The Colorado Springs City Council on Tuesday approved a new document that will guide downtown’s continued development and future investment for the next decade and beyond.

The council voted 8-1 to approve the Elevate Downtown plan, with Councilmember Dave Donelson opposed.

The 230-page document is a strategic update to the city’s 2016 Experience Downtown Plan and will build on the successes in that document, city planning officials said.

Many of the 2016 plan’s goals, strategies and action items have been completed or achieved — to the tune of a $2.6 billion investment that added hundreds of new restaurants, businesses and thousands of new residential units, said Chelsea Gondeck, chief executive officer of the Downtown Partnership merchant group that led the update process.

The Elevate Downtown plan will now guide future investment across downtown, about 1 square mile in size, through an established vision framework, goals and related action steps.

The planning process took about a year and a half and included robust public engagement that included 16 focus groups, online surveys and in-person and pop-up events, planners said.

“I do believe this plan is going to set us up for success for the next decade and well beyond,” Gondeck said.

Elevate Downtown includes two volumes. One is a state-required plan of development that outlines how the Downtown Development Authority uses tax-increment financing. The other is a broader neighborhood plan that guides the use, design and cultural identity of downtown.

Its overarching vision is that downtown is Colorado Springs’ “vibrant and inclusive” core, where history, culture and nature converge with urban living. Downtown is envisioned as a hub of transportation, commerce, civic life and creativity, planners said.

The seven-chapter neighborhood guiding document addresses downtown’s land use and character; its economic vitality; parks, trails and waterways; its mobile network; the public realm and urban design; community and culture; and infrastructure and utilities.

It also identifies a number of priority topics, including a downtown grocery store, new public restrooms, more support for small businesses, making downtown more walkable, and expanding on ongoing efforts to better serve the homeless population in the area, to name a few.

Notably absent from the new plan are limits on building heights throughout downtown.

A revised proposal brought forth in autumn 2023 to build a 27-story apartment tower called OneVela on the southwest corner of a block bounded by Sahwatch and Costilla streets and Cascade and Vermijo avenues sparked debate in 2024 over whether the city should limit building heights throughout its downtown corridor.

Currently, downtown development is governed by the city’s 2009-approved form-based code that emphasizes form and the look and feel of buildings rather than land use. About two-fifths of downtown is made up of the “central sector,” including the core of downtown and the southwest downtown district, where most building heights are unlimited. The OneVela tower, approved by the City Council, will be located within the central sector.

Some residents opposing the idea of more prodigious buildings being added to the skyline called for a cap on downtown building heights. They said this would preserve the current skyline and expansive mountain views to the west, including Pikes Peak.

Donelson previously advocated for a referendum to go on the November 2024 general election ballot, which would have allowed residents to weigh in on the issue. The City Council in June 2024, however, decided not to refer the ballot question to voters that year. Councilmembers who did not support Donelson’s request said it was because they supported personal property rights and because the council is tasked with making land-use decisions.

Councilmember Lynette Crow-Iverson at the time suggested the city wait to address downtown building heights until during the Elevate Downtown update process.

On Tuesday, Donelson expressed frustration that the Elevate Downtown plan indicated that downtown building heights could be addressed, rather, through new updates to the form-based code, which the city is currently undertaking, Urban Planning Manager Ryan Tefertiller confirmed.

“We were told to wait (to address downtown building heights) until we redo this plan, Elevate Downtown. That’s when we can talk about this. But then it’s ‘no, no, we’ll talk about that in the form-based code rewrite,’ I guess. I’ll be looking for that when we get to that topic. I still think that’s something (residents) will have an interest in,” Donelson said.

Tefertiller told The Gazette the update of the form-based code is the opportunity for the community to decide if it wants to to retain or adjust certain zoning standards as laid out in the current code, including downtown building heights.

When planning staff have completed the draft update, and after it’s been reviewed by city attorneys, the public will have the chance to weigh in on any proposed changes, he said.

He hoped planners could bring an updated draft of the form-based code to the council by the end of the year.

Donelson was also concerned about a portion of the Elevate Downtown plan, in Chapter 6, emphasizing that “public art should strengthen community identity.” He questioned, “What is our community identity we’re going to strengthen?”

Councilmember Roland Rainey said that, while he was voting to support approval of the Elevate Downtown document, he took issue with some of it and wanted to have deeper conversations with planners.

“I’m going to support it, but there’s a lot I don’t like about this plan. There are some aspects I think are not indicative of the identity of Colorado Springs,” Rainey said.

Councilmembers, residents and business owners thanked city planners, the Downtown Partnership and other stakeholders for their efforts to update the plan. No members of the public spoke in opposition to its approval on Tuesday.

“Downtown Colorado Springs is the economic, civic and cultural epicenter of the region,” said Colin Christie, owner of the Neon Pig Creative downtown and vice chair of the Downtown Parntership Board of Directors. “… By formally approving Elevate Downtown, we have the chance to approach growth in a purposeful way to attract strategic investment and to promote intentional, thoughtful development. We can elevate our own downtown by design.”

To read the Elevate Downtown plan in full and for more information on the update process, visit downtowncs.com/experience-downtown-plan-update.