Broadmoor expansion plan approved Tuesday by Colorado Springs City Council

The second and final appeal of a planned convention center expansion by The Broadmoor was denied Tuesday at a public hearing before the Colorado Springs City Council.

The council voted 8-1 after a five-hour public hearing, reaching its decision just before 7 p.m.
“We’re disappointed,” said Cyndy Kulp, one of the leading opponents. “I think time will prove this won’t be a good project for the Broadmoor or the surrounding area.”

Bill Murray was the only dissenting councilman.

“What’s troubling is this distracts us from the bigger picture of where this community is going for a convention center,” he said. “This can’t replace the convention center we need downtown.”

The idea of a downtown convention center hasn’t been seriously considered in the 15 years since The Broadmoor built its original convention center.

“I think the time is right to have one downtown,” said Councilwoman Jill Gaebler. “In five years, we’re going to have more hotels than the southwest side of town — where The Broadmoor is — currently has.”

Council President Richard Skorman expressed some skepticism about The Broadmoor.

“You’ve been good neighbors in lots of ways but in other ways, maybe not,” he said. “Not just relating to this situation. We’ve heard a lot of people say they’re concerned about the impact of heavy shuttle traffic and lack of parking in the area. We need to sit down and really try to work it out with the neighborhood.”

The plan to build a 170,000 square-foot addition was strongly criticized by opponents who said it will worsen noise and traffic congestion in the area, as well as make evacuation in the event of a wildfire difficult.

Adding a new strategy since losing its appeal to the city’s planning commission in March, opponents focused their argument on the wildfire risk, saying that experts — including former Colorado Springs Fire Chief Manuel Navarro — revealed a fire evacuation would take more than 13 hours.

“That’s two hours longer than it takes right now without the expansion,” said Donna Strom, another leading opponent. “We’ve already had a major fire that started on the (Broadmoor) golf course in 1950 and burned to Fort Carson, killing (several) soldiers who were fighting the fire.”
Opponents also showed the council videos from the devastating Camp Fire last fall in Paradise, California, and said it’s an example of what can happen in the Broadmoor area.

In the end, the council agreed that more can be done to lower the wildfire risk, but said it wasn’t enough to grant the appeal.

The city’s planning commission approved the plan in February and denied the March appeal. Opponents then took the option of making a final appeal, pending any future legal challenges, to the council.

However, Kulp said opponents won’t try to fight the matter in court.

“We can’t afford it,” she said.

At the start of the hearing, opponents requested a delay of from two to four weeks because a key organizer was sick.

The council denied the request, saying the matter had already been delayed after the previous appeal.

Murray challenged his comrades to avoid any conflict of interest in voting on the matter.

“If anyone on the council has ever received any benefit from The Broadmoor, I’d like them to recuse themselves so that this is an honest and above-board vote,” he said.

Councilman Andy Pico took exception to the challenge.

“I’ve been to some of The Broadmoor dinners,” he said. “If you consider that as being undue influence, that is absolutely asinine and I think your question is out of line.”

Some council members said they have received meals or campaign contributions from The Broadmoor, but not in exchange for influencing a vote.

Because of the lengthy hearing, the council moved up its regular meeting from 1 p.m. to 9 a.m. to complete its business and leave plenty of time for the hearing.

The Broadmoor has said it needs the expansion to keep the annual Space Symposium — the hotel’s biggest event — from leaving town, and to attract more conventions to fill hotel rooms during the off-season for tourism.

Part of the expansion plan includes building a higher perimeter fence to replace the existing fence, and to allow some decorative elements to be slightly higher than current zoning allows.

“Last year during the symposium, we had strong winds that damaged the temporary tent we used and canceled the event for a day,” said Jack Damioli, The Broadmoor’s president and CEO. “We can’t afford to have that happen again. We’ve been using that tent for 20 years. We need a permanent facility. A lot of the facts brought forth by opponents simply aren’t true.”

The Broadmoor hopes to finish construction in time for the symposium next April.

Damioli declined to comment after the hearing.