The Colorado Springs City Council on Monday ruled a controversial attainable housing project planned to be built in Briargate can move forward despite neighbors’ concerns the development would negatively impact the public health, safety and general welfare of the surrounding area.

The board voted 6-1 to uphold the Planning Commission’s Jan. 10 approval of the proposed Royal Pines Apartments project, a 232-unit attainable housing development planned at the intersection of North Powers and North Union boulevards. Councilman Dave Donelson was the lone no vote. Councilmembers Yolanda Avila and Mike O’Malley were absent.

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Preserve Pine Creek Village, a group of Pine Creek neighbors, on Monday formally appealed the project in a special meeting that lasted six hours and included two hours of resident commentary. Most residents, about 28, opposed the project and urged the council to overturn the Planning Commission’s approval of the project plans.

“I’m super disappointed in the City Council. They fully heard residents say what a negative impact (the development) will have on the neighborhood,” Pine Creek resident and Preserve Pine Creek member Steve Parrish said following the vote.

Residents who have fought the project since the summer are especially concerned it could critically hamper evacuations out of the area in an emergency such as a wildfire. The project could also increase everyday traffic and the potential for vehicle accidents, causing safety issues for residents and children attending nearby schools, they said.

“The main reason we don’t want the development is due to overcrowding,” one Pine Creek resident said during public comment. “… Adding 232 more apartments, you’ll be taxing the roads in and out. … Yes, there are a lot of variables when it comes to emergencies. I’m concerned for the safety of all the residents during evacuation procedures.”

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Some residents pointed out Monday four fires currently burning in the city, including two at Fort Carson, one at the U.S. Air Force Academy and a grass fire Colorado Springs firefighters extinguished near the intersection of Union Boulevard and Hancock Expressway on the city’s south side.

Colorado Springs Fire Marshal Brett Lacey said the Fire Department does not have significant concerns about the development. He said wildfire in the Briargate area “is insignificant for us, relative to what we would consider being in the wildland urban interface or the Air Force Academy.”

“It doesn’t mean we can’t have grass fires,” Lacey added. “What’s important for everyone to understand is if we’re living in Colorado Springs … we cannot presume that this is a risk-free environment.”

Neighbors were also concerned about the plan to build housing in an area they said was always planned for commercial development. Many people bought their homes and their businesses in Pine Creek based on the understanding multifamily residential housing was not an allowable use.

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City Planning staff said multifamily housing has always been allowed in the area, but residents said until the Royal Pines Apartments were proposed, no other planning documents for the area proposed it.

Among other concerns, neighbors said there are hundreds of available apartments in Colorado Springs and another apartment project is not needed. Rents are trending downward as Springs-area apartment vacancy rates have increased over the last year, they said.

Eight people who spoke in favor of the project Monday, many of them who work or are involved in the housing industry, said the project is necessary to provide affordable housing for middle income earners who work in the area, such as teachers, police, firefighters and medical professionals.

“We should see the project not as an act of charity toward those workers, but as an act of partnership,” one Pine Creek resident who spoke in favor of the project said. “… Who are the people (this project) is targeting? Most often, the workers in caregiving and support roles that make all our lives better.”

Parrish said in an interview after the special meeting the Preserve Pine Creek Village group plans to appeal the City Council’s decision allowing the Royal Pines Apartments project to move forward with the El Paso County District Court.