The Colorado Springs Downtown Partnership is currently in the process of developing a new master plan.
The previous master plan came out in 2016 and included goals that manifested, in part, as renovations to a core section of Tejon Street, the implementation of the ZEB shuttle bus service, and parking meter changes.
Now, the Colorado Springs Downtown Partnership is seeking community feedback on new goals it should focus on, as well as input on progress made on previous master plans.
The group expects the entire process, including multiple rounds of public input, to take the rest of the year.
KRCC’s Kendra Carr spoke with Chelsea Gondeck, Director of Planning and Mobility with the Downtown Partnership, about the plan.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
KRCC's Kendra Carr: Why is the master plan being updated now?
Chelsea Gondeck: 2016 was the last time we updated our master plan. That plan is known as the Experience Downtown Master Plan, and obviously, the world has changed since 2016. Generally, master plans are intended to last 10 or 20 years and a lot of the goals and action steps that we had outlined back in (the previous) plan, we have either accomplished or made some pretty substantial progress on.
Carr: What do you anticipate will be different between the 2016 Experience Downtown Master Plan and the future master plan you are currently developing?
Gondeck: I think the biggest shift we're seeing is how our local businesses have to operate and how do we as the Downtown Partnership and our various organizations best support our (downtown) businesses? How do we cater to the needs of the next 10 and 20 years in a meaningful way to help them be successful?
Carr: How much of the development in downtown aligns with the 2016 master plan, and are there any deviations from that?
Gondeck: I think it's tough to think of anything that's necessarily a deviation. The master plan also incorporates the plan of development for our Downtown Development Authority, so it sets goals and action steps to reach the vision of downtown that you want.
Since about 2013, we've seen over $2 billion of investment in our downtown. That includes private investment, public investment, nonprofit investment. A majority of those large investments that we've seen have really strongly aligned with the current master plan. A pretty major piece of that investment has been a lot of that multi-family–a huge goal in that update back in 2016 was to really drive residential development downtown, making downtown a neighborhood rather than just a 9-to-5 business area. We have both accomplished what was identified in that master plan and gone beyond.
Carr: What is the relationship between the city's plan and then the master plan that you guys are working on?
Gondeck: They definitely work together. We, as the Downtown Partnership, are more of a visionary piece, and the downtown kind of runs its own strategy, but in parallel to what the city is doing. So you'll see that a lot of the themes in PlanCOS will present themselves in the master plan and vice versa.
Carr: What do you want to hear from people as the master plan is being developed?
Gondeck: I think we definitely want to hear what their vision is for downtown. These plans are meant to be forecasting 10, 20 years into the future. We want to be proactive in how we can build a downtown that they want to come to, they want to visit, that tourists from outside of our area want to visit, so it's really an aspirational plan.
Carr: How do you see something like the OneVeLa apartments impacting the character of downtown? Does downtown take a position on tall buildings?
Gondeck: I think in our current master plan, we certainly recognize that an iconic skyline is important to a downtown. When you go and visit other places, you think about their downtown skylines, and for us in downtown, there is one area that amounts to less than 1 percent of the city's landmass that allows for market-driven height of buildings.
To create a walkable environment, it requires density. So, we support the opportunity for buildings that come in and meet that demand. OneVeLa specifically is a product, unlike others that we've seen over the last few years in terms of development downtown, especially for multifamily. And we know that it's a product that the younger workforce is looking for.
Carr: Is there anything else you would like to add or that people should know about the master plan?
Gondeck: It's your downtown. If you live here, we want to hear your voice and you be a part of crafting what our downtown looks like in the next 10, 20 years. We want to hear where you think it's appropriate to invest and also the cool things that you want to see in your downtown. If there's things that people are experiencing in other downtowns that they would love to have in their downtown, we want to hear that.
Editor's Note: Downtown Partnership is a financial supporter of KRCC. Financial supporters have no editorial influence.
