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Home My WebLink About2908 S TIMBERLINE RD MULTI-FAMILY DWELLINGS - PDP210011 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - MODIFICATION REQUEST 244 North College Ave, #130 I Fort Collins, CO 80524 www.norris-design.com June 2, 2021 City of Fort Collins Mr. Jason Holland 281 N College Avenue Fort Collins, Colorado 80524 Re: 29098 Timberline Multi-Family - Modification of Standards Request #1 Dear Jason, On behalf of the applicant, please consider this letter our formal Modification of Standards request from the following standard: Section 3.8.30.(C) Access to a Park, Central Feature or Gathering Place. At least ninety (90) percent of the dwellings in all development projects containing two (2) or more acres shall be located within one thousand three hundred twenty (1,320) feet (one-quarter (¼) mile) of either a neighborhood park, a privately owned park or a central feature or gathering place that is located either within the project or within adjacent development, which distance shall be measured along street frontage without crossing an arterial street. Such parks, central features or gathering places shall contain one (1) or more of the following uses: 1) Public parks, recreation areas or other open lands. 2) Privately owned parks, meeting the following criteria: a) For projects between two (2) and five (5) acres, the development is required to provide sufficient outdoor gathering areas or site amenities, either public or private, to sustain the activities associated with single-family attached and multi-family residential development, to adequately serve the occupants of the development as set forth below. Such outdoor gathering areas may include, without limitation, small parks, playgrounds, pools, sports courts, picnic facilities, passive open space, recreational areas, plazas, courtyards, or naturalistic features. For projects greater than five (5) acres and less than ten (10) acres, the private park must be a minimum of five thousand (5,000) square feet. For projects greater than ten (10) acres, the private park must be a minimum of ten thousand (10,000) square feet. This modification request is requesting relief to the portion of the code requiring a minimum 5,000 sf park/gathering/amenity space be located on site. (Section 3.8.30.(C) 2) a). Meeting this requirement is a site planning challenge due the size and shape of the property proposed for this community, as well the economics of developing this project which is planning to provide workforce housing and a portion of units at an 80% AMI leasing rate. In lieu of meeting the letter of the code, we are proposing an alternative solution that we believe meets and exceeds the intent of the code which is to provide the community with common gathering spaces for recreation and/or congregation. Proposed is the following:  Provide 3 distinct, amenitized communal/gathering spaces dispersed throughout the project. These areas are provided between buildings 1 & 2, 3 & 4, and 5 & 6. These spaces are amenitized with such features as fire pits, seat walls, moveable seating, picnic areas, planter pots, grills, and space for lawn games to provide residents opportunities to meet and recreate. These spaces are more evenly distributed and provide more convenient access to residents vs a centrally located, larger space, especially when considering the longer, more linear shape of the property. It should be noted that the total area of these spaces, when aggregated, is greater than the minimum 5,000 sf required. 244 North College Ave, #130 I Fort Collins, CO 80524 www.norris-design.com  Proximity to a park. Code requires a park or gathering space to be located within 1,320’ of a project, but this distance is required to be measure via street frontage. Located directly to south of this property, is the City of Fort Collins owned and maintained Stewart Case Park. This park has a direct trail connection to the edge of our property, which we plan to connect to, and is less than 450’ from the property via an established trail and canal crossing. While code only requires one standard to be met, we believe we meet the spirt of two of the standards relating to the size/amount of park/gathering space requirement as well as the proximity to such a space, in this case the Stewart Case Park. Per section 2.8.2(H) of the City of Fort Collins Land Use Code, the decision maker may grant a modification of standards if the medication would not be detrimental to the public good and that any one of the following conditions are met: 1. the plan as submitted will promote the general purpose of the standard for which the modification is requested equally well or better than would a plan which complies with the standard for which a modification is requested; or Response: We believe the solutions provided meet or exceed the intent of the code. While we can’t meet the requirement of proximity as measured via street frontage due to geographical constraints, we are clearly closely connected to Stewart Case Park (less than 450’) via an established trail connection. Additionally, in lieu of providing a central park/gathering space at a minimum 5,000 sf, we are providing 3 separate amenity areas that when added up are greater than 5,000 sf and provide communal gathering spaces for the residents and are more conveniently located and dispersed throughout this long, linear property. 2. 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; or Response: Granting this modification request will assist in allowing us to provide workforce housing and units at 80% AMI for the community. The need for these types of housing in the City has been well defined and described with the City’s Comprehensive Plan and the recently adopted Housing Strategic Plan. This project will help in addressing this important community need. Strict adherence to this standard, along with the other standards in which modifications have been requested, negatively impacts the number of available developable units and thus adversely impacts the feasibility of the project. 3. 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 -provided that such difficulties or hardship are not caused by the act or omission of the applicant; or Response: As noted within this request, the property is uniquely shaped, being long and linear, with a trail and canal corridor comprising a significant boundary to the property. This feature is dictating access and overall design and this modification is addressing limitations presented by these features and property shape. Strict adherence to this requirement would require this 244 North College Ave, #130 I Fort Collins, CO 80524 www.norris-design.com project to provide a minimum 5,000 sf park/gathering space on site. Developing this feature would likely result in the loss in overall unit count. This project is working towards providing workforce housing and units at an 80% AMI level, reducing the overall unit count would be detrimental to this objective, making it economically difficult to achieve. 4. the plan as submitted will not diverge from the standards of the Land Use Code that are authorized by this Division to be modified except in a nominal, inconsequential way when considered from the perspective of the entire development plan, and will continue to advance the purposes of the Land Use Code as contained in Section 1.2.2. Response: As mentioned we believe this request, while not meeting the exact letter of the code, meets the spirit of the code and provides for a better community, with dispersed and easier to access amenity spaces for residents. Finally, the provision also requires that it not be detrimental to the public good. As demonstrated within this letter this request will not be detrimental to the public good, and in fact is highly beneficial for the residents. This request is not precedent setting and is only responding to constraints presented by the challenges presented by the site and the objective of providing affordable and attainable housing to the Fort Collins community. We appreciate your review and careful consideration of this request. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions by phone, 970-409-3414 or by email, rmcbreen@norris-design.com. Sincerely, Norris Design Ryan F. McBreen Principal