City Council passes Amara land annexation southeast of Colorado Springs in first vote; second vote needed
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Colorado Springs City Council, in a 5-4 vote, gave the initial green light to annex the Amara land expansion. A second vote is needed to be official.
Dave Donelson, David Leinweber, Brian Risley, Michelle Talarico, and Yolanda Avila voted yes; Randy Helms, Nancy Henjum, Mike O'Malley, and Lynette Crow-Iverson voted no.
Amara is a 3,000-acre plot of land south of Colorado Springs, close to Fountain. Developers have been asking the Colorado Springs City Council to annex the land which they say they would build more than 9,000 homes on. Making the land a part of the city would mean Colorado Springs could provide some utilities.
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Some city council members have raised concerns about what adding that many homes would do to the city water supply. City Code 12.4.305 says the city's water supply must be able to meet 128% of current water demand. Utility officials have said water could be supplied to the development. Officials also said that if a system extension bill rider to pay for the costs of extending utility services to Amara is not ultimately approved by the City Council, it could potentially delay other planned Springs Utilities projects because they would have to fund those costs another way.
Those in favor of the annexation and development believe it would provide a source of cheaper housing for young people. "I believe, for me and a lot of other young professionals, that it's [the development] very needed in a community that is only going to continue growing, and we just need to decide if we want to make it available for everybody or just for a select few," said Katie Psek, an El Paso County Resident.
One local rancher against the proposal told KRDO13 Investigates she was worried a sprawling development like the one proposed by La Plata would threaten agricultural land.
Then some people said they weren't necessarily for or against the Amara Annexation and La Plata development. Jack Goble, general manager of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, offered caution about the development. "If they have the existing water for this development, there's going to be future developments. Where does it end? Are we just going to continue to drain the Lower Arkansas Valley to support growth in Colorado Springs? I don't think that's the way to go," Goble said.
