Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutLONGVIEW MARKETPLACE @ SHENANDOAH - PDP - 47-95B - CORRESPONDENCE - (15)Ms. Linda Ripley Mr. Richard F. Zier Ute Farm Open Space Avondale Drive and Highway 287 March 11, 2003 Page 2 on the open space values of the Property, and could be constructed if the Covenants encumbering the rigbts-of-way were acquired through eminent domain proceedings that would result in the rights -of -way being free of the restrictions of the Covenants. Accordingly, GOCO and LLT are willing to approve the acquisition of.the rights -of way for Avondale Drive and Highway 287 upon completion of the following steps: 1. Letters must be received from an authorized representative of the City of Fort Collins and the Colorado Department of Transportation ("CDOT") indicating that, in conjunction with acquiring its portion of the necessary rights -of -way, each would be willing to complete condemnation of the Covenant interest such that the rights -of - way would be free of Covenants, if it were required to do so. 2. The rights -of -way must have accurate legal descriptions which are approved by GOCO and LLT, the rights -of way must be properly valued, and the valuation must be accepted by GOCO and LLT. The value of the rights -of -way shall be apportioned between the Property Owners and GOCO in proportion to the amount each paid for acquisition of the Property. The developer of the Longview Marketplace will be required to pay the value of the tights -of -way. 3. A closing will. be held at which (a) deeds are granted by the Property Owners to the City of Fort Collins (assuming it is the appropriate public entity) for the Avondale Drive right-of-way and to CDOT (assuming it is the appropriate public entity) for the Highway 287 right-of-way; (b) an amendment to the Covenants is recorded to revise the description of the Property to eliminate the Avondale Drive and new Highway 287 right-of-way from the terms of the Covenants; and (c) the value of the rights -of - way shall be paid to the Property Owners and GOCO in proportion to the amount each paid for acquisition of the Property. Let us know if you .have any questions about this process. GOCO and LLT will be pappy to work with tol o�rplete this process as quickly as possible. Thank you. Since , Allan C. Beezley cc: Mark Sears, Natural Areas Manager, City of Fort Collins 970-224-61 Brian Hayes, Natural Areas Manager, City of Loveland 970-962-2 3 Charlie Johnson, Land Agent, Larimet County 970-498-7986 Janis Wh.isman, Senior Program Manager, GOCO 303-863-7517 Steve Ryder, Director, Legacy Land Trust 970-482-4858 ALLAN C. BEEZLEy, P.C. Attorney and Counselor at Law 191914th Street, Suite 300 Boulder, CO 80302 (303) 440-5867 (303) 443-1842 (fax) Ms. Linda Ripley VF Ripley and Associates, Inc. 401 West Mountain Ave., Suite 201 Fort Collins, CO 80521-2604 Mr, Richard F. Zier Zier Law Offices 322 E. Oak Street P.O. Box 770 Fort Collins, CO 80522 VIA FACSIMILE: 970-224-1662 and Regular Mail VIA FACSIMILE: 970-244-9188 and Regular Mail Re: Longview Farm — Longview Marketplace — Proposed Avondale Drive and Highway 287 Access Dear Ms. Ripley and Mr. Zier: This letter is being provided.to you on behalf of the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund ("GOCO"), and the Legacy Land Trust ("LLT" ). Thank you for sending information concerning the proposed Avondale Road. and additional right-of-way for Highway 287 which would cross a small area at the northeast corner of the Longview Farm Open Space Property. You have indicated that public right-of-way is being requested so that Avondale Road can be constructed in a location which has proper.alignment.with tire existing roadway on the east side of Highway 287. Avondale Road will serve the new Longview Marketplace development located to the north of Longview Farm. As you are aware, GOCO provided a portion of the funding for acquisition of the Longview Farm Open Space Property (the "Property") by Latimer County, the City of Fort Collins and the City of Loveland (collectively the Property Owners"). As a condition of the �jnding.the. Property Qwners entered into a Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (the "Covenants") recorded at Reception No. 2001103042 on November 15, 2001, which restrict use of the Property to open space uses consistent with the GOCO Open Space program. The Covenants require that GOCO and Legacy Land Trust.("LLT") enforce the terms of the Covenants so that the important open space values of the Property are protected. Under the terms of the Covenants only roadways that are consistent with open space use and shown ill the Approved Land Managemei i Plan (the "Plan") are permitted on the Property. Avondale Drive and the widening of Highway 287 are not shown oa the approved Plan and therefore are not approved for construction on the Property. GOCO and LLT understand that Avondale Drive and the improvements to Highway 287 will affect only a small portion of the Property and will not have any significant adverse impact 19 eastbound left turn lane into the site is needed, Avondale will need double eastbound left turn lanes onto College, which need to be aligned as close as possible to the westbound double lefts on Carpenter AVONDALE/CARPENTER/HWY 287 INTERSECTION: February 20, 2003 comment letter from City indicates the need for signal progression calculations all the way north to Fossil Creek Parkway, a detailed signal design is needed, pole/caisson location needs to be identified, and - enhanced crosswalks are needed October 11, 2002 Northern Engineering gave a preliminary striping plan to the City so that the City and CDOT could comment on the HWY 287 and Avondale roadway sections October 16, 2002 meeting with City and CDOT regarding HWY 287 and Avondale road sections for both the interim and ultimate conditions, direction was given to design Avondale to the ultimate condition of HWY 287, even though this section was yet to be confirmed AVONDALE ROAD SECTION (continued): December 11, 2002 the initial Staff Comment letter (incomplete engineering comments) from Steve Olt was issued listing multiple deficiencies with interim and ultimate design of HWY 287 and Avondale, it was firmly emphasized that Avondale needed to be built to the ultimate condition, and this will probably require an additional 18-feet of width on the north side of the road December 16, 2002 meeting with City Staff to discuss review comments; City reiterated the necessity to build Avondale to the ultimate condition (at least 18' wider on the north edge) January 16, 2003 meeting with City, County, and CDOT still indicate that Avondale needs to be built to ultimate width January 17, 2003 City Engineering faxed the ultimate intersection layout of HWY 287 and Avondale January 31, 2003 meeting with City Engineering Staff to discuss alternatives to avoid a variance at the intersection of Strasburg and Triangle, however, the interim striping of Avondale was briefly reviewed (showing ultimate roadway width), Engineering Staff expressed that building Avondale to this width now will result in failure of the asphalt and future maintenance problems, City Staff will discuss internally, but a new direction was given that maybe Avondale should not be built to the ultimate condition February 6, 2003 City Engineering Staff who questioned Avondale being built to the ultimate width were not present at this week's Staff meeting; however, those present were in favor of building Avondale to the ultimate width February 20, 2003 comment letter from City indicates that the section needs to accommodate a future median all the way up to the main (2"d) access into the site, funds for this median need to be allocated at the time of building permits, the entire ultimate width of Avondale shall be built with this project, an January 16, 2003 meeting with City, County, and CDOT to reach a final comprehensive consensus on the configuration of HWY 287; City/County/CDOT were not satisfied with Matt's new analysis, and requested further traffic and engineering studies by Matt Delich and Northern Engineering; while some progress was made, the new requests delayed any final conclusions/answers/waivers/etc. HWY 287 - INTERIM vs. ULTIMATE SECTION (continued): January 17, 2003 City Engineering faxed the ultimate roadway section of HWY 287 (a few slight modifications have since been made per CDOT), this the first time an ultimate roadway section was received by Northern Engineering, this new section has initiated further re -design of HWY 287, and will necessitate the relocation of the District's sanitary sewer main January 29, 2003 City/County/CDOT scheduled a site visit for February 13'h to analyze the intersection of Colland and Carpenter February 6, 2003 Matt Delich issued a new TIS for Colland and Carpenter included future build -out and truck traffic February 10, 2003 Northern Engineering produced exhibits utilizing Matt's 02/06/03 TIS to illustrate the impacts of improvements at Colland/Carpenter February 13, 2003 City/County/CDOT met on site at Colland/Carpenter with Northern Engineering and Matt Delich, it was determined that a waiver for the northbound left turn length from HWY 287 onto Avondale would be granted, thus, creating double left turn lanes, and changing the intersection design from the January 17`h version February 20, 2003 comment letter from City has implications that change the section previously assumed on February 13`h, potentially shifting HWY 287 10' further west AVONDALE ROAD SECTION: August 19, 2002 the City and CDOT issued preliminary comments on the design of HWY 287 and Avondale September 4, 2002 meeting with the City and CDOT to discuss the design of HWY 287 and Avondale January 6, 2003 meeting with Eric Bracke to discuss the access point, the Design Team's interpretation of Table 7-3 is correct; however, proper sight distance triangles need to be shown, the City will allow this access with the proper sight easements February 20, 2003 comment letter from City indicates a double yellow stripe be provided down the center of Avondale in the interim condition, and a median be installed in the ultimate condition, thus, eliminating the left -out movement from the I" access point HWY 287 - INTERIM vs. ULTIMATE SECTION: August 19, 2002 the City and CDOT issued preliminary comments on the design of HWY 287, the ultimate roadway section was not yet determined September 4, 2002 meeting with the City and CDOT to discuss the design of HWY 287, more information was added; however, the ultimate section still was not finalized October 11, 2002 Northern Engineering gave a preliminary striping plan to the City so that the City and CDOT could comment on the HWY 287 and Avondale roadway sections October 16, 2002 meeting with City and CDOT regarding HWY 287 road sections for both the interim and ultimate condition December 11, 2002 the initial Staff Comment letter (incomplete engineering comments) from Steve Olt was issued listing multiple deficiencies with interim and ultimate design of HWY 287, possible analysis of the Colland/HWY 287 intersection was mentioned December 23, 2002 Northern Engineering wrote a memo to City Engineering Staff seeking clarification on many of the street -related issues at Long View Marketplace December 30, 2002 City Engineering Staff issued •a response to Northern Engineering's memo restating the need for the TIS to include changing the Colland/HWY 287 intersection to right -in -right -out January 15, 2003 Matt Delich issued a revised TIS in response to the comments for additional analysis on Colland Drive /s CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY: (organized by topics) PUBLIC vs. PRIVATE STREETS: Summer 2002 preliminary coordination efforts of VF Ripley with City Planning and Engineering Staff directed the Design Team to make the 3/4-access a Private Drive October 16, 2002 meeting with City and CDOT indicated that the 3/4-access will be private, but designed and built to Public Standards December 11, 2002 the initial Staff Comment letter (incomplete engineering comments) from Steve Olt was issued stating very strongly that the 3/4-access should be a Public Street December 16, 2002 meeting with City Staff to discuss review comments; Public Street designation of the 3/4-access was re -iterated; however, no further discussion or information on the issue was available January 7, 2003 meeting with City Staff to present design alternatives for site in response to previous review comments, again, the 3/4-access was still directed to be a Public Street, and no authority was available to discuss the reasons or potential alternatives January 13, 2003 meeting with CAM McNair and others from City Staff, it was agreed upon that the 3/4-access could be a Private Drive if certain criteria were met 1" ACCESS ON AVONDALE IN/OUT OF SITE: Summer/Fall 2002 none of the previous site plan coordination meetings expressed a problem with the location of this access December 11, 2002 the initial Staff Comment letter (incomplete engineering comments) from Steve Olt was issued stating that this access was is violation of LCUASS Table 7-3 regarding its separation distance from the Avondale/HWY 287 intersection December 16, 2002 meeting with City Staff to discuss review comments; City reiterated the LCUASS criteria; however, client's design consultants questioned the interpretation of the Table, City Review Engineer stated the interpretation was coming from Eric Bracke ATTACHMENT A Initial Off -Site Estimates Item Design Costs and Other Fees Construction Costs excludes buildings) Item Totals Adjacent Half of Local Streets $20,747 $478,482 $499,229 Off -Site Extensions of Local Streets $7,811 $180,154 $187,965 TOTALS $28,558 $658,6361 $687,195 includes extensions of Avondale, Long View, and Strasburg beyond our property boundary into the surrounding neighborhoods Additional Off -Site Costs Resulting from Staff Comments Item Design Costs and Other Fees Construction Costs excludes buildings) Item Totals Avondale Road Oversizin ' $24,449 $185,186 $209,63 South College (HWY 287 Oversizin ' $61,901 $1,124,149 $1,186,050 Carpenter Road LCR 32 Improvements' $9,332 $587,465 $596,796 Colland/Car enter Intersection Analysis $5,568 - $5,568 raffic Signal Design & Anal siS2 $10,725 $168,750 $179,475 Wetlands Mitigation $11,932 $12,500 $24,432 Relocation of District Sanitary Sewer $4,394 $714,757 $719,151 Escrows for Ultimate Desi n4 $313,315 $313,315 TOTALS1 $128,3011 $3,106,1211 $3,234,422 ' includes ROW acquisition 2 includes escrow for local portion of ultimate design 3 includes $595,000 to purchase Shenandoah PUD Tract A 4 includes escrows for local portions of ultimate design of HWY 287 & Avondale median Letter to Cameron Gloss Long View Marketplace PC March 25, 2003 Page 6 delayed further because of comments on new issues previously deemed acceptable. We are more determined than ever to complete this project. It will be a neighborhood center that both the City and the neighborhood can be proud of. It will provide needed goods and services within walking and biking distance of a neighborhood that currently drives much further for those services. People attending the neighborhood meetings have been supportive of the project and would like to see the project completed as soon as possible. From an economic standpoint, the project would be beneficial to the City. This project will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in net new taxes annually. Thank you for your attention and we will be calling in a few days to set up a meeting to discuss these issues in person. (5dneyCK. ely Jone Quadrant Properties, LLC William C. Bates King Soopers xc: Gary Diede Cam McNair Matt Baker Eric Bracke Attachments: Attachment A Chronological History Letter from Allan Beezley Letter to Cameron Gloss Long View Marketplace F March 25, 2003 Page 5 attorney's fees and other costs associated with acquiring the right-of-way that could range from $150,000.00 to $300,000.00. We believe the cost associated with the right-of-way acquisition as well as the Carpenter Road improvements should be paid for by the City. Neighborhood Issues Improvements to Carpenter Road (County Road 32) from College Avenue to Interstate 25 are a concern of neighborhood residents. It is likely that they will bring the issue up at our public hearing even though they understand that it is an issue much bigger than the.scope of our project. A recent letter indicated they would appeal our project if it were approved without resolving their issues regarding County Road 32. We are concerned our project could get delayed because of this. What can the City do to steer these well-meaning people to a more appropriate venue to voice their concerns? Conclusion In summary, we are at a crucial point in the development review process. A variety of site constraints including steep grades and a ditch re -location, make development of this property difficult and more expensive than the average site. Our design team did extensive cost estimating of project costs at the beginning, before we purchased the property. Those initial projected costs were thought to be conservative at the time. Our anticipated responsibility for off -site improvements included our local street portion of adjacent streets and the costs for extending Avondale, Long View and Strasburg. That cost was estimated to be approximately $687,195.00. As you can see from Attachment A, additional off -site improvements that evolved through the development review process are now estimated to be $3,234,422, bringing the total cost of off -site improvements to nearly $4 million! We have tried to describe the off -site improvements that have evolved over the last three months. If we are asked to pay for the additional off -site improvements outlined above, we will not be able to proceed with the project. The economical feasibility of our project was based on off -site improvements costing approximately $687,195.00. In order to get this project built we need to reach a consensus on what off -site improvements are necessary and who is responsible for paying for them. In addition, we need a commitment from the City to expedite the development review process. It is our desire to re -submit the drawings at the end of April with all comments being addressed. The City will have four weeks to respond with comments to our revisions as is typical. We respectfully ask that all comments received in round two relate to the revisions. We are already behind schedule because of issues related to off -site improvements. We cannot afford to be Letter to Cameron Gloss Long View Marketplace PD" March 25, 2003 Page 4 The latest request from GOCO is that the City and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) provide a letter indicating that, " in conjunction with acquiring its portion of the necessary rights -of -way, each would be willing to complete condemnation of the Covenant interest such that the rights -of -way would be free of Covenants, if it were required to do so." (See Allan Beezley letter) It is critical that the City help us expedite the process of getting this letter drafted and signed by authorized representatives of both the City and CDOT. GOCO and the Legacy Land Trust are willing to approve acquisition of the rights -of -way for Avondale Road and Highway 287 after they receive the letter, and also receive fair monetary compensation for the property, now estimated to be approximately $8,000.00. This is a brief explanation of a complex process. We anticipate that costs for coordination, appraisals and attorney fees required to get the right-of-way conveyed may exceed $ 20,000.00. This is on top of the purchase price itself. Median in Avondale Road As we were finalizing the design for Avondale, we were asked to provide a median in the street extending from College Avenue west past our bank drive- thru exit lane. If the median is required, it will eliminate left -out turning movements and require bank customers to re -circulate through the center. This will have the effect of increasing traffic congestion within the center where we are trying to encourage pedestrian movement. The combined affect of adding bike lanes, left turn lanes, aligning with opposing lanes and the median have pushed Avondale Road into our site approximately 36 feet. This, along with other changes to Avondale, have resulted in an additional $210,000 in design and construction costs. Our design team does not believe the median is necessary and would like to discuss the issue further with the appropriate decision- maker(s). Carpenter Road Street Improvements and Right -of -Way Acquisition Improvements to Carpenter Road have also grown in magnitude from what we envisioned at the start. Our current design for interim improvements to Carpenter Road will require acquisition of approximately .78 acres of land at the north side of Carpenter Road. Located at the corner of two arterials, we estimate that this land could cost between $3 and $4 per square foot. Without powers of condemnation, it will be very difficult for us to purchase the property at a reasonable price. Our estimates indicate that the improvements to Carpenter Road will cost approximately $126,689.00 plus the cost of the right-of-way estimated to be $120,000.00. These costs are exclusive of appraisal fees, Letter to Cameron Gloss Long View Marketplace PDP March 25, 2003 Page 3 Costs The costs for the improvements described above exceed $1,500,000.00. This cost does not include compensation for the property owner to the north for loss of the sanitary sewer service. The SFCLWD is indicating that the property south of Triangle Drive could not be served. Worst -case scenario would mean that the property would have to be purchased. The current sales price for the property is $595,000.00. Now that we are close to completing the design of both the interim and ultimate improvements we believe it is time to clarify costs. From team members past experience with City of Fort Collins projects, they believe that our cost share for these improvements should be roughly equivalent to what the cost of one half of a local street would be. Most of the improvements are not required because of impacts created by our project, but rather are being proposed to improve and update College Avenue to the benefit of the general public. Avondale, Strasburg and Long View Drive Connections to the Neighborhood In order to connect the proposed neighborhood center to the surrounding neighborhood, it will be necessary to extend Avondale Road, Strasburg Drive and Long View Drive. Jim McCory, the seller of the land has agreed to pay for the cost of these street extensions to the limit of his property and we have agreed to build these street connections with the construction of our project. It is our understanding that the City has escrow funds to pay for the western extension of Avondale through Ridgewood Hills to the existing roundabout. The construction cost for extending these three streets is estimated to be $250,620.00. Right -of -Way Acquisition From Long View Farm Open.Space Early in the design process it became clear that when Fort Collins, Loveland, and Larimer County purchased Long View Farm as a community separator, the public entities did not dedicate or reserve right-of-way so that Avondale Road could be extended to intersect with College Avenue and align with Carpenter Road as projected in both the City Master Streets Plan and in the South College Access Plan. Since this discovery was made, our design team has spent considerable time and money working through the process to acquire the needed right-of-way from Long View Farm so that Avondale Road can connect to College Avenue. It is a lengthy process involving not only the Cities and the County but also Legacy Land Trust and Greater Outdoors Colorado (GOCO). It is a cumbersome and expensive process that could have been avoided if the City would have reserved the right-of-way in the first place. Letter to Cameron Gloss Long View Marketplace PDP March 25, 2003 Page 2 the off -site improvements identified so far, the project is not even close to being economically feasible. While our initial response was to work with the City to resolve off -site issues as part of the development review process, we have come to a juncture where we are no longer confident that we can continue without clearly resolving who is responsible for designing, constructing and paying for off -site improvements. The off -site improvements requested by City staff include the following: College Avenue Improvements Interim and Ultimate Improvements The most significant and potentially onerous off -site improvements are associated with College Avenue. The City's expectation is that our project is responsible for designing both interim and ultimate improvements. Our initial understanding of interim improvements was those improvements needed to safely handle the transportation impacts caused by our project. For example, accel/decel lanes are fairly common for a project of this magnitude located on a State Highway. As the interim improvements for this project have evolved, they have expanded beyond what would normally be anticipated. Bike lanes, wider travel lanes, refuge islands, traffic signal relocation, right-of-way acquisition, wetland mitigation, relocating a District sewer main, are issues that have not only complicated the design, but raise serious questions as to who will be responsible for the costs associated with the improvements. In addition, the City has burdened this project with proposing a design solution for the ultimate widening of College Avenue. CDOT did not request that this be done because they have no time line for expanding College Avenue to the three lane each direction scenario. Despite CDOT's position the City has required our design team to provide an ultimate design solution based on all additional right- of-way coming from the west, into our site. This decision to shift the centerline of College Avenue so that all additional right-of-way would come from the west adversely affects our project in several ways. It requires us to dedicate more right-of-way than we should be responsible for and it will require significant re- design and grading changes to our site. However, the most serious ramification is that it would require that a District sewer main be relocated. While the pipe could be relocated further to the west through our project it would no longer be able to serve an office park project planned to be located south of Triangle Drive. In addition, the proposed right-of-way shift would affect several properties and established businesses to the north. March 25, 2003 Director of Planning City of Fort Collins 281 North College Avenue Fort Collins, CO 80521 RE: Long View Marketplace Project Development Plan Dear Cameron: Quadrant Properties, LLC and King Soopers began this project approximately one year ago. Since then we have become incrementally more and more vested in both the property and the project. Early in the design process we were forced to make a decision to purchase the property or walk away from the deal. City staff had reviewed several concept plans that illustrated the basic layout of the project. Initial feedback from the planning department (which included review by engineering staff) indicated the project was feasible at this location and could be supported by City staff. This positive feedback, the NC zoning and initial cost estimates all contributed to our confidence that we could build a successful project at this location. We purchased the property and moved forward. Both our project planner and our civil engineer spent considerable time with City staff prior to our initial submittal trying to understand what kinds of information the City would need, especially in regard to off -site improvements. From the beginning our entire design team has made every effort to anticipate City needs in order to avoid several rounds of review. Even so, our initial submittal received 196 comments and an indication that more were to follow. Since December, the team has been working hard to address the comments, particularly those relating to off -site improvements. Our planner, civil engineer and traffic -engineering consultant have been working with the City's front line development review staff on an almost daily basis. Despite our good intentions and massive work effort we are beginning to doubt that we will be able to complete the process and still have a viable project. Staff continues to make new comments and raise more issues. In our opinion, many of the issues being raised are beyond the scope of our project. If we as developers are expected to be responsible for the cost of 16253 Swingley Ridge Road, Ste. 220 Chesterfield, MO 63017 Phone: (636) 530.6050 Fax: (636) 530.6075