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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBALFOUR SENIOR LIVING - PDP220001 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - PROJECT NARRATIVEPage 1 of 3 \\DTJ-BLDFS1\Design\2021044.20-Balfour Ft Collins\06 Milestones\2022-0126_PDP submittal\Comment Response and Narrative\2022- 0126_Project Narrative.doc Date: January 26, 2022 To: City of Fort Collins Development Review Center Attention: Brandy Bethurem Harras 281 N. College Avenue Fort Collins, Colorado 80522 From: DTJ DESIGN, Inc. Re: The Overlander by Balfour- Project Information and Design Narrative Project Development Plan Submittal (previously submitted as Balfour at Fort Collins for PDR) 3733 East Harmony Road Fort Collins, Colorado PDR210011 Applicant: Balfour Senior Living, LLC Existing Owner(s): Kathryn Joy Anderson, Bill Ray Winchester II, Sheri W Lucas, and B N Harmony, LLC PO Box 2632 Monument, Colorado 80132 Greetings, We are very excited to submit our Project Development Plan as the next step of entitlement process for this unique project. This submittal follows our PDR submittal on July 7, tree inventory coordination on September 7, neighborhood meeting on October 25, City of Fort Collins Architectural Inventory of historic structures on November 16, and multiple meeting with individual city staff along the way to finesse and refine our initial design. In working with staff to develop the design since our PDR submittal, we have crafted a project that will be rooted in the history of the site and surrounding area while being memorable for the community. This project incorporates a thoughtful integration of site design, technical requirements of Fort Collins, and authentic architectural character. The following is a narrative describing the various aspects of this project. As noted in our PDR submittal, we are very inspired by the history of this area and the historic structures on site. The influence of major trail systems in the west and the bravery of pioneers to settle in areas of northern Colorado is something we want to honor in this development. In fact, even the new project name will nod to these historical influences. We plan to create events throughout the project to celebrate this history with theming and appropriately scaled buildings. The site design for this project is primarily driven by 3 factors: the historic buildings, the setback from Harmony Road, and the Fossil Creek Reservoir Inlet Ditch. We are inspired by these influences and have crafted the design to respond in thoughtful, integrated ways. First, the city’s Architectural Inventory for this site has indicated that individually the existing structures on site are not contributing but as a collection they are important. To reinforce the relationship of these structures, we have created a village feel in the northwest corner of the site by clustering the reused buildings and surrounding them with open space and places for people. Next, we a have created a naturalized edge Page 2 of 3 \\DTJ-BLDFS1\Design\2021044.20-Balfour Ft Collins\06 Milestones\2022-0126_PDP submittal\Comment Response and Narrative\2022- 0126_Project Narrative.doc to the project along Harmony Road to reinforce the agrarian influences of the region. This area incorporates city requirements for water quality and storm water management while incorporating site sculptures relating to the historic roots of the site. This creates events for people meandering along the detached sidewalk that runs parallel to Harmony Road. Finally, to create integrated areas adjacent to the creek, we have significantly stepped the new building west from the creek edge and created outdoor areas for passive and active use. This space will create a naturalized edge for the project where enhanced native landscape will be used. Additionally, we have dispersed the parking for the project into three zones to avoid large parking lot collections. Our initial PDR submittal showed adaptive reuse for 3 historic structures on site: the barn, primary farmhouse and secondary farmhouse. Our current plan shows adaptive reuse for the 2 farmhouse buildings, preserving these residential uses as independent living detached cottages. We also plan to restore a front porch for the primary farmhouse as shown in the circa 1950 photos (earliest known) from the city’s Architectural Inventory and our own research. Since our PDR submittal, our structural engineer has evaluated the foundation of the barn and determined that it is not salvageable in place. As such, our intent is to slightly relocate the barn west to a new foundation and keep its current orientation to Harmony Road. This structure will be adaptively reused as a community room, an extension of the social spaces at the first level of the new building. Since our PDR review, the city’s Architectural Inventory has also indicated that the granary structure should be preserved. We have revised our original design to incorporate the granary into the northwest corner village of buildings and plan to adaptively reuse this structure as storage for outdoor activities. We are proposing to relocate the granary closer to the other historic structures since the city’s inventory indicates the granary has been moved in the past. The new building for this site is designed in a way to relate to the adaptively reused structures. In material, form, color and scale this building is intended to give the feeling of a campus extension from the northwest corner village. We have intentionally manipulated the edges, colors/ materials and height to add variety and modulation. The overarching goal is the portions of the new building closest to the village feel like the working portions of a homestead (and relate to the reused barn) and the elements further away feel like the living quarters of the homestead (and relate to the cottages). The design intent is to evoke a feeling of a collection of buildings versus a large complex. Entry elements closest to the barn adopt historical feeling materials, elements, and colors thru gambles, cupolas and timber elements. At 3 stories in height, these portions of the new building are significantly below the 6-story allowable and create a scale relationship that feels historical by including covered porches and corrugated metal roof elements. To break down the building mass further, we have included dormers in a variety of shapes and proportions. The portions of the building further from the northwest corner play off this intent while reinforcing the feel of a farmhouse through gable elements and base building materials. Portions of the new building are intentionally ambiguous on height and form to create a visual variety of building mass. The vast majority is below the 6-story allowable, with only a small portion of the project in the southeast corner at 6-stories. As the building steps toward Harmony Road, it also steps down to three and four story forms on the east side. On this east façade, we have enhanced this area of the building with roof forms, a themed architecture base, porches and building mounted art. To create variety along Harmony Road, we have also separated this portion of the building from those noted above with a one-story bridge. This creates a visual break while suggesting depth to the southern portion of the project (across a courtyard). Throughout this portion of the new building we have broken down the scale thru a variety of elements such as decks, bay window bump outs, porches, and thematic elements such as building mounted sculpture and art. Together the east and north facades create an integrated, visual experience on the corner as the project is approached from I-25. Page 3 of 3 \\DTJ-BLDFS1\Design\2021044.20-Balfour Ft Collins\06 Milestones\2022-0126_PDP submittal\Comment Response and Narrative\2022- 0126_Project Narrative.doc The intent of the landscape design is to reflect the native plant community, provide year-round seasonal interest, and decrease water use & maintenance. Additionally, the landscape design will contribute to, and extend, the existing habitat along the Fossil Creek Feeder Ditch and contribute to the Harmony Road landscape goals. Plant material will be used to create intimate spaces within the site plan, provide shade and help scale down the building form. The management of storm water has been integrated into the overall landscape design and is address by providing for primarily underground systems with some naturalized above ground components. General and project specific information is located throughout our PDP submittal but is summarized below: • Location: Southeast corner of the intersection of Harmony Road and Cinquefoil Lane • Area: 5.00 acres, excluding portions adjacent/ in ROW • Zoning: Harmony Corridor (HC). New zoning is not proposed • Use: Institutional (allowed use) • Total Area building area: 2,220 SF for cottages, 1,240 SF for barn and 246,040 for new building • Number of dwelling units: 2 adaptively reused buildings and 207 new units (209 total) • Off-street Parking: 67 total. Below maximum allowable • Number of stories: 1 story reused cottages and 3,4,5, and 6 story new building. • Modification Requested: Orientation to Build-to Lines for Streetfront Buildings. We appreciate the ongoing dialogue with the city to create a thoughtful project for the community of Fort Collins. As hopefully apparent in our submittal, we have put a tremendous amount of thought and craft into creating what is presented in our PDP. Collaboration is truly a necessity for projects of this complexity. We appreciate the city’s time and valuable input so far and look forward to advancing this project with the city’s continued input and guidance. Thank you for your consideration of this submittal, Lee Payne, AIA, NCARB, LEED A.P. Owner + Principal | Director of Architecture