Colorado Springs commission to review driveway adjustment for 122-home plan

The Colorado Springs Planning Commission is scheduled to consider Oct. 14 whether to allow shorter garage setbacks for attached homes in the proposed 122-home Kettle Creek development near Old Ranch and Kettle Creek roads. The commission postponed the request unanimously on Sept. 9; the October item is limited to the adjustment, not approval of the full development plan.

The documents describe the requested adjustment differently: a city presentation describes seven-foot driveways on 20 lots, while the project statement describes reducing the setback from 20 feet to 7 feet on 13 lots. City staff said the request meets review criteria. A proposed approval motion would require enforceable district rules barring off-street parking on driveways shorter than 20 feet before subdivision-plat approval. The city agenda entry lists the adjustment for consideration; the commission has not approved or denied it.

The submitted plan calls for 82 detached and 40 attached homes on about 19.9 acres, or 6.2 homes per acre. It also proposes an eastbound left-turn lane at Old Ranch Road and Kettle Creek Road, a realigned Kettle Creek Road and a secondary connection. The plan describes shared stormwater detention with the neighboring Cottages at Kettle Creek project, using that project’s pond and outfall, with maintenance assigned to the future Kettle Creek Metropolitan District. It lists a stormwater-channel fee of $676 per linear foot, payable before plat recordation, but gives no total. These are proposed site-plan elements, not final approvals. The submitted development plan describes the access, drainage and fee provisions.

The consultant’s report says the preliminary layout avoids development within 300 feet of Kettle Creek’s ordinary high-water mark. It describes proposed fencing and signs around a preservation area, worker training and preservation of roughly 90% of the site’s few shrubs. The report says the project is unlikely to result in a take of the threatened Preble’s meadow jumping mouse if conservation measures are followed; the measures are proposed, not confirmed as binding conditions. The consultant’s habitat report details its assessment.