HomeMy WebLinkAboutHARMONY VILLAGE PUD - PRELIMINARY ..... SEPTEMBER 23 1998 NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING - 65 93C - MINUTES/NOTES - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGy•_�3_98,
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28. Will there be a southbound right -turn lane to turn into project from
Timberline Road?
A. Yes, a separate right turn lane is provided so the travel lanes are not
impacted by cars slowing down to turn right.
29. Will there ever be a traffic signal at Timberline Road and Battlecreek?
Response from City: Yes, there may be a signal installed in the future
when warranted by speed, safety or volume. This is an intersection of a
standard arterial and collector which are eligible for signals when warranted and
when there is money in. the budget. Signals are not installed before being
warranted.
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23. How did you determine the trip generation for a 14-plex movie theater?
A. Trip generation rates are determined by the Institute of Traffic Engineers
(I.T.E.) Trip Generation Manual which contains data based on studies made
throughout the country. For theaters, trip generation rates are based on either
the number of screens or the number of seats. We used the number of screens
because it results in a higher number than the number of seats so we get a more
conservative analysis.
24. What is considered the peak time on the roadway? How does the peak
on the roads compare with the peak of the theater?
A. The peak time on the surrounding roads is 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. (The p.m.
peak is higher than the a.m. peak.) We also looked at the Saturday peak from
noon to 2:00 p.m. These are considered to be the worst -case situations for
analysis purposes.
A key point is that the peak of the theater, early evening, does not coincide with
the peak on the surrounding streets. After 6:00 p.m., the trips generated by retail
and medical (P.V.H.) uses goes down.
25. If there are 3,000 seats in the theater, why is there not 3,000 trips factored
into the analysis for trip generation?
A. Because not everyone in the theater drove by themselves. One seat
does not equal one car in the parking lot.
26. What about the restaurants?
A. The traffic study assumed that the restaurants would be "standard" in that
they were not fast food or drive-thru. As standard restaurants, they were
assumed to be "high -turnover" which again generates higher numbers and
allows for a more conservative analysis. We also did not assume that there may
be combined trips in that some customers will combine a dinner with a show.
This again results in a conservative analysis. You will recall that the old plan
included drive-thru restaurants which are a high trip generator. There is an
overall reduction in trip generation by eliminating the drive-thru restaurants.
27. When Timberline Road gets widened, will we lose the trees and
landscaping shown on the pretty drawings?
A. No, the drawings indicate full right-of-way dedication for Timberline Road.
The trees and landscaping shown will be setback the appropriate distance and
not be removed for road widening.
7
A. The theater is too large a building for a pitched roof. Also, the in -line retail
building may be too large as well. The opportunity for pitched roofs would be on
the pad buildings and we will explore this with th potential tenants and the
architects. The key with the pad buildings is that there must be some
architectural relationship with the anchor buildings so the center looks unified.
18. What are the predominant building materials? What is the architectural
style of the center? Are you thinking of stucco and orange tile roofs? Sloping
the roofs are nice.
A. We are looking at a combination of brick, decorative concrete block and
synthetic stucco. The objective is use materials that are solid, and relatively
maintenance free. We are looking at a style that will endure and not look out of
date in ten years. The southwest style is not being considered for this center.
19. My concern is that I will not use the theater on a daily or even a weekly
basis. What I will use are dry cleaners, coffee shop, small drugstore, bookstore,
news stand, video store and other neighborhood -serving businesses that will
provide things that we need at the neighborhood level. If I can walk to these
things then that will be positive. If the center has things that I do not need then
the project will be a negative for me and the neighborhood.
A. It is our hope that we can provide these goods and services. Keep in
mind that the building envelopes shown are for planning purposes only and do
not actually represent individual stores. The exact size and scale of each tenant
is not known at this time since we have not done any pre -leasing yet for the in -
line retail. We are probably one year away from leasing this part of the center.
20. Does the theater open first? What is the timeframe?
A. We anticipate beginning construction on the theater in the Spring and
opening before Thanksgiving. During this time, a pad user may open earlier due
to a shorter construction process.
21. At the last meeting, the Cinemark rep commited to stadium seating. Will
you do the same?
A. We already plan to have stadium seating in all theaters.
22. What about midnight movies? I would be opposed to showing movies at
midnight.
A. We have not made any decisions about midnight movies.
NO
Response from City: It is our finding that the center does indeed have good
access to Harmony Road. No, we will not consider adding a signal at that
location as it would severely impact the functioning of the roadway as a state
highway. Also, it is too close to the intersection of Timberline Road. Such a
signal is not part of the approved Harmony Road Access Control Plan that was
jointly adopted between the City and the Colorado Department of Transportation
(CDOT). As agencies that regulate access to public roads, both the City and
CDOT are hesitant to create full -turning access for the sole benefit of a private
property owner at the expense of efficiency on public streets. Keep in mind that
Harmony is projected to carry between 40,000 and 50,000 vehicles per day and
adding traffic signals is not always the best solution when analyzing the
efficiency of the corridor from 1-25 to College Avenue.
Our analysis is that the number of trips estimated to use the neighborhood
streets is a small percentage of the total and is acceptable for the design and
function of the existing streets in Harmony Crossing.
14. Theater traffic will use Wilmington and Delaney to exit. So, these streets
should be one-way going north and prohibiting southbound travel.
A. This would mean that residents of Harmony Crossing would have to use
Timberline Road, a standard arterial street, to gain access to your homes when
leaving the center. This is not convenient for you and also unnecessarily loads
up Timberline Road with trips that otherwise use internal streets.
15. Are there any changes in the number of parking spaces between this plan
and the last plan?
A. There is slightly less parking on this plan than on the last plan.
16. On Battlecreek, could you install a median so that folks coming over from
Oak Ridge via Keenland would be prevented from turning left to go north on
Wilmington?
A. This would mean that residents of Harmony Village and Willow Springs
North would be prohibited from turning left to east on Battlecreek to gain access
to Timberline Road or other portions of the Willow Springs area like the
neighborhood pool. Keep in mind that Willow Springs north consists of 33 single
family lots and 280 multi -family apartments and these folks need to gain access
to Battlecreek to go in both directions.
17. 1 am concerned about the architectural character of the shopping center.
Pitched roofs on the commercial buildings would help contribute to the softening
of the center and help it blend in with the neighborhood. We like the Toddy's
Center because of the residential character.
5-
Response from City: Keep in mind that the streets were always designed
to connect. Yes, there will be more traffic due to the shopping center. In the
short term, this increase is negligible and remains under 1,000 vehicles per day.
In the long term, with the Keenland/Battlecreek connection over the tracks, the
increase is estimated to be 1,200 vehicles per day. This is still a relatively small
increase and can be accommodated on the roadway. We work with the
neighborhood to install traffic calming with the first phase of the project and
continue to monitor the streets as time goes on.
9. Will Timberline be a standard arterial as far south as C.R. #32? If so,
what about the wetlands?
Response from City: Yes, Timberline Road is classified as a standard
arterial from Harmony to C.R. #32. The roadway has not been designed so we
have not analyzed the impact on the wetlands. The City has purchased these
wetlands and they are referred to as the Fossil Creek Wetlands. So, the value
and importance of the wetlands will certainly be considered in the design of the
roadway since they are already owned by the citizens and wetlands are federally
protected.
10. What are some of the other volumes on existing streets that we may be
familiar with?
Response from City: For comparison purposes, Centennial (collector) carries
2,700, Swallow (collector) carries 8,000 and Creekwood (connector) carries
1,800 vehicles per day.
11. Would it be realistic to expect three round-abouts for Harmony Crossing
neighborhood? Will the City assist us in this effort?
Response from City: Yes, the City is available to work with neighborhoods
in mitigating traffic from nearby developments. Round-abouts are not always the
answer. There are other things such as raised cross -walks that seem to work
well in other neighborhoods.
12. Would the City consider closing Wilmington so it would not extend to the
north?
Response from City: A street connection to the north was always
anticipated as shown in the Overall Development Plan. It is our policy not to
close street connections.
13. The basic problem of the shopping center is that it does not have good
access to Harmony Road. Would the City consider adding a traffic signal at the
right-in/right-out on Harmony so folks could turn left to go west on Harmony?
This might take pressure off our neighborhood.
y
Response from City: The decision was not political. It was made during
Staff review of the P.U.D. by the City's Traffic Operations Engineer.
5. We don't want anymore traffic in our neighborhood. Wilmington should be
terminated at Angelo and not extended south to Battlecreek Drive.
Response from City: It is the City's policy to extend and connect streets
between adjacent projects to build a logical, interconnected street system that
serves the neighborhood as well as the City. If Wilmington did not extend south,
and you wanted to go west over to Lemay via Keenland, you would have to go in
the opposite direction and get on Timberline Road. Now, Timberline is classified
as a standard arterial street designed to carry higher speeds and volume. You
should not have to get on a standard arterial street if a collector street system is
in place. An interconnected street system helps distribute traffic in multiple
directions without unnecessarily loading up certain streets.
6. 1 have read the traffic impact study. The annual background traffic is
estimated to 'increase at only 1.8% per year for the long term analysis. Is this
accurate? If our population is growing at 2.5% to 3% per year, wouldn't the
background traffic increase in a like fashion? The 1.8% sounds too low.
A. You are correct that today we are in a fast growth cycle and that 1.8%
does not reflect current population gains. For the long term, however, 1.8% has
proven to be a reliable number because it factors in the years we are not growing
as fast. For example, during the mid -to -late '80's, background traffic grew at less
than 1.8% but we continued to use the same projection rate because it evens out
the peaks and valleys over the long term of 15 to 20 years.
Also, for purposes of this particular traffic study, we added in the projected trips
from the other known projects in the Harmony Corridor such as Hewlett-Packard
Building Four (fabrication plant), Symbios (office building), Celestica
(manufacturing plant), Preston Center (retail -commercial mix) and Poudre Valley
Hospital (medical office and outpatient care).
Our conclusion is that the study is valid and uses accurate data to analyze the
long term conditions.
7. How long ago did the "connector" become part of the City's classification
system?
Response from City: About 1.5 years ago.
8. 1 like our neighborhood the way it is now. More traffic will impact our
quality of life.
traffic consulting team to be a "local" street which allows up to 1,000 trips per
day. Therefore, the estimated 1,200 trips, in the long term, would have
exceeded the classification.
Since the last meeting, however, based on the City's new street classification
system, Wilmington is now considered to be a "connector" street. The reason
the City classified Wilmington as such is due to the physical width of the street
(36 feet from flowline to flowline) and the location and function of the street as a
link between cul-de sacs and a collector street (Battlecreek Drive). A "connector"
is a type of "local" street that connects streets with multiple driveways to streets
with fewer driveways in a hierarchy that leads up to collectors and arterials.
The new classification system includes a wider range of residential streets that
now consists of three streets that are narrower than the 36 foot wide street.
These are 24, 28 and 30 foot wide streets.
So, based on City Staffs analysis of the hierarchy of streets in the surrounding
area, Wilmington Drive is classified as a "connector" street. In the long run,
when Keenland connects over the railroad tracks to Battlecreek, Wilmington will
be able to accommodate the estimated 1,200 trips per day.
(Under the old classification, the 36 foot wide local street would top out at about
2,500 trips per day depending on its location in the hierarchy.)
2. As a neighborhood, we would like to discourage "cut -through" traffic. Are
we eligible for traffic calming measures like in other neighborhoods?
Response from City: Yes, we are already recommending "neck -downs"
where the developer's extension of Wilmington meets the existing roadway. Our
experience is that traffic calming does not necessarily reduce traffic volume but
does reduce speeds. The situation will continue to be monitored over time.
3. The Overall Development Plan for this area was approved years ago.
Why now, all of a sudden, is Wilmington re-classified and upgraded to a higher
level street that can handle more volume?
Response from City: The reason is because of the physical characteristics of the
street (36 feet wide) and the function of the street. Keep in mind that a
"connector" is a type of local street. Wilmington is built to a 36 foot width. This
width is able to handle "connector' volumes. There are not that many individual
driveways on Wilmington like on other streets.
4. Was this re-classification a political decision by the City to assist the
developer in getting his project approved? Who made this decision? When was
the decision made?
M
THIRD NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING MINUTES
PROJECT: Harmony Village Preliminary P.U.D.
DATE: September 23, 1998
APPLICANT: Ty Fangman, Dial Properties
Bill Quigley, Mann Theaters
CONSULTANTS: Linda Ripley, V-F Ripley and Associates
Ruth Rollins, Traffic Engineer
Matt Delich, Traffic Engineer
Dave Klockman, J.R. Engineering
CITY STAFF: Eric Bracke, Traffic Operations Engineer
Ted Shepard, Senior Planner
The meeting began with a description of the changes made since the last
meeting. These include a new theater operator, Mann Theaters, and a reduction
in screens from 16 to 14. Also, all drive-thru restaurants have been deleted.
The pad sites now include three standard restaurants, two banks (with drive -up
windows) and the convenience store will remain. The free-standing drug store,
with two drive -up lanes, has been eliminated. The amount of gross leasable
square footage is slightly decreased from 187,542 to 172,242 square feet and
remains within the allowable maximum of 250,000 square feet as specified in
the Harmony Corridor Plan for a "community -scaled shopping center." Upon
further clarification with the City Transportation Department, Wilmington Drive is
considered to be a "connector" street, not a "local" street as indicated at the last
meeting. This means that Wilmington is classified to carry up to 2,500 vehicles
per day, not the 1,000 as previously reported. Unless otherwise noted, all
responses are from the applicant or the consulting team.
QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, COMMENTS
1. I am concerned about the reclassification of Wilmington up to a
"connector' street. What does this mean?
A. You will recall from the last meeting that in the short term, the amount of
vehicles per day on Wilmington is estimated to be below 1,000. In the long term,
when Keenland connects over the railroad tracks, the. amount of vehicles per is
estimated at 1,200. At the last meeting, Wilmington Drive was described by the