The Colorado Springs Planning Commission on Tuesday will hear the proposed Amara annexation request as well as plans to build hundreds of apartments near Garden of the Gods Road, where previous concerns over emergency evacuations stopped a contentious apartment project in late 2021.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the Regional Development Center, 2880 International Circle. Meeting agendas are available online at coloradosprings.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx.

Amara

La Plata Communities, one of the Pikes Peak region’s largest real estate development companies, will present its case to annex about 3,200 acres of land southeast of Colorado Springs and build up to 9,500 single- and multi-family homes in a proposed master planned community called Amara.

The multi-phased development is planned to be built over 24 years and will also include 2 million square feet of commercial uses, schools, public safety facilities, and parks and open space.

If annexed into Colorado Springs, Amara would be a “flagpole” annexation along Bradley Road that lies within city boundaries, which functions as the pole or connection to the city.

Since the proposal was first presented to the Colorado Springs City Council in 2022, developers have faced some interruptions in their efforts to build Amara. The land is currently located in unincorporated El Paso County and surrounded on three sides by the city of Fountain.

For example, a controversial water rule Colorado Springs implemented in early 2023 requires Colorado Springs Utilities to have 128% of the needed water to serve existing demand from current users as well as the projected need of future properties that wish to come into city boundaries.

The rule seemed, at first, to block the potential annexation.

Developers anticipate Amara will need about 3,506 acre-feet of water a year at full buildout. An acre-foot of water can serve about four families for a year in Colorado Springs.

In previous public discussions with City Council about the water rule in the fall of 2022, Utilities staff said Amara would not meet the threshold for annexation because of the water requirement. Last June, after determining estimated citywide water usage had decreased, Utilities officials said at that time Colorado Springs has the capacity to reliably serve its existing customers and Amara.

During an informational presentation March 11, developers told the Colorado Springs City Council La Plata Communities will build and maintain the water lines needed to provide water service to the development. Future ratepayers living in Amara will bring in revenues to Colorado Springs Utilities and, as development occurs, will provide more than $1 million a year in annual payments to the city once the community is fully built.

Utilities Chief Planning and Financial Officer Tristan Gearhart said last month he worried the increasing cost of serving the utility’s existing customers due to new state regulations could cause a situation where Utilities may be strained in recovering its costs to meet existing need in Colorado Springs limits as well as Amara.

Utilities staff also said last June the proposed development at that time did not meet the water rule’s requirement that at least 25% of Amara’s perimeter be contiguous with city limits. Planning staff said in meeting documents for Tuesday’s proposal that developers have since updated their proposal, drawing new areas to meet the requirement.

Fountain officials in a March 30, 2022, memo to Colorado Springs Planning Manager Katie Carleo raised concerns thousands of new residents living in Amara would add to Fountain’s demands for police and fire services, among others.

A March 11 developer presentation shows the closest existing Colorado Springs police substation is about 12 miles away from the southernmost portion of Amara, about an 18-minute drive.

Developers told the council last month that does not indicate response times because responding officers could be closer to the development at the time of a service call. The Colorado Springs Police Department indicated during discussions in 2022 there was not a need for a police substation closer to Amara, but La Plata is “open to adding one if necessary,” developers said.

In a July 5, 2022, letter to Carleo, Colorado Springs Fire Marshal Brett Lacey said the Fire Department’s current response times to Amara are “well outside” current standards.

Developers said last month there are plans to build two permanent fire stations in Amara; the first station would likely not be built until about eight years into development. The Fire Department and developers have agreed to use a temporary fire station inside Amara, its location undetermined, to meet demands until the permanent stations can be built, developers said.

La Plata plans to use existing roads to expand transportation infrastructure to Amara. Developers would phase out future road and intersection improvements to streets like Mesa Ridge Parkway and Marksheffel, Link, Squirrel Creek and Bradley roads, meeting documents state.

Fountain Deputy City Manager Todd Evans said last week until those roads are fully built out — which could take decades — residents living in Amara will still need to use nearby Fountain streets to travel around the region, putting wear and tear on neighboring roads developers would have no obligation to help improve.

Arrowswest

Developer Arrowswest Apartments I is requesting permission from the city to rezone a portion of an approximately 9.5-acre site at the corner of North 30th Street and West Garden of the Gods Road to build 222 apartment units in seven three-story buildings.

The proposed project location is adjacent to a previous controversial proposal, which the City Council denied 5-4 in August 2021, to build high-density housing and commercial space at 2424 Garden of the Gods.

The council at that time sided with Mountain Shadows residents who said the development could make emergency evacuations more dangerous, among other concerns. Many of them lived through the deadly 2012 Waldo Canyon fire and experienced what they called critical traffic backups along Garden of the Gods as they evacuated.

Last July, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the council’s decision to deny the 2424 Garden of the Gods proposal after developers first fought the decision in September 2021 in El Paso County district court.

The Arrowswest Apartments proposal seeks to combine eight lots into one lot at 4145 Arrowswest Drive and redesignate the land currently zoned for a business park into mixed use. Developers propose building 110 one-bedroom units and 112 two-bedroom units, as well as a one-story clubhouse with a swimming pool.

“The project density and scale reflect a harmonious transition with adjacent land uses, seeking a balance with the overall community master plan goals and providing access and amenities consistent with … mixed-use development objectives,” developers said in a Feb. 2 project statement. “… The current infrastructure has been planned around heavier land uses and has been in place for more (than) 25 years.”

Among other concerns, residents opposed to Arrowswest have said in emails to city planners, also sent to local media outlets, the proposal would increase traffic and density in the area, creating “detrimental” effects to public interest, health, safety, convenience or general welfare. Those are the same code standards the council cited for its denial of the 2424 Garden of the Gods Road project, residents pointed out.

“The City Council’s decision was upheld by the district court and the court of appeals. The Arrowswest Project (rezoning) will not comply with … the rezone criteria. … The city planner should not approve this project,” resident John McLain wrote in a March 17 email to city planner Bill Gray. McLain also fought the proposed development at 2424 Garden of the Gods.