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Home My WebLink AboutFLATS AT RIGDEN FARM - PDP - PDP140006 - REPORTS - CITIZEN COMMUNICATION1 Noah Beals From: Sean McGill <sean_mcgill@hotmail.com> Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 3:45 PM To: Noah Beals; Sarah Burnett Cc: 'Cathy Mathis'; Jason Sherrill (jsherrill@landmarksolutionsinc.com) Subject: RE: My opposition to a development Hi, Noah Thank you for considering my input. While you have accurately stated what is in the area, the problem is that it is still not enough. The mix near Drake and Timberline is heavily residential, but not exclusively residential. 90% of people still need to drive to work. We have no doctors. We have no sit down traditional restaurant with waiter service. We have no bike shop, dry cleaner, drug store, etc. Very few specialty shops. I'm talking about within walking distance, not a "short drive away". I have a friend that works at King Soopers. He said that the location was designed to handle something like $800k gross daily, but brings in more like $1.3mill daily. With all the new housing, we could use another grocery store half again as big as that King Soopers. We could also support more employers, more restaurants and more retail. Oh, and pleeeasse no more banks! All of these people in these new houses near Timberline and Drake are going to need to work somewhere. Why not near where they live? Why do we have business after business on Harmony Road and College Avenue, to name 2, and endless houses on, say, Horsetooth west of College? Where are the offices and retail? Where are the offices near Drake and Timberline? Let's get this place walking! Why do I need to drive to Harmony and see endless stretches of employers and restaurants? Why are they not spread out more? Some is economics, but some is city planning. A lot is city planning. It's too late for much of SE Fort Collins to avoid a huge housing glut. I'm afraid the next bust might be coming and we'll have overbuilt. I'd like to actually stick to a plan of a walkable city, instead of having a plan and then amending and exempting around it. Sorry for the rant, but I believe Fort Collins could become more of a friendly community for bicycles and walkers. Thanks for the contact information for Craig Foreman. I am excited about the possibility of something besides endless houses branching in all directions from my house. A park would be wonderful! sean From: nbeals@fcgov.com To: sean_mcgill@hotmail.com; SBurnett@fcgov.com CC: cathy@tbgroup.us; jsherrill@landmarksolutionsinc.com Subject: RE: My opposition to a development Date: Fri, 30 May 2014 16:43:57 +0000 2 Sean, Thanks for the phone call and following up with an email. I will get this email into the record for this project. I wanted to follow up on your concern for a park in the area. I have been informed there are discussions with the City’s Parks department and the owner of the gravel pits that are on the east side of Ziegler Road. I believe the discussions are about creating a pond, natural areas, and a city park at this location. For more details on these discussions please contact Craig Foreman at 970 221‐6618 cforeman@fcgov.com. We understand that another residential development may be concerning, but that is why the Overall Development Plan that was approved and the Land Use Code has standards that regulate the uses in this area and zone district. Although this parcel is being proposed for all‐residential use, the Land Use Code does require a mixture of uses throughout the larger Overall Development Plan area. Typically, business and service development comes in after the residential development, with businesses evaluating how many existing residential units are needed to sustain their business. As you know in the northwest corner Rigden Farm does have a Neighborhood Center with King Soopers and other businesses. There is another employer in the area directly across Drake Road, Cargill, which is in the process of expanding their campus. Also directly east of Cargill there is plan for office use of the old farm house and a new office building. Besides the block that is included in the development proposal for Flats at Rigden Farm, there are still some vacant sites for commercial/retail /office uses in the area. These include the block north the of the proposed site, a pad site north of the carwash, and vacant lot east of the Eye doctor on Custer Drive. Within a little over a mile from your neighborhood, probably easier on bike than on foot, there is to the south Front Range village and to the north, in the stages of development, there is Timberline Center (this is the area north of the Police station). At the north end of the Bucking Horse development there are planned commercial/retail uses including a restaurant and child care center. I thank you again for email and I have included the applicant (Cathy and Jason) on this response please feel free to contact them directly too. Sincerely, Noah Beals City Planner City of Fort Collins 970 416-2313 970 224-6134 Fax From: Sean McGill [mailto:sean_mcgill@hotmail.com] Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2014 8:55 AM To: Noah Beals; Sarah Burnett Subject: My opposition to a development Hi, I oppose the plan to re‐plat and change the following various use development into condos, followed by my reasons: Flats at Rigden Farm Located on 4.08 acres bounded by Limon Dr. to the north, Illinois Dr to the west, 3 Project #: PDP140006 Sign:141 Type: Project Development Plan Status: Applied Documents: CityDocs Staff Contact: Noah Beals 970-416-2313 Iowa Dr. to the east and Custer Dr. to the south I live at 2903 Percheron Drive. It is near Ziegler and Horsetooth. Surrounding me is an astounding array of endless housing development. I can't believe the lack of other amenities in our neighborhood. I understood that Fort Collins was pedestrian friendly, or at least trying to be. I have not found that to be the case where I am. We have no amenities, and the closest park is 3/4 of a mile away ‐‐ too far for my little kids to walk. The city has been handing out housing permits like Halloween candy the past 2 years. This proposed development will result in even more housing in an area glutted by it. Where's the planning? We are starting to look like Las Vegas in terms of city planning ‐‐ endless housing followed by endless commercial followed by endless industrial. Everyone needs to get in their cars to drive anywhere ‐‐ to a grocery store, a coffee shop, a restaurant. Instead of condos, there should be amenities or alternatives for the people who already live near this area ‐‐ and there are A LOT of us. Put someplace where people can walk. A destination. Or, at the very least, offices. Medical offices or something where the people can WALK (gulp!) to work. I would like Ft. Collins to start walking the walk instead of simply talking the talk. Let's put an end to endless driving, and put places people want to go near housing ‐ not more housing. Sean McGill