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HomeMy WebLinkAboutVOA SENIOR HOUSING - PDP190005 - MINUTES/NOTES - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGDevelopment Review Center 281 North College Avenue PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580 970-221-6750 fcgov.com/DevelopmentReview VOA Senior Housing Joseph Allen Drive Neighborhood Meeting Notes January 31, 2019 Meeting Date These notes are a summary of the neighborhood meeting discussion and not a verbatim transcript. Please contact staff at any time with any comments or questions: Clark Mapes, City Planner, ph 970.221.6225, cmapes@fcgov.com Sylvia Tatman-Burruss, Development Review Liaison, ph 970,.221.6076, statman-burruss@fcgov.com Agenda 1. Purpose of the Meeting and City Process Sylvia Tatman-Burruss, City of Fort Collins Development Review Liaison Sylvia introduced the purpose of the meeting and how it fits into the process for prospective development in the City. The meeting purpose is to share information mainly between the prospective developer and interested community members, with staff supporting the discussion. It is early in the process, prior to any actual development plan application being submitted to the City for review. The meeting discussion is intended to be considered as a developer prepares a plan and application. Notes from the meeting would eventually be provided to the decision maker, which in this case would be the Planning and Zoning Board. Notes from the meeting are emailed to those who sign in. If a project proceeds to a decision hearing, another mailing would be sent to the same affected property owners who received the mailing for this neighborhood meeting. 2. Land Use Code and Zoning Clark Mapes, City Planner Clark explained the applicable zoning regulations for the Low Density Mixed Use Neighborhood (LMN) zoning district. This includes permitted uses and standards for development. Standards for development include allowances for ‘Modifications’ of standards as written, and the proposal would require Modifications to standards for the number of dwelling units in a building; residential density; floor area of a multi-family building; and parking spaces per dwelling unit. The LMN zone allows 3-story buildings and the proposal is for 3 stories. Clark explained the criteria for considering Modifications that must be met in order to approve Modifications. N e i g h b o r h o o d M e e t i n g Not e s - P a g e | 2 3. The Proposed Development Project Doug Snyder, Volunteers of America (VOA) Doug explained what Volunteers of America is, what they do, and who is involved in this proposal. He introduced a development team of architects, landscape architects, civil engineers, and VOA staff. VOA is a national non-profit with many projects and multiple office locations. He noted an existing VOA project in Fort Collins, The Sanctuary Apartments at West Horsetooth and Kunz Court which is an extension from Seneca Drive. That project has been in place for 15 years. It has had a waiting list for many years and the wait list has been closed due to its extent. VOA would develop, own and manage the proposed apartment project in perpetuity. This is an advantage to the neighbors and community in that; a) VOA will do everything and therefore is a sole point of accountability and b) VOA will own this building forever and will make thoughtful, good long term decisions regarding the project’s initial development and long term operations. The proposal is for a 55-unit building. The current plan is for approximately 75% 1 bedroom and 25% 2 bedroom units. Age will be restricted to 62+. No more than 2 occupants per bedroom are allowed. Very few units have more than 2 occupants. The project is planning to have a reduced parking ratio based on experience with other similar age-restricted apartments. This development proposal is prompted by the Colorado Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) tax credit program which has a competitive financing program to fund affordable housing projects. This site is very good for the CHFA criteria due to proximity of the grocery store shopping center, trail, bus service, and direct bus link to the Fort Collins Senior Center. The project helps meet the goals of the City of Fort Collins Affordable Housing Strategic Plan which calls for 188 new affordable units to be built each year. The proposed VOA project will only provide 30% (55/188) of the new units needed to reach this goal. 4. Questions About the Presentations Q: Once a 62-year old gets a unit, can they then bring in kids? Response (VOA): VOA can’t discriminate if a grandparent is a guardian. Out of 1,600 units in 23 projects in Colorado, VOA staff can recall perhaps one or two such situations over the past 10 years. It is possible but very unlikely. Q: Where did the 12 units per building limit come from -- what’s the idea for having that in the LMN zone? R: (City): The LMN zone was first created with a vision to include “missing middle housing” choices between single family houses and apartment complexes by encouraging neighborhood-scale dwellings such as 2,3,4,5, and 6-plexes. The zone has been amended to the point where it now allows 12-plexes. The reasoning for 12-plexes is the efficiency of stacking units in that type of building to allow increased affordability and less land used per unit. Q: What will be the effect on property values of single family houses? R: (City): That is not something that can be considered in the City’s review of development applications, and the City doesn’t have any standards, criteria or data for the effect that a given development project might have on various types of property values. The question often comes up in regard to houses already built near proposed multi-family housing development, but the City cannot legally consider it. Values of all kinds of property have risen steadily citywide through the years and with respect to housing prices, the main public concerns have been about affordability of housing for a complete spectrum of the population due to rising prices and rents. N e i g h b o r h o o d M e e t i n g Not e s - P a g e | 3 5. Informal Group Discussion Sylvia concluded the presentation portion of the meeting and invited attendees to visit different stations around the room and discuss aspects of the project in smaller groups with members of the development team and City staff. General/Overall from meeting: o Concerned by height of building. You say the Police building is 3 stories but it’s way taller than that. o Why is the zoning less generous than along Timberline? Should be like development to the east. o This lot should be MMN zoning o Don’t push density to the limit o This will help buffer train noise/ Drake Rd o We need this! o Yes! o Can the development contribute to the park and pond maintenance? o What happens to the detention pond maintenance? o Residents will use public park to north, why do we have to pay? o Manage pets please! o Can’t think of a better use! o Why three stories? Two would be better o Following are notes from those discussions. o Why have plans and regulations for things like density and height if a developer can just propose anything regardless of the plans? Architecture: o Consider tapering height on north o What’s the height of a story? -Land Use Code limit is 12’-8” o Raised Toilets o Plugs/outlets o Lots of lighting o Medical alerts in units o I think it’s going to be great o No flat roofs. Pitched roofs add height but also add residential character o It could be worse o Check the floodplain. -There is no floodplain in the area Traffic: o 15-20 extra trip ends in the area at peak hour is not a lot of impact. ≈ 200 trip ends/day o I live near Sanctuary. The other VOA property. Fewer cars than I expected at the VOA property. Drivers don’t add to congestion at high traffic times. They stay home and the grounds are well kept. o The magnitude of traffic increment doesn’t look like a big deal. But seniors living here is being sold on the grocery store being close which requires a very dangerous left turn out onto Drake from Joseph Allen Drive. Residents could avoid this by going north to Charles Brockman and then turning right o There should be a requirement for a signaled intersection if you introduce a senior housing use with older drivers, because there is a higher density of people all trying to cross a high traffic intersection to go left to the grocery store using a stop sign, and because it is a main route for the police station highly used by Police. N e i g h b o r h o o d M e e t i n g Not e s - P a g e | 4 o There is already limited street capacity and putting an entry next to the detention would force any on- street parking next to the stop sign. This will create a more traffic buildup and impatient drivers if cars can't turn right while other cars are waiting to turn left onto Drake because the area where they could turn has a parked car. Site and Landscaping: o Trees on the north and west side could screen this from houses across detention ponds to the north and west 6. VOA Written questionnaire VOA invited responses to a written questionnaire. The 10 responses will be attached to these notes. 7. Comments received in a follow-up email from a neighbor: o This is like a rezoning and it shouldn’t be done now, after all the houses have been built and bought. It’s a switch at the last minute after what buyers were told. o The one big building has more mass than multiple smaller buildings, which is the point of the zoning. If there’s ways to mitigate that, it could be ok o I believe approving a zoning change to MMN on the 2.3 acre parcel for a 55 unit senior housing with limited parking is detrimental to the public good. I would support a 27 unit affordable senior housing project that is inline with the existing zoning requirements and had the city required parking ratio of 1.5 spaces per unit. o The parking is inadequate based on how the developer/operator is already using an existing senior housing property in Fort Collins. The added parking on Joseph Allen Drive will have a negative impact on the neighborhood. o The density as approved would have less of a visual impact on the neighborhood and its privacy as the parking requirement of 1.5 parking spaces would space out the buildings and the buildings would be smaller in size. Adding this building will damage the value of my property and others based on a change in density. o It is not fair to the neighborhood to change the zoning to MMN after 2014 when the LMN property was developed and people started making home purchases with the plans and zoning in mind. as the use puts a greater burden on HOA resources and impacts the quality of life of the neighborhood with increased density. o The density would impact the HOA’s small park which is open to everyone. It should be a development requirement that if the density is increased, the developer should be responsible for 1/2 of the park cost if there is no reimbursement from the apartments and 1/3 of the park cost if there is reimbursement agreement from the apartments. Developer Team Follow-up Notes/Response The team will spend the next few weeks designing and studying the project to understand how we can address concerns and incorporate some of the ideas expressed. Pursuant to the recorded Detention Pond “Reciprocal Easement Agreement” north of the subject site and south of the single-family homes, Volunteers of America (VOA) will pay it’s pro-rata share of all routine maintenance expenses of the detention pond. A landscape buffer will be developed along the north property line of the subject site to help provide a visual buffer for the single-family owners. The scale and mass of the building will be addressed with articulation in the façade, variation in materials, and color. To help communicate this, the consultant team will develop graphic visuals, sections, and 3D views to articulate what the building will look like and how the project will appear and feel in the neighborhood. We are anticipating hosting a follow-up meeting at VOA’s senior property in Fort Collins, The Sanctuary Apartments, with the neighborhood to show a progress update and the comments that we are able to accommodate.