Colorado Springs officials may move forward sooner than anticipated to purchase about 12 acres of land needed for future planned improvements to Nevada Avenue.

The City Council during its work session Monday informally supported a proposal to appropriate up to $2.6 million to the city’s 2024 general fund to purchase the land currently owned by BNSF Railway. The council also generally supported a proposed agreement allowing the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority in 2025 to reimburse the city for its 2024 costs related to the land purchase.

“Locking in the (purchase) price now without having escalation is, one, important for us. Second, we don’t want someone else to come buy the property and then be in the position where we have to go acquire the property in the future,” the city’s acting Public Works Director Gayle Sturdivant told the council.

The BNSF-owned land runs parallel to Nevada Avenue and extends from just south of Commerce Street up to just north of Mountain View Lane, Sturdivant said.

The city must eventually purchase the land to complete improvements on Nevada Avenue from Rock Island Trail to Commerce Street, then from Commerce Street to the Templeton Gap floodway, she said. 

Those two projects have been identified in the overall future reconstruction plans for Nevada Avenue, which voters approved in Nov. 2022 to be funded by revenues from the transportation authority’s 1-cent sales tax that funds regional road projects.

According to current timelines, PPRTA funding will not be available for Nevada Avenue’s renovation until 2025, Sturdivant said. 

Colorado Springs officials have reached a verbal agreement with BNSF to purchase the property for its appraised value of $3.1 million, she said. Under the proposed agreement, the city will contribute up to $2.6 million to the purchase price and Colorado Springs Utilities has budgeted $500,000 to cover the remainder, according to a staff presentation.

When the transportation authority reimburses Colorado Springs next year, it would be recognized as 2024 revenue and will not impact the 2024 general fund, city Budget Manager Chris Fiandaca told the council.

The council is scheduled to formally vote on the requests via the consent agenda during the board’s regularly scheduled meetings on Tuesday and on Feb. 27, staff said.

Items on the consent agenda are considered as a whole and passed with one vote from the council.

The city of Colorado Springs wants to purchase about 12 acres of land running adjacent to Nevada Avenue, spanning the area just south of Commerce Street up to just north of Mountain View Lane. The property is currently owned by BNSF Railway. The city needs the land to complete some planned future improvements to Nevada Avenue, which voters approved in November 2022 as part of the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority’s third list of capital road projects to be funded between 2025-2034.

Courtesy of the city of Colorado Springs