About the Cherokee Metro District Team

The mission of the Cherokee Metro District (CMD) Team is to provide safe water, sewer service, clean parks and well-lit streets. We continually strive to attain the highest quality of service at a reasonable cost. We prepare for the anticipated needs and requirements of our current and future customers. The CMD staff consists of customer service professionals, engineers, Colorado state-certified water professionals, and state-certified wastewater professionals.

What Is The Cherokee Metro District?

The Cherokee Metropolitan District (CMD) was originally established in 1957. It is a not-for-profit, quasi-municipal governmental entity that was formed per Title 32 of the Colorado Revised State Statutes. The services provided are primarily water and sanitary sewer operations for Cimarron Hills customers (and others described below) as well as maintenance of street lighting.

District Location

The District lies outside the city limits of Colorado Springs located east of and adjacent to the city of Colorado Springs, in El Paso County. CMD is bounded by Peterson Air Force Base on the south and by Powers Boulevard on the west. Its north boundary is located approximately two miles north of Constitution Avenue to Barnes Road. The Eastern boundary follows Highway 24 approximately one mile east of Marksheffel Road to Constitution Avenue.

The boundaries then follow Constitution Avenue west to a point one-half mile east of Marksheffel Road. The District encompasses roughly 6,300 acres and serves some 17,945 customers and also includes an area roughly 20 miles east of the main District boundaries near Ellicott, which encompasses 800 acres with nearly 100 additional residential taps.

Other Customers

Expanding the number of customers served by the CMD lowers your bill. It helps to leverage a more cost-effective economy of scale as fixed costs are absorbed by a larger number of consumers. CMD is supportive of the United States Military and their families.

Water customers, outside the boundaries of CMD, include the Schriever Air Force Base (SAFB) and Woodmen Hills Metropolitan District (Woodmen Hills). SAFB is located approximately nine miles east of CMD alongside the main transmission line. The Woodmen Hills Metropolitan District is located 6 miles east, northeast, of the northern most area of the CMD boundaries along Woodmen Road and Meridian Road. Woodmen Hills Metropolitan District is a bulk water user and is allowed up to 350 acre feet of water per year.

History of the Cherokee Metro District

CMD is a quasi-municipal corporation and a political subdivision of the State of Colorado. CMD was created in 1957 pursuant to Article 1 of Title 32, C.R.S, for the purpose of supplying water and sanitary sewer services to the inhabitants of CMD and its service area. CMD was originally organized as the Cherokee Water District on April 19, 1957. In the mid 1960’s, the Cimarron Sanitation District began operations to treat wastewater from Cimarron Hills. A third district formed in 1978 provided street lighting for this unincorporated area of El Paso County.

On April 14, 1981, CMD’s Board of Directors adopted a resolution to approve the proposed dissolution of the Cimarron Sanitation District (“Cimarron”), and to combine the functions of Cimarron into CMD. The establishment of the Cherokee Water and Sanitation District was ordered after the approval thereof at an election held within the proposed district for the purpose on September 22, 1981. The order of the district court in and for El Paso County to create the district was entered on October 23, 1981.

On May 5, 1992, a special election was held to obtain approval of the dissolution of Cimarron Hills Street Improvement District (“Cimarron Hills”), the previous provider of certain street services within the CMD and with the El Paso County Commissioners, also in 1992, transferring all their park lands to Cherokee. CMD was approved to provide the services previously provided by Cimarron Hills, the County Parks, and Cherokee Water and Sanitation District. The order of the district court in and for El Paso County to create CDM was entered on May 11, 1992.

In March of 1995, CMD purchased the golf course from the Resolution Trust Corporation.