The nearly 100 homes that could be built in a planned development in Security-Widefield may now include both attached and detached single-family lots, El Paso County commissioners decided this week.

Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a request from landowners MIDCO Investments LLC and Fountain Mutual Metro District to rezone approximately 12 acres of undeveloped land west of Bradley Road and south of the intersection at Alturas Drive and Cable Lane. The new designation allows a mix of 98 single-family detached and attached residential lots and five tracts on the property.

El Paso County to allocate $2.6 million to Hancock Commons in southeast Colorado Springs

Landowners also requested approval of a preliminary plan for the development, known as Haven Valley, which commissioners unanimously approved.

The new planned unit development, or PUD, slightly modifies a site-specific PUD the Board of County Commissioners previously approved in November 2006 and that is now expired, county planners and landowner representative Andrea Barlow of N.E.S. Inc. told commissioners.

The biggest change in the new PUD allows detached lots, Barlow said. The previously approved plan authorized only single-family attached lots on the property, she said.

The proposed number of lots and anticipated density remains the same, at 8.33 dwelling units per acre, she said.

Developer rescinds Monument annexation request

The homes will be priced at market rates, likely in the range of $400,000 to $450,000, Barlow said. 

Lots will be a minimum of 2,900 square feet, El Paso County Senior Planner Kari Parsons said. The development also plans for 1.68 acres of open space, 2.52 acres of private roadway and 0.4 acres of dedicated public right of way.

The land is surrounded to the north and west by churches, townhomes and other single-family homes.

No one spoke in opposition to the project Tuesday, but neighbors have previously expressed concerns about traffic, saying development could worsen existing traffic woes.

Barlow told commissioners the county conducted a traffic impact study that found no requirement to mitigate Bradley Road or Alturas Drive to accommodate additional use, including installing a new traffic signal.

In a letter to the El Paso County Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners dated Nov. 29, Susan Spencer, who lives adjacent to the property, said she was concerned the study did not accurately reflect traffic patterns near the proposed development because it was conducted in 2021, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“Everyone in these tucked away neighborhoods who utilize this intersection will also be impacted by at least an additional 98 vehicles,” Spencer wrote. “… If a traffic signal is not required now, eventually the burden of that cost will fall upon the taxpayers’ shoulders because of this decision.”

Kenneth Duncan, who also lives near the property, said he was concerned the lot sizes and streets were too small.

“Consider that no family is a single-car family anymore. I say, assume two cars at least,” he wrote in a Nov. 27 email to county planners. “With lot sizes that small, you will have single-car garages or no garages at all. The streets … will be filled with cars, creating a traffic hazard for residents and for emergency response vehicles.”

Meggan Herington announced as El Paso County’s newest Planning and Community Development director

Barlow said each lot will accommodate a full two-car garage as well as a full driveway. Some street parking will also be available.

County engineer Daniel Torres said the streets are 24 feet wide but parking is allowed at that width. He said Security Fire Protection District, which will serve the development, did not have concerns about emergency vehicle access.

Crews will also install a new full-spectrum detention pond off-site in a drainage easement owned by the landowner, said Tim McConnell of Drexel Barrell and Company, which provides civil, water and traffic engineering services.

This will reduce water flow by 80% at the southwest corner of the proposed Haven Valley development, which currently discharges between two existing houses at the intersection of Pecos and Widefield drives, McConnell said. There will be no impact to upstream flows, he said.

“I’m glad they’re finally doing something about it,” said Kyle Fairthorne, an adjacent neighbor who told commissioners Tuesday he has been “negatively impacted in the past from drainage flooding” and that he supported the development.

The Security Water and Sanitation District will provide water and wastewater services, planners said. The district has committed to serving Haven Valley, planning documents show.