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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPURA VIDA PLACE - PDP - 4-11 - REPORTS - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGJ Neighborhood Meeting for Proposed 52 Unit Student Apartment Community — January 26, 2011 ■ Project name: Pura Vida Place ■ Previous name at Concept Review: Laurel Street Apartments - 518 W. Laurel Street ■ Project Address: 518 W. Laurel Street (Woody's Pizza location) ■ Owner: Catamount Properties, Ltd.,7302 Rozena Dr.,Longmont, CO 80503 ■ Current Zoning: NCB — Neighborhood Community Buffer ■ Current Land Use: Woody's Pizza — bar & restaurant ■ Proposed Land Use: Multi -housing residential • Gross Site Area: 41,812 s.f. = approximately 1 acre ■ Proposed Building Height: 3 stories with a basement + flat roof < 40' total height ■ Proposed Number of bedrooms: 96 ■ Proposed Project: Replace existing 6,500 s.f. restaurant with new 3 story building with 52 apartment homes — 20 one bedroom, one bath, 16 two bedroom, two baths and 16 three bedroom, three baths. No commercial space. ■ Proposed Gross Density: ■ Proposed Net Rentable s.f.: 52 dwelling units per acre 45,000 ■ Parking 48 total spaces, including 2 handicapped stalls plus 16 compact spaces and 30 standard sized spaces, 96 bike storage rack slots both inside and outside ■ Access Front and rear entrances, all parking from alley, vacation of existing Laurel Street curb cut is proposed. • Schedule Construction is proposed to commence in August of this year with students moving in during the summer of 2012 A. We will work with the City Utilities regarding water service to the building. We have not heard that there is low water pressure in this area. 20. Will you have to pay for raw water acquisition charge? A. I don't know yet. It may be that this charge was already satisfied already by the restaurant. 21. Do you know where the front property line is located? A. Yes, the front property line is behind the sidewalk. 22. Will there be a central laundry room? Who will maintain this room? A. No, there will laundry facilities within each individual unit. 23. What is your break-even point on the number of units? Can you reduce the number and still break-even? A. We don't know exactly yet as we have not completely priced out this project. 24. You will have to carefully patrol your parking lot. As you have heard, our neighborhood experiences lots of problems with parking poachers. A. Yes, we plan on managing the parking to guard against parking poachers. 25. Is there data on traffic accidents on Laurel? A. Response from City: yes, the City keeps track of accident data. 26. The City needs to install a raised crosswalk at Laurel and Sherwood with blinking caution lights. A. We will pass this along to the City's Traffic Operations Department. 27. Where does the stormwater go? A. Stormwater will be routed to Laurel Street where it goes now. 5 11. I'm concerned about the use of the alley as primary access. The alley is not in very good shape and all this extra traffic will make it worse. In its present condition, it is bad for bikes. A. Yes, we are aware of the condition of the alley and will work with the Engineering Department regarding any work that may be needed. We think that it's a good idea to close the driveway on Laurel Street that exists now. 12. What about dumpsters and trash trucks? A. We will have a trash enclosure for the dumpster, probably in the northeast comer of the parking lot. The trash truck will also use the alley for access. 13. This neighborhood has a parking problem. We are inconvenienced by college students who parking in such a way as to block our driveways. Students even park all day at the Mulberry Pool as if it were an open public lot. The worst offenders parking on our private property along the alleys. 14. Have you considered adding a parking deck to gain additional spaces? A. We have looked into this and it would be cost -prohibitive. 15. 1 believe that employees at the C.S.U.R.F. building on Howes Street now have to pay to park in the parking lot. I have observed employees who choose not to pay are parking on our neighborhood streets adding to the problem. 16. Does the City of Fort Collins own the alley? A. Yes, it is public right-of-way. 17. Just a word about parking — I work for a property management company that owns Cambridge House on Shields Street and we have about 110 parking spaces for 106 dwelling units and we seem to be getting by without major problems. 18. Will you be paying building permit fees? A. Yes, we will pay all the applicable building permit fees. We estimate that these fees may range between $10,000 and $11,000 per unit. 19. What about water pressure? Because of the water needs for C.S.U., we have low water pressure in the area. 4 6. The traffic congestion is not just about cars. Bike traffic is heavy as well. We constantly have to check for bikes as we back out of our driveways. Bikes come from all directions. A. Yes, backing out and looking out for cars is intuitive but taking the extra time to look for bikes requires extra caution, especially when bikes are not traveling in the same direction as cars. Keep in mind that for every bike, there is one less car on the street looking for a parking space. 7. Is this project a fait accompli? A. No, the project has not been submitted yet and so we have yet to go through the City's development review process. After submittal, we expect the City to provide a number of comments that we will be required to address before proceeding to a public hearing with the Planning and Zoning Board. The Board has the authority over this project, not the developer and not City Staff. 8. What about the density — is your proposal permitted by Code? A. We are zoned N-C-B, Neighborhood Conservation Buffer. This zone allows the maximum total building square footage to be equal to the lot size. This is typically referred to as one-to-one floor -to -area ratio. Since the lot contains 41,812 square feet, our building would also be allowed to contain 41,812 square feet. 9. 1 thought the maximum allowed density was 24 dwelling units per acre? A. The N-C-B permitted use list says that if your project is more than 24 dwelling units per acre, then the project must be forwarded to the Planning and Zoning Board (Type Two) versus the Hearing Officer (Type One). 24 d.u./a is not a maximum. Added information post meeting: For comparison purposes: Atrium Suites — 24 d.u. on .44 ac = 54.54 d.u./ac. Oval Flats — 47 d.u. on .83 ac = 56.62 d.u./ac. 10. 1 am somewhat familiar with the parking lot development standards and can tell you that the parking lot does not comply as there is no interior landscaping. A. We will take a close look at these standards as we revise our plans. 3 this arrangement, and with proximity to C.S.U., we think tenants without cars will be attracted to our project. Keep in mind that the site is located within the City's Transit Oriented Development Overlay Zone. This is an area consisting of areas like downtown and campus that are served by transit bike lanes. With C.S.U. Transit Center and the upcoming frequent bus service provided by the Mason Corridor, the area offers alternative modes. One of the key features of the T.O.D. Overlay Zone is that there are no minimum parking requirements. This is to encourage a denser, urban development pattern versus a suburban development pattern with large parking lots. 3. There is already too much demand for on -street parking as it is. This project will just make it worse. The City should implement an on -street resident parking only permit system like in other cities near large universities so residents can park on the street in front of their homes. A. Response from the City Planner: Resident parking permits is an idea that that may have a variety of advantages and disadvantages. The Land Use Code does not address parking enforcement issues such as two-hour versus all -day on -street parking. Please contact Randy Hensley, City of Fort Collins Parking Manager, to explore the concept of resident parking permits or enforcement policies further. 4. The non -signalized intersections with Laurel Street are dangerous for both pedestrians crossing the street and for cars wanting to turn left. A. Yes, that is true. Pedestrians crossing Laurel at non -signalized intersections have to be careful. For cars, yes, you have to either wait for gap in the traffic or take Myrtle Street to get to a signalized intersection at Loomis or Meldrum. 5. 1 live at 608 West Laurel Street and my driveway intersects with Laurel Street. There often are times when I can't back out of my driveway because there is so much traffic. A. Yes, I can see how that would be difficult during certain times of the day. Regarding traffic overall, I understand that certain maneuvers and turn movements are difficult at peak times, especially when C.S.U. is in session. We all know that Laurel Street is the main drag on the north side of campus. Keep in mind that we are replacing a 6,000 square foot restaurant that generated traffic of its own that will be replaced by multi -family traffic. We are required to conduct a traffic study as part of our submittal materials to the City. This study will be reviewed by City Transportation officials for evaluation. 2 NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING SUMMARY PROJECT: 518 West Laurel Street — Pura Vida Apartments DATE: January 26, 2010 APPLICANT: Chuck Bailey, Catamount Properties CONSULTANTS: Otis Odell, Odell Architects Brian Shear, Shear Engineering CITY PLANNER: Ted Shepard, Chief Planner, City of Fort Collins The meeting began with a description of the project. As proposed, the project consists of demolishing the existing restaurant (Woody's Pizza) and constructing a new apartment building. The 52 units would be divided among studio, one, two and three -bedroom apartments. There would be a total of 96 bedrooms. Parking would be in the rear with 48 spaces. Access to the parking lot is gained by the east -west alley that connects Sherwood and Whitcomb Streets. The building would be three -stories in height and contain approximately 41,800 square feet. The building would be shaped as an "H" with a front courtyard. The site is .95 acre in size. The zoning is N-C-B, Neighborhood Conservation Buffer. Unless otherwise specified, all responses are from the applicant or consultants. QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, COMMENTS 1. The proposed number of parking spaces is insufficient. How can you have 96 bedrooms and only 48 spaces? You should have at least one space per bedroom, if not more for guests. Otherwise, parking will just spill out onto the streets. A. Our fundamental premise is that this is an urban-infill project across from C.S.U. and not an apartment complex on the fringe of the community. By being so close to C.S.U., we hope to attract tenants who may not own a car. Our experience is that not every student owns a car. Atrium Suites, the project next door, does not have one space per bedroom. 2. All students have cars and parking needs to be provided for all your tenants. A. We plan on managing our parking such that each space will be rented separately at a rate that is in addition to the apartment lease rate. With