About Neighborhood Planning
PlanCOS, the City of Colorado Springs’ Comprehensive Plan, envisions six vision themes for development across the city. To implement these larger visions while ensuring the planning process is equitable across all neighborhoods, the Neighborhood Planning Program was created. The Neighborhood Plans, or Community Plans, prepared as products of this program attempt to serve as practical documents that address unique characteristics and needs of the many diverse localities within city limits. It is the ultimate goal of the City to have each neighborhood covered by a Community Plan so that proposed development can be managed from a comprehensive and guided perspective.
Community Plans offer residents a valuable opportunity to engage with planning and development before site-specific development applications are received by the Land Use Review Division. While each Community Plan is in development, they engage area stakeholders (such as residents, business owners, non-profits, etc.) in identifying a vision for the area. Community Plans provide detailed recommendations and implementation strategies for land use and future investments to ensure areas thrive and adapt as envisioned by the plan.
- Community Planning Program brochure
- Map of Neighborhood Plan Areas
- Community Plan Matrix (illustrative)
Current Neighborhood Planning Initiatives
Frequently Asked Questions
How were the boundaries for the Community Planning areas drawn?
Staff understands the complexity of drawing planning area boundaries. We recognize that an official plan boundary does not mean that residents of neighboring areas do not use the same streets, shop at the same local businesses, and work at the same companies that the residents within the boundaries do. With that acknowledgement, official plan boundaries are necessary for a complete and concrete planning document. For the Neighborhood Planning Program, the City drew boundaries that roughly divided each of the six city council districts in half so that each plan represents about an equal number of residents.
How is the order of the plans determined and when will my neighborhood get its plan?
The order of Community Plans is based on a set of criteria intended to identify which planning areas could benefit the most from a Community Plan. This set of criteria includes, but is not limited to,:
- the number of infill development projects, and the number of controversial development projects;
- the average age of development within the planning area;
- whether any Low-Moderate Income (LMI) census tracts exist in the plan area; and
- presence of other effective and operative public or private master plans, and the number of vacant acres not covered by such a master plan.
The determination of which planning area will be chosen for the next Community Plan will happen when one of the current plans is closer to approval or adoption.
Do Community Plans replace or nullify existing master plans?
Given the number and variety of existing plans already in place throughout the city, staff cannot make the overarching statement that Community Plans produced by the Neighborhood Planning Program replace all plans or that certain plans will not be folded into their respective Community Plan – that will all be determined through the process of plan development and stakeholder engagement.