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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRIDGEVIEW CLASSICAL SCHOOL PHASE IV ADDITION - SPAR - 16-01A - REPORTS - RECOMMENDATION/REPORTRidgeview Classical School Addition — Site Plan Advisory Review, #16-01A April 15, 2004 Page 6 afternoon pick-up. Traffic also backs up onto Lemay from parents dropping of children. • The school is in violation with the parking agreement with the Stuart Professional Office Park north of the site. • Concern with the potential increase in student enrollment from the building addition. In addition, several letters have been received from the neighborhood. These are attached as well. CONCLUSIONS: After reviewing the Ridgeview Classical, #16-01A, staff offers the following conclusions: 1. The use of the Ridgeview Classical School is consistent with the City of Fort Collins Structure Plan. 2. The location of the Ridgeview Classic School Addition is consistent with the City of Fort Collins Structure Plan. 3. The character of the Ridgeview Classic School Addition is compatible with the immediate vicinity. 4. The extent of impacts to infrastructure and public facilities is consistent with adopted Level of Service Criteria for such services. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the Planning and Zoning Board approve the Ridgeview Classical School Addition, File #16-01A. Ridgeview Classical School Addition — Site Plan Advisory Review, #16-01A April 15, 2004 Page 5 Park. At the time, the school site was a church. While this is a private agreement between two parties, it was a condition of approval on the Stuart Professional Park. The main points of the agreement are: • The church will share its parking lot with the professional park during the weekdays, except that 20 spaces will be solely for the church. • The professional park will share its parking lot with the church during weekends and evenings. • The professional park agrees to provide snow removal on the church parking lot. • Both parties agree to keep all parking, drives and access points free of any future improvements which will limit their use; and • The agreement is to run with the land and may only be cancelled with the consent of the City. Letters received from representatives of the Stuart Business Park have asked the City to terminate the review of the school expansion based on a perceived violation of the agreement between the school and business park. The letters contend that the school is, or may be in violation of the agreement, mainly based on the principle that the school is utilizing more than 20 spaces on its lot. While staff disagrees with this interpretation (the agreement does not state that the remainder of the spaces are exclusively for the professional park), it does appear that the agreement has been violated by previous actions of the school and business park. The previous expansion by the school in 2001 encroached within the parking area to the east of the building. This expansion appears to have eliminated 47 of 201 spaces. The previous expansion assigned 64 spaces (the minimum for the school at the time) for the school, 19 spaces for Childrens World and the remaining 50 spaces to the office park. Based on current code requirements, the school will have a maximum number of spaces (since it has a shared parking arrangement) of four spaces for every 1,000 sq.ft. of floor area. This yields a maximum number of spaces of 236. The professional office will also be subject to the maximum number of spaces for an office use. The parking appears to be adequate on both lots. 4. Neighborhood Response A neighborhood meeting was held on March 22, 2004 at the Ridgeview School. There were approximately 20 people in attendance at this meeting. A summary of the issues is included below, with a more detail list of concerns attached to this report: • Significant concern over the intersection of Stuart and Lemay. Traffic at this intersection backs up past the school exit during morning and Ridgeview Classical School Addition — Site Plan Advisory Review, #16-01A April 15, 2004 Page 4 • Conversion of the Lemay access (south of the school between Childrens World) from right -in, right -out to a three-quarter access, by allowing traffic to enter from south bound Lemay Avenue. • Modifying the south lane on Stuart to a right -turn lane for traffic entering the school; there currently is not a turn lane into the school from Stuart. • Changing the striping on eastbound Stuart, east of the school exit, to provide a bicycle lane and on -street parking consistent with Stuart to the east. Removal of the existing speed bumps within the parking lot. • Modification of the traffic routes for student drop-off and pick-up to those shown on Figure 2 (page8) within the attached Traffic Study. Several improvements have already been made near the site. They include the installation of a dedicated left turn arrow from Stuart Street to Lemay Avenue, and the installation of a fence along the southern school boundary. This prevents cut - through to the south. Parents had been using Welch Street as student drop-off to avoid the Lemay/Stuart Intersection. With these improvements in place, the Lemay/Stuart intersection will continue to operate within the Level of Service criteria established by the City, even beyond the maximum capacity of 720 students for the school. In addition, the transportation improvements will not only mitigate impacts due to the school addition, but will improve access and circulation beyond that presently provided. The building addition has been designed to match the existing architecture. The addition includes brick and EIFS finish to match the existing finish of the building. The addition will be the same height as the existing building (two stories). C. Extent The existing building includes a total of 48,000 sq.ft. of floor area. The new addition will provide an additional 11,000 sq.ft., for a total of 59,000 sq.ft. The overall building mass, bulk and scale is not out of character with the existing neighborhood, which includes a variety of uses, including office, multi -family residential, commercial and single family residential. The building is two stories in height, with an overall height of 26 feet. The RL zone district permits uses other than single family residential a maximum height of three stories. A shared parking agreement has been in place with the school and the Stuart Professional Park immediately north of the school across Stuart Street. This agreement was negotiated in 1984 with the development of the Stuart Professional Ridgeview Classical School Addition — Site Plan Advisory Review, #16-01A April 15, 2004 Page 3 3. Location. Character and Extent: A. Location The Ridgeview Classical School is located at the southeast corner of Lemay Avenue and Stuart Street. The site was previously used for a church, then leased to the Poudre School District for a charter school in 2001. Public schools are permitted within the RL zone district subject to review by the Planning and Zoning Board. The building addition is proposed on the southeast portion of the existing building in an area currently used for playground. The playground will be relocated further north, along the northeast portion of the existing school building. The building addition is internal to the site, and will not encroach within the setbacks along Lemay Avenue or Stuart Street. The11,000 sq.ft. addition will include a gymnasium and additional offices. The addition is not expected to increase the current enrollment from the 570 students that presently attend the school. B. Character Typically, schools are located near residential areas where children may walk to school or may be driven without using arterial streets. Charter schools do not have enrollment areas. Their enrollment area encompasses the Poudre School District. Thus, children are accepted from the throughout the City and adjacent unincorporated areas. Because of this enrollment scenario, the school generates more traffic than a typical public school. The school is located at the intersection of a four lane major arterial (Lemay Avenue) and two-lane collector (Stuart Street). During morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up, a considerable amount of traffic is generated by the school, which has led to traffic delays at this intersection. Although these delays last for a relatively short time (generally about 15 minutes), the City has received complaints in the past about the operations of this intersection during drop off times. A traffic study was completed by the school to demonstrate compliance with the City's Level of Service (LOS) criteria and recommend any improvements that may be done to mitigate the impacts during peak times. The study was based on a potential capacity of the school, which the school estimates to be 720 students (60 students per grade). While the study does conclude that the intersection presently operates within the City's level of service criteria, the City and Poudre School District are working to minimize the traffic impacts as much as possible. The traffic study recommends the following improvements: Ridgeview Classical School Addition — Site Plan Advisory Review, #16-01A April 15, 2004 Page 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This request for review from Ridgeview Classical School is submitted to the Board as a Site Plan Advisory Review pursuant to State Statute Section 31-23-209, which limits the City's review to the location, character and extent of the improvements. The recommendation of the Planning and Zoning Board is forwarded to the Poudre School District Board of Education for their consideration. COMMENTS: 1. Background The surrounding zoning and land uses are as follows: N: E - Offices, Medical Offices S: RL - Attached Single Family Residential E: RL - Attached Single Family Residential W: RL - Single Family Residential The property has been used for the Ridgeview Classical School since August, 2001. 2. Process The City has agreed with the Poudre School District to process this review under Section 31-23-209, C.R.S., which states: "When the commission (Planning and Zoning Board) has adopted the master plan of the municipality or of one or more major sections or districts thereof, no street, square, park, or other public way, ground or open space, public building or structure, or publicly or privately owned public utility shall be constructed or authorized in the municipality or in such planned section and district until the location, character and extent thereof has been submitted for approval by the commission. " Under the statute, if the Planning and Zoning Board disapproves the site plan, such disapproval may be overturned by a two-thirds vote of the Board of Education. ITEM NO. 8 MEETING DATE 5/20/04 STAFF Bob Barkeep. Citv of Fort Collins PLANNING AND ZONING BOARD STAFF REPORT PROJECT: Ridgeview Classic School Addition, Site Plan Advisory Review, # 16-01 A OWNER: Dunamis III LLLP 9132 West Bowles Avenue, Suite A Littleton, CO 80123 APPLICANT: Architectural Resources Group 1828 Wallenburg Drive, Suite 100 Fort Collins, CO 80526 PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The Ridgeview Classical School Addition is a request for a Site Plan Advisory Review for an 11,000 sq.ft. addition to the existing school. The addition will include a gymnasium and additional office space and is located along the southeast portion of the building. The addition will be faced with brick and EIFS material, similar to other materials already on the building. The addition is not anticipated to increase enrollment at the school. The Ridgeview Classical School is a charter school within the Poudre School District. The school is located at the southeast corner of Lemay Avenue and Stuart Street, the property is zoned RL — Low Density Residential. RECOMMENDATION: Approval COMMUNITY PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES 281 N. College Ave. P.O. Box580 Fort Collins, CO80522-0580 (970)221-6750 PLANNING DEPARTMENT