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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCONNELL-ROGERS ANNEXATION & ZONING - 2-99 - CORRESPONDENCE - LUC REQUIREMENTS• Natural resource value of the lakes? If none or little, what are desires for enhancing its natural resource value? • What are gravel reclamation plans? • Relationship to I-25 Interchange plans; Harmony Transportation Center Plans; Harmony Road Access Control Plan; and, Harmony Road bikeway plan • Existing County zoning — what are they permitted to do if they do not annex? • Water and sewer service — we believe the City should provide these services? What impact does providing service to this property mean in terms of providing service to properties in the area e.g. east of I-25? • What is its priority for purchase? • for maintaining a link between the Poudre River Corridor and the Fossil Creek Reservoir area, and • as a location for basic employment uses. The "vision" for this property is an integration of quality development with the natural characteristics of the existing landscape. Wetlands, lakes and floodway areas should be designed with a "naturalistic" character, not a "developed:" character, similar to the city - owned lakes north of Harmony Road, and become a focus of an elaborate open space network laced with an extensive system of local and community -wide trails. The character of the gateway area as a whole should be naturalistic with heavy emphasis on native plants and wildlife habitat. The challenge for development is to blend into the natural scheme of things with as little visual disruption as possible. It is appears doubtful that the development standards of the Land Use Code alone will achieve this vision. If the Land Use Code is to be successful in achieving this vision, it would require considerable voluntary compliance on the part of the landowners and/or developers. If the current conceptual drawings ore any indicator of the owners intent for Success will depend upon a private/public partnership. Therefore, the City needs to carefully consider a variety of "tools" in its toolbox to achieve our community's vision for the property including, in order of priority: • Zoning — zone the property a combination of RC and HC; another option would be a combination of HC and T and await the comn_lction of the I-25 Corridor Plan to recommend a fmal zoning district for the east half of the property. • Harmony Gateway Plan — develop a sub -subarea plan addressing land use and zoning, design, natural resource enhancements, gateway treatments, provision of public services, transportation, and public open space/parks. Another option is to be sure that this property gets special consideration as part of the 1-25 Corridor Plan may be able to address these issues. • Public purchase and management of all or part of the property. • Annexation agreement — should we require an annexation agreement that addresses the issues that the Land Use Code does not? For example, a condition could be the require an plan for the "open lands" portion of the property. • Conditional zoning - place conditions on the zoning to address the issues that the Land Use Code does not? Some additional research needs to be done on the following: • Relationship to community/regional bike/pedestrian trails plans • Relationship to Flood Plan study which is underway • Are there geologic limitations on development? (The Fossil Creek Reservoir Area Plan indicated "severe" limitations. or private schools and universities; finance, insurance and real estate services; professional offices; and other uses of similar character. Secondary uses include: sit- down restaurants; neighborhood convenience shopping centers; child care centers; athletic clubs; and a mix of single family and multi -family housing. 2. Gateway. The subject property is located in an area designated as the "Harmony gateway" described as follows:. Purpose. According to the Plan: "The gateway area is literally the "Front Door" to this community. The psychology of arrival is important. If a newcomer's first impression is marred by sights and sounds that are distasteful, those irritations will linger no matter how wonderful the rest of the visit to Fort Collins might be. How this area is planned makes a statement about the people of this community — what our values are and the pride we take in our community. This is why it is important to establish a particularly well -planned and attractive gateway entry". Character. Three alternative scenarios were described in the Plan. The feedback from the public process was overwhelmingly for Alternative A, which is to create a gateway entrance that integrates quality development with the natural characteristics of the existing landscape. According to the Plan: "Wetlands, lakes and floodway areas are left undeveloped and become a focus of an elaborate open space network. The open space areas are laced with an extensive system of trails. The character of the gateway area as a whole is naturalistic with heavy emphasis on native plants and wildlife habitat. The challenge for development is to blend into the natural scheme of things with as little visual disruption as possible". Gateway Planning Phase Two — The plan recommended that the City should continue the gateway planning effort through a variety of actions including research, design, coordination and citizen participation activities. Relationship to Fossil Creek Reservoir Area Plan 1. Land Use. The entire Connell Resources property extends as far south as County Road 36. The south half of the entire Connell property is located in the Fossil Creek Reservoir Area Plan and is designated to develop, if ever, at residential densities consistent with the rural conservation development policy contained in the Larimer County Master Plan. Findings and Recommendation: The property has important value to the community for the following reasons: as a gateway or "front door" for providing a community separator (edge) between Timnath, Windsor and Fort Collins Alw— • Joy �rm►^k CAJVV,h"_ P/AHN NTp�N Issues: What is the relationship of the Connell R".,7�s Inc. property, located on the southwest corner of I-25 and Harmony Road, to the Harmony Corridor Plan, City Structure Plan, City Plan Principles and Policies, and Fossil Creek Reservoir Area Plan? What options should we consider? Relationship to the City Structure Plan and Cite Plan Principles and Policies 1. City Structure Plan. The property is evenly split into the Employment District and Rural/Open Lands and Stream Corridors designations. 2. Employment District. Employment districts are locations for basic employment uses. These Districts will also include a variety of complimentary uses. 3. Rural/Open Lands and Edges. The property is considered to be an "edge" that form boundaries of our community on its southeast side. This particular edge would be permanent so as to achieve community separation from Timnath and Windsor. The Rural/Open Lands is one form of land use that provides an "edge" to the community. Rural/open lands may be privately- and/or publicly -owned lands that form natural buffers. Other rural/open lands may have private land uses such as part of an open space system that preserve the rural character. According to the City Plan Principles and Policies: the City's open lands purchase programs should be used to acquire and manage "important open lands" that preserve wildlife habitat and native landscapes and form an edge. 4. Water Corridor. The portion of the property which is designated on the City Structure Plan as "Rural/Open Lands and Stream Corridors" is part of a network of "Water Corridors" that link the Poudre River Corridor to the Fossil Creek Reservoir. Water corridors may contain natural and man-made drainageways, maintain appropriate wildlife habitat and wildlife corridors, and provide trails/paths for recreation use, where appropriate. 5. Special I-25 Corridor Plan. Corridor Plan. The property is within an area that was designated as "Special 1-25 Study Corridor". An I-25 Corridor Plan is scheduled to begin in July, 1999 and will be completed in 18 months. The Study area for this plan extends from County Road 52 to County Road 32. A parallel effort is expected to be undertaken for a longer segment of I-25 and will include the jurisdictions of Larimer County, Fort Collins, Timnath, Loveland, Johnstown, Berthoud, and Weld County. Relationship to the Harmony Corridor Plan: 1. Permitted uses: The subject property is designated for Basic Industrial and Non -Retail uses on the Land Use Plan. Primary uses includes research facilities and testing laboratories, offices and other facilities for research and development; industrial uses; hospitals, clinics, nursing and personal care facilities; regional, vocational, business Troy Jones -Connell Resources Property f" From: Joe Frank To: Blanchard, Bob, gbyrne, Rfuchs, Rphillips, tsh... Date: 4/9/99 8:28AM Subject: Connell Resources Property Last Tuesday, we discussed some rezoning options for the Connell Resources Property on east Harmony Road. Afterwards, I felt that I was a little unprepared, and because of the possible controversy in regards to development of the property, I thought I would do a little more thought and research on the relationship of this property to City Plan and the various subarea plans that affect the property. Also, as I did this, some issues and options arose. Please read the attached. Any additional or different thoughts are welcomed.