Springs Urban Renewal Authority votes to study northside site
The Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority voted 7-2 on Thursday to hire a consultant to determine if a 200-acre, undeveloped tract on the city’s north side qualifies as an urban renewal site.
The hiring of Leland Consulting Group of suburban Denver is the first of several steps to decide if the property, southwest of North Gate Boulevard and Voyager Parkway, should be declared an urban renewal area.
Colorado Springs developer Gary Erickson and city government economic development officials are seeking the urban renewal designation. Under their plan, tax revenue generated by a massive retail center proposed by Erickson would help pay the $50 million to $60 million price tag to complete the northern extension of nearby Powers Boulevard. Such an extension could help his Copper Ridge at Northgate development attract retailers.
The Colorado Department of Transportation is responsible for extending Powers from Colorado Highway 83 to Interstate 25, but won’t get to the project until 2012 at the earliest, CDOT says.
Leland’s report, which Erickson will pay for, will be finished in about a month, said Chuck Miller, an authority consultant. If Leland determines that Erickson’s property qualifies as blighted under Colorado’s urban renewal law, the authority then must decide whether to proceed with a land-use plan for the site.
The City Council would have the final say on whether to declare the property as an urban renewal site.
Urban renewal projects typically are run-down areas. Erickson’s property, however, is raw land, which prompted authority members Thursday to discuss the merits of declaring it an urban renewal site.
