COLORADO SPRINGS — The feud between neighbors in the Mountain Shadows community of Colorado Springs, the city and Colorado Springs Utilities over the Wilson Water Tank is done. A district court judge dismissed the neighbors' lawsuit this afternoon.
The lawsuit claimed that council members had a conflict of interest in their decision to allow the water tank to stand because councilmembers also serve as Colorado Springs Utilities' board members.
As News 5 has previously reported, he tank was built 15 feet too tall last summer.
In October 2023, the city's Planning Commission voted to shut the project down citing the flawed permitting process. But a month later, city council members overturned that decision, effectively allowing for the completion of the CSU water tank's construction.
The owners of the Flying W Ranch, and Lawrence Starr, who lives next to the large tank teamed up to fight the decision.
However, in reviewing the suit, 4th District Court Judge Amanda Philipps found that since the city's charter and city code allows for councilmembers to rule on quasi-judicial issues while also serving as Utilites' board members, there is no conflict of interest. She dismissed the case.
"The mere existence of the dual mandates that Councilors act in the best interest of the city and their constituents while also acting as fiduciaries and members of the board for CSU does not affirmatively prove a conflict of interest, much less a conflict of interest so severe that it deprived Plaintiffs of due process," Philipps wrote in her decision.
Lawrence Starr, who has previously told News 5 he's spent upwards of $30,000 in legal fees to fight this told us he is not surprised but disappointed. Leigh Ann Wolfe, who owns the Flying W, told News 5 she is not prepared to comment now.
News 5 has reached out to CSU and a spokeswoman responded they decline to comment at this time.
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