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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-109-09/20/1988-AMENDING COMPREHENSIVE PLAN LAND USE ELEMENT POLICIES PLAN RESOLUTION 88-109 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AMENDING THE LAND USE ELEMENT OF THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN WHEREAS, on the 14th day of August, 1979, the City Council approved and endorsed the Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan, known as the Land Use Policies Plan; and WHEREAS, the land use policies contained in said document represent the official public policy guidelines concerning land use matters and land use related decision-making by the City; and WHEREAS, the City has seen a significant increase in development proposals including neighborhood convenience shopping centers; and WHEREAS, the existing land use policies of the City provide no specific guidance for the use and location of neighborhood convenience shopping centers; and WHEREAS, such guidance is particularly important when the City must review proposals for convenience shopping centers adjacent to residential neighborhoods; and WHEREAS, the City Council and Planning and Zoning Board instructed City Staff to formulate land use and locational policies for neighborhood convenience shopping centers, it being the intention that such policies become an amendment to the Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan; and WHEREAS, the general public has had the opportunity to review and comment through various public hearings during the process; and WHEREAS, the Planning and Zoning Board reviewed and unanimously recommended approval of the locational and land use policies for neighborhood convenience shopping centers attached hereto as Exhibit A; and WHEREAS, the City Council finds that the adoption of the subject amendments is in the best interest of the City in protecting the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the City. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS that the amendment to the Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan, known as the Land Use Policies Plan, providing for land use and locational policies for neighborhood convenience shopping centers be, and hereby is approved and adopted. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Planning and Zoning Board shall within one year of the date hereof, audit the success of said policies for Convenience Shopping Centers. Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of City Council held this 20th day of September, A.D. 1988. Mayor TTEST: City Clerk Exhibit A 3 LOCATIONAL AND LAND USE POLICIES - NEIGHBORHOOD CONVENIENCE CENTERS A Neighborhood Convenience Center is defined as a shopping area designed to provide limited goods and services in a manner convenient to adjacent residen- tial areas. Such centers typically include, or may be "anchored" by a conve- nience store of 1,200 to 4,000 square feet; total retail floor area may range from 12,000 to 50,000 square feet. Neighborhood Convenience Centers may also be integrated into Neighborhood Service (supermarket based) Centers or larger Business Service developments. 3.1 General Policies - A Neighborhood Convenience Center shall include uses that are oriented toward meeting the consumer needs of adjacent residential areas. • While it is recognized that traffic on adjacent major streets is an important part of the market served by the convenience center, serving that market should not take precedence over providing service and convenience to area residents. Neighborhood Convenience Centers shall be compatible with, and sensitive to the immediate environment of the site and neighborhood. Design Guidelines shall be established to assure appropriate development of Neighborhood Convenience Centers. • A primary goal in planning for such centers is to provide a harmoni- ous relationship between land uses; to achieve the benefits of having goods and services convenient to a neighborhood while minimizing any negative aspects of introducing commercial uses into a predominantly residential area. The design guidelines established herein are for the purpose of meeting these objectives. - Neighborhood Convenience Centers shall be encouraged to explore and utilize methods of energy conservation in site and building design. • Energy conservation is an important community goal for all land uses. Environmental concerns, particularly hazards associated with underground fuel storage tanks, shall be addressed in the review of Neighborhood Convenience Centers. These concerns are especially critical when a Center is proposed in or near an environmentally sensitive area. • Protection of the environment is a continuing concern of the commu- nity. Problems with underground storage tanks are a special concern because of the potential for contamination to go undetected for some time. 3 2 Site Location Policies - Neighborhood Convenience Centers shall be encouraged to locate where existing services, and infrastructure are available (water, sewer, streets, police, fire, transit, etc.). • The physical location of new development has a significant impact on the total amount of resources (both environmental and economic) needed to accommodate urban growth. For this reason, the City has had a long standing policy to encourage growth in those areas where existing facilities and services are available. The Land Use Policies Plan states that "preferential consideration shall be given to urban development proposals which are contiguous to existing development" and that the "availability of existing services shall be used as a criteria in determining the location of higher intensity areas of the City." By encouraging development to occur contiguous to existing infrastructure, the City discourages "leap-frog" and "urban sprawl" types of development patterns. - Neighborhood Convenience Centers shall be encouraged to locate adjacent to, or made a functional part of Neighborhood Shopping Centers, Industrial Business Parks, Office - Business Service Centers, or higher density residential projects. • It is desirable to provide opportunities for combined urban work and shopping trips. Placing a number of "destination" type uses at a single location tends to reduce the number and length of automobile trips by users of these facilities. - Neighborhood Convenience Centers shall be encouraged to locate at the intersection of an arterial street and a neighborhood collector street, with primary access taken off the collector. • While the Neighborhood Convenience Center needs the exposure afforded by arterial frontage; the typically small size of the site make its need for high access difficult to accommodate at the intersection of two arterials. It is also frequently not desirable to introduce the level of traffic generated by a Neighborhood Convenience Center onto minor local streets, making an arterial/local intersection less acceptable than an arterial/collector intersection. Collector street access provides the "best" and most "convenient" access to the residents these centers are designed to serve. - Neighborhood Convenience Centers shall be encouraged to develop on sites with a minimum gross area of three (3) acres. • Although acceptable Neighborhood Convenience Centers have been developed on sites of less than three gross acres; it is generally more difficult to achieve adequate spacing of driveway cuts, building setbacks, landscape buffering, and a desirable mix of land uses on smaller sites. Neighborhood Convenience Centers shall be developed within easy walking distance of existing or planned residential areas. • A center intended for the convenience of a residential neighborhood should be located close enough to at least a portion of the area served to make pedestrian access an attractive alternative to driving. Neighborhood Convenience Centers shall be encouraged at appropriate loca- tions in the north and northeast portions of the city. ♦ The Land Use Policies Plan contains statements that designate the northeast area of the community as a "publicly desired direction" for growth to balance urban expansion to the south. Neighborhood Convenience Centers are discouraged from locating within .75 miles of an existing or approved Neighborhood Convenience Center or convenience store. ♦ It is generally not desirable from either an aesthetic or functional point of view to have a profusion of convenience centers providing duplicate service in residential neighborhoods. An over-concentration of these centers can have a negative effect on the character and livabil- ity of residential areas. 3.3 Land Use Policies Neighborhood Convenience Centers shall include only service, commercial, and office uses intended to serve the needs of the residents of the adjacent neighborhoods; although those uses may serve larger markets as well. Inclusion of these uses is subject to the provision of adequate buffering, sensitive architectural treatment, and mitigation of other significant impacts as outlined in the Design Guidelines described in Section 4 of this document. Principal uses allowed in a Neighborhood Convenience Center include: • Convenience retail and grocery sales; ♦ Equipment or entertainment rental establishments not including outdoor storage• • Gasoline sales; ♦ Standard or Fast Food Restaurants [without drive-up windows]; ♦ Liquor, wine and beer sales; ♦ Taverns; ♦ Multi-family dwellings; ♦ Professional offices; ♦ Personal service shops; ♦ Retail laundry and dry cleaning outlets; ♦ Limited indoor recreation uses; • Medical and dental clinics; ♦ Child-care centers; ♦ Small animal veterinary clinics; and; ♦ Other uses of similar character [as determined by the Planning and Zoning Board].