HomeMy WebLinkAboutIN-SITU - MODIFICATION OF STANDARDS - 46-02 - MEDIA - APPEAL TO CITY COUNCIL (3)r •'
IN --SITU
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River, and the building would extend into
the 300-foot buffer zone between develop-
ment and the top bank of the Poudre.
Before going through the long and costly
process of submitting a proposal to the
Fort Collins Development Review
Process, Ripley advised In -Situ to
approach the Planning and Zoning Board
with their requests for modifications to the
two Land Use Code requirements. .'
On December 16, 2002, the Board met to
review the request. Armed with a recom-
mendation for approval by the Natural
Resources Department, the P&Z Board
approved the modifications unanimously.
Within days, however, an appeal to their
decision was issued by Council members
Eric Hamrick and David Roy, stating that
the P&Z Board failed to properly interpret
and apply City Code.
The appeal went before city council on
February 4, 2003. Mika] Torgenson, chair-
IN -SITU
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had not failed to properly interpret the
Code,, upholding the modification request
approval. Hamrick and Roy gave the two
dissenting votes, 'stating 'concerns that
granting such modifications would set a
precedent for future modification requests
and that the modifications would reduce
protection of the Poudre River wildlife
habitat. "Redeveloping along the Poudre
River is a once -in -a -lifetime opportunity. It
must be treated as a natural area first. I was
very concerned with how greatly the stan-
dards were being modified," said Roy. In-
Situ's preliminary design showed a reduc-
tion of the buffer zone by as much as 50%
in some areas and the length of the build-
ing would extend to almost 255 feet.
According to Torgenson; many of the
concerns expressed by Roy were,the same
sort the Board had wrestled with before
granting the modification request. But
Torgenson still felt P&Z had made the
right decision.'But he did noffe'el that all
the arguments presented by the dissenting
councilmembers made sense. "Hamrick
showed a disturbing lack of understanding
man of the Planning and Zoning Board,
spoke at the -meeting citing the P&Z's
authority to grant modifications when "the
modifications perform equally as well or
greater than the Code." Ripley spoke, cit-
ing the performance standards that In -Situ
would adhere to in order to be granted the
modifications. The performance standards
included enhancing the ecological charac-
ter of the site along the Poudre River with
planting native vegetation within the
buffer zone, developing a wetland area for
wildlife habitat if passible, reversing the
degradation of the site from years of mis
use and provide for passive recreational
use by tying in the bike and pedestrian trail
way -
Ripley concluded with an appeal of her
own to Hamrick and Roy, "In -Situ is will-
ing to take an abused site and restore its
natural habitat. We are still unclear why
the approval was appealed." - ,.
After council members asked their own
questions, council voted 4 to 2 that P&Z
-see IN -SITU page 23
of City Code with his arguments" Both
the P&Z Board and Natural Resources
Department, felt the modifications were
justified by the enhancements In -Situ
would make to the land along the Poudre
River. Other concerns about the property
would be addressed in the Development
Review Process. '-
For In -Situ, this is a small victory in the
uphill Battle to get their vision to a reality.
If the decision would have gone against In-
Situ's request, the company would have
abandoned their first choice and "probably
would have had to consider another area,
outside the city," said co-owner Craig
McKee. "We like this city a lot, it suits the
values and goals we have for the compa-
ny." Fort. Collins would have missed out
on, a very spell -paying and environmental-
ly concerned company, said Ripley.
In -Situ currently employs sixty-five peo-
ple. Their goal is to build on the East
Lincoln site in two phases: The first phase
'Would be a 25,000 sq. foot building; with a
total build -out of just over 40,000 sq. feet
as,they'ezpand'in the future.'Plans will
now go forward to present their proposal,to
the Development Review Board.
In -Situ Site
Modifications
Squeak Bv Council
11
-03
by Angeline Grenz -13
Forum orresnondent
In -Situ, a Laramie, Wyoming -
based company, is off to a rocky
start in their quest to relocate to
Fort Collins. After a unanimous
approval by the Planning and
Zoning Board (P&Z), In-Situ's
request for building site modifi-
cations was appealed by two
council members,= with little
explanation given. Early this
month, a council vote upheld the
P&Z's decision, saving the high -
paying employer from becoming
one of many businesses to look
outside of Fort Collins bound-
aries to build.
In -Situ, manufacturer of water
quality monitoring equipment
and other environmental prod-
ucts, knew what they wanted
when they began looking at Fort
Collins six months ago. The com-
pany had outgrown an outdated':
location in Laramie and wanted
access to a larger pool of quality
employees for their high -paying
positions. In -Situ also wanted
something very specific to Fort
Collins, a location along the
Poudre River that would comple-
ment the type of work they do and
would give employees the ability
to bike to work along the Poudre
River bike trails and walk or bike
into Old Town for lunch, accord-
ing to Linda Ripley of VF Ripley
.Associates, the planning compa-
ny for the project.
The site In -Situ selected was
105 East Lincoln Avenue, situat-
ed along the Poudre River,
between Hydro Construction and
Team Petroleum. The site cur-
rently sits empty aside from an
old house on stilts and a couple of
cottonwood trees. A six-foot
fence surrounds the otherwise flat
piece, of property. In the past, the
site was used to store truck trail-
ers and other equipment.
Though the site was ideal for In -
Situ, two obstacles lay before the
company. The building they
wanted to construct 'would be
wider than the 125-foot limit
allowed by the Land Use Code
for development along the Poudre
see IN -SITU page 21