El Paso County commissioners on Tuesday will formally consider a request to allocate millions in future tax revenues to help build a new residential and retail venture in southeast Colorado Springs.

RJ Development will formally ask commissioners to allocate about $2.6 million in future tax revenues over 25 years to build the proposed Hancock Commons at the southeast corner of Hancock Expressway and Chelton Road. 

El Paso County to consider allocating $2.6 million to southeast Colorado Springs development

The city of Colorado Springs has designated the site an urban renewal area.

The Board of County Commissioners’ regular meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the Citizens Service Center, Room 1017, 1675 W. Garden of the Gods Road in Colorado Springs. This is a new temporary location, as the board’s usual meeting place at Centennial Hall is closed for upgrades.

The meeting will also be livestreamed on the county’s Facebook page, facebook.com/ElPasoCountyCO.

The project plans to construct between 150 and 180 market-rate apartments and between 72 and 87 market-rate townhomes, El Paso County and Colorado Springs officials have said. Additionally, there are plans to build 14,000 square feet of commercial retail space.

Developers want to realign Hancock Expressway where it curves south toward Milton E. Proby Parkway. As part of the project, crews will straighten and extend Hancock Expressway from Clarendon Drive east to Chelton Road.

It’s an improvement county and city officials have long sought, Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority Executive Director Jariah Walker has said. It could also open up more land for development on a triangular parcel just north of the Hancock Commons, he said.

El Paso County Commissioner Carrie Geitner has said she’s concerned the project may not be the best use of county taxpayer funds. Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez has also said he feels Colorado Springs is asking the county to subsidize a project the city should be funding.

El Paso County commissioners raise concerns over Hancock Commons funding request

Colorado Springs identified the Hancock Expressway realignment as a lower-priority road project to be funded by the voter-approved extension of the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority’s 1-cent sales tax funding multimodal road projects between 2025 and 2034.

Walker told commissioners during a work session in late November no funding has been identified for the lower-priority road projects during that 10-year period. The authority’s policy also makes developers responsible for public road improvements as part of development costs, he said.

If the city did receive PPRTA funding for the extension, it likely would not be for some time, Walker said.

Gonzalez said requesting future county tax revenues means Colorado Springs “is asking the county (to pay for public improvements) on behalf of the developer.”

The Board of County Commissioners will meet again at 1 p.m. Tuesday to review land use requests at the Citizens Service Center, Room 1017. The land use meeting also will be livestreamed on Facebook.

Board agendas are online at agendasuite.org/iip/elpaso.

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