Indian Heights Casitas is one of the “infill” projects that Colorado Springs has encouraged in recent years. Here’s a look at it:

In this case, developer Bill Skeele took a vacant lot on the Westside at 19th and King Streets and, around 2006, built 15 townhomes.

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 Basically, Skeele built seven duplexes and a single unit.

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It’s adjacent to a large storage complex and surrounded by older homes as well as other housing developments.

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Joyce Truitt and her daughter came along and bought side-by-side units. They were low-maintenance homes. Conveniently located in the city. And not part of a sprawling complex.

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There was just one problem. Skeele never finished the project. Truitt said he left lots of little things undone. Most important was an irrigation system for the common areas.

As a result, trees and shrubs died. Truitt said he was unresponsive to repeated calls for action. So she turned to the city. Again she became frustrtated.

Here’s a look at Indian Heights Casitas from FlashEarth:

So Truitt started calling the city’s development review folks and teh city attorney. Truitt had been married to a banker for years and knew projects like this were secured by bonds. In this case, $57,000 remained locked up until the city released it back to Skeele.

Truitt asked the city to use that money to finish the project. But she said city staff told her the money was a penalty bond meaning it would not necessarily be used to finish Indian Heights Casitas if staff decided Skeele would forfeit it.

That’s when Truitt called me.

She didn’t need to. She had done everything possible to get action on her complaint. And the city had not ignored her. In fact, the city met a week ago with Skeele and he promised to complete the project by June 1.

Truitt is not convinced. But she hopes it’s true.

Stay tuned.

Common areas at Indian Heights Casitas

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