The Colorado Springs City Council had decided not to reopen the question of permanently closing a block of Boulder Street next to Palmer High School. Until it reconsidered.

After two successful votes as part of a reconsideration process in the waning moments of Tuesday’s council meeting, the ordinance to vacate the block of Boulder Street is back on the table. It will be heard again at a May 26 public hearing, where councilmembers will ask Colorado Springs School District 11 to discuss safety improvements at the other intersections surrounding the downtown high school.

Councilmember Brandy Williams asked to reconsider the March 10 vote on the ordinance to vacate the stretch of Boulder between Nevada Avenue and Weber Street. The previous vote had failed on a 4-4 tie, scuttling the planned design for a redevelopment of the high school across that section of street.

The request to reconsider the vote failed 4-3 at Tuesday morning’s council meeting. Councilmembers Nancy Henjum, Dave Donelson and Kimberly Gold had voted against the closure at the original council meeting and voted against reconsidering it again Tuesday.

Roland Rainey joined them to vote against the reconsideration. Four hours later at the end of the meeting, Rainey asked to reconsider his vote from the morning. The council voted 4-3 to let him reconsider his vote, then voted 4-3 to reopen discussion on the street closure.

During the council’s lunch break Tuesday, Rainey said he planned to call Williams to clarify what she wanted out of the reconsideration. Rainey later asked to change his vote to “properly align” with his vote on March 10 and allow for the new safety questions.

“If what we want is information, we don’t have to go back and reconsider votes. We go back and reconsider votes because someone wants to change their vote,” Donelson said.

District 11 asked for the road closure as part of the redevelopment of Palmer High School. The district’s plan for the high school would unite the two blocks into a larger, uninterrupted campus and build a new track across the current Boulder Street location.

Williams said she wanted to bring the issue back to have a broader discussion about the traffic safety concerns around Palmer High School. Williams said the presentations two weeks ago raised concerns about the broader issue of students having to walk across busy roads in downtown Colorado Springs.

“The conversation seemed to be very myopic about Boulder Street. If we can broaden it and have a more holistic conversation about how everything in the area works together, then I think that would be very helpful,” Williams said.

Williams said that after the March 10 meeting, she had talked to city engineers about the dangers at the other intersections around Palmer High School.

The councilmembers who rejected the motion said there were other options for the Boulder Street issue to come back for consideration. Bringing the question back for reconsideration twice in Tuesday’s meeting confused the issue even further.

The city attorney’s office said that a new application to vacate the street could be filed through the city development code.

While a second version usually takes a year to return to the City Council, the city attorney said the project could be waived through faster in some cases.

“I am very open to having more conversations with the district about what makes the most sense for what they’re trying to accomplish for the campus,” Henjum said. “I would prefer to have it come back in a separate application entirely.”

Students at Palmer High School told the council that the unified campus would be safer without the frequent road crossing. Neighbors in the Middle Shooks Run neighborhood said closing the road would increase emergency response times and push student parking further away from the school.

Councilmember David Leinweber said that reconsidering the ordinance would functionally be the same as holding a second reading and vote, which is routine for ordinances that pass.

“There are moments when we, as council people, are conflicted and need additional time to really weigh the issue. We may have voted in favor of something and later decided, ‘Wait, I changed my mind,'” Leinweber said.

Councilmember Brian Risley recused himself because his architecture firm worked with District 11 on another project.

The last successful “motion to reconsider” appears to have taken place in June 2020. During the vote on rezoning 61 acres for the Kettle Creek North development off Powers Boulevard, then-councilmember Tom Strand initially voted to deny the zoning change. After lunch, Strand said he had changed his mind and switched his vote, allowing the rezone to take place.  

The change of mind led to an ethics complaint against Strand, which was cleared later that year with no finding of wrongdoing. The much-debated Kettle Creek North housing development was pulled back and eventually voted down by the City Council in 2023. 

In August 2024, Colorado Springs city council members reversed their decision to annex 3,200 acres adjacent to Fountain for the Amara subdivision. The council voted to change its decision after hearing serious questions from leaders in Fountain and Manitou as well as local businesses.