The Colorado Springs City Council delayed a vote Tuesday on the controversial Arrowswest Apartments along Garden of the Gods Road after residents raised a question the city staff couldn’t immediately answer about the property’s zoning.

In the brief but heated meeting, City Councilman Dave Donelson also pointed out fellow board members have received campaign contributions from the company backing the project and asked them to recuse themselves from the vote, prompting pushback from Council President Randy Helms.

Some expected a marathon meeting Tuesday, because residents have opposed Weidner Apartment Homes’ plan to build 222 units on a 9.5-acre site at North 30th Street and West Garden of the Gods Road. The apartments are planned for the same intersection as a development the council blocked in 2021 over wildfire evacuation concerns.

But it was cut short and continued, because the group Westside Watch said the property is subject to zoning that has not been accounted for in the design or public process.

During the brief meeting Tuesday, Westside Watch’s attorney Kat Gayle told city officials an ordinance from 2005 said the property is subject to hillside-overlay zoning. It was never formally removed, she said.

“Hillside overlay miraculously disappeared,” she said.

The city describes the overlay zoning as requiring “careful attention to slopes, grading, building height and vegetation preservation through innovative and environmentally sensitive design techniques.”

Interim Planning Director Kevin Walker disagreed, saying that the city did not believe the property is subject to the hillside overlay but was not prepared to present on the issue, saying there was some confusion among documents spanning several decades.

“We would like the chance to clean that up and make a coherent presentation to you as soon as we can,” he said.

The council reset the hearing for July 9. The hearing was previously postponed over a public-notification error that Helms said contributed to the city’s former Planning Director Peter Wysocki leaving.

If the property is subject to the hillside-overlay zoning, the proposal probably would have to return to the Planning Commission, City Attorney Ben Bolinger said.

The design also would have to abide by numerous city rules under the overlay, such as ensuring that visual impacts on offsite areas have been reduced or mitigated.

Before the council decided to postpone a decision on the overlay, Donelson also called on his fellow council members to disclose conflicts of interest or prohibited communication with any party.

Later in the meeting, he went to ask council members Brian Risley, Michelle Talarico and David Leinweber to recuse themselves from a vote on the apartments, because they accepted $2,500 from developer Weidner during their campaigns. The Gazette independently confirmed those donations through campaign finance records.

“Citizens are going to feel the jury is stacked here,” he said.

Helms told Donelson he was creating an environment where the public would not trust the council.

“This is impugning our council members’ integrity up here, and I am just not going to put up with that,” Helms said.

While she was not asked to sit out a vote, Councilwoman Nancy Henjum told Donelson that asking about campaign contributions was not an appropriate question and that a donation does not constitute a conflict of interest.

Talarico was the only one to disclose accepting the campaign contributions when directly asked and also pushed back on Donelson.

“I am deeply offended that you would bring this up,” she said.

Many large developers, such as Classic Homes, La Plata Communities and Norwood, contribute generously to city candidates.

Contact the writer at mary.shinn@gazettedev.gazette.com or 719-429-9264.