Planning commission recommends city approve 120-foot Core Electric communication tower at 5955 Trout Creek Road

The Woodland Park Planning Commission voted 6-0 on June 12 to recommend that Woodland Park City Council approve a special use permit allowing Core Electric Cooperative to replace an existing 63-foot lattice communication tower with a new 120-foot lattice tower (130 feet to top of appurtenances) at 5955 Trout Creek Road in the agricultural zone.

The recommendation follows a staff presentation and an applicant briefing describing the replacement as necessary to restore microwave line-of-sight, improve outage detection and isolation, and maintain communications used by emergency services. The commission’s motion instructed staff to forward the application to City Council with the conditions proposed in the staff report.

Staff told commissioners the property is north of the intersection of Trout Creek Road and Colorado State Highway 24 and that the Gordon Jackson Foundation transferred the site to Legacy Holding Company on May 17, 2023. The application describes multiple existing communications towers and equipment on the property, and staff said much of that infrastructure likely predates city permitting. The staff report noted the site’s zoning (agricultural) and said landscaping requirements were waived “due to the forested hilltop siting of the proposed development” and the lack of water for new plantings.

Applicant representative Ashley Christensen said the existing tower’s microwave dishes have suffered…