rated school district and respected university, not to mention an endlessly extolled quality of life, make the city tough to beat.

Unemployment here hovers around 2.8% and skilled employees are scarce, but businesses thrive, new-construction rates remain strong, and the city's 3% sales-and-use tax revenues -- arguably the best barometer of economic health -- continue to rise.

People with a finger on the city's pulse say the trick will be to control the growth rate and address a few key issues that have the potential to make or break the city's economic future. Depending on whom you ask, Fort Collins may or may not be up to the task.

Fort Collins' population inched past the 100,000 mark about four years ago, and now about 110,000 people reside here. City leaders have done a good job of preserving the city's historic downtown. But most growth has been to the south, leaving only a few parcels of open land left between its southern edge and the north edge of Loveland.

Subdivisions have gobbled up thousands of acres of farmland in the last decade, and U.S. Highway 287, which bisects the city north to south, hits something approaching gridlock at rush hour and on Saturday afternoons. The mall bustles, the bigbox stores flaunt full parking lots and the Cine-mark, a new 16-theater movieplex, opened in May on Harmony Road. It promises to give the existing Carmike 10-theater complex a run for its money.

A growing population is good. A growing population that's spending its money is even better, said Roland Mower, president of the Fort Collins Economic Development Corp.

"When I look at the local economy, I look at two things in particular," Mower said. "An increase in retail sales tax revenue that's greater than population growth, and the rate of...