This is the first in what I hope will be a series of articles dealing with residential development, land use, zoning and growth in El Paso County. Our county is booming. I read an article just today that said the county is 12,000 housing units short, with 900 people moving into the county every month. We can all see the apartments popping up like weeds, and houses are selling as fast as they can be built.Why is Colorado Springs growing so fast? First, we have a wonderful climate, the mountains are close by and many amenities make us a great city and county. With the increasing work-from-home culture, people can live wherever they wish and why not go to a beautiful place like Colorado Springs? Now, how to handle this growth. El Paso County has several master plans for growth and development, water, transportation and other things. These plans are meant to coordinate resources in the right direction so growth is logical and well-planned. Your El Paso County Master Plan was adopted in May 2021 and is supposed to guide development for the next 20 or more years. You can find the entire plan at https://www.elpasoco.com. This plan has goals and policies for the whole range of land uses, from rural in the eastern plains to city-sized lots next to the city. It also covers recreation, business, military and commercial development.Most of the goals and policies are non-specific and use words like ìshould, encourage, promote and evaluate,î but there are specifics in there as well. One of the more notable specifics states that development in the ìlarge-lot residentialî area of the county, which is a belt around the city, must have a residential density no less than 2.5 acres/lot. So far, there hasnít been a development to test if the county commissioners will hold to this standard or not. Residents in the Black Forest campaigned hard to restrict density to 5 acres/lot in the forest to save more trees, wildlife and congestion, but the county refused.Another factor in development is zoning. Zoning was created to keep compatible developments together and separate from other land uses. Zoning should prevent an auto salvage yard from setting up shop next to your house. Zoning should also prevent your 5-acre lot development from having an urban development right across the road with lots that are one-fourth acre. No one has a guarantee that zoning wonít change, but residents do have a right to believe that zoning will not be drastically changed to their detriment, which would decrease the value of their homes. Zoning in Falcon should keep a commercial strip mall from being built in the middle of a housing area. People moved into the country to avoid city issues, and they value the quiet, dark, peaceful setting. Urban development brings streetlights, traffic, noise and congestion.Zoning has not carried much weight in county residential development. Developments like The Ranch and Grandview Reserve have been rezoned from RR-2.5 (2.5-acre/lot density) down to city-sized lots. The Ranch went from 250 potential homes with a 2.5-acre density to 2,200 homes by a stroke of the commissionerís pen. Grandview Reserve went from 307 potential homes at RR-2.5 density to 3,260 homes by that same pen. Those densities increased 10-fold. It seems to me that logical and sensible development might permit one step down in density, but these examples are ridiculous.Therefore, we have the county master plan and zoning regulations to coordinate, control and manage development and growth in the county. There is immense pressure on our county commissioners to increase housing for our booming population. Developers are anxious to cash in on the housing boom and are scrambling to buy land and build as many homes as possible on each acre. I encourage each of you to be informed as to what is happening in your area regarding development so you can express your approval or disapproval to our elected officials. We need to keep their feet to the fire to follow the master plans and zoning regulations that exist.
