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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFAIRWAY APARTMENTS - PDP210005 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 3 - MODIFICATION REQUEST July 19, 2021 City of Fort Collins Current Planning Department 281 North College Ave. Fort Collins, CO 80524 Re: Fairway Apartments Please accept this request for a Modification of Standards to Section 3.5.2 (D)(1) of the Land Use Code. Background The proposed use for the site is a multi-family apartment project. The site is 10.35 acres and is located at the northwest corner of West Fairway Lane and South College Avenue. The site is vacant and formerly housed a retail nursery. 9 buildings are proposed with a total of 264 units located in 1 and 2-bedroom configurations. The main entrance to the site will be from Fairway Lane, with a secondary emergency access to the north. The main north-south drive is intended to be a street-like private drive with detached sidewalks, tree lawns and parallel parking. The buildings are situated to form blocks, with building placement parallel to the streets and edges. There is a pedestrian spine running east-west through the middle of the site that will connect College Avenue to the Transit Center and mason Trail. Located central and throughout the site are amenities including a clubhouse with pool and BBQ area, a dog park, basketball and pickleball courts, a tot lot and several pergolas with BBQ grills. The site is bounded by the South Fort Collins Transit Center to the west, Spradley Barr Ford to the north, College Avenue to the east and Woodley’s Fine Furniture to the south. Proposed landscaping for the site will consist of street trees in tree lawns and foundation plantings consisting of shrubs and ornamental grasses. Most of the outdoor activity spaces will consist of irrigated turf, with water-wise native seed in the remaining open space areas. The three-story buildings will have high profile asphalt shingles, composite wood vertical, horizontal and board and batten siding, composite wood facia and trim with stained wood decks and columns. The architecture is consistent with the Land Use Code, with 6 building types plus the clubhouse. Modification to Section 3.5.2(D)(1)(b) Code Language:Section 3.5.2(D)(1)Relationshipof Dwellings to Streets and Parkingstatess the following: (1) Orientation to a Connecting Walkway. Every front facade with a primary entrance to a dwelling unit shall face the adjacent street to the extent reasonably feasible. Every front facade with a primary entrance to a dwelling unit shall face a connecting walkway with no primary entrance more than two hundred (200) feet from a street sidewalk. The following exceptions to this standard are permitted: (a) Up to two (2) single-family detached dwellings on an individual lot that has frontage on either a public or private street. (b) A primary entrance may be up to three hundred fifty (350) feet from a street sidewalk if the primary entrance faces and opens directly onto a connecting walkway that qualifies as a major walkway spine. (c) If a multi-family building has more than one (1) front facade, and if one (1) of the front facades faces and opens directly onto a street sidewalk, the primary entrances located on the other front facade(s) need not face a street sidewalk or connecting walkway. Requested Modification: We are requesting that Buildings 2 and 3have their primary entrances be greater than 200 feet from a street sidewalk. Modification Criteria The request of approval for this modification complies with the standards per Review Criteria 2.8.2 (H)(2) and (4) in the following ways: (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 (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. Justification The granting of this modification of standards would not be detrimental to the public good, and 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.The applicant offers the following in support of its request for modification: Although the primary entrances to these buildings are greater than 200 feet from the public street, there is a Major Walkway Spine along the fronts of the buildings. The spine is at least 35’’ wide with a 10’ sidewalk and tree cut-outs every 30’ on-center and ties into the east-west pedestrian spine. The project provides overall enhanced pedestrian connectivity with walkways and pathways throughout the site. Enhanced connectivity includes walkways connecting into the major walkway, a sidewalk system around the perimeter of the site and that connects into the transit center and S College Sidewalk system at the northeast and northwest corners of the site and additional connections from the parking lot into the Major Walkway Spine. Several amenities, such as a pool and clubhouse, pergolas, BBQ grills, a playground area and sport courts further improve and enhance the project. The ends of the Buildings 2 and 3 have direct walkway connections to the east-west pedestrian spine, paired with special paving, landscape bed cut outs and benches. The proposed alternative plan continues to improve the design, quality and character of new development by exceeding the building standards set forth in Section 3.5. The use of high quality residential building materials, buildingarticulation, projections and recesses, ensures sensitivity to and compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood. The proposed development is in accordance with the overall City goals outlined in City Plan.