HomeMy WebLinkAboutCARRIAGE HOUSE APARTMENTS - PDP - PDP120035 - CORRESPONDENCE - CITIZEN COMMUNICATION (14)1314 Bennett Rd. •
On Nov 1, 2012, at 12:25 PM, Courtney Levingston <CLevingston(a)fcgov.com> wrote:
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Thank you for attending the neighborhood meeting on Monday night. Attached are the notes
from the neighborhood meeting regarding the Carriage House Apartments project. The attached
document is intended to be simply notes from the meeting and not intended to be "formal minutes" or
a transcript of the meeting. I have also attached the conceptual site plan for your reference when
reviewing the notes.
Sincerely,
Courtney Levingston, AICP, LEED AP ND
City Planner I Community Development & Neighborhood Services
City of Fort Collins
281 North College Avenue
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.416.2283
<Carriage House Apartments_neighborhood meeting notes_10.29.12.pdf><Concept Plan
v2.pdf>
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Courtney Levingston
From: Hal Cochrane <halcochrane@me.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2012 12:24 PM
To: Courtney Levingston
Cc: Chuck Bailey (charles.bailey1 @comcast.net); Andrew Bantham; Cindy Blach; 'Colleen
Hoffman'; Deb Applin; 'Doug Brobst'; 'Eric Sutherland'; 'Greg Douras'; 'Jennifer L. Taylor; 'Jim
Matlock'; Joel Rovnak; 'John Merritt'; 'Karla Cummings'; Kay Reed-Troudt; 'Lulu Tupper;
'Martin Shields'; Per Hogestad; 'Peter & Patti Kranske'; Rick Callan; Rick Zier; Sandra
Quackenbush; Sarah Hach; 'Steve Dim'; 'Steve Treanor; 'Tom Deliberto'; Valerie McIntyre;
Veda Hogestad; 'Wendy White'; Dave Taylor (dave@meetdave.com); Nick Haws
Subject: Re: Carriage House Apartments Neighborhood Meeting Notes
Courtney Levingston
Thanks for getting the notes out and for conducting the meeting in such a professional manner.
Rosanne and I have thought about the project and have a few points we wish to convey. We agree
with many of the points Joel Rovnak included in his letter to you dated November 9th, so we won't
just reiterate what he has so thoughtfully laid out. We would like to underscore two points however,
the height limit and parking. The first is simple. A two story limit is compatible with the surrounding
neighborhood; three stories is not. Second, the proposed project is located in a TOD overlay zone
and therefore is not required to abide by normal parking requirements. As I see it, a developer can
capitalize the benefits inherent in the TOD (fewer parking spots), while offloading the costs on
surrounding neighbors (congestion from on -street parking). I would hope that the planners
responsible for the TOD overlay zones recognize this. As things now stand, Carriage House is
located in the TOD zone thereby allowing the developer to provide fewer parking spots than the
number of cars renters will own. Those that don't have spots will simply park on Springfield and
possibly Bennett. This problem could be avoided if: 1) the City' Parking Plan is approved on Dec. 4th,
thereby,allowing Springfield residents to petition for the City to restrict on -street parking; and 2) the
Plan prohibits -residents inside a TOD zone from purchasing/acquiring a permit. This means that the
Springfield single family residents outside the TOD would be able to secure parking. Those inside
the TOD (that means Carriage House Apartments), would not. The reasoning behind this proposal is
simple. The intent of the TOD is to induce residents to use mass transit or some alternative means of
transportation. That is why Carriage House does not have to abide by the normal code (i.e., 1.75
spaces for a two bedroom, and 2 spaces for a three bedroom unit). The TOD is trying to make it
inconvenient to use a car. If the developer was building outside the TOD, he would be required to
provide about 80 spaces (30 more than he has currently allotted). It makes little sense for TOD to
squeeze the number of spaces, and then turn around a provide the renters with street parking
permits. Pretty counterproductive!!
We believe that either the City needs to arrive at a more rational/consistent approach to the TOD on -
street parking problem, or the developer should be required to provide an extra 30 parking spaces.
Which will it be? Neighbors adjacent to Carriage House should not be asked to implicitly subsidize
the developer (inconvenience, congestion, ...) so that he can skimp on on -site parking. The sooner
the developer is notified regarding which tack the City intends to take, the better!
Sincerely,
Hal and Rosanne Cochrane
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