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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAMBRIDGE HOUSE APARTMENTS - MODIFICATION OF STANDARD - 6-03A - CORRESPONDENCE - CITIZEN COMMUNICATION (3)4. Cambridge House's addition extends out to the sidewalk on Shields. The Turning Point building to St. Thomas' North (at the corner of Plum and Shields) also extends out to the sidewalk on Shields. With buildings on both sides of our property extending considerably beyond our building, it will be visually blocked in. Visitors coming to Lutheran Campus Ministry already have a difficult time getting to our building. There is no access to our parking lot from the south, because a median was installed in the mid-1990s, and due to traffic, we can not make a U-turn at the corner of Shields and Plum. Drivers trying to find St. Thomas will be forced to slow down, and probably double back trying to find us, further adding to Shields' congestion. Thank you for your consideration, John Eisele President, Board of Directors Lutheran Campus Ministry 805 South Shields Fort Collins, CO 80521 970/482-2160 August 21, 2003 Troy Jones City Planner Community Planning and Environmental Services 281 N. College Ave. Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580 Dear Mr. Jones, I am writing you as President of the Board of Directors of St. Thomas Lutheran Campus Ministries at 805 S. Shields. We oppose the proposed Modification of Standards for the Cambridge House Apartments, File #6-03A. I have several concerns: 1. After reading your informational letter, the current standard seems to be roughly one parking space per bedroom. I notice that in February, your office reduced the number of spaces by 38 spaces to a total of 175. Now Cambridge House wants to further reduce the number of available spots by 15 spaces. If I read your letter correctly, they want to increase the number of bedrooms by 48 and decrease the number of parking spaces by 53. I find it difficult to believe that 252 people will use 25% fewer parking spaces than 204 people! 2..Lutheran Campus Ministry uses, all of .our parking spaces, and in fact, allows Turning Point' (our neighbor to the North).to contribute money in order to use eight of our spaces. We are unable to accommodate their three large vans due to the size of our parking lot. At this time, Cambridge House allows Turning Point to park the vans in their lot. Lutheran Campus Ministry does not have the space to allow Cambridge House residents to park in our lot because we are already full. 3. During the school year, West Plum St. is VERY congested. It is the preferred bicycle and pedestrian route from the Campus West area, and car traffic is also heavy. Due to the volume of bicycles and pedestrians crossing Shields at the traffic light, cars have great difficulty making a right turn from Plum onto Shields. The siting of Cambridge House's addition along Shields Ave. will close off access from their parking lot onto Shields and force residents to enter and exit the lot on West Plum adding to the existing congestion. In addition, the North Cambridge House entrance is too narrow to.allow cars to enter and exit at the same time. This condition can only worsen the,congestion. Chronic congestion creates irritated, frustrated. drivers. Frustrated drivers are a bad mix with large numbers of bicycles and pedestrians, and I fear that forcing more traffic onto Plum will help create a tragic accident....,. "`i_. F.