A proposal for a new mixed-use development including 222 new apartment units is set to go before the Colorado Springs Planning Commission Tuesday. The plans call for rezoning an area caddy corner to 2424 Garden of the Gods. It’s the same location of a similar controversial proposal that was ultimately denied for public safety reasons, a decision upheld in court.
The site is at the intersection of W. Garden of the Gods and N. 30th St., near a current Loaf N Jug.
The new proposal, called Arrowswest due to its location on Arrowswest Dr., seeks to re-designate nearly seven acres from business park zoning to mixed-use development. If approved, that would make the entire 9.47-acre site mixed-use — meaning a combination of apartments and businesses.
Arrowswest is an LLC registered to Weidner Investment Services, Inc., which according to their website, operates 16 apartment complexes in Colorado Springs.
Critics of the proposal — many of the same people who objected to plans at 2424 Garden of the Gods in 2021 — are concerned about traffic, public safety, and the ability of current roads and infrastructure to handle traffic in the event of another wildfire. The location of this intersection is in the wildland-urban interface near the Mountain Shadows neighborhood which was partially destroyed by the 2012 Waldo Canyon wildfire.
Ultimately, the Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the council regarding the potential zone change. The makeup of both the commission and the city council is different than it was in 2021 when the council rejected the previous proposal.
