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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPOUDRE SCHOOL DISTRICT, EAST PROSPECT ROAD SERVICE FACILITY - ODP & APU - 44-08/A - REPORTS - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING43. What about other sites? A. The District owns land at the southeast corner of C.R. 40 and C.R. 5 and in Wellington. These sites are being reserved for future schools and are not as close to 1-25. 44. Are we eligible to vote on the future bond issue? A. Yes, if you are located within the boundaries of the Poudre School District, you are eligible to vote on future bond issues. It does not depend on whether you are in the City of Fort Collins or in unincorporated Larimer County. 45. What do we know about the structural integrity of the Prospect Road bridge over 1-25? A. We do not know as this bridge is the responsibility of CDOT. 46. What is the status of the CDOT 1-25 Draft E.I.S.? A. This Draft E.I.S. is currently underway. 47. What is your time frame for the Warehouse? A. We would like to begin construction in 2009. 9 36. We will work with the City to construct our portion of the arterial improvements as they require. We anticipate, however, that these improvements will not be needed for the Phase One Warehouse. 37. Has the District considered any other uses for this parcel? A. The Board supports the proposed uses and supports the joint use with Larimer County Road and Bridge. By sharing facilities, the two organizations do not have to duplicate expenditures for equipment such as a fueling station, engine hoist and chassis wash. 38. The proposed uses seem industrial. We have a residential character and the proposed uses are better suited for the White property. I would prefer the all -school District stadium. I bought here 20 years ago and was told that the land was estate residential. 39. 1 suggest that you move the fueling station as far away as possible from Kitchell Estates. How about moving it to the little triangle at the southwest comer of the site? 40. How real is this project? A. The District has funding for the Phase One Warehouse. Future development would be dependent upon funds from a future bond issue. 41. Is this the District's only available site? A. No, but it is the site that is closest to 1-25. We gain efficiencies at this location for receiving materials from Denver in that deliveries do not have to cross town to gain access to our present warehouse on LaPorte Avenue. And, we gain efficiencies on our distribution to all the schools on the east side of the District. 42. Have you considered placing this facility at your Mountain Vista site? A. We have considered Mountain Vista but our analysis indicates that Mountain Vista is a strategic site for a future high school and for adjoining a future City park. s improved Prospect Road between the Poudre River and Summitview but only to two lanes wide. Based on this limited improvement, my guess is that the full four -lane standard will only be constructed in the long range future. And, since there is no dedicated capital project, there is no funding source. A. Response from City: The timing of widening public streets to the full arterial standard is primarily based on the rate of growth along the street. The City does not allocate tax payers' money to build roads ahead of the growth. Instead, roads are improved as developers bring adjoining properties into the development process. This reflects the "growth shall pay its own way" policy so existing tax payers do not subsidize growth. Only when developers are obligated to improve their local street portion of the property's frontage due to a pending development does the City's Street Oversizing Fund then participate in the oversizing to the arterial standard. It is important to note that the Street Oversizing Fund is funded by building permit fees, not from sales tax or the mill levy. 32. So you are saying that development has to occur first, then roads are widened? A. Response from City: Yes, this is a fiscally prudent approach. Unfortunately, it usually means that traffic has to build up along a roadway due to development activity before there is any funding available for widening. The exception would be if the voters approve a capital project to widen a roadway in which case the project would be funded out of a specific portion of the sales tax that is expressly earmarked for road improvements. These votes generally take place every five years. 33. What about future traffic control at Prospect and Carriage? A. In interim condition, this intersection will be full -turning. In the long range, under the full arterial cross-section, there would be a median in Prospect limiting the turning movements to right- in/right-out only. 34. Which way would the buses go? A. The buses would go west on Prospect Road. 35. The old bridge on Prospect is too narrow for buses. It would have to be widened. As it is now, there is no room to add a sidewalk so it is dangerous for pedestrians. ri down the centerline. We are prepared to work with the City's Engineering Department on designing an arterial that shifts more of the right-of-way onto our side of the road. For example, instead of 57.5 feet on the south half, maybe only 40 feet would be needed. As stated, we have not designed the cross-section yet so nothing is finalized. 25. You mentioned that an eastbound left turn lane into the Phase One Warehouse may be needed. What about traffic exiting the site and going west? Would an acceleration lane be needed as well? A. Good question. We will have to consult with our traffic engineer and the City's Engineering Department to see about an acceleration lane. 26. Does the Prospect Road Streetscape Program, adopted in 1993 still apply? A. Response from City: Yes. 27. My property in Kitchell estates borders the site and we have large animals. Regarding the proposed berm, will there still be a fence to keep our animals out of the District's property? A. Yes, we intend to provide a security fence which will probably be placed on the south side of the berm. Keep in mind that we do not propose to build the berm with the Phase One Warehouse. Rather, we intend to keep leasing the balance of the site to our tenant so the land stays as an irrigated agricultural use. 28. Will you build the Meadowaire access into the site with Phase One? A. No, we will not need the Meadowaire access with Phase One. 29. How far will the Warehouse be set back from Prospect Road? A. Approximately 450 to 500 feet. 30. But, what if the warehouse expands in the future? Would it expand to the south closer to Prospect? A. No, we expect it would expand to the sides or rear. 31. I'm concerned about how long it will take to improve Prospect Road to a four lane cross-section. The City's most recent capital project 2 20. Will there be any environmental degradation to Boxelder Creek? A. No, Boxelder Creek is located west of our property. 21. I'm concerned about lighting. We are County residents and do not desire urban light levels. I think the lighting and the new Larimer County Fairgrounds is excessive. Lighting at that level would be intrusive. A. We will provide lighting in compliance with City standards which requires fixtures to be 90 degree cut-off and down directional. Lighting will be provided only where necessary. We are willing to consider timers so that illumination is reduced after certain hours. 22. How big is the warehouse? A. As proposed, the warehouse would contain approximately 30,000 square feet. It would feature a loading dock with dock -high overhead doors. The height would be such that there would high rack palette storage just like at Home Depot. There would be a small office area and a break room for employees. There would be sufficient pavement for trucks to maneuver and for employee parking. 23. You probably don't realize since you don't live in this area but traffic on Prospect Road is really frustrating. The new traffic signals to our west at the 1-25 interchange causes significant back-up and delay as we head east into town. If the District is going to add more traffic onto Prospect, then you need to have a multi -jurisdictional approach to traffic control with Fort Collins, Larimer County and Timnath. I see this project just adding more daily inconvenience into our everyday lives. A. We will be required to submit a Transportation Impact Study to the City of Fort Collins which has jurisdiction over East Prospect Road all the way to C.R. 5. 24. You mentioned earlier that you think most of the street widening for Prospect Road to achieve the four -lane arterial standard would happen on the north side. I certainly hope this is the case since we live on the south side and have planted a nice row of trees. If the total right-of- way of 115 feet is divided evenly, then there would need to be 57.5 feet from centerline. Since there is probably only 30 feet from centerline now, an additional 27.5 feet would have to come off our frontage. This would seriously impact our property. A. We are aware that the existing properties on the south side would be impacted if the total right-of-way were divided evenly 5 14. What about the future phase with bus facility? How many buses would be stationed here and would it include Transfort buses? A. We expect that there could be up to 90 buses and there would be no Transfort buses. 15. 1 live in Kitchell Estates and it appears that the buses would be parked close to our property line. I am concerned about noise and disruption as the bus fleet is deployed. Could the bus covered parking be moved further away? A. We are proposing a berm along our north property line to provide buffering in conjunction with the bus facility. This berm could be six to eight feet high so it would be significant. This would help block sound from the buses. We want to keep as much of the site in agriculture as possible so the berm would not be built with the Phase One Warehouse. 16. It appears that this berm would block my view to south. 17. 1 own the tree farm on the south side of Prospect and I am concerned about maintaining access to my business. Would there be any traffic control on Prospect such as a traffic signal? A. For Phase One, we expect the only traffic control would be a stop sign for McLaughlin Lane at the intersection with Prospect. As the phases are developed and trip generation increases, this intersection could be eligible for a traffic signal but only if the signal warrants are met. The City does not allow traffic signals to be installed unless certain criteria or "warrants" are met or exceeded. A signal would like be warranted at Prospect and C.R. 5 prior to Prospect and McLaughlin. 18. Could you elaborate on the proposed fuel station for the buses? A. The fueling station would be similar to our existing facility on LaPorte Avenue. These are above -ground tanks that are encased in concrete and are literally bullet proof. By being above -ground, any problems are easily detected versus being placed below -ground. 19. Will the earthen berm reduce the decibels from the school buses? I'm concerned about the idling of the diesel engines and the back-up beepers. A. Our experience is that nothing blocks sound better than mass. A berm will be more effective at sound mitigation than a fence or just a row of trees. Our buses are plugged in at night so there is no need for idling. 4 A. The developer is responsible for what is referred to as the "local street" portion of roadway. The City's Street Oversizing Fund (funded by building permit fees) is then responsible for the "oversized" portion to bring the road up to the arterial standard, provided that the funds are available. Or, if the voters approve, the City can dedicate sales tax revenue for a specific capital construction project. Or any combination of the above funding sources could be utilized. 9. Who is responsible for improving the 1-25/Prospect interchange? A. Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). 10. Did you mention that the Prospect improvements could be phased in? A. Yes, there is a possibility that the Phase One Warehouse would trigger only the left turn lane and not full road widening. The extent of road widening depends on traffic generation. Widening Prospect to the full four lane arterial standard could be done over time in phases as we develop the site and as Street Oversizing Funds become available. 11. We live on the south side of Prospect. Would we lose property due to widening to south to accommodate the four -lane arterial cross-section? A. There is no final design for widening Prospect Road. We know that the fully improved cross-section is 115 feet of right-of-way and that there is probably 60 feet currently dedicated. Therefore 55 additional feet are needed. The issue is complicated by the existing irrigation ditch and easements for the sewer line for Serratoga Falls subdivision. There has been no decision yet but it is likely that most of the additional 55 feet needed for the arterial would come off the north side of the road, not the south side. 12. So with a fully improved Prospect, with a detached sidewalk on the north side, is there a conflict with the irrigation ditch? You would not want the sidewalk too close to the ditch. A. Correct. We are planning on shifting the ditch to the north to avoid the conflict with road widening. 13. What do you mean that the Phase One Warehouse is a low trip generator? A. We anticipate that the warehouse would employ up to 25 persons and generate approximately 90 trips per day. 3 2. How much will Prospect Road be improved with this project? We need Prospect to be widened for traffic mitigation. We don't want new construction and new traffic without road improvements. A. The extent and timing of the road improvements will be determined by the City of Fort Collins based on the Transportation Impact Study. The District will abide by the requirements. At this time, for the Phase One Warehouse, we don't know if public improvements will have to be constructed or escrowed. At minimum, we are prepared to build an eastbound left turn into the site but we will coordinate with the City. 3. Why was a development proposal on the White property recently denied by the City Council? A. The request to rezone the property from Industrial to Retail was denied. The Industrial zoning remains in place. 4. 1 also live in Kitchell Estates. Larimer County won't fix East Mulberry so we do not have good access into Fort Collins. 5. Will there be a significant number of trips associated with Phase One? A. No, the warehouse is expected to generate a low number of trips. 6. What is your funding? A. The District has generated savings from the projects that have been funded by the current bond issue. In addition, we have generated savings from various construction projects. These savings have allowed the Phase One Warehouse to be fully funded. Future phases are not funded at this point. The District may consider a future bond issue in 2010 but the amount has not been determined. Such a bond issue would be needed in order to build a school on this site. It is our understanding that Larimer County would need to issue bonds as well for their portion of the project. 7. What would full improvements to Prospect look like? A. Prospect is classified as a four -lane arterial street. This would include four travel lanes and a median with designated left turn lanes at certain intersections. This cross-section also includes bike lanes, parkway and detached sidewalk. 8. Who pays for improving Prospect to this standard? N NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING SUMMARY PROJECT: Poudre School District — East Prospect Road Service Facility and Junior High School DATE: November 18, 2008 APPLICANT: Poudre School District c/o Mr. Ed Holder CONSULTANT: Mr. Bruce Hendee, BHA Design CITY PLANNER: Ted Shepard The meeting began with a description of the proposed project. As proposed, this project represents a joint development between the Poudre School District and Larimer County to develop the 98 acres located at the northwest comer of East Prospect Road and County Road 5. The westerly portion of the property would be devoted to various service functions of both organizations. The easterly portion would be reserved for a future school. For the Poudre School District, these functions include a materials warehouse, an office building, a fleet maintenance building, covered parking for school buses and a fleet fueling station. For Larimer County, these functions include fleet maintenance and storage for the fleet and materials for the Road and Bridge Department as well as a future warehouse and a general parking area. These functions would not all be constructed at once. The Poudre School District's proposed central distribution warehouse would be Phase One. The other various buildings and site improvements would be phased in over time on an as -needed basis. An internal street network is proposed to provide access to the various parcels and to provide the required access for the Poudre Fire Authority. Unless otherwise noted, all responses are from the applicant or the consultants. Questions, Concerns, Comments I live in Kitchell Estates and I am concerned about the increase in traffic in our area, especially on C.R. 5. Our two routes into town, Mulberry and Prospect, are already congested. It appears this proposal will add more traffic and make our commute more inconvenient.