The proposed Karman Line annexation is the second major proposed Colorado Springs annexation in the past year that has looked promising to developers only to eventually be denied.

Early results in Colorado Springs’ special election Tuesday night showed voters overwhelmingly rejecting the Karman Line annexation.

The initial results released by the City Clerk’s Office showed 81.7% of voters were against the city keeping the 1,876 acres of annexed land southeast of the city limits, while 18.3% of voters supported the addition.

Around 75,800 votes were counted in the unofficial election results as of 8:20 p.m. The turnout rate probably will overtake that of April’s City Council elections, which saw 78,200 ballots returned.

In August, Colorado Springs City Council members reversed their decision to annex 3,200 acres adjacent to Fountain.

The annexation had been approved in a 7-2 vote by the City Council in January at the request of local investor group Norris Ranch Joint Ventures. The developers proposed to connect the land 2 miles from city limits by a “flagpole” road annexation in order to build 6,500 single-family homes and a mixed-use commercial district along Bradley Road.

City and El Paso County residents who live near the property launched a petition campaign to force the city to consider a de-annexation. The effort gathered the thousands of signatures needed to trigger a referendum. The City Council chose to place the issue on a special election ballot rather than reverse their previous decision. Read more here.

Here are some of the reactions from Gazette social media.

From Konrad Schlarbaum

What does this say about how the community feels about annexation in Colorado Springs? Why were most City Councilors on board with the project? How can we create better conversations around decisions like this?

… same reason they are on board with any major development… follow the money. This is why we need laws on the books that keep big money, dark money and developers out of political pockets.

Zachary Barker

No more annexation. Build property you can OWN in the downtown region and build up without blocking the view

Donny Coram

Wow, I thought that would pass for sure.

Peter Mackey

The taxpayers & utilities customers are already overwhelmed with the amount CSU (Colorado Springs Utilities) charges. We, the people, have learned that developers in conjunction with CSU, push the expense of infrastructure on taxpayers & CSU customers …

Dan Yaciuk

My only concern is the city will simply rezone something and cram in taller and taller apartment complexes when this fails and overload the schools in those areas. I am already seeing this where my home is and every school is bursting at the seams with no relief in sight. Largely due to apartments being built where it was originally designed for single family homes or businesses and the districts built schools based on the original zoning.

Kelly Marchbank

Yes – I live in Black Forest – so I couldn’t vote on this – but sick and tired of irresponsible growth trapping us decades long residents in our community. Praying we never have another wildfire because the evacuation would be terrible.

Sarah Weien

The annexation sounded like something that some rich guys needed so they could build 6,500 homes, because without millions of taxpayer dollars to build infrastructure they can’t build houses and then charge people EXORBITANT prices for them.

Jessica Silva

Work on what needs to be fixed before adding more pull to the resources! Glad I voted no and to see so many others felt the same!