Funding from D.C. could be lost
Colorado Springs receives around $481 million from the federal government to fund important programs like fire mitigation and affordable housing, Mayor Yemi Mobolade’s Chief of Staff Jamie Fabos said, naming just two of the programs that benefit from federal grant programs. Mobolade traveled recently to Washington, D.C., where he communicated some of the impacts of cuts to grant funding that have been announced under the Trump administration.
Library lovers battle on
When the Pikes Peak Library District board of trustees announced plans to close Rockrimmon Library last fall, they pleaded that they had an über-tight budget. But now, PPLD appears “to have enough money to open up discussions and possible negotiations to purchase two libraries – Ute Pass, which serves a very small population compared to Rockrimmon Library, and the other being Ruth Holley branch,” Karla Powers, the head of the grassroots movement fighting to keep a library in northwest Colorado Springs, told City Council. “It’s very hard to track what their plan is … They don’t have a strategic plan.”
Supporters of Rockrimmon Library have had more than enough books donated to them to stock an interim library housed at Christ the King Lutheran Church, diagonally opposite where the now shuttered library is. The soft opening of Reading at the Rock is expected to be in early April. PPLD sent a Bookmobile to the Rockrimmon area in early March, but it only serves the area once a week on Fridays and only until 4 p.m., effectively meaning schoolchildren can’t use it.
Library board of trustees vacancy
City Council’s library liaisons, Councilors Nancy Henjum and Lynette Crow-Iverson, have interviewed seven candidates to fill a vacancy on the board of trustees, and passed the names of two applicants to the Board of County Commissioners, Henjum said. But the Council and the County Commission “are not necessarily collaborating on this.”
Crow-Iverson said she and Henjum have found that most of the applicants “do not understand TABOR and how it affects libraries and the different parts the library has to deal with when it comes to finances… It is a slow process because we’re trying to get it right.” City Council came under fire for appointing library board members who, supporters of Rockrimmon have said, are unqualified or have a strong political bias. All three recent appointees voted twice to close Rockrimmon Library.
More annexations
Councilors debated and voted on two annexations – one for 3,107 acres adjacent to Fort Carson, which would be developed for manufacturing and industrial use, and the other for 32 acres by Templeton Gap, where single-family homes and townhomes would be built next to an existing residential neighborhood. The first, called the Southern Colorado Rail Park, was endorsed by several members of the public, including former state attorney general and Colorado Springs mayor John Suthers. “We need to broaden our economic base to once again include manufacturing,” Suthers said. Because the site is “wedged between Fort Carson and the Nixon power plant, not visible from I-25, you’re not going to find a better site than this.” The project is unlikely to face public opposition, given its distance from residential areas. Developing it would create an estimated 7,700 manufacturing jobs – which led Councilors Henjum, Yolanda Avila and David Leinweber to ask where all those workers would be housed. “Without this project, we do not have enough housing,” Leinweber said. “We’re going to have to come up with solutions… particularly with affordable housing.” Despite those concerns, the ordinance passed unanimously.
The proposed annexation of the area in northeast Colorado Springs, known as Summit View, had a more turbulent passage. Residents who live adjacent to the 32-acre site described their rural, unincorporated neighborhood as a unique enclave on an open hillside. Many expressed concerns with fire evacuation routes if hundreds more houses are built in the area, noting that, there is currently one way in and out – although the developer plans to add entrances and exits. Julie Michaud, who has lived on Appaloosa Drive in the enclave for 25 years with her husband and children, said the developer failed to engage with residents, although a spokesperson for Utah-based ROI Property Group said they had held an open house for residents.
After Council unanimously passed the annexation ordinance, Michaud’s husband Peter shouted “Shame!” at councilors and accused them of being in the pockets of developers. City Council President Randy Helms rejected that criticism, telling Michaud, “ No one’s bought and paid for” on City Council. “We approved it based upon the facts.”
Donelson voted to pass the ordinance on first reading but voted against amending the zoning map and the land use plan, which currently calls for building 253 single-family homes and townhomes on 32 acres. “When [the developer] comes back with their development plan, they can ask for an amendment” to zoning and land use, Donelson told the Pikes Peak Bulletin. Residents of the nearby enclave want fewer homes built and have expressed concerns over evacuation in the event of fire.
Ordinances require two readings to pass.
ADU amendment tabled
Council tabled a motion to amend the Unified Development Code of the City, as relates to accessory dwelling units, to the work session on March 24 and the regular meeting the following day.
