Planning commission recommends two-year extension for Basecamp Apartments CUP after debate over code timing

The Woodland Park Planning Commission voted 5–1 on July 24 to recommend that city council grant a two-year extension of the conditional use permit and site plan for the Basecamp Apartments, a multifamily project on Lot 6 of Tamarack Tech Park.

The extension, if granted by council, would lengthen the entitlement for the approved 122-unit plan to a new expiration date of May 18, 2027. The commission's recommendation instructs council to apply the conditions and dimensional standards that accompanied the original approval (Ordinance 1450, Series 2023).

Planning director Karen Schmidt summarized the request as an applicant-initiated request to extend a conditional use permit (CUP) and site plan first approved by council on May 18, 2023. "This application met all noticing requirements," Schmidt said; she also told commissioners that staff had no formal position on the extension because "there are no regulations to assess" for the extension itself. CJ Gates, senior planner, presented the project history and site context, noting the property is a 7-acre parcel at the end of Tamarack Parkway in the Tamarack Tech Park area and has been zoned Multifamily Residential Urban (MFU) since February 2014.

Developer Kurt Soukup and project representative Creighton Soukup said the project team has continued design and permitting work since 2023 but ran into utility conflicts with Core Electric that made the originally approved layout cost-prohibitive. "We decided to take a step back and reduce the density," Kurt Soukup said, adding the team now expects to reduce the plan toward roughly 100 units and to move buildings away from Core Electric easements. Creighton Soukup described lengthy coordination with Core Electric and civil engineers and said the cost to relocate feeder lines was a primary driver of the redesign effort.

Two members of the public urged denial. Todd Wiseman, a Woodland Park resident, argued the permit had already expired and that municipal code language requires an extension to have been "granted" by council before the approval date in order to avoid expiration. "To approve this extension now or later in August would be to retroactively apply an exception to a permit that has already lapsed," Wiseman said. Joe Fury, who said he lives in the Reserve at Tamarack neighborhood across Highway 67, expressed similar concerns about strict adherence to the written code.

City attorney Betsy Stewart told the commission she would not comment on potential litigation but noted the commission's historical practice had been to consider extension requests that were submitted before the expiration date. Stewart said the planning commission's role that evening was to make a recommendation to council, not to make a final decision.

Commission discussion split on a procedural point: whether extensions should be considered under the code as written or under the commission's longstanding practice of accepting timely-filed extension requests. Several commissioners said they would support the recommendation because the application was submitted on May 15, 2025—three days before the May 18 expiration—and because staff and council historically treated such filings as timely. One commissioner said they would oppose based on principle even though they did not oppose the project on its merits.

During deliberations staff clarified several technical points: no building permit has been issued for Lot 6; Lot 7 is not part of the current request and has seen no activity in recent years; and the applicant has submitted final site plans and grading/infrastructure permit requests that remain under review with outstanding issues. Schmidt also described a recent ordinance change (adopted earlier in 2025) that added an explicit requirement that a proposed development demonstrate an available, verifiable water source; she said that new criterion would be applied if the applicant returns with an amendment. Public works did not provide comments on water-connection adequacy for this extension request, according to staff.

After discussion, a commissioner moved to recommend approval to city council of a two-year extension of the conditional use permit and site plan for Basecamp Apartments, subject to the conditions and dimensional standards previously attached to the approval; another commissioner seconded. The commission conducted a roll-call vote; the recommendation passed 5–1. Recorded votes were: Ken Hartsfield, yes; Don Hoyne, no; Ken Kennedy, yes; Jared Newcomb, yes; Don DeSellum, yes; Larry Larson (acting chair), yes. The commission's recommendation does not itself extend the permit—the matter now goes to city council for final action.

If council grants the extension as recommended, the conditional use permit and site plan entitlement for the Lot 6 Basecamp Apartments will be extended two years, to an expiration date of May 18, 2027. The applicant said they aim to return with amended plans addressing utility easements and reduced density and that they hope to begin construction in the spring following permit approvals.

Next step: the commission's recommendation will be transmitted to Woodland Park city council; a council public hearing on the extension was referenced as scheduled for October 21 (date cited in the hearing record).