In early May, 935 Development Inc. and Spring Creek LLC won approval from the El Paso County Planning Commission to rezone a 77-acre parcel in the 4-Way Ranch Planned Unit Development.The parcel is north of Judge Orr Road on the west side of Highway 24.Craig Dossey, project manager with El Paso County’s Development Services Department, said the rezone request eliminates eight of the 137 residential parcels that were approved in 2004 and expands the commercial area.The commercial area will include a 7.6-acre parcel for one or more professional or medical office buildings.Elaine Kleckner, development services planning manager, said the expanded commercial area is consistent with the Falcon/Peyton Small Area Master Plan, which recommends the area for urban density development and identifies it as a “potential node or corridor of activity.””Another very positive feature of this development is that central water and sewer services will be provided,” Kleckner said. “This is an area where pollution of the alluvial aquifer has been a huge concern. Central services help ensure that doesn’t happen.”Jeff Rice, an engineer with development services, said a portion of the property is within the Federal Emergency Management Agency floodplain, and a study of the Haegler drainage way is still incomplete. The Geick study – another drainage study – is “pretty much complete,” he said.”So, there still is what you would call a hand-drawn FEMA floodplain [map] on a portion of the property,” Rice said.As a condition of the rezoning approval process, the drainage studies must be finalized before issuance of the final plat and permit.Rice said Stapleton Road would likely be extended to Highway 24 before actual construction starts. The development could drive the need for a traffic signal at the intersection of Eastonville Road and Stapleton Road, he said.Planning Commissioner David Kunstle questioned the tentative nature of this kind of planning.”Is there any agreement between these metro districts to make this a smooth-flowing road? In the overall major transportation corridor plan, Stapleton Road from Curtis Road all the way down to Briargate [Parkway] is planned, but I don’t see it coming together,” Kunstle said. “You have bits and bobs where this guy is going to do this and this guy is going to do that.”Are you going to hold money in escrow from this metro district to make that happen, regardless of what happens to that commercial development?””It’s a jumble,” Rice said, with the 4-Way Ranch, Meridian Ranch, Woodmen Hills and Sterling Ranch developments all involved in the construction of Stapleton Road. “As each development proceeds, they’re being held for their fair and equitable impact for the need for Stapleton Road to go through their development.”The rezone request faced an additional obstacle: the exact location of the property’s southern boundary.”The developer and the owner to the south are still working out the issue of where the property line actually is,” Rice said. A house that’s now more than 100 years old could have been built 30 to 40 feet past the property line, he said.Ron Bevan of NES Inc., the company representing the developer, said the developer is in agreement with all 20 conditions recommended by development services.The conditions include the following requirements:
- Funds must be deposited in escrow for road construction.
- A signal at the intersection of Stapleton Road and Eastonville Road must be added.
- The developer will not request a final plat until the floodplain issues are finalized.
