The Colorado Springs City Council heard plans at its Monday work session to issue more than $116 million in bonds for two large affordable housing projects in the city.

The private activity bonds would go toward the debated Royal Pines development in the north end of the city and a new project in the far southeast called Bradley Ridge. The two developments would provide a combined 564 additional units of affordable housing in Colorado Springs over the next three years.

Katie Sunderlin, city housing solutions manager, told the City Council the two projects would receive almost the entirety of the banked bond capacity the city has retained since 2022 for projects like these. The bonds will come back to the council for an official vote during the May 13 meeting.

City Council changes public comment time and rules to streamline discussions

The Royal Pine development, located at the intersection of North Union Boulevard and Royal Pine Drive, would offer 232 units of housing and be one of a handful of dedicated affordable options in the north end of Colorado Springs. The project requested $40 million in issued bond

All units would be available to residents who make less than 70% of the area median income, which is roughly $70,000 per year for an individual. A portion of the units would be reserved for residents making less than 30% of the area median income.

Residents of the nearby Pine Creek neighborhood and the Briargate area had rallied against the project when it was first announced in 2023. The neighbors worried that the new apartments would bring overcrowding to the area, affect the character of the neighborhood and increase the risk for fires and evacuations.

After a series of contentious meetings, the City Council voted in February 2024 to allow the project to move ahead.

A lawsuit filed against the city by Preserve Pine Creek Neighborhood to block the project was dismissed in January by the El Paso County District Court. Delays from the lawsuit meant that the $40 million bond authority the City Council approved for the project in 2023 no longer applied because the resolution expired.

Developer Eric Grodahl from DBG Properties told the council Monday that they had since settled the complaints from nearby businesses. Councilmember Tom Bailey, who now represents the project’s neighborhood in District 2, said he was ready to move the project forward.

“This is one of those things that I think we’ve worked through and the process has worked, so I’m excited to have this,” Bailey said.

Sunderlin also introduced the $76 million bond request for the Bradley Ridge complex, located southeast of the Colorado Springs Airport along Bradley Road. Bradley Ridge will contain 332 units with between two and four beds available. Maximum rents for all of the units will be kept affordable for 60% of the area median income.

The development will also contain an Early Connection Learning Center to provide childcare for kids under the age of 5, which Sunderlin said was a unique asset that would also help support the city’s shortage of affordable childcare. Residents of Bradley Ridge would be prioritized for the roughly 65 available spots.

“How do we leverage these private activity bonds, one of the largest financing sources we have for houses, to benefit our community in different ways?” Sunderlin said.

Bradley Ridge had received $64 million in bond capacity from the city private activity bond board in the last year, as well as $12 million in state allowance for affordable housing.

If the bond ordinances are passed in May, the projects said they expected to secure the bonds and finances by the end of the year. Royal Pines was projected to finish construction in the summer of 2027, according to the council presentations, with Bradley Ridge coming online in the spring of 2028.