A Q&A with Sean McCoy, running for Fort Collins City Council District 2 – Coloradoan

Name: Sean McCoy
Council race: District 2
I am a software engineer with a psychology degree. This means I’m a data nerd with an analytical, problem-solving brain – but I’m trained to understand and empathize with others. I’ve also got no issue admitting what I don’t know and trusting the advice of experts and those passionate about their work. I only accept donations from humans. When it comes to decision-making, I follow data, not dollars.
My guiding light is to keep Fort Collins as open and accessible and wonderful as it was nine years ago when my wife and I moved here. I’d like for others to hike and bike the same trails I have, drink the beers that I’ve drank, and to fall in love with this city and decide to call it home, just like I have.
I think it’s important to meet people where they like to exist – be that social media, text, email, phone calls, or more formal avenues like council meetings or meet-ups. Some people thrive on face-to-face feedback, and others prefer asynchronous ways to quickly send feedback.
I’d also like to see citizens more informed on upcoming issues that are likely to affect them so they can be educated and ready to send their feedback when the issues appear on the agenda. The city does an excellent job of publishing documents for every session, but it’s often too much or too dense to consume. Simple breakdowns sent out over social media or utility newsletters could be effective in helping voters get ahead of the issues.
I’m on the record with my thoughts on U+2 at the City Council meeting on Sept. 5 (clipped on all of my social media platforms). U+2 was written in 1963 (enforcement began in 2005) with questionable intent of allowing the city to dictate housing occupancy based on a very narrow definition of a “family.”
Using data provided to Fort Collins by Corona Insights, we know that rents increased 78% between 2005 and 2018 – and that there are an estimated 15,000 to 18,000 empty bedrooms in the city. Given our affordable housing crisis, which is exacerbated for those at lower income levels, it’s absurd to me that we’re preventing bedrooms in suitable homes from being rented to those who want them because of a 60-year-old definition of a family.
Additionally, the refrain that college-aged renters are the primary violators of U+2 is untrue – with only 47% of violations in 2018 coming from college-aged renters. I’m a software engineer. In our work we constantly evaluate how effective our latest changes have been and we move forward accordingly. I’m very much for increasing U+2 by a number of methods: square-footage of the home, number of bedrooms in the home, or just a blanket increase to U+3. We should then evaluate the change by looking at nuisance data and any effects on rent. If it’s worked – wonderful, consider additional changes. If it hasn’t worked, revise the changes and try again.
These types of changes should take 18 months, not 18 years.
I’ve spoken with many residents about their concerns with the (now-repealed) land use code updates, and those conversations have only confirmed my suspicions that the majority of this sentiment spurs from a misinformation campaign orchestrated by a vocal minority. This group used robo-texts to spread fear amongst the city while admitting in their “information sessions” that they hadn’t read the updated law. Still nearly a year later, they have yet to offer any paths forward or suggestions on what should or should not be done to address the affordable housing crisis in our city.
The website ourcity.fcgov.com/lucupdates-2023 is an incredible resource published by the city that breaks down proposed changes, upcoming ways to participate and send feedback, as well as key information from the past. Public feedback sessions began in October 2021 and continued through Nov. 1, 2022 when the second reading occurred. The robo texts went out on Nov. 22, and 200 folks appeared at the Nov. 29 community info session as a result.
I’d encourage voters who are passionate about the land use code updates to please go read the resources from the city and take a logical approach to evaluating what those changes will mean for their neighborhoods. The city breaks down what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, who it will affect, and in which ways. Don’t get your policy updates from robo texts.
Meanwhile, I can’t afford to buy my house from myself. Many others in my generation and younger generations face increasing rents as availability dwindles. We don’t have the appetite for continued inaction and misguidance. The city, in its revised land use code, has done a good job following the recommendations of the EPA, municipal think tanks, and other nonprofit organizations on how to increase affordable housing. These include things like streamlined permitting, relaxing minimum parking requirements, increased density, and accessory dwelling units.
Environmental concerns are where I nerd-out pretty hard. I apologize in advance for getting into the weeds in my answer to this one. In short, we need to continue to find the intersection of conservation techniques and cost improvements. Initiatives that allow residents to save money AND the environment at the same time are how we’ll start to see significant progress towards these goals.
On energy, I’d like to ensure the city-backed incentives for solar installations continue. I love and have personally used many of the efficiency incentives provided by Fort Collins Utilities and want to educate more residents on their effectiveness and potential savings. The federal Inflation Reduction Act offers many incentives for electrification and efficiency improvements, and I’d like to see Fort Collins align their efforts with local installers to help residents best take advantage of these incentives. I’d like to see the city participate as a group-purchaser for residential solar installs to help reduce cost and streamline installation. I’d also like to see improvements made to get more solar installations on city and county buildings – particularly schools.
One of the key challenges faced by the Platte River Power Authority (the organization that supplies us with electricity in Fort Collins) is balancing a need to generate electricity from renewable sources while delivering it during periods when those sources might not be generating enough: typically at night when people are charging their EVs. As we virtualize our grid to be able to facilitate this shift, I’d like to explore bi-directional charging from EVs and incentivized off-peak charging for those who can accommodate it. Work at home? Let your car charge your neighbor’s at night, and get paid for it. Charge yours back up during the day when the sun’s shining and the wind’s blowing.
I’d also like to see the return of city-backed group EV purchases.
I feel that we help achieve our waste goals through residential composting programs like the Compost Queen (no affiliation). Programs like this pick up food waste from homes and expertly compost them at commercial sites, returning compost that customers can use in their gardens. Commercial cafeterias and restaurants can participate in these programs as well. I’m proud of our recycling centers in Fort Collins that make bulk recycling easy and efficient, even for hazardous materials and electronics.
Lastly, water. I didn’t see any questions about it, and I’m passionate about its importance. We are running out of water in the Front Range. Water tap prices are potentially tripling. Some cities north of us have moratoriums on new water taps. NISP and the Thornton Pipeline are some recent examples of the controversy surrounding cities looking for water. Water conservation programs such as the xeriscape program in Fort Collins and other efficiency improvements through Efficiency Works can help residents save water and money. Additionally, increasing residential density without adding new lawns helps us add new residents without adding new lawns.
I bike around 40 miles per week and I love how bikeable our city is. I feel safe when I’m cycling and often find myself smiling ear-to-ear when pedaling down the Poudre Trail in the woods. Our bus system, though, needs some help. Finding drivers has been difficult, even as pay and benefit packages have been improved. Transfort now pays $22 per hour with bonuses, 401k, health insurance, sick leave and PTO – and yes, this is a plug.
If funding can’t be increased, I think some routes should be cut in order to improve frequency and hours on those with higher ridership. Once the reliability is there and ridership improves, hopefully funding could follow to allow Transfort to scale back to serve more of our city.
I’d also like to see bike lanes and trails expanded in the northeast parts of our city (District 1 in particular).
I like to lead by example when it comes to inclusion. In July I threw a charity party to raise money for mental health care. The party featured performers who belonged to many of these groups mentioned above and raised $13,342 for charity. These funds were spent directly on helping people find and pay for therapy, and oftentimes the groups mentioned above have needs that go underserved in this regard.
I also realize that my experiences are limited as a white male and that I need to take time to listen to and understand those who experience life differently than me. When we can listen to and empathize with people who are different from us we can understand how to better ensure they’re represented. Many of my priorities center around protecting those who need it most.
Homelessness and the unhoused is a very complex issue – there’s no single answer to solving it, but instead several different approaches that can help to weave a protective net. I believe Fort Collins supports programs/agencies that support victims of domestic violence, drug rehabilitation, and also has teams with the Fort Collins police, who are trained in crisis intervention and addiction to assist with the unhoused population. I think the best solution is one that approaches the problem from as many sides as possible, and also with as many centers as possible.
Studies show that increasing the number of sites available for the homeless population reduces problems associated with crime around these centers. I’d also support investigating city-owned housing for these vulnerable communities, if funding and locations were available. And, of course, anything that can be done to increase access to affordable housing also helps combat situations that lead to unhoused people.
I’d like to see funding and actions match rhetoric when it comes to climate, waste and water goals. We make some great goals for ourselves as a city but sometimes opt to kick the can instead of taking iterative steps to ensure they’ll be met. I saw this in particular with our mid-term 2030 climate goals.
I’d like to see more funding for public transit – cycling and buses. Front Range rail is a dream for me but a bit outside the City Council’s jurisdiction.
Lastly, I do like it when city programs and spending are aimed at solving a problem or collecting more data so we can better understand and solve a problem. As an example, our rental registration program passed this year – I don’t feel this was a targeted enough program. I’m all for protecting renters in Fort Collins (I was a renter who used the arbitration program) – but I don’t feel this program does enough to help renters and instead will likely burden them with additional costs. In my opinion, a lower-budget, targeted program should have focused on continuing to serve renters while better collecting data on the issues they face. Armed with this data, Fort Collins could better iterate into a more robust program that in the end would save taxpayers money and best help those who need it most.
Age: 38
Occupation: Software developer
Campaign website: www.mccoy4fo.co
Experiences, jobs, affiliations or community work relevant to this office:
I’ve been a small business owner twice – the first as a full-time job for seven years, and the second as a hobby business for the last several years. I’ve learned invaluable skills from these two businesses: working with government entities, working with Fortune 500 clients, having employees, keeping clients happy, staying organized, and designing products and services that work.
Since then I’ve worked as a team leader and manager to up to 11 extremely talented individuals, advocating for them and helping them grow their careers. My management style is to extend a ladder down to help others the same way that my managers and mentors helped me early in my career.
Today, I host events for charity and plan group travel for young professionals as hobbies. In my last three events I’ve sent over $20,000 to charities – mostly ones focused on providing mental health care. I handle everything for these events: logistics, funding, promotion and execution. It’s where I’ve found the biggest force-multiplier to help those in need.

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