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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCSURF RESEARCH CAMPUS - ODP - 4-04B - MINUTES/NOTES - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING32. 1 am very concerned about the timing of improving the 1-25/Prospect Road interchange. Traffic levels should not get so congested to reach failing levels of service. This is what is happening at 1-25 and State Highway 392 in Windsor. The City, County and State should identify as many funding sources as possible, including surrounding land owners, to generate the necessary funds to keep up with the growth. A Special Improvement District should be considered to deal with the cost just like what was done at Prospect and Timberline Roads and the section of roadway between Prospect and Drake Roads. A. Thank you for this comment. Large-scale developments on the fringe of the Growth Management Area are always challenged to construct the necessary public improvements in a timely manner. s Q. There is no funding source, at this time, to widen Prospect Road between Summitview and 1-25. In all likelihood, funding could be a combination of developer frontage obligations, contributions from the Street Oversizing Fund and the Capital Improvement Fund (subject to voter approval and continuation of the one -quarter cent sales tax). 27. Will the Sand Dyke ditch be relocated? A. Yes, the plan is to shift the ditch. 28. Could you review the land swap between C.S.0 and the City of Fort Collins? A. The City of Fort Collins owns 142 acres at the southwest quadrant of East Prospect Road and 1-25 which is scheduled to be traded to C.S.U. In exchange, the C.S.U. owns 267 acres north and west of the Foothills Research Campus which is scheduled to be traded to the City of Fort Collins. These 267 acres are adjacent to the City's Reservoir Ridge Natural Area and would be added to the City's Natural Areas Program. 29. 1 read where as a condition of the trade, the City of Fort Collins will require that some portion of the 143 acres being traded to C.S.U. must remain open? A. Yes, that is correct. The City desires that views to the mountains and open space are preserved as an attractive feature upon entering the City from Prospect Road. These views do not necessarily have to be in one contiguous open space but could be distributed throughout the entire 142 acres. 30. In developing the balance of the Research Park, will C.S.U. consider only companies associated with renewable energy? A. No, C.S.U. will prioritize companies that spin-off from research and development labs associated with the University but opportunity to develop within the park will be open to any company that contributes to the function and identity of the park. 31. Will the jobs at AVA Solar be good paying? A. We anticipate that there will be between 158 and 200 jobs associated with engineering and research and development. Manufacturing jobs will pay approximately $37,600 annually which is higher than the average for the area. A. This answer is being researched. 22. Is the long term interchange improvement funded? A. No, not at this time. 23. What about creating a Special Improvement District that includes the private property owners that would directly benefit from the improved interchange as a local funding source? Such an S.I.D. could possibly replace or at least supplement CDOT funding. This was used successfully to improve the Prospect and Timberline intersection and a segment of Timberline Road between Prospect and Drake. If the adjacent property owners create an impact, and need road improvements ahead of the schedule for public financing, then these property owners should bear the burden to construct the necessary improvements. Since there is development potential on all four quadrants, there now may be a critical mass of landowners to form an S.I.D. Building public improvements to accommodate the planned growth is part of the City's requirement that development be served by adequate public facilities prior to being approved. A. Good comment. An S.I.D. is an option to accelerate construction of public improvements that are needed to serve proposed development but have no public funding source. 24. 1 live in Boxelder Estates and concerned about speeding on Summitview. A. Summitview Drive was not included in the scope of the T.I.S. for the long range projection for the O.D.P. Summitview Drive is still under the jurisdiction of the Larimer County Engineering Department. At the time the area would annex into the City, Summitview would be classified as a collector roadway which is designed for a volume of traffic ranging from 2,500 to 5,000 vehicles per day. If speeding is a problem at this time, please contact Larimer County for a discussion of traffic calming measures. 25. Are there any plans to widen Prospect between Summitview and 1-25? A. Not at this time. 26. But at some point, there will come a tipping point beyond which Prospect Road becomes congested and reaches failing level of service. If each individual project is evaluated in isolation, then no one single project will ever be the trigger mechanism for widening the road. 6 18. And what about the short range analysis? A. The short range assumes there are no improvements to the interchange. A right turn lane would be needed for eastbound traffic on Prospect turning right to go southbound on the interstate on -ramp. 19. It seems that adding 600 employees to Prospect Road would have an impact that would require widening of the roadway like the recent improvements between Summitview and the river. A. Response from Ward Stanford, City Traffic Engineer, submitted in writing after the meeting: Due to AVA Solar's shift changes being at 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM, their manufacturing employees will be traveling on Prospect between 6:30 AM to 7:30 AM and 6:30 PM and 7:30 PM. Those periods are outside of the normal rush hour periods of 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM and 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. Some of AVA Solar's administrative and management staff will be traveling Prospect during the normal rush hours, but they comprise the smaller traffic volume of the proposed plant and, therefore, will only be a small part of the traffic stream on Prospect during the rush hour periods. Prospect flows quite well outside of the rush hour periods and, therefore, the AVA Solar traffic during that time is easily accommodated on Prospect. The larger group of employees, the manufacturing staff, will be utilizing Prospect during the lower volumes times of the day. Only a few stragglers from the manufacturing shifts and the Office/Management staff will be utilizing Prospect during the higher traffic volume rush hours. Trip generation from administrative staff is significantly smaller than the number of manufacturing employees and is not expected to impart any significant impact to Prospect Road. Due to existing volumes on Prospect being significantly less than Prospect's design capacity in this 2 lane section, it is not expected that additional lanes will be required to handle the traffic from this project. Some signal retiming at the frontage road and at Summitview will most likely be in order, but significant roadway improvements are not expected. 20. Will the plant run on a 24-hour/7-days per week basis? A. Yes. We anticipate that production employees will be rotated such that they will work four days on with three days off. Office employees, however, will work a typical 8:00 to 5:00 shift Monday through Friday. 21. So when will a right -turn lane for eastbound Prospect to southbound I- 25 on ramp be constructed and who will pay for it? 5 14. What is the size of the cell? A. Two feet by four feet. 15. Could you describe a typical residential application? A. Yes, assume that a watt of electricity from the grid costs $2.00 per watt. A typical house will use 2,000 watts or 2 kilowatts. Our product will be able to generate a watt of electricity for significantly less than $2.00. We estimate that a typical residential application could cost between $15,000 and $20,000. The payback period would be between 6 and 7 years after which the house would be powered by free electricity for the life of the house. 16. Are there any federal tax credits available to the homeowner? A. Don't count on it. A model for federal tax credit is Germany where there is about a 15% to 20% credit is available to implement a national energy policy to reduce reliance on foreign oil and nuclear power. 17. 1 would like to switch the discussion to traffic. East Prospect Road is very congested during the morning and afternoon peak times. This project will obviously add to the existing traffic. What road improvements will be made to mitigate this increase in traffic? A. The Transportation Impact Study is divided into two parts. The first part addresses the entire 142-acre O.D.P. and projects full build -out to the long range future defined as the year 2030. The second part is more refined and reflects the specific operating characteristics of AVA Solar using a short range future defined as the year 2012. Both the long and short range timeframes assume an annual growth in background traffic. The scope of the study was approved by the City of Fort Collins Traffic Operations Department. The long range future assumes that CDOT has constructed the planned re -configuration of the 1-25/Prospect Road interchange. This would a design similar to recently improved 1-25/Harmony Road interchange. This assumption is based on the current draft environmental impact study being managed by CDOT. These improvements include signals at the ramps, dual lefts and frontage roads that are further separated from the interstate. Based on full build -out of the O.D.P. combined with the reconstructed 1-25/Prospect Road interchange, the O.D.P. is feasible from a traffic operations standpoint and the affected intersections comply with the City of Fort Collins level of service standards. 4 8. How many total employees are you anticipating with the first phase? A. Our estimate is that we could hire up to 600 employees. We anticipate that there would be roughly 158 office employees with the balance devoted to production functions. Having said that, however, please be aware of the risk of taking a manufacturing prototype from the lab into commercial production. For example, in the Silicon Valley, high-tech operations that proceed from research to commercialized production experience an 80% failure rate. Our plan is to expand the facility on a modular basis. It could take up to two years to expand up to the 600 employee level. We consider this schedule to be very aggressive. 9. Would you describe your operation as equipment -intensive or labor- intensive? A. Our process is highly automated on the theory that the less glass is handled, the less opportunity for breakage. To minimize handling, we will use robotic equipment. There is still a need, however, for employees engaged in the manufacturing process. 10. Will there be a smokestack and air pollution? A. No, the facility would be similar in nature to a semi -conductor plant. 11. Is there enough electrical power in the area to run the plant? A. Yes, the City of Fort Collins Light and Power Utility has three megawatts available to the site. But, one additional circuit is required. 12. Is there sufficient market demand for your product? A. Yes. Our product will enable customers to generate electricity during sunlight hours in excess of what a normal household or business consumes. During daylight generation, our customers can sell electricity back to the grid which can then export it to wherever it is needed. In other words, the meter will run backwards. When electricity is consumed, the meter will run forward. 13. Will the plant use the solar cells? A. Yes. 9 2. Where is the AVA Solar parcel? A. It is 25 acres just north of the existing pond. 3. Could you describe the nature of the operation? A. It is a manufacturing facility that will make solar photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight into electricity. These would be glass panels that are coated with a thin film deposition that is less expensive than building photovoltaic cells from crystalline silicon. The process uses a chemical compound called cadmium telluride as the prime ingredient. The facility will also include an office component and serve as corporate headquarters. We expect the new building to contain about 200,000 square feet. 4. Is AVA Solar a private company or a subsidiary of Colorado State University? A. We are a private company that is a spin-off from research efforts begun and incubated at C.S.U. We are primarily funded by private equity with C.S.U. owning a small percentage of the company. We consider ourselves to be independent of C.S.U. but our desire is keep the technology local and participate with C.S.U. in the development of the Research Park. 5. Will CSURF own the land? A. Yes, CSURF will own the land and be the developer of the park. 6. Are there any toxic materials associated with the manufacturing process? A. As mentioned, we will be using cadmium. This is very stable and similar to the characteristics found in a common nine -volt battery. We are engaging in a pilot production now in small facility at East Mulberry and 1-25. We have been producing for about six to nine months and have no environmental issues. This is a demonstration facility of about 15,000 square feet. Our full scale facility will be about 200,000 square feet so there will obviously be a larger quantity of cadmium but we expect no environmental problems with toxicity. 7. Will you be employing C.S.U. students? A. Yes, we plan on recruiting C.S.U. mechanical engineering graduate students. Our roots are in C.S.U. and Fort Collins and we desire to become a locally -oriented company. 2 NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING SUMMARY PROJECT: Colorado State University Research Foundation (CSURF) Research Campus O.D.P. DATE: November 14, 2007 APPLICANTS: CSURF and AVA Solar CONSULTANTS: Mr. Roger Sherman, BHA Design, Inc. Mrs. Cara Morgan, BHA Design, Inc. Mr. Matt Delich, Delich and Associates Mr. Armand Trimm, Neenan Archistruction CITY PLANNER: Ted Shepard The meeting began with a description of the proposed project. The project is located at the southwest quadrant of 1-25 and East Prospect Road. It consists of 142 acres. The site is the former City of Fort Collins Resource Recovery Farm. It is located between the Colorado Welcome Center and 1-25. As proposed, the Overall Development Plan includes a future development phase for AVA Solar on approximately 25 acres. This is a light industrial use that will manufacture solar photovoltaic panels and include offices for administrative functions. An estimated 600 to 700 employees will be needed for this first phase. Future phases are expected to be a mix of offices and light industrial. The site was recently rezoned by City Council from C, Commercial and P-O-L, Public Open Land to E, Employment. In addition, the site was traded by the City of Fort Collins to Colorado State University Research Foundation (CSURF) in exchange for 267 acres of land in the northwest area of the Growth Management Area near the foothills next to the Reservoir Ridge Natural Area. Unless otherwise noted, all responses are from the applicant or the consultants. QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, COMMENTS 1. What is the timeframe for development for AVA Solar? A. We would like to complete the review process and break ground in April of 2008. Construction is expected to take approximately nine months.