The fate of a Colorado Springs developer’s vision to build hundreds of new homes within a parcel of a rural community near Fort Carson rests on a precious natural resource: water.

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The Equity Group proposes annexing roughly 105 acres of land west of Highway 115 and south of Cheyenne Mountain State Park, including a portion of the Rock Creek Mesa subdivision in unincorporated El Paso County, into Colorado Springs boundaries.

The annexation is needed to provide water service for up to 400 attached and detached single-family homes planned for construction on about 51 acres of land south of the state park, said the company’s owner Danny Mientka.

Mientka originally expected Colorado Springs Utilities would provide water to the properties he owns in Rock Creek Mesa and at the intersection of Pine Oaks Road and Colorado 115 without annexing the land into the city.

The municipal agency consented to serve the properties via an out-of-boundary service agreement if Mientka upsized the infrastructure to better serve some residents in Rock Creek Mesa, he said.

Mientka formed the Rock Creek Metropolitan District and issued bonds to help pay for the utilities work, which includes extending service lines through Cheyenne Mountain State Park. Colorado Springs Utilities already serves a portion of the park with services, spokesman Alex Trefry said in a Friday email, but more infrastructure must be extended through the property to serve the annexation area if it is approved.

El Paso County officials later rejected Mientka’s development plans because the terms of the water service agreements with Utilities were only for periods of 25 years, he said. The county currently requires new developments to prove they have 300 years of groundwater sources.

Now, Mientka is asking the city to annex the land to provide the water.

Among other project benefits, the new development will provide needed housing for military personnel and civilians working at nearby installations like Fort Carson and Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, Mientka said. It will bring more water to the existing Rock Creek Mesa subdivision, which also boosts firefighting capabilities, he added. 

“We’re very proud of the role we’re playing in improving this part of our city,” he said.

The proposal also includes annexing about 54 acres of land adjacent to Cheyenne Mountain State Park — Trails, Open Space and Parks program (TOPS) property that is currently owned by Colorado Springs but outside of city limits. This land is proposed to be rezoned as parkland and would remain owned and maintained by the city, planners and developers said.

Bringing this section of land into city boundaries is best practice and part of a broader goal to bring all TOPS property into Colorado Springs limits, said city spokesman Max D’Onofrio and Gabe Sevigny, the planning supervisor overseeing the Rock Creek Mesa proposal.

The annexation of the parkland, too, will strengthen the point of contiguity that is required to bring in the other 51 acres slated for new homes, Mientka said.

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Some Rock Creek residents like Felicia Grillo remain opposed to building new homes in the area, since 2018 when Mientka first sought to establish the metropolitan district to provide water and wastewater services.

As the late morning sun rose higher into the sky above her home that looks out into an area of prairie proposed to be developed, Grillo on a recent sweltering Wednesday waved to neighbors driving by along dirt roads and greeted others walking their dogs.

Neighbors know each other and are tight knit, she said, with the rural character of the community being what they stand to lose if new development comes in.

“You can see the community-type feel out here. That’s what we want to keep,” she said.

The subdivision also doesn’t need water service from Colorado Springs Utilities, Grillo and fellow Rock Creek Mesa resident Edith Neumaier contend.

Rock Creek Mesa Water District Business general manager Kathy Olson said the district serves roughly 600 to 700 people, while others living in its boundaries have opted out of receiving water service from the district. Those residents get their water from domestic wells or manually haul it from cisterns elsewhere.

“Mientka says we don’t have water, but many people don’t want city amenities. That’s part of why they live in the rural area,” Grillo said.

“We like to be self-sufficient,” Neumaier added.

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Mientka said his proposal will bring in utilities infrastructure to improve the outdated open-air sanitary sewer plant that treats waste from the Cheyenne Mountain Estates mobile home park centered within the proposed annexation area.

“That is important to people who have to deal with an open-air sanitary sewer plant, and for their health and the environment,” he said.

Noting the area lies within a designated wildland urban interface identified as being at greater risk for wildfire, Grillo said she too fears more homes in the area will make emergency evacuations more dangerous.

Mientka said his work to extend utilities through Cheyenne Mountain State Park provides fire hydrants where none previously existed, providing the first line of defense against wildfires — water.

Grillo believes more development could negatively impact aviation flight routes and military training. The subdivision is near a helicopter landing zone and low-altitude flight training occurs in the area during the day and night.

Sevigny, the city planning director, said the city has been in contact with Fort Carson and Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station on the project. Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station said it had no concerns and the city has not received any comments yet from Fort Carson officials.

Contrasting opinions fly as Amara development approved by Colorado Springs City Council

Mientka’s proposal has some similarities to the massive 3,200-acre Amara annexation the Colorado Springs City Council cast its first vote to approve last month.

Amara developer La Plata Communities de-annexed its property from the city of Fountain because Fountain could not provide the water needed to serve Amara, but Colorado Springs can, La Plata representatives have said.

Both annexation proposals highlight the importance of water in an arid climate where developers who don’t have it cannot do business, making Colorado Springs’ vast water resources attractive.

Colorado Springs Utilities Chief System Planning & Projects Officer Lisa Barbato told the City Council in late July the agency can currently reliably provide 95,000 acre-feet of water a year to its customers.

An acre-foot of water can serve about four families for a year in Colorado Springs.

When Colorado Springs is fully built out, it will need 129,000 acre-feet of water a year to reliably serve residents, Barbato said last month. Utilities will need to develop 34,000 acre-feet of water, plus any additional water needed to support other annexations, to support its full buildout.

Utilities has developed a plan that includes new reservoirs, water reuse and conservation to meet future needs.