Veterans Villa seeks rezoning for 304 apartments near Powers and Bradley

Veterans Villa Operating LLC is seeking a Colorado Springs zoning change for a 10-acre site near Powers Boulevard and Bradley Road that would remove the current density cap and clear a zoning hurdle for its proposed 304 apartments.

The proposal calls for four four-story buildings with 76 apartments each. The applicant describes the project as 30.2 homes per acre in its project statement.

The site’s current R-5 zoning allows up to 25 homes per acre, or about 252 on the 10.06-acre property. The requested MX-M mixed-use zoning has no numerical density standard, the city’s Planning Commission presentation says. The change would remove the current cap, but would not itself approve the 304-unit project, which has a separate development-plan application under review.

City planning staff says the zoning application meets review criteria. The applicant says revisions to the city’s development code created design conflicts under the existing zoning and argues the change would let it proceed with its current design. Those are the applicant’s reasons for seeking the change, not a city finding.

The property would remain in the Airport Overlay District. The city presentation says the Colorado Springs Airport requires the applicant to submit Federal Aviation Administration Form 7460-1 before development-plan approval, and that the Airport Advisory Commission reviewed and approved the proposal in May. The applicant says it will address applicable airport-overlay standards, including height and noise requirements and any required avigation easements, during development review in its land-use statement.

The city presentation says the city mailed 14 notices to properties within 1,000 feet and reported no public comments. The City Planning Commission hearing is scheduled for Oct. 14, according to the official meeting calendar.