El Paso County Planning Commission delays vote on concept plan for proposed transportation corridor

UPDATE (THURSDAY, NOV. 2) -- In an 8-1 decision Thursday, El Paso County planning commissioners agreed to a monthlong delay for a vote on the proposed Briargate Parkway/Stapleton Road transportation corridor concept plan for the northeast section of the county.

The decision came after a three-hour meeting and public hearing.

Some commissioners are concerned that the concept plan doesn't provide enough details about how wide the corridor would be, and about exactly how private property owners would be affected.

One commissioner suggested that the county conduct another public feedback process, which would include notifying affected residents and gathering public comment; the commissioner believes that many affected residents still have not heard about the plan.

However, Meggan Herington, the county's executive director of planning, told commissioners that another such process would take time -- meaning that the matter likely wouldn't be ready to come before them again until early January.

Around ten people -- all in opposition to the plan -- spoke during the public comment period of Thursday's meeting.

Most commissioners said that another public process was unnecessary, and feel that they'll be ready to vote next month if county staff provide answers to some of their lingering concerns.

(PREVIOUS STORY --Oct. 5)

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- With development and growth exploding between Colorado Springs and Falcon, the county's Department of Public Works wants to ensure that a major northeast transportation corridor planned four years ago will have the space it needs for future use.

To that end, on Thursday a local planning and design firm hired by the county presented the Planning Commission with results of the Briargate/Stapleton Corridor Preservation Plan And Access Control Plan.

The plan focuses on a roughly four-mile stretch that would extend Briargate Parkway east from where it current ends at Black Forest Road -- at the eastern border of Colorado Springs -- to the intersection of Stapleton and Meridian roads in an unincorporated area of the county.

The corridor would be two lanes in each direction, with a sidewalk on one side and a multi-use trail on the other.

Maureen Paz de Araujo, of Wilson & Associates, Inc. Engineers and Architects, said that the corridor is part of a longer-range plan to eventually have the corridor connect from Interstate 25 to U.S. 24.

"They want to make sure that as development comes through, everyone's on notice that this envelope to build the road in the future is still there, and that they don't provide access that makes so that it doesn't function," she explained.

According to the study, the cost estimate for the Briargate/Stapleton corridor is around $121 million; there is currently no funding available for it but Paz de Araujo said that the project could be financed from numerous sources -- including partly from developers who build along the corridor.

The Planning Commission will hear public comment and vote on the plan next month.

Bill Prichard, who lives near the intersection of Briargate Parkway and Black Forest Road, said that he and his neighbors are unclear about the precise path of the extension.

"We don't know if it's going to be a straight shot, or wind around," he said. "We don't want to see it go straight through where Briargate ends. It could just add to the increasing congestion we're already seeing around here, and we moved out here to get away from congestion and development."

Paz de Araujo said that 170 people have commented on the project -- with many people supporting it while others expressed concern about future zoning changes and more development.