• Pueblo planners gave initial approval to the Dillon Drive urban renewal plan on July 9.
• The plan calls for addressing blight north of Pueblo mall.
• Once improved, the site could be used for new development.

A proposed Dillon Drive Urban Renewal plan that could provide financing for public improvements in the blighted area north of the Pueblo Mall won initial approval from the Pueblo Planning and Zoning Commission on July 9.

The plan proposed by Pueblo Urban Renewal seeks to eliminate blight and promote new development on a 34-acre swath of underutilized land north of the Cesar Chavez Boulevard and Dillon Drive intersection. The property has business and industrial zones and is owned by AKN Enterprise LLC.

Among the blighting factors identified were a predominance of inadequate street layout, a faulty lot layout, unsanitary or unsafe conditions, unusual topography, and environmental contamination, according to Beritt Odom, the city’s principal planner.

Pueblo Urban Renewal Executive Director Jerry Pacheco told the commission the plan would help bring financing for certain public improvements, such as a traffic light or roundabout at 40th Street, as well as funding to get the property out of the floodplain.

“The benefit to the city will be sales tax growth,” Pacheco said.

The commission voted unanimously to recommend Pueblo City Council approve the plan.

High density cottage plan in Regency wins approval

In other business at the July 9 meeting, the commission gave initial approval to a rezoning plan that will pave the way for the construction of eight cottages on a .76-acre lot in the Regency neighborhood. The lot, located between Regency Boulevard and Pueblo Boulevard Way, has been undeveloped for 40 years.

Brian Robinson of Sky Creek Homes Ltd. told the commission the eight cottages will include four one-bedroom, 800-square-foot homes and four two-bedroom, 1,100-square-foot homes, which will be made available for rent at market rates. The homes will be split between a 16-space parking lot.

Leslie Shepard of SunWest Credit Union, which owns the two lots adjacent to the site, said the bank already struggles with parking issues in the busy area.

“It would create a security issue for us because if an unknown car is in the parking lot we have to call the police before any employees can enter the building,” Shepard explained.

Robinson said it would be feasible to build a fence along the lot line between the homes and the bank’s parking lot to deter renters from possibly “poaching parking spaces.”

Planning commission member Cheryl Spinuzzi said the board is “bound to follow what’s allowable by regulations of the city.” The commission voted 6-1 to recommend city council approve the rezoning with commissioner Patrick Avalos casting the no vote.

Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via X at x.com/tracywumps. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain atsubscribe.chieftain.com.