HomeMy WebLinkAbout(REDWOOD) MODIFICATION FOR CONCORDE CAPITOL - MOD - 15-99 - CORRESPONDENCE -MRY.19.1999 2=13PM CrNCORDE DEVELOPMENT GROUP NO.199 P.3i10
ACKNOWLEDQ AND CONnNT
I, Richard F. Snyder, the sole owner of a 13.644acre, subject to survey, tract cf land
located at the southeast corner of Conifer and Redwood streets in Fort Collies, Colorado, hereby
grant Concorde Capital Corporation the authority to apply to the City of Fort Collins, Colorado,
for a modification of the density at said site to twelve (12) units per acre for a total ten (10) acres
of the land.
Concorde Capital Corporation has my authority and consent to act on my behalf, as the
sole legal owner of the property.
Ili' WITNESS WHEREOF, I have set my hand hereunto as of the 19s' day of May 1999.
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As you can see, I would lean towards granting a modification to LMN Zone standards for
Concord Capital's project. But, this leaning is not based on recent City decisions to grant
Concord Capital Corporation financial assistance through Private Activity Bonds and/or
Community Development Block Grant funds. Those processes and allocations are made
independent of land use issues and should not be used as justifications for land use decisions. As
indicated, I would like to see a more specific request as to which LMN Zone standard they are
requesting a modification to before I recommend the granting of any modification.
cc. Bob Blanchard
It appears from their letter that Concord Capital knows that an affordable housing project in the
LMN Zone located on a Infill Area parcel of 10 acres or less can have a density of 12 units/acre.
They attempt to explain that their 120 unit project would be built on only 10 of their 13 acres and,
therefore, imply that the project would comply with the LMN Zone's 12 units/acre density
standard. The remaining 3 acres would be "set -aside for future use" according to their letter.
Division 4.4 (13)(1)(b) of the Land Use Code, however, indicates the limit of 10 acres applies to
affordable housing projects "whether approved pursuant to overall development plans or project
development plans." Concord Capital would be required to submit an ODP for the total 13 acres
even if they wanted to phase their project, for example, with one phase being 10 acres in size and
the other 3 acres in size, and the size limit of 10 acres would thus apply to the ODP. This is why I
believe their request may actually be for a modification to the 10 acre Infill Area parcel size
standard and not the 8 units/acre density standard of the LMN Zone. (Or is it the same thing and
I am really missing something?). I do not think the City wants to allow developers to divide their
parcels in order to meet the requirements of the Land Use Code, therefore, I recommend that
Concord Capital be required to be more specific as to the use of the entire property so the City
can better evaluate their proposal and any modification requests.
It is clear that the standards of the Land Use Code are open to modification via Division 2.8. It
is also clear that modifications to a standard should be granted to projects which address the
important community need of affordable housing and where "the strict application of such a
standard would render the project practically infeasible" (Division 2.8.2 (H)(3)). And, it is clear
that affordable housing projects in the LMN Zone can go up to 12 units/acre in the Infill Area,
which by definition, is the area with existing infrastructure and near other services and facilities.
The density of an affordable housing project can directly relate to its feasibility as expressed in the
family incomes intended to be served. The more units that a project's "development costs" can be
spread over, the lower the per unit cost of development will be, which translates to lower monthly
rents to the families in the units. Thus, it should be obvious that development costs spread over
120+ units will result in lower per unit costs than if they were spread over just 104 units.
I believe a different perspective needs to be used for affordable housing proposals when looking
at Division 2.8.2 (H)(1) that asks if a submitted plan proposes a modification which achieves a
standard "equally well or better than a plan which complies with the standard." This is not the
same as a modification request asking for a street -width reduction from 24 feet to 20 feet. There
is a broad range of projects which can be qualified as affordable housing projects. Taken at face
value, the following questions can be asked whose answers would seem to indicate there is no
need to grant any modifications. For example, can an affordable housing project be built in the
LMN Zone at a density of 8 units per acre? Yes, it probably can. Can an affordable housing
project be built in the LMN Zone on 10 acres or less? Yes, it probably can. However, Concord
Capital's proposed project targets families as low as 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI).
Thus, their proposal is directly in line with recently adopted City priorities for affordable housing
which target rental projects for family with incomes at 50% AMI or lower. Therefore, strict
adherence to either the 8 units/acre or the 10 acre Infill Area parcel size standards of the L-M-N
Zone for the Concord Capital project would render the project practically infeasible because rents
would need to be higher than rents families at 50% of AMI could afford.
City of Fort Collins
June 18, 1999
CommL Ay Planning and Environmental _rvices
Advance Planning Department
MEMORANDUM
TO: Ron Fuchs, City Planner
TH: Joe Frank, Advance Planning Department Direc
FM: Ken Waido, Chief Planner
RE: Concord Capital Corporation's Modification Request
I have reviewed Concord Capital Corporation's development proposal modification request as
contained in their letter of May 19, 1999, to Bob Blanchard, Director of the Current Planning
Department, for the proposed affordable housing project known as Dry Creek Apartments. I
have the following comments and recommendations.
Although Concord Capital's May 19th letter states that their application is for "modification of
the per acre density" requirements of the L-M-N, Low Density Mixed -Use Neighborhood, Zone,
in reading the balance of the letter it is not clear to me what the request is actually for. Therefore,
I believe, the modification request must be more specifically stated and I recommend that a new
modification request be submitted.
In other words, is the modification request related to the maximum density standard of "eight (8)
dwelling units per gross acre" in the L-M-N Zone (Division 4.4 (D)(1)(b)) or is it related to the
standard of "ten (10) acres or less" of the Infill Area parcel size that an affordable housing project
can achieve a density of 12 dwelling units per gross acre?
I understand that Concord Capital would like to construct a 120 unit affordable housing project
on their parcel of land, located south of Conifer and east of Redwood. Their parcel size is 13
acres. Division 4.4 (D)(1)(b) of the Land Use Code would thus limit the total number of units
that could be built on the parcel to 104 units, i.e., 13 acres x 8 units per acre = 104 units. If, for
example, Concord Capital wanted to build the 120 units on the total 13 acre parcel, then the
project's density would be 9.2 units per gross acre, i.e., 120 units/13 acres = 9.2 units/acre. I use
this example because it best fits their statement that the application is for "modification of the per
acre density" requirements of the L-M-N Zone. Are they really asking for a modification from 8
units/acre to 9.2 units/acre, or some other figure? Read on.
281 North College Avenue • P.O. Box 580 • Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580 • (970) 221-6376
FAX (970) 224-6111 • TDD (970) 224-6002 • E-mail: aplanning@ci.fort-collins.co.us