Historic neighborhood residents debating whether to limit downtown building heights | Bob Loevy
Is now the time for the City Council to put height limitations on high rise buildings in downtown Colorado Springs?
That question is being debated by folks who live in older neighborhoods that surround the downtown area.
Some of these historic neighborhoods would have their views of Pikes Peak limited if the City Council were to authorize the construction of super-high buildings downtown.
The conversation was sparked by a proposal to the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority for a 36-story high apartment building with almost 500 units. It would be constructed on the city block bounded by Cascade Avenue, Vermijo Avenue, Sahwatch Street, and Costilla Street.
A two-bedroom apartment in the proposed building would rent for $5,241 per month. At street level the building would have fashionable shops and stores for the tenants and others to patronize.
Building height limits do not exist for downtown Colorado Springs at the present time. Right now, the highest building downtown is the Wells Fargo Bank building at 247 feet.
The argument, say some neighborhood slow-growth advocates, is that 247 feet just high enough for a city the size and character of Colorado Springs?
One proposal is for the City Council to set by law a height limit for all new buildings in downtown Colorado Springs of 250 feet. A second proposal is for the City Council to send the 250-foot height limit to the voters in the form of a city charter amendment.
If the 250-foot limit is placed in the city charter, it will take another vote by the people to change it. If the limit is only passed as a law, a future City Council could raise the height limit any time it wanted to do so.
Of course, the major blocking of views of Pikes Peak will occur in other parts of downtown as well as in surrounding neighborhoods, particularly on downtown’s east side.
That is an important point where real estate values are concerned. People will pay higher rents for offices or residential apartments that have unobstructed beautiful views of America’s Favorite Mountain. Many of these views will be lost if downtown becomes a sea of tall skyscrapers.
City Councilman Dave Donelson drew attention to the height-limit issue by scheduling a discussion of it at a council work session.
“Our skyline is Pikes Peak!” That is the motto of those who support the building height limitations downtown. They also argue that extra-high buildings create strong winds at street level, making the streets and sidewalks colder and windier than normal. It makes it unpleasant to be outdoors downtown.
The “shadow” created by a high skyscraper, they fear, also will cause the snow and ice piled up by winter storms to melt more slowly and be more difficult and expensive to remove.
Building height-limit advocates also point out that cities such as Washington, D.C., and Paris do well attracting offices, apartments, and tourists despite having strict limits on how high buildings can go.
Washington limits building heights to emphasize and make more visible key government buildings and monuments, such as the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
Paris limits building heights to focus visual attention on the Eiffel Tower.
Surely, the majestic Pikes Peak, supporters of building height limits say, deserves the same protection as the Washington Monument and the Eiffel Tower.
Advocates for raising building height limits and creating a cluster of high skyscrapers in downtown Colorado Springs argue that increasing population densities in downtowns make for more economic activity and a more exciting atmosphere.
They also note that the busier and more crowded downtown created by high-rise office and apartment buildings makes the city more attractive as a passenger stop on the high-speed corridor passenger train service starting to be developed along the Front Range.
Taller residential and business buildings or towers would surely be a boon to downtown restaurants, retail stores and the cherished professional soccer team, the Switchbacks. Most cities that are urban economic powerhouses have welcomed high-rise towers.
Colorado Springs is blessed not just by the singular Pikes Peak but by dozens of nearby majestic peaks. There is an almost 30-mile mountainous horizon to our west and northwest. Our views are as multiple as they are magnificent.
Supporters of downtown building-height limits conclude their case with references to the founder of Colorado Springs, William Jackson Palmer. He located the center of the city where he did because the prominent view of Pikes Peak, and the beauty of that view, would draw people to the region.
Palmer wrote that he wanted Colorado Springs to become “the best place for homes in the West.” To fulfill that promise, the people of Colorado Springs should be allowed, say height-limit advocates, to protect their skyline by voting on the question of limiting building heights downtown.
Note that this debate is part of a larger, longstanding debate between pro-growth expansionists, often fueled by developers, and slow-growth preservationists who are nostalgic for the Colorado Springs of yesteryear.
A proposed 36-story apartment building on the southwest corner of a block bounded by Sahwatch and Costilla streets and Cascade and Vermijo avenues in downtown Colorado Springs.