HomeMy WebLinkAboutCARRIAGE HOUSE APARTMENTS - PDP - PDP120035 - CORRESPONDENCE - CITIZEN COMMUNICATION (22)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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from deposits, and noise from a trash truck on the back/bedroom side of the adjacent homes. Put it
between buildings 3 and 4 or 4 and 5.
Finally, the parking is inadequate. While the TOD "has no specific parking requirements", that does
not mean that no parking is necessary in the TOD. The TOD is a plan for future developmental
processes and is dependent on distant future public transportation plans. Right now, necessary
services like grocery stores are more than a mile away from the development site with only limited
bus routes for public transportation. It is unrealistic to believe that any less than 80% of the tenants
will have cars on site. The result of inadequate parking will be permanently parked -in streets. This is
already a problem on Springfield during the day, and. the outcome for Bennett School will be to
displace parking for parents dropping off and picking up children every day. Right now the whole
street fills with cars two times a day to accommodate the arrival and departure of the grade -school
children. When they arrive in the morning and find the street parked in, parents will be forced to
double-park to get their kids in to school, creating an absolutely unacceptable hazard to the children.
1. Limit height to two stories to be compatible with all of the adjacent properties to the north, south,
east, and west.
2. Provide 24-hour, in-house management.
3. Move the driveway to the center of the property.
4. Provide Additional landscape buffer, sound barrier, and fence to the south and west.
5. Move the trash away from the neighbors.
6. Provide sufficient on -site parking to at least meet the current code provisions applicable to similar
developments outside of the TOD.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Joel Rovnak
Joel Rovnak Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology College of Veterinary Medicine and
Biomedical Sciences Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523
On Nov 1, 2012, at 12:25 PM, Courtney Levingston 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,
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Courtney Levingston
From: Joel Rovnak <joelrovnak@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2012 4:10 PM
To: Courtney Levingston
Subject: Re: Carriage House Apartments Neighborhood Meeting Notes
Dear Ms. Levingston,
I would like to present my concerns regarding the conceptual plans for the Carriage House
Apartments.
The most important point for our neighborhood is a maximum height of two stories. The land use
code calls for transitions from single-family homes, and this conceptual plan places 3-story buildings
right next door to one story and two story single-family homes. It is not just the height that is
incompatible, it is the number of people; a successful transition does not place 150 people next door
to a retired couple or a family of three. A limit of two stories will limit a huge increase in the
population of our neighborhood. There are no three-story buildings nearby. There are no high -
density complexes nearby. The nearest are the western most dorms on campus, which cannot be
seen from the site. All the neighbors on Shields and Springfield and Bennett, north and south and
east and west, are one and two story homes and businesses.
When we met with Mr. Bailey last year,, he assured us that the building would be professionally
managed. At the neighborhood meeting I was surprised to learn that he intends to have no on -site
management. A 24-hour on -site management plan is by no means unheard of in student rental
complexes in Fort Collins. To do otherwise is to invite noise and disturbance complaints and to
obligate the neighbors to be the complainants for all incidents at the facility. This will generate an
adversarial relationship between the residents of the buildings and the neighbors. Many neighbors
fear such a position, especially our elderly neighbors. I actually believed that Mr. Bailey would
provide professional management and argued against changes in the Land Use Code, brought by
City Staff to Council, to require such plans. Now I see that the code does need to be changed to
require management plans for such developments, and certainly Mr. Bailey should provide such a
plan.
In the conceptual plan, the main entryway will the put headlights of every entering vehicle into the
backyards and rear windows of the first two houses on Bennett Road, especially when they turn
upward coming through the curb cut and gutter. Further, it puts all of the traffic for the facility, moving
cars and traffic noise, immediately adjacent to three neighbor's homes. The entryway also lies
between two curves on Springfield, making site lines for emerging traffic difficult and hazardous. The
entryway should be moved to the center, between buildings 2 and 3. This would send headlights out
across the open space and limit traffic near the homes to a dead end in the parking area.
Similarly, the conceptual plan shows very little landscape buffer between the facility and the
neighbors to the west and south. The proposed parking should be moved closer to the buildings in
order to provide a wider green space between the parking and the neighbors back yards. In addition
the plans should provide for an enhanced light and sound barrier.
The position of the trash receptacle is unacceptable. It should be placed within the confines of the
complex, close to the residents of the facility, not close to the neighbors. Specific issues: smell, noise