Planning commission recommends rezoning of Buckingham Industrial site to light industrial with conditions after neighbor concerns

The Colorado Springs City Planning Commission on July 8 recommended that City Council rezone the 7.79-acre Buckingham Industrial site on Buckingham Drive from Business Park (BP) with conditions to Light Industrial (LI) with conditions, voting 7–2 to forward the measure.

Staff planner Chris Sullivan told the commission the site sits amid industrial and commercial uses on three sides and single-family homes to the south, and that the primary differences between BP and LI include BP’s 100-foot building separation from residential uses, which LI does not require. "The new conditions of record seek to prohibit certain uses," Sullivan said, naming household living, group living, industrial hemp and marijuana-related services, natural medicines, and kennels as uses the conditions would prohibit.

The applicant, Ben Swanson of Buckingham Land Holdings LLC, described a long history of the site being vacant and used as a gravel pit, then backfilled. "Since we acquired the property, we have taken control of the perimeter and really tried to improve that," Swanson said, adding that the owner plans to orient buildings, parking and landscape buffers to shield the adjacent neighborhood and to address drainage issues at the later development-plan stage.

Neighbors raised concerns during public comment. Barry Wick and Marsha Wick, residents adjacent to the site, said runoff and drainage from nearby retail development already channel into their backyards and Holland Park, and they asked whether the planned landscaping buffer would include tall trees and fencing. "All the water from Centennial and Garden Of The Gods comes into our backyard," Marsha Wick said, urging commissioners to ensure effective buffers and stormwater treatment.

Commissioners debated whether to require legacy BP conditions — notably the 25-foot landscape buffer and the 100-foot building separation — be carried forward. Commissioner Slattery and others recommended retaining the 25-foot landscape buffer and adding several prohibited uses; Commissioner Cecil opposed the motion as written, arguing that leaving an uncapped height allowance could be detrimental adjacent to residential uses. Sullivan and planning manager Dean Sexton told the commission that LI includes development‑plan and use‑specific review processes that would require higher scrutiny for intense uses, and that the city's landscape code typically requires a 15-foot buffer with a seven-foot opaque wall between nonlike uses.

Commissioner Willoughby moved to recommend the zone change to City Council with the staff‑identified conditions of record; Commissioner Clements seconded. The motion passed on a roll call vote, 7 in favor and 2 opposed (Commissioners Cecil and Slattery).

The commission’s recommendation means the rezoning will move to City Council for a final decision. If City Council approves the change, future development plans will be required and subject to additional review (including civil engineering and stormwater controls) that staff said would have to address the neighbors’ drainage concerns before construction can proceed.