Castle Pines council approves Canyons Preliminary Plan No. 3 with trail‑connection condition

Castle Pines City Council voted to approve Resolution 25‑10 on March 25, 2025, adopting the Canyons Preliminary Plan No. 3, a conceptual subdivision over about 1,440.9 acres that proposes 1,561 residential lots, three future development lots, a 67‑acre Douglas County school site and roughly 244.1 acres of parkland dedications.

Senior Planner Lisa Brok Hilden summarized the staff recommendation and the Planning Commission’s 6–0 recommendation for approval, saying the preliminary plan “is proposing to create 1,561 residential lots, 3 lots for future development, a school site, parkland sites, open spaces, trails, and road connections to surrounding communities.” She told council the plan meets the city’s approval criteria for water, sewage, drainage and public services at the preliminary stage.

Applicant Skyler Hager, representing the North Canyons ownership group, described infrastructure and phasing expectations and said the development’s water service will be supplied via Parker Water and Sanitation District pipelines. “The water supplies met as evidenced by the inclusion of water and sewer into Parker Water and Sanitation District,” Hager said, noting the traffic study accounted for maximum allowed density and that the applicant is preparing future final‑plat engineering and fair‑share arrangements.

Councilors pressed staff and the applicant on several technical issues: whether proposed access and circulation satisfy fire‑code requirements (staff said access was reconfigured to address fire comments so sprinklers would not be required), how referral comments from Douglas County on fair‑share contributions will be resolved at final plat, whether cultural‑resource reports were updated (staff confirmed fresh studies and consultant review), and what impacts the development might have on nearby private wells. On water to adjacent properties, staff recommended that detailed engineering and any interagency coordination be resolved at later platting stages; the applicant said Parker Water would supply the development.

The council’s deliberation also included tension over the timetable for promised mixed‑use commercial amenities in other planning areas. One council member criticized the developer for repeated delays, saying residents “have been lied to” about when nearby commercial and mixed‑use elements would appear; the applicant said mixed‑use parcels remain contingent on market timing and downstream approvals and that infrastructure and off‑site work are already in progress.

To secure more pedestrian connectivity, the council approved the plan with an amendment directing staff and the applicant “to identify and incorporate additional trail connections from neighborhoods to the proposed trail network where feasible, and also a specific trail connection between the single‑track and the multi‑use trail identified in Planning Area 19 so that these two trails are connected.” The motion to approve with that condition passed on a recorded vote.

What happens next: final plats, engineering plans and subdivision agreements will return to the city for approval before construction of infrastructure and homes begins; the applicant estimated buildout will proceed north to south and that home construction could start in roughly 1–3 years depending on market and permitting timing.

The council’s action preserves the city’s stated planning objectives for open space and trails while adding a specific requirement to improve internal trail connectivity as the application moves to the final‑plat stage.