Colorado Springs Planning Commission Work Session – May 7, 2026
Colorado Springs Planning Commission Work Session – May 7, 2026
The City Planning Commission held a work session on May 7, 2026, beginning at 9:00 AM at 30 S. Nevada Ave., Suite 102. Chair Nadine Hensler presided. The session covered communications on commission operations, a consent calendar item for a zone map amendment, and two new business items: a conditional use for retail marijuana cultivation and a rezoning and land use plan for a proposed multi-family development. Key topics included scheduling of a special meeting for a data center development plan, the timeline for Annex COS, and election of a vice chair.
Communications
- Chair Hensler reported a productive recent joint meeting with City Council and ongoing work with Planning Director Kevin Walker and Planning Manager Daniel Sexton on rules, procedures, and nominations.
- Over 30 applications for planning commission positions were being reviewed by council liaisons, with interviews expected to begin in May or June.
- Chair Hensler proposed postponing the annual meeting from June to late summer (August or September) due to transitions. Trevor Gloss confirmed rescheduling does not require a formal vote.
- Chair Hensler requested a volunteer for the UDC Scrub Committee; Commissioner Engel may participate if possible. Hensler will temporarily retain her seat on the Downtown Review Board.
- Commissioner Slattery will continue serving on Annex COS through its conclusion.
- Kevin Walker noted that the data center development plan may require a special meeting and alternate venue due to expected public interest, likely in mid-to-late June or early July.
- Walker indicated Annex COS is nearing its final stage, with a July Commission hearing anticipated.
- Trevor Gloss announced that Caitlin Moldenhauer will represent the City Attorney’s Office during the May 13th meeting.
Consent Calendar
- Austin Bluffs Pump Station – Zone Map Amendment – Allison Stocker presented a request to rezone approximately 5.24 acres at 4535 Marconi Heights (split-zone condition at 4625 Stanton Road) from R-E/PF/HS-O and PDZ/PF/HS-O to PF/HS-O for a planned replacement of an aging water tank. No community or agency objections were received. Commissioners emphasized the importance of proper coordination during future design to avoid issues seen with past water-storage projects.
New Business
- Colorado Chronic Retail Marijuana Cultivation (Conditional Use) – William Gray reported that Colorado Chronic, operating a medical-marijuana grow since 2012 at 2926 Wood Avenue, seeks to add retail marijuana cultivation without expanding its footprint, plant count, or staffing. The only physical issue is a parking-lot encroachment into the right-of-way, which must be corrected or permitted. Public comments raised concerns about odor, lighting, and neighborhood compatibility. Commissioners clarified that the use involves cultivation, not retail sales, and that the approval would apply only to the applicant’s leased unit.
- Briargate/Voyager Rezoning and Multi-Family Land Use Plan – Allison Stocker presented a request to rezone 7.93 acres at 1625 Springcrest Road from BP/CR/HR-O/AF-O to MX-M/AF-O, with an associated land use plan envisioning 236 market-rate units. Significant neighborhood concerns were raised regarding traffic, school safety (due to proximity to The Classical Academy, which lacks busing), and intensity of use. Required improvements include turn-lane restriping, right-of-way dedication for sidewalks, coordination with CDOT, and construction of the Skyline Regional Trail segment. Commissioners requested that any organized public presentations be submitted at least 24 hours in advance.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Calendar: The Austin Bluffs Pump Station zone map amendment was moved forward for a public hearing on July 14, 2026.
- Colorado Chronic: Set for public hearing on May 13, 2026.
- Briargate/Voyager: Set for public hearing on July 14, 2026; a 24-hour deadline for slide submissions was established for organized public presentations.
- Vice Chair Election: Moved to the beginning of the meeting (after communications) to ensure a vice chair is appointed for the May 13 meeting. Chair Hensler recommended an interim appointment until the annual meeting.
- Meeting Adjourned without a formal time noted.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, well then good. I think we'll call to order. Or whatever we're supposed to do for this. My first informal. So Trevor help me out. Yeah, what else do I have to do? Call the order. Can we do roll call for that one? Give me a script for this. There's no script. Okay. You're good. Communication start with three. All right. Well, yeah, so I'll start with communications. I appreciate those that are here. And Amanda, I think who's online. And if you are able to be visible, great. Thank you all for that because I know that's part of our discussion last week of just having more involvement. And if you can't be here in person, I get it. And maybe just you make sure you're on camera when you're not. With that in mind, I think that the joint meeting last night was last night. I was like, oh god. I did not. It just felt like yesterday. Joint meeting last week was really um was really great. And I'd love any other feedback. I think we had some good takeaways, but you know, the role that we play is very crucial and seen as very consequential by council. So yes, I just appreciate everyone's time and attention at that. Um I think I was gonna continue to work with Dan and Kevin on updates to rules and procedures. Uminations and interview process. So Blancha is working with council liaisons to schedule interviews for planning commission candidates. So hopefully those will be happening in May. And Kevin, maybe we may have more information on that. Um with that in mind too, I'm gonna suggest that we move our annual meeting, which is in our rules and procedures um in June, scheduled to be or or proposed to be in our rules to from June to later in the summer, maybe August or September. And so Trevor, I don't know if we need to take a formal action on that, or if we can just schedule it when we schedule it. You can schedule it when you schedule it. The rules um say that June is the June is basically the default, but the chair and the board can uh reschedule it. So if you would like to reschedule it to different months, we can do so. Yeah. And do we need to take a formal action like at our formal meeting next week? Uh, um, it would hurt to announce it at one point, but uh you don't need to take a formal. So should I do should I announce it in June that we are going to propose moving? You can do it okay. I just think that with all of the um shifting of our body at this point that it just doesn't make sense to try to have an annual meeting and we're about to add potentially you know a new void voting member and several alternates um after this interview process. So I just prefer to do a quick quick update on the uh there's been over 30 applicants for the positions. Uh the liaisons are working their way through the resumes to call that down to a number that we can interview. But there's certainly not anything scheduled in the short term, and so they probably won't at the earliest they would get to nominations by um their first meeting in June, and then they're not having a second meeting in June. So that would if they miss that, they will end up at the later meeting in July, which would put us into August for anyone. Okay, okay, which I think also again just reinforces that doing an annual meeting when we don't have a full body doesn't feel like um and that may be one of the things in the rules that I meant to that, you know, two weeks ago, whatever it was, but I think maybe we just change that date.
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