HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 11/14/2023 - Memorandum From Megan Keith And Sylvia Tatman-Burruss Re: East Mulberry Plan: Follow-Up The October 10 Work Session
Planning, Development & Transportation
281 N. College Ave
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
www.fcgov.com
MEMORANDUM
DATE: November 9, 2023
TO: Mayor and City Councilmembers
THRU: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Tyler Marr, Deputy City Manager
Caryn Champine, Director, Planning, Development & Transportation
Paul Sizemore, Director, Community Development & Neighborhood Services
Clay Frickey, Planning Manager, Community Development & Neighborhood
Services
FROM: Megan Keith, Senior Planner
Sylvia Tatman-Burruss, Senior Policy & Project Manager
RE: East Mulberry Plan: Follow-up from the October 10th Work Session
The purpose of this memorandum is intended to answer questions raised by Councilmembers at
the October 10th work session regarding the East Mulberry Plan.
Background
On October 10th, staff presented an overview of the East Mulberry Plan draft. Councilmembers
asked several questions regarding development review standards and their consistent
application, road maintenance standards for roads annexed into the City, and whether the City’s
broadband internet service, Connexion, has been fully built out in Fort Collins.
Development Review Standards
The Draft East Mulberry Plan includes guidance for staff and development review decision
makers to use flexibility and creative solutions when determining upgrade requirements for sites
undergoing partial redevelopment, such as changes of use (e.g. office to retail conversion) or
minor building and site additions. During these minor review processes, the City’s development
standards generally require site upgrades so older properties can achieve greater alignment
with modern development and engineering standards. Each review is contextual and unique to
a given site and involves balancing competing priorities for important health and safety
upgrades and the financial and operational impacts to existing businesses.
Guidance in the Draft East Mulberry Plan indicates staff and decision makers should utilize
Land Use Code Section 2.2.10(3) addressing the waiver or deferment of certain development
standards for sites proposing a change of use via a Minor Amendment review process. These
standards apply on a communitywide basis and are not a unique feature only to the East
Mulberry Plan Area if it is annexed in the future. The flexibility via potential waiver or deferment
of certain standards is also only eligible if:
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1. The site for which the waiver or waiver with conditions is granted satisfies the policies of
the applicable Council adopted subarea, corridor or neighborhood plan within which the
site is located;
2. The proposed use will function without significant adverse impact upon adjacent
properties and the district within which it is located in consideration of the waiver or
waiver with conditions;
3. Existing blight conditions on the site are addressed through site clean-up, maintenance,
screening, landscaping or some combination thereof; and
4. The site design addresses essential health and public safety concerns found on the site.
Standards directly related to health and safety are not eligible for waiver or deferment, however
standards that may be more aesthetic or with limited impact on adjacent properties such as
interior parking lot landscaping are recognized as areas where staff and decision makers can
consider potential options based on the scale of proposed site changes. Long term,
development goals on a community wide scale and for the East Mulberry Plan Area is that all
sites meet all City engineering and development standards.
Road Maintenance
The current Road Maintenance standard for roads that are brought into the Fort Collins
inventory is to maintain those roads at the same level at which Larimer County had been
maintaining them. This can mean that some roads are brought into the Fort Collins inventory
under “No Maintenance or “Safety Maintenance,” which means they must remain passable by
emergency vehicles. There are about 20 roadways within city limits that are currently under No
Maintenance or Safety Maintenance, about half of which are under an improvement district,
whereby businesses or homeowners along the street tax themselves to pay for road
maintenance.
There are currently just over 70 roads within city limits that receive Limited Maintenance, which
means limited crack and chip sealing and filling large potholes. None of these streets are up to
the Larimer County Urban Area Street Standards (LCUASS), which means they do not currently
qualify for full street maintenance. For these roads to qualify for full street maintenance, they
would need to be brought up to full standard, which depending on the street could mean a full
rebuild, including the installation of sidewalks and gutters. There is not currently dedicated
funding for this work. While roads under “No Maintenance” or “Limited Maintenance” are located
in several areas throughout Fort Collins, quite a few of them are located in the Southwest
Enclave area. Staff can provide a corresponding georeferenced map of roads within city limits
that receive “No Maintenance/Safety Maintenance” or “Limited Maintenance” if requested.
Under the proposed “Thresholds” approach to potential annexation, a full inventory of roads in
the area would be conducted when a Threshold is triggered. This inventory would include a full
cost analysis for maintenance and full re-build to meet LCUASS standards. This analysis, along
with an analysis of several other cost factors, including other governmental services and utilities
functions, would be presented to Council for consideration of annexation of the proposed
Threshold boundary. City Council could then decide to modify boundaries, service levels and
timelines as needed. While there is a pavement surface condition map in the draft East Mulberry
Plan, a full cost analysis would be conducted at the time a threshold is proposed to understand
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the full extent of the cost to maintain, upgrade or fully rebuild roads in the area proposed for
annexation.
Connexion (broadband) Infrastructure
With little exception, Connexion is available to all residents and businesses within the city limits,
as long as Connexion has property owner permission for those that live in multi-family dwelling
units (apartments, townhomes, etc.). The few exceptions include places that Connexion is
coordinating with Light and Power for electric undergrounding, and those areas are very close to
having Connexion complete.
Next Steps:
Staff plans to bring the final draft of the East Mulberry Plan forward for Council to
consider adoption on first reading on November 21st at a City Council regular meeting.
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