Less than two years after being approved by voters, the Colorado Springs City Council voted to dissolve the downtown development authority for Old Colorado City.

The council voted 5-4 Tuesday afternoon to dissolve the authority. Councilmembers Lynette Crow-Iverson, Ken Casey, Roland Rainey, Brian Risley and Brandy Williams were the votes in favor of ending it.

The authority was created through a special election in November 2024 organized by the Old Colorado City Associates. A DDA is a voter-approved, board-run entity that oversees how mill levies and other tax revenue are spent to improve a downtown area. While the authority is centered on the historic blocks of Old Colorado City, its boundaries covered the full length of Colorado Avenue between Interstate 25 and the border with Manitou Springs.

OCC’s stores, restaurants, galleries and other businesses are a major attraction for locals and tourists.

The authority was in the process of getting a development plan approved by city staff, which would allow them to begin spending money on improvements, when the City Council announced there would be a vote to dissolve the group.

The issue for councilmembers was largely whether a business improvement district or a downtown development authority was the best tool to support the area. Some councilmembers who were not elected in 2024 also had new concerns about having a second ‘downtown’ district in Colorado Springs.

“I love the passion for your businesses and I think there is something there that we, collectively, can lean into,” Rainey said. “I think we need to step back and say, how do we make this right?”

Crow-Iverson and Risley had both voted in favor of putting the DDA up for an election when it was proposed in the summer of 2024.

Around 20 business owners and residents attended the meeting to urge the council to keep the authority in place, saying it was the best setup to organize larger improvement projects along Colorado Avenue. Several said they had to close their business all day because of the length of Tuesday’s meeting.

“It gives over 400 west-side businesses a unified voice and a structured way to improve our district. Removing it leaves us fragmented and unprotected,” said Tee Crespin, who opened her store Mush Love, Tee in December.

Jariah Walker, director of the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority, said that a business district could make a lot of the same improvements without being such an outlier.

Members of the downtown development authority argued that scrapping the authority that was already in place would only delay work. They also said that a business district could only collect revenue from businesses, which meant the residential areas of Colorado Avenue wouldn’t be included.

A handful of other business owners said they didn’t support the authority because of the messiness involved in its original creation. Several said they either never received a ballot in 2024 or that there were no efforts to inform them about the purpose of the authority.

The second and final vote to dissolve the DDA will take place at the next council meeting in September. No timeline was given for when an election to establish a business improvement district or any other replacement would be pursued by the city.

Williams, who represents both downtown Colorado Springs and Old Colorado City in City Council District 3, said she hoped to work with the active businesses on whatever replaced the DDA.