Separate groups of residents are preparing to appeal two controversial development plans in front of the City Council during the board’s regular meeting Tuesday.

Launchpad Apartments

Residents plan to appeal the Colorado Springs Planning Commission’s June 14 decision to uphold city planning staff’s administrative approval of plans to build the 50-unit Launchpad Apartments just north of the intersection of West Uintah and North 19th streets.

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The project is envisioned to support homeless young adults 18 to 24. The Place operates the only shelter for homeless teens in Colorado Springs and will operate the programs at the Launchpad Apartments.

Forty-seven one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units are planned to be built in a four-story, approximately 45-foot-tall building on about 1.37 acres at the site, Andrea Barlow with developer consultant N.E.S. Inc. previously told the Planning Commission.

The density is approximately 36 units per acre.

Appellants have largely taken issue with the project’s proposed building height and density.

Neither elements conform to various adopted city plans guiding development at this site, including Colorado Springs’ comprehensive plan known as PlanCOS and the Westside Plan, the area master plan for development across 2,900 acres on Colorado Springs’ westside, appellant Scott Hiller previously told the Planning Commission.

The project also does not fit in with current surrounding uses in the area and contradicts the intention of the city’s zoning code designed to “protect” residents “from inappropriate design and other negative effects,” Tom Strand, a former Colorado Springs councilman, has said.

But appellants have requested a postponement of Tuesday’s scheduled appeal hearing in front of the City Council.

According to meeting documents, they have requested the postponement because one of their representatives may not be able to attend the hearing; 20 new appellants have joined the group and need adequate time to prepare for the hearing; and because appellants are waiting to receive a transcript of the Planning Commission’s June 14 meeting, where that board upheld city planners’ administrative approval of the project.

The Council will informally consider the postponement request at its scheduled work session Monday.

Colorado Springs spokesman Alex Ryden said in an email Friday that based off the council’s indication on Monday, the Launchpad Apartments appeal hearing will either be postponed near the beginning of Tuesday’s regular meeting or heard at the end of Tuesday’s meeting.

If the council grants the postponement request, Ryden said, the appeal hearing will likely be moved to the council’s regular meeting Aug. 8.

Kettle Creek North

Another group of residents is scheduled to appeal the Planning Commission’s June 14 approval of revised plans to build about 250 homes north of the intersection of Powers Boulevard and Old Ranch Road.

The Planning Commission’s recommendation for approval comes nearly two years after residents successfully paused the plans in the northeast part of the city. They argued in May 2021 that developers needed to provide a second exit route as an alternative to Thunder Mountain Avenue, a north-south road that leads to Old Ranch Road. Residents said relying on that road as well as Howells Road, a smaller parallel residential street that also leads out to Old Ranch Road, could be dangerous, particularly if one were blocked in a traffic accident.

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The new plans presented in June did not include that second evacuation route to either the north or the west. 

A western connection to Powers Boulevard has been met with a “resounding ‘no'” from the Colorado Department of Transportation because Powers is a freeway, Chris Lieber, a consultant with N.E.S. representing developer Vintage Communities, previously told the Planning Commission.

A road north to State Highway 83 or Shoup Road would require a large bridge across Kettle Creek that would cost over $10 million in bridge and connection road construction – and low traffic generation from the neighborhood could not justify that cost, he has said.

Residents have said the neighborhood also already suffers from traffic congestion, particularly in front of Pine Creek High School in the morning when neighbors trying to leave are headed south on Thunder Mountain Avenue and students, parents and staff driving to the school are headed north.

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The City Council meets both for its work session on Monday and its regular meeting Tuesday at 10 a.m. at City Hall. 

Residents will be able to provide public comment on both items at Tuesday’s regular meeting.

Meeting agendas and relevant materials are available online at coloradosprings.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx.