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Palmer High School Boulder Street Vacation

At a glance

  • What: Ordinance No. 26-06 vacating about 0.92 acres of the East Boulder Street public right-of-way between North Nevada Avenue and North Weber Street (Council District 3, file SUBD-25-0076) for the Palmer High School redevelopment of School District 11.
  • Outcome: On reconsideration of second reading, Council finally passed the ordinance 6-2-0-1 on May 26, 2026 with three conditions of approval.
  • Background: The vacation was tied to the Palmer High School zone change and land use plan, which had first reading on February 24, 2026 and were approved at a public hearing on March 10, 2026. The earlier hearings (including March 24) are outside the minutes collected for this page.
  • Money: The District is weighing a bond of about $775 million (its last was $425 million) for the full renovation; it had not decided whether to put it on the November 2026 ballot.

Detail

  • President Pro Tem Risley recused himself because his firm is engaged on another District 11 project.
  • Utilities: Travas Deal (Colorado Springs Utilities) said the school would be responsible for moving all infrastructure and nothing can be built over gas lines; the school pays to relocate the gas lines. Chris Lieber (NES, for the applicant) said keeping the utilities in place by tunnel or skybridge was studied but a tunnel would need to be two stories underground and a skybridge three stories in the air, so in Phase 1B utilities would be relocated except the storm drain. The existing underpass tunnel (about 180 students per course selection, per Principal Krista Burke) would be removed; moving athletics to the main campus and building the Academic Wing would let most students stay on the core campus.
  • Safety: Lieber said student crossings were reduced, six intersections get protected left turns with pedestrian-actuated buttons, some get bump-outs and one a median extension. City Traffic Engineer Todd Frisbie said equipment for school zones on Platte Avenue, Weber Street, Wahsatch Avenue and Nevada Avenue will be installed this summer (20 mph, active forty minutes before and ten minutes after the bell; funding allows four to five new school zones a year), signals could go red when a pedestrian button is pushed, and a reduced conflict between vehicles and vulnerable users makes a safer system. A left turn adds some delay but level of service is maintained. Frisbie did not have information on student injuries walking from downtown to the athletic fields, and said nothing suggests the General Palmer statue must move.
  • Parking: the approved Land Use Plan provides 262 on-site stalls at completion; 200 to 250 are projected needed; the District has an agreement with First Methodist Church for parking during construction.
  • Bond and contingency: Brandan Comfort (Deputy Superintendent, School District 11) said a town hall on the bond was held the previous week, a bond liaison is at every school, and the District already has funding for the track and field and for moving students from the Erps Gym site into the main campus. The Erps lot is intended for athletic facilities and there has been no recent talk of selling or donating it.
  • Process: Stefanie Boster (City Attorney) said Council may refuse additional information; President Crow-Iverson said the hearing would not be reopened to new information or public comment. Henjum asked why Council did not want another public hearing and received no response. Boster said a vacation is the appropriate tool for what Council wants to accomplish.
  • Donelson asked whether the plan returns the right-of-way to the City if the District disposes of it (Ryan Tefertiller: yes, one of the three conditions), why new information was presented, and about business owners who opposed the vacation (no further discussion; the applicant cited eighteen months of master plan outreach and door-to-door contact). He said he would vote no because the loss of medical transport on Boulder Street was not addressed.
  • Henjum said she would vote yes because concerns were addressed and the changes are necessary; her vote is for the facility and not a comment on District leadership and culture, a separate question.

Votes

  • May 26, 2026: motion by Leinweber, seconded by Williams, to finally pass Ordinance 26-06 on findings that the request meets City Code 7.5.522, with conditions: (1) an agreement with School District 11 requiring it to allow public egress over the property when unused for construction or District activities; (2) a request that D11 collaborate with the City to provide public egress during the PPRTA-funded Platte Avenue Improvements (Wahsatch to Circle) project; (3) an agreement requiring the District to return ownership to the City if it disposes of the property. Passed 6-2-0-1. Aye: Casey, Crow-Iverson, Henjum, Leinweber, Rainey Jr., Williams. No: Donelson, Gold. Recused: Risley.

Sources

Log

2026-05-26 - City Council

Reconsideration of second reading, unfinished business item 9.A. Long questioning of the applicant team by Henjum and Donelson; hearing not reopened; finally passed 6-2-0-1 with three conditions; Risley recused.

2026-11-03 - Downtown Review Board

DEPN-25-0087, the Palmer High School first-phase form-based zone development plan with warrants (8.27 acres, FBZ-T2A), is on the Downtown Review Board agenda for 11/3.

  • 2026-11-03 - 2026-11-03 - Downtown Review Board: DEPN-25-0087 (8.27 acres bounded by N. Nevada, E. St. Vrain, N. Weber and E. Platte, quasi-judicial) on the agenda; the minutes are not posted, so the outcome is not recorded.