Activists want city reined in
Activists plan to find candidates to run in April’s municipal election who want to slow Colorado Springs’ growth.
The effort would be the first organized slate of candidates to run for City Council in recent memory. It also would be the first time in three decades that controlledgrowth forces would have a major presence on a ballot usually congested with pro-growth candidates.
Dave Gardner, who has led recent opposition to Colorado Springs Utilities rate increases, is leading the effort. He plans to start a political action committee in the next week to help pay for campaigns and then hopes to find candidates willing to run.
“I do believe that our town has been hijacked for so long by the growth industry,” Gardner said. “I think there will be a time when there will be a revolution, whether it’s this election or the next.”
The move comes at a time when area growth is hitting unprecedented levels. Builders pulled a record 5,059 permits last year for new homes in El Paso County.
Gardner would not identify candidates who might be on the controlled-growth slate but said he has talked with several people.
Rocky Scott, president of The Greater Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp. and one of the city’s leading growth advocates, said he would be eager for a debate on the group’s ideas.
Scott said the idea of limiting growth might sound good but is not practical. To stop people from coming here, city leaders would have to make changes that would make the city less attractive to outsiders, he said.
“I think once the community understands what their real choices are, then they’ll understand” why economic growth is good, Scott said.
Gardner and others are frustrated by what they see as the council’s refusal to consider how growth will affect the population. He has argued unsuccessfully that officials should keep utility rates down and require future homeowners to pay a bigger share to expand water and sewer lines.
Gardner is angry that Colorado Springs Utilities is slated to pay $1.6 billion in the next decade to extend water, sewer, electricity and gas to new developments. Current residents are expected to pick up two-thirds of that cost.
Council members have cited recent studies that said most home buyers are Colorado Springs residents wanting a new house, not newcomers. So raising development fees would mainly hurt locals, they argue.
Dick Anson, director of the Save the Springs advocacy group that Gardner founded, said the slate of candidates would make the proposed Southern Delivery System its top issue. The system is a planned $940 million pipeline from the Pueblo Reservoir that utility officials say is needed to sustain growth through 2040.
Anson, who also has made his case before the City Council, argued that current residents don’t need the water and that its full cost should be borne by future residents. He suggested the city figure out how large it can grow without the extra water and plan to reach that limit gradually.
“Just build the houses down in Pueblo,” Anson said of the plan to use much of the new water for homes in the north and east. “We’re not trying to limit growth. We’re saying, ‘Grow if you must, but you must pay your own way.’”
Other issues on the slate of candidates’ agenda would include conducting economic analyses on growth and auditing how much utility customers subsidize development, Anson said.
Four of the nine council positions — the four that represent specific districts — are up for election in April. Incumbents Scott Hente, Darryl Glenn, Jerry Heimlicher and Margaret Radford — who are considered friendly to developers — will seek re-election.
By putting a slate together, the slow-growth group can save money on joint events and expensive TV advertising, Gardner said. He envisions running commercials across the city and asking voters to back whoever is from their districts.
Gardner said he does not want to be a candidate but would run if he can’t find someone else. He lives in District 3, which Heimlicher represents.
Of the four incumbents, Hente is the group’s top target, Gardner said.
Hente, a home builder, has angered activists by voting on developer fees, leading some to say he has a conflict of interest. Some people also complained about undue influence when his company bought land from the city last year at a price that others said was surprisingly low.
Told of his status as a target, Hente saw it as a badge of honor. He said few people share Gardner’s views.
“What I fear is this is a group that wants to deny future residents — and those residents include our children — the benefits that we’ve enjoyed,” Hente said.
The last successful slate of candidates backed a gas-tap moratorium during the oil crisis in 1973. The moratorium was implemented, but voters instigated a backlash and tossed most slate members off the council in later elections.
Candidates have until Feb. 9 to register for the April 5 election.
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