Title
Recognition of the two American Planning Association (APA) Colorado Chapter Honor Awards for RetoolCOS Project
Presenter:
Peter Wysocki, Director of Planning and Neighborhood Services
Morgan Hester, Long Range Planning Division Manager
Body
Summary:
The American Planning Association (APA) Colorado Chapter Awards Program is intended to recognize outstanding projects, plans, and people of the planning profession. The APA Colorado Awards Committee opens the Call for Nominations in Spring and announces the award recipients at the APA Colorado State Conference in the Fall. This year, award recipients were celebrated at the Conference held in Colorado Springs from September 27 - September 29, 2023. The RetoolCOS project was selected for two Honor Awards, the highest award, for a General Planning Project and Growing Water Smart Awards.
Background:
In January 2019, the Council approved PlanCOS, Colorado Springs' Comprehensive Plan. This 2019 APA Colorado Honor award-winning project established the vision and goals for the future of Colorado Springs and six directives to implement what had been established. One of the directives was to revise the Zoning & Subdivision Ordinance, known as the RetoolCOS project, which had not been comprehensively reworked in several decades, to provide the technical backing necessary to further the community-established vision and goals. In February 2023, the City Council adopted the Unified Development Code (UDC) to repeal and replace the now-former Chapter 7 Zoning & Subdivision Ordinance.
The APA Colorado General Planning Project Award represents a project that has either been recently implemented or has some level of completion that allows for evaluation in terms of their success. Projects submitted in this category are representative of comprehensive plans, code amendments, site/region plans, and other multi-faceted projects. The RetoolCOS project was recognized for the strides made with housing, specific...
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