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HomeMy WebLinkAbout(REDWOOD) MODIFICATION FOR CONCORDE CAPITOL - MOD - 15-99 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - (3)r We look forward to working with the City of Fort Collins to address the shortage of affordable housing. Please do not hesitate to contact myself or Phil Brown with additional questions or concerns regarding this application. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, tlston(Mac uillin II Development Director I the proposed project would substantially address an important community need specifically and expressly defined and described in the city's Comprehensive plan, adopted policy, ordinance or resolution(such as, by way of example only, affordable housing or historic preservation) or would substantially alleviate an existing, defined and described problem of city-wide concern, and the strict application of such a standard would render the project practically infeasible Fort Collins has identified affordable housing as an important community need. This project would provide this need to the community which in turn would contribute greatly to the "public good," and would advance the public interest. As addressed in the Fort Collins "Priority Affordable Housing Needs and Strategies"which was adopted on February 2°d of this year, Fort Collins highest priority should be additional affordable rental housing. As indicated above, the Redwood Housing Limited Partnership project will be made up of a total of 120 units with 48 of these being reserved for very low income households. As further evidence of the community's support, Concorde Capital was recently awarded a bond allocation from the City of Fort Collins for the Redwood Housing Limited Partnership project. In addition, the Community Development Block Grant Commission included Redwood Housing Limited Partnership as a priority project for funding to the City Council. I have included a copy of these three documents for your records. These factors all indicate a recognition by the community that affordable housing is an issue in need of immediate addressing. Section 4.4(A) states: "The LMN District is intended to be a setting for a predominance of low density housing combined with complementary and supporting land uses that serve a neighborhood and are developed and operated in harmony with the residential characteristics of a neighborhood. This affordable housing complex will be a complementary and supporting land use which will be in harmony with the residential characteristics of an LMN neighborhood. Because the project will only be on 10 of the 13 acre site, it will satisfy this intent just as well as a project that satisfies the exact letter of the code. Section 4.4(A) goes on to state: "The main purpose of the neighborhoods that include a variety of housing choices, that invite walking to gathering places, services and conveniences, and that are fully integrated into the larger community. " This affordable housing complex provides variety in the housing choices of the neighborhood. The fact that the project is sited on 10 acres of a 13 acre parcel allows the project to satisfy the purpose of the code equally well as a project which satisfies the exact letter of the code(which is that this density of an affordable housing project must be on a 10 acre or smaller size). We request, because our project will only utilize 10 acres of our parcel, and because it provides a substantial supply of "affordable housing" to the Fort Collins community, the Planning and Zoning Board grant our request for modification to Section 4.4(D)(1)(b) of the Land Use Code. Concorde Capital Corporation 1349 East Broad Street Columbus, Ohio 43205 Telephone (614) 253-9747 Facsimile (614) 253-9741 June 29, 1999 Mr. Bob Blanchard Current Planning Board City of Fort Collins P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, Colorado 80522-0580 Dear Mr. Blanchard, This letter is specifically intended to request a modification to the standard in Section 4.4(D)(1)(b) of the Land Use Code where it requires that an affordable housing project (when built to a density of 12 units/gross acre) must be on a parcel 10 acres or less. We propose to build a 120 unit "affordable housing" project on 10 acres of a 13 acre parcel, with the remaining 3 acres to be set- aside for future use. Section 4.4(D)(1)(b) of the Land Use Code states: "The maximum density of any development plan taken as a whole shall be eight(8) dwelling units per gross acre of residential land, except that affordable housing projects(whether approved pursuant to overall develop- ment plans) containing ten(10) acres or less and located in the Infill Area may attain a maximum density, taken as a whole, of twelve(12) dwelling units per gross acre of residential land. The site is in the Infill Area, so granting this modification would qualify the project to proceed at a density of 12 units/gross acre. The buildings will be limited to six or fewer units per building. Justification We understand that in order to approve the Modification Request the Planning and Zoning Board must find that (a) the granting of the modification would neither be detrimental to the public good nor impair the intent and purposes of the Land Use Code, and (b) the plan as submitted will advance or protect the public interest and purposes of the standard for which the modification is requested equally well or better than would a plan which complies with the standard for which a modification is requested, and (c) the granting of a modification from the strict application of any standard 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,