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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSOUTH COLLEGE STORAGE (6020 S. COLLEGE) - PDP ..... SECOND NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING - PDP170012 - MINUTES/NOTES - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING6020 South College Avenue - Proposed Self Storage Project Neighborhood Meeting #2 Notes (2/23/2017) Overview City Staff: Project Planner: Pete Wray, Senior City Planner, AICP Stephanie Blochowiak, Environmental Planner Nicole Hahn, Civil Engineer II Brandon Grebe, Applicant - GYS LLC Matt Delich, traffic consultant - Delich Associates Russ Lee, Landscape Architect consultant - Ripley Design Inc. Neighborhood Meeting Date: February 23, 2017 Site Context  Site location - 6020 South College Avenue  This is a proposed development project and an application has not been submitted to the City  Site is in the General Commercial (CG) Zone District  Maximum allowable building height is 4 stories  Proposed land use is Enclosed Mini-storage facility  Type 2 review and hearing, with the Planning and Zoning Board as acting decision maker Applicant Presentation  Since the first Neighborhood Meeting held on September 29, the 2016 project has changed. The residential use is now not included, only self-storage use proposed on approx. 3 acre (center parcel of original property)  Proposed storage building is 3 stories in height with a basement, approx. 170,000 SF in size  Primary access off Skyway Drive Questions/Comments and Answers General Topics:  What is the timing for this project to be built? Pete Wray explains: Expected submittal by Developer is in about one month for formal submittal with all documentation. At that point that project is about a 50-60% level of design. Typically, at Community Development and Neighborhood Services Planning Services 281 North College Ave. P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6750 970.224.6134 - fax fcgov.com/developmentreview Neighborhood Meeting Notes – 6020 S College Storage Page 2 least a few rounds of review are needed prior to a Hearing. As a result, it could be May or June until that Hearing could take place, with construction later in summer. Staff encourages attendees to use the development review website and project tracking page. All project submittal documents will be available as they are public documents. Anyone can email or call Pete as well during the entire process. Staff is currently only looking at a concept plan.  “I don’t want to see a storage unit in front of my property.”  This is a quiet neighborhood and it shouldn’t be industrial.  Concerns about fire access and safety. Developer clarifies the current site plan meets PFA requirements and access and safety.  Question about the height of the building? Developer explains size and height and how came to that including smaller building footprint, higher up to three stories. There are no current plans for west or east sides. We are currently under contract with current owner. Out lot B may become city owned in future as a regional detention pond.  Is there information available to justify demand of storage facilities? The Developer does a four-tier feasibility analysis and only builds if it is feasible and is a need. Our business model reflects a for-profit enterprise. Traffic:  What are the impacts on traffic based on proposed storage use? Nicole Hahn responds that the storage use that has been proposed is one of the lowest trip generating uses that could be built.  South College Access Plan question and if this plan complies? Nicole Hahn responds yes. Access is controlled along South College frontage. Mars Dr. would be started by Developer.  Residents think access should be off of College Av and not Skyway Dr.  Concerns with Gateway school and children crossing. Not a good place to put more traffic and more trailers.  Developmentally disabled people on foot. Also Skyway Dr. should be limited traffic and Mars Dr. shouldn’t come off of Skyway Dr. I think access should be off of Trilby. Developer is not developing the parcel where the ¾ turn is. Different owners. Developer clarifies: another owner owns the land off of Trilby. Neighborhood Meeting Notes – 6020 S College Storage Page 2 Pete Wray clarifies those streets will go in within time as area develops. The property to the west when it develops will have access through and then when piece develops south toward Trilby.  Want the connection through to Trilby prior to development on the northern piece.  We don’t even have any sidewalks. We were just annexed in 2010. We wanted to be in the country.  Why are there no sidewalks along College Av from Trilby up to Harmony? When will those go in? These will go in as the area develops/redevelops.  Main concern is traffic. Timing of light(s). Resident explains traffic and cutting people off when going north due to short signal length. Follow up to the question posed at the meeting:  Desire: fix lighting and timing of signal and grading of street first. Nicole Hahn: can go back and take a look at the signal timing. Nicole will return to safety report for the project and city always looks at self-storage has lowest numbers of types of trip generation compared to other types of development. Volume of traffic from prior proposal will be lower. The land is zoned commercial. Could be an office development, which would be about 3 times more traffic. This project meets all parts of the South College Access Plan. Follow up: We will continue to monitor the function at the intersection. We also looked into the crash data and found that the majority of the crashes at that intersection are rear end crashes on College when the through phase on College is red. We are not seeing crash data that corresponds with the north bound left being a safety issue. So while I agree that it can feel like a short light, it is consistent with most left turn arrows along high volume roadways, and is done so in support of safety (to minimize rear end crashes). We can continue to monitor this if there is a change in volume, if the development moves forward, for example.  Residents still believe all access should come off of College Ave and no access off of Skyway Dr. The City typically requires access off the lower classified street. In this case the access off of Skyway is consistent with what we would typically require. The cost is available to provide an access drive. South College Access Plan incorporates access off of back-ends. Instead of frontage road parallel and in close proximity to College Ave, it will be set back further. The City is trying to get away from that model because it doesn’t function well. Want to move roads further from College Av.  Why can’t City just create Mars Dr. all the way through now? These types of improvements are funded through development. Neighborhood Meeting Notes – 6020 S College Storage Page 2  We understand this property will be developed eventually. But we need to be appeased. Maybe a new turn signal or a turn lane; traffic issues need to be addressed first. It’s like we’re not being heard.  I have a question about the sidewalk and it washing out. I think it belongs to the city. Void between sidewalk and street. Sidewalk was a temporary solution to help folks from Gateway to the bus stop. With a new development their frontage must be built and maintained.  What is the timing and project construction and access? Challenges with steepness of grade and concern construction trucks would not be able to get up Skyway Dr.  Want Mars Dr. to go all the way through from Skyway Dr. through to Trilby first before any development.  My feeling is the city is trying to drive us out of business. City relies on development to build streets. Development contributes to oversizing fees etc. Like everywhere else in the city roads take time to be built all the way through.  Concern of people going through the neighborhood to get to the storage site.  How can the area be developed to make the intersection safer there at Skyway Dr and College Av? Nicole Hahn explains that part of the process is submitting a traffic study. Outlot A if/when developed that developer would need to continue more of Mars Dr.  We already suffer from the trailers associated with the storage place that already exists. During the development review process the city will look at access apply traffic standards.  Asking for the city to take a step back and look at how congested this area is with traffic now. Skyway Dr. and constellation and Trilby and find a better way to address the issue before adding any more development and adding to the problem. Trucks and trailers will go through neighborhood and won’t attempt using Skyway Dr. There are kids that play in the neighborhood streets. Traffic Impact Study will be submitted as required by the city for the development project review process.  What would trigger improvements of Skyway Dr/College Av intersection? This project would be responsible for their frontage along Skyway Dr. The traffic study will provide levels of service at College and Skyway and we can determine if there are associated improvements needed at that intersection.  That is the most important thing we’ve learned tonight: currently no improvements proposed for the Skyway Dr/College Av intersection. Neighborhood Meeting Notes – 6020 S College Storage Page 2 Pete Wray: currently we don’t have enough detailed information to assess improvements that might be needed but will receive those details during the review process and in reviewing the traffic study that must be submitted with the project for development review.  How can we trust the city when already the streets and sidewalks are not being maintained right now? Nicole Hahn: I can look into street maintenance schedule and update the minutes for tonight’s meeting with that information. Pete can also look at agreements made during the SW Enclave Annexation process and also with streets maintenance planning and updates. Currently city is re-evaluating policies with street maintenance and getting roads built in the county up to city standards (see below for more information).  Resident: there should be no use of Skyway Dr for this project. Pete: we are requiring the project to access from Skyway Dr. Until such time as other streets are built to the south. The challenge is the timing. It is a challenge because cannot know when other pieces will be developed in-between and how long it takes to build out the master plan for street updates and connections.  Former plan was for a lumber yard and they had everything worked out for traffic plan – why can’t this project do the same thing? Environmental:  No environmental questions during meeting, but questions after about: prairie dogs and eagles. Steph B. explained codes related to predatory birds and will connect Cindy to Natural Areas Dept. staff re: pesticides use and prairie dogs and potential for poisoning other animals that prey on prairie dogs. Area Street Maintenance and Repair: City Staff Response: The City of Fort Collins will not automatically assume complete responsibility for roadways after annexations. Annexed land must have their infrastructure improved to City standards or must have a mechanism in place to upgrade such services and facilities to City Standards before the City will assume full responsibility for future maintenance. Areas constructed to County Urban Standards after 1989 and maintained to prevent deterioration can be considered to meet current City Standards. Streets that already meet LCUASS (City) standards will be accepted for street maintenance without additional efforts to be brought to standards. This leaves us with streets that do not meet the LCUASS standards and remain unaccepted by the City. Since these streets fail to meet the criteria defined by the City, which is commonly referred to in this document as LCUASS or City standards, they require major improvements. Despite lacking the City’s acceptance, the streets are provided with minimal maintenance to ensure safety for the community. Unfortunately, limited maintenance will not effectively bring these streets to a level of acceptance as additional reconstruction is necessary. Neighborhood Meeting Notes – 6020 S College Storage Page 2 While there are funding methods available, deciding on a method largely depends on what the neighbors of the community can afford. Each funding opportunity must be properly outlined to determine the option in the community’s best interest. Several options have been identified to address the issue of funding, although only two are recommended by Streets staff. Collaborating or utilizing a partner effort with neighborhoods and the City are a few suggestions to minimize the financial strain. Properly designed asphalt roadways have a defined service life of twenty years. The City currently budgets Streets Maintenance Program (SMP) money to do maintenance on accepted roads, which includes more than minor maintenance. Currently no City budget exists for streets that haven’t been accepted. Proper initial design and construction, along with good maintenance practices, can double the expected life of asphalt roads from twenty to forty years. All of the roads in the annexed areas are either asphalt or gravel and well over thirty years of age. If there is an annexation of major collectors or arterial roadways then full maintenance by the City is assumed. Generally the residential/local Larimer County roads in the Skyway area were under designed and have only received minor maintenance. County minor maintenance includes surface chip sealing of asphalt and grading gravel surfaces. County concrete maintenance was minimal, if at all, due to budget limitations. This adds future repair costs to these roadways. In many cases the asphalt roads are beyond their service life and are in need of reconstruction. To clarify minor maintenance the City currently offers these services: periodic grading of gravel surfaces, filling potholes in asphalt surfaces, snow removal, sweeping, cracksealing, and surface treatment such as chip seal and slurry seal. The City will take over the County's current level of maintenance. [Since 1989,] Both County and City have the same street standards. This means if the County maintains your streets, then your street meets City standards and the City will maintain them. Essentially, these streets are accepted onto the City [Maintenance] system. if the street is not currently maintained by the County and residents do want the City to take over maintenance, then the street will first need to be upgraded to County and City standards [through forming a Special Improvement District (SID). Local neighborhood streets are not always required to meet all of the standard design elements such as sidewalks or curb and gutter. The City standards do require concrete edge protection - sometimes this means curb and gutter; sometimes a flat concrete gutter. City staff members have a long-standing practice of collaborating with property and business owners, working together to design street renovations. Each neighborhood is looked at separately in order to make improvements appropriate for the character of the particular neighborhood.