HomeMy WebLinkAboutPOUDRE RIVER WHITEWATER PARK (FORMERLY POUDRE RIVER DOWNTOWN PARK) - PDP - PDP160039 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 2 - MODIFICATION REQUESTRequest for Modification of Street Standards
Poudre River Whitewater Park Project
Preliminary Development Plan
December 6, 2016
Revised January 31, 2017
Vine Drive is currently classified as 2-lane arterial street and it is our understanding that it will be
downgraded to a collector once the construction of Suniga Drive and the relocation of Lemay Avenue for
the separated BNSF railroad crossing has been constructed. As a result, the project team conducted
extensive outreach with City staff and adjacent property owners during the initial phases of the
preliminary design to identify the typical road cross section that would be utilized for this project. The
proposed cross section that was agreed upon with input from the Engineering and Transportation
Departments is a hybrid of the standard arterial and collector street sections and includes the following:
• Travel lanes : a 3-lane section with 11 ft through/turn lanes
• Bike lanes : 8 ft wide bike lanes (5 ft bike lane with 3 ft buffer)
• Parking lane: 8 ft parallel parking lanes
• Parkway : 8 ft parkway
• Sidewalk: 6 ft detached walk
The proposed typical cross section for Vine Drive along the project’s frontage is identified on the
attached figure, which was presented at the project’s neighborhood meeting in October as required by
the PDP process. Since this cross section does not meet current standards, this variance request is being
submitted for the attached cross section to be adopted for the portion of Vine Drive between College
Avenue and approximately 240-feet east of Jerome Street, where the street improvements associated
with the Inverness/Innosphere development terminated.
Furthermore, as shown on the attached figure, the project is requesting a variance for the meandering
of the sidewalk along the eastern and western portions of the project site. The meandering of the
sidewalk is being proposed to reduce the impact to, and potential removal of, existing trees along this
frontage. In addition, the project is proposing the construction of a temporary attached asphalt
sidewalk and 24-foot wide shared driveway for the two private parcels that lie within the project
boundaries with the understanding that the temporary sidewalk will need to be reconstructed as a
detached walk when the future development/change of use of these properties takes place.
The current project includes improvements to approximately 800 feet along the south edge of Vine
Drive. The south side of the roadway will be expanded south to accommodate the bike lane/buffer. The
existing road surface from the street centerline to southern edge of asphalt is adequate for
accommodating the east bound travel lane and half of the center turn lane. Since this project will be
retrofitting a relatively small portion of Vine Drive, the roadway design is constrained by existing
elevations along all four boundaries. Constraints around the roadway improvement perimeter make it
physically impossible to meet the project’s goal of directing stormwater runoff from the road into the
adjacent Coy Pond for water quality treatment, while maintaining the minimum required 0.5% gutter
flowline grade. All efforts have been made to maximize the gutter flowline grade; even so, the proposed
gutter flowline grade varies from 0.85% to 0.33%. The proposed gutter flowline has been designed to
provide positive cross slope drainage to the gutter. It is noted that the proposed cross slopes of the
roadway design are less than the 1.5%-2.0% required for reconstruction and new roadways. However,
the required cross slopes can be obtained by a future overlay, or when additional improvements to Vine
Drive are implemented. Due to the physical constraints imposed by the existing roadway, a variance is
respectfully requested to allow these deviations from City street design criteria.
15' 15'