Located about 14 miles northeast of Colorado Springs, Meadow Lake Airport in Falcon sits on the plains of eastern El Paso County with little development surrounding it. However, according to the EPC Electronic Development Application Review Program, there are four active applications to develop property in various locations near the airport.Kari Parsons, planner II with the El Paso County Planning and Community Development Department, said one of those applications is a sketch plan for 327 acres called the Meadowlake Ranch. According to the application found on the application program website, the property is located at the northwest corner of Highway 24 and Judge Orr Road, with Bandanero Drive and Eastonville Road as the northern and western boundaries, respectively.The sketch plan addresses the feasibility of using 85.5 acres of that property for residential rural development, 117 acres for urban density residential development, 32 acres for commercial development and 93 acres for industrial land uses, the application states.ìThis is just the first concept for the development,î Parsons said. ìIt shows industrial uses, urban residential, residential rural lots at 2.5 acres, commercial uses and an existing easement given to the county from the original landowner in 1969.îHowever, according to an article posted on http://pagetwo.completecolorado.com on March 19, developments like the Meadowlake Ranch that are within the airportís area of influence have raised concerns from both the Federal Aviation Association and the Meadow Lake Airport Association Inc., a 501 (c) 4 nonprofit corporation that owns and operates the airport.According to the application program website, the FFA sent a letter regarding the Meadowlake Ranch Development to Parsons April 30, 2018, that outlines its concerns with the sketch plan, in particular the location of residential and industrial properties in the approach and departure areas for the airportís runways.The article “Meadow Lake Airport Facing Pressure from Residential Development,” posted on http://pagetwo.completecoloradocom March 29 states that Dave Elliott, Meadow Lake Airport manager, opposes the development of land around the airport.ìThe problem, says Elliott, is that any structures underneath the departure path will likely result in death or injury in a forced landing,î the article states. ìElliott is requesting county officials restrict that area to open space for safety reasons.îA letter of intent, initially submitted in August 2018, was revised in April 2019 and addresses those concerns and the ones submitted by the Meadowlake Airport Association, according to the application program website. The letter states: ìMLAA has made no effort to obtain avigation easements over adjacent private property that it states are critical to its operations. Nor has MLAA offered to discuss with private landowners the acquisition of the private property it needs, or to offer to purchase the landownersí development rights, or to request an avigation easement, which would protect their flight operations.îThe letter of intent indicates that MLAA has not attempted to obtain the avigation easements it says it needs for the safety of the people in the structures that are part of the proposed project.According to the website http://definitions.us.legal.com, “avigation easement is an easement or right of overflight in the airspace above or in the vicinity of a particular property.”Parsons said those reasons, among others, are why the Meadowlake Ranch sketch plan has met the criteria for approval from the EPC Planning Commission and the EPC Board of County Commissioners.ìThe Meadowlake Ranch sketch plan application is scheduled to go to the planning commission June 4 and scheduled for the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners on June 25,î she said. ìThe only opposition we have gotten so far is from the airport.îNina Ruiz, planner II with the EPC Planning and Community Development Department, said she is the planner on the three other development applications as follows: 824 Acres Curtis Road; Judge Orr RV Park; and Judge Orr Planned Unit Development.According to the application program website, the 824 Acres application requests a rezoning of an 824-acre section of a property formerly called Santa Fe Springs Ranch, from agricultural 35 to RR-2.5. The property is located east of Curtis Road and south of Judge Orr Road, the application states.The 824 Acres project consists of 824 acres total, about 629 will be developed with up to 250 single-family lots on 2.5 acres or more.ìThe 824 Acres development was initially opposed by Meadow Lake Airport but the airport and developer came to an agreement and they no longer oppose it,î Ruiz said. ìThe rezoning has been approved and everything in that rezoning is going to be in the finalized version of the application.îRuiz said the Judge Orr RV Park application is a site development plan and the paperwork should be completed by the end of the year, while the Judge Orr PUD will require a full hearing process. The county is nowhere near close to holding that hearing, and nothing has been resubmitted by the applicant in more than a year. She said the MLAA opposes this development application.Editorís note: ìThe New Falcon Heraldî made several attempts to contact Dave Elliott in April and May, but he did not respond to requests for interviews.
