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Home My WebLink AboutFRONT RANGE REZONING & STRUCTURE PLAN AMEND. - 3-00 - CITY COUNCIL PACKET - CORRESPONDENCE-HEARINGRaymond Alman Deliworks June 15, 2001 Page 4 We trust that this letter addresses your concerns. We are available to meet with you and other South College property/business owners to review this information with you. We are in the process of revising the draft plans for South College over the next month and hope to have a final draft available for public review by mid -summer. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns. I can be reached by telephone (970) 221-6608 or via e-mail at rphillips@fcgov.com. Thank you. Sincerely, Randy Hensley, Transportation g & Parking Manager Transportation Services Area cc: John Fischbach, City Manager W. Paul Eckman, Deputy City Attorney Rondall Phillips, Transportation Services Director Gary Diede, Transportation Operations Director Kathleen Reavis, Senior Transportation Planner Eric Bracke, Traffic Engineer Tess Jones, Access Manager, CDOT —Region 4 Roxann Hayes, Engineer, Larimer County Raymond Alman Deliworks June 15, 2001 Page 3 In some cases, access to a particular property may become less direct but in the balancing act between safety and convenience it is more responsible for the City, County, and CDOT to develop an access plan that offers reasonable safety for the traveling public. In all locations, alternative access has been shown in the proposal to serve properties along South College. The City, Larimer County, and CDOT have implemented the same access management techniques in many other locations throughout Fort Collins that we are proposing for South College Avenue/US 287. Enclosed for your review are aerial photos showing these techniques along other corridors that are similar to South College. As you can see from these photos, the techniques we are proposing are well -tested in terms of traffic circulation, safety, and property access. 4. Developer(s) and development that result in obligatory improvements to existing infrastructures be required to compensate for any mandatory costs of alterations. Current City, County, and CDOT policies already address requirements for new development. Developers who need to provide off -site improvements in order to mitigate the impacts of their development(s) need to work directly with impacted property owners to negotiate arrangements for improvements. It is also important to recognize that the state and municipalities can regulate, control and even limit access to public streets and highways within the confines of Colorado case law. See Department of Highways v. Interstate -Denver We 791 P.2d 1119 (Colo. 1990); Radinsky v. City and County of Denver, 410 P.2d 644 (Colo.1966); City of Boulder v. Kahn's, Inc., 543 P.2d 711 (Colo. 1976). 5. Economic impact study of any usage change that is proposed The scope of the South College Access Management Plan update project does not include a separate economic impact study. However, as you can see from the enclosed aerial photography, corridors operating with the access management techniques we are proposing for South College Avenue/US 287 are examples of thriving retail, commercial, and residential areas of our community. Based upon this community experience, we do not have any indication that the proposed plan update will be economically detrimental to existing or future land uses. Regarding concerns that have been raised about the current speed limit on South College and the potential for additional traffic signals, CDOT is analyzing these issues to determine if any changes are necessary based upon the state highway requirements. At this time, the City, County, and CDOT believe that 55 mph is a reasonable speed limit and additional traffic signals should not be added along South College/US 287 (other than the ones already identified in the access plan update). This determination is based on the regional nature of this highway. Staff will continue to investigate the options for these issues and will let you and the other property owners know if a change is warranted. Raymond Alman Deliworks June 15, 2001 Page 2 For example, staff is currently working with the owner of the Hickory House South property to provide a solution for realigning the intersection of Skyway and the frontage road in order to gain the 150' minimum spacing between the frontage road and South College Avenue. This will allow properties on the west side of College between Skyway and Saturn to access the existing traffic signal at Skyway in order to turn on and off of the highway. This modification to the existing frontage road would be triggered in the short-term when the vacant site to the south of Skyway redevelops. Without that site redevelopment, the existing frontage road would remain in its current location. This is the same situation for the frontage road along the east side of College. It would remain as it exists today unless development or redevelopment requires the installation of a raised median on South College. With the installation of the median at some point in the future, the City, County, & CDOT would work with the property owners on the east side of South College (south of Skyway) to develop alternative access to Skyway so that travelers could access the traffic signal. This would likely be the situation until future development occurs and/or other transportation improvements are made to the South College corridor such as we mentioned under the long-range plan scenario. 2. Frontage Road along College remain the means of conveyance to existing businesses. As stated above, the existing frontage roads would remain in place until the adjacent land develops/ redevelops or the safety conditions deteriorate to the extent that interim improvements are necessary. Even with future redevelopment, the frontage roads could remain in place as long as the intersection of the frontage road and the side street (such as Skyway, Saturn, etc.) is located a minimum of 150' away from South College/US287. With future long-range development, the frontage roads most likely will be replaced by internal drive aisles connecting parking areas of adjacent properties. However, both options work — we would either realign the frontage road intersections with the side streets or provide alternative cross -access between properties. The short-term plan shows the existing frontage roads remaining since it is based on the existing land uses and the long-range plan shows the future condition with shared, cross -access between properties. 3. Ingress and egress to businesses that are not indirect, confusing, or circuitous. Staff has developed both the short-term and long-range plans to show the most direct. access and circulation possible given the current and projected traffic conditions along South College/US 287. It is contrary to the safety goals of this project to provide all properties with direct access to/from the state highway. The purpose of the access plan update is to determine where we can locate access points to minimize potential safety conflicts. Transportation Services Administration City of Fort Collins June 22, 2001 Raymond Alman Deliworks 6001 South College Avenue Fort Collins, CO 80525 RE: SOUTH COLLEGE ACCESS PLAN UPDATE Dear Mr. Alman: We have received your recent requests for information for the South College Avenue/US 287 Access Management Plan update project. Staff from the City of Fort Collins, Larimer County, and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) are continuing to work on plan revisions and additional phases of this project which address your concerns. The following is a list of the specific issues you have raised along with staffs response: 1. Right of safe entry to both northbound and southbound lanes of College (287). Public safety is one of the main priorities for the update to the South College Access plan. The proposed long-range plan for South College is based on anticipated future development/redevelopment of this corridor over the next 20+ years. The key to providing safe access is the proposed cross -access between parcels and parallel roadways, with the side street intersections of these connections located at least 150' away from the intersections with the mainline of South College/US 287. This proposal provides for safe entry to both northbound and southbound traffic lanes, taking into consideration projected traffic volumes, turning movements, and speed, as well as sight -distance constraints and other future roadway conditions (for example, the widening of South College/US 287 from four lanes to six lanes). Staff has also developed the short-term plan for this corridor based on citizen input. Some of the factors that were considered include existing land -uses and the development of the vacant land on the west side of South College between Trilby Road and Skyway Drive. The short -tenet plan is being revised to show improved connectivity between properties and the beginning stages of developing the parallel roadways and cross -access between parcels. The goal of the short-term plan is to provide a framework for safety improvements given interim levels of redevelopment or traffic condition changes taking place with existing development. 210 F. (-)li\ r • P.O. Box ;80 • Fort Collins, CO 805221-0580 • (9710) 221-6608 • FAX (9; 0) 221-6239