COLORADO SPRINGS — Colorado Springs voters received ballots late last month for a special election on June 17, it’s one question: Should the proposed development known as Karman Line near Schriever Space Force Base be annexed into Colorado Springs?
The annexation was approved by Colorado Springs City Council earlier this year, after the approval a group of people opposed to the annexation gathered enough signatures through a petition process to send the question to voters.
City Council had two options: reverse it’s approval or send it to the ballot.
Karman Line is a 1,900-acre proposed development east of Colorado Springs. The land is owned by Norris Ranch Joint Venture LLC, which includes The O’Neil Group.
The development proposes a mix of commercial and residential property including 6,500 homes. The proposal includes multi family and single family properties.
This annexation is known as a “flag pole annexation”, it’s where a thin strip of land, in this case, a section of Bradley Road is also annexed in to the city to attach the land to existing city limits.
Here’s how it appears on the ballot:
Shall the voters approve Ordinance 25-16, concerning annexing that area known as Karman Line Addition No. 6 consisting of 1,876.24 acres located northwest of the Bradley Road and Curtis Road intersection into the City of Colorado Springs?
- For the Ordinance
- Against the Ordinance
“It’s definitely going to impact our quality of life,” Ann Rush, an organizer of the group “Citizens to Stop Illogical Growth” and homeowner near the proposed development said,“you hear it's very quiet here, you know, you put 6500 homes on top of that ledge. We're going to be hearing that.”
Rush said she’s not only concerned about the noise, she said response times for public safety, water supply, and traffic are also concerns for her.
“We’re not against growth,” Rush said, “ We understand that growth is a natural thing. And we're not trying to say that we're anti-development anti-growth. We're just trying to stop the city from doing something that is going to cost the citizens of Colorado Springs more money.”
Colorado Springs Utilities presented to City Council as the proposal for Karman Line was being voted on. It estimates capital costs for Springs Utilities to build infrastructure such as treatment plants and meters will range from about $90 million to $135 million. This would be funded through base rates from customers. Utilities expects to payback the cost through additional customers in 9 to 13 years.
The developers are required to pay for the cost of extending utilities beyond the current city limits and infrastructure like electric lines and wastewater collection sites in the development. Utilities estimates those costs to range from $128 million to $146 million. Those costs will ultimately be determined by the developer who pays the cost.
As of now, developer construction is not expected to begin for another five years. Unlike a previous annexation proposal submitted last year, Amara, Karman Line is not expected to have a rider fee for utility customers unless construction were to begin before that five-year timeframe.
“Annexation helps with things like utilities, it helps with things like law enforcement. There's other alternatives like building in the county, but the county is really more predisposed toward a larger lot sizes and things like that,” Eli Bremer, one of the founding partners of the project said.
Supporters of the project say more housing is needed near local military bases like Schriever. The proposed development is about a mile and a half away from Schriever's main gate.
“The best thing we can do is be ready to support our military, build the infrastructure around the bases, and then there's so much work that's going to happen. It's important for our community. It's also important for our national security,” Bremer said.
In a letter sent to local government officials, Colorado Springs City Council, and El Paso County Commissioners, the Commander of Space Base Delta 1, Colonel Kenneth Klock said it cannot endorse specific developments.
The letter also said residential rural zoning has “protected critical military infrastructure for over 75 years” it goes on to say “community support remains essential to our success. Affordable and appropriate housing for our junior service members, lower-wage grade, and civil service employees is crucial.”
A fiscal analysis for the project lays out estimated housing costs for Karman Line. The analysis says starting prices for multi family properties, such as condos and townhomes would begin at $217,500. For single-family attached properties, like duplexes, prices would start at $400,000. Small lot single family properties would begin at $500,000 and for ranches with over an acre in the development, it would start at $2 million.
The election is for registered voters in Colorado Springs city limits. Ballots must be returned by 7 P.M. on June 17.
For more information on how to vote, visit the city's website.
_____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
