HomeMy WebLinkAbout912 WOOD ST. (PATEROS CREEK) - MOD - MOD120004 - CORRESPONDENCE -ATTACHMENTS
SavethePoudre. org
Poudre FG'oferkeeper
January 30, 2012
To: City of Fort Collins
From: Save the Poudre: Poudre Waterkeeper
Re: Proposed Development at former Bender Mobile Home Park on Wood Street
Hello City of Fort Collins,
After further reviewing the issues surrounding the proposed development at the former Bender Mobile Home
Park at the north end of Wood Street along the Poudre River, Save the Poudre: Poudre Waterkeeper wishes to
express several serious concerns and make requests of the City for how our concerns could be addressed.
1. FLOODPLAIN: Save the Poudre has serious concerns about how the developer has already filled in 1.63 acres
of the Cache la Poudre River floodplain on the property. It appears that the developer may have knowingly and
purposely filled in the Poudre River floodplain using the County's less protective standards (FEMA: LOMR), with
full intent of then annexing the property into the City and thereby avoiding having to meet the City's higher level
of flood protection standards (FEMA: LOMR-F). Given the drawings of the proposed development submitted by
the developer, at least five of the lots would be built on fill that does not meet the City's current floodplain
protection standards.
Save the Poudre requests that the City require the developer to redo the excavation on the property so that it,
at a minimum, meets the City's current floodplain protection standards and fully complies with FEMA's "Letter
of Map Revision Based on Fill" (LOMR-F) process. Doing so will protect lives and property, as well as the natural
environment, in and surrounding the proposed development
2. LEVEE -TYPE CEMENT WALL CONSTRUCTION: We have serious concerns about the potential for the Cache la
Poudre River to erode the bank upstream of the property during a flood event and then wash over parts of the
proposed development thus endangering lives, property, and the environment. It is our understanding that in
high -flow events in the past several years (which have been well below an actual 100-year flood), upstream bank
erosion has occurred such that the developer is planning to build a cement wall (a levee -type structure) along
the northwest corner of property to protect homes in case the Poudre Riverjumps its banks.
Save the Poudre requests that a full hydrological and engineering analysis be completed that considers the
likelihood of the Poudre River eroding and jumping/rejuvenating its banks and washing over the property in a
flood event, as well as an engineering analysis of how this levee structure would need to be built to protect lives,
property, and the environment on the proposed development.
3. HOUSING DENSITY: Save the Poudre has serious concerns about the number of homes and the number of
people that the developer proposes to fit on the property. It is customary in zoning situations to make a
proposed development fit in with the neighborhood. In this case, the neighborhood is natural areas, the Poudre
River ecological corridor, the City's Utility building, and a very small number of large -lot homes at the end of