Retool is City Planning’s revision of the regulations that govern how our city is developed and redeveloped. The document is around 400 pages long and covers the various property zoning and land uses.
Changes to “Development Standards” could have the most impact on the Middle Shooks Run neighborhood. For example, the city proposes to decrease the front setback (the distance from the edge of the sidewalk to the front of your house) from 25 feet to as little as 10 feet in the R-2 zone which makes up most of our neighborhood. Even more concerning, there’s no longer a maximum lot coverage which encourages “scrape and build”–huge homes could replace modest homes that are standard in our neighborhood, with higher prices, of course. Standards that have been in place for more than 50 years will be cast aside, allowing much larger, more massive buildings closer to the street.
Here is the City’s announcement: “There will be a special Planning Commission meeting on September 22. This meeting marks the first of two special Planning Commission RetoolCOS public hearings for the ultimate adoption of the Unified Development Code. This public hearing will be an opportunity for public comments but will not result in a vote to the City Council – that will occur at a second special public hearing in October. Once scheduled, that date will be shared with all participants.
“Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 9:00a-1:00p. The meeting will be held at the Regional Development Center (2880 International Circle Colorado Springs, CO 80910) in the 2nd floor board room and can be attended in-person or virtually through a Teams link.
“For those who wish to participate in the public hearings –
- Comments will be limited to three (3) minutes.
- For those who actively attending the meeting – either present in-person or virtually, there is the ability to yield the 3-minute allotted time to another speaker with a maximum of fifteen (15) minutes.
- If a public participant wishes to share a PowerPoint or other media, that presentation must be sent to project staff at RetoolCOS@coloradosprings.gov no later than EOB Monday, September 19.
“Note that the City Council public hearing dates are still TBD. Once they have been scheduled, those dates will be shared with all participants.”
RetoolCOS Project Team
Middle Shooks Run Neighborhood Association 