Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutFOSSIL CREEK OFFICE PARK, LOT 5 - PDP - 3-08 - REPORTS - MODIFICATION REQUEST0 of existing buildings". It would be more consistent with the established pattern of existing buildings along Cameron Drive for our buildings to be set back from the street with landscaped parking areas in the front. I think the consistency and aesthetics of this supporting of the public good, or at any rate, are not detrimental to same. 2. Uniaue Physical Conditions - The second requirement for this modification is based on the physical conditions unique to this property: a. The shape of the parcel is challenging and difficult in the respect that while the west and south boundaries are straight, the north-east boundary is an arch. Accordingly, when the previous building permit was pulled, it was based on a practical design permitting the two buildings to be oriented related to the south and west lot boundaries, not the curved street frontage. Pursuant to the building permit, the first foundation was constructed. This foundation has been inspected by our structural engineer and we are now preparing to build an office building using such foundation. Given the shape of the lot, the most efficient layout is for the buildings as described with the parking toward the street along the curbed street frontage and the buildings set back toward the south property line. b. The strict application of the Build -to Lines standard would result in unusual and exceptional practical difficulties, as well as exceptional and undue hardships upon the owner of the property, namely us, the applicant. Such difficulties and hardships are i) being required to demolish and remove a foundation previously built pursuant to a City of Fort Collins building permit, u) fill in the excavation, iii) reorient buildings and parking in a very undesirable way, given the unique configuration of the property, as described above and iv) the inequity of the foregoing - not just pulling a building permit previously, but actually constructing the foundation for the first building, all with City approval of our site plan and buildings, and now being required to abandon plan and demo foundation. Accordingly, we respectively request that a modification be granted to the Build -to Lines requirement of the Land Use Code. Sincerely, �� Jo routy President JPlsjw FADocumentsTossil CreekTot MSubmittalsU st Submittal\Shelby.Sommers.ModiScation App.020608.doc 2 2/62008 2:14 PM El February 6, 2008 Shelby Sommer City of Fort Collins Current Planning Department 281 North College Avenue Fort Collins, CO 80522 Re: Fossil Creek Office Park Lot 5 Project/Modification Application Dear Shelby: We are seeking a modification to the `Build -to Lines" requirement of the LUC, which provides that buildings be located no more than 15 ft. from the right-of-way of an adjoining street, if the street is smaller than a full arterial or has on -street parking. Our previously approved plan for this project (with permits pulled and foundation for one building constructed) does not meet the requirement. An exacerbating fact , in -addition to the topography and lot configuration problems, is the fact that a foundation already has been constructed pursuant to a building permit previously pulled, but now having expired. We believe that the requirements for a modification being granted, given the unique circumstances which exist, are met as follows: 1. Not Detrimental To The Public Good — The first requirement for granting a modification is that the proposed modification not be detrimental to the public good. Granting the modification to permit the two buildings to be located more than 15 feet from the Build -to Lines will not be detrimental to the public good. In this well established and virtually built out office park area, the vast majority of currently constructed buildings do not meet the Build -to Lines requirement and have parking lots, drives and/or landscaping between the buildings and the street. Accordingly, it will not be detrimental to the public good to have one additional building set back in a similar fashion to most of the existing buildings, including the several buildings immediately adjacent to the south of our proposed project. Furthermore, although it is not a specific basis relating to "not detrimental to the public good", it is of interest and perhaps relevant that in one place the "Build -to Lines" standards exception language refers to consideration of "an established pattern F:\Documents\F l C kV of SSubmittals\1st Submittal\Shelby.Sommers.Modification App.020608.doc 1 2/62008 2:15 PM 3� � M Parkway, Ste. 12E, Fort Collins, CO 80525 • (970) 226-5000 • Fax (970) 226-5125