Developer La Plata Communities is reassessing the future of thousands of acres it owns outside of Colorado Springs limits, land the City Council last week ultimately decided — after years of planning efforts — it would not allow to annex into the city.

There’s no concrete Plan B right now, La Plata Communities President and Chief Executive Officer Doug Quimby said Friday, but he and his team are considering various options.

Among the possibilities: a community of ranchette homes served by drilled wells. A solar farm. Or, simply leaving be the roughly 3,200 acres of land in unincorporated El Paso County, south and east of Colorado Springs limits.

Colorado Springs City Council reverses decision to annex 3,200 acres adjacent to Fountain

Quimby ruled out litigation against the city.

La Plata was “very surprised” Tuesday night when, after about three hours of discussion, the nine-member city council again narrowly voted, 5-4, to reverse its initial July 23 vote approving the annexation request, Quimby said.

Annexations require two votes from council, but they are not required to be votes with the same outcome. Tuesday’s council ruling is the final decision on the matter at this time, city spokeswoman Cassie Melvin said last week.

La Plata planned to build the master planned Amara community on the land, up to 9,500 homes plus retail space, schools, parks and public infrastructure.

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“We didn’t have a Plan B because we thought we were going to be in Colorado Springs. We’re evaluating other options now, and it will take some time to sort it out. So, at this point, there is no plan,” Quimby said.

Saying she could not speak to the entire history of annexations in Colorado Springs, Melvin said the city hasn’t rejected an annexation request “in recent memory.”

Developers are “extremely disappointed” in the council’s final decision because “Amara would have been very beneficial,” Quimby added.

Developers and project proponents testified that Amara would have offered high-quality homes and a master planned community for residents in the southern metro area. Amara was similar to other communities La Plata has built, including the roughly 7,500-acre Briargate development in northern Colorado Springs. Briargate annexed in 1982.

Councilwoman Yolanda Avila said Tuesday the southeast portion of the city encompassed by her district has been overlooked for new opportunities to build master planned housing, unlike the city’s northern areas.

Development in the southeast has been “hodgepodge,” leaving the area’s residents without many public parks and forcing them to drive longer distances for necessities like groceries, she said.

“All the development has been up north, and it’s teetered that way and just left southeast Colorado Springs,” Avila said.

The council voted to change its decision last week after hearing serious questions from business owners facing high utilities costs to help pay for the development. They also heard concerns from the leaders of Manitou Springs and Fountain, and farmers in the lower Arkansas Valley.

The valley relies on irrigated agriculture to fuel its economy; though Colorado Springs Utilities could have served Amara with its existing water supply, Colorado Springs and other communities in the future will need more water from the Arkansas Valley, farmers said.

Councilman Dave Donelson, who last month voted in favor of the annexation request, said his decision to switch his vote Tuesday reflected the views of residents who want the city to decelerate its growth rate.

“There are reasonable arguments in favor of the Amara annexation. However, today, I do not believe the citizens of Colorado Springs support it. It is wrong to let our city become something that the majority of our citizens dislike: too big, too crowded, too dense, too tall, too noisy,” he said.

Quimby said while he didn’t expect the council to overturn its previous approval, La Plata does not plan to challenge the decision in court.

“The city made a decision that’s within their rights to do it. We think it was wrong, but we’re not going to litigate it,” he said.

Developer seeks annexation of southwestern El Paso County land for Colorado Springs water

Water availability was also a major focus as Colorado Springs weighed the annexation request over several years. The proposal emphasized 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.

La Plata pitched its plan to Colorado Springs in 2021 because Fountain does not have the water to serve the development and cannot get the water, developers maintained.

Fountain officials said in 2022 they formed plans to provide more treated water that could serve Amara. La Plata cast doubt on those plans, at the time calling them “not actionable” in a letter to the Colorado Springs City Council.

Quimby said now his company could go back to Fountain and ask them to annex the land for Amara. This route is not high on the list of future options for the property because of ongoing water availability concerns, Quimby said.

For example, developer Corundum Properties V recently pivoted from its initial plans to build homes on a 2,400-acre parcel called Kane Ranch on Fountain’s eastern edge. The parcel was originally planned as the southern portion of Amara.

New annexation agreement approved by Fountain allows Kane Ranch developers to pursue solar farm option

After a failed attempt to sue Fountain and leave an annexation agreement for the Kane Ranch parcel, Corundum decided in June to use the land for a solar farm.

Fountain Mayor Sharon Thompson said last month if Kane Ranch tried to develop homes, “we really wouldn’t have the processed water for them at this point.”

Quimby said Friday he also doesn’t believe Fountain residents support the idea of developing Amara in their city limits.

“I don’t think going into Fountain is a viable option (at this time), but it’s not off the table,” he said.

It was unclear if Fountain officials are again open to possibly annexing the land. A city spokesman and Fountain Deputy City Manager Todd Evans did not immediately return The Gazette’s calls for comment Friday.

The need for water to serve Amara also highlighted political jousting between developers like La Plata and Norwood Development Group. Norwood, among others, previously insisted that land already inside Colorado Springs boundaries should be served first.

Those debates led the Colorado Springs City Council to adopt a controversial rule in early 2023 mandating its city-owned utility have a surplus of water, enough to serve existing city demand and the projected demand from new properties that want to come into municipal boundaries.

Initially, Colorado Springs’ rule appeared to block Amara’s annexation, but Utilities confirmed last month the project met water supply requirements. 

El Paso County to pursue Denver Basin groundwater study

If La Plata Communities decides to keep the land in unincorporated El Paso County and build homes, development would rely on finite groundwater from the diminishing Denver Basin aquifers many residents rely on.

El Paso County currently requires new developments to prove they have 300 years of groundwater, a rule that results in less development.