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HomeMy WebLinkAboutREDTAIL RESIDENTIAL - PDP - 26-01 - CORRESPONDENCE - REVISIONS (9)Forestry Existing trees have been identified in terms of species, size, removal and protection. We look forward to working with all concerned to make this an extraordinary and successful project we all can be proud of. Sincerely, �Q Jonlout President JP/hlb 15 Natural Resources 79 — Project has been redesigned so no easements are required. 81 — No construction will occur within the adjacent natural area or the Redtail hawk nesting site buffer. 83 — Wetlands mitigation plans are being provided. Transportation Planning 94 — See Current Planning sections 104, 112, and 113 above. (anything else that's related) 100 — All TIS issues have been addressed in this submittal. 200 — The TIS has been updated. Stormwater 170 — Done. 171 — The plan has been modified so no off -site easements are required. 172 — The plan has been modified so no off -site easements are required. 173 —The plan has been modified so no off -site easements are required. 174 — Done. 175 — The plan has been modified so no off -site easements are required. Retaining wall detail provided. Wetlands shown on grading plan as requested. Contour elevations better labeled as requested. Elevation tie-ins provided. 176 — 100 year HGL shown on storm sewer profiles. Water tight joints provided. Zoning 149 — Done. 150 — The landscaping will not be phased — the entire project will be constructed in one phase. 14 187 — Both sets of redlines are included with this submittal. Light & Power 10 — We request that a Utility Coordination Meeting be scheduled ASAP. Police 151 — Provided. Poudre Fire Authority 85 — Changed from private drives to public streets. Problem resolved. 86 — See modification request. 87 — Road width question resolved. All buildings have been fire sprinklered. 88 — See modification request. 89 — Second point of access has been provided from College by an emergency access way through the median between College and the frontage road opposite Coronado, and in addition, an emergency access way is being provided through the parking lot of Lots 9 and 15, Cameron Park. These two changes have the effect of reducing the dead-end length of the emergency access road for the Cameron Mesa / Redtail project from 900 feet down to 750 feet. This still is in excess of the 660 foot requirement, and accordingly all buildings are being fire sprinklered and a modification is being requested. 90 — Private drives have been replaced by public streets, resolving this problem. The building letters will be approved and locations are shown on the elevations. 91 — Provided. 92 — All buildings are being fire sprinklered. 93 — All 17 buildings are being fire sprinklered. 177 — Private drives have all been changed to public streets, solving this problem. 13 42 — There will be no phasing of this project. 43 — Done. 44 —.Done. 45 — Provided. Project has been redesigned so no off -site easements are required. 46 — Shown. 47 — Updated and provided. 48 — Done. 50 — Shown. 51 — Done. 52 — Signs shown. 54 — Done. 55 — Provided. 56 — Done. 57 — Done. 58 — Done. 60 — Scale corrected. 72 — Utility separation corrected. 146 — No off -site construction and thus no off -site easements required. 147 — Drainage report provided. 148 — Updated TIS provided. 163 — Done. 164 — Done. 180 — Corrected. 12 192 — Off -site sewer easement is recorded. Easement through the plat is existing water sewer easement. 193 — Acknowledged. Topic: Site Plan 70 — Acknowledged. 145 — All parking stalls are 17' deep, with a 2' overhang into either a sidewalk or landscaped area. The exception is area near buildings M, N, O and P. Those stalls are 19' deep since they face each other. 152 — The Tract designations appear as they do on the Plat. 160 — Acknowledged. Topic: Utility Plans 16 — Provided. 17 — Streets changed to public. See modification request regarding excess length. Minimum width requirements resolved. 20 — Resolved. 25 — Provided. 28 — Provided. 32 — Provided. An off -site construction easement will not be required. 33 — Provided. 35 — Private drives replaced with public streets. Minimums have been met. 36 — Pond outlet now entirely on project property. 38 — Done. 39 — Provided. 40 — Statement added. 41 — Provided. 11 157 — This issue has been addressed with Fossil Creek Boulevard going through to College Avenue as a public street. 165 — Done. 181 — See modification request. 182 — Now that Redtail Court and Fossil Boulevard are public streets, the 30-foot width should be resolved. Poudre Fire Authority has agreed to a modification for this. 184 — Done. 185 — The Redtail hawk buffer has been placed on the plans as requested. 189 — Acknowledged. Topic: Landscape Plan 69 — All easements and right-of-ways are shown on the landscape plan. 158 — The line weight for the utilities have been darkened, but still shown in a gray tone. 159 — Acknowledged. Topic: Plat 63 — Done. 64 — Corrected. 65 — Labeled. 77 — Provided 161 — Plat language updated. 162 — Language removed. 179 — Corrected. 183 —Railroad ROW shown. 186 — The Redtail hawk buffer has been placed on the plans as requested. 191 — Done. 10 23 — Current date has been added. 24 — Vicinity map size has been corrected. 26 — Soils investigation report reference corrected. 27 — Statement annotated correctly. 29 — Indemnification statement added. 31 — Contours shown and labeled. 34 - The plan has been modified so no off -site easements are required. 37 — Arrow labeled and dimensioned. 49 — Sidewalks completed. 53 — Manholes sized and labeled as requested. 59 — Pedestrian crosswalk added. 61 — Vicinity map corrected. 62 — Curve data provided. 66 — Plat and legal now correct. 67 — Plat updated and correct. 68 — Plat corrected. 144 — Done. 155 — We are agreeable to contribute the cost for design and construction of the "ledge" immediately to the west of the northernmost pond, which shall be designed and constructed by the City in the railroad easement in conjunction with their Mason Street Transportation Corridor project, and furthermore are agreeable to guarantee our financial contribution for same by bank letter of credit in an amount as is reasonably agreed based on cost estimates. 156 — Public street has been provided as requested. Furthermore, parking lot access and buildings have been arranged in a way to minimize traffic and maximize safety for children. N 196 — We request that the City reevaluate its position on the issue of a public street connection between Fossil Boulevard and Cameron Drive in light of: A. The new public streets being provided, B. Our commitment to contribute financially to the design and construction of the "ledge" in the railroad easement to the immediate west of the northernmost pond, which ledge shall be for the purpose of supporting a bike / ped trail to be designed and constructed by the City as part of its Mason Street Transportation Corridor project, and C. Other information and considerations which have come to light since this comment was made on January 23, 2002. 197 — Please see revised and modified modification request. 198 — Public streets have been integrated into project as requested. 199 — Redlines and comments have been responded to. Engineering Topic: General 18 — Completed. 19 — Provided. 30 — Two sidewalk connections have been added — one at the south end of Redtail Court and one at the north end. We will build the 5' wide walks to the west property line so that when the bike / ped trail along the railroad easement is constructed, connections can be made. 71 — Acknowledged. 78 — Done. 143 — Following are our responses to Engineering items 16 — 78 from the staff comments dated August 28, 2001 not addressed elsewhere: 19 — Striping plan has been provided. 21 — Preamble title has been corrected. 22 — Legal description has been provided. 3 B. The LUC intent to allow active, visually interesting features of the buildings to dominate the streetscape is achieved: Interesting and strong architectural elements of our buildings are dominant and garage doors, although clearly visible, are subordinate. . C. The configuration of the lot or other physical condition make the application of the basic garage door standards impractical: The difficult constraints of the site (railroad to the west, open space to the south, ponds to the east and north), coupled with our desire to maintain maximum natural areas and open space, require that most of the garages be at the front of the buildings rather than accessed by alleys or elsewhere. D. The proposed design substantially meets the LUC intent to line the streets with active living spaces: Central in our project is a linear park with mail kiosk, meandering walks and benches. All 8-plex condominiums open onto colored, patterned concrete courtyards, central to each building, which provide connectivity to sidewalks and the central park area. In this fashion we successfully achieve the active living space requirement notwithstanding the presence of garage doors. E. The proposed design substantially meets the LUC intent to create pedestrian - oriented streetscapes: The design of this project meets this requirement with pedestrian -friendly buildings, a central park, courtyards, walks, connectivity between the buildings and central park, street trees, and other project landscaping. F. The proposed design substantially meets the LUC intent to provide variety and visual interest in the exterior design of residential buildings: The design of this project meets this requirement through the aesthetic use of shed roofs, gables, masonry, a variety of siding materials, garage door windows, stepped down rooflines, set back entrances, balconies, porches and other exterior design considerations. 140 — As per Section 3.2.2(D)(1), this project provides pedestrian and vehicle separation to the maximum extent feasible as is described above. Furthermore, where complete separation is not feasible, such as in the central areas in front of buildings, the hazards are minimized by the use of colored, scored concrete courtyard areas to indicate the multi -use nature of these areas. 194 — Comments have now been addressed. 195 — Both requested fundamental layout concept changes have been made as requested: 1) a public street connection through the Hilltop Farm neighborhood to connect Fossil Boulevard to College Avenue, and 2) public streets integrated into the Cameron Mesa site. 7 and also provides for such facilities in a way that is enhanced and superior to the alternative. D. Very importantly, the alternative design we have proposed minimizes the impacts on natural areas and features by avoiding running a major roadway through the middle of a pond, provides distribution of traffic without exceeding level of service standards, provides connectivity to College (Cameron signal light and planned Fairway signal light), provides ped / bike connectivity to commercial shopping center (via planned Mason Street Transportation Corridor) to Wal-Mart shopping center and north to other Fort Collins shopping areas, and maintains approximately 30% of the site as private open space protecting the existing natural resource and wildlife attributes and maintaining a use complementary to the City's Redtail Natural Area immediately to the south. 114 — See response to 112 above. 115 — See modification request. 117 — This problem is being mitigated by installation of an emergency fire access across the median opposite from Coronado which, coupled with an emergency access easement across the parking lot of Lots 9 and 15, will allow fire and emergency trucks from College a second point of access to the project as well as a second point of access to Cameron Park and Fossil Creek Office Park. This has the effect of reducing the number of feet of the project's dead-end cul-de-sac from 900 feet to 750 feet. However, since this still exceeds the 660 foot standard, a modification is being requested. See modification request. 118 — See response to 117 above. 119 — The project has been redesigned, replacing private drives with public streets, as requested. 137 — Not applicable as no commercial buildings are being proposed in this project. (The office buildings originally proposed have all been converted to residential buildings and / or deleted.) 138 — Section 3.5.2(E)(5) provides that alternative garage door treatments be accepted by the director if: A. The LUC intent to prevent residential streetscapes from being dominated by protruding garage doors is achieved: In our project the buildings have been juxtaposed and no buildings are opposite each other, which assures that the garage doors do not become a repeating or dominating motif; and in addition, the buildings have other architectural features which are dominant. ll Cameron Drive connection were built (such traffic will not meander down through Cameron Park). C. Extension of this roadway south would involve massive condemnation of private property or two right angle turns and a bridge over the pond. The first alternative is abhorrent. The second alternative would not be very safe with two right angle turns, would be extraordinarily expensive to build, and would disrupt and / or virtually destroy the northernmost small pond along with such habitat and wildlife which presently exist there. 113 —While the general standard provided in Section 3.6.3(B) provides in general that "proposed developments be designed to be safe, efficient, and attractive, considering use by all modes of transportation", Section 3.6.3(H) provides for alternative compliance which is clearly relevant in the case of this Redtail project, and accordingly which we request please be applied. A. As part of our project, we are contributing financially to the design and construction cost of the "ledge" which the City will construct in the railroad right- of-way at the west edge of the northernmost pond, as part of its Mason Street Corridor Project, which will provide pedestrian and bicycle connectivity from our project north to the southern terminal of the Mason Street Transportation Corridor as well as east to the public sidewalk along Fossil Boulevard. In addition, it will permit the bike / ped link between the planned Fossil Creek bike path and such Mason Street Transportation Terminal to be made. B. Based on our transportation studies, it is clear that the vast majority of traffic -from the Mason Street Transportation Terminal and general area will access College at the planned stoplight at the corner of Fairway and College, and that this would be the case even if Fossil Creek was extended south to Cameron Drive. Also, it is clear from our transportation study that virtually all of the traffic from the Cameron Mesa neighborhood of our Redtail project will access College Avenue at the existing Cameron Drive — College stoplight, and that this would be the case even if a north — south Fossil Boulevard — Cameron Drive connection was built. And furthermore, it is desirable and planned that the Cameron Mesa / Redtail people who wish to proceed north to the Mason Street Transportation Corridor do so by walking or biking two or three blocks along the planned bike / ped trail. Accordingly, even if the Fossil Boulevard — Cameron Drive roadway connection were made, it would be used by virtually no north — south vehicular traffic. C. The alternative of not connecting Fossil Boulevard and Cameron Drive still maintains facilities for bicycles and pedestrians to the maximum extent feasible 5 With regard to the use of the existing plat, firstly, the plat is 20 years old and out of date in terms of current engineering requirements and secondly, while the existing plat could be used, the resulting project would be very mediocre and, although it would satisfy the LUC "street facing" requirement, it would fail to achieve numerous magnificent LUC creative potentials, goals and objectives, which are possible, but only if we work at it. 105 — Requested meetings have been held. 106 — Many of the modifications and variances previously requested are no longer necessary. 107 — Previously our project had a total of 19 buildings, all facing major walkway spines and accessed by private drives, however, we have modified the plan at staff's request and now have reduced the number of buildings from 19 to 17, all of which have front facades which face public streets except for one, Building I, which has a front facade facing a 200' connecting walkway connecting the primary entrance to a public street sidewalk. 108 — Public streets have been installed as requested and major walkway spines deleted. 110 — Public streets have been installed as requested and density reduced by 20%. Overall project density.is only 11.5 units per acre. 111 - Public streets have been installed as requested and density reduced by 20%. Overall project density is only 11.5 units per acre. 112 — While, as a matter of principle and policy as per LUC provisions 3.6.3(B) and the South College Access Management Plan, it may be desirable to have more off -College north — south connectivity, various factors militate against this for the very short section of north — south connectivity that theoretically could be possible by extending Fossil Boulevard south. A. It is only possible now (20 plus years after original conceptual transportation plan) for this north — south street to run a few blocks because it is blocked by Spradley-Barr at the north and a large pond at the south and City natural area south of that. B. Transportation studies show that even if it were possible to achieve Fossil Boulevard — Cameron Drive connectivity, virtually no traffic would use this roadway. This is because i) the Cameron Mesa / Redtail traffic will use the College / Cameron Drive signal light to gain College Avenue access, and would continue to do so even if the Fossil Boulevard — Cameron Drive connection were built, and ii) when the Mason Street Transportation Terminal is built, the vehicular traffic to and from same will use the planned stop light at the intersection of Fairway and College and would continue to do so even if the Fossil Boulevard — n CITY PROPOSED F. SSIL BOULEVARD - CAMERON L_.IVE CONNECTION n ua m.r `wmsncom. 0 m wooairt w�rnm Sri 6 C _ w- r�r1 I' f i ll! Lt OF" xa® o 3 the property was then developed as an office park with offices built on most of the lots; c) a conceptual transportation plan was drawn up, proposing the idea that Mason Street could be extended south through Cameron Park, through 38 acres of open space (now Redtail Natural Area) and connecting with a public street behind the Nissan dealership; d) this plan never was acted on and never addressed the questions of how private property would be obtained - purchase, condemnation, or otherwise; e) nor was there any consideration given to the impact this plan would have on natural areas; f) Walmart was allowed to be built, effectively blocking this potential connectivity; g) Fossil Creek Office Park PUD was superimposed on top of existing platted ground and partly built out; h) the City purchased 38 acres for Redtail Natural Area, effectively blocking any extension of this conceptual roadway south; and i) the City was left with 100 yards of Fossil Boulevard, which now can neither be extended north or south because of major ownership, use, natural area, and geographic impediments. It is possible to extend Fossil Boulevard south over a pond, through a natural area, and through our proposed project to connect with Cameron Drive as originally requested by the City, however the cost would be prohibitive (about $750,000) and the benefit would be negligible (our traffic engineer projects that it would receive very little use). E I LAGUNITAS REDTAIL, INC. 3944 JFK Parkway, Fort Collins, CO 80525 970-226-5000• Fax 970-226-5125 July 24, 2002 Mr. Troy Jones, Planner Current Planning City of Fort Collins P. O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 RE: Redtail Project / Response to Staff Comments Dear Troy, The following are our responses to staff comments from the staff project review letter to us dated January 24, 2002. Responses will be organized according to departments and comment numbers. Advance Planning 103 - We have met numerous times with various staff people, and, as a result of our discussions, have modified our project plans substantially to bring them into conformity with LUC provisions to the extent reasonably possible. We are agreeable to provide a letter of credit for our contribution, in an amount as agreed based on estimates, for the cost of design and construction of a "ledge" in the railroad easement to the immediate west of the northernmost pond, which ledge shall be for the purpose of supporting a bike / ped trail to be designed and constructed by the City as part of its Mason Street Transportation Corridor project. In addition, we have redesigned the project with public streets instead of private drives as requested. Current Planning 104 — Our summary of the area's history is: a) Cameron Park was platted by Cameron Park First Filing in 1978 and Cameron Park Second Filing in 1981; b) the front half of 1