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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 03/06/2018 - RESOLUTION 2018-020 REMOVING THE CONDITION REGARDIAgenda Item 11 Item # 11 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY March 6, 2018 City Council STAFF Martina Wilkinson, Civil Engineer Joe Olson, City Traffic Engineer Brad Yatabe, Legal SUBJECT Resolution 2018-020 Removing the Condition Regarding Blockage of the Roadway Connection Contained in Resolution 2016-019 Regarding the Appeal of Capstone Cottages Project Development Plan, PDP 14004. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this item is to seek approval by Council of the removal of barriers in order to allow one-way southbound vehicular traffic via a connection built by Capstone Cottages apartment project. The connection is currently restricted to bikes/pedestrians unless further action is taken by Council. 42% of the households have provided input with 74% in support of opening the connection for vehicles. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Resolution. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION The Andersonville/San Cristo neighborhoods currently have vehicular access only from 9th Street/Lemay Avenue. The predominant travel patterns for the neighborhood is to/from the south, resulting in residents experiencing long delays in making left turns out of the neighborhood during peak periods, or during times impacted by trains. With the construction of the Capstone Cottages apartment complex immediately south of the neighborhood, staff worked with the developers to include a connection which would provide the neighborhood with an alternate exit to Lincoln Avenue. During the approval hearing, a resident provided public comment in opposition to the connection. The hearing officer approved the apartment complex without the connection. The project was subsequently appealed to Council (for reasons not related to the connection). During the appeal hearing, Councilmembers inquired about the connection and expressed interest in having it constructed. In upholding the project’s approval, Council added a stipulation that the connection be built by the Capstone development, but that it be secured with bollards to restrict vehicular movement unless and until further Council action stating otherwise occurs. The connection was built in 2017 and is currently restricted to bike and pedestrian usage. City staff has received a number of requests from the neighborhood to open the connection, with several residents expressing a sense of urgency in getting it open. Staff completed an outreach process to each household to determine the majority interest (see details below). Forty-two percent (42%) of households provided input, with 74% of them supporting the opening of the connection. A large majority is in favor of removing the bollards although this sentiment is not unanimous (17% are opposed to the opening). CITY FINANCIAL IMPACTS There is no financial impact to the City due to this decision. Agenda Item 11 Item # 11 Page 2 PUBLIC OUTREACH Beginning in late fall 2017, a targeted outreach effort was undertaken to determine the majority interests in the neighborhood. Mailers in both English and Spanish were sent to every household asking for input regarding the connection. Responses could be provided online, in the mail, or by phone. Flyers were placed in three locations in the neighborhood encouraging people to respond. A follow up mailer was sent to those households that had not yet responded. Ultimately, 42 households out of 99 provided input. Of the households that responded, 74% want the connection opened to southbound traffic exiting the neighborhood, 17% do not want the connection opened, and 10% have no strong opinion. Many written comments were also received, and are provided. (Attachment 3) While acknowledging that the input is not unanimous, a strong majority (more than 4 to 1) would like to see it opened. ATTACHMENTS 1. Mapping and Photos (PDF) 2. Postcard mailer (PDF) 3. Poll Results and Comments (PDF) Mapping and Photos 9th St / Lemay Ave Avenue Vine Dr Buckingham Lincoln Ave Andersonville / San Cristo Existing Access Points New Connection Looking north Looking south Capstone Apartments ATTACHMENT 1 City of Fort Collins PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 Neighborhood Feedback SURVEY 1. Password _______________________ 2. Are you familiar with the potential street connection? T Yes T No 3. Should the roadway connection open? TYes, open the connection TNo, do not open the connection TI neither support nor oppose the connection opening/no strong feelings. Comments: _____________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ Would you like to take this poll over the phone or online? Save your household password and call 970-221-6264 or email abierbower@fcgov.com. Fill it out online at: bit.ly/stconnection. PLEASE DETACH AND MAIL IN THIS HALF. ENCUESTA 1. Contraseña _________________________ 2. ¿Está familiarizado con el posible cambio de camino entre las calles? T Sí T No 3. ¿Debemos cambiar el camino peatonal para acceso vehicular? T Sí, cambie la conexión T No, no cambie la conexión T Ni apoyo ni me opongo al cambio del camino /no hay sentimientos fuertes. Comentarios: _____________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ¿Le gustaría completar esta encuesta por teléfono o en línea? Guarde la contraseña del hogar y llame a 970-221-6264 o por correo electrónico abierbower@fcgov.com. Llene el formulario en línea: bit.ly/stconnection. O FAVOR DE ENVIAR ESTA MITAD DE LA POSTAL POR CORREO. RESIDENTES DEL VECINDARIO, SE BUSCA SUS COMENTARIOS. ATTACHMENT 2 Annie Bierbower, Communications City of Fort Collins PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 SHOULD THE ROADWAY CONNECTION OPEN? A roadway connection has been completed from the corner of Buckingham Street and 10th Street to Duff Drive on the north side of Capstone Cottages. It is currently for bike and pedestrian use only. City Council needs neighborhood feedback on whether the neighborhood supports opening the connection for vehicular traffic. The one-way connector would run south and create an alternate exit and access to Lincoln Avenue and the traffic signal at Lemay/Lincoln. Please complete the short poll on the postage paid half of this postcard and mail it back. Household Password _______________________ ¿DEBEMOS CAMBIAR EL CAMINO PEATONAL PARA ACCESO VEHICULAR? Se ha completado una conexión entre calles de tránsito desde la esquina de la calle Buckingham y la calle 10a hasta Duff Drive en el lado norte de Capstone Cottages. Actualmente se utiliza para la movilidad de bicicletas y peatones solamente. El Consejo de la Ciudad necesita perspectivas de los residentes del vecindario para saber si la opinión favorece la apertura de un camino de tránsito motorizado. El conector de un sentido correría al sur y crearía una salida alterna y con acceso a la Avenida Lincoln (y la señal de tránsito en Lemay/Lincoln). Favor de completar la breve encuesta en la otra mitad de esta postal y enviárnosla por correo sin costo para Ud. Contraseña de su hogar ____________________________ City of Fort Collins PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 NEW CONNECTION CONEXIÓN NUEVA Page 1 of 4 Results of Neighborhood Poll for Street Connection Number of households: 99 A mailer in both English and Spanish was sent to each household. A follow up mailer was sent to each household that had not responded to the first mailer. Responses could be provided by mail, email, online, in person or phone. Ultimately, 42 out of 99 households provided input. Results: 1. Are you familiar with the potential street connection? ¿Está familiarizado con el posible cambio de camino entre las calles? 2. Should the roadway connection open? ¿Debemos cambiar el camino peatonal para acceso vehicular? 100% Yes 10% No Strong Feelings 17% No 74% Yes ATTACHMENT 3 Page 2 of 4 Additional Comments Provided It would be really nice to have a different way to leave the neighborhood especially during rush hours when it is so hard to turn left on Lemay. Also when there is a train and traffic is backed up to Lincoln it would be great to have a different way to get to the neighborhood. It would help tremendously to have that roadway connection open to vehicular traffic. It is extremely difficult to go south on Lemay from our neighborhood especially during traffic hours in the morning and evening. This would relief that problem for us! Please! :) AND Thank you for Asking. :) no comments WE NEED THE ALTERNATIVE EXIT FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD. CROSSING 9TH STREETS IS COMPLETELY UNSAFE FROM THE SAN CRISTO & ANDERSONVILLE NEIGHBORHOODS. PLEASE OPEN THE ROAD FOR EASY & SAFE TRAVEL FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD. THANKS YOU! Please provide more information about the planned new road and bridge. There is no need for it and it would unnecessarily create more traffic on this nice quiet street. Traffic is awful , with all the new housing and businesses, we need more traffic management in this area. I approve of this plan; as long as it is a one-way exit to get out of our neighborhood. EGRESS FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD WOULD BE MADE EASIER WITH THIS OPENING. THE SINGLE LANE ROAD NEXT TO IT COULD BE A PROBLEM, IF TRAFFIC FROM LEMAY TRIES REROUTING FOR A SHORT CUT. There needs to be some sort of digital speed sign, children at play or other cautionary street signs installed. Drivers who get frustrated with traffic will use the road and ignore safe driving in a residential neighborhood full of families. I'm not understanding why is a question now whether to open the road or not. This is a huge safety issue and the Andersonville/Via Lopez neighborhoods were told the outlet to the South would be open soon. We've been patiently waiting even as traffic issues continue to rise. We risk our lives every day, multiple times a day dodging out in front of cars who repeatedly will not stop to allow us a break to escape. PLEASE, open the roadway soon. Our safety is at a high risk level. We have elderly folks who cannot see the oncoming traffic and they are afraid to attempt to leave. I am concerned they won't submit the Survey. What more can we do to ensure the road will open? Please, please let us know what we can do to make this happen before we are further challenged by snow and ice. Thank you for your consideration! Page 3 of 4 With the horrible traffic on Lemay and Lincoln this would be one small way that you could at least get around if the traffic was backed up due to a train Concerned about additional through in neighbhorhood If this does not open what will the next plan be to help improve safety in the neighborhood. Open the connection one way only. My only opposition would be to not open it & put a traffic light at Buckingham/Lemay so we can get out/in to our neighborhood. As a resident, I'm concerned about additional traffic thru our streets with people that don't live in this neighborhood. Funding to tell people is definitely going to discourage people to use this highway. It is so terribly congested on Lemay Ave. At times it is nearly impossible to get out of our neighborhood (Andersonville) to go south on 9th/Lemay. It will bring a bit of relief opening this one way connection. Lived in neighborhood for 18 years. Can take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes to get out of the neighborhood. I have works and kids that need to get places. It is only getting worse. This would be amazing. Really needs to be opened sometimes I sit for five minutes trying to get out on to Lemay. We need something to help us get out more easily. We have told you many times that our popular park is only 1/2 blk from said intersection. Thru traffic puts our children at risk. W don't want a shortcut to Walmart. We want our neighborhood left safe and intact. We voted on this before. Quit making new elections & build the bypass at (illegible word) expense as planned 10 years ago! Are you kidding we can not even get out now! How will this affect the new Lemay future plan? Will 10th st cross over to allow access south? What does mitigation behind Via Lopez Look like 100 yards hopefully from the neighborhood back fence Grass Trees sidewalks? Our concern is noise and air pollution deteriorating neighborhoods quality of life? Will their be noise and air quality test? Overpass may create a larger homeless population increasing the amount of crime and illegal activity. Neighborhood needs mitigation minimum 100 yards What does lighting on that street look like? Need all current access in all directions. Will this eliminate any access North ,South, & West? City seems to want to Box in our 3 neighborhoods Bad idea ! Need to keep all directions open for emergency vehicles It puts us all and our children and Elderly at a safety risk for all our families. Slowing down ambulance and fire fighter response as well as Police Page 4 of 4 Only concern would be the amount of increased traffic an cars speeding through neighborhood. People tend to fly around the corner when entering from Lemay as it is. Could the be a speed limit sign installed to lower that risk? Open the connection ASAP! Not sure why our traffic issue hasn't been resolved or even looked at. We need speed bumps 1st intalled in the whole neighborhood cause once Lemay find out that we have opening a lot of traffic that my only "Fear" cause we a quiet neighborhood a lot of our kids in the neighborhood group together play football, ride bikes. I've lived here my whole life and never had a problem to get out of our neighborhood but now traffic is so bad to get our of our own neighborhood. Here in Andersonville it's sad maybe we nee light for all 3 blocks. It's sad people can be so rude not give us a change to get onto Lemay it's so much traffic. Creo que seria de gran utilidad para las personas de este vecindario. gracias, Fam. Perez English Translation: I believe this would be of great usefulness to the people of this neighborhood. Thank you, Perez Family We really need it. Can't get out of our street on 9th. Trying to get our on Lemay 9th st is very dangerous. Vehicles block the streets. People ignore the signs. It would create too much traffic for the houses around the street connection from Lemay. -1- RESOLUTION 2018-020 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS REMOVING THE CONDITION REGARDING BLOCKAGE OF THE ROADWAY CONNECTION CONTAINED IN RESOLUTION 2016-019 REGARDING THE APPEAL OF CAPSTONE COTTAGES PROJECT DEVELOPMENT PLAN, PDP140004 WHEREAS, on February 16, 2016, the City Council heard the appeal of the hearing officer’s decision in the Capstone Cottages Project Development Plan, PDP140004; and WHEREAS, the City Council upheld the hearing officer’s decision with the modification that the following condition (“Condition”) be imposed as adopted on March 1, 2016, in Resolution 2016-019: That based on the evidence in the record and presented at the Council Hearing, the Decision is hereby modified by eliminating the condition described as condition “c” in the Administrative Approval (which requires removal of the roadway connection between the PDP and the Andersonville neighborhood to the north of the PDP from the PDP, leaving a trail connection only), and by requiring bollards be installed as part of the construction of said roadway connection, not to be removed without further Council action. ; and WHEREAS, the roadway connection (“Connection”) that is the subject of the Condition was constructed in 2017 and runs from the corner of Buckingham Street and 10 th Street to Duff Drive on the north side of the Capstone Cottages development; and WHEREAS, the Connection is a public street, has been blocked to vehicular traffic pursuant to the Condition since construction, and would allow one-way traffic to travel south out of the Andersonville/San Cristo neighborhoods; and WHEREAS, after receiving requests to review opening the connection and conducting public outreach to the Andersonville/San Cristo neighborhoods, the neighborhoods that would be most directly affected by the opening of the Connection, City staff is recommending that vehicular traffic be allowed to utilize the Connection; and WHEREAS, on this date, the Council held a public hearing after providing notice to residents in the vicinity of the Connection at which staff and the public addressed the Council; and WHEREAS, based upon the testimony and evidence provided, the City Council finds that opening the Connection to vehicular traffic is in the best interests of the citizens of Fort Collins. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: -2- Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes and adopts the determinations and findings contained in the recitals set forth above. Section 2. That the Condition set forth in Resolution 2016-019 as noted above is hereby eliminated and the Connection shall be opened to vehicular traffic. Section 3. That removal of the Condition shall in no way prevent City staff from later exercising its discretion pursuant to its authorized powers to close, remove, or otherwise restrict or modify the Connection as future conditions and plans may warrant. Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the Council of the City of Fort Collins this 6th day of March, A.D. 2018. _________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _____________________________ City Clerk