Neighborhood community expresses strong opposition to proposed convenience store in SW Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Residents of the Ivywild neighborhood held a meeting Monday night to further discuss their opposition regarding a proposed Kum & Go store and gas station at the corner of 8th and Brookside streets.

The meeting, hosted by the Ivywild Improvement Society was held inside the Ivywild School Gymnasium.

Residents who spoke with KRDO said the project would create noise and light pollution, produce trash, increase traffic, attract homeless people and disrupt the neighborhood's atmosphere.

“Kum and Go is not the right fit for the neighborhood… and there are multiple reasons,” Jake Norman, owner of the Caffeinated Cow said.

The convenience store chain filed plans with the city in December requesting the project, on property that is already zoned for that purpose.

But that didn't stop the nearly 100 people in attendance to express their opinions.

“Right now it is a safe neighborhood… we don’t have strangers walking through, the traffic is slower," Mickey Hammond said. "This would impact all of our lives. It is just something we don’t need. How many gas stations do we need in this area?”

Statistics shared at the meeting from the Colorado Springs Police Department for a nearby Kum and Go at 1021 S. Nevada illustrated the crime impacts.

Last year police received 484 calls for service at that location, 68 resulted in criminal charges, 103 trespassing and 91 disturbances.

According to City planners on the development of this specific Kum and Go, say they hope to have a meeting in the next four to six weeks where the public could sit in on.