El Paso County updating master plan to prepare for 250,000 population increase through 2050

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- It's been 30 years since El Paso County updated its master plan to manage future growth, so officials are working to finalize their latest plan this spring.

The effort has a fair sense of urgency because the county expects 250,000 people to move in during the next 30 years -- raising the population from 951,000 to 1.2 million.

"We know it (population increase) is coming," said Craig Dossey, the county's executive director of planning and community development. "We need to be ready for it."

Dossey presented the first draft of the master plan during Tuesday's Board of Commissioners meeting.

"The plan will help guide growth and development in the County over the next 10 to 20 years," he said during the hourlong presentation.

A surprising revelation from the presentation was that the projected growth -- most of it on the eastern side of the county -- will settle in just 10% of the county but could bring countywide implications.

"Most of that growth will occur in areas that are likely to be annexed into the city of Colorado Springs," Dossey said. "That's why it's important for us to agree on annexation issues with the city, and we're already working on that."

The demand for water is expected to increase significantly.

"I'm concerned about that," said Board President Stan VanderWerf. "Communities are going to have to obtain more water rights, and that's not easy to do. You'd like to have them now, but it can take years to get them."

Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez asked if the amount of water in underground aquifers that provide water can be measured regularly before they become dangerously low.

Other challenges of the plan include addressing the county's many school districts and including military installations, which weren't part of the original plan.

Many county residents said that they're not pleased about future population growth because they believe too many people already live here.

"The commissioners have waited too long to address this," said Richie Martin. "The infrastructure, the traffic, the water, the sewage, the waste, just on and on. It's awfully difficult to accommodate that many more people."

A board-approved advisory group spent nine months working with county staff to draft the 140-page plan document. The county will gather public input from now until April 9, then submit it for review and approval by the county's planning commission in May.

If you'd like to provide feedback on the master plan, visit: https://elpaso.hlplanning.com/pages/draft-plan-outreach.