HomeMy WebLinkAboutSANCTUARY ON THE GREEN - PDP210018 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - ROW RELATED DOCUMENT
November 3, 2021
City of Fort Collins
P.O. Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
RE: Variance Request to recently updated LCUASS Right-of-Way (ROW) widths
Sanctuary on the Green
Project #1536-001
Variance description:
This is a request for variance from the August 1, 2021 update to the Residential Local Street and Connector Local
Street ROW widths contained in Chapter 7 of the Larimer County Urban Area Street Standards (LCUASS) as
Figures 7-9F and 7-8F, respectively. The recent updates widened the public ROW widths by 6 ft to allow for 2.5 ft
wider parkways (from 6 ft to 8.5 ft) and 0.5 ft wider sidewalks (from 4.5 ft to 5 ft). The Sanctuary on the Green
development plan is requesting to use the prior LCUASS ROW widths.
Justification:
The previous Sanctuary on the Green entitlement review began with a Preliminary Development Plan (PDP)
submittal in early 2019. At the time, the City of Fort Collins was in the initial stages of updating their West Vine
Floodplain model. Since the West Vine Floodplain encumbers a portion of the Sanctuary of the Green site,
careful coordination was required not only to safely convey the floodplain through the site but also to support
the City’s future Selected Plan floodplain improvements. Over the course of 24 months, multiple iterations of
the site plan were submitted for review as further details emerged from the City’s floodplain model and report.
As such, the current site plan has undergone extensive review by the City and their floodplain engineering
consultant, who was hired directly by Sanctuary on the Green to perform the analysis specific to this site and it’s
development plan.
The increased ROW widths from the August 1, 2021 update to LCUASS came after a multi-year coordination
effort between City staff and the development team. By increasing the ROW, the site plan will spread into and
potentially impact the City’s reserved corridor for the future Selected Plan floodplain improvements. With this
in mind, the development team discussed the potential impact with the City’s Director of Engineering and
Manager of Civil Engineering, who both recommended that we utilize the prior LCUASS standard ROW widths.
Conclusion:
The variance requested in this letter will not have an adverse impact on the Cities capital and maintenance
costs, nor will it reduce the design life of the respective improvements. The requested waiver will not be
detrimental to the public health, safety, or welfare. We believe this variance is a minimum change that will grant
the City greater success with their Selected Plan floodplain improvements in the future.
Sincerely,
NORTHERN ENGINEERING SERVICES, INC.
Danny Weber, PE
Project Manager