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HomeMy WebLinkAboutYOUNG PEOPLES LEARNING CENTER - PDP W/ADDITION OF PERMITTED USE - PDP140012 - CORRESPONDENCE - REVISIONSYoung People: Learning Center 209 E. Plum Street, PDP140012 Sept 5 Loading Zone 200 Block of Plum (not including Loading Zone 800 Block of Mathews St 700 Block of Mathews St. 6:00 am 6 36 41 30 11:00 am 5 4 23 17 3:00 pm 6 8 24 24 6:00 pm 6 30 28 38 200 Block of Sept 8 Loading Zone Plum (not 800 Block of 700 Block of including Loading Mathews St Mathews St. Zone 6:00 am 6 35 39 30 11:00 am 5 3 25 13 3:00 pm 6 7 24 1 22 6:00 pm 0 0 26 1 28 This night was a special event (Back to School Night) for us from 5:30 — 6:30 pm 200 Block of Sept 9 Loading Zone Plum 800 Block of 700 Block of (not including Mathews St Mathews St. Loading Zone 6:00 am 5 37 24 31 11:00 am 3 5 13 12 3:00 pm 5 1 5 25 23 6:00 pm 5 1 26 41 33 Young People Learning Center Informal Parking Study — Ongoing 209 E. Plum Street, PDP140012 200 Block of Sept 1 Loading Zone Plum 800 Block of 700 Block of (not including Mathews St Mathews St. Loading Zone 6:00 am 6 36 52 No data gathered 11:00 am 6 4 24 No data gathered 3:00 pm 6 8 30 No data gathered 6:00 pm 6 31 38 No data athered 200 Block of Sept 2 Loading Zone Plum (not 800 Block of 700 Block of including Loading Mathews St Mathews St. Zone 6:00 am 6 35 37 No data gathered 11:00 am 4 4 22 No data gathered 3:00 pm 6 7 30 No data gathered 6:00 pm 6 31 36 No data gathered 200 Block of Sept 3 Loading Zone Plum 800 Block of 700 Block of (not including Mathews St Mathews St. Loading Zone 6:00 am 6 36 40 No data gathered 11:00 am 6 5 23 No data gathered 3:00 pm 6 6 30 No data gathered 6:00 pm 6 30 37 35 200 Block of Sept 4 Loading Zone Plum 800 Block of 700 Block of (not including Mathews St Mathews St. Loading Zone 6:00 am 6 34 41 29 11:00 am 5 4 24 14 3:00 pm 1 6 1 7 26 24 6:00 pm 1 6 1 29 1 30 1 28 Young People Learning Center 209 E. Plum Street, PDP140012 within two blocks of Laurel Street, a major access portal to CSU. We are within two blocks of College Ave., an even bigger access to CSU. But just beyond these two block limits, parking does open up. During the summer neither location has the slightest problem with parking, with at least 60% availability always available. Of course, some of this has to do with student rental of some of these properties. But the majority of it comes from school year off -campus students looking for close -in parking for their classes. As most classes are from gam to 4pm this is the time when parking in this neighborhood could be most impacted. Fortunately this is not during the primary needs of residents, which would be from 4:30 pm to 8am. We have begun an informal parking study of our own and have attached the results so far to this request. We will continue to gather more information along these lines. During the times these numbers were gathered, approximately 4 spaces were being taken up by a storage trailer we had parked on the street and several surrounding blocks are currently inaccessible due to City Streets improvements. These include the 200 block of Locust, the 100 blocks of Garfield, Edwards and Pitkin. All of these closures could easily send more parkers towards the 700 block of Mathews Street, so we believe the "typical' parking needs to the area to be even less that what is expressed in the table. We believe that because there is ample street parking, the impact to the city and neighborhood residents if we do not provide the additional off street parking will be minimal. Young People Learning Center 209 E. Plum Street, PDP140012 Request for Modification of Standard for Parking We have been informed that the current requirement for our expansion would require us to provide up to six additional on -site parking spaces for our employees. Young Peoples Learning Center has been operating at our 209 E. Plum Street location since 1994. During this time there have never been any complaints registered with the City against us for parking issues. Prior to that, the property had been a child care center named Jack and Jill Child Development Center. No complaints have ever been registered against them for parking since their inception in 1962. That's over 50 years with no parking complaints. We believe the Modification of Standard should be granted for the reasons stated in subparagraphs 2 and 4. (2) the granting of a modification from the strict application of any standard would, without impairing the intent and purpose of this Land Use Code, substantially alleviate an existing, defined and described problem of city-wide concern or would result in a substantial benefit to the city by reason of the fact that the proposed project would substantially address an important community need specifically and expressly defined and described in the city's Comprehensive Plan or in an adopted policy, ordinance or resolution of the City Council, and the strict application of such a standard would render the project practically infeasible Our property has space to provide off-street parking. However, in order to utilize this space in this manner, we would need to reduce our playground space by at least 30%. We believe, and we know the City to be in favor of, providing large and accessible playground space for children. We know this is the way to provide them with the best opportunity to learn and grow both physically and mentally. They need this space to do this. We have a children's garden area, apple trees, a large sandbox, a traditional climbing structure, an outdoor musical area, a camp circle, balancing objects, and a picnic area. We believe each of these areas add to children's experience, growth and development and do not wish to lose any of them. We will already be giving up some of our space for the required enclosed trash receptacle and other modifications as requested by the City and do not feel a further reduction in playground space would benefit the City of Fort Collins as a whole. We have a specific community need for high -quality care for children and we believe this playground space to be a part of that. In previous submittals to the City, we have provided a copy of a report which outlines why high quality Early Childhood Education is a goal of the City. (4) the plan as submitted will not diverge from the standards of the Land Use Code that are authorized by this Division to be modified except in a nominal, inconsequential way when considered from the perspective of the entire development plan, and will continue to advance the purposes of the Land Use Code as contained in Section 1.2.2. Our experience is that we have only rarely needed parking other than could be found in the 200 block of E. Plum Street where we are located. When that has been necessary we have always found plenty of parking available around the corner in the 800 block of Mathews Street. The question of available parking came up at our first Community meeting. It was raised by the resident in the 700 block of Mathews Street. They spoke to, and we agree, that with CSU students taking up so much parking on their street during the school year, they were concerned our expansion would make their lives more difficult. It appears to us they are more heavily impacted as they live I AMP No 11 Air o 1 1: »: I a r ♦ J Y• �sa�, � h ,t . �f 1 If I A� i 77 l! 7, 711� ILL -NOW Young People Learning Center 209 E. Plum Street, PDP140012 this space would end up housing the stairs as well as the additional tree we are using for extra privacy between properties. We will be sure all bicycle parking is less than 120 square feet and less than 8 feet tall. Zoning, General, Comment Number: 6 Please see new plans for trash and recycling enclosure plans to be added to back playground space. Zoning, General, Comment Number: 7 It is our understanding from reading of the code 3.2.4 that the lighting standards for playgrounds or other areas are only for areas that are used at night. Our playground is not used after dark. We will have 4 solar -censored lights to illuminate the perimeter of the building, but do not plan on additionally lighting the playground. Young People Learning Center 209 E. Plum Street, PDP140012 administrative office spaces or storage spaces. We do not see how building less space is an advantage. Engineering, General, Comment Number: 3 We understand that the City feels the $16,800 payment is already a compromise and is a firm number. However, we would encourage a second reading of the Child Care Report provided. The Child Care industry is an extremely low profit percentage industry. The city of Fort Collins as a community deserves such high quality child care services and parents need affordable care options. We have so far been able to budget this project without raising our rates to families more than our typical inflationary rate. If this continues to be a requirement of the city, we will pay it. Internal Services, Building Inspection, Comment Number: 1 There is already existing building over the property line. This proposal does not change that. The second floor addition is more than 10 feet from the property line. The 2nd floor addition does not exceed 3,000 square feet. We are not adding any "units" to our building. In addition, should we need accessible space, we have meeting areas on the first floor as well. No new areas of the building will have electric heat or cooling systems. All insulation will be upgraded. Building is not within 1000 ft of a train track All toilet fixtures have been upgraded to 1.28 gpf, faucets are low -flow, and we do not have any shower heads. The addition does not include any natural gas appliances. All interior finishes have been chosen for their low VOC emissions. PFA, General, Comment Number: 1 We have contact PFA to help us choose the best location for the new gate in the new fence. There is already open gate access on the fencing on the West end of the building and will be additionally a gate in the fence on the East end of the building. The location of this gate will allow access for fire services to the entire perimeter. Technical Services, Plat, Comment Number: 3 Per Rebecca Everett, the Plat information will be distributed internally since it is not provided on the City website. Traffic Operation, General, Comment Number: 1 We do not see a need for an adjustment to the current parking situation. However, we have developed signs to place out front during drop off and pick up times to help remind parents to look carefully while backing out. The parking on our street is a typical parking situation for near -campus streets. We believe all streets (i.e. where alleys enter into roadways) have appropriate red areas to avoid sight distance issues, and that appropriate parking and re-entering of the roadway will help to avoid any issues. In an over 50 year history as a child care center, no complaints about parking have been filed about the 209 E. Plum Property. We invite any City employees to visit our site at any time to better understand the setup. Zoning, General, Comment Number: 4 We apologize for mis-labeling this section. There is not any "storage" currently or anticipated in that area. There is a fence that provides adequate screening and with the addition of the second floor, Young People_ Learning Center 209 E. Plum Street, PDP140012 Required Findings: We believe these uses to be appropriate to the district and conforming to the basic characteristics of the zones as they are part of providing the highest quality child care services, which is an allowed use in the zones of both lots. The addition of these services will not create any more offensive noise, vibration, dust, heat, smoke, odor, glare or other objectionable influences or any more traffic hazards, traffic generation or attraction, adverse environmental impacts, adverse impacts on public or quasi -public facilities, utilities or services, adverse effect on public health, safety, morals or aesthetics, or other adverse impacts of development, than the amount normally resulting from the child care center activities. Adding these uses will enhance the neighborhood and provide additional positive outcomes for children living in the area. We currently bring these services to the children in our care, which results in a similar level of additional parking and traffic as will having families meet with these services on grounds. This use is compatible with the zoned use of both residential neighborhoods and child care as quality child care is encouraged in neighborhoods and these medical services designed specifically for families are the highest level of care. We have undergone two neighborhood meetings. We had several supporters of the project at both meetings. At one meeting there was concern expressed that parking would be impacted as well as a concern about "office creep" into the neighborhood. We have since revised the language around our proposal, hoping to explain how we plan for the office space to be used. We do not intend these to be seven offices used 40 hours a week each with constant clients. We do intend them to be satellite offices attending to mostly Young Peoples clients with an additional small percentage of outside clients also being able to be served. The only office we anticipate being a full time office is the occupational therapists office. We do not anticipate this model creating a meaningful impact on parking, particularly at "peak" times, which are our drop off and pick up times. We believe the Planning and Zoning Board could determine that this proposal is not detrimental to the public good and may be found to be within the requirements and criteria of Section 3.5.1 if the Planning and Zoning Board would like to use the more lenient lot zoning to govern this project. In addition, we believe strongly that a Codification of New Use should be considered to add child and family related medical services to child care sites where these sites have established relationships with the services to become part of a high quality program. We do not believe either of these steps are necessary to grant the permission for our project, but do believe them to be applicable methods of handling the situation in a manner that would create less questions for future uses. Planning Services, Planning Objectives, Comment Number: 13 { l aij . &4-V pee Our other location is small and the children are younger— rarely screened and needing speech nd language or occupational therapy services. However, often there is important family work to be done with young families. We anticipate 2 — 5 appointments per week would be generated from our other location. Planning Services, Planning Objectives, Comment Number: 14 'D C/ We understand that some service providers could or may even request to share space with another provider and have additionally looked into office -sharing models which would have services renting the spaces only per hours they were using the space. As we have not yet used this model for providing services, we do not know if that would be a better option. However, the expansion still needs to cover the entire second floor of our building to allow for the elimination of the flat roof and a consistent roofline above. We can always convert un-used "medical' office space to child care Young People: Learning Center 209 E. Plum Street, PDP140012 Narrative Response to Comments Made August 25th, 2014: Planning Services, Building Elevations, Comment Number. 9 W-d tv sly M ti We met with Bud Frick to discuss and brainstorm potential changes to the design of the second story. We plan to keep the roofline the same, but add detail to the trim around windows and an accent color up one third of the first story in order to break up the color block. In addition, we will create a white accent band between the floors. We do plan to stick with a blue color and a stucco finish, and have attached pictures of many blue buildings, stucco buildings and brightly colored buildings within this district. We have also provided and highlighted a picture of a house with very similar coloring as we are planning to use. Please see these attached at the end of this document. Planning Services, Building Elevations, Comment Number. 10 CC L - After meeting with Bud Frick, we do not plan to change the East End roofline. However, we have eliminated the window on that side of the building and have added a tree in order to preserve privacy for the neighbors. Please see plans. Planning Services, General, Comment Number: 5 (1p We continue to gather parking data, please see the chart at the end of this document for what we have gathered so far. Planning Services, General, Comment Number: 6�jli Attached you will find a request for a Modification of Standard to address the off-street parking concerns. We believe that this Modification can be granted under 2.8 under subparagraphs 2 and 4. Planning Services, General, Comment Number. 7 We provided a copy of the agreement with the last submittal, but are instead, as per City staff request, submitting for a Modification of the Standard instead of an Alternative Compliance. Please see this attached at the end of this document. Planning Services, Planning Objectives, Comment Number: 1 OLj Applicability: We believe the proposed use ought to be allowed due to the unique attributes of this site as a child care center and the importance of these services to providing the highest level of care. Previous submittals have included letters of support, research documents and City documents outlining why these services are important. In addition, our location is in the unique position of being in two separate zoning districts as it sits on two lots. One of the lots allows the use of medical offices and the other lot does not. We have made sure that the floor plans puts all medical office space in the lot that allows for this usage and continue to use the other space for child care administrative uses only. We would also like to ask for review of our request from the perspective that all of these "medical' services for children, do in fact fall under the definition of child care. We have provided numerous resources for the enhanced quality of care when these resources are provided on site to families. It is our understanding that the concern is that these businesses could exist if Young Peoples did not and we believe a contractual or contingency clause for the space would be appropriate to prevent such an instance. We would also see the City being able to force additional change should Young Peoples ever not exist in the space to remove the businesses as they would no longer be part of 11child care".