LifeBridge Christian Church pulled its 350-acre Union project out of Longmont and took it to Firestone this spring, where the scope of the mixed-use development increased more than 400 percent, according to numbers from both Longmont and Firestone’s planning departments.

Longmont approved 317 residential units for the project, a mix of single-family homes, townhomes, duplexes, lofts and condos.

Firestone is allowing a maximum of 1,623 residential units in Union, although town officials expect that only 1,217 of those will be built.

The commercial square footage remained the same: a maximum of 680,000 square feet of mixed-use commercial space and an additional 565,500 square feet for an assisted-living center.

Firestone also is allowing more civic and religious development, nearly 1.5 million square feet, as opposed to the maximum of 1 million square feet that Longmont set.

Overall, the density of the project increased by about four times.

That’s what some people were afraid of.

“When it leaves (your) jurisdiction, you just don’t have any idea what’s going to happen down the road,” Longmont Mayor Roger Lange said Thursday. “You just lose control.”

Last fall, after the Longmont City Council voted to annex LifeBridge’s land into city limits and approved Union’s preliminary development plans, residents who opposed the project passed a referendum to overturn the council’s vote.

That forced the project to a public vote during a special election, but that election never happened because LifeBridge and the church’s business arm, 4C, withdrew plans to develop in Longmont and instead took them to Firestone.

During the Longmont debate, residents questioned the cost of providing services to Union, as well as the environmental effects and whether the church’s tax-exempt status would affect what taxes would be paid.

Supporters argued that LifeBridge’s Union project would develop — in either Weld County or a neighboring town — so it would be better for Longmont to have control over that development.

Lange said Firestone’s approved plans do “not sound like a positive direction as far as we’re concerned.”

Residents who helped pass the referendum, and were hoping to give Longmont residents a chance to vote on the project, don’t regret how things are playing out.

“Longmont dodged a big bullet, as far as I’m concerned,” Longmont resident Kaye Fissinger said Friday.

Both she and Richard Juday, who helped pass the referendum to overturn Union’s annexation into the city, said the project would have been a financial burden to Longmont, and both suspect it will be an even bigger burden to Firestone.

And if Union’s plans are more dense than before, they both said, the development will be even more damaging to wildlife habitat there.

“Most of the problems I had with the annexation still stand, only it will be Firestone having to deal with those problems instead of Longmont,” Juday said.

He added, “I’m a Longmont resident. My loyalties are to Longmont.”

Firestone Mayor Chad Auer said the town Board of Trustees did its homework, and he is confident the board made a good decision when it approved the Union plans.

When a developer comes to Firestone asking to annex into town limits, town planners review the application to ensure the plans jibe with town regulations and requirements, Firestone town manager Cheri Andersen said.

And, both Andersen and Auer said, 4C’s Union plans do.

“If a person were to drive through Firestone, they would see we have nice neighborhoods with parks and trails, and we are in control right down to what the fences look like,” Auer said. “We want to make sure that development is done well, with smart growth.”

Union plans, which trustees approved May 8, are an outline of what the project could look like when completed in 15 or 20 years, Auer said.

He also said Firestone officials will be involved in every step of the process.

But as they were approving the Union project, Auer said, Firestone leaders had to look into the future.

“It is important that people understand that we are going through the long-term vision process,” Auer said. “This doesn’t mean by the fall that there is going to be thousands of homes. This is a big process that we are working through.”

In June, a group of Firestone residents known as InformFirestone circulated a referendum petition that could ultimately take the Union annexation to a vote of the people.

The Firestone town clerk has until Tuesday to certify the petition, which has about 350 signatures.

InformFirestone member Dan Sanger said the group was concerned that such a huge project was approved in only six weeks, and that they believe town officials and residents need to spend more time making sure all questions regarding the development are answered before it becomes a part of Firestone.