2026-07-23 - City Planning Commission
Summary
Built from the official minutes (Legistar status Final). The meeting was a single special appeal hearing on Project Taurus and ran about 14 hours.
- Present per the roll call: 7 (Chair Hensler, Robbins, Gigiano, Willoughby, Case, Engel, Cecil); Clements absent (family emergency). Vice Chair Slattery voted and spoke throughout but is not listed on the roll call.
- Request by the appellants to postpone the hearing to August 12 denied 8-0-1 (motion Slattery, second Willoughby; Clements absent).
- Motion to hear the appeals de novo (Cecil, second Gigiano) failed 2-6.
- All appeals of the June 11, 2026 administrative approval of the Corporate Ridge Filing No. 1 Lot 4 development plan modification (the former Intel facility, 1565 High Tech Way, Council District 1) were denied, but the approval was modified with four conditions: 6-2-1 (motion Slattery, second Cecil; aye Hensler, Robbins, Case, Engel, Cecil, Slattery; no Gigiano, Willoughby; Clements absent).
- Conditions: report utility usage data for the first 10 years; limit usage to 50 MW, with any proposed increase to go to a Planning Commission hearing; replace plan sheet M201 with the corrected sheet the applicant filed; add dB(C) monitoring and reporting to the Sound Monitoring Plan, same as dB(A).
- Commissioners asked for a future work session on data center definitions, cumulative impacts and community benefits.
- An executive session for legal advice was listed on the agenda; the minutes do not record one being held.
Project Taurus Data Center
- Staff (Daniel Sexton, Planning Manager, with Kevin Walker, Planning Director) said the administratively approved plan meets all criteria: data centers are a use by right in the Business Park zone under the 2023 UDC, the original plan is file AR DP 00-00177 from April 2000, and an independent noise audit by Hankard Environmental confirmed the applicant's study. Plan sheet M201 had once shown 72 chillers and 60 generators but was replaced; the authoritative count is 36 chillers and 30 generators (50 MW).
- Appellants: Katie Kloth and Nick Fallentine spoke individually. The group Integrity Matters, representing 34 residents, presented through Katherine Kent, attorney Katherine Gayle, Jon Forshee (noise study flaws), John O'Brien (low frequency sound and health) and Deirdre Aden-Smith (no comparison with prior uses; no fire, hazmat, water or access review yet). They claimed seven grounds for reversal, 115 reasons after supplementing.
- Applicant: counsel Caitlin Quander and Raeden's Jason Green said the review was proper and the plan was changed in response to residents (generators moved north behind a 40 to 45 foot wall; a 30 foot sound wall on the chiller yard; 41 dB typical modeled operation against a 54 dB(A) limit). On July 16 Raeden signed a 10-year development agreement with a 1 million dollar bond for noise remediation, enforced by the city, with Raeden-funded sound monitoring. Mr. Green estimated 60 to 100 jobs, a conversion cost of 785 million dollars and at least 2.5 million dollars a year to Colorado Springs Utilities. Sound engineer Scott Petrovits said the monitors capture the full spectrum.
- Public comment: a very large number of residents (two minutes each) supported the appeals, citing noise and infrasound, drought and water, diesel particulates, heat, wildlife, wildfire, distrust of shifting figures, the 1 million dollar bond, conflict-of-interest claims, surveillance, the weekday hearing time, and calls for a moratorium. Speakers against the appeals included Johnna Reeder Kleymeyer of the Chamber and EDC, Tim Leigh, property brokers, a real estate group president, electrical workers' union representatives and a former city military liaison, who stressed predictable zoning, reuse of a vacant building, tax revenue and jobs. Chair Hensler reminded the room that the Planning Department made the original decision and the Commission had received the full record only that week.
- City Attorney Trevor Gloss said the review is limited to whether the decision was contrary to the UDC, erroneous or contrary to law, that moratoriums belong to City Council, and that tie votes fail.
- Utilities: Jared Miller and Bryan English of Colorado Springs Utilities said the customer has always been evaluated as a 50 MW user (the 300 MW figure came from early kickoff assumptions), any expansion needs a new large load study, the customer pays under the large load tariff (10-year contract, 36-month collateral), and water supply is 95,000 acre-feet a year against about 70,000 in use. The glycol and wastewater pretreatment review is still to come.
- Commissioner comments: Willoughby, Cecil and Engel said the code has not caught up with data centers but only the current UDC can be applied; Gigiano doubted the acoustic testimony; Robbins and Case praised the applicant and staff; Slattery said data centers should be their own land use category; Hensler called it the longest hearing of her four years.
Sources
Data notes: the roll call lists 7 present but 8 votes are recorded (Slattery is missing from the roll call). The page header gives the Regional Development Center as the usual hearing room; this meeting was held at the ENT Center for the Arts. A public speaker aged 14 and other minors named in the record are left out here.