COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — The proposed data center on Garden of the Gods Road is moving forward for now. In a late-night vote, the Colorado Springs Planning Commission denied appeals by neighbors wanting the project stopped. Those neighbors say they are not done.
"The motion passes with six commissioners in favor," said the chair of the Colorado Springs Planning Commission.
A majority of the volunteers on the Colorado Springs Planning Commission voted in favor of rejecting appeals against the proposed data center. Two commissioners voted against the motion.
Ron Graham-Becker is a lead for one of the appeal groups. Assessing the marathon day, he believes the arguments remain strong and relevant.
He is not convinced everything was properly considered and thinks a lot of the inflammatory public comments later in the day detracted from the intended focus of the hearing.
"We did our due diligence and what we were expected to do and we presented our case pretty well. I think there was a lot of convincing evidence," said Graham-Becker.
The project developer, was direct in pointing out that the appeal is about whether their application had errors or happened contrary to the law.
"The question before you today is whether city staff properly reviewed and approved administratively the major modification to the development plan," said Caitlin Quander, legal counsel for Raeden.
Despite the vote against them by the Planning Commission, appellant groups are moving forward to the next step of appealing to city council.
"It's going to be interesting to see how this thing goes in front of the city council," said Graham-Becker.
There are multiple groups that had their appeal denied. They now have 10 days to submit an appeal to go before city council.
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