Planning Commission unanimously backs El Pomar use variance for Penrose property

The Colorado Springs Planning Commission voted unanimously July 9 to recommend City Council approve a use variance (UVAR‑25‑0004) allowing the El Pomar Foundation to establish a nonprofit conference and education center at 2 Penrose Boulevard, a roughly 3.24‑acre parcel in Council District 3.

City planning supervisor Tamara Baxter told the commission the property is zoned RE (single‑family estate) with hillside and wildland‑urban‑interface overlays and that the existing structure most recently operated as a residential memory‑care facility. The application requests a specific use variance rather than a rezoning; staff notified neighbors via 131 postcards and received no written public comments. Baxter said the variance would allow uses including meeting and assembly space, conference and administrative offices, archival storage, a chapel, supporting kitchen space and outdoor gathering areas, and that a development plan has also been submitted showing no change to the building footprint.

Chris Lieber of NES, representing the…