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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFLATS AT RIGDEN FARM - PDP - PDP140006 - REPORTS - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGNeighborhood Information Meeting Project: Rigden Farm Filing 14 Major Amendment Date: April 28, 2014 Location: Police Services Building, 2221 S. Timberline Road Project Planner: Noah Beals (Ryan Mounce present at meeting) The meeting began with a brief overview of the City’s development review process and the development review procedures for this project. The applicant has not yet submitted a formal development application to the City. Based on the current project characteristics, the project would be subject to Planning & Zoning Board (Type 2) review. When the project is formally submitted, a new orange sign will be placed on the property to indicate a development proposal is under review. A mailed notice will also be sent to neighbors and property owners prior to the Planning & Zoning Board public hearing. Questions, Comments & Responses Comment: Will all of these units be sold? No rentals? Response (Applicant): Inevitably, an investor might buy a unit and rent it but it isn’t a rental property. One of the issues is FHA project approval. We are much more adamant about not selling to investors as we won’t get FHA approval with too many investors so we are very concerned about that. We can kind of control it but we are trying to limit investor owned units. Comment: Do you as the developer and the city understand how dense the population is getting in this area and when you take a space like that and make it residential where will the supporting commercial be? There isn’t enough commercial here. What’s the planning for that? Response (Applicant): That is likely a different meeting. Comment: There won’t be enough room for commercial. Comment: I remember this used to be a commercial development, what is the zoning? Response (City): It is neighborhood commercial and you’re right, there was a plan approved for commercial from 2007. If you want to see the plan, I can show them to you. It included multi-family and commercial. Comment: If you go to the west, you have the Island which is the nearest restaurant and going south, you have to go to Harmony. Going North, you have to go to Mulberry. I think there should be commercial on this site. In the future will the city come back and then try and redevelop/re-zone it? Are we wasting the zoning? Response (City): There is a requirement that only 30% of the area can be multi-family so it will have to comply with that so it is likely that there will be commercial uses there. Comment: Is the project for 100 units compliant with the zoning? Response (City): Yes. The Neighborhood Commercial zoning district doesn’t speak to minimum or maximum density. The secondary use component is the controlling feature. Comment: How do you determine the 30%? Are you weighing it against King Soopers? Or is it weighed against vacant land? Response (City): It is weighed against other residential uses. It looks at the area just surrounding the parcel. Comment: I’m sorry but as a resident of the neighborhood we’re being drowned with the number of housing units that have been built. I really object to that I am going to have to go to Target on College because there is no way King Soopers can handle all of the new residents. It’s already difficult to find a parking space in that lot and why are we not looking at something like that? There’s not enough commercial and there’s a traffic problem too. Response (Applicant): There’s demand for housing and the way that the city protects their land use is by using the 30% requirement. We had to prove to the city that this project didn’t get us out of compliance with those conditions. Comment: Maybe the master plan is wrong. Response (Applicant): We’re not here to discuss that tonight. Comment: Will all parking be provided on-site? When I look at the Courtyards every unit has a 2-car garage, if you go down to Kansas you will see every off-street spot used up. Here you’re talking about 100 units and 170 spaces where most of these people they will not have 1.7 cars, they will have 2 or 3 cars per unit. Response (Applicant): I don’t think we will get students. Comment: When you’re charging under $200k for a 3-bedroom you will definitely appeal to students. Response (Applicant): We are meeting the parking requirement and the 3 bedroom requires more parking spots. Comment: You may get 3 people with 3 cars. Response (Applicant): We have yet to sell to a college student. Comment: People will buy it and rent it to college students. Comment: There are students living in more expensive places. Response (Applicant): We have limitations for investors and rental units so we are very protective about selling to home owners. Comment: So there will be a limit? Response (Applicant): We will sell 80% to home owners on the initial development. I can’t guarantee the other 20% will be home owners or the second sale. This will limit college students due to price. What it goes back to is the city and they have done a lot of research on parking requirements and we exceed those requirements. There is a healthy number of perimeter parking as well to handle overflow. Comment: I would say if you went down there now without the apartments you will find people already parking on the street. Response (Applicant): You would know better than I do but I rarely see people parked on the street. At night time I don’t see people parked on the street. Comment: This is more to the city than to you but as a resident of the area for 8 years I feel that what can be allowed doesn’t mean it should be allowed. We have been sold down the river by the city. The quality of our lives is being impacted. I get that it doesn’t break any rules but we have been betrayed. Response (City): Can you elaborate on that? Comment: The big issues are traffic and commercial. Comment: You have the church there and they close down the roads to get people in and out. How will this be handled with more residents? If you suddenly take Iowa and you fill it up with cars parked on both sides you can’t get one care through and you will have traffic hell. Response (City): I use King Soopers and I avoid it on Sunday morning as a result and the traffic department will have to handle it. Comment: Do they have to do a traffic study? Response (City): Yes, they will have to update it and I believe there is a larger ODP for the entire area and I believe this is a part of that process. Comment: Is there commercial land that could be developed? Response (City): Yes, to the north on Limon and there are a few pads available on the site as well. Comment: What are all of those abandoned buildings? Response (Applicant): CSU owns them. Comment: More than trying to put more retail in there I am concerned about traffic getting out of the development. Custer is small and Drake is constrained as well. Response (City): Our traffic engineer looked and the project in 2007 looked at the densities shown here in this project to determine if traffic would be a problem. Comment: How can the city not look at everything? You have all of this development and I understand your position but I can’t see how this thing has been coordinated. Response (City): When I referred to the ODP that is where at the beginning they tried to coordinate everything. Comment: Are you going to have to change your zoning? Response (Applicant): We are use by right and have to go to P&Z. Comment: You know those diagonal spots are for commercial so you can build this without commercial? Response (Applicant): Yes, but within 30% requirement. Comment: So we can’t change this? Response (City): No, you can influence the plan. That’s why we’re here. Comment: Is this LMN? So your understanding is he doesn’t have to do commercial even though the original developer had to put in those parking spaces? Response (City): Right, as they don’t go above that 30% threshold. Comment: I was looking at zoning and there could be a maximum number of units, height and here we are talking 3 stories and 10 units, what exactly is the zoning code for low density? Response (City): In the yellow area it ranges from 3-12 units per acre and there are some restrictions on multi-family units. Comment: Doesn’t the PUD limit the density? Response (City): I am not sure. Comment: It looks like this might violate the original PUD due to a lack of commercial. Response (City): Again, I am not sure I am only aware of the ODP. Response (Applicant): The ODP is what governs this now and the underlying zoning, not the original PUD. Comment: So the original PUD was obsolete? Comment: No, this was the first one done under the ODP system. Comment: I just like the fact I can go half a mile to my neighborhood grocery store. I don’t want to drive to my neighborhood grocery store. I can get there now but I am not sure if I can do so with more population in the area. It’s a big impact. Response (Applicant): Your concern isn’t the distance; it’s the amount of activity there. Comment: We need restaurants, drug stores, etc. The parking there right now is laughable. Response (Applicant): What will unfold is that somewhere else, commercial will go there and will potentially draw people away from here and relieve some of the congestion. I have great faith in Fort Collins’ long term planning and so I can’t imagine they haven’t thought this through. Comment: King Soopers should have built a bigger store. Response (Applicant): I know they build bigger stores now and I have been in that King Soopers and it is packed full of stuff. Comment: I have always been able to find a parking space at that King Soopers. Comment: Not everyone will drive there. People will walk, ride their bike, etc. Response (Applicant): The appeal of this is that it will provide people an opportunity to shop on foot and not drive their cars. Comment: These are ranches? Response (Applicant): Yes, they are stacked ranches and every building has elevators. Based on our wait list, this is not age restricted but a lot of our interest is coming from 60+. We’ve done other age targeted properties and those buyers do have less cars. I can’t promise you this will be the case but our early interest is 60+. Comment: What is the floor plan like? Is only one wall shared? Response (Applicant): You walk into a central, secure lobby with a couch and art and that will be public space. Then there is a secure door you walk to with a garage and direct access to the home. The other units fill into a common corridor. It’s kind of an urban, secure building with stacked ranch units. Comment: So they are side by side and only sharing one wall, right? Response (Applicant): Yes, most will only share one wall but some might share two. Comment: Who is going to be taking responsible the outside? Response (Applicant): There will be an HOA. Comment: How long of a build out do you expect? Response (Applicant): I think it will be 36-40 months. It takes a while, they’re big buildings. But we have a huge demand right now for this particular product. Comment: How tall are the buildings? Response (Applicant): They will be in the 37 foot range to the peak. We have a low profile, urban looking building to complement the commercial to the west. Comment: You said 30% of area has to be confined to commercial, right? Response (City): No, a max 30% can be residential. Comment: What percent is already commercial from Custer up to Drake and then to the church? Response (City): All of the pink you see on the zoning map is the zone district so that 30% mark applies just to that zone district in that area. Comment: If you look to the west of Illinois there is already commercial. They will continue to build for commercial not residential, right? The only other commercial will be north facing on Drake available for commercial, right? Response (City): Yes, there are also pad sites on Custer for a dental office and the other thing to know… Comment: I thought the property to the south was owned by the church. Comment: No, but what I would like to see is a restaurant. Response (City): That is allowed but we can’t control it. Comment: Enough is enough here. I get development but it’s just thing after thing. I feel like we are being buried. Comment: The parking that exists right now is gridlock. You can say all you want about 1 car and I know most residents have more cars than that. I think there’s a lot of assumptions being made that aren’t true. And then just south of there you have another apartment complex coming in. The thing that worried me is when they said there would be 58 spaces on the street. When you look at places with 2 car garages and 2.5 spaces for unit and it is already gridlock and now this new development are lower income and fewer parking spaces I think the new place will be bought by investors. It seems like it will be a big problem. This isn’t even getting into all of the other new housing developments. Where will there be room for more commercial? The place south on Timberline owned by the college has potential and Ziegler will all be built out with residential. There is limited space for new commercial. Comment: When does it stop? How many more of these proposals will the city consider? When we look around at all of the things being built it is thousands of people being put in here, what will traffic be like? I am not going to be able to go to the neighborhood grocery store. I saw this in the west side off Elizabeth and the King Soopers expanded and it became a monster. The Kings couldn’t handle it so we moved over here and I know it’s bound to happen but when will it stop? Comment: I mean a density of 100 units in that amount of space I get that it’s permissible but it doesn’t mean that the quality of life will be better. Response (City): I was curious about that too. I looked at this and it will be similar to the Brooklyn Townhomes in terms of density. Comment: I lived there, they had more parking and still people were parking on the streets next to Iowa and the school as well. You’re throwing a lot of people into a small area. Response (City): What do you think about the school in relation to the parking issues? Comment: Traffic is mostly a problem when school is letting in and out. The parents just don’t care. Comment: I don’t think they’re adding parking to the school, just a gym. Comment: I think the school is wonderful and it is only a problem when school is letting in or out and so there isn’t a parking problem. What bothers me is when will we get the next notice for a residential development? Response (City): If another project goes through, it will be very difficult for more residential to go through. If you look at the other zone districts they are already built out in terms of residential. The medium density also allows commercial buildings so you can see accountants, doctors, etc. I think you mentioned about the police services building and if you look at the west, the employment district can only be used limited by residential. Comment: You see that with the development on Drake adding a lot of traffic as well. Comment: There is some space around the trail and I thought they were building residential there too. Response (City): I am not sure if they are or not so there is another spot that could be developed as commercial as well. North of here it is employment. Comment: Next to Side Hill there is a farmers market and I think it is planned for housing as well. On the west side of Timberline there could be some commercial developed. Response (City): Another option is the industrial zone district. In Industrial you can see industrial uses but you can also do just about any other type of use as well. Comment: I feel sorry for people trying to turn left to get into their neighborhood from Timberline into Side Hill. It’s impossible. Considering if you look at all of the houses they are putting in there it will be a big pain for them. Comment: I am glad the city did a right hand turn lane going on to Drake and they made a double left from Timberline on Drake eastbound. I don’t understand why the light is so short but apparently it’s timed for a time of day when there is less traffic. Plus you can’t decide from a 2007 study where you will need lights and Drake and Ziegler will need it big time. Response (City): They will look at that as well. Comment: I get that profit is everything for the developer but you have to look at the quality of life after the fact.