District 20 Colorado Springs Calendar
Colorado Springs Planning Commission may vote on controversial Mountain Shadows water tank Wednesday
Just how tall will a new 5 million-gallon concrete water tank being built in Colorado Springs’ Mountain Shadows neighborhood be when it’s complete?
The Planning Commission on Wednesday is scheduled to recommend to the City Council whether or not to allow Colorado Springs Utilities to build the new tank 60 feet tall or 45 feet tall. The nine-member City Council acts as the utilities board.
Mountain Shadows neighbors identified in mid-June that the new Wilson water tank at the intersection of Wilson Road and Alabaster Way in northwest Colorado Springs was nearly 20 feet taller than the utility was permitted to build it, and pushed for a pause in construction. A development plan city planners administratively approved in June 2022 limits the new tank’s height to no more than 45 feet.
The utility is now formally proposing a major modification to the approved development plan with city planners to reconcile the height difference. The utility proposes allowing the tank’s maximum height to be 60 feet.
If the Planning Commission denies the proposed modification, it will then recommend whether or not to overturn a stop work order on construction at the site, senior planner Bill Gray said.
City planners have said they learned of the height discrepancy after concerned neighbors contacted them in June, and the city issued the stop work order Aug. 30. A week later, Colorado Springs Utilities filed a formal appeal of the order, saying in appeal documents that when the development plan was originally submitted the tank’s true overall height was uncertain because the utility hadn’t yet contracted a vendor to build it.
A note on page 12 of the plan states, “All measurements above are estimates. Final elevations will be designed by tank manufacturer during structural design phase.”
The subcontractor building the tank developed it based on certain structural design specifications, the utility said in its appeal documents, making its final height about 60 feet.
On May 5, city planners approved an application for a building permit from the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department; that application included the development plan and construction drawings showing the overall tank height at about 60 feet, Utilities said in its appeal.
Utilities said its land use consultant informed the agency the city had “erroneously issued the building permit” and Utilities wasn’t required to take remedial action.
Mountain Shadows neighbors have said this summer they are upset Colorado Springs Utilities didn’t “properly” follow the city’s process for land use applications and felt “deceived.”
Residents will have a chance to offer public comment in-person and virtually on the items at Wednesday’s Planning Commission meeting.
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the Regional Development Center, 2880 International Circle.
The agenda and meeting documents are available online at coloradosprings.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx.
