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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPADS AT HARMONY - PDP - 26-06 - MEDIA - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGCourtesy of Gino Campana Sherri Barber/The Coloradoan Residents discuss a potential development during a neighborhood meeting Wednesday at The Group Inc. Real Estate office building on Harmony Road. The 72,000-square-foot project, proposed for Snow Mesa Street and Harmony Road, will cost around $22 million and include seven buildings. At top is an artists rendering of the potential development. Mobile home residents fear development's impact Increased property values, traffic top list of concerns By DEON HAMPTON 71140 X 7, ' D6 DeonHampton@coloradoan.com Residents of Harmony Road Mobile Home Community fear a new develop- ment on Harmony Road could drastically alter their lifestyles. Residents met Wednesday night at The Group Inc. Real Estate for a neighborhood information meeting to express their con- cerns about a potential $22 million, 72,000 square -foot mixed -use development proj- ect in their neighborhood. The small gathering — 10 residents at- tended — aired concerns about increased property values that could force residents from their homes and close the mobile home community, increased traffic and an encroaching city. The two -parcel, 8-acre project will in- clude seven buildings on the east and west sides of Snow Mesa Drive and Harmony Road, said Ted Sheppard, a Fort Collins city planner. The west side of Snow Mesa Drive will have four buildings on 45 acres of land. The east side will have three buildings on 35 acres. Gino Campana, the potential developer, hasn't submitted his project development plan, but Sheppard said the city has done a conceptual review. Campana said he wants to submit his plans to the city by early next month. Possible users include three restaurants, two banks and other retail stores, Cam- pana said. There have been talks with Spoons Soups & Salads, P.F. Changs, TGI Fridays Chipode, Spicy Pickle and insurance com- panies, he said. A site plan shows two restaurants are 6,000 square feet and the other is 7,000 square feet. The plan also shows each bank is two stories and 12,000 square feet. The last two buildings are for retail of- fice space, according to the plarL One is 8,000 square feet and the other is 6,000 square feet. "Harmony Road is an area we feel very comfortable developing at," Campana said. Residents in the Harmony Road Mobile Home Community didn't share his enthusi- asm, however, and said they feared such a project would increase the property value and, hence, their rent. Juay McClanahan, a disabled resident of the Harmony Road Mobile Home Community, believes the property would make life harder residents. "For the people with fixed incomes, it will be difficult (to live here)," she said. Sky Holubec, another resident in the mo- bile home area, plans to move in a few years. But until then, she isn't looking forward to her neighborhood being invaded by any de- velopment. "I mind if they start building in the area," she said. It feels like the city is closing in on the area, she said. Though open to a grocery store being built, the last thing mobile home resident Bob Minor wants to see is another bank or liquor store. What concerns him more, however, is the increase in traffic at the Harmony Road and Snow Mesa Drive intersection. "It's already congested," he said. "There's only one entrance." His wife, Donna Minor, said the area doesn't have room for strip mall -type retail stores and thinks the city is trying to force residents out of the mobile home area. "I could see how the city would want to get rid of the park and build a new housing area," she said. Campana said he isn't trying to force anyone from the area, but that Harmony Road will be developed. "It's the gateway to Fort Collins," he said.