HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAMBRIDGE HOUSE APARTMENTS - MODIFICATION OF STANDARD - 6-03A - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - VARIANCE REQUESTis unparking. Since the accesses to West Plum Street are the only two
accesses to the site, an unparking vehicle from a perpendicular space
will likely back to the south so that it is facing north in order that
it can enter West Plum Street in a forward direction. Under the
proposal, an entering vehicle (20' long) will have sufficient area
for storage, completely out of West Plum Street The unparking
maneuver takes 5-10 seconds. Since the entering vehicle has the
right-of-way, the unparking vehicle must yield to an entering vehicle.
Therefore,. the only time an entering vehicle would be delayed is if
the unparking maneuver was begun before the entering vehicle arrived.
As such, the delay might be 1-5 seconds. With this little delay, the
probability of two or more entering vehicles arriving in the 1-5
second window is very small. There is little chance that a second
entering vehicle would be stopped in the travel lane of West Plum
Street. It is concluded that the proposal would not create an unsafe
condition.
To reinforce this conclusion that it will not be an unsafe
condition, accident data was obtained from the Fort Collins Traffic
Operations Department. The current situation is that the parking
setback is 10 feet. This is not even enough for one vehicle to wait
for an unparking vehicle without extending into the travel lane of
West Plum Street. In the last 21-i years, there were three reported
accidents. One accident occurred during the peak hour (S:OOpm).
Police were not called. It was a minor property damage only accident.
There were no details regarding this accident. The report was filed
by one of the parties. A property damage only accident occurred at
about 7:OOpm. It was a "hit and run" accident where a vehicle struck
a parked car. This accident was not caused by insufficient parking
setback, since one of the vehicles was not moving. The third accident
occurred at 4:OOam. It was a property damage only accident. Police
were not called. The report was filed by one of the parties after the
fact. There were no details regarding this accident. This accident
history indicates that the current condition is not unsafe. Since the
proposed condition will be an improvement, it would also not be
unsafe.
The variances from the parking setback standard at each access
will not be detrimental to the public health, welfare, and safety.
Please call me with any questions or if you require additional'
information regarding these variance requests.
Sincerely,
Matthew J. Delich, P.E.
July 15, 2003 File: 0349LT0I
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Ms. Susan Joy
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City of Fort Collins Engineering Department
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281 North College Avenue
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P.O. Box 580
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Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580
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Dear Susan:
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The following is a request for variances from Drawing 19-
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Minimum Off -Street Parking Setback Distance in the "Larimer
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County Urban Area Street Standards, October 1, 2002, for the
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expansion of the Cambridge House Apartments. These variances
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pertain to the two existing driveways that access West Plum
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Street.
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The east driveway is approximately 300 feet west of Shields
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Street (on -centers) and the west access is approximately 580 feet
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west of Shields Street (on -centers). Both of these accesses have
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perpendicular parking, with the first parking stall located
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approximately 10 feet south of the south curb of West Plum
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Street. West: Plum Street is classified as a collector street.
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With the expansion of the Cambridge House Apartments, the two
existing accesses to Shields Street will be closed. The two
accesses to West Plum Street will be the only accesses to the
- Cambridge House Apartments. There is a transportation impact
study underway for the expansion of the Cambridge House
Apartments. Traffic forecasts indicate that both accesses will.
generate 300-350 daily traffic movements. Therefore, according
to Drawing 19-03, the minimum off-street parking setback distance
is 50 feet from the flowline of West Plum Street.
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In order to achieve the minimum parking setback, 4-5
parking spaces will be lost on each parking bay. This would
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total 12-15 parking spaces. This site is "under parked" and
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afford to lose many parking spaces. As such, it is
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proposed that the two parking spaces closest to West Plum Street
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be eliminated and be turfed appropriately. It is further
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proposed that the next two parking spaces be designated as long
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term spaces. This will be accomplished by signing them as
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employee parking. These would be for employees of the Cambridge
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House management office and employees of the future retail/office
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uses that are proposed on the ground floor of the new building.
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It is expected that these employees would riot: move their vehicles
as often as a typical Cambridge House resident. This would
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increase the setback to a "standard parking space" to almost 50
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feet.
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The primary reason for the minimum parking setback is so
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that an ingressing vehicle is not forced to stop in a travel lane
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on West Plum Street at a time when a vehicle in a parking space
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TransF ation Services
Engineering Department
July 29, 2003
Matthew Dehlich, P.E.
2272 Glen Haven Drive
Fort Collins, CO 80538
RE: Cambridge House — Variance request for Reducing the Minimum Parking Setback
Dear Matthew,
This letter is in response to the variance request, dated July 15, 2003, to reduce the
minimum parking setback off of Plum Street from the 50' required by code to 28'.
The variance request is'granted for 28' from the current flow line.
This variance request does not set a precedence or change the application of our design
standards in other situations. If you have any questions, please. contact Susan Joy at
221-6605.
Sincerely,
Susan Joy '
Development Review Engineer
Cc: Troy Jones, file
281 North College Avenue • P.O. Box 580 • Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580 • (970) 221-6605 • FAX (970) 221-6378
j www.fcgov.com