HomeMy WebLinkAboutBELLWETHER FARM - PDP - 46-04 - CORRESPONDENCE - (4)Larimer No.2 may utilize the existing Taft Hill Road culvert in the interim. No offsite
construction will be required at this time.
Susan, I appreciate your having arranged this constructive meeting, and I look forward to your
confirming understanding by J.R. Engineering and me of the agreed upon direction as stated
above.
Sincerely yours,
e ?
Lester M. Kaplan
cc. Lee Watkins
The trail alignment will cross the New Mercer Ditch near the Cherry Street alignment. This
crossing location is in the approximate location where the Cherry Street Channel crosses the New
Mercer Ditch. Ultimately, the city will construct a siphon for the ditch where it crosses the
Channel. This siphon can be extended slightly to allow the trail to cross the New Mercer Ditch
without a bridge. The City offered to pay for the construction of the New Mercer Ditch siphon
that will ultimately be required for the Cherry Street Channel extension.
Storm Water
The City requirement on the Bellwether Farm property regarding the storm water channel
between the end of the Cherry Street extended right-of-way and Taft Hill Road is for one-half the
required easement width to be shown on the plan. From the City's standpoint, this. requirement
may not adequately set the stage for the construction of this channel for two reasons: 1) Locating
the easement along the south property line where it could be combined with an adjoining, future
easement would conflict with an existing City sanitary sewer line located in a 30 ft. wide
easement along the south property line, and 2) The City envisions the channel to be curvilinear,
which would be difficult to achieve with only one-half the easement width on the Bellwether
Farm property.
In order to obtain assurance that adequate easement width and design flexibility are available for
the future construction of this drainage channel, the City suggested that the entire five acre area
south of New Mercer ditch be designated as a public easement. Such an easement would
accommodate both the trail to be constructed with the development of Bellwether Farm and the
drainage channel at some uncertain time in the future. The current requirement of the applicant
for storm drainage easement dedication is approximately 48,010 s.f. (75 ft. x 1,280 ft. divided by
2), about one acre, compared with the requested five acres by the City.
After discussions about the City purchasing the additional acreage and the uncertainty of a
portion of the five acres having development potential after the channel is constructed, the group
agreed upon the following arrangement:
The applicant would dedicate a public easement on the portion of the property south of
New Mercer Ditch. The easement would accommodate the trail, drainage channel,
detention related to Bellwether Farm, and would be specifically defined in the course of
the development review process.
2. In consideration for this public easement, the City would agree to a) waive the storm
drainage basin fee for Bellwether Farm, and b) assume responsibility for any cost not
covered by the developer of the property south of Bellwether Farm for a City- required
connection from this south property to the trail through Bellwether Farm.
The City will require double detention pond capacity to allow for retained storm flows to be
released at a later date. The ponds located north of the New Mercer Ditch are to be sized to
contain City required storm detention and Water Quality detention volumes per County standard.
The additional detention volumes for twice the volume requirement can be met with a pond to be
located on the south side of New Mercer Ditch. The extra pond will no longer be required once
the drainage channel is constructed. Therefore, the additional pond may be located anywhere on
the south property, outside of the floodway. All of the detention ponds may discharge either to
the New Mercer Ditch or the Larimer Cannel No.2 east of Taft Hill. Flows discharging east to
Imago Enterprises, Inc.
140 Palmer Drive • Fort Collins . Colorado 80525
Phone: (970) 226-6819 Fax: (970) 207-9256 Email: lesterkaplan@comcast.net
September 14, 2004
Susan Joy, Development Review Coordinator
Department of Engineering
City of Fort Collins
281 North College Avenue
Fort Collins, CO 80524
Re: Bellwether Farm P.U.D.
Susan:
Thank you for arranging the September 10, 2004 meeting to discuss trail and storm drainage
questions in preparation for the submission of the Preliminary Plan for Bellwether Farm. J.R.
Engineering and I consider the meeting to have been highly beneficial. To help assure that we are
all on the same page regarding what was decided at this meeting, I have prepared the following
summary for your review:
Attendees: 1. Dave Averill, City of Fort Collins, Transportation Department
2. Glen Schlueter, City of Fort Collins, Storm Water Department
3. Mike Herzig, City of Fort Collins, Engineering Department
4. Susan Joy, City of Fort Collins, Engineering Department
5. Mike Brake and Lee Watkins, J.R Engineering (for the applicant)
6. Les Kaplan, Imago Enterprises, Inc. (applicant)
Pedestrian/ Bike Trail
Dave Averill explained that the trail connecting the Cherry Street/ Impala Drive intersection to
Taft Hill Road is viewed by the City as an alternative to the extension of Cherry Street. The City
wants this approximately %. mile connection installed with the development and considers the
paved shoulder to Taft Hill Road as acceptable to receive bike and pedestrian traffic from a
completed trail. The trail will be 8 ft. wide, concrete, and constructed at existing grade.
The City agrees to leave to the developer's discretion locating the trail on either the north or south
side of New Mercer Ditch. Currently, the developer prefers the south side in order to better
separate the trail from the rears of lots backing up to the ditch. In that the trail is substituting for a
roadway, Dave agrees that one-half the cost for constructing the trail would be eligible for
reimbursement from the developer of the property directly south of Bellwether Farm. A
Reimbursement Agreement will be prepared by the City.
The City anticipates the needs for a future trail connection to the south. However, not knowing
the design or location of an anticipated drainage channel about 75 ft. in width through the
approximately 5 acre portion of Bellwether Farm south of New Mercer Ditch, any details
regarding the placement or nature of this connection would be hypothetical at this time. Most
likely, the developer of the property south of Bellwether Farm would be required to participate in
the cost of such a connection to the trail constructed through the Bellwether Farm property.