Hope for little ice cream shop melting with impending zoning deadline

By the end of the day Wednesday, Rick Johnson’s sweet little dream of putting teens to work dishing out ice cream to workers in an industrial area in central Colorado Springs may have melted into a sticky goo.

“Poor little Sprinkles …,” said Johnson, a tall, gregarious guy and owner of Johnson Heating and Plumbing.
Sprinkles is the name of the ice cream/hot dog/donut shop Johnson opened in mid-June in a 10-foot by 10- foot metal building at the corner of his business lot at Tia Juana and East St. Vrain streets.

The little shop, painted with bright polka dots, has added a dash of color to a gritty industrial area south of Platte Avenue near Circle Drive and dominated by car repair and welding shops and contractor operations such as Johnson’s.

Wednesday, though, Johnson faces a deadline: He must either seek a conditional use permit from the city of Colorado Springs to continue to operate the ice cream shop in an industrial area — which he reckons would cost about $4,000 — or latch the shop’s metal doors. Johnson is reluctantly leaning toward the latter, after unsuccessfully pleading his case with top zoning officials.

Johnson said the shop – built with donated items and labor — wasn’t intended to make money, nor does it. But it did give jobs to 12 kids this summer, and four high school grads continue to man it during day-long shifts.

“This is a neighborhood we improved for next to nothing. We put some kids to work,” he said. “It’s a shame.”
The problem: Sprinkles, like any other commercial business, needs a conditional use permit if it is to operate in an industrial area, said Rick O’Connor, senior planner for the city’s land use division. Exceptions are granted for an industrial activity with a commercial aspect, such as a cabinet maker who uses a small portion of its space to sell its wares.

O’Connor said the code exists so incompatible uses don’t operate next to each other, such as a dance studio next to a concrete batching plant. Conditional use applications allow the city to explore the impacts of allowing such nearby enterprises.

Johnson said he was not told he would need a conditional use permit from the city when he approached the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department and was told he needed only the proper utility and health department permits to operate what he calls a temporary, mobile food service.

The city, in a recent letter, said Johnson should have known to inquire about zoning permits. Johnson is a member of Regional Building’s board of review, which deals with building codes.

Johnson said he wants to remain on the joint city/county agency’s review board, so he isn’t going to fall on his sword over Sprinkles. Still, he thinks it’s a darn shame the city can’t find some way to allow him to stay open, short of requiring him to do an architectural study required for a permit, a cost he said he cannot afford.

“I can’t do anything illegal,” he said, “and I have to be held to a higher standard because of the board I’m on, but c’mon. …,” he said.

O’Connor said the city twice extended the deadline for enforcement action, first so kids could continue to work at Sprinkles until school started, and again until the end of this month.

He said he thinks Johnson has honorable intentions, and there is a strong likelihood a conditional use permit would be favorably reviewed if Johnson submits an application. But he said it’s not fair to require some businesses to comply with city zoning rules and allow others to skate.

Dennis Ayers, 18, graduated last spring from Wasson High School and spent most of the summer looking for a job.

He was hired a month and half ago at Sprinkles and is now one of the managers – something he can use on his resume — and he makes $8 an hour, above minimum wage.

“It’s a decent job,” he said. “And this is like a little bright spot in the neighborhood.”