HomeMy WebLinkAboutREDTAIL RESIDENTIAL - PDP - 26-01 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 2 - MODIFICATION REQUESTconnection of its major walkway spine to the Fossil Creek pedestrian /
bike path as well as to the Mason Street Transportation Corridor. Also, it
provides connectivity via public transit and public streets to schools,
parks, library, retail, office and employers.
E. Promoting excellence in design and construction of planned residential
neighborhoods, buildings, outdoor spaces, and streetscapes.
F. Incorporating innovative architecture and planning concepts including
front and back roof step-down design; central park -courtyards concept
merging landscape, hardscape, pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle uses;
interesting building elevations; and aesthetic building frontages.
G. Providing sense of community and quality of life, which are inherent in
and flow from the essential elements of the project: a) three small
residential communities; b) each comprised of residential buildings
surrounding central parks and courtyards; and c) all creatively merging
landscape, hardscape, pedestrian and vehicle uses in a way which
enhances aesthetics, safety and quality of life.
We respectfully ask for your favorable consideration and approval of our requested
modifications. Thank you.
Sincerely
V#%^
JorPProuty
President
JP/hlb
15
from Cameron Drive, College Avenue and Fossil Boulevard respectfully, and c) in
addition, the single office building be assigned a Coronado Court address which shall
be clearly visible from such public street.
Accordingly, we respectfully request that addressing be allowed as described above for
the reasons that:
A. The granting of the modification would not be detrimental to the public
good — building locations will be logical and clear, enhancing the
convenience for residents and guests, and enhancing emergency
response access;
B. Nor would it impair the intent and purposes of the LUC — that the project
and buildings be aesthetic, attractive, convenient, and logical, consistent
with safety and emergency access;
C. Our proposal as submitted will advance the public interests and the
purposes of the standard equally well or better than a plan that complies
with the standard — our proposal results in clearer and more logical
building identification and if public street address numbers are assigned,
each building would be a different four digit number not in logical
sequence because of east -west and north -south address grid
considerations;
D. And the granting of the modification would result in substantially
addressing important community needs — affordable housing, proximity to
work places, internal pedestrian connectivity, external pedestrian
connectivity, excellence in design and construction, innovative
architecture and planning, and neighborhoods which provide sense of
community and enhance quality of life, as is more fully described below.
Furthermore with regard to all of the foregoing modification requests, our plan
achieves LUC purposes and addresses community needs by:
A. Fulfilling a community need for affordable housing.
B. Providing housing immediately adjacent to offices and nearby to many
other workplaces.
C. Providing internal pedestrian connectivity and permeability by means of
the central park -courtyard designs integrating landscape, hardscape,
pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle uses.
D. Providing pedestrian connectivity. between the residential neighborhoods,
and the existing offices to the east by means of Cameron Drive, Frontage
Road, private drives, public and private sidewalks, and interconnecting
walkways. Furthermore, the project provides easements for future
14
Also we do not want red fire lane lines to be painted in either the residential courtyards
or the office parking lot. We believe they are unsightly and unnecessary. The fire lane
route will be just as apparent with signage but without the red curbs. The fact that the
fire lane is not for parking is also naturally apparent, because the fire lane -travel lane
will be a straight -through route on black asphalt in contrast to scored concrete parking -
courtyard areas (in residential portion of project).
Accordingly we respectfully request your approval to allow us to use multiple scored
lines in the concrete as our method for defining parking stalls and signage to designate
fire lanes, as recently has been permitted in our similar mixed -use projects, for the
reasons that:
A. The granting of the modification would not be detrimental to the public
good — the public residents and guests will still know where to park; .
B. Nor will it impair the intent and purposes of the LUC — but rather it will
contribute to LUC intents and purposes relating to aesthetics, good project
design, quality of neighborhood, and de -emphasis / softening of parking
areas;
C. Our proposal as submitted will advance the public interests and the
purposes of the standard equally well or better than a plan that complies
with the standard — when the scored lines fill with dirt they become
permanently dark and defined in contrast to paint which wears off every
year or so;
D. - And the granting of the modification would result in substantially
addressing important community needs — affordable housing, proximity to
work places, internal pedestrian connectivity, external pedestrian
connectivity, excellence in design and construction, innovative architecture
and planning, and neighborhoods which provide sense of community and
enhance quality of life, as is more fully described below.
Modification #5 - Addressing
The different residential portions of the project will be given street addresses from
College Avenue, Fossil Boulevard, and Cameron Drive respectively as street addresses
are given "from the street from which primary access to the property is taken" [Section
3.6.2 (L)(5)].
Furthermore, for clear identification of buildings and to be consistent with recent Fire
Department policies (e.g., our Promontory residential project on Boardwalk next to the
post office), we request your approval, if necessary, to designate residential buildings
"campus style" as follows: a) as you enter each neighborhood (Cameron Mesa from
Cameron Drive cul-de-sac, Mill Farm from College Avenue and Redtail Pond from
Fossil Boulevard) each building be assigned an alphabetical letter beginning with the
first building and proceeding in logical fashion, b) address numbers be placed at the
entrance to each neighborhood on prominent entry features so they are clearly visible
13
It should be noted that all the residential buildings in Cameron Mesa, Mill Farm, and
Redtail Pond, including this building, will be fully fire sprinklered for maximum fire
protection.
Accordingly, we respectfully request your approval to allow us to use a private drive for
this building in excess of 150 feet as proposed, for the reasons that:
A. The granting of the modification would not be detrimental to the public
good — safety would not be jeopardized as the building is fire sprinklered,
and public access is made safer and more convenient;
B. Nor would it impair the intent and purposes of the LUC — to the contrary, it
permits the intent and purposes of the LUC to be better realized, in
particular with regard to building siting, which permits the building to look
out over a detention pond and natural area and reduces the negative
impact of the railroad tracks and industrial warehouse to the west and
north respectively;
C. Our proposal as submitted will advance the public interests and the
purposes of the standard equally well or better than a plan that complies
with the standard — better access, better siting and better fire safety (fully
sprinklered building);
D. The granting of the modification would result in substantially addressing
important community needs — affordable housing, proximity to work
places, internal pedestrian connectivity, external pedestrian connectivity,
excellence in design and construction, innovative architecture and
planning, and neighborhoods which provide sense of community and
enhance quality of life, as is more fully described below;
E. And the extraordinaryphysical conditions and situation unique to this site
would result in extreme practical difficulties and undue hardship if the
standard is strictly applied — as is described above.
Modification #4 — Fire Lane Identification and Parking Stall Demarcation
It is our strongest wish that the courtyard portions of the residential project be
successful as an aesthetic pedestrian -friendly area integrating landscape, hardscape,
pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle uses.
In addition to other design features, we feel it is imperative to not introduce ugly, white
painted parking stall lines into this scored colored concrete courtyard area and the
environment we are creating. Zoning has recently approved alternative parking space
demarcation by means of three scored lines for other projects and we request the same
here.
12
A. and B. The granting of the modification would not be detrimental to the public
good or impair the intent and purposes of the LUC -rather, the opposite is
true in that allowing somewhat longer major walkway spines permits this
unique and creative LUC planning tool to be very successfully used to
solve the difficult planning challenges of this site, to enable the project to
become viable, and to enhance aesthetics, safety, pedestrian friendliness,
sense of community and quality of life in these neighborhoods;
C. Our proposal as submitted will advance the public interests and the
purposes of the standard equally well or better than a plan that complies
with the standard — the use of somewhat longer major walkway spines
permits this project to go forward with all its attributes and benefits as
more fully described in our attached Statement of Planning Objectives;
D. The granting of the modification would result in substantially addressing
important community needs — affordable housing, proximity to work
places, internal pedestrian connectivity, external pedestrian connectivity,
excellence in design and construction, innovative architecture and
planning, and neighborhoods which provide sense of community and
enhance quality of life, as is more fully described below;
E. And the extraordinary physical conditions and situation unique to this site
would result in extreme practical -difficulties and undue hardship if the
standard is strictly applied - as is described above..
Modification #3 — Dead End Private Drives Over of 150 Feet
Cameron Mesa, Mill Farm, and the Redtail Pond east building do not have any dead -
end private drives over 150 feet in length. However, the Redtail Pond west building is
accessed by a private drive approximately 200 feet in length.
The west part of the Redtail Pond neighborhood is severely restricted with the railroad
tracks to the west, the detention pond to the south, established industrial buildings to
the north, and a relatively narrow access way to the east.
Furthermore, the site is relatively narrow at its east end, and relatively wider at its west
end. Thus the west end is the best building site location because of the property's
configuration, and also the best location from a planning standpoint. Accordingly, the
access drive will be somewhat longer than 150 feet.
It would not be possible to move the building to the east in order to shorten the drive
because the building would not fit satisfactorily on the site at this location, access would
be impaired and the detention pond area would be more adversely impacted.
We believe that the location and orientation of this building as shown is good or better
than moving it east to shorten the drive. We have located it so the building is oriented
primarily to the south, overlooking the naturalized detention pond and open space rather
than facing the railroad tracks and embankment.
11
walkway "qualifies as a major walkway spine" [Section 3.5.2 (C)(1)(a)] which is "at least
35 feet in its smallest dimension, with all parts of such outdoor space directly visible
from a public street" [Section 5.1 Definitions, Major Walkway Spine].
On Cameron Mesa the north walkway spine provides connectivity for four residential
buildings to the Cameron Drive sidewalk without crossing drives. Two buildings have
connectivity within 350 feet, while the other two have connectivity at 500 feet and 600
feet respectively. The south walkway spine provides connectivity for six residential
buildings to the Cameron Drive sidewalk without crossing drives - three within 350 feet
or less, one at 500 feet, one at 625 feet, and one at 700 feet.
If the walkway spines were both reduced to 350 feet each, this would have the effect of
eliminating six of the ten residential buildings. If the roadway in the project was
changed from drives to streets, this would have the effect of eliminating four or five of
the residential buildings because of the lack of flexibility with which streets must be built
and related right-of-way requirements.
Alternative possible layouts without major walkway spines and with public streets would
be similar to one or more of the three site plans included above. They would be very
pedestrian unfriendly, would lack sense of community, and would lack the amenities of
design and quality of life that flow from good creative planning.
Such alternatives would a) destroy the project concept of residential buildings
surrounding.a large open space linked to same with courtyards; b) eviscerate our
Paramount goal of building affordable housing; c) run counter to City plans' purpose and
goal to achieve an attractive, relatively more dense housing in conjunction with
complementary open space; d) convert two to three acres of the proposed natural area /
open space and landscaped area into asphalt, concrete, and public right-of-way
introducing an aesthetic eyesore and causing the loss of sense of neighborhood and
quality of life; and e) impact the remaining natural areas very adversely.
What we are proposing would be good or better from the standpoints of project design,
aesthetics, creative architecture — geography — planning relationships, central gathering
areas, perimeter major walkway spines, sense of neighborhood and community, and
sensitivity to natural areas.
x
(The major walkway spines in both Mill Farm and Redtail Pond are within the 350-foot
requirement.)
(All parts of all major walkway spines are viewable from public streets.)
Accordingly, we respectfully request a modification to permit the increased lengths of
these two Cameron Mesa major walkway spines as described above for the reasons
that:
10
Accordingly, we respectfully request that you conclude that we have, under these
unique circumstances, used reasonable efforts to comply with the regulation, that the
costs of compliance clearly outweigh the potential benefits to the public and would
unreasonably burden the proposed project, and that reasonable steps have been
undertaken to minimize the adverse impacts resulting from noncompliance.
And furthermore, we respectfully request that these residential buildings not be required
to have an entrance facade facing a street, but rather they be allowed to have one
facade facing and directly connecting to a major walkway spine except for the two
carriage houses which we request be allowed to connect to such major walkway spines
by means of internal courtyard crosswalks and walkways, for the reasons that:
A. The granting of the modification would not be detrimental to the public
good — because we are providing safe and convenient vehicle access by
means of private drives, and excellent fire safety with all residential
buildings being fire sprinklered;
B. Nor will it impair the intent and purposes of the LUC — because we are not
in fact impairing such intent and purposes in any way, but rather are
championing and realizing ambitious LUC intents and purposes, in
particular, creating edifying residential neighborhoods with aesthetics,
sense of community, pedestrian -friendliness, and project -wide use of
major walkway spines;
C. Our proposal as submitted will advance the public interests and purposes
of the standard equally well or better than a plan that complies with the
standard — as is described above and in our attached Statement of
-Planning Objectives;
D. The granting of the modification would result in substantially addressing
important community needs — affordable housing, proximity to work
places, internal pedestrian connectivity, external pedestrian connectivity,
excellence in design and construction, innovative architecture and
planning, and neighborhoods which provide sense of community and
enhance quality of life, as is more fully described below;
E. And the extraordinary physical conditions and situation unique to this site
would result in extreme practical difficulties and undue hardship if the
standard is strictly applied — as is described above.
Modification #2 — Major Walkway Spines
A building entrance may be up to 350 feet from a public street sidewalk if a primary or
double frontage. entrance faces and opens directly onto a connecting walkway which
"connects to a public street sidewalk without requiring pedestrians to walk across ...
driveways" [Section 5.1 Definitions, Connecting Walkway] and which connecting
E
SITE PLAN / USE OF EXISTING PLATTED STREETS
n,
K:,IVC7L _40"I W r n 1
OF LOTS 5 AN[) 9, CAMEF
LARINAER COUNTY
ice• .,� c ap, ar
g' c
a7
CORCN,
6.1
��a f
++ ce O
LE^-•^•• CULSY:1
lei I.,
We believe that the plan we are proposing is vastly better than any attempt to make use
of the original March 26, 1981, Cameron Park Second Filing Plat. This Plat laid out
streets in anticipation of a connection to the south, which is now blocked by the City -
owned 38 acre Redtail Natural Area immediately to the south and by Spradley-Barr and
Walmart to the north. It was adopted over two decades ago with little sensitivity to the
adjacent natural areas or consideration of potential impacts on them.
91
SITE PLAN / FOSSIL BOULEVARD - COLLEGE AVE CONNECTION
I
7
SITE PLAN / FOSSIL BOULEVARD - CAMERON DRIVE CONNECTION
m
nam.v, nw.�w
ns� a
:..0 OF:
sow a
ea.aua'
orrcx
l•J
B. The cost of compliance is about $750,000 based on preliminary
engineering and estimates for major earthwork and grading, bridge
construction (over detention pond), and roadway construction.
C. The impact and damage to the natural areas would be considerable.
D. The Army Corps of Engineers approval would be required, but might not
be forthcoming because of the magnitude of the impact and the weak
cost -benefit ratio.
E. Even if constructed, our traffic engineer has advised us. that Fossil
Boulevard — Cameron Drive roadway would have very little practical utility
as the vast majority of vehicle traffic from Cameron Mesa will proceed to /
from the College - Cameron signal light, while the vast majority of vehicle
traffic from north of the project will proceed to / from the planned College —
Fairway signal light. Minimal vehicle traffic will proceed north and south if
this road is constructed, quite simply because there are few / no
destinations presently or likely in the future to drive to on this two block
length of roadway.
The notable exception, we believe, would be pedestrian and bicycle traffic
to -the proposed Mason Street Transportation Corridor station to the north,
and we are proposing an extensive network of major walkway spines
within our project which provide connectivity both within the project and to
such station in conjunction with the Fossil Creek pedestrian / bike path.
F. The excessive costs of compliance clearly outweigh the minimal roadway
benefit to the public coupled with the major environmental detriment to the
public.
G. Four major walkway spines, additional connecting walkways and
pedestrian friendly private drive — courtyards have been included to
maximize connectivity, safety, aesthetics, and quality of life. These are
reasonable steps which have been undertaken to minimize the negative
impacts of non-compliance.
5
Modification Request #1 — Street -Facing Facades
"Every front facade with a primary entrance to a dwelling unit shall face the adjacent
street to the extent reasonably feasible" [Section 3.5.2 (C)(1)], and "every building
containing four or more dwelling units shall have at least one building entry or doorway
facing an adjacent street ..." [Section 3.5.2 (C)(2)]. These standards are subject to an
exception for multi -family buildings with more than one front facade in which case only
one front facade needs to face a street sidewalk [Section 3.5.2 (C)(1)(b)].
The foregoing LUC provisions cannot be strictly applied to the Redtail residential project
because there, in fact, are no existing adjacent streets and it is not reasonably feasible
to construct any due to the extreme difficulty of the site configuration. The roadways
within the project are private drives.
Cameron Mesa units are west across the ponds and up the hill from Cameron
Drive cul-de-sac. It would not be physically possible or reasonably feasible to
orient them with facades facing the Cameron Drive sidewalk. (However, they will
all face major walkway spines.)
Mill Farm affordable housing units are west up a hillside from College Avenue
and are laid out in a creative east — west fashion because the land configuration
is a narrow east — west rectangle. One of these residential buildings faces
College, but it is not physically possible or reasonably feasible to orient the other
five buildings in the same fashion.- (Again, however, they will all face major
walkway spines.)
Redtail Pond units are adjacent to Fossil Boulevard, but because of the extreme
limitations of the site, and configuration of this parcel, it is not physically possible
or reasonably feasible for these buildings to face Fossil Boulevard cul-de-sac.
(Again, however, they will all face major walkway spines.)
In addition, it would not be reasonably feasible to extend public streets into this project
as a) the right-of-way requirements would eviscerate the project, b) even though it
appears with 63.5% (7.084 acres) natural area / open space and landscaping in this
project that there would be plenty of area to accommodate public right-of-ways, this is
not the case because the major portion of the site is comprised of naturalized detention
ponds and buffers, and c) this extension of public streets would involve the unnecessary
negative impact and destruction of a large amount of natural area.
We have made reasonable efforts to comply with this regulation, but planning and
engineering simply does not work given the extreme limitations and anomalies of this
site and the constraints that the immediately adjacent surrounding uses present.
A. See the site plans below which show the consequences of extending
Fossil Boulevard west, south and east (through Cameron Mesa) to
connect to Cameron Drive as requested, and which also show the
consequences of extending Fossil Boulevard east (through Mill Farm) to
connect to College Avenue. We do not believe these consequences are
desirable or in the public's best interest.
4
No Text
harnesses the power of the private sector to solve a major portion of our
community's affordable housing problem, and thus presences our community's
diversity, inclusiveness, ethical underpinning, and mental health.
Redtail Pond is located immediately adjacent to the planned Fossil Boulevard
cul-de-sac. Units overlook naturalized detention ponds and private open space
to the south.
The project is an inf ill project between offices and retail to the east, warehouse -office to
the north, City -owned Redtail Open Space to the south, and two hundred foot wide
elevated railroad track embankment to the west. The project has been designed with
high sensitivity to the three naturalized detention ponds located between the residential
and the office portions, and to the east of the residential portion.
New connectivity is being provided between project residential, project office and the
existing office to the east by means of Cameron Drive, Frontage Road, private drives,
public and private sidewalks and interconnecting walkways. Furthermore, the project
provides easements for future connection of its major walkway spine to the Fossil Creek
pedestrian / bike trail as well as to the Mason Street Transportation Corridor. This new
connectivity is in addition to connecting via the.existing Fairway -College -Cameron
public -streets.
2
LAGUMTAS REDTAIL INC.
3944 JFK Parkway, Suite 12 E, Fort Collins, CO 80525
970-226-5000 • Fax 970-226-5125
,December 19, 2001
Planning and Zoning Commission
City of Fort Collins
281 North College Avenue
Fort Collins, CO 80525
RE: Redtail Project / Modification Requests
Dear Planning and Zoning Commission Members:
Introduction
Redtail is a unique mixed residential use project consisting of three complementary sub -
neighborhoods adjacent to each other which make use of this difficult infill parcel in a
way which incorporates good planning, good architecture, and respect for
environmental considerations. They are: Cameron Mesa to the west, Mill Farm to the
east, and Redtail Pond at the northwest comer. All units are residential condominiums
for -sale.
Cameron Mesa is located on the mesa west of the planned Cameron drive cul-
de-sac. Units overlook two naturalized detention ponds to the east, one to the
north, and thirty-eight (38) acres of rolling Redtail Open Space to the south. The
double frontage buildings front onto major walkway spines, which provide safe
pedestrian connectivity within the neighborhood and to public street sidewalks.
They also open onto pedestrian -friendly courtyards, which provide connectivity to
the central park, and which functionally and aesthetically merge landscape,
hardscape, pedestrian, bike and vehicle. The large central park includes a plaza
area, a mail kiosk, and numerous small sitting / tot lot areas for informal
socializing.
Mill Farm is located on a small hill previously the home of Mill Brothers Nursery.
It overlooks College Avenue to the east and has mountain views to the west. A
major purpose of Mill Farm is to create a very attractive neighborhood of
affordable housing for sale to qualified purchasers with affordability guaranteed in
perpetuity, and furthermore to have the City join us in creating a model of how
the private sector with public assistance at the front end only, can build
affordable housing which remains affordable forever. This model, if replicated,
1