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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHARMONY COMMONS - PDP - PDP150027 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - PLANNING OBJECTIVESPage 1 Harmony Commons PDP Statement of Planning Objectives December 1, 2015 The site is located at the southwest corner of Lady Moon Drive and Harmony Road. The proposed use is for a Convenience Shopping Center containing retail, service and restaurant space along the Harmony Road frontage. Also included is a freestanding office building located at the Northwest corner of Lady Moon Drive and Timberwood Drive. The property is zoned HC-Harmony Corridor. The site is currently a vacant parcel of land and is platted as Lot 1 of the Harmony Technology Park, Second filing. There are no existing improvements on the site. The site is also Tract S of the Harmony Technology Park Overall Development Plan, Seventh Amendment. The intent is to subdivide the entire Tract S into 6 Lots and 2 Outlots. Two lots (3 and 4) will be developed as a Convenience Shopping Center and one lot (5) will contain a two-story office building as a part of Phase 1. The square footage breakdown is as follows: Lot 3 - Convenience Shopping Center 8,000 square feet Lot 4 - Convenience Shopping Center 16,800 square feet Lot 5 - Office 25,000 square feet The site is in the H-C zoning district. According to the Purpose Statement contained within Article 4.26 of the Land Use Code, “The Harmony Corridor District is intended to implement the design concepts and land use vision of the Harmony Corridor Plan -- that of creating an attractive and complete mixed-use area with a major employment base.” The area surrounding Harmony Commons contains a mix of residential, educational, office, medical and employment. The site is ideal for these types of uses as it provides a secondary retail center that is complimentary to the employment base. In addition, the project will be constructing an office building, which is a primary use. According to the approved ODP, Tract S is allowed to have 7.57 acres of secondary uses. Lots 3 and 4, which contain the convenience shopping center totals 2.90 acres. The proposed project is also located within walking and biking distance to Front Range Village and the surrounding residential subdivisions and major employers in the area. The project is proposing one access point from Lady Moon Drive and one curb cut off of the proposed Timberwood Drive. All of the interior drives will be private. Parking areas are located internally to minimize impacts on the neighborhood. There will be multiple pedestrian connections into and through the site. The prominent pedestrian and bicycle extension will be along the west proposed property line, extending from the Harmony Road walkway to the proposed Timberwood Drive per the Overall Development Plan that is recorded with the City. Vehicular crossing of this path will be minimized to enhance that connectivity. There also will be connectivity within the site in an East to West direction connecting the building uses and tying them into the perimeter walks and properties which Page 2 will tie into the existing neighborhood by extending streets, sidewalks and paths directly to and through the center. The buildings for the service, retail and restaurants are located along the Harmony Road frontage in order to maximize visibility and create a strong gateway entry into Fort Collins. This plan offers attractive and inviting pedestrian scale features and amenities such as plazas and other outdoor spaces that will create a vibrant urban environment with benches, landscape planters, outdoor café seating and public art opportunities. Pedestrian connectivity is achieved by utilizing the 8’ path along Harmony Road with several connections between the proposed buildings and the trail. Both building architecture and landscape design will build upon the momentum of the contemporary design language which has been introduced in the immediate vicinity of our project by numerous projects including Banner Health Systems, Fuse (Brinkman Office Building), Intel and Fossil Ridge High School. Our design will reinforce the existing design style and create a fresh identity for our project in SE Fort Collins. Notable characteristics of this design language include clean, horizontal roof lines, simplicity in materials and large masses of buildings broken into smaller massings by placement of color, texture, material and elevation change. Material selection is consistent with surrounding context buildings incorporating masonry, architectural metals, exposed steel and stucco tones. The project will offer high quality public spaces by utilizing outdoor plaza café seating areas. There will be a concerted effort to incorporate local businesses into the development, drawing on a community-centric vibrancy from the neighboring residences. The site and building architecture function integrally. It is our intent to activate architectural spaces and pedestrian experience through thoughtful indoor and outdoor connections. Statement of appropriate City Plan Principles and Policies achieved by the proposed plan: Economic Health Principle EH 3: The City will support local, unique, and creative businesses. Policy EH 3.1 – Support Programs Emphasizing Local Business Policy EH 4.1 –Prioritize Targeted Redevelopment Areas Principle EH 4: The City will encourage the redevelopment of strategic areas within the community as defined in the Community and Neighborhood Livability and Neighborhood Principles and Policies. Policy EH 4.2 – Reduce Barriers to Infill Development and Redevelopment Harmony Commons will continue to promote and sustain local businesses thereby further enhancing the economic health of Fort Collins. This represents job creation and business retention for businesses that are successful and unique to Fort Collins. Environmental Health Principle ENV 19: The City will pursue opportunities to protect and restore the natural function of the community’s urban watersheds and streams as a key component of Page 3 minimizing flood risk, reducing urban runoff pollution, and improving the ecological health of urban streams. Policy ENV 19.2 – Pursue Low Impact Development Harmony Commons is implementing LID by incorporating new drainage bio-swales, water quality pond, rain gardens, and permeable pavement areas with under drain systems (25% of new pavement area will consist of permeable pavement). Community and Neighborhood Livability Principle LIV 38: Employment Districts will be the major employment centers in the community, and will also include a variety of complementary uses to meet the needs of employees. By design, they will be accessible to the City’s multimodal transportation system and encourage walking, bicycling, car and van pooling, and transit use. Policy LIV 38.1 – Mix of Uses Policy LIV 38.5 – Coordinate District Design Policy LIV 38.7 – Address Parking Policy LIV 38.8 – Provide Walkways and Bikeways Harmony Commons mainly consists of a Convenience Shopping Center, which is a secondary use that will offer a variety of choices for the employees of the tech park and the nearby residents who live in the area. The area surrounding the Harmony Technology Park contains a mix of residential, institutional, employment, office and retail. The site is located in the Harmony Technology Park, which provides a campus-like setting, with platted lots, streets, sidewalks, and infrastructure already in place. The visual impacts of the parking lots have been reduced by placing the parking to the interior of the project. Transportation Principle T 9: Enhanced Travel Corridors will contain amenities and designs that specifically promote walking, the use of mass transit, and bicycling. Policy T 9.1 – Locating Enhanced Travel Corridors Principle T10: Using transit will be a safe, affordable, easy, and convenient mobility option for all ages and abilities. Policy T 10.1 – Transit Stops Policy T 10.6 – High Frequency Transit Service Principle T11: Bicycling will be a safe, easy, and convenient mobility option for all ages and abilities The location of this project at the north end of an employment campus, near residential subdivisions, Fossil Ridge High School and its proximity to Harmony Road will promote and support the idea of a predominance of the daily trips of the employees of this project utilizing alternative modes of transportation (walking/biking) or public transportation. The on-street bike lanes will help to encourage safe cycling. Harmony Road is designated as an enhanced travel corridor. Page 4 (ii) Description of proposed open space, wetlands, natural habitats and features, landscaping, circulation, transition areas, and associated buffering on site and in the general vicinity of the project. There are no wetlands or significant natural habitats within the boundaries of the site. (iii) Statement of proposed ownership and maintenance of public and private open space areas; applicant's intentions with regard to future ownership of all or portions of the project development plan. The buildings will be owned by the building developer/owner and will be leased to individual tenants. (iv) Estimate of number of employees for business, commercial, and industrial uses. 30-50 (v) Description of rationale behind the assumptions and choices made by the applicant. The impetus of this project is to create a Convenience Retail Center that is a complimentary use to the employment campus. This will offer more choices for the residents and employees to go for meals, shopping, services, etc. The office building is filling a need for potential medical users, as it is directly across from the new Banner Hospital. (vi) The applicant shall submit as evidence of successful completion of the applicable criteria, the completed documents pursuant to these regulations for each proposed use. The planning Director may require, or the applicant may choose to submit, evidence that is beyond what is required in that section. Any variance from the criteria shall be described. (vii) Narrative description of how conflicts between land uses or disturbances to wetlands, natural habitats and features and or wildlife are being avoided to the maximum extent feasible or are mitigated. There are not existing wetlands, natural habitats or features currently located on site. (viii) Written narrative addressing each concern/issue raised at the neighborhood meeting(s), if a meeting has been held. A neighborhood meeting was held on November 18, 2015. Questions were asked about circulation, future tenants, and road improvements. Concerns were raised about a potential future use for a hotel and negative impacts that might have on the neighborhood. Also, a few comments were made about the architecture questioning if the buildings would have four-sided architecture. Page 5 (ix) Name of the project as well as any previous name the project may have had during Conceptual Review. The project name is Harmony Commons and was called HTP Retail at the PDR meeting.