TINY NEIGHBORHOOD WINS — or did it?

November 8th, 2009, 5:00 pm by Bill Vogrin

Residents of the Rawles Open Space Neighborhood fought developer Kristine Hembre, below, and her plans to build five houses on a five-acre parcel in the tiny community along Mesa Road north of Uintah Street.

But she satisfied the Colorado Springs Planning Commission and city staff with her plans, forcing neighbors to appeal to the City Council.

There, in April, they argued the city had an obligation to protect the character of historic neighborhoods from incompatible developments.

They said five modern houses, as Hembre proposed, on the parcel seen below from FlashEarth would ruin the Rawles neighborhood character with its rustic feel.

Rawles residents cherish their rustic neighborhood, which was built around a 7.6-acre open space named for the property’s original owner.

Here’s a historic photo of the property:

Here’s a look at the property on a map from the El Paso County Assessor’s Web site:

Here are blueprints Hembre’s Elle Development Co. created for the property. Her plan included installing 2,000 feet of sewer and water lines to serve her subdivision, called Horizon View.

Hembre had to be frustrated after spending three years and hundreds of thousands of dollars on her subdivision only to be told by the City Council in April to work with neighborhood opponents on a compromise.

Especially after she satisfied all the demands of the city’s zoning and codes. Check out my previous blog posts from April 26 and May 3 to read more on her project.

Despite that frustration, it was surprising when she dropped the project a couple weeks ago, just a day before she was to appear before the Council again to get her new plans approved.

But neighbors might not want to celebrate. She told city staff her project isn’t quite dead. She’s just going to sit on it a while. Not a lot of new homes are being built in today’s economy.

And who knows. After what happened on election day, she might have a whole new City Council to deal with in the near future and the outcome might be much different.

===========================================

Posted in: Uncategorized • City Council • Colorado Springs Planning Commission • Elle Development Co. • Horizon View • Kristine Hembre • Mesa Road • Rawles Open Space Neighborhood • Uintah Street | Post a Comment »

I’LL BE YOUR ROUNDABOUT

September 17th, 2008, 8:36 pm by Bill Vogrin

Apologies to the rock band Yes and its popular 1971 album Fragile and hit Roundabout. But if Colorado College gets its way, motorists will be rockin’ and rollin’ along Cascade Avenue when they hit four proposed roundabouts between Boulder and Jackson streets.

The city planning staff has approved the idea, at least as an experiment, and now it’s off to Colorado Springs Planning Commission and, eventually. the City Council.

The changes to Cascade are part of a sweeping revision the college has proposed to its master plan.

Here is a look at the long range master plan proposed by CC: Colorado College Long Range Development Plan

And here is the college’s response to initial city planning objections to the plan: Colorado College Response

Lots of good maps and stuff in those.

Here are some of the maps you will find. This is an overview of the campus and what the college considers its redevelopment potential:

This map shows the college transportation plan with the straightening of Glen Avenue south of Uintah Street on the far west edge of campus, the opening of access to the residence hall parking complex south of Uintah at Wood Avenue and the installation of roundabouts on Cascade, among other changes.