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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning And Zoning Board - Minutes - 12/02/2004Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 6:00 p.m. Council Liaison: Karen Weitkunat Staff Liaison: Cameron Gloss Chairperson: Mikal Torgerson Phone: (W) 416-7435 Vice Chair: Judy Meyer Phone: (W) 490-2172 Chairperson Torgerson called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Roll Call: Gavaldon, Meyer, Lingle, Carpenter, Craig, Schmidt and Torgerson. Staff Present: Gloss, Eckman, Wamhoff, Virata, Moore, Wray, Frank, Avrill, Baker, Shepard, Barkeen, Foreman, Buffington, Smith, Aspen and Deines. Director of Current Planning Cameron Gloss reviewed the Consent and Discussion Agendas: Consent Agenda: 1. Minutes of the October 21, 2004 Planning and Zoning Board Hearing. (Continued) 2. Resolution PZ04-34 Easement Dedication. 3. #42-04 Poudre School District Kinard Junior High School – Site Plan Advisory Review. Discussion Agenda: 4. Recommendation to City Council for Adoption of the Northside Neighborhoods Plan 5. #43-04 Museo De Las Tres Colonias (Romero House, 425 10th Street) – Project Development Plan. 6. #20-04A Feather Ridge Reception Center – Project Development Plan. Director Gloss reported that the Board received a minor revision to the staff report and a summary of Monday’s site visit on the Feather Ridge Reception Center project. Member Lingle declared a conflict of interest on the Feather Ridge PDP. Member Gavaldon moved for approval of the Consent Agenda items 2 and 3. Member Carpenter seconded the motion. The motion was approved 7-0. Approved 2/17/05 Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 2 _____________________________________________________________________ Project: Recommendation to City Council for adoption of the Northside Neighborhoods Plan Project Description: The Northside Neighborhoods Plan will provide a more specific vision and policy framework for the neighborhoods, including surrounding commercial, industrial and undeveloped open lands. This plan will also become an element of City Plan, the City’s Comprehensive Plan, and will help stabilize and preserve the character of the neighborhoods. Hearing Testimony, Written Comments and Other Evidence: Pete Wray, City Planner gave the staff presentation. He stated he would give an overview presentation of the plan elements and process that staff went through to develop the Northside Neighborhood Plan. He stated that this plan was initiated last fall to cover an approximate 12 month planning process, which staff has stayed on tract. Planner Wray showed contacts of the area. He stated that the study area was in and around the Vine and Lemay intersection. It would encompass Conifer Street to the north, the Lemay realignment designation on the east side; Lincoln Avenue on the south side of the boundary and Linden and Redwood Streets to the west. The plan area incorporates several existing neighborhoods including Buckingham, Alta Vista, Andersonville, Via Lopez, and The Meadows north of Vine Drive and part of Evergreen Park, as well as various vacant lands. About 50% of the study area is under vacant land ownership and then existing industrial and commercial businesses primarily around Vine Drive and to the south. As part of the 12 month planning process, starting last fall, staff conducted an initial survey and interviews with businesses and residents identifying issues to give staff direction for the plan. They established a citizen’s advisory group comprised of representation from area business owners, residents from the neighborhoods mentioned and property owners within the area. They also had representation from the Planning and Zoning Board on the committee. There were initially 21 committee members to help provide input and comments through this process. They met approximately once a month; they had nine citizen advisory meetings over the last year. Planner Wray displayed a slide outlining some of the key meetings they had. Initial public meeting last fall, an open house and picnic in Buckingham Park in July, they just had a public open house on November 18th and some other individual meetings. Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 3 The Plan is divided into three key sections. Phase one which incorporated the first four or five months of the planning process. Staff identified conditions and issues in the area, which gave direction in moving forward with the plan and what they would try to address in the process and establishing a more specific vision for this area and how that relates to City Plan and Goals. Phase two, in the middle part of the planning process; staff developed a framework plan that incorporates land use and transportation patterns and open lands into a composite map. That was really the key element of the plan incorporating the up front direction of the Vision and Goals issues and provided the next step for policy direction, which provided a foundation for implementation. The final Phase that was completed over the past several months was how we were going to achieve the plan, developing implementation strategies and action plan for plan adoption. Planner Wray showed an overall graphic depicting the main components of the process and what staff was trying to develop. The framework plan map described in the Land Use Chapter incorporates the existing development pattern in streets in the area along with suggestions for change in the area. The land uses described are consistent with City Plan and the city Structure Plan Map. One area staff is potentially looking at is an overlay on top of the Industrial land use designation adjacent to the existing neighborhoods of Buckingham, along Andersonville and below Alta Vista in which a future action is to develop some design standards to provide a transition or buffer between the industrial uses and residential neighborhoods. Staff will be pursuing that over the next year and that would lead to some amendments to the Land Use Code. In looking at the transportation pattern, staff went through some continuous and some strong discussions concerning the Vine and Lemay current alignment and the proposed Master Street Plan realignment of Vine and Lemay adopted by Council. Staff was asked to look at other options, exploring an alternative to the Master Street Plan which staff pursued over the summer addressing the Planning and Zoning Board’s request for additional information. Staff came back in August and September with the findings to the Transportation Board, Planning and Zoning Board, Citizens Advisory Group and City Council. With that information and the staff recommendation, Council agreed to give staff clear direction to not spend anymore time on that analysis and supported the current Master Street Plan adopted alignment for Vine and Lemay. That is what the plan shows and recognizes. What staff did have an opportunity to look at was if and when that project moves forward and is funded, how will the existing streets look in this area and how will they connect or not connect in this area. Staff has a recommendation that if Lemay realigns with a grade separated crossing at the railroad tracks and Vine is realigned to the north of its current alignment, then we would reclassify and down size Vine and Lemay to a local street so it would connect up on the new alignment, come down to an intersection Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 4 and it would be terminated before it hits the southern part of the Lemay realignment and there would be a new connection at Buckingham over to Lemay. Planner Wray discussed the current street patterns in the area and what the future might look like with new development. There are existing parks in the area shown in Alta Vista; there is a small park, Romero Park in Andersonville and the existing neighborhood sized park in Buckingham. The next neighborhood park is in Greenbriar and there had been some recent discussions about trying to provide some improvements to the existing Romero Park. Phase three was looking at coming up with an action plan and various implementations strategies to achieve the plan which goes for adoption by Council on January 18th. The action plan describes coordination between the city and various other departments and the neighborhoods and businesses. Opportunities to provide updates as needed, coordination with Neighborhood Resources on ongoing communication, police and code enforcement, coordination between the city and the neighborhoods, design standards and coordinating housing programs, funding options and designation of the historic neighborhoods. The transportation actions that are identified short term are some interim intersection improvements to the Vine and Lemay existing intersection. Opportunities to provide some additional turn lanes to improve the situation there. Staff has identified some interim sidewalks along the west edge of Lemay from current Vine intersection down to Lincoln connecting to where the new sidewalks are extending up from Wal-Mart, the apartments and the new bank at the northeast corner of Lincoln and Lemay. In addition and interim sidewalk along Lincoln towards Buckingham towards downtown. Staff also identified the need for an interim traffic signal at Buckingham Street and Lemay to help improve some of the access concerns into the Andersonville and Via Lopez neighborhoods as trains cross and traffic backs up. Long term he had talked about reclassifying the streets with the realignment project and also identifying local street infrastructure needs, curb, gutter and sidewalks within the existing neighborhoods. Some of the key issues staff has been addressing in the plan and that they have heard recently with the final public and neighborhood meetings include concerns with the existing Vine and Lemay intersection and those impacts. They have also heard concerns that if the realignment of Lemay and Vine takes place, the impacts on the edge of the Via Lopez neighborhood which is in close proximity or adjacent to the grade separated crossing alignment of Lemay. Staff met with that neighborhood Monday night and continued to hear their issues and tried to answer some of their questions. Recognizing those issues in the plan was important. They brought up other issues Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 5 regarding emergency response in those neighborhoods with the realignment. Also, the need for basic infrastructure within those neighborhoods, curb, gutter, sidewalks, drainage, lighting and landscaping, and the general lack of pedestrian and bike facilities in the area. They are also talked about when the existing streets are upgraded to city urban standards we would be looking at the incorporation of some potential enhanced detached sidewalks to allow for multi-use access for bike and pedestrians on some of those streets. Some of the other issues that have been identified in the plan or recently is the coordination of the Poudre River and Dry Creek floodplain and how that needs to be coordinated with local stormwater projects and street improvements. Compatibility issues between industrial and residential areas, the trail connections and the potential improvements to the park in the Via Lopez/Andersonville neighborhood and continuing to coordinate the issue of increased crime and code enforcement activity in the neighborhoods. Also, ongoing identification of funding sources for the public improvements that have been identified. PUBLIC INPUT None. Member Craig was interested in the Alta Vista neighborhood and the impacts of the realignment of Vine Drive north. She asked if the neighbors knew how close it was and did they talk about buffers or anything in regards to mitigation as far as their neighborhood goes. Planner Wray replied that both alignments have been talked about in this process and staff has shown the concept plans for the Dry Creek Channel Improvements that would run parallel to the Vine Drive realignment. The green line on the south edge of Vine Drive is the conceptual illustration of the approximate alignment of the Dry Creek Channel along with Vine Drive and staff has shown in the plan ideas for looking at landscaping and buffering between those facilities and the Alta Vista Neighborhood. There is a cross-section in the plan that looks at incorporation of a potential trail along the Dry Creek Channel and additional landscaping to buffer that, similar to what we have in other facilities in the city. The neighbors have been expressing concerns for several years going back to the truck route and the identification of the Dry Creek Channel. Staff has also heard concerns about the Lemay alignment and the plan does describe where the Dry Creek floodplain impacts the area and where the future improvements are located. Member Craig asked what the buffer is from the property line from the road that will be north of Alta Vista. Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 6 Mark Jackson, Transportation Planning replied that it would be the standard four-lane arterial section which is about 114 feet. Member Craig asked from that to the edge of the property that would be to the south of that, what would the distance be. Planner Wray replied that as he understood it, the Dry Creek Channel’s cross-section is between 80 and 100 feet. The green line is a general location of those two facilities, but they have not been engineered by any means. It appears that the channel is right on the back fence of that neighborhood, but he thinks that there is some additional space there. Member Craig asked if he was telling her that where they have aligned north Vine is not set in stone and if the neighbors do want to come and move it further north it is possible. Planner Wray replied that the alignments are not engineered yet, just like the Master Street Plan. Mr. Jackson also responded that the alignment that is shown on the Master Street Plan is conceptual in nature, and has not been engineered yet. A lot of the issues that are being asked about, about the exact nature of the buffer and design standards all happen during the design phase of the project. When the Master Street Plan was initially realigned to show the Vine realignment going up north in 1999, the Dry Creek improvements were intended to be the buffer separation between the arterial roadway and that neighborhood. Member Craig stated that part of her concern was she knew it would be awhile before the road goes in, but as this area develops the city will be looking for right-of-way and in the process of looking at right-of-way, indirectly it is being established where that road is going to go. She wanted to make sure that the neighbors in Alta Vista understand that if the road is going to be an issue to them that it needs to be brought up in this plan so they can be a part of it and they understand that the road is going to be located next to their homes. She was looking for awareness on the part of the city. Mr. Jackson replied that that was a good point and that it was something that they could acknowledge in the plan, but it is also something that during the design phase, for both the folks next to the Lemay realignment as well as the Vine realignment, there are numerous and continuous opportunities to give input, suggestions and voice their concerns. Member Craig was just trying to think ahead an as development occurs and we are putting in the right-of-ways and are asking for easements, that we have given ourselves Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 7 enough space that we are not coming in and mitigating after it is done. She has a feeling that it will be developed before Vine Drive is put in and she would hate to see us put up sound walls if we did not think ahead and maybe get the road more specifically lined up in where we want it. Mr. Jackson responded that those were all very good comments and in talking with Cam McNair the city Engineer, one of the things they would like to do in collaboration with one another is start working our way down the Capital Improvement Projects list on some of these high priority projects and try and do in house preliminary design work that starts to get at some of these issues so we can be more proactive. Member Craig was glad to hear that. Member Gavaldon asked why were sound walls not being considered. Mr. Jackson replied that the design phase is when staff starts looking at mitigation, you would start looking at the exact design as to how it lays out in conjunction with the neighborhood and then you would look at what your mitigation opportunities are. You really don’t find sound walls on a facility of this nature, but if we need to we can look at it. When we get to the design phase and are working to mitigate issues, the whole tool box will be open. Member Gavaldon asked if this project was on the BOB list. Mr. Jackson replied that the Lemay realignment from Lincoln to Conifer is on the BOB list. It was really important for anyone here and also watching tonight to understand that the BOB list is not anywhere near finalized, it is not on Council’s recommended list at this time, but that is just a preliminary step in moving forward. It is on staff’s highly recommended list, so it is not accurate to say that it is not on the BOB list because the BOB list is not finalized yet. Member Gavaldon asked if this does get on the BOB list and the funding package is defeated again by the voters, does staff have a Plan B. Mr. Jackson replied that you always have to have a Plan B and look for any opportunities that you may have. He thought staff should look for any opportunities where they can collaborate or use development to help pay for those impacts. As this corridor starts to develop, we are already seeing more interest in redevelopment within the corridor. He thought staff would look at alternatives in funding packages, whether it is Improvement Districts of one sort or another. Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 8 Member Meyer asked about the flood mitigation and when would it take place. Bob Smith, Director of Stormwater Utility replied that as far as the Dry Creek Flood Control Project goes, it is being designed now and will be under construction next year. The other piece of it is the work on the Ox Bo property and the work has started and should be finished next spring. Member Craig asked how the neighbors responded in looking at an SID. Planner Wray responded that they have not heard support from the existing neighborhoods at this time in establishing an SID within this area. We have talked about the suggestion for a greater potential improvement district in the northeast in the Mountain Vista area. As far as looking at funding for improvements to the local infrastructure within the existing neighborhoods, we see that as an ongoing challenge. Member Craig asked about needing a sidewalk on Lincoln between Lemay and Buckingham. She remembered that Lincoln was part of the Flagpole that DDA took in Wal-Mart, so isn’t technically Lincoln part of DDA? Planner Wray replied that he did not know. Member Craig stated that the only reason she is bringing this up was because of the funding mechanism. She is thinking that possibly these neighbors could go to DDA and say that you thought that it was important enough to connect Wal-Mart to downtown, now lets put in some infrastructure to really connect Wal-Mart to downtown, would you help us by putting in a sidewalk. Planner Wray replied that a variety of funding mechanisms would continue to be looked at to achieve these projects. Member Craig stated that she did not see it on staff’s list and asked that it be added to the list. She thought that it was a strong possibility that it was under DDA and she thought they should come forward and help with the cost if possible. Member Craig asked that the Structure Plan map be amended to reflect the green corridors configured in the sub-area plan. Director of Advanced Planning Frank replied that was not a problem. Member Craig also assumed that when the Zoning Map is amended that staff would either come up with something for the interface or were we just going to work on design standards. Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 9 Planner Wray replied that the action is identified to achieve these interface areas, staff has included in the plan some photos and illustrations to capture some of the initial character of what we are trying to achieve. The next step would be to look at coming up with some actual language to describe and come up with standards that would lead to incorporating those into our Land Use Code. Director Frank added that he thought what would be done is some sort of overlay in the industrial zoning for that distance back from Lemay Avenue, some special design standards to apply to that area. Member Craig asked if it would be more of amending the Land Use Code rather than changing the zoning. Member Schmidt thanked staff, she thought that it was a pretty extensive plan and one that covered a lot of different things and she thought it took a lot of work and staff has made a real effort to have outreach with neighbors on this. Her only comment, having served on the North College Renewal Plan committee, was trying to see how some of these things connect, and she knows that the committee is interested in the Vine realignment thinking that it is going to help people to get to North College. She would encourage any kind of consideration that might take a look at making some of these projects happen. Her frustration with the plan was that there are so many good ideas and there is no way to pay for any of them. Member Schmidt would like to see us not rule out the possibility that along the Vine Corridor that if someone comes in with a proposal that we don’t sound too rigid as far as we are not going to consider anything else along those areas if it would help create a special district or help financially. Member Schmidt asked about improvements to Romero Park. Planner Wray replied that there have been some discussions and there is a general concern from residents in the Andersonville and Via Lopez neighborhood that the existing Romero Park is very small and it has really not been used by the children in the area very much because of that and because of the night time activity that goes on there. There are suggestions for exploring options for potentially finding additional space possibly to the south of those neighborhoods. Member Schmidt asked what happens once these plans are approved. Planner Wray replied that every time a sub-area plan is finished there is ongoing implementation in which Advanced Planning is involved in development review on an ongoing basis and trying to implement the various projects that are identified on the action plan. Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 10 Member Schmidt asked besides what we have in City Plan is there any ongoing mechanism that Advanced Planning has that every three years we are going to check and see what kind of progress has been made, are we achieving our goals with this plan or if there is any redirection needed. Director Frank replied that every year staff sends in 0annual work programs, Council sets their policy agendas every two years that we use as an opportunity to get some of the high priority action items on that agenda. We are continually looking at all our plans as to what has not been done. Planner Wray added that over time these plans need to be updated. Member Gavaldon moved to recommend to City Council approval of the Northside Neighborhoods Plan with the recommendation to explore additional park space for Romero Park west of Andersonville and south of Andersonville. Also to modify the Structure Plan map as given in the staff report to show the green corridor as shown on A19 (framework map). Member Schmidt asked for a friendly amendment to consider zoning possibilities, should they occur in the areas along the Vine realignment. Member Gavaldon accepted the amendment. Member Meyer seconded the motion. Member Craig asked that the language regarding parks be stronger and that it be added to the matrix as an action item. Member Gavaldon and Meyer accepted the amendment. Member Gavaldon commented that in serving as part of the committee on this item, he thought the staff and neighbors have done a very good job. He cautioned that this is a “bubble chart”, things can change. The main concern he has is the Vine realignment because we do not have the money. His concern is relying on capital improvement projects and as our track record looks, the previous three transportation projects have been defeated by the voters. He did not know if the voters are going to change their minds and approve this one and it is a risk that Vine Drive will even get on BOB. If not, we are looking outside some people’s lifetimes that this will ever get built. Neighbors need to recognize that this is not a sure thing and it is not even a sure thing with BOB unless you talk to your Council Members and really get them to weigh in on it. He thought that the Vine and Lemay alignment is very expensive and there are higher needs in the city at this time. Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 11 Chairperson Torgerson was also on the citizen board and he also thought that everyone involved did a good job, in particular he was pleased by the idea of the interface areas and design standards for industrial as it interacts with the surrounding neighborhoods. That is a great idea and encouraged staff to stay on top of that. He remains very opposed to the Lemay and Vine bypasses, he thought not only are they expensive, but they disrupt the grid pattern that the city as a whole has. If we continue to bypass neighborhoods, our city is going to be a loop of spaghetti 100 years from now. He thought that the neighborhood representatives on the citizen group spoke very strongly and said that they disagree and he respects that. He would be supporting the plan. Member Schmidt has a worry, as well as the Via Lopez neighbors do that doing that kind of bypass is going to increase truck traffic there. She is hoping that with things like shorter turn lanes or something like that, we can build in some elements that will discourage truck traffic on that kind of network and keep most of it where it is now. She thought that by the road design it could make it more inviting for trucks, so she would like at the time of the road design to have that looked at. The motion was approved 7- 0. Project: Museo De Las Tres Colonias (Romero House, 425 10th Street) – Project Development Plan Recommendation: Approval with Conditions Hearing Testimony, Written Comments and Other Evidence: Anne Aspen, City Planner gave the staff presentation. She stated that this property was located to the north of the Romero Park discussed in the last item. It is at the southwest corner of 10th and Romero Streets. Both the building and the site were designated as local historic landmarks in August of 2001. The city accepted the donation of the house from a private benefactor. This site is in Andersonville and was platted in 1903. In 2003 the project was approved by the Landmark Preservation Commission as a restoration project. The Poudre Landmark Foundation has been working for three years to transform the house and property to a house museum. Planner Aspen reviewed slides of the site. Ms. Aspen stated that the design objectives for this site are to take the building down from its current 1,500 s.f. configuration to its 864 s.f. configuration, which would be a four room adobe house, which was the way it would have appeared in the 1930’s which is the target time frame they are going for. The adobe will be restored including the mud plaster. The purpose of this project is to create a house museum which will allow Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 12 the public to understand the local Hispanic culture and history. They are hoping to have school children and other public members be able to come visit this site. The P & Z process is required because of the change of use from the house to the house museum. Ms. Aspen reported that there was a problem with the email transmission of the revised staff report so she was going to review the changes that were made. There were three changes; one is on page 5, at the time the Board received the initial staff report, a meeting had not been held yet to discuss the public improvements and who would be responsible for those and what they would be. Since then it has been clarified that the facilities department would pay for the design and construction of an attached 5-foot wide sidewalk with curb and gutter. The exact design would be determined in final plan review. This is still a condition of approval merely to acknowledge the complex public/private collaboration and to establish somewhere in writing what the arrangement would be. Two is site lighting; in the previous staff report it stated that there would be no site lighting, but that is not the case, there will be contact sensitive site lighting which will adhere to Section 3.2.4 Site Lighting of the Land Use Code. Those will be shown on the landscape plan. There is a condition of approval to make sure that happens. The third item is the hours of operation; since the writing of the initial report, the hours of operation have been established. They will be 6 to 10 hours per week, by appointment only during regular business hours, with occasional evening events no later than 10:00 p.m., very similar to the hours of operation of the Avery House. These limitations are spelled out in the existing lease with the city and will be reflected as well in the development agreement for this project. Ms. Aspen reviewed the conditions of approval as outlined in the final staff report. Ms. Aspen also referenced two memos that were attached to the staff report; one which summarizes the notes from the neighborhood meeting that was held on Monday night, November 30th and one summarizes the outcomes of a coordination meeting with city staff, the applicants and the owner. Betty Aragon, 140 2nd Street stated that she was a member of the Amigos Committee and she has been on that steering committee for three years. She stated that they are also part of the Poudre Landmark Foundation. Ms. Aragon stated that they have been working on this project for three years and it has been a lot of work and a lot of red tape. They have been very careful to make sure they are working in conjunction with the city in making sure that they meet all the requirements. She has personally canvassed the neighborhoods asking how people felt about this project and how they feel about this museum coming into the neighborhood. They have great support for this project. From what she hears from the community, is that this project is one that is long overdue. They will be recognizing the contributions of the early Hispanic pioneers. Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 13 There is nothing like this in Fort Collins and they have tremendous support from businesses, from the larger community that this is going to be a worthwhile project. She is very passionate about this project and has given her all to this. She thinks that it is important that we have the opportunity to educate the community at large about Hispanic culture. She thinks that it will be a great asset to the larger community, but she really believes that this will be something that the Hispanic community will be extremely proud of. This is not an ordinary museum and they are putting a lot of work into to it, to make sure that it has a very professional outcome, so it is not an ordinary house. She is on the committee for the oral histories and they have done about six of them already. The stories are amazing and they have pictures to go with it. They are excited for this to become a video and part of the museum and part of the community that will be able to view this. This will be very educational for everyone. She hoped that the Board would approve the project so they can move on. Katherine Woods, 315 South Sherwood Street stated that she has also been on the steering committee for the last three years. She stated that they are volunteers and did not know this was a step in the process. When she was writing the grant request for over $200,000 from the Colorado State Historical Fund, she did not know that she should put in money for Facilities to be helping them and should do something with Planning and Zoning. She thought that this was an amazing project and there are a lot of people that have it as a passion. Raising money has been pretty incredible. The number of businesses and public funding that have been interested in stepping up to the plate have been amazing. She thought there were more resources out there if they were to try and get a community facility in the park next store. She thought that there was money for that, but she also thought that since the city is so tied up with not having funds, that there may be a way, as a non-profit that they can help find and leverage more improvements for the neighborhood. It does not feel good putting the only sidewalk in an older house in the neighborhood. They have raised over $300,000 for this project. She wanted to thank the various city departments and staff for working closely with them and helping them understand the process. Ms. Woods stated that they would not be able to specifically answer questions about landscape because they have to go through the archeological reviews as they tear things off of the house. They don’t know at this point, which trees were there before and which weren’t. They will provide a set of guidelines for what they will look at for doing the landscaping and it has to also be approved by the State Historical Fund and what they archeologist tells them about it. PUBLIC INPUT None. Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 14 Member Gavaldon felt that this was a very hurry up and get it done project and he asked if this was a typical project like a private developer, or city project are we being consistent with the process in following all the steps before it comes to the Planning and Zoning Board. Planner Aspen replied that if this was a typical development project, we would have had a little more time to review it internally before bringing it to the Board. However, there are enough factors about this project that are not typical, especially the historic property part of it and the public and private collaboration; and the fact that it is not really a “development” it is more of an “un-development” taking this building back to the original adobe structure. The landscape, for example, is being taken back to the 1930’s state and context. This building defined the context for the neighborhood, and it was one of the buildings that was originally placed on this subdivision. In a sense, this building does not have a lot of the components of a typical development. The things that are outstanding are going to require a review as is typical during final plan review, but no obstacles are foreseen as far as city requirements. Member Gavaldon asked if an individual wanted to do a private development similar to this museum, would they be given the same expedited review that we are going through today. Director Gloss replied that if it was as straight forward as this application and we had the schedule available to bring the item before the Board, he would say that we could do it in the same time frame. Member Gavaldon asked if we setting any precedent that will come and bite us down the road for any development project. Planner Aspen replied no, in fact the meeting on public improvements focused on just that. We want to make sure that this project – there are a complicated set of issues around the public improvements, namely the sidewalk, curb and gutter. Staff made a difficult decision to go ahead and put the sidewalks in despite some misunderstandings about that from the neighborhood, precisely because we don’t want to set an improper precedent for other development or create an image that there is preferential treatment for a city project. This project will have its sidewalks and it will be publicly accessible. Member Gavaldon reported from the neighborhood meeting minutes that the museum would not be opening until 2006. Since that is almost a year away, could they still be doing things and still follow the normal process in getting all the details in that normally a project would have and still meet the 2006 opening time table. Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 15 Planner Aspen replied that her understanding was that they have been seeking their building permit so they are able to go ahead with the demolition of the additional parts of the building that post date the 1930’s time frame that they are going for, so they can begin to do the adobe plaster work, repair the adobe and repair and replace the adobe mud plaster and do it in a manner that they can control the weather conditions for when they expose that. Chris Cosilo, Construction Advisor to the Landmark Foundation stated that he was also the historic structure assessment on this property. If the Board would work from the opening date back, in terms of the abatement, which has already been done and paid for by the grant; the amount of the demolition work, the onsite archeological monitoring, the timing of the adobe work, the necessary interior work, and the museum work ends up being a fairly tight schedule as it is. Member Gavaldon asked what the city’s share of contribution to this project was. Planner Aspen replied that the city would be responsible for the design and construction of the sidewalk improvements. The city also accepted the donation of the city property, so they are the official owner of the property. Ms. Aspen replied a ball park figure would be about $20,000. Karen McWilliams, Historic Preservation Department reported to the Board that the Romero House project was brought before the Preservation Commission about three weeks ago. At that time the Commission looked at their plans and supported their interest in doing an attached sidewalk, as small and narrow as possible and as unobtrusive as possible. The idea being that indeed sidewalks are going to be needed for this type of project, where you are going to have the public coming to a public facility. At the same time, sidewalks were not a part of the historic property, so they are going to be a modern improvement and we don’t want to try and pretend that they were something that was historic and original to the site. At the same time we don’t want to make them massive large landscaped strips. They are just going for as minimal as possible that will still meet the needs of the public and the development process. Member Lingle asked Ms. McWilliams if she was comfortable with the compromises that were made. Ms. McWilliams replied she was. Member Craig asked Planner Aspen to clarify the site lighting, “context sensitive” site lighting. Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 16 Planner Aspen replied that the site lighting for this property, since there is not a parking lot on the site will consist primarily of building perimeter lighting, one foot candle per light to cover the area around the building. The applicant stated that they wanted to do that lighting as required in a manner that is very sensitive to the neighboring residential properties and the historic nature of the building. Member Craig thought that in the recommendation that it should state the “owner” instead of “applicant”. That would remind everyone that the city is the owner and it is the city’s obligation to put this in. Member Gavaldon moved for approval for the Museo de las Tres Colonias, home of John B. and Inez Romero, Romero House, 425 10th Street, #43-04 with the following conditions. The condition should read City of Fort Collins/Owner in the first bullet under conditions of approval, in addition, bullets two and three. Member Schmidt seconded the motion. Member Meyer commented that she realizes that volunteers worked on this. She still has a problem with it showing up and flying through. She asked when the city inherits a museum, there are costs involved, and nobody has mentioned who would maintain and manage the property. She thinks that the $20,000 is just the beginning. She thought that there will be expenses there that we don’t know about. Member Carpenter thanked the Poudre Landmark Foundation for all their hard work on this she thought that this was a really good project. Member Gavaldon would be supporting the project but has reservations. He thought that even historical and non-profit needs to follow the rules too. The motion was approved 7-0. Planning and Zoning Board Minutes December 2, 2004 Page 17 Project: Feather Ridge Reception Center – Project Development Plan, #20-04A Project Description: Request for a Small Scale Reception Center located at 4104 Ziegler Road. The proposal includes using the existing house as a reception center and the addition of a new 7,500s.f. new facility east of the existing house. The property is located east of Ziegler Road and north of the Hewlett-Packard and Agilent campus and southeast of the Woodland Park Estates subdivision. The property contains 15.46 acres and is zoned UE, Urban Estate. Hearing Testimony, Written Comments and Other Evidence: This project was appealed to City Council and a verbatim transcript is attached. Other Business: There was none. The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 p.m.