The Colorado Springs Planning Commission narrowly advanced the annexation and zoning plans for a roughly 1,900-acre development southeast of the city limits.

The commission voted 4-3 Wednesday evening to recommend a series of annexations for the Karman Line development. The annexation will head to the City Council early next year for a final vote.

The proposed Karman Lone development would be built southeast of the city between the Banning Lewis Ranch neighborhood and Schriever Space Force Base. The developers plan to build 6,500 new homes, some of which would be off-base housing, along with mixed-use and commercial buildings along Curtis Road.

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The project is by Norris Ranch Joint Venture and La Plata Communities, the developer of the previously proposed and controversial Amara annexation. Both proposals are located southeast of the city, but Karman Line is farther east than Amara and on the other side of Bradley Road. The City Council ultimately ruled against the Amara annexation in August. 

The commissioners split over whether the “flagpole” annexation requested for Karman Line made sense for the city’s growth. Commissioners said the project was a tough balance between Colorado Springs’ need for additional housing and the opposition of most of ranchers and residents who lived nearby.

“Our city is growing. If you’re not growing, you’re dying, and unfortunately some of us get hit with that and have to make changes to our lives,” said Commissioner David Robbins. He voted for the annexation along with Nadine Hensler, Marty Rickett and Ken Casey.

Flagpole annexations allow cities to add land to their city limits when it is only connected by a road that would also be included in the annexation. In this case, the annexation would include a roughly 3-mile extension of the city boundaries along Bradley Road to reach the lot.

A traffic impact study for the project said Bradley Road would likely need to be expanded to six lanes by the time construction is finished.

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Neighbors of the project raised concerns about the emergency response times because of the distance from the city core. The addition would need to house at least one temporary fire station, according to the Colorado Springs Fire Department’s project review.

The Colorado Springs Police Department said their recent response times for similar eastern areas ranged from 15 to 50 minutes. The police did not ask to have a substation in the new development.

Charles Holliday, who lives on Barbwire Lane north of the planned development, said he was concerned about a major increase in traffic on Curtis Road and the impacts of wildlife that passed through the area.

“They’ll turn this into exactly what we moved out there to get away from. I’ve been there 23 years,” Holliday said.

Planning Commission chairwoman Andrea Slattery, who voted against the annexation, said the addition was too big of a jump in urbanizing the rural area.

“I think everyone who spoke here from the neighborhood realizes it will get there, but I don’t think we are there yet or at an appropriate enough time to reserve this spot for it,” Slattery said.

Several planning commissioners said this annexation was a more natural fit for the city than the Amara proposal. Colorado Springs Utilities has a long-term plan to build a reservoir south of Bradley Road, which would be adjacent to the development and make the required water supply easier to provide.

The construction timeline is longer for this project than Amara, with La Plata telling the planning commission they wanted to have homes built by the end of the decade.