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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTHE GROVE AT FORT COLLINS - PDP - 16-10B - CORRESPONDENCE - CORRESPONDENCE-HEARING (23)compliant resident will be reprimanded and fined. In addition, the maintenance staff routinely patrols the property and picks up any noticeable waste. If there happens to be a barking dog, the lease agreement allows the Grove management to enter the apartment to resolve the situation. All pets are required to be on a leash and under the control of their owners at all times when walking around the grounds of the Grove property, therefore, we do not see an issue with regard to pets affecting the wildlife corridor. [Campus Crest] Historically the land along the Larimer Canal No. 2 has been used by neighborhood residents for passive recreation. There is no plan to stop passive use of the area by students or the larger neighborhood. [Linda Ripley] 9. How is security going to be maintained in and around the Grove? Does the Grove have a security force on hand? Does it have other staff on hand trained to deal with criminal activity? What is the Grove's policy on guns in the project? The Grove General Manager, Leasing Manager and Community Advisors will live in designated apartments throughout the Grove property. These individuals are trained on how to respond to various situations that may arise within the property. If any criminal activity is discovered, the staff will call the Fort Collins police department. No guns or any other type of weapon are allowed within the Grove. [Campus Crest] 0 6. Please explain how your policy complies with fair housing regulations, as students are not a federally protected class. The lease agreements for all Grove properties are FHA compliant and carry the FHA logo. [Campus Crest] 7. We understand you intend to market to students. At what point during the leasing process will you market and lease to non -students? In accordance with FHA requirements, the Grove community will be available to all potential customers. However, the Grove, with its related amenities and lifestyle programs, is designed to fit the needs of today's college students. [Campus Crest] 8. Regarding pets: a. How many pets will be allowed in the Grove project? One per lease/bedroom? b. How will the project deal with animal waste? c. How will the project deal with animal noise? d. How will the project protect the wildlife corridor along the Larimer Canal #2 from predatory pets? The Grove community will allow pets, however, having a pet in an apartment is a privilege, not a right. All pets must: 1. be of appropriate size (50 Ibs or less); 2. not be an aggressive breed (ie, pit bull terrier, or similar); 3. meet General Manager's approval (Landlord has discretion over any animal) Any student that would like to have a pet in their apartment must pay: i) a $250 non-refundable pet fee, and ii) an additional $30/month pet rent. This additional charge tends to reduce the number of pets on a typical property. In fact, a recent audit of the Grove at Greeley (dated May 1, 2011) showed that, of the 504 beds, there were only 30 pets. All pets were registered with the General Manager's office. With regard to animal waste, waste stations will be conveniently located throughout the property. All student residents are informed that it is their responsibility to properly dispose of any waste left by their pet. Any non- 5 this point, bicycles must merge with the traffic at the intersection. However, in discussions with Fort Collins Engineering staff, it was stated that this is not a high accident location for bicycles and vehicles. [Michael Delich] Matt Wempe, City Transportation Planner, and David Kemp, the City's Bike Coordinator work with the Campus Bike Advisory Committee on a regular basis to enhance bicycle safety on campus. While this group mainly focuses on education, it also works with other entities on campus and the City to affect infrastructure improvements. Neighborhood residents concerned about bicycle safety at the Centre Avenue/Prospect Road intersection should contact Matt Wempe and/or David Kemp to explore the issue further. [Linda Ripley] b. How is increased bicycle traffic on Spring Creek Trail going to be dealt with? There is a connection to the Spring Creek Trail via an underpass of Centre Avenue, approximately 550 feet south of the Prospect Road/Centre Avenue intersection and approximately 2000 feet north of the existing Centre Avenue/Rolland Moore intersection. The Spring Creek Trail intersects with the Mason Street Corridor approximately 0.25 miles to the east. The Spring Creek Trail and the Mason Street Corridor are facilities that are adequate to accommodate high volumes of bicycle traffic. [Michael Delich] 5. Regarding guest parking: a. How will it be accommodated? b. Where will overflow parking go? c. Will there be permit parking? The City LUC requires this development to have 430 automobile parking spaces. The project is providing 499 parking spaces. In addition, there will be 128 on -street parking spaces for a total of 627 parking spaces available for students and their guests. Based on experience at other locations, Campus Crest has found that providing one parking space for each student living in the complex creates enough parking to eliminate the need for overflow parking areas. [Linda Ripley] Campus Crest actively manages the parking situation at all of their properties. All students will receive a Move -In package that includes a registration form for their vehicle. Once the vehicle is properly registered with the Grove General Manager, the student will receive a Grove parking sticker. Vehicles with Grove stickers and registered guest vehicles are allowed to park on the Grove property. Other vehicles will be towed. [Campus Crest] 4 There are 6-foot wide bike lanes proposed on the new Rolland Moore Drive and on the public commercial street that connects Rolland Moore Drive to the existing Rolland Moore Drive at Centre Avenue. The local street that comes off of Rolland Moore Drive and connects to the public commercial street has a detached 8-foot wide pedestrian/bike trail on the west and north sides of the street. Bicyclists can connect to existing bike lanes on Shields Street to the west and to bike lanes on Centre Avenue to the east. There is also a paved pedestrian/bike connection from the end of the existing Rolland Moore Drive off of Centre Avenue that links this development to the Spring Creek Trail. [Linda Ripley] 2. Will the Grove be heated with electricity? And is there any other heat source planned? While choice of a heating source is not regulated by the Land Use Code, sustainable systems and practices are important to this project and we wanted to share and discuss them. [Linda Ripley] The Grove at Fort Collins project team is currently considering four systems — none of which are an air -source heat pumps. The four systems under consideration are: 1) gas fired furnaces and domestic hot water with Dx cooling, 2) ground source heat pumps for heating, cooling with domestic hot water preheat and electric water heaters, 3) a horizontal fan coil system with instant gas fired hot water and Dx cooling and 4) a centralized boiler system for heating (1 per building), with Dx cooling and gas domestic hot water. [Josie Plaut, IBE] 3. Could the applicant please address the fact that a traffic counting device was observed by multiple residents on Center at the proposed intersection of the new Rolland Moore Drive in late February, but no data from such counts was included in the updated information submitted this spring? Campus Crest did not perform any traffic counts at the proposed intersection in late February. [Linda Ripley] 4. Regarding bicycle traffic: a. How is increased bicycle traffic on Centre Ave going to be dealt with? Centre Avenue has six foot bike lanes (including gutter) and vehicle travel lanes of 12.5 feet. This will provide enough width for bicycles to travel within the bike lanes, without feeling squeezed by the vehicular traffic. The northbound bike lane ends approximately 200 feet south of the stop bar at the Prospect Road/Centre Avenue intersection (just south of the access to the Hilton). At 3 the Corps. Please see the attached letters from City Planning Staff and the Army Corp of Engineers. [CSURF] Questions for the City: 1. Will staff be recommending that the canal move be completed before or concurrent with building permits are issued for The Grove? 2. Although City Code allows filling in the floodplain (thus displacing water onto pre-existing development), has this been allowed at other locations in the City? If yes, please describe where and when. 3. Regarding the traffic studies performed: a. Why did the City not require that each of the 4 major intersections within a mile radius of the development be studied? b. Please explain the traffic studies that were required and why. c. What are the assumptions for numbers of trips generated by the prospective tenants? d. What are the assumptions for numbers of trips generated by other residents of the City? e. Please explain LOS (level of service) standards? At what level are each of the major intersections functioning? f. Will the developer be paying for any of the cost of Center Avenue conversion to an arterial? How is that calculated? 4. The City has invested millions of dollars in The Gardens on Spring Creek. How does The Grove meet the compatibility requirements of the LUC relative to the Gardens? 5. Is the City giving any development fee rebates, discounts, or any reductions compared to published development fee rates. Questions for Campus Crest: 1. Please explain/describe the bike ways through the development. 9 2 Questions for the May 23ro Neighborhood Meeting Regarding The Grove At Fort Collins PDP and the Amended CSURF Centre for Advanced Technology ODP. Note For Neighbors: This is a list of questions that we feel important to get onto the record and answers for. This list is also being provided to Steve Olt so that if we run out of time at this evening's meeting, Steve and The City have a list of our questions and can provide answers in their meeting notes. You may feel free to ask a question from this list or you may ask any other questions which you feel are important. It is up to you! Thank you for coming! General Questions: 1. Who is paying for the canal move? Campus Crest will pay for the ditch realignment project, but it is beneficial and a desired improvement for CSURF, Larimer No. 2, Campus Crest and the overall neighborhood. It is truly a win -win solution. [CSURF] Questions for CSURF: 2. Please explain the relocation plan (and how it came to be) for Larimer Canal #2. The ditch realignment project will shift an approx.1300-foot section of the Larimer Canal No. 2 approx. 50 feet south of its current location. Unlike the current ditch, the realigned ditch will be clay -lined. The possibility of realigning this portion of the ditch was suggested by the Ditch Company superintendent in January as a way to address liability, maintenance and potential seepage concerns. In addition, as part of the Ditch Company routine maintenance, it was indicated that the trees would likely be removed. Since saving the large, existing trees and providing yet another mechanism to address seepage concerns is also desirable to CSURF and to its lessee, Campus Crest, CSURF agreed to allow the realignment on its property. [CSURF] 3. Why is the canal relocation not part of the ODP? The relocation is off -site and controlled by the Larimer No. 2 and CSURF. In accordance with a written determination by the City Planning Staff, after consultation with the City Attorney's Office, maintenance, repairs and relocations of ditches that carry raw water for agricultural purposes are exempt from the Land Use Code definition of "development" and, therefore, are not subject to City review or approval. The Army Corps of Engineers has determined that the ditch relocation project does not require a permit from Page 1 of 1 Steve Olt From: Janelle P. Kechter Okechter@lileyrogersmartell.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 1:50 PM To: Steve Olt Subject: Applicant's responses to neighborhood's May 23rd questions Attachments: RESPONSES.6-8-11.Questions.May 23rd N'hood Mtg Re The Grove At Fort Collins PDP and Amd ODP.doc; City letter.3-29-11.pdf; Ur ACOE.pdf Steve: Attached is the list of questions submitted by the neighborhood, into which we have inserted the responses prepared by the applicant and its consultants. Note that CSURF also provided two attachments in response to question #3 on page 1. As you requested, we are submitting the responses today so they can be distributed at the work session on Friday. Janelle Kechter, CLA Paralegal for Lucia A. Liley Liley, Rogers & Martell, LLC (970)449-8717 6/8/2011