HomeMy WebLinkAboutPENNY FLATS (BLOCK 33) - PDP - 32-05 - REPORTS - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING23. Question: When are you. aiming to break ground on the project?
Answer: By our projections, we're looking at a S6ptember 2006
groundbreaking.
The meeting concluded at about 8:30 pm.
NOTE: A second Neighborhood Meeting will be held later.- in the spring. At that
meeting, Coburn will share their conceptual designs thatresult from this
discussion and an upcoming charrette process. The neighborhood will once
again have a chance to comment and provide feedback on the proposal.
Notification of the meeting will be posted in the Coloradoan and will go out to
the same Affected Property Owners List as thin meeting. Those who did not
receive a letter for the first meeting but who attended and signed in will also
receive written notification. I .
281 North College Avenue • P.O. Box 580 9 Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580 • (970) 221-6750 • FAX (970) 416-2020
17. Comment: I'd like to see a bread baker here.
Question: How much control do you, the developer have in the
selection of the end•users? :
Answer: Because this project is mostly residential, there is less
economic pressure on the commercial component. We have
sought out tenants in the past and will do so here, too. We
can work with them early on to make the project attractive to
them by customizing the space for them and working• out
mutually beneficial financial arrangements. Another
possibility we are considering is owner occupied businesses
where the owner lives on site.
18. Question: Would you please talk about the sort of outdoor spaces you
are planning to provide? Hopefully this project won't be all
building. We want to dine:alfresco and have patios.
Answer: There is a pedestrian spine that is planned (by the city) to
run north south through the middle of the block to connect
Mason Street North and the spine to the south that runs
through the Justice Center, etc. Some units will likely front
on that spine. Useable outdoor space is critical to a
successful project in this region. There will be lots of
opportunity for providing a variety of outdoor space.
19. Comment: Remember the Poudre River to the north for views and
access.
20. Comment: I work at NAI (NW of site). I hope you ll keep the building low
so it doesn't affect the sunshine in my office.,.
21. Comment: The railroad tracks are dangerous for bicycles and cars too.
People race the trains. Can I see a show of hands for who
wants to see the trains go away? (Several people raised their
hands.) How about trains staying? (No +,hands, but a
comment that the railroad made this :town and contributed
substantially to the history of the community.)
22. Comment: We'd like to see the railroad turn -into a commuter rail.
22. Question: Will you need to pre -sell the units?
Answer: Typically, yes, we pre -sell once the project has been
approved (and there will be pre -construction pricing too ... 1)
Response: Good idea. We know Wolff/Lyon so we'll get in touch.
Thanks.
12. Comment: I would love to see something that is a blend: more '
contemporary yet appropriate to this context and respectful
of the historic buildings, like the trolley barn. I like the
blend I see in the slides of your other work. It might be good
to incorporate some live/work space for art studios, etc.. '
We'd love a SOHO loft without the exorbitant price tag. No
more mimicry and fake stuff; Fort Collins has enough
brightly colored clapboard stuff and Mountain Lodge motif.
Fit the Fort Collins context and build it to last!
13. Question: Have you seen the Emma Malaby grocery store? It has a
nice feel for a local market.
Answer: No, we haven't come across that yet. Well check it out.
14. Question: You say you're going to fit into the neighborhood. Define
"neighborhood."
Answer: We will address context of the immediate facing blocks as
well as the larger neighborhood context.
Follow-up comment: I would resent this project being all residential. I
want to see some commercial development too: Don't "down -
zone" this property.
15. Comment: In order to attract small local grocery stores etc.; there are
issues in the City's Zoning definitions that will need to be
addressed first, like the definition of "convenience store". It
makes the difference between a $56,000 building permit and
a $9000 one.
Response: We start with the vision for the site and then we work on
making it happen. This wouldn'tbe the first time that we
worked to revise the codes to make sbmethirig'happen.
16. Comment: Please no bars or night clubs; we don't want to *see 2.1 year
old kids out here at 2 am. 1
Answer: We might consider an upscale pub -type establishment
depending on the hours of operation and the percentage of
food to drink served. It would need to be appropriate for this
residential setting.
8. Comment: I have lived in Old Town for 20+ years and would like to
urbanize and downsize once I have an empty nest. I want it
to be affordable and well -designed,. sustainable/green-built.
I'm really looking for "co -housing" without the "co."
Response: You are in the demographic that we expect will be most likely
to be interested in this development. We are hoping that this
will be affordable to people with. middle incomes but please
note that we are not planning any. "affordable housing", per
se at this time. I . .
9. Comment: I hope you will use the existing trolley barn to -support the
neighborhood and provide a community asset. We'd love to
see it used for an art center, a farmer's market, etc.
Response (Coburn): We. are incorporating the trolley barn into our
thinking and design concepts for the project.
(Anne Aspen): The barn is a registered historic
landmark and the City will retain ownership of it. There are
many ideas that have been floating around about how best
to use it. These include a year round farmers market, and
also a transportation museum, which the City has received
grant funding for already. Unfortunately the City does not
have sufficient funding to do much- of anything with it right
now.
Follow-up Question: Maybe the developer could chip in some to make
something happen there?
Answer: Well certainly be open if something like that. came'up. '
10. Comment: I was born and raised in San Francisco next to'a.firehouse.. I . .
loved the mixed -use there and look forward to, Where. I liked'
Coburn's projects that they showed: I'd like to see a corner
store (NOT a 7-11 or typical convenience store) and a dry
cleaners at Block 33. I love the train... (others echoed .
wanting a corner store and dry cleaners, and that they loved
the train.)
11. Comment: You might talk with the Mason Street North developer to
coordinate complementary commercial services.
Neighborhood Meeting, well have more concrete plans and
information to share with you. Right now, we are just
gathering information.
4. Question: What is the minimum and maximum of people or units that
will be located on this site?
Answer: The zoning will allow 90-174 residential units. We have not
gotten far enough into the design to know exactly where, we'll
fall in that range. We will be gearing it.towards the middle
market, not the high end. The project will also be phased
and will evolve with a master plan. Also keep in mind that
the commercial element will probably be constant —if the
project is bigger, it will get more residential not more
commercial. Commercial might work well to buffer the train
too.
5. Question: What are the height restrictions?
Answer: The City has overlaying Codes to regulate the height. The
project will be not more than 4-5 stories but mostly 2-3
stories, well within the height restrictions. The parking
requirements will limit the height we build more than the
zoning regulations.
6. Comment: Traffic on Cherry Street is a big problem and it isn't going
away. It's especially bad when the train is crossing.
7. Question: In your presentation, you mentioned managing the impacts
of the railroad. Can you explain what you meant?
Answer: We are aware that the train will be a. significant factor'in the
design of this project. We intend to work with the train and
design the project to buffer the railroad by minimizing
vibration and noise from the trains. With that said, ,we have
a similar project that is near a train and though we worried
about the negative impacts the trains might bring, it's the
aspect of the development that residents say they like the
mostl What do you think about the trains?
Answers (from audience): The only time Lever worried about the trains
was sixteen years ago when I was expecting my son --the
hospital was on the other side of the tracks. Another
responded, "What train?"
commercial element that supports the neighborhood. We
will stay attuned to the sorts of uses that would benefit the
neighborhood.
2. Question: What will the project look like?
Answer: We don't know yet. What was great about the RFP process
we went through with the City was that we didn't have to
submit a design —the City was looking for qualifications only.
That allows us to be here today in a financial sense and it
allows us to spend time researching the neighborhood
context and concerns to incorporate them into the design.
We're working within a broad range of feasibility right now.
We want to hear your feedback and get ideas from you at
this point.
3. Question: What was the City looking for when they chose Coburn?
Answer: (Anne Aspen) The evaluation criteria listed in the RFP
included the. following:
"Does the proposal show an understanding of the project
objective, methodology to be used and results. that are desired from the
project? Does the Team have the financial capacity to undertake this
project? Is there sufficient evidence of pertinent and successful prior
experience in residential, mixed. -use, downtown'development projects?.
Have precious projects been delivered on time, at or under
budget, attractive,' sensitive to their context, functional outside and inside,
built with sustainable or green technology?;
Are all of the'required qualykations represented sufficiently
on the Development Team? Do the persons who will be working on the
project have appropriate skills, training and experience? Is sufficient staff
with the requisite skills assigned and available to engage in the project?
Does the Development Team have a local presence with sufficient -
dedication of staff to make dectsions,-attendfrequent meetings and
perform day to day Itasks? i
Does'the Development Team have previous experience
working successfully together and/or working successfully on municipal
projects or projects of similar size, scope, and nature? Does the
Development Team show an understanding of effective communication
methods when interacting with municipal development review teams or
similarly sized or diverse reviewing groups?'
Follow-up Question: What will be the range for :the sale price -per unit? • -
Answer: We want to tailor the unit prices to the middle range of Fort
Collins income. Next time we meet for our second
Communit, canning and Environmental S. ices
Current Planning
City of Fort Collins
NEIGHBORHOOD INFORMATION MEETING #1
PROJECT: Block 33: ,
DATE: February, 9, 2005
APPLICANT: Coburn Development, Inc. (represented by John Koval, Dan
Rotner, Pete Weber)
CITY PLANNER: Anne Aspen, Asst. Project Manager
FACILITATOR: Ginny Sawyer, Neighborhood Resources Office
The Applicant is proposing a mostly residential, mixed -use project on city -
owned land between Cherry and Maple on the north and south and Howes and
Mason on the west and east. This is a different type of project than is usually
the topic of a Neighborhood Meeting, in that the City owns the property and is
partnering on this project. The City selected the Applicant from a pool of 8
teams who submitted valid responses to a public Request for Proposal process
held in the Fall of 2004. The City hopes to achieve a policy objective with this
development of creating middle income downtown housing opportunities to
support Downtown by bringing disposable income and an increased 24-hour
presence here. The developer will ultimately purchase the property from the
City.
The meeting started at 7:00 pm. After a brief introduction to the process and a
brief presentation by the developer, the following discussion ensued (the
questioner or commenter is an audience member unless otherwise stated and
the answerer or responder is the developer unless otherwise stated):
QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, COMMENTS,
1. Question: Will the project be mixed -use?
Answer: The City desires mixed -use for this project. We have
experience with mixed -use projects of this sort. We will
evaluate a market study that is being generated right now for
us and determine the commercial/residential proportion
then. It will probably be mostly residential with a small