Planning commission backs Banning Lewis Ranch master-plan amendments and rezonings for Villages B2 and C, approving parks, school sites and development-standard

The Colorado Springs City Planning Commission on July 8 recommended City Council approval of a package of master-plan amendments, zone changes and concept plans for Banning Lewis Ranch Villages B2 and C, together affecting more than 1,100 acres and including proposed school sites, neighborhood and community parks, and multiple development-standard adjustments to implement current product types.

For Village B2 (about 511.9 acres), staff planner Tamara Baxter and applicant Don Ryan (LAI Design Group) described a plan that shifts and consolidates land uses compared with the 1988 master plan: approximately 9.2 acres of commercial at a key intersection, a 25-acre K–8 school site, two neighborhood parks (totaling roughly 15 acres), and road realignments that include the vacation of conceptual paper streets platted in earlier decades. Baxter noted agency reviews and neighborhood meetings, and the parks advisory board’s unanimous recommendation that the metro district will own neighborhood parks. Don Ryan said the proposal reduces overall density compared with earlier plans and consolidates commercial at a single corner.

Village C (about 658 acres) contains similar proposals and six development-standard adjustment requests to allow the product types Oakwood has been building elsewhere in Banning Lewis Ranch: a lowered minimum lot area (1,000 square feet per dwelling where 1,500 is standard for the Arflex Medium district), reduced corner side setbacks, covered-porch encroachments, relaxed front-setback second/third-floor encroachments, a reduced density floor (3 dwellings per acre where 5 is standard), and 5-foot side-yard setbacks for lots without street or alley frontage. Applicant materials estimate roughly 2,426 units in Village C (Arflex medium area) and a 35-acre community park to be provided by combining surplus park acres from Village B2 with Village C parkland.

Traffic engineering staff told the commission that updated traffic studies will be required and that planned arterials such as Dublin and Stetson are designed as four-lane principal arterials; interior collectors and locals will be evaluated at development plan stage. Todd Frisbie of Traffic Engineering said the network as planned should accommodate the projected traffic and noted that some final connections to U.S. 24 will require coordination and likely PPRTA or future developer/city funding.

Public commenters asked about specific impacts. David Osborne, owner of an adjacent, family-run RV park, asked planners to ensure roadway hookups will permit access for long RV trailers and requested buffers between the RV park and new development. Jay Larson, a resident, asked about evacuation routes for an existing 55+ community and urged clearer southern egress. Oakwood representatives said they are coordinating with CDOT and other stakeholders and that several drainage corridors and trail easements will serve as open-space buffers.

Commissioners emphasized that many details (stormwater management, exact road alignment, site-specific buffering and conditional uses) would be resolved in development-plan review once the zone changes are in place. Each motion for the B2 and C items — including master-plan amendments, PDZ and MXM rezones, concept plans, right-of-way vacations and the six development‑standards adjustments — was moved, seconded and passed unanimously. The commission’s actions will go to City Council for formal consideration.