Southeast Strong Community Plan

The first plan under the Neighborhood Planning Program will be the Southeast Community Plan. This Community Plan will draw on the goals and visions of PlanCOS and interpret them into area, neighborhood, and site-specific discussions and recommendations. This Community Plan is anticipated to be an overall plan for the physical development of the land while also incorporating transportation planning, public safety, economic development, climate resiliency, and healthy community planning.

Supporting Documents:

• Map of Southeast Plan Boundaries
• Southeast Strong Health Assessment
• Environmental Studies, Colorado College Air Pollution in Southeast Report
• Environmental Studies, Colorado College Food Security in the Southeast Report
• Environmental Studies, Colorado College Urban Heat Island and Green Space in the Southeast Report
• University of Colorado Denver Capstone Urban Heat Island in the Southeast Report

• 2021 South Academy Blvd Corridor Progress and Measures Report

Profile:

• Land: 4,835 acres (402 are vacant land)
• Population: 36,098
• Housing Units: 13,123
  • Owned: 6,382
  • Rented: 5,840

Compared with the City of Colorado Springs as a whole, southeast Colorado Springs has a higher incidence of poverty, a markedly lower life expectancy, and less access to healthy foods. It is also the hottest area of our City, with the least amount of tree cover, and therefore most vulnerable to the emerging impacts of climate change. Although these topics have been discussed and addressed in other plans, including a 2018 Healthy Places Urban Land Institute Report, and in ongoing community initiatives such as the RISE Coalition, data for these topics have not been systematically assessed for inclusion in actionable land use master planA plan for the development of a portion of the city that contains proposed land uses, a generalized transportation system, and the relationship of the area included in the plan to surrounding property.. To help measure and inform plan recommendations, a Health Assessment of the plan boundary is being prepared. This Health Assessment looks at resident health, healthy food access, and climate resiliency, and establish a set of indicators that can be continuously measured for progress.

Steering Committee		Technical Support Team Agencies
Yolanda Avila	City Council Representative	Land Use Review
Laura Nelson	Apartment Association of Southern Colorado	Housing & Community Development
Dr. Wendy Birhanzel	Harrison School District 2	Mountain Metro Transit Services
Shawn Gullixson	Vectra Bank	Colorado Springs Police
Keyshon Cooks / Stephanie Surch	Council of Neighbors & Organizations	Colorado Springs Fire
Marla Luckey / Jamie Phahl	El Paso County Health	Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services
Pastor Ben Anderson	Solid Rock Community Development Corp	City Communications
Janet H. Brugger	Black Chamber of Commerce	Public Works & Transportation Planning
Joe Aldaz	Hispanic Chamber of Commerce	Colorado Springs Utilities
Joyce Salazar	RISE Coalition	Real Estate Services
Darsey Nicklassen	Places Management	Economic Development
Matt Craddock	Craddock Commercial	Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments
Susan Davies	Trails and Open Space Coalition	Neighborhood Services
Pam Shockley-Zalabak	CommuniCon, Inc.	El Paso County Planning Department
Col Jennifer Fitch	Peterson Air Force Base	Office of Innovation
Rosita Camargo	Resident
Latrina Ollie	Resident
Julie Ramirez	Resident

City Planning staff is working to pull the results of recent surveys which either targeted the Southeast area of town, or respondents were from the Southeast area. Once reviewed with the Steering Committee, those results will be posted here.