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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMULBERRY AND LEMAY CROSSINGS, 2ND FILING, HOME DEPOT - MAJOR AMENDMENT - 36-96I/L - MEDIA -4- Q City approves Home Depot on north side Lifestyle center also gets nod By KMSTEN ORSINI-MEINHARD KirstenOrsini@coloradoan.com Fort Collins is poised to score a second Home De- pot — on the north side of town — despite objections from nearby residents. The Fort Collins Plan- ning and Zoning Board on Thursday gave unanimous approval to Home Depot's project development plan, paving the way for the 121,619-square-foot store to be built by spring 2005. The only hurdle remain- ing for the project is another round of staff reviews, said Home Depot Continued from Page Al out against the project Thursday night The intersection of Lemay Avenue and Vine Drive already is congested, she said. "I have many concerns about how this Home Depot will affect the three Hispanic neighbor- hoods, Araggon said referring to the Bucldngliam Aka Vista and Andersonville neighborhoods that sit northwest of the Wal- Mart Supercenter. "Lemay is on overload, and it would be sui- cide to put this Home Depot here at this time." Blair Warehime, a consultant representing Home Depot, as- sured the board and meeting at- tendees that the store's parking lot would allow adequate traffic flow. Compared with the neighbor- ing Wal-Mart Supercenter — which board members aclmowl- edged has suffered from conges- tion in its parking lot — Home Depot's parking aisles will be bigger, and there will be sepa- rate spots for larger vehicles, Warehime said. Additionally, Home Depot Ted Shepard, chief planner at the Fort Collins Current Planning Department. Home Depot will be on about 9.4 acres of land at the northeast corner of Mulberry Street and Lemay Avenue, next door to the Wal-Mart Supercenter. The store will cause more traffic problems for three neighborhoods sur- rounding the site, said Fort Collins resident Betty Aragon, who was one of several residents to speak See HOME DEPOT/Page A2. `I have many concerns about how this Home Depot will affect the three Hispanic neighborhoods.' Betty who lives near the proposed site of the new Horne9D po hopes to decrease traffic conges- tion at the store's original Fort Collins location, 4502 John F Kennedy Parkway. "I think we have addressed drive aisles and the parking situ- ation," Warehime said. Also Thursday night, the Planning and Zoning Board ap- proved preliminary plans for a I35-acre mixed -use development at the northeast comer of Inter- state 25 and Prospect Road. The project, headed by ranch- er/developer Dallas Horton and Steve Pfister of Realtec Com- mercial Real Estate Services, in- cludes a 400,000-square-foot upscale shopping center. While the preliminary plans won unanimous approval, there are two major issues facing the site: its storm drainage capacity and the aging I-25 interchange. The interchange needs a ran jor upgrade to support any type of shopping center, said board member Judy Meyer. "It's failing right now," she said. The approval allows Pfister and Horton to work on more specific site plans and work through some of the issues af- fecting the site. The board also gave approval to a $33 million expansion of Sam's Club, 4700 BoardwA Drive. The expansion will add about 31.350 square feet to the Fort Collins store, a move that some neighbors worry will increase the noise level of the area Engineers representing the project told the board the noise would be metered and most of it would take place during busi- ness hours.