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HomeMy WebLinkAboutASPEN HEIGHTS STUDENT HOUSING - PDP - PDP110018 - CORRESPONDENCE - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING (3)os5 v dog 1318 g¢ F)or50�/ 3'Z ):Mb lol Kf41Wjs m5Z 3 fs l C`,1Cw` S+ F•}-. C. 7 L A6-1 ice A) --7,9C- GO/4 /Orsee4 1967 61-f —5 11)E7 G h. /L7 i G. P NAm E A- top 2 FJ %r : T S IfE AX-o / i Y - z 1101 Pen 44- Ye v� -11GWW2.I) (otl b 31 1. ne- r' o.t C / ;ti jr In �o F bz I(" G4020 57" 9- 04 f}2fa � ST 613 "gcuaer'Dr �oSZ A:z 3556 ✓tMfJ5T f �OSZ iRgf n C-SLO-As cz �b`cSZ la2LVI-M f'yI 41r,-- 63roC v P.nv ea AIL,,e R, k 1 Io3 0,-1 III; Co gos Lf-"' r' vc a vb� I`' s�p- O -ti-Z 3 4 "iAGts 1v �l 3fi\ G-ASCIA O 5 0 �L. -A-JV3 , (a c,UPt.1 ?r(3 40� 'L I 133to 52 "_' c 1 oS I l ZS A, I aid t� v -.� �exs�e R� 3 o S ` E.0 SN \ � I u 4 S Z A. We will be required to comply with the City's recently adopted Green Building Code. We have not discussed becoming a member of Fort Zed. 66. Will the landscape plan be designed to use water efficiently? A. Yes, because of tiered water rates, the landscaping is being designed to conserve as much water as possible. 67. When will be notified of the next public meeting? A. You will be notified in writing just like you were for this meeting for the public hearing which has not been scheduled yet. 68. Is there any public subsidy for this project? A. No, we have not explored bringing in any public subsidy at this time. 12 A. Installing picket fences may end up looking unattractive as there will be connecting walkways from the dwellings out to the street. There may not be enough continuous length without a walkway intersection to make a fence practical. 59. What is positive about this project from the neighbor's perspective? A. We will be constructing a significant amount of new public streets that will help connect this general area to the overall City street network. We will be taking the first steps in the NECCO stormwater drainage system that will help with re -development efforts along North College Avenue. We will be adding significant value to the City's tax base. And, the construction phase will add jobs to the economy. 60. What about street lighting? A. All public streets will be equipped with public street lights per City standards for local, collector and arterial roadways. These lights will be installed by the City Light and Power Department based on our development fees. 61. I'm concerned about home values. Will this project have a negative impact on the value of our homes? A. I don't think so. I encourage you to take a look at the neighborhoods around our projects in other communities. Perhaps you can contact the County Assessor and check the value of the homes around our projects in College Station, TX; Baton Rouge, LA; Auburn, AL; and Athens, GA. 62. Can you go over the Burrowing Owl and Prairie Dog issue? A. Because of the existing Prairie Dog colony, we are required to conduct a survey for Burrowing Owls prior to construction. Also prior to construction, we are required to humanely eradicate the Prairie Dogs. 63. Do you continue to own your projects after construction and leasing? A. Yes, for example, we still own and operate one of our most recent projects in College Station, Texas. 64. What are the square footages of the various buildings? A. We have buildings that are 1,100, 1,600 and 2,000 square feet. 65. Will this project be sustainable and be a member of Fort Zed? 11 50. 1 am a member of the Associated Students of C.S.U. and I have personally never heard of any college students living in this area. This area does not seem to be attractive to students. A. Perhaps that is because there are no housing opportunities for students in this area. 51. Will you build a privacy fence around the project? A. No, we are primarily served on the perimeter by public streets and we will front our dwellings on these streets so there will not be a perimeter privacy fence. 52. Will there be public parking on the public collector streets? A. Yes, public parking is allowed on collector streets. 53. Will you build the whole project in a single phase? A. Yes, our goal is to have the entire project open for the fall semester in 2013. 54. Will you be seeking any funding from the U.R.A.? A. We have not contacted the U.R.A. 55. Are there any other projects in Fort Collins with this many bedrooms? A. Response from City Planner: Yes, Choice Center at South College and Prospect has 676 bedrooms; The Grove at Fort Collins located on Centre Avenue next to the Gardens of Spring Creek has 612 bedrooms and The District at Campus West has 674 bedrooms. 56. Will the security company be local? Will there staff live onsite? A. Yes, the firm will be local but they will not live onsite. 57. How much of the regional stormwater detention pond will you build? A. We will build only the portion that we need. Any disturbed areas will be reclaimed with vegetation approved by the City in order to control erosion and dust. 58. Will you consider picket fences in the front of the dwellings along the public collector streets in order to discourage parking on public streets? 10 44. 1 don't want re -aligned Vine to become a truck route. I don't want the noise and lights in our neighborhood. A. Response from Ward Stanford: Trucks will stay on the state highway system. It is unlikely that re -aligned Vine, with its roadway design and with no access to 1-25, would become an unofficial truck route. 45. Where does the money come from to build new Vine? A. Most of the funding and construction will be generated by developers that develop property adjoining the roadway. There will likely be some funding from the City's Street Oversizing Program that is funded by building permit fees to fill the gaps where there is no private land development. There is no City capital improvement project for re- aligned Vine. 46. What about Burrowing Owls? A. Response from Lindsay Ex: The City will be required that a survey for Burrowing Owls be conducted prior to construction. This survey will be submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for clearance. 47. Do you ever rent to non -students? A. Federal Fair Housing laws prohibit us from discriminating against anyone seeking housing. But, we focus our marketing towards students and, as a result, about 99% of our tenants are students. 48. What is the schedule for the North College Avenue improvements? I see work being done now. A. Response from City Planner: Yes, work is underway on the west side of North College near the tee intersection with Vine. This is Xcel Energy that is moving a gas line prior to the roadwork. Construction will accelerate over the next several months. Expect partial lane closures and delays but there will always be one lane open in each direction. 49. Would Aspen Heights be a catalyst to extend re -aligned Vine west to North College? A. No. Again, the City has not designated a specifically funded capital project for re -aligned Vine. Its extension is dependent upon private development. E 38. When the Blondel / Blue Spruce connection is made, is Old Town North eligible for traffic calming measures installed by the City? A. Response from Ward Stanford: Yes, any neighborhood is eligible for a variety of traffic calming measures based on established criteria. Our preliminary reading of the T.I.S. is that most traffic will use Conifer, Redwood and re -aligned Vine. 39. Is the developer's private shuttle a sure -thing? A. We have funds in our budget for a shuttle. 40. You say 712 bedrooms but can you say that maximum occupancy will really be 712 residents? What about students who double up on a single bedroom? A. Such doubling up would be a violation of the lease. 41. How can a petition in opposition fit into the process? A. Response from City Planner: A petition may be submitted to the Current Planning Department and we will forward it to the Hearing Officer as part of the packet for the public hearing. 42. Would the signatures on a petition have to be verified and the petition certified as would a petition to the City Clerk's Office as part of a citizen initiative process that would be forwarded to City Council for specific action? A. Response from City Planner: No, a petition to the Hearing Officer can simply be submitted. There is no verification of signatures and no certification by the City Clerk. 43. What is the relationship between the existing Redwood detention pond and the proposed City regional pond that would be partially constructed by Aspen Heights? A. The Redwood pond will remain in effect. Ultimately, the ponds will connect. The City's NECCO project is a regional stormwater system that covers a large area that basically includes most of the North College area. In the long range, this system will collect stormwater runoff in a variety of ponds both upstream and downstream of Aspen Heights. The ponds will be sized to handle the 100-year storm. Detained flows will be slowly released into a conveyance system that feeds the Poudre River. 8 32. Will opportunities for bike and pedestrian improvements be compromised as a result of this project? A. No, the bicycle facilities along Redwood will be shifted to the west to accommodate the wider street cross-section but will not be diminished. All public streets will have detached sidewalks, parkways, street trees and street lights. All sidewalks will include standard handicap ramps. 33. That is all very well indeed but there will be considerably more traffic added to the area. 34. Is this the first step in the process towards an inevitable approval? A. Response from City Planner: No, the project is in the City's "review" process, not the "approval" process. Approval can only be granted by Hearing Officer, not City Staff. And, any decision of the Hearing Officer, whether approval or denial, may be appealed to City Council. 35. In general, I'm concerned about a large concentration of students. There seems to be a pattern that such a concentration leads to undesirable behaviors. A. We are not interested in serving students who cause problems. Our lease gives us the ability to evict students who violate the rules. 36. 1 would like to see the code of conduct and know more about enforcement. A. We can follow up with you to discuss further. 37. 1 live in Old Town North and I am concerned about traffic in our neighborhood when the vacant property in Old Town North south of re- aligned Vine develops. This will lead to Blondel being extended north to connect to your extension of Blue Spruce. A. Yes, this public street connection is planned to allow the two neighborhoods to connect. Residents of Old Town North will be able to use Blondel / Blue Spruce to gain access to both re -aligned Vine and Conifer. Conversely, residents of Aspen Heights can drive south but not all the way to existing Vine as Blondel presently tee's into Pascal. This tee intersection causes the route to existing Vine to be indirect versus using Redwood which is direct. There could be more traffic at first until traffic patterns are established using direct routes versus indirect routes through Old Town North. 7 27. 1 represent the Raptor Center which owns property downstream. Can you tell me about the proposed stormwater detention design? How much of the City's regional pond will you build? A. We plan on building the pond large enough to accommodate our obligation to detain for the 100-year storm based on the amount of our impervious surface. This would mean we would build about one-third of the regional pond. 28. The Raptor Center owns land that is presently encumbered by the 100- year floodplain for Dry Creek per the F.E.M.A. maps. This floodplain is very small and is calculated to be approximately 20 to 30 cubic feet per second. Is there a possibility of enlarging your pond to accommodate this additional c.f.s.? This would be of great benefit to the Raptor Center at a relatively low cost to your project. A. Adding 20 -30 c.f.s. to our stormwater obligation is not within the scope of our project. We are, however, willing to discuss a solution that benefits both parties. 29. How do you plan to keep our neighborhood safe for our children? Adding 700 college students to our neighborhood will add noise and traffic. Traffic on Redwood will be a mess. Who can we call if there is a situation that gets out of control? A. We will be making a significant investment to improve this property and we will have an incentive to maintain this investment as we own and manage our properties. Our Transportation Impact Study indicates that the number of trips generated by our student population will be distributed such that most traffic will take Conifer to North College. As mentioned, Redwood is a' collector street and is designed to accommodate traffic levels over and above the present condition. We will be happy to provide the phone number of our management agency in case there are problems. 30. Will the dwellings be placed on individually platted lots? A. No. 31. I'm concerned about the funding of Transfort. I'm hearing that its funding from the C.S.U. students is being reduced. A. Funding from C.S.U. for Transfort is not being reduced. In fact, it is increasing. Negotiations are currently taking place and the C.S.U. contribution is being increased. 0 A. Redwood is classified as a collector street not a local street. It is designed to handle the traffic from north of Conifer. 21. How far east does the C-C-N zoning go? A. It goes as far as Redwood. East of Redwood, the zoning is Low Density Mixed -Use Neighborhood, L-M-N. 22. Since east of Redwood the zoning is residential, shouldn't Redwood be downgraded to a local street? A. Response from Ward Stanford, City Traffic Engineer — Redwood is specifically designated on the Master Street Plan as a collector because of its location and ability to serve an area larger rather than a single neighborhood. Zoning, per se, does not determine the roadway classification of a street. 23. Why is this parcel considered desirable for student housing? A. We have been interested in Fort Collins for several years. This parcel is the right size and close enough to C.S.U. to still be attractive to students. 24. You have a lot of tenants that need to get to campus. Is it feasible to expect that all will drive? Is there Transfort service on Conifer? A. Yes, there is Transfort service on Conifer but it serves our site on an hourly basis only. This may prove unacceptable to our tenants. Therefore, we are prepared to offer a shuttle service that runs more frequently between our site and C.S.U. 25. As a result of the increased traffic, does the City expect any other changes to the streets in the general area? A. Response from Ward Stanford — Other than extending Redwood and building their segment of re -aligned Vine, the City does not expect any changes to any other existing streets. Keep in mind that student traffic is not as concentrated as normal commuter traffic as trips to campus are typically scattered throughout the day and early evening. 26. Will there be enough bike parking? A. We plan on providing on rack per unit. This would have a capacity of approximately 260 bike stalls. 5 15. Will the new re -aligned Vine be the truck bypass? A. No, it is being designed as a four lane arterial street. It is not being designed by CDOT for a truck bypass. It will not intersect with 1 -25 but will curve north to tie into Mountain Vista Drive. This is a City of Fort Collins project, not a CDOT project. You may recall that the actual truck bypass project was denied. 16. I'm concerned about traffic. Adding 700 cars to Conifer and Redwood is excessive and will disrupt the neighborhood. Traffic issues are a big deal. A. Yes, and we will be required to submit a Transportation Impact Study to the City for review and comment. Our preliminary analysis is that most traffic will exit the project to Conifer where it will then proceed to North College. This is the most direct route to either campus or grocery shopping. 17. Will this project build new Vine all the way to North College? A. No, we are responsible only for our frontage. This means that we will build along frontage between Redwood and Blue Spruce and not extend any further west. Extension to the west will be the obligation of future developers. 18. I'm concerned about rowdy student behavior and the impact on our neighborhood. There was a party last summer at Ram's Pointe on West Elizabeth that was advertised by social media and was out of control resulting in injuries and property damage. What controls would you have in place to prevent this kind of unacceptable behavior? A. This is a good question. We have a code of conduct for all our tenants. And we have our security staff that will patrol the project during the evenings from Thursday through Sunday. Any tenants that violate the lease terms will be evicted. 19. Are there any plans to connect over to Jerome on the west? A. No, our project is not required to connect to Jerome as we do not adjoin the future extension of Jerome. Such a connection will have to be made when the vacant property that includes the extension will develop. 20. I'm concerned about traffic from the north of Conifer using Redwood to gain access to downtown via Redwood / Linden. Are there any plans to deter this traffic from intruding upon our neighborhood? 4 9. What is the gross density per acre? A. The gross density would be 7.13 dwelling units per acre. 10. How does this compare with Old Town North? A. Old Town North is not fully completed yet. Future phases include a multi -family component which would bring its gross density up to around 7.00 to 7.5 dwelling units per acre. 11. What about all the prairie dogs on the property? I'm concerned about any displacement that would impact our neighborhood. A. The prairie dogs will have to be safely and humanely eradicated. 12 What about the floodplain? Any issues with Dry Creek? A. There are no floodplain issues with our site but off -site, at the southeast corner, where Redwood would be extended to the south, there is a small amount of floodplain. We think there may be a discrepancy between the City maps and the F.E.M.A. maps and we plan on resolving the issue through the City of Fort Collins Stormwater Utility and F.E.M.A. 12. Will the site need any additional fill? A. Yes, we plan on using the fill gained by excavating the stormwater detention pond. This will allow us to grade the site in such a way as to establish positive drainage into the stormwater conveyance system. The fill material will be used selectively in portions of the site. The entire site does not need to be raised. In fact, some portions of the site may be lowered. 13. Regarding the re -alignment of Vine Drive, how critical is it to this project? A. Our development is not dependent on Vine Drive. But, since our property adjoins Vine, we are responsible for our share of the street frontage. 14. How does Redwood connect Linden? A. We will extend Redwood to where it presently terminates thereby connecting Redwood to Linden. This will allow for a north — south connection from Conifer to downtown. 9 A. The City of Fort Collins has been thinking about re -aligning Vine Drive for about ten years in order to relieve the congestion problems of the existing Vine / Lemay intersection. This intersection is constrained by the two adjacent neighborhoods, driveways and the railroad crossing that serves the switching yard. Due to these constraints, it is extremely difficult to widen and improve this intersection in its present location. The planning for this re -alignment has been reviewed by the City's Transportation Board and is shown on the City's Master Street Plan which has been approved by City's Planning and Zoning Board and City Council. 3. Will you need any variances? I'm particularly concerned about the units that would have more than three unrelated persons per unit. A. The City's Land Use Code allows for more than three unrelated persons per unit by the use of the Extra Occupancy Rental House which is allowed in the C-C-N, Community Commercial North College zone district. 4. Would any other variance be needed? A. Yes, we plan on seeking a Modification of Standard to allow our multi- family buildings to be setback from re -aligned Vine Drive a distance less than 30 feet. Since re -aligned Vine is classified as an arterial street, buildings would normally have to be setback 30 feet from property line. Instead of 30 feet, we are asking to be setback less than 30 feet. 5. What will you charge for rent? A. We have not made a final decision on our lease rates. 6. Will the buildings along Redwood face the street? A. Yes, all of our buildings along public streets will face the streets, including Blue Spruce and Lupine. 7. What about parking? Will there be enough? A. Yes, we plan on providing 1.1 parking spaces per bedroom, all of which will be off-street. 8. How many total bedrooms? A. We are proposing a total 712 bedrooms. 7 NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING SUMMARY PROJECT: Aspen Heights Apartments DATE: January 10, 20)dt2 APPLICANT: Charlie Vatterot, Breckendridge Land Acquisitions, LP CONSULTANTS: Deanne Frederickson, The Frederickson Group Larry Owen, Owen Consulting Group CITY PLANNERS: Ted Shepard, Chief Planner, City of Fort Collins Lindsay Ex, Environmental Planner The meeting began with a description of the proposed project. As proposed, the project consists of 221 dwellings on 31 acres located south of Conifer Street, west of Redwood Street and north of Old Town North subdivision. The dwellings, and the number of bedrooms, would be divided in the following manner: 81 Single Family Detached Dwellings — Extra Occupancy Rental Houses (4-6 bedrooms); 62 Two Family Dwellings (duplexes) (2-3 bedrooms); 78 Multi -Family Dwellings (row -houses) (2-3 bedrooms). There would be a total of 712 bedrooms each of which would be leased individually. All dwellings would be two-story. There would be 786 off-street parking spaces. Blue Spruce Drive and Lupine Drive are two public streets that would be extended to serve the site. The project includes a clubhouse, pool, outdoor sport court and leasing office. Unless otherwise noted, all comments are from the applicant or the consultants. QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, COMMENTS 1. Will the new, re -aligned Vine Drive be constructed with this project? A. Only a segment of re -aligned Vine Drive will be constructed. This will be the segment between Redwood Drive on the east and Blue Spruce on the west as this is the only portion that adjoins the project boundary. 2. When was the new, re -aligned Vine Drive approved? I don't recall hearing about this?