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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLARKS NEST - PDP - 36-00 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - PLANNING OBJECTIVESThe land use for the property meets the standards set in this section of the LUC. The density for the property is to the standard twelve units per acre. The infill nature of the property is evident upon observation of the area and the infrastructure that is developed surrounding the property. The project provides the variety of housing types required by the LUC. The greater majority of this neighborhood has been single-family residential. More over the mile square section that this property sets also is dominated by single-family homes. Adjacent to this property and more recently multi -family type housing of the apartment and condominium varieties have been added to this neighborhood. The townhome style of housing has been limited in the area. This project helps provide a balance in the housing types in this district of the City. The orientation of our homes it to the adjacent street. This is a district criterion that is met with the project design. The short fall of this development is its strict conformance to the requirement of adjacency to parks, open space, or community facilities. Though these amenities are provided within the distances prescribed, the classification of Harmony Road negates our property connectivity to these spaces. This issue is discussed in detail in the Modification to the Standards and Alternative Compliance application that we are submitting as part of our application. Our project is providing a private park for the use of the public and the residents to meet the requirement for open space. This park is highly visible and accessible to all of the residents and to the general public. This park area is contiguous and touches two public right of ways that make access available to all. This park area being a part of the storm drainage facility is provided with gradual slopes that add to the usability of the area. The development standards focusing on block standards are met by this development. Though these standards specify areas of much larger tracts of land, the requirements for height, setback, location, and building frontages are met through our design. In reviewing our design, we see that the property meets the general and specific requirements of the LUC and should be reviewed in a positive light. We believe that the design and the project will be a positive addition to the fabric of the Neighborhood and the City and should be approved by the reviewing agencies and allow the project to proceed to the building stage. 0 Native plantings are used in the open space set aside area for the Mail Creek drainage. The area between the street through the drainage and to the north edge of this set aside area is landscaped to limit the consumption of water, provide a visual break between the homes and the major arterial, and to provide appropriate turf cover and planting to a drainage way. The City Specifications will be adhered to with respect to the protection of existing trees. Care will be taken to limit and separate the construction work from the stream area to be maintained. The high traffic areas of this project, notably the pedestrian traffic areas are the areas where high water consumption and high maintenance are used and will have the largest impact to the Public and for the Homeowners. From a prescriptive point of view the landscaping plan meets the requirements for size, variety, and proportions. Water consumption is regulated and grouped as to need and impact. Soil amendments are provided with the design instairation to better utilize the water and to have a significant impact visually. Regular maintenance of the property will be assured and undertaken by the Association. Each Homeowner by covenant will be required to be a member and supporter of the Association and its work. Parking areas will have the number and types of trees and shrubs as required for parking areas. The landscaped spaces greatly exceeds the minimum required percentage of parking lot landscaping with respect to the expanse of paved surface. Berming is used to buffer the parking areas from the view from Public spaces. Landscaping will maintain the appropriate separation of plantings and underground utilities and streetlights. The variety of trees and landscaping will provide privacy for the Homeowners, provide visual interest and variety year round, and enhance the character of the homes of this development. The specific Zoning requirements that apply to this project are found in the LUC Division 4.5 titled Medium Mixed -use Neighborhood District. The residential intent of this property meets the purpose of this zoning district by providing a concentration of housing that has easy access to transit and a commercial district. The Community College offers these amenities providing commercial opportunity to educational services. The Public Library also provides this opportunity by providing a literary source for the residents as well as a commercial core by providing computer access to the Internet and the Web. The project meets the permitted use criteria of the zoning under the residential use category with its multi -family character. The architectural character of the project is similar in form and massing to the surrounding neighborhood. The design of our buildings is a primary two-story building with single story opposing forms for the garages and front porches. The form and style is similar to that found in the single family areas. The multi -family area to the west is of primarily three story buildings. Our project provides a transition between these larger buildings and the single family homes. The orientation of the homes is to the pedestrian circulation spaces. This space is primarily found between the street and the home so this criterion for the orientation being pedestrian intensive and facing a public street is met by this design. All homes will have walkways that connect the home to the pedestrian circulation system on a local and community wide basis. There are two buildings that are not constructed to the build -to - line that connect to the internal Connecting Walk System which allow these units to meet the intention of the LUC that all home are to be oriented to a public street. The primary building material that will be used with the design of the homes will be wood siding. This siding will be painted and accented with trim and cornice detailing of complimentary colors to the base color of the buildings. The Main body color will be neutral earth tone colors with accents in darker tones and hues that blend with the main body color. The roof materials will be of a high profile asphalt shingle that compliments the color scheme found on the homes. These elements are common to the area and will allow this project to coordinate and fit well with the surrounding properties. The windows and doors will be scaled to the residential user in size and shape. All of these elements will be detailed to accent the pedestrian scale. No high glare surfaces will be used on the buildings found on this development. The landscaping for this project are used to reinforce the pattern of streetscape and used to shape the front yard space for the homes. The trees along the streetscape will provide interest to the pedestrian scale and physical comfort as they use the sidewalk system at this site. The plan incorporates the existing trees along Harmony Road. These are maintained, though not significant at this point, because they offer maturity to the site when it is first finished. The requirement for full stacking of the streetscape is provided formally at the sidewalk and in an irregular pattern as it transitions to the homes to provide a varied view of the homes as you progress along the street. Due to the location and surrounding uses buffering is not a requirement. The existing conditions, that of the masonry wall along the west property boundary calls for a landscape treatment that dramatizes the structure, use it as a back drop, and softens its impact in the selection of plantings that are staged in front of it. The required parking for this residential land use is provided in accordance to the LUC requirements. Each of the homes is a two bedroom design. Each of the homes is provided with a single car garage. The LUC requires 1.75 parking spaces per unit. The balance of the parking is provided in two separate parking areas along the circulation spine. The environmental concerns found on this site will be minimal. No excessive noise will be generated on this site that exceeds City noise ordinances. No air quality standards will be compromised by the residential activities found on this property. This site being an infill and being situated in proximity to the Transfort route may help reduce air quality problems because vehicular trips may be eliminated or reduced in length because of the infill nature of the property. No source of glare is anticipated from the site. There are no know significant historical features of the property nor are there any known historic events that occurred on the property. Water quality standards are being enhances through the incorporation of extended storm water detention on the site. A Natural Habitat area has been identified on the property that of the west -end of the Mail Creek drainage away. This stream is a Storm Drainage channelized construction that from time to time carries water east along Harmony Road to the combined Mail Creek / New Mercer Canal structure that passes under the railroad, Harmony Road, the Walmat site and under College Avenue before appearing to see the light of day again. This water course does not follow the original drainage way. This was altered at a time in previous generations when the drainage was altered to allow for continuous farming of this section of land. No aquatic habitat is to be found in this drainage due to the intermittent nature of the water flows. Flows are concentrated during major storm events. No significant plant community exists on this site. There is no knowledge of the existence of any rare or endangered species in this natural area. The trees that exist on site appear to be approximately fifteen to twenty years old and to be volunteers. The Russian Olive and the Chinese Elm both are listed on the Cities list of nuisance species. The Cottonwoods that are on site appear to be a non -cotton producing verity. The Russian Olive will be removed and replaced with a Cottonwood species because of the detrimental nature of the olive in natural areas. There is no evidence of raperian habitat or activity on this property. We will be providing an additional setback from this drainage way to enhance the natural quality of this area. We will maintain the native quality of the Harmony Road frontage that is developing along the north side of the street. We will duplicate the native turf cover over this set aside zone for this natural area. There will be Public access to the area from Harmony Road as well as from Starflower Drive. Hazards as defined by the LUC including flooding, materials, and point of access view triangles are avoided by this design. The storm drainage basin study notes and all other known reports concur that this property is not within a floodplain. The drainage studies prepared for this property meet the design criteria set forth by the City. The needs for fire protection are provided for as well. Proper fire protection is provided with the public water supply system and within the design with fire protection access to any point of all of the structures being within 150 feet. Fire access lanes are provided through the site and in areas of potential conflict of access and parking that would impede the access these areas are marked as "no parking fire access lane." The safety of the residents of this development is important to the Developer as well as being important to the City. To this goal the Developer has separated the circulation systems of pedestrians and vehicles to as great an extent possible. The vehicle circulation is primarily limited to the internal circulation spine of internal drive, driveways and garages. The pedestrian circulation is focused on the other side of the homes. Each home has a front porch that defines the pedestrian space and orientation of the homes. In the areas that the two systems need to cross, the crossings provide a change of color texture and material. These traffic -calming techniques are used to show the predominance of the pedestrian users over the vehicular circulation. The pedestrian path will also be elevated above the vehicle space in the locations that they are contiguous. The safety of the residents is also provided by the lighting for the project. Each of the front porches will be provided with lighting that will illuminate the front door area and the walkway that leads to it. The rear door and the garage door will be equipped with lights that will allow safe circulation to and from the home. These lights will also illuminate the drive isle to allow vehicles to safely transition through the development. There is a pedestrian circulation path that connects the units that are interior to the site to the surrounding transportation network. This circulation path will be illuminated by low level ballard type path lighting that lights the way for safe circulation. The Code requirement for limitation of lighting from any light source is also complied with in this project. All of the lighting sources on the site are down directed. All of the fixtures provide for sharp angle cut-off of the light to limit scatter light from the source. No light source will illuminate to a level greater than ten foot candles on the surface below. The lighting values provided in the code for illuminating various land uses is adhered to. No source of the light will allow lighting levels from the site to exceed 0.1 footcandle beyond a limit of twenty feet from any property line. Site amenities will enhance the livability and usability of the site for the residents and for the Public. In conjunction with the pedestrian path through the site there are seating areas along the path that provide public space for the residents to enjoy. The park area in the southern portion of the site allows for the residents to gather and socialize. There is a play area defined for the use of the smaller children that can act as a magnet to draw people together as they observe their children at play. To this end there are benches and tables to encourage the use of the park space by the residents. The park space provides active open space by providing field space where pick-up sports games can happen for the older children. The balance of the park space is dedicated to passive uses and buffering. The landscaping of this passive area will be in native turf covers and incorporate the existing native trees giving the property a physical and visual break from the hustle of Harmony Road. This project by its location, circumstances, and design meet the three primary Land Use criteria that apply to this project as stated in the City Plan. Being an infill project allows the compact and definable character of the City to be realized. The adjacent properties surrounding have been established over the last fifteen to twenty years. The Community College developed adjacent to the south has operated at this site for nearly thirty years. Over time the single-family homes have been constructed and have been a definable neighborhood and area for at least the last twenty years. The apartments to the west have existed for the last five years leaving this parcel the last to complete the area. The development on this property will help reduce the outward and southward pressure for this type of housing. The nature and character of this area was set nearly twenty years ago when development started in this section of the city. This square mile area has matured over time and has been augmented as a neighborhood and a district with the development of the Troutman Neighborhood Park and Lopez Elementary School. Further identification of the area was set by Front Range Community .College. Resent expansion of this facility as well as the City's construction of a Library for the southern part of Ft. Collins adjacent has clearly defined this area as a safe, cohesive and diverse district within the City. The character of well -maintained properties and well -landscaped yards makes this area an attractive neighborhood within the City fabric. This area though possessing its own identity is not competing but supportive of the City patterns. Its unique district character provides primarily for the residential needs for the community mixed with some neighborhood commercial uses and community wide amenities. The emphasis and prominence of this area is secondary and supportive of the downtown area being the center and focus of the overall community. From the considerations of the general requirements of the LUC the project meets or exceeds the expectations found in this document. The LUC also address the needs for a compact urban design. The major consideration for that LUC's emphasis on the compact design issue is because of the need to create an efficient infrastructure for the Community. This project being an infill project completes the development within a specific neighborhood where the public facilities are all in place. The property meets the requirements of the LUC with respect to having adequate public facilities extended to the Site. There are no off -site improvements required for this project to be constructed. All of the utilities required for a residential development are present on site and ready for connection. The transportation network is completed within the area and adjacent to the property. This includes all of the various modes of transit including private vehicles, public transit, bicycles, and pedestrians. Multi -Modal access is provided to and from the property to all other parts of the City. r) EASTGATE AT THE WOODLANDS PLANNING OBJECTIVES This report reviews our proposed project with respect to the current City Land Use Code and the current City Plan. Both tools are part of the Planning Review Process for the City and constitute the elements of the Comprehensive Plan. We will review the major code features that are required by our project on a general nature and specifically with respect to the Medium Density Mixed -Use Neighborhood District which is the current zoning for the project. This project is intending to develop to the current Zoning and the requirements as provided within the Land Use Code. In addition we will measure the Project with respect to the Community wide goals of the City Plan as demonstrated by the design. The project will be a multi -family project that will be configured in the type of a townhome project. By this we mean that the homes will be clustered together into buildings with no units stacked over each other. Each home is a two-story structure with an attached single car garage. Each home is designed to have a private front porch as the transition space from the public pedestrian way to the private interior space. Each home will also possess an exterior private rear courtyard that is to be controlled by the individual homeowner. The project provides the connections to the existing transportation network for safe and convenient transit to and from the site no matter what the means. Private vehicle, public transit, bicycle, and pedestrian means of travel are provided for and are made convenient for all of the homeowners. The project is intended to be a housing type that is purchased and sold on an individual basis. The intention is to market the homes in the lower level of the present housing market and to be affordable for those of moderate to lower means. An Association is to be formed with the project to care for and maintain the grounds and the physically constructed improvements. In reviewing the Community values as found in the City Plan we believe that our project will provide the residence these four basic values of Choice, Fairness, Fulfillment and Sustainability.