The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutMASON STREET NORTH - MAJOR AMENDMENT - 4-97B - CORRESPONDENCE - VARIANCE REQUEST (6)November 13, 2001 Project No: 1558-02-01 Re: Variance Requests Mason Street North; Fort Collins, Colorado Previously Lot 12 and Tract A, Martinez P.U.D. be slower vehicular speeds. This will affect design dimensions: In this case, decreasing driveway widths. • These variances will advance the public purpose by providing public access between Lee Martinez Park, the Public Bus Stop along Cherry Street, and the downtown area. • See Justification — Element 2, General Justification — Element 2, General • Being outside of the City of Fort Collins's regular grid, Mason Court and the entire Mason Street North site, have an irregular configuration. Its shape accommodates various easements: railroad, utilities, and pedestrian access. • The project configuration furthers the concept of providing a pedestrian friendly, street oriented environment. Great 'effort has been expended incorporating these many considerations. • Decreasing the width of the driveways reduces automobile speed, making the plaza/ parking lots safer, more pedestrian friendly, and encourages foot traffic. This design supports the city's sub area plan stressing that development should make areas pedestrian friendly. • These variances will not be detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare. • These variances will not cause additional maintenance cost to the City of Fort Collins. We trust that this request will be accepted and the plans approved accordingly. Please call me at (710) 226-5334 if you have any questions. Sincerely, o Michael Rohlfs Shear Engineering Corporation cc: Jim Leach; Wonderland Hill Development Company Mickey Willis Korkut Onaran; Wolff- Lyon Architects Steve Olt; City of Fort Collins Planning Page 6 November 13, 2001 Project No: 1558-02-01 Re: Variance Requests Mason Street North; Fort Collins, Colorado Previously Lot 12 and Tract A, Martinez P.U.D. Comparison With Standard • The variance requested decreases both driveways from 24 feet to 18 feet in width. • No additional capital and maintenance requirements, or costs would be assumed directly to the City of Ft..Collins due to the approval of this variance. Justification • This width was included in the Martinez P.U.D previously submitted, reviewed and approved by the City of Fort Collins. • Mason Court provides no through access. Rather it provides access to a private drive into a residential community. This residential traffic further reinforces the residential classification off of Mason Court. • See Justification — Element 2, General Issue 3 - Parking Lot North of Cherry Street Standards contained in LCUASS to be waived are: • Section 9.3.2.13, "Layout Criteria — Low.Volume Driveways" • Appendix A, Drawing 7-29A, "Standard Driveway Approach (Types I & II)" • Appendix A, Drawing 7-29B, "Std. Drive App. (High Volume Drive, Type III & IV)" • For commercial classifications, a driveway shall be a minimum of 24 feet wide, as per the table presented on Drawing 7-2913, "Driveway Widths." Proposed Alternate Design • The proposed design presents this driveway as being 19 feet wide, as measured from flowline to flowline. Comparison With Standard • The variance requested decreases this driveway from 24 feet to 19 feet in width. • No additional capital and maintenance requirements, or costs would be assumed directly to the City of Ft. Collins due to the approval of this variance. Justification • Funding has been agreed to by the "Downtown Development Authority of Fort Collins" to provide upgrades in surfacing materials. These materials include brick and colored concrete pavers to make for a more pedestrian friendly environment. The parking lot is being treated as a "plaza." A spin-off of these upgraded materials will Page 5 November 13, 2001 Project No: 1558-02-01 Re: Variance Requests Mason Street North; Fort Collins, Colorado Previously Lot 12 and Tract A, Martinez P.U.D. • For commercial classifications, a driveway shall be a minimum of 24 feet wide, as per the table presented on Drawing 7-29B, "Driveway Widths." Proposed Alternate Design • The proposed design presents the driveway as being 18 feet wide as measured from flowline to flowline. Comparison With Standard The variance requested decreases the driveway from 24 feet to 18 feet in width. • No additional capital and maintenance requirements, or costs would be assumed directly to the City of Ft. Collins due to the approval of this variance. Justification • This driveway serves a parking lot with four spaces, which will be "reserved" spaces. Traffic will be minimal. Traffic volume is expected to be comparable in volume to that classified for single family. For a single-family classification driveway, a minimum width of 12 feet is required. By providing 18 feet, this driveway width more than meets the minimum required width for single family classification. • Mason Court provides no through access. Rather it provides access into a private drive to a residential community. This residential traffic further reinforces the residential classification off of Mason Court. • See Justification --Element 2, General Issue 2 - Parking Lot Between Buildings B and C Standards contained in LCUASS to be waived are: • Section 9.3.2.B, "Layout Criteria — Low Volume Driveways" • Appendix A, Drawing 7-29A, "Standard Driveway Approach (Types I & II)" • Appendix A, Drawing 7-29B, "Std. Drive App. (High Volume Drive, Type III & IV)" • As per Drawing 7-29B, and per the Table "Driveway Widths", for commercial classifications a driveway shall be a minimum of 24 feet wide. Proposed Alternate Design • The proposed design present the driveway as being 18 feet wide as measured from flowline to flowline. Page 4 November 13, 2001 Project No: 1558-02=01 Re: Variance Requests Mason Street North; Fort Collins, Colorado Previously Lot 12 and Tract A, Martinez P.U.D. Justification • The "Downtown Development Authority of Fort Collins" has agreed to fund upgraded surfacing materials. These materials include brick and colored concrete pavers to make for a more pedestrian friendly environment. The parking lot is being treated as a "plaza." A spin-off of including these upgraded materials will be slower vehicular speeds. This directly affects design dimensions: In this case, decreasing off street parking distances. A decrease in this dimension to 33 feet is reasonable. • A visible barrier is incorporated into the design, by including two rows of trees between Cherry Street and the parking lot. This effectively reduces undesirable views of parked vehicles. • This variance will advance the public purpose by providing public access between Lee Martinez Park, the Public Bus' Stop along Cherry Street, and the downtown area. Additionally, decreasing setback distances encourages foot traffic. • See Justification — Element 1, General Justification —Element 1, General • Being outside of the City of Fort Collins's.:regular grid, Mason Court and the entire Mason Street North site, have an irregular configuration. Its shape accommodates various easements: railroad, utilities, and pedestrian access. • The project configuration furthers the concept of providing a pedestrian friendly, street oriented environment. The city's sub area plan stresses that development should make areas pedestrian friendly. Great effort has been expended incorporating these many considerations. • These variances will not be detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare. • These variances will not cause additional maintenance cost to the City of Fort Collins. ELEMENT 2 — DRIVEWAY WIDTHS Issue 1 - Parking Lot North of Building A Standards contained in LCUASS to be waived are: • Section 9.3.2.13, "Layout Criteria — Low Volume Driveways" • Appendix A, Drawing 7-29A, "Standard Driveway Approach (Types I & 11)" • Appendix A, Drawing 7-29B, "Std. Drive App. (High Volume Drive, Type III & IV)" Page 3 November 13, 2001 Project No: 1558-02-01 Re: Variance Requests Mason Street North; Fort Collins, Colorado Previously Lot 12 and Tract A, Martinez P.U.D. Comparison With Standard • The variance requested decreases the off street parking distance from 20 feet to 18 feet as measured from the flowline on Mason Court to the nearest parking lot stall. • No additional capital and maintenance requirements, or costs would be assumed directly to the City of Fort Collins due to the approval of this variance. Justification • Applying LCUASS off street parking requirements to a cul-de-sac, as presented in this design, is open to interpretation. No clear requirements are provided within Appendix A, Chapter 19 of the LCUASS for the specific case presented by this project. Interpretation of Drawing 19-03 is not clear in how it applies to a cul-de-sac, especially for a cul-de-sac providing direct access to a Private Drive. Applying these requirements, we believe, is not appropriate for this proposed design. • These setbacks were included in the Martinez P.U.D previously submitted, reviewed and approved by the City of Fort Collins. • See Justification — Element 1, General Issue 2 - Parking Lot North of Cherry Street Standards contained in LCUASS to be waived are: • Section 19.3.1, "Oft -Street Parking Requirements — Minimum Distance" • Appendix A, Drawing 19-03, "Minimum Off Street Parking Setback Distance" • As per Drawing 19-03, a setback distance of 50 feet shall be provided when; a parking lot has traffic volume less than 100 (ADT); has a street classification (Cherry Street) of "arterial," with an ADT less than 100. Proposed Alternate Design • The proposed design presents a setback of 33 feet as measured from the flowline of Mason Court to the nearest parking stall. Comparison With Standard • The variance requested decreases the off street parking distance from 50 feet to 33 feet as measured from the flowline on Cherry Street to the nearest parking lot stall. • No additional capital and maintenance requirements, or costs would be assumed directly to the City of Fort Collins due to the approval of this variance. Page 2 November 13, 2001 Project No: 1558-02-01 City of Fort Collins Engineering Department P.O. Box 580 Ft. Collins, Colorado 80524 Attn: Katie Moore Re: Variance Requests Mason Street North; Fort Collins, Colorado Previously Lot 12 and Tract A, Martinez P.U.D. Dear Ms. Moore: SHEAR ENGINEERING CORPORATION This document requests variances as proposed in the Final Utility Plans For Mason Street North, A Replat of Lot 12 and Tract A, Martinez, R U.D., prepared by Shear Engineering Corp., November 2001. The project is located south of Lee Martinez Park, and at the northwest corner of Cherry Street and Mason Court. Immediately to the west of the site is a residential community. Guidance for requesting these variances was taken from Larimer County Urban Area Street Standards (LCUASS), Section 1.9.2.A.2, January 2, 2001. Approval of variances for two elements is sought. These are: 1. Parking Setbacks (Two issues) 2. Driveway Widths (Three issues) ELEMENT 1— PARKING SETBACKS Issue 1 - Parking Lot Between Buildings B and C Standards contained in LCUASS to be waived are: • Section 19.3.1, "Off -Street Parking Requirements — Minimum Distance" • Appendix A, Drawing 19-03, "Minimum Off Street Parking Setback Distance" • As per Drawing 19-03, a setback distance of 20 feet shall be provided when; a parking lot has traffic volume less than 100 (ADT); has a street classification (Mason Court) of "local," with an ADT less than 100. Proposed Alternate Design • The proposed design presents a setback of 18 feet as measured from the flowline of Mason Court to the nearest parking stall. 4836 S. College, Suite 12 Ft. Collins, CO 80525 (970) 226-5334 Fax (970) 282-0311 www.shearengineering.com