HomeMy WebLinkAboutREGENCY LAKEVIEW - PDP & APU - PDP120013 - CORRESPONDENCE - PLANNING OBJECTIVES8390 E. Crescent Pkwy, Suite 650, Greenwood Vlg, CO 80111
• (O) 303-770-4300 • (F) 303-962-4762
www.regencyres.com
April 18, 2012
Mr. Ted Shepard
City of Fort Collins
Planning Department
281 N. College Avenue
Fort Collins, CO 80521
RE: REGENCY LAKEVIEW - PROJECT DEVELOPMENT PLAN (PDP)
PLANNING OBJECTIVES
Background
The Project site is owned by Christ Center Community Church. The Church purchased 23.55
acres at the southeast corner of Drake Road and Lemay Avenue in 1980. The Church moved to
this location with the intention of building a large religious campus facility. The plan included a
multi-phased build out of the entire parcel. The building and parking lot as seen today
encompassed the original two phases of the construction. The final building phases involved
structures to the west of and attached to the current Church building and smaller buildings with
more parking on the 11-acre site located east of the Church. At completion, the entire corner
parcel would have been developed. Over the intervening years, the Church’s focus changed from
the desire to be a “mega” church to being a smaller, more intimate community focused church.
As the direction of the Church and congregation evolved, it became apparent that the Church did
not need to develop the 11-acre site and retained ownership of the site was not supportive of the
Church’s community based mission. As part of this evolution, the Church Board and
congregation determined it would better serve its mission by selling the 11-acre site.
Since 1980, the Church has permitted the use of its parking and property by the Fort Collins
community at large. When the Poudre Valley Hospital built its parking garage, the Church
parking lot was used for employee parking. The Church hosts the annual 9-Health Faire and the
annual Butterfly Kisses father/daughter dance. The Church has not restricted use of its 11 acres
nor its parking lot. Neighbors have used the parking lot and the open space to walk their dogs, hit
golf balls, etc. The neighborhood has grown accustom to utilizing the well maintained open
space, although they do not share in the cost of maintaining it. The irrigating, fertilizing,
mowing and general overall clean-up has been the Church’s responsibility.
As the Church and its leadership explored the possibility of selling the 11-acre parcel, they
looked at a number of options; including single family, retail, and a youth center. As part of the
process leading to sale, the Church discovered that the implementation of City Plan in 1997
limited its opportunities for sale. Even though the property was located at the intersection of two
8390 E. Crescent Pkwy, Suite 650, Greenwood Vlg, CO 80111
• (O) 303-770-4300 • (F) 303-962-4762
www.regencyres.com
arterial streets the property was zoned R-L, Low Density Residential District, the stated purpose
of which is “predominantly single-family residential areas located throughout the city which
existed at the time of adoption of this Land Use Code.” The R-L zone district permits only a
very limited number of uses, the development of which are now subject to the more prescriptive
regulations of the Land Use Code, as opposed to the LDGS which allowed an almost unlimited
number of uses to be proposed on the site.
In an attempt to position itself for a sale of a portion of its property, the Church sought a
rezoning to the LMN zone in 2009 to allow for more potential uses. While members of the
Planning and Zoning Board expressed support for more intense uses, including multi-family
housing, at this arterial intersection, they were reluctant to allow all the uses that are permitted in
the LMN District and would have preferred to evaluate an actual development plan that proposed
specific uses in order to evaluate compatibility. The Church continued its application but later
decided to delay any action until it had an actual purchaser with an actual use.
The Church continued to market the property and after evaluating the 11-acre site, Regency
Residential Partners, the Applicant, determined that the site was an excellent choice for multi-
family development. Factors considered included:
proximity to employment, education, medical, grocery and retail facilities
infill location
access to public infrastructure and transportation
compatibility of use (residential)
need within the Fort Collins community
The proposed multi-family project will be able to:
provide quality housing for singles and couples, teachers, public servants, single parents,
retirees (not ready for assisted living), recent college graduates, and for those who cannot
afford to buy or may have lost owned housing due to foreclosure
create high end, professionally managed, multi-family for-rent housing to replace older,
deteriorating for-rent housing options
provide an architectural style with façade treatments, roof lines and varying heights that
will produce an appropriate transition to existing neighborhoods
Because multi-family dwellings are not an allowed use in the R-L zone district, it was
determinedly the City staff and the Applicant that the APU is the best process to utilize for the
following reasons:
1. The APU process can allow an additional use in the RL zone if a detailed
development plan is prepared and established criteria designed to protect
neighborhoods are met.
8390 E. Crescent Pkwy, Suite 650, Greenwood Vlg, CO 80111
• (O) 303-770-4300 • (F) 303-962-4762
www.regencyres.com
2. The process would allow the Church to realize more appropriate economic value
for property located at the intersection of two arterial streets and help rectify the
change in zoning to R-L when City Plan was established. The process would
allow the property, located at the intersection of two arterial streets, to be more
appropriately used from an efficient land-use standpoint and help rectify the
change in zoning to R-L when City Plan was established.
3. The APU process protects the neighborhood by insuring that impacts are carefully
evaluated before approval of the site specific land use and also insures that other
land uses are not automatically permitted as would be the case if the property
were to be rezoned.
Project Description and Neighborhood Compatibility Analysis
In addition to being adjacent to the Church, the property is surrounded by a mix of uses
including: Scotch Pines neighborhood retail and grocery, employment (Woodward Governor,
Poudre Valley Hospital), open space (Parkwood Lake) and single family residential – Parkwood
Lake and Sherwood Neighborhoods.
The proposed project, to be known as Regency Lakeview will consist of 8 multi-story residential
buildings and a clubhouse building. The clubhouse will include leasing and management
functions along with fitness facility, great room with kitchen for entertaining, resident accessible
computers and printers, and café. There are several areas of outdoor amenities including pool
with spa and deck, picnic tables, bocci court, a walking track/trail, and a 2-acre neighborhood
pocket park with multi use fields and low wall seating. The clubhouse and outdoor pool area will
have WiFi access.
The Project design team has worked with the property owner Christ Center Community Church,
City staff and the neighborhood (through the neighborhood meeting process) to design a project
that is compatible with the surrounding uses. The Project has a mix of two story, two story rising
to three story, and three story buildings. The buildings are designed with articulated facades to
achieve a scale compatible with the surrounding single family houses. The varied roof elevations
provide greater differentiation among the buildings and add to visual interest. The Project’s
buildings step down in height from the Church as the tallest buildings are closet to the Church
while the two story buildings are closest to the single family residences located on Dorado Court
and in Sherwood Neighborhood. The Project placed the one story clubhouse building and a two
story rising to three story building facing E. Drake Road. All but one of the buildings is oriented
east-west. The project shares two property lines with single family residential. The majority of
the single family residences are along the east property line so the east-west orientation of the
buildings allows more open views between the buildings for the residents of Dorado Court and
Sherwood Neighborhood.
8390 E. Crescent Pkwy, Suite 650, Greenwood Vlg, CO 80111
• (O) 303-770-4300 • (F) 303-962-4762
www.regencyres.com
From a site planning perspective, the Project preserves the mature trees and landscaped berms
that currently exist on the north side of the development parcel. The Project will add landscaping
and some berming along the eastern property line. The height of the landscaped berms along
Drake Road with the existing mature trees will buffer the appearance of the multi-family
buildings as seen from the street. A generous quantity of new trees and other landscaping will
serve to buffer the project from the neighborhoods located to the east and south. The buildings
have been carefully designed with walks that will connect to public sidewalks along Drake Road
and Lemay Avenue.
The southern two acres of the site will serve as a storm water detention facility as well as a
neighborhood pocket park. The park is designed to keep the multi use field areas dry while
directing storm water to wetland swales on the south and east sides of the field. These wetter
areas will be seeded with mesic plant material that can handle the wet soil. From the swale,
storm water will drain and be piped past the City of Fort Collins storm water detention pond
located outside of the project site. The pocket park and the existing landscaped berm along E.
Drake Road provide significant buffers to the single family neighborhoods. The closest multi-
family building to the adjoining Sherwood Neighborhood is 70 feet from the property line. This
building (No. 2) has a three story section which is approximately 130 feet from the property line.
The detached parking structures are 25 feet from the closest property line. The garages are
oriented with the doors facing into the project. The purpose of this feature is to provide a cleaner
façade as viewed from the neighbors.
The placement of the buildings was carefully considered to maximize the privacy for residential
neighbors. The two story buildings are between the three story buildings and the single family
houses. The two story buildings block views from the third floor into the neighboring back yards.
At the north end of the community, the buildings are oriented toward E. Drake Road. At the
center of the community, the buildings are oriented toward each other and the interior site
amenities, open green with gazebo and bocci court. At the south end of the site, the buildings are
oriented with views to the neighborhood pocket park. The two most southern buildings direct
“eyes” onto the pocket park. It is important that the pocket park feel safe for the residents and the
surrounding neighbors. Where possible, the project team has increased property line building
setback distances which range from 70 to 204 feet from the property lines of the adjoining single
family houses on the east and south.
In keeping with the neighborhood architectural themes, the Project will be using a mix of stone
masonry, lap siding of various sizes, varied siding materials and wood trim details similar to the
immediate neighborhood. The Project will be using windows that are typical to residential
construction and are not highly reflective or that will create excessive glare. Further, the
windows will have detailing with frames, sills, lintels and shutters to define building stories and
establish human scale. The Project includes a variety of exterior colors to create visual interest
and all colors used are compatible with the surrounding neighborhood. By incorporating
construction details and materials from the surrounding neighborhoods, the Project will have a
8390 E. Crescent Pkwy, Suite 650, Greenwood Vlg, CO 80111
• (O) 303-770-4300 • (F) 303-962-4762
www.regencyres.com
similar visual character. The Project enhances the transition between the multi-family and single
family residential through the use of 2 story building heights, increased setback distances,
maintenance of existing landscaped berms, berming against garage buildings, comparable
building materials, façade articulation, and orientation of buildings to provide varied view
corridors.
Regency Lakeview carefully designs the architecture of the project and also pays attention to the
appearance of the necessary accessory structures and equipment. All trash collection is located
more than 25 feet from any public street, public sidewalk or internal pedestrian way. The Project
does not contain loading docks, outdoor storage, and truck parking (for durations longer than
required for a resident move out or move in – such activity is prearranged with the onsite
management staff). All utility meters, HVAC, other mechanical equipment, trash and recycling
locations will be designed into the overall building and landscape design. The screening
materials will be the same as the building materials. These items will be located on the site in a
manner that mitigates visual and acoustic impacts from the neighbors. The Project design
aesthetics require any conduit, meters, vents attached to the building or protruding from the roof
to be painted to match the surrounding building surface. The Project will screen any roof top
equipment, if installed. The Project desires to have roof top solar on the clubhouse building. Due
to the nature of solar panel function, these items will not be screened. The Project does not
permit satellite dishes greater than two and one half (2.5) feet in diameter.
The Project clubhouse and pool amenity are located along the west side of the project and over
300 feet from the closest property line for the neighbors at Dorado Court. Noise generated at this
location will be buffered from the surrounding neighborhood by structures and landscaping. The
Project places all trash in screened enclosures and over 50’ away from a property line. The
receptacles are conveniently placed for the resident’s use. The Project will have all loading zones
convenient for resident move in and out. The delivery zone at the Clubhouse is over 400 feet
from a property line. It is important for the project success that it provide sufficient lighting for
safety, but also lighting that is not intrusive to the neighbors. The Project light intensity and
hours of full illumination will comply with IESC guidelines, City guidelines and project
concerns for ensuring safety. Regency Lakeview does not have outdoor vending machines.
The Project is providing 316 off-street parking spaces (attached garage, detached garage, and
surface) along with 30 tandem parking spaces associated with the attached garages, to meet the
needs of all residents and guests. The City’s Land Use Code would only require 288 off-street
parking spaces. In addition, the Project will provide 63 bicycle parking spaces, when only 16 are
required by the Code as well as providing bicycle storage and a bicycle maintenance station.
Regency Lakeview will be owned by the Developer and will be professionally managed with an
onsite management and maintenance team. The total team will include up to 6 personnel, two of
whom will live onsite. The professional management company will maintain the complete
Project, including buildings, accessory structures, paved surfaces, open space and neighborhood
pocket park. The normal hours of operation include, leasing from 9am to 6pm M-F and 10am to
8390 E. Crescent Pkwy, Suite 650, Greenwood Vlg, CO 80111
• (O) 303-770-4300 • (F) 303-962-4762
www.regencyres.com
5pm, SaSu, and for deliveries, 9am to 5pm, M-F. The Project will also set hours for moving in
and out of the community, for use of outdoor amenity areas, and for community use of proposed
recreation fields. The Project will provide security for the surrounding residences with
appropriate lighting levels, controlled and assigned parking, background screening of future
residents and onsite management available 24/7/365.
Neighborhood Meeting Process
Two neighborhood meetings were held in August 2011 and a follow up meeting was held in
February 2012. The main neighborhood concerns/issues included: traffic (congestion and
accidents), density, loss of “neighborhood park”, proposed building height, and safety. Through
the neighborhood meeting process, Regency Lakeview proposes to address conflicts between its
land use and the neighboring single family houses by mitigating the concerns of traffic, density,
and setback distances.
To mitigate traffic, the Applicant reduced the number of units from 238 to 175. Based on
daily trips per multi-family dwellings, the new unit count of 175 generates a traffic
volume consistent with other land uses permitted in the RL zone. The traffic generated by
the currently proposed project and the Church does not exceed the carrying capacity of
the two adjacent arterial streets.
The parking was reduced from 381 spaces to 316 parking spaces (288 required spaces).
The project size has been reduced by over 25% to address the neighborhood concerns of
density.
A 2-acre pocket park will be created at the south end of the Project. It will be
professionally maintained and open to the public. The new park will be engineered for
multi use field activities as well as viewing by spectators (seating on the low walls).
In the original proposal all the multi-family buildings were 3-stories tall. The revised
project design has both 2-story buildings and 2- story rising to 3-story buildings. The 2-
story building sections are consistent with the character of the single family residences.
The detached garages changed from a north south orientation to an east west. Although
the site is not controlled by any view corridor, the new building design and change
orientation allows the neighboring residents to look through the development.
In regard to the safety concerns expressed by the neighborhood, the multi-family
community will be professionally managed with onsite personnel. The future residents
undergo background, credit and criminal checks prior to signing a lease. The property
will be lighted at night and will add more “eyes on the street” which is a proven method
for increasing safety.
Secure bicycle storage will be provided throughout the project. The parking area will be
patrolled to ensure only resident vehicles are parked in their assigned locations.
8390 E. Crescent Pkwy, Suite 650, Greenwood Vlg, CO 80111
• (O) 303-770-4300 • (F) 303-962-4762
www.regencyres.com
The Project’s original name was Regency at Parkwood Lake. The exclusivity of the
Parkwood name is important to neighborhood residents; therefore, the Applicant changed
its name to Regency Lakeview.
Multi-Family Standards
Because the R-L zone district does not include standards for multi-family development, we have
provided, at the City Staff’s suggestion, an analysis of how the proposed project meets the
City’s performance standards applicable to multi-family developments which are included in
the M-M-N zone district.
Sec. 4.6 (D) Land Use Standards
(1) Density
The project density would meet the minimum 7 dwelling units per acre required for
multi-family developments less than 20 acres in size. The net density for the proposed
project is 15.58 dwelling units per acre.
(2) Mix of Housing Types
Only one housing type is required for projects containing less than 16 acres.
(3) Access to park, central feature or gathering place.
The proposed project includes a 2-acre pocket park with sport fields, and seat walls for
project residents as well as the neighborhood to use. (The MMN District only requires a
10,000 square foot private park) The pocket park will have an accessible pathway
leading to the pocket park and have low wall seating. The accessible path around the park
connects into other pathways throughout the project. The pocket park also functions for
storm water detention. A wetland area designed along the east side of the park will
facilitate the flow of storm water out and into a pipe system to move the water past the
City storm water facility. The Project allows for interaction with neighbors by providing
a professionally maintained neighborhood pocket park. The pocket park will be
connected via sidewalk to public sidewalks. The pocket park will also permit the
continuation of an informal access from the City owned storm water detention pond to
the south of the development parcel.
Sec. 4.6 (E) Development Standards.
(2) Buildings.
With one, two, two/three and three story buildings proposed, the project is well within the three
story maximum height. There is no minimum setback from the street in the MMN District.
8390 E. Crescent Pkwy, Suite 650, Greenwood Vlg, CO 80111
• (O) 303-770-4300 • (F) 303-962-4762
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(3) Design standards for multi-family dwellings.
(a) Orientation and setbacks.
Residential building setbacks from adjacent property lines range from 25 - 204 feet. In all cases
the project is setback a minimum of 25 feet from all adjacent single family residential property
lines.
(b) Variation among repeated buildings.
The MMN District requires projects with more than 7 buildings to have three different building
designs. Building designs need to vary significantly in footprint size, and shape, architectural
elevations and entrance features. Regency Lakeview provides five different buildings designs:
Building A, B, C, D, and E have differing footprints with differences in wall articulation as well
as differing building heights, including one story, two story, two story rising to three story and
three story. Buildings are designed with differing building entrances and architectural features.
Common themes that make the project visually cohesive include, pitched roofs, similar
architectural detailing and the repetition of similar building materials and colors used throughout
the project.
(c) Variation of color.
Each building will feature a palette of muted colors, and there will be three distinct color
schemes as required in the MMN District. Color samples will be provided at Final review.
(d) Entrances.
Entrances are visible from the street-like private drive that runs in a north/south direction along
the west side of the project.
(e) Roofs.
While all of the roofs are pitched and the roofing material is the same, there is an exceptional
amount of slope articulation in terms of direction, size of gable ends and the relationship to
architectural offsets and features. The project doesn’t anticipate any roof-top equipment.
(f) Facades and walls.
Building facades are articulated with recessed balconies, primary and secondary gable ends,
differing window treatments and material changes to create architectural interest and provide
human scale.
(g) Colors and materials.
Colors of non-masonry materials will vary from one structure to another to create visual interest
and to help reduce the scale of the buildings. Colors will be provided at Final review.
8390 E. Crescent Pkwy, Suite 650, Greenwood Vlg, CO 80111
• (O) 303-770-4300 • (F) 303-962-4762
www.regencyres.com
We believe that Regency Lakeview multi-family development is an excellent example of
medium density housing located where residents can walk or ride bikes to nearby activity
centers, employment and recreational opportunities. It was an unfortunate oversight that the R-
L Low Density Residential District was applied to this property in 1997, seriously impacting its
potential for future development and its property value. City Plan encourages commercial
development and high density housing at the intersection of arterial streets. Both the Church
and the community at large would benefit from this property being developed with higher
density residential, rather than remaining as private open space that the property owner doesn’t
want to continue maintaining.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Lisa Evans
Attachments:
Petition for the Addition of a Permitted Use
A Statement of City Plan Principles and Policies
Response to Conceptual Review Comments