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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLIND PROPERTY - PDP - 39-94B - CORRESPONDENCE - CITIZEN COMMUNICATION (3)Mr. Bob Barkeen August 5, 2002 Page 3 Development (KB Homes), which caused severe hardship for our neighborhood. (We also did not have a contact point in city or county government to report this problem.) We also need help in achieving traffic enforcement of construction traffic and developer compliance with agreements designed to minimize neighborhood disruption (e.g., limiting construction traffic on certain streets). If our neighborhood is unable to resolve such issues with the developer, we would like the City to take action, such as not issuing future permits, or suspending existing permits, until these problems are resolved. Finally, we are concerned with maintaining the integrity and compatibility of our neighborhood. A major step would be maximizing the compatibility of lot sizes in the Lind Development with the single-family lot sizes in our Country Club Heights Subdivision which consists of NCR 11 and Richard's Lake Road. This has been done already with lot sizes in the ongoing Richard's Lake Development, and we have raised this issue also with the Gillespie Farm Development. We are pleased that the initial phase (which is closest to our neighborhood) of the Lind Plan will consist of single-family homes which would be consistent with the single-family character of our neighborhood. We seek the support of the Current Planning Department in any actions that would assist the developer's flexibility in addressing our concerns in maintaining the integrity and compatibility of our neighborhood. We appreciate the opportunity to provide the Current Planning Department with our comments on the proposed Lind Project Development Plan. We strongly believe our concerns must be addressed prior to future actions on the Lind Plan or other developments to the north which affect our neighborhood. We look forward to future opportunities to provide additional input during the City of Fort Collins development review process. Please contact me at (970) 407-0531 for further explanations of our comments or to arrange follow-on meetings with neighborhood representatives. Sincerely, Joseph W. Bleicher For Neighbors in the Country Club Heights Subdivision cc: Ms. Yvonne Seaman, Centex Homes Mayor Ray Martinez, City of Fort Collins Mr. Glenn Gibson, Chair of the Larimer County Commissioners Mr. Bob Barkeen August 5, 2002 Page 2 established. To clarify earlier discussions, we need to obtain a finalized written commitment of the involved parties from the City and the developers. Furthermore, we need your support in ensuring that the Richard's Lake Project, the Gillespie Farms Project, and the Lind Project each contribute a fair amount of the funding needed to do the NCR 11 improvements in our neighborhood. Safety on NCR 11 also remains a major concern which needs to be promptly addressed. In December 2000 there was a tragic accident at the intersection of NCR 11 and Country Club Road that resulted in two deaths. We've recently received Larimer County assistance in double -striping NCR 11 for a no - passing zone and obtaining more speed limit signs, but speeding and reckless driving remain a very serious neighborhood concern. There is very strong neighborhood support for a reduction in the current speed limit and effective traffic enforcement by the City and/or County. Second, there needs to be an improved process for access to the north as future development takes place in this area. Effectively, we are bringing the city to the country; the City of Fort Collins must provide the needed infrastructure for the north prior to its development. Absent adequate infrastructure to the north, we are only funneling all the construction and residential traffic from developments in our neighborhood onto NCR 11. With the limited existing access routes into the city, this will also add significant additional traffic on Country Club Road. We believe it is unacceptable to build the Lind Project absent needed improvements to CR 52 which would make it a viable alternative route for construction and residential traffic. Although the Lind Project would pave the portion of CR 52 fronting its development, the road would not be used since the eastern portion to NCR 9 would remain a dirt road. Much of the overall traffic for the northeast now flows on Lemay Avenue -- this route already has severe limitations. We believe it is now timely to extend Timberline Road to the north of Mountain Vista Road (CR 50) to provide additional alternative access to the north for future developments. We further believe there needs to be adequate flexibility in the street oversizing program to meet the concerns and needs of existing neighborhoods in the north as future development takes place. In summary, we request your assistance in setting up a meeting with the City Council where we can discuss this key issue of improved access to the north in more detail. Third, we are concerned with issues related to city and county jurisdiction and responsibilities when you have an existing county development being directly affected by a city development. We would appreciate your assistance in achieving agreement between city and county representatives on their responsibilities in meeting specific neighborhood needs, such as street repairs and traffic enforcement. We also need assistance in identifying the appropriate city and county contact points for issues and problems which arise. Fourth, we are concerned with issues related to monitoring and enforcing developer compliance with agreements made with the neighborhood, as well as city and county requirements related to construction. We have already experienced problems in the area of fugitive dust control by Richard's Lake Joseph W. Bleicher 2509 N. County Road 11 Fort Collins, CO 80524 Phone: (970) 407-0531 August 5, 2002 Mr. Bob Barkeen City Planner Current Planning Department City of Fort Collins 281 North College Avenue Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580 Dear Mr. Barkeen: Thank you for the opportunity for my neighbors and me in the Country Club Heights Subdivision to provide the Current Planning Department with our comments on the development proposal known as the Lind Project Development Plan. Our neighborhood dates back to 1965 and is made up of over 40 single- family homes. Nick Yobbagy, Kirvin Knox and I have developed these comments in our role as representatives in working with the developers and local government representatives on neighborhood concerns. Our high interest in the Lind Plan was shown by the excellent turnout of neighbors who provided many comments at your neighborhood information meeting on July 31, 2002. We greatly appreciate the efforts of the Current Planning Department to obtain neighborhood input on this proposal, and we look forward to your support in addressing our strong neighborhood concerns. First, and of greatest importance in our neighborhood, we are concerned that we obtain a frontage road along NCR 11. This is consistent with the earlier agreement (discussions date back to 1997) between our neighborhood and the developer of the Richard's Lake Development. The frontage road, which could have a landscaped berm and/or wall, would provide existing homes with limited, consolidated access to NCR 11 rather than having to back directly out onto the road. Further, the frontage road would provide a physical barrier which would help maintain the quality of life in our neighborhood by mitigating road noise which has already resulted from the greatly increased traffic on NCR 11. We have also worked in the past two years with the developer of the Gillespie Farm Development on obtaining a frontage road along NCR 11. This developer has already submitted to the City a proposed plan for a 125-foot right-of-way for NCR 11 which contains a frontage road. It is essential that the infrastructure of the proposed Lind Development to the north not conflict with this proposed plan for NCR I 1 by the Gillespie Farm Development which is to the south. We were very pleased that the Lind Plan, which was presented by Centex Homes at the neighborhood information meeting, does appear to accommodate the frontage road. We need your support in ensuring the earliest possible implementation of the proposed NCR 11 improvements, especially the frontage road. A reasonable timetable for these improvements needs to be