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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWOODWARD TECHNOLOGY CENTER (FORMERLY LINK-N-GREENS) - PDP - PDP130001 - REPORTS - RECOMMENDATION/REPORT W/ATTACHMENTS (52)Request for Modification of Standard 4.20(D)(3)(a)(2) – COMMUNITY COMMERCIAL - POUDRE RIVER DISTRICT (C-C-R) Parking Lots Link-n-Greens PDP January 14, 2013 Concurrent with the Link-n-Greens PDP, the Applicant requests a Modification of Standard to LUC 4.20(D)(3)(a)(2) – Community Commercial – Poudre River District (C-C-R), Parking Lots. While a new allowed use called "Campus Employment" was added to the C-C-R zone district with the Link-n-Greens ODP for this site, the definition of the use does not contain specific standards for parking lots. Accordingly, the Applicant requests that standard set forth in 4.20(D)(3)(a)(2) – Community Commercial – Poudre River District (C-C-R) Parking Lots be modified to allow Current Standard (A) Purpose. The Community Commercial - Poudre River District (C-C-R) is for downtown fringe areas in the Cache la Poudre River corridor with both public street frontage and River frontage. This District provides locations for redevelopment or development of moderate intensity uses that are supportive of Downtown, subject to floodplain restrictions. Such redevelopment or development shall be compatible with the scenic, cultural, natural and historical context of the River and Downtown. A main purpose of the District is to foster a healthy and compatible relationship between the River, the Downtown and surrounding urban uses. Any significant redevelopment shall be designed as part of a master plan for the applicable group of contiguous properties. 4.20(D)(3) Buildings. (a) Massing and placement. 2. Parking lots. Buildings shall be sited so that any new parking lots and vehicle use areas are located in either: 1) interior block locations between buildings that face the street and buildings that face the River, or 2) side yards. Description of need for Modification of Standard The Link-n-Greens PDP is being established to accommodate a new campus for Woodward. As a large employer, Woodward is designing a master planned campus of office, manufacturing, and testing facilities with nearby services and small offices that will complement the campus. These facilities have been designed as a collection of buildings with deliberate adjacencies and both functional and operational connectivity. The site master plan has been developed collaboratively with input from city staff from various departments. The plan has been developed to best meet the needs for Woodward’s continued operational success, but also with awareness of the unique characteristics and opportunities of the site. The site plan has been developed to both restore and highlight two key features of the site, the Cache la Poudre River and the Coy-Hoffman barn complex. The site plan locates the office buildings and office areas of the industrial buildings adjacent to these key features to make them an integral part of the pedestrian-oriented outdoor spaces and walkways planned for the campus. With this type of large connected campus development, it is difficult to define ‘front yards’ and ‘side yards’ as the standard references. The 100-acre site is bounded by arterial streets on the north and east, and by the Cache la Poudre River on the south and southwest leaving only the northwest portion adjacent to other developed lots. With this large connected development, the development plan still responds to the intent of this standard by locating primary parking fields on the ‘side yards’ (east and west of the main building collections). However, small portions of the parking may be considered to depart from this standard. In order to provide fire access and to serve the larger office headquarters building, a small visitor parking circle is located to the south of this building. While this parking circle is located south of this new building, it is to the side of the historic barn structures and could potentially be considered to be within a side yard. While not meeting the standard fully, we believe it meets the intent of this section by minimizing the appearance of parking fields from public rights of way and from the river buffer area. As a result, we would like to request a modification of standard 4.20(D)(3)(a)(2) – Community Commercial – Poudre River District (C-C-R), Parking Lots, in order to allow for this campus-based parking configuration. Specific findings for the modification request Pursuant to LUC 2.8.2(H), the modification must meet the first standard (not detrimental to the public good), plus one of the four other listed standards. In this case, the proposed modification meets two additional standards; accordingly, the City's approval is requested. • The granting of the modification would not be detrimental to the public good. o The overall intent of the standard appears to be to minimize the appearance of parking lots from public rights of way and from the river buffer area. The site plan preserves this public good by locating the parking lots in areas that are the closest thing to side yards, given the non-traditional campus like configuration of the site plan. As more fully explained below, only very limited areas of parking are located in areas which may be considered to depart from this standard. Those the public good is preserved notwithstanding the modification. • The granting of a modification from the strict application of any standard would, without impairing the intent and purpose of this Land Use Code, substantially alleviate an existing, defined and described problem of city-wide concern or would result in a substantial benefit to the city by reason of the fact that the proposed project would substantially address an important community need specifically and expressly defined and described in the city's Comprehensive Plan or in an adopted policy, ordinance or resolution of the City Council, and the strict application of such a standard would render the project practically infeasible. o Woodward is a primary employer for the community of Fort Collins and the region. Accommodating a new campus for Woodward on the Link-N-Greens site would substantially address the important community Economic Health need by supporting this existing primary employer. The ability for Woodward to develop a new campus on this site relies on the ability to create a collection of internally connected buildings and uses that support their successful operations. As a result, fire access and multiple entries to the various buildings require the need for circulation and limited parking in areas that may be considered a departure from the standard. Strict application of the standard on such a large site would render the project infeasible, and could result in a less aesthetic overall design than that presented. • By reason of exceptional physical conditions or other extraordinary and exceptional situations, unique to such property, including, but not limited to, physical conditions such as exceptional narrowness, shallowness or topography, or physical conditions which hinder the owner's ability to install a solar energy system, the strict application of the standard sought to be modified would result in unusual and exceptional practical difficulties, or exceptional or undue hardship upon the owner of such property, provided that such difficulties or hardship are not caused by the act or omission of the applicant o The 100-acre site is bounded by arterial streets on the north and east, and by the Cache la Poudre River on the south and southwest leaving only the northwest portion adjacent to other developed lots. As such, it is difficult to define ‘front yards’ and ‘side yards’ as the standard references. With this large connected campus development, the site plan still responds to the intent of this standard by locating primary parking fields on the ‘side yards’ (east and west of the main building collections). But fire access is required in limited areas that may be considered to depart from the standard. Thus strict application of the standard would result in exceptional or undue hardship upon the owner.