On May 6, the El Paso County Planning Commission reviewed plans for Sterling Ranch, a development of more than 5,000 urban density houses on 1,443 acres on the east side of Vollmer Road, near the intersection of Black Forest Road and Woodmen Road.The commission denied approval of the plan by a vote of 8 to 1.Part of the proposed development is located in an area that was recently moved from the Black Forest planning area to the Falcon/Peyton planning area.Although the Falcon/Peyton Small Area Master Plan has yet to be adopted, the plan establishes a cooperative planning area shared by the Black Forest and Falcon/Peyton planning areas.The cooperative planning area requires transition zones between urban and rural densities along the border separating the two areas. As submitted, the Sterling Ranch plan did not have the required transition zones.”The Sterling Ranch plan didn’t fit very well with the Black Forest plan,” said David Powell, planning commission member. “I think the commission did the right thing.”Morley-Bentley Investments Inc., which owns the Sterling Ranch property, has hired N.E.S. Inc. to plan the development.John Maynard of N.E.S. said the Sterling Ranch plan has been resubmitted with modifications addressing the transition zones.The planning commission will review the modified plan on July 1, Maynard said.At the May 6 hearing, the planning commission also expressed concern about water for the development.The Sterling Ranch plan included a document from the Cherokee Metropolitan District entitled “Water and Sewer Service Commitment” in which Cherokee agreed to provide water to the development, subject to 11 conditions.”They had no real commitment for water,” Powell said.Maynard said plans to provide water for the development will be addressed at the July 1 hearing.”The planning commissioners were looking for additional information that wasn’t available by anyone at the hearing, so Cherokee will make a presentation regarding water at the hearing,” Maynard said.
