Colorado Springs, CO Development Impact Fees (2026)
Normalized development impact fees, water & sewer connection (tap/SDC) fees, and mitigation fees for Colorado Springs, Colorado — per dwelling unit, by category, with links to every official source.
What a single-family home pays in Colorado Springs
$14,732 total per unit across 5 fee categories.
- Water connection (tap / SDC)$9,943
- Parks & recreation$2,155
- Sewer connection (tap / SDC)$1,868
- Police$398
- Fire / EMS$368
At $14,732, Colorado Springs is below the Colorado tracked median of $38,504 — relatively affordable to build in.
Full fee schedule — single-family
Impact / development fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Police Citywide Development Impact Fee - Police (capital expansion) — Part of 2026 Citywide Development Impact (CDI) fees. Police capital portion. Verified verbatim against re-fetched CDI PDF. | per dwelling unit | $398 | City of Colorado Springs Planning & Development Jan 1, 2026High |
Fire / EMS Citywide Development Impact Fee - Fire (capital expansion) — Part of 2026 Citywide Development Impact (CDI) fees. Fire capital portion. SFD total CDI = $766/unit. Verified verbatim. | per dwelling unit | $368 | City of Colorado Springs Planning & Development Jan 1, 2026High |
Parks & recreation Park Land Dedication fee-in-lieu (combined neighborhood + community) - SFD — PLDO fee-in-lieu, eff. 7/1/2025 (Resolution 09-25), standard 5.5 ac/1,000 pop. Combined neighborhood+community for 1 unit/structure (SFD). Alternative to dedicating parkland. Breakdown confirmed in source: neighborhood $1,200 + community $955 = $2,155/unit. Verified verbatim. | per dwelling unit | $2,155 | City of Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services Jul 1, 2025High |
Drainage / stormwater Drainage Basin Fee (per acre) - representative basin, project/basin-specific — Drainage Basin Fee is charged PER ACRE of development and varies enormously by basin: $0 in closed/no-fee basins up to $59,162/acre (Mesa Centennial Allaso Peak, confirmed in source) plus separate Bridge/Pond fees/acre in many basins. Southwest Area basin ($20,329/ac) shown as one mid-range example. CANNOT be normalized to per-dwelling-unit; depends on basin and gross acreage/density. 2026 schedule (Resolution 201-25, +2.2% over 2025). Excluded from per-unit total - illustrative only. Verified verbatim. alternative · not added to total | per acre | $20,329 | City of Colorado Springs Stormwater Enterprise Jan 1, 2026Medium |
Water & sewer connection fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Water connection (tap / SDC) Water Development Charge (WDC) - SFD 3/4" meter, 3,000-4,999 sf lot (representative) — Levied by Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU), city enterprise. Residential WDC tiered by LOT SIZE for 3/4" meter. Representative mid-size lot used as primary SFD. Water Resource Fee is a separate additive row. 2025 schedule confirmed effective 1/1/2025 from PDF header; medium confidence. Verified verbatim. | per dwelling unit | $5,760 | Colorado Springs Utilities Jan 1, 2025Medium |
Water connection (tap / SDC) Water Resource Fee (WRF) - SFD 3/4" meter, 3,000-4,999 sf lot (additive) — CSU Water Resource Fee is charged IN ADDITION TO the Water Development Charge (separate WRF column in source). Same lot-size tier as primary WDC row. ADDITIVE - included in total. Verified verbatim. | per dwelling unit | $4,183 | Colorado Springs Utilities Jan 1, 2025Medium |
Water connection (tap / SDC) Water Development Charge - SFD 3/4" meter, <1,500 sf lot (variant) — Smallest lot tier. WDC $5,297 + WRF $3,847. Mutually-exclusive lot-size variant; excluded (primary is 3,000-4,999 sf tier). Verified verbatim. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $5,297 | Colorado Springs Utilities Jan 1, 2025Medium |
Water connection (tap / SDC) Water Development Charge - SFD 3/4" meter, 7,000-8,999 sf lot (variant) — Larger lot tier. WDC $7,984 + WRF $5,798. Mutually-exclusive lot-size variant; excluded. Verified verbatim. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $7,984 | Colorado Springs Utilities Jan 1, 2025Medium |
Water connection (tap / SDC) Water Development Charge - SFD 3/4" meter, 15,000+ sf lot (variant) — Largest lot tier. WDC $10,949 + WRF $7,952. Mutually-exclusive lot-size variant; excluded. Verified verbatim. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $10,949 | Colorado Springs Utilities Jan 1, 2025Medium |
Sewer connection (tap / SDC) Wastewater Development Charge - SFD 3/4" meter — CSU wastewater development charge. $1,868 in 2024 with 'No change' for 2025. Verified verbatim. | per dwelling unit | $1,868 | Colorado Springs Utilities Jan 1, 2025Medium |
Coverage & caveats
RESEARCH FOR: City of Colorado Springs, El Paso County, CO (home-rule city). Primary land use = single_family_detached; multifamily included per unit where published. All figures from official sources. WHAT EXISTS (and is captured): 1) Citywide Development Impact (CDI) fees — POLICE + FIRE only. 2026 schedule (Admin Regulation 2025-08, eff. 1/1/2026): SFD = $766/unit ($398 police + $368 fire). Multifamily tiered by units-per-structure: 2-4 units $624, 5-19 $554, 20-49 $520, 50+ $484 per unit. These are the ONLY citywide capital-expansion impact fees the city levies. 2) Water Development Charge (WDC) + Water Resource Fee (WRF) — levied by Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU), a city-owned enterprise. 2025 schedule (eff. 1/1/2025). Residential WDC is tiered by LOT SIZE for a 3/4-inch meter. Representative ~2,000-2,500 sf home: used the 3,000-4,999 sf lot tier (WDC $5,760) as the primary single-family row. WRF is a SEPARATE, ADDITIVE charge on top of WDC (3,000-4,999 sf lot = $4,183). Other lot-size tiers and 1"+ meter sizes included as excludeFromTotal variants. Outside-city-limit charges are 50% higher (not used). Multifamily per individually-metered unit: WDC $4,072 + WRF $2,957. 3) Wastewater Development Charge — CSU. SFD 3/4" = $1,868 (2024, no change in 2025); multifamily per unit $1,213. 4) Park Land Dedication (PLDO) fee-in-lieu — eff. 7/1/2025 (Resolution 09-25), standard 5.5 ac/1,000 pop. Combined neighborhood+community fee-in-lieu: SFD (1 unit/structure) = $2,155; 2-4 units $1,748; 5-19 $1,594; 20-49 $1,441; 50+ $1,282 per unit. This is an alternative to dedicating land; a developer either dedicates parkland OR pays this fee. 5) Drainage Basin Fee — charged PER ACRE and varies enormously by basin ($0 in "closed"/no-fee basins to $59,162/acre in Mesa Centennial; many basins also add a separate Bridge fee/acre and/or Pond fee/acre). 2026 schedule (Resolution 201-25, +2.2% over 2025). CANNOT be normalized to a per-dwelling-unit figure because it depends on the basin and the development's gross acreage/density. Captured a representative basin figure as excludeFromTotal with a note; actual cost is project- and basin-specific. WHAT DOES NOT EXIST in the City of Colorado Springs: - NO citywide transportation/road impact fee. The El Paso County Road Impact Fee (SFD ~$4,101/unit) applies ONLY to unincorporated El Paso County, NOT within Colorado Springs city limits — therefore EXCLUDED. - NO general school impact fee. Colorado does not authorize school impact fees; the city uses School Site Land Dedication (7.4.308) requiring land or fee-in-lieu based on appraised land value. No published flat per-unit dollar amount — value depends on local land appraisal — so OMITTED as a fixed fee row. - NO standalone parks impact fee beyond the PLDO fee-in-lieu above. - NO library, open-space, affordable-housing, or general/capital impact fee found. CAVEATS: CSU is the water/sewer/electric/gas provider for the city; its development charges (water/wastewater tap & resource fees) are the large "PIF"-equivalent costs. CSU 2025 charges were the latest published residential schedule at time of research; confidence medium for CSU rows. Water is priced by LOT SIZE tier (unusual). Electric/gas line-extension fees exist but are excluded as not water/sewer/impact fees. Drainage figure is illustrative only. VERIFY: confirmed 16 of 18 rows; dropped 2 — (a) CSU Wastewater Permit Fee SFD $160 and (b) CSU Water Tap Fee 3/4" $525, both dropped because they are permit/inspection administrative fees (under "Wastewater Permit Fees" and "Water Permit Fees" headings in the CSU schedule), not impact/connection/development charges, per the drop rule for permit/plan-review fees. All surviving amounts and sourceQuotes verified verbatim against re-fetched sources (CDI PDF, CSU PDF, Park PDF, Drainage PDF all reproduce the quoted lines exactly). excludeFromTotal corrections: NONE — all mutually-exclusive lot-size/meter/MF-tier and per-acre drainage variants were already correctly flagged excludeFromTotal=true, and the SFD representative rows (CDI police+fire, WDC, WRF, wastewater, park fee-in-lieu) are correctly in-total with no double-counting (representative SFD impact/connection total = $766 + $5,760 + $4,183 + $1,868 + $2,155 = $14,732, sane). CSU effective date 2025-01-01 confirmed from PDF header "Fees effective January 1, 2025". El Paso County road fee correctly absent from fees[] (only referenced as source 6).
Totals should be read as: CDI $766 (police $398 + fire $368) + Water WDC $5,760 + Water Resource Fee $4,183 + Wastewater Development Charge $1,868 + Park fee-in-lieu $2,155 = $14,732 for a representative SFD on a 3,000-4,999 sf lot. Drainage basin fee is additive but project/basin-specific and excluded from the per-unit total. CSU permit/tap administrative fees ($160 wastewater permit, $525 water tap) were dropped on verification as they are permit/inspection fees, not impact/connection charges.
Sources
6 official sources · 6 high-confidence figures.
- 12026 Citywide Development Impact Fees (Exhibit A - Administrative Regulation 2025-08)City of Colorado Springs Planning & Development · fee schedule · effective Jan 1, 2026 · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 2Current Fee Schedules - Development and Impact Fee ResourcesCity of Colorado Springs · municipal webpage · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 32025 Development Charges and Fees (effective January 1, 2025)Colorado Springs Utilities · fee schedule · effective Jan 1, 2025 · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 4Effective 7/1/2025 Park Acreage & Fee Schedule (Resolution No. 09-25 Exhibit A)City of Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services · fee schedule · effective Jul 1, 2025 · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 52026 Drainage, Bridge and Pond Fees (effective January 1, 2026, Resolution No. 201-25)City of Colorado Springs Stormwater Enterprise · fee schedule · effective Jan 1, 2026 · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 6Road Impact Fees - El Paso County Public Works (applies to unincorporated county only)El Paso County Public Works · municipal webpage · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
Colorado Springs impact fees — FAQ
- How much are development impact fees in Colorado Springs, CO for a single-family home?
- As of 2026-06-16, total development fees for a single-family detached home in Colorado Springs are about $14,732 per unit — roughly $2,921 in impact/development fees plus $11,811 in water/sewer connection fees. Figures are normalized from official sources; verify with the jurisdiction before relying on them.
- Are impact fees in Colorado Springs the same as building permit fees?
- No. Impact fees (and water/sewer connection fees) fund off-site capital — roads, parks, schools, utilities — and are charged per new dwelling unit. Building permit and plan-review fees are separate and are not included here.
- How often do Colorado Springs's impact fees change?
- Most jurisdictions adopt fees by ordinance and escalate them annually (often by a construction cost index), with occasional mid-year updates. Always confirm the current adopted schedule with the jurisdiction. ImpactFeeAtlas last verified Colorado Springs on 2026-06-16.