Woodland Park Planning Commission finishes comprehensive plan review | Pikes Peak Courier

The Woodland Park Planning Commission finished its chapter-by-chapter review of the Envision Woodland Park 2030 comprehensive plan in a Sept. 9 work session.

The commissioners’ recommendations will be incorporated into the final document by Kristy Brown, a representative of Logan Simpson, who has been taking notes at each review session.

Planning Director Sally Riley said the final draft will be sent out later this month and will be ready for adoption by the planning commission on Oct. 14, and will be ready for endorsement by the Woodland Park City Council on Oct. 21.

Chapter 1, the “Introduction,” acknowledges volunteers and public participation and includes the city’s vision and an executive summary. It has maps and a short history of Woodland Park and emphasizes that the city has always been a retail and service center for Teller County and not just a tourist destination.

It also explains that state statute requires planning commissions to update city master or comprehensive plans every 10 years.

Chapter 2, “Land Use and Growth,” has a vision of “Ensuring the City provides sustainable and managed growth that supports healthy places to live, work, play, and learn.”

For Woodland Park, sustainable and managed growth means balancing growth with the city’s ability to provide water. The chapter includes population trends based on 2010 and 2020 U.S. Census data. Woodland Park’s population increased by 700 people in the past decade. There was a decline in the 45-54 age group and an increase in the 60-74 age group. Other age groups have remained steady. The chapter’s goal is to “Provide opportunities for growth and development while preserving community and environmental quality.”

Objectives include making sure new development fits the intent of the comprehensive-plan map and uses resources efficiently. It also suggests evaluating city regulations and requirements to ensure that development optimizes positive impacts and minimizes negative impacts while providing diverse neighborhoods.

The chapter also includes an update to the city’s annexation policies. “The city must be able to provide services to annexed properties,” Riley said.

One aspect of future-land use is the potential addition of a U.S. 24 reliever route. City planners would make sure no commercial growth takes place along the route that could draw business away from the city center. “We will work closely with the county to avoid this kind of development,” Riley said.

The chapter also includes the three-mile plan, which covers growth within a three-mile radius of the city’s center. In Woodland Park’s case, areas of both Teller County and El Paso County are located within that radius.

Chapter 3 is “Housing.” Val Lundy, who served on the housing subcommittee, said they spent a lot of time discussing the difference between “attainable housing” and “affordable housing.”

“The word ‘attainable’ doesn’t offend people like ‘affordable’ does,” she said. “We tried to avoid ‘trigger words.’ People do what they have to do.”

Commissioner Larry Larsen said the chapter still needs to define “affordable housing.”

Riley suggested adding the Housing and Urban Development definition of affordability — that housing and utilities combined cost no more than 30% of a household’s annual income. This definition looks at the (household’s) entire lifestyle, she said. “If the household spends more than 30 percent of its income on housing, the cost-burden means it won’t have the 70 percent to cover its other needs such as food, transportation and healthcare.”

One of the chapter’s objectives is to promote stable and safe neighborhoods and provide a variety of housing options. One way to meet that objective is to build more flexibility into the city’s regulations on accessory dwelling units and in-fill projects.

Chapter 4 is “Community Character and Design.” This chapter’s goal is to enhance the city’s small-town atmosphere while promoting its Mountain-Western theme and creating a sense of entry by enhancing the city’s gateways and way-finding systems.

The chapter includes conceptual drawings of what the downtown could look like once a reliever route is constructed and the city can take back its main street.

Chapter 5, “City Finances,” states: “City Finance is closely related to all other chapters in this document. Parks, trails, recreational amenities, roads, utilities, events, and infrastructure all come with a cost; however, those features ensure the health, safety, vitality, and tourism that make Woodland Park a great place to live and play.”

To maintain healthy city finances requires good stewardship of taxpayer dollars and fiscal responsibility. One proposed action item is to explore re-establishing the city’s Economic Development Office to identify new revenue sources and support new businesses.

“By not having an economic development office, we’re telling new businesses that the city doesn’t care,” Larsen said.

Other actions include looking for efficiencies, diversifying city revenue sources and looking at peer cities for ideas.

Riley updated the commissioners on an item that was sent back to its subcommittee — a section in Chapter 9, “Community Wellbeing,” titled “Civility.” The subcommittee decided to move this item to the “Good Governance” section of Chapter 7, “Sustainability,” and change its name to “Civic Sustainability.”

Civic sustainability includes developing a Woodland Park Public Relations Campaign, adding a public-civility module to the Citizens Academy curriculum and encouraging voter registration and participation, Riley said.

The commission will take one last look at the entire document in a 6 p.m. work session on Sept. 23. This will be followed by a regular meeting at 7.