HomeMy WebLinkAboutWEST VINE STORAGE - PDP - PDP170016 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 2 - PROJECT NARRATIVEof time. The carcinogenic nature of gasoline vapors has been studied and found to be
true. This would be a liability to a developer of residential uses as well as a deterrent to
sales of homes having this obnoxious feature to deal with. In fact no commercial use that
would require people to work in proximity to these vents would be a liability to property
owners. In addition to the hazardous fumes; you have the constant 24/7 traffic and light
pollution that makes any higher intensity use other than what is planned infeasible.
This project is not the generator of a change in the nature of this neighborhood.
An inventory the property within a half -mile radius, the area that is typically considered a
neighborhood, finds that the City owns up to 25 percent of the developed property. In
addition the City owns an additional 25 acres of undeveloped land that will be used to
meet future needs of the City. This is enough of the concentration of property owned by
one entity to dominate the character of the neighborhood. The existing City facilities at
Vine Drive and Woods Street and the facilities along Vine Drive are over 20 acres. This
area is always active and being updated and enlarged to serve the growing needs for
services by the City as a whole. This property on its own is a major employment center in
the neighborhood. The low intensity uses of the storage facility provides relief to the
neighborhood from this intense land use and provides a buffer zone between the City
facilities and the residential areas in the area. It reduces the future impact of City
improvements since as a developed parcel of storage, a low intensity land use the
neighborhood can be secure that higher commercial uses will not completely control the
north side of Vine Drive.
The character of the neighborhood currently is both commercial and residential in nature.
Travel along Wood Street and Vine Drive reveals an image of more commercial than
residential uses. We believe that our low impact storage facility provides a buffer
between the more intense existing commercial land uses and the residential uses in the
neighborhood which is needed. These existing conditions of the City facilities have a
significant impact in creating the character of the neighborhood. Our project has a
residential image and visual impact which provides a bridge for the neighborhood that
softens the existing commercial trend
colors and blossoms occur in the spring. No exterior storage of materials or vehicles is
planned or are allowed on this property.
The treatment of the North Shields Street elevations of the project are similar to what is
found on the West Vine Drive elevations. These building are single store but taller then
those found on Vine but since Shields is an arterial street the additional height is
appropriate due to the higher planned volume of Shields Street and the lack of significant
vistas looking to the east onto the property. Variation in material, placement of materials
provides visual interest to the buildings. The use of windows, opposing gables, residential
scaled roof pitches and the separation of buildings from each other provide a human scale
to this view of the property. The use of decorative fencing unifies the project and
provides relief between the buildings. The landscaping on Shields Street is as intense as
what is found on Vine Drive with multiple levels of plantings that provide visual relief
and softening of the built environment.
The north and east boundaries of the project provide visual variation and visual relief by
the use of landscaping, variation of building materials, orientation of building materials
and the positioning of individual buildings as well as providing off -sets in long building
elevations. This variation is provided in both horizontal and vertical plans providing a
more human scale to the longer buildings. Buildings interior to the site are all single story
in nature and have low roof profiles so as not to break the plain of the roof line of the
building on the parameter of the project. In this fashion the image of the project is
portrayed by the parameter of the project which is greatly enhances for visual variation
and impact.
Residential uses on this property have proven to not be feasible for this property. The
prime evidence to this is the lack of any contracts from developers to purchase the
property. The owners have received no offers in the last ten years that equal the purchase
price of the property. The size of the parcels is one factor that limits the ability for a
residential development to occur on the property. A developer needs a larger ratio of cost
to profit ratio that typically needs a minimum of ten to fifteen acres to financially work.
An addition restrictive factor to residential development of the property is the current
utility infrastructure. The existing sanitary service is rather shallow and the topography of
the property slopes from Vine Drive to the north making only a small portion of the
property accessible to the sanitary system. A substantial cost would be incurred to replace
the existing utility to make the property accessible to the utility. For these reasons
residential uses on this parcel are not feasible.
The existence of the C-Store adjacent to the property is a deterrent to residential or more
intense commercial uses. The impact of the C-Store is immediately evident upon a visit
to the site. The C-Store uses above ground storage of its fuel. The tanks are placed in near
proximity to the east property line of the C-Store and are not screened from adjacent
property, this property. The more serious concern is the location of the systems venting
which is located nearly on the east property line. Prevailing winds draw the odor and
vapors from the fuel dispensing system onto the Rein Property. The odors from these
vents make the air intolerable to breath within 100 feet of the property line for any length
site for at least the last fifty years since fencing has been in place at the edge of the
irrigation ditch for at least this time frame. The setback will improve this transition space
and enhance it with the use of native grasses as the major turf cover in this natural area
setback.
The history of this property is that it has been used as commercial property for more than
twenty years and with the current zoning can continue to operate as a commercial
operation with little additional impact to the neighborhood.
The entire property is currently fenced with the west property line being screened with a
solid wood fence. The new development will continue to screen the parameter of the
property with buildings, fencing and landscaping to continue to screen the property from
adjacent land uses with enhanced screening. All of the storage building will be single
store in nature. The only two story building will be the residential caretakers unit that
contains the managing office. This building will be residential in size, scale and materials
to be similar to other residential buildings in the neighborhood. The storage buildings that
are along West Vine Drive are small units and the buildings are small in length so there is
visual separation similar to residential uses. These building are setback from the curb line
to provide a residential type landscaped buffer. This treatment reflects the nature of front
yards that are to be found in the neighborhood. This landscape treatment consist of a
continuous row of street trees that shade the pedestrian walkway, ornamental trees that
provide variety of color and accent on a seasonal basis, and evergreen trees that provide
year round screening that human scale to the buildings. In addition at the base of the
buildings a garden of deciduous and conifer type shrubs are used to provide interest and
soften the form of the buildings.
In addition to the landscaping buffer the storage buildings that face West Vine Drive are
articulated with residential scale building materials and patterns. The materials used for
these buildings are a combination of stucco, wood siding, and masonry. The wood siding
is used in both a horizontal and vertical fashion. This variation in pattern is dramatized by
the use of opposing gables, windows, trim accents, course banding, corbels, varied roof
overhangs, and window box -out features. These features all being residential scale
character that are to be found on homes within the neighborhood soften the transition
from one land use to the other. The buildings have a residential quality with roof pitches
that are found on homes in the neighborhood. The typical storage facility has very low
pitched roof forms that easily identify a property as a storage facility. Using a higher,
more residential sloped roof form collection the project is not immediately identified as a
storage facility.
Only one curb cut is provided on West Vine Drive to control access and provide security
for the facility and the neighbors since this is located where traffic can be observed by the
caretaker at all times. Parking is limited to one location. The need for parking is low for
this type of facility. The parking is setback and is screened by trees and shrubs reducing
the visual impact of parked cars. Decretive fencing is used between the buildings and the
access point to provide visual relief and variation to the front yard appeal. Climbing type
shrubs are used to enhance the screening and provide season interest as the leaves change
WEST VINE STORAGE
PROJECT NARRATIVE
PRELIMINARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The intention of this report is to substantiate our request for development of this property
consistent with the current CL Zoning, Limited Commercial, of the property. The
property consists of three parcels of land which will be combined for the development of
this property. Two of the lots are within the Snyder Subdivision and the third is
contiguous to the east and is un-platted annexed property within the City of Fort Collins.
The property is on the northeast corner of the intersection of Shields Street and West
Vine Drive. All of the property is within the CL Zoning District and owned by different
groups of the Rein family. The property has frontage on both Shields Street and West
Vine Drive and is separated from the corner by the convenience store that controls the
corner. The development of this property will pay for the installation of urban level
amenities for the neighborhood. The property will pay for the cost of curb, gutter,
detached sidewalks, and local portion of the adjacent streets on both West Vine Drive and
North Shields Street. In addition bike lanes will be provided and demarked within the
right of way making for a safer environment for all users of the multi -model
transportation system in the area. New R.O.W. will be provided from this property to
provide these amenities.
The property is Lots 1 and 2 of the Snyder Minor Subdivision and the un-platted parcel
adjacent to the east. These parcels have been owned by various combinations of the Rein
family and have had one previous owner since the time of the subdivision of the property.
The portion of the property that faces West Vine Drive has an ongoing commercial
business on it that predates the current ownership and predates the City Plan and Land
Use Code. The parcel to the east not controlled by the Rein's which is annexed to the
City has also had an ongoing commercial business operating on the land continuous and
prior to the annexation of this property to the City. The Reins have operated Apex Gutter
Company since they purchased the property, which predates the City Plan to the present
date. The property was acquired in 1996. The County records note and have taxed the
properties as commercial property since purchased by the Rein's
There is no public or private open space planned with this application since the site uses
are transient and temporary in nature. There are no existing significant natural features,
vegetation, geologic formations, or individual or stands of trees to be found on the
property. There are no known wetlands on the property. There is an existing irrigation
ditch, Arthur Ditch, for which there is a natural setback area provided for. There is a
likelihood that urban type wildlife use this irrigation ditch as a transportation corridor.
The setback provided is ample for urban type wildlife to cross by the property. There is a
`natural area' buffer yard of fifty feet from the bank edge of Arthur Ditch which is
provided as a transition from the agricultural type use of the irrigation ditch to the urban
development of the storage facility. This setback is greater than has been provided at this