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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLANDMARK RESIDENCES ON MOUNTAIN AVENUE - PDP - PDP140011 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - MODIFICATION REQUESTland planning  landscape architecture  urban design  entitlement Thinking outside of the box for over two decades. 401 W. Mountain Ave., Suite 100  Fort Collins, CO 80521  tel. 970.224.5828  fax 970.224.1662  www.ripleydesigninc.com July 23, 2014 Modification Request DIVISION 3.8 SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS 3.8.19 (B) Contextual Setbacks. Regardless of the minimum front setback requirement imposed by the zone district standards of this Land Use Code, applicants shall be allowed to use a "contextual" front setback. A "contextual" front setback may fall at any point between the front setback required in the zone district and the front setback that exists on a lot that abuts, and is oriented to, the same street as the subject lot. If the subject lot is a corner lot, the "contextual" setback may fall at any point between the zone district required front setback and the front setback that exists on the lot that is abutting and oriented to the same street as the subject lot. If lots on either side of the subject lot are vacant, the setback shall be interpreted as the minimum required front setback that applies to the vacant lot. This provision shall not be construed as requiring a greater front setback than that imposed by the underlying zone district, and it shall not be construed as allowing setbacks to be reduced to a level that results in right-of-way widths below established minimums. Background and Reason for the Request The site is located at the intersection of Mountain Avenue and Shields Street on the northeast corner. Beavers Market is located on the northwest corner of the intersection. Detached single family homes are located adjacent to the property on the east and north. The current land use is a C-store with fuel sales. In March of 2012 neighbors raised concerns about crime, lighting, and loitering. They approached the City asking for help mitigating these concerns. Through various informal neighborhood meetings, the property owner agreed to investigate replacing the C-store with single family attached dwellings. At this intersection Mountain Avenue is a two lane arterial road. Shields Street is a four lane arterial road. The proposed project will face Mountain Avenue and therefore the contextual setback is determined from the one adjacent eastern property. That dwelling setback is 23 feet from the right-of-way line. This project has several constraints which limit the developable area of the project. The site is within the floodplain and therefore basements are not allowed. The developer is also dedicating 21 feet of right-of-way along Shields Street per the City Engineers Mountain and Shields PDP Modification Request – Setback June 23, 2014 Page 2 of 3 Thinking outside of the box for over two decades. 401 W. Mountain Ave., Suite 100  Fort Collins, CO 80521  tel. 970.224.5828  fax 970.224.1662  www.ripleydesigninc.com request. Finally, the project is at the intersection of two arterial streets. In order to provide the most square footage while keeping costs reasonable the developer is requesting a five foot reduction of the contextual setback for three of the six units. Only the non-required front porches will fall within the setback. All of the main building faces comply with the Land Use Code. Please see the attached exhibit 1 for surrounding and proposed setbacks. Justifications The Land Use Code states that the decision-maker may grant a modification of standards only if it finds that the granting of the modification would not be detrimental to the public good; and the decision-maker must also find that the Modification meets one of the following four criteria described in the LUC. (1) the plan as submitted will promote the general purpose of the standard for which the modification is requested equally well or better than would a plan which complies with the standard for which a modification is requested; Allowing three of the six units to encroach on the contextual setback will result in a better plan than one which complies with the standard. For example, the original plan which complied with the standard had all six units on one flat plane across the site. After hearing feedback from neighbors the elevation was revised. The proposed plan varies the setbacks of each unit creating variety and interest. In order to maintain a similar, minimum square footage of each unit, three units extend into the contextual setback along Mountain Avenue. Although not required, the proposed plan also provides all of the required criteria for a plan which would apply for alternative compliance if Mountain Avenue were not an arterial road. This project includes a raised front porch for each unit, off-street parking, private open space and possibly will include front yard fences. The general purpose of the standard was to ensure adequate buffering from arterial roads to residential units. However this block of Mountain Avenue is not your typical arterial road. It has traffic counts similar to a collector road and actually is a collector after it crosses Shields to the west. The latest traffic numbers showed 3,696 daily trips and a typical collector road has up to 5,000 trips per day. (4) the plan as submitted will not diverge from the standards of the Land Use Code that are authorized by this Division to be modified except in a nominal, inconsequential way when considered from the perspective of the entire development plan, and will continue to advance the purposes of the Land Use Code as contained in Section 1.2.2. The request for the contextual setback for the residential units to be reduced from 23 feet to 18 feet will not diverge from the standards of the Land Use Code except in a Mountain and Shields PDP Modification Request – Setback June 23, 2014 Page 3 of 3 Thinking outside of the box for over two decades. 401 W. Mountain Ave., Suite 100  Fort Collins, CO 80521  tel. 970.224.5828  fax 970.224.1662  www.ripleydesigninc.com nominal, inconsequential way. This project will provide a transition from the single family homes to the east and Beavers Market to the west. Beavers Market has a setback of zero feet on both Mountain Ave and Shields Street. The proposed commercial portion of this project has a setback of 15 feet, per Land Use Code. The residential units sit beyond that at a minimum of 18 feet. When looked at in context of the entire intersection and adjacent properties a setback of 18 feet is greater than the 13 foot average setback of the other properties. In conclusion:  Mountain Avenue is not a typical arterial street and therefore a smaller, varied setback contextually fits.  The setback encroachment directly resulted from neighborhood concerns about the building not having enough interest and variety  Only the voluntary porches encroach within the setback. All main building faces shall remain outside of the setback.  If Beavers Market was included in the contextual setback calculation the code would state that this project would have a setback of 0 feet.  According to traffic counts in 2010 this block of Mountain Ave. had a total of 3,696 daily trips. o A typical arterial street has between 3,500 – 15,000 daily trips. o A typical Major Collector has between 3,500-5,000 daily trips.