How the Amara land annexation will impact schools districts

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - A historic land use decision that passed through Colorado Springs City Council late Tuesday night will add thousands of new homes to Colorado Springs in the Fountain area over the next 25 years.

 According to the Annexation plan, around 7% of those homes will be affordable housing.

La Plata Communities is the developer behind the major housing development.

The annexation and proposed housing development will impact three surrounding school districts and add nine schools, according to an impact plan sent to the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners around two years ago. 

Those districts are Fountain Fort Carson District 8, Widefield District 3 and Ellicott District 22. 

The impact plan states that 125 acres of the parcel will be dedicated to school buildings, less than what the master plan dictates. The developer will pay fees in lieu of the extra land. 

“It's still very early.  So that's really our goal is just kind of making sure we have a seat at the table,  continuing the conversation and conversation with them so that we know what's coming and then just making sure that we're all meeting the same goal,” Christy McGee, a District 8 Public Information Officer said. 

District 8 says that six of the nine new buildings will be in their district, funded by district funds and federal funding since a large part of the district is in Fort Carson. 

“The development has a high military focus,”  Christy McCree with D8 said. “I think we just want to echo that support. We're a heavily impacted district as far as military connectedness. And so we also want to support military families.”