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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHEWLETT-PACKARD BUILDING 5, FINAL PUD - SPECIAL HEIGHT REVIEW - 54-88F - REPORTS - RECOMMENDATION/REPORT W/ATTACHMENTSITEM NO. 8 MEETING DATE 5/20/96 STAFF Ted Shepard City of Fort Collins PLANNING AND ZONING BOARD STAFF REPORT PROJECT: Hewlett-Packard Building Five, Final P.U.D., Special Height Review, #54-88F APPLICANT: Hewlett-Packard, Inc. c/o Mr. Tom Peterson Blackfox Commercial Real Estate 3555 Stanford Road Fort Collins, CO 80525 OWNER: Hewlett-Packard, Inc. 3404 East Harmony Road Fort Collins, CO 80525 PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Request for a Final P.U.D. to allow the height of Building Five to exceed the 40 foot height maximum allowed under the Zoning Code. The proposed maximum height of the three-story office building is 52 feet. The building is located on the north -central portion of the H-P campus just outside the 47 foot height zone established in 1981. The campus is located at the northeast corner of Harmony Road and County Road #9. The property is zoned I-L, Limited Industrial. RECOMMENDATION: Approval EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The request for a height of 52 feet for an office building is reviewed as a P.U.D. by the criteria contained in Chapter 6.28 of the City's Development Manual. The building height of 52 feet describes the habitable structure, not the rooftop mechanical equipment shed/elevator shaft which will achieve a height of 65 feet. Building Five is located outside the 47 foot height zone established administratively in 1981 for the first four buildings. COMMUNITY PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES 281 N. College Ave. P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580 (303) 221-6750 PLANNING DEPARTMENT • Hewlett-Packard, Building 5, Final P.U.D. - Special Height Review May 20, 1996 P & Z Meeting Page 2 COMMENTS: Background: The surrounding zoning and land uses are as follows: N: FA -1; (County) Rural Residential (Thomas Property) N: R-L-P; Residential (Thomas Property and Woodland Park Estates P.U.D.) S: E-P; Vacant E: FA-1; (County) Rural Residential (Meadow Heights) and Open Space W: E-PI Vacant (Symbios Logic) The Hewlett-Packard property was annexed and zoned in 1977. The property was platted as a one -lot subdivision of 158 acres called the Preston -Kelley Subdivision in 1978. Development of the H-P campus has been processed under the I-L, Limited Industrial Zone District. Office and light manufacturing are permitted uses in this zone, subject to administrative review of an I-L Site Plan. Buildings 1, 2, and 3 were approved in 1981 at which time the City granted a 47 foot high height zone around Buildings 1, 2, and 3, and a fourth future building. The purpose of the 47 foot height allowance was to accommodate three-story office/manufacturing buildings with adequate space between floors for utility lines and building infrastructure. Buildings 1, 2, and 3 were constructed to a height of 45.5 feet. The establishment of the 47 foot height zone around four buildings was granted administratively by the Director of Planning. In 1988, the fourth building was approved. This building was constructed for manufacturing and was designated "Building Six." Building Six was also constructed to a height of 45.5 feet and is located within the 47 foot height zone. The request for a height of 52 feet is for the habitable portion of the structure only and excludes roof top mechanical sheds and elevator shafts. These appurtenant structures may achieve a height of 65 feet. Due to their narrow profile and location on the central part of the roof, these rooftop additions are not considered significant and not subject to the Special Height Review. .7 • Hewlett-Packard, Building 5, Final P.U.D. - Special Height Review May 20, 1996 P & Z Meeting Page 3 2. Building Five: Building Five will be constructed north of Buildings Two and Six. Unlike the previous four buildings, the primary use is office rather than an office/manufacturing mix. Building Five will be divided into a two-story module on the north and a three-story module to the southeast. Total square footage is anticipated to be 201,315 square feet. Other site improvements include an expanded courtyard/plaza, parking lot and landscaping. The land use approval for Building Five is being reviewed and processed as an I-L Site Plan Review with Utility Plans. The request for a height that exceeds 40 feet is being processed as a P.U.D. The P.U.D. for Special Height Review does not move the land use status of the entire Hewlett-Packard property out of the I-L Zone into a P.U.D. Rather, the P.U.D. process is required only to evaluate and determine the height and location of the buildings that are allowed to exceed 40 feet. 3. Special Height Review: Section 29-476 (a) of the City Code precludes buildings of a height greater than 40 feet unless they are located in a planned unit development. The purpose of a Special Height Review, as outlined in the City's Development Manual (see attached), is to establish a framework for the review of building heights in excess of 40 feet in a P.U.D. proposal. The intent is to encourage creativity and diversity of architecture and site design within a context of harmonious neighborhood planning and coherent environmental design. Height review for structures over 40 feet are reviewed by five criteria relating to community scale, views, light and shadow, privacy, and neighborhood scale. A. Community Scale: According to the Development Manual: A building of greater than 40 feet in height should be located in either of two areas: downtown, or located in or adjacent to one of the established or developing activity centers, defined as a neighborhood, community, or regional shopping center, or an employment center which has over 300 employees. Building Five is located within an employment center which has over 300 employees. • • Hewlett-Packard, Building 5, Final P.U.D. - Special Height Review May 20, 1996 P & Z Meeting Page 4 B. Views: According to the Development Manual: A building should not substantially alter the opportunity and quality of desirable views within the community. Desirable views are widely perceived views by the community of the foothills, mountains, or features of the Fort Collins skyline. Building Five is located in the north -central portion of an existing office/light industrial complex. The nearest residential property to the east which could conceivably be impacted is Meadow Heights. This County Subdivision is located approximately 700 feet to the northeast and sits below the Poudre River bluff. Given the distance and the topographical change, westerly views of the foothills and mountains from Meadow Heights will not be impacted. C. Light and Shadow: According to the Development Manual: Any building of greater than 40 feet should not have a substantial negative impact on the distribution of natural and artificial light on adjacent public and private property. Negative impacts include casting shadow on adjacent property sufficient to preclude the functional use of solar energy, or creating glare such as reflecting sunlight or lighting at night. The applicants have prepared a shadow analysis (see attached). The building will not cast a shadow onto adjacent properties even on the worst case angle of the sun, December 21st. Lights from indoor offices will not cast perceptible illumination onto adjacent properties. D. Privacy: According to the Development Manual: A building of greater than 40 feet should not infringe upon the privacy of adjacent properties. The issue of privacy is related to the proximity of the office building to the nearest residential properties. The two-story component of Building Five will be approximately 420 feet from the nearest adjacent property on the north (Thomas property). The three- story component will be roughly 700 feet from Meadow Heights Subdivision. These r • • Hewlett-Packard, Building 5, Final P.U.D. - Special Height Review May 20, 1996 P & Z Meeting Page 5 distances are considered sufficient to maintain a sense of privacy for the adjacent residential properties. E. Neighborhood Scale: According to the Development Manual: A building of greater than 40 feet should be compatible with the scale of its neighborhood. Scale implies various relationships such as relative height, height -to -mass, length -to -mass, and building scale -to -human scale. Neighborhood scale relates new buildings to the scale of buildings in the surrounding neighborhood. The scale of the Building Five is divided between the two and three-story components. The scale of Building Five is moderated by the distance from the nearest affected properties to the north (420 feet) and northeast (700 feet). The scale is also found to be consistent with three-story structures within the complex. 4. Findings of Fact/Conclusions A. The request for a height of 52 feet for Building Five satisfies the five review criteria as stated in the City's Development Manual. B. The height of 52 feet is comparable to the height of 45.6 feet allowed for Buildings 1, 2, 3, and 6. C. The addition of Building Five, with a height of 52 feet, is within the office/manufacturing character of the Hewlett-Packard campus. The new building is found to be compatible with the immediate area and does not have a negative impact on adjacent or surrounding properties. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends approval of Hewlett-Packard, Building Five, Special Height Review, #54-88F to allow Building Five to achieve a height of 52 feet, excluding the rooftop mechanical sheds and elevator shafts. 0 1 ATAm=0rM_Iy:I_\VR �MmnMr:�"al aPr_ r wromwomm WKWAVI• VW CnLGC" . r1/Cr1 !"/f/!UC n • • Special Review of Buildings with Height Over 40 Feet iiiiii City of Fort Collins Section 29-476 (a) of the Code of the City of Fort Collins precludes buildings of a height greater than 40 feet unless they are located in a planned unit development as defined, processed and approved according to Section 29-526 of the Zoning Ordinance (Land Development Guidance System). The purpose of the review process is to establish a framework for the review of building heights in excess of 40 feet in a PUD proposal. The intent is to encourage creativity and diversity of architecture and site design within a context of harmonious neighborhood planning and coherent environmental design. Depending upon the proposal being reviewed, some criteria may be weighted heavier than other criteria. For instance, in the review of a high-rise proposal in the Central Business District, certain review criteria may be regarded as more important than those criteria used in the review of a high-rise proposal in another activity center. Each situation is different, so judgement is applied in determining which criteria are more important. However, one must keep in mind that the various criteria and Point Charts of the Land Develot)ment Guidance System must also be followed. The primary objectives of the City of Fort Collins in regulating building height are as follows: 1. To preserve the character and stability of existing residential neighborhoods by precluding the development of buildings which by their height are intrusive to the established character of the neighborhood. Some of the external costs imposed by intrusive height include visual incompatibility due to differences in building scale, loss of views, loss of sunlight on adjacent property, and loss of privacy in adjacent yards; 2. To define and reinforce the downtown area as the high intensity focal point in the community while preserving the historic character of the Old Town area; 3. To allow for maximum utilization of activity centers planned for high density residential, commercial and industrial use, without substantially altering the urban form of the City through building heights which conflict with the general scale of development in the district or community as a whole; 4. To generally protect access to sunlight for active and passive utilization of solar energy; 5. To provide conscious direction to the development of the urban form of the City through placement of high-rise buildings. This direction would generally allow high-rise development in the downtown area as per Objective 2, discourage high-rise development in or adjacent to low- and medium -density neighborhoods as per Objective 1, and achieve Objective 3; and 6. To allow for variation of these general expectations, where justified, through the review of planned unit development proposals. Review Criteria A. Community Scale A building greater than 40 feet in height should be located in either of two areas: The building should be located in the downtown, or located in or adjacent to one of the established or developing activity centers. An activity center is defined as a neighborhood, community, or regional shopping center, or 6.28 Continued an employment center which has over 300 employees. The intent is to concentrate the intensity of uses in these planned centers through the use of mid- to high-rise structures. However, the intent is also to follow the established urban design and form of Fort Collins. This form, as stated in Objective 5, is a low-rise city with the exception of high-rises in the Central Business District and the mid- to high- rise development within the planned activity centers. The use of buildings over 40 feet in these centers will maximize land use opportunities and contribute to making Fort Collins a visually diverse city. Clustering of larger, taller buildings at these activity centers can visually express the functional importance of these centers. The location of buildings over 40 feet in height should also reflect balance with the other review criteria and compatibility with the other objectives stated in this section. B. Views A building should not substantially alter the opportunity and quality of desirable views within the community. Desirable views are widely perceived views by the community of the foothills, mountains, significant local landmarks (i.e., Longs Peak, Horsetooth Mountain) or features of the Fort Collins skyline. Particular emphasis will be attached to preserving views of the foothills from public spaces including City parks, the Poudre River, public streets and similar public spaces. View corridors down streets and avenues are important to be maintained. Building siting and massing with respect to street pattern, influences the quality of views from the street space. In assessing the quality of views, the depth and width of a view may be attributes to be considered. Beneficial effects may derive from screening existing objectionable vistas and creation of new views, particularly from public spaces. Views may be preserved (and other criteria may be enhanced) by increasing building height while reducing building mass, changing the orientation of buildings, and increasing open space setbacks. C. Light and Shadow Any building of greater than 40 feet should not have a substantial negative impact on the distribution of natural and artificial light on adjacent public and private property. Negative impacts include casting shadows on adjacent property sufficient to preclude the functional use of solar energy technology, or creating glare such as reflecting sunlight or lighting at night. Shadows also contribute to the accumulation of snow and ice during the winter on adjacent property, particularly on public rights -of -way. Beneficial effects include the provision of desirable shade with landscaping or arcades and artificial lighting which improves the nightscape along public streets. The shadow impact of a building can be reduced by the repositioning of a structure on the lot, increase in the setbacks, reduction in building mass, or redesign of a structure's shape. D. Privacy A building of greater than 40 feet in height should be designed to not infringe upon the privacy of adjacent public and private property. Particular emphasis will be given to preservation of the privacy of adjacent residential areas and public parks. Negative impacts occur when windows and balconies directly overlook adjacent residential outdoor living spaces such as backyards, patios, and balconies. Impact also occurs when windows and balconies indirectly overlook adjacent outdoor living spaces giving an intrusive feeling to these areas. The level of privacy in the neighborhood can be improved by providing landscaping, fencing and open space, and changing building orientation away from adjacent residential development. E. Neighborhood Scale A building of greater than 40 feet should be compatible with the scale of its neighborhood. Scale implies various relationships such as relative height, height to mass, length to mass, and building scale to human scale. -Neighborhood scale relates new buildings to the scale of buildings in the surrounding emu Continued neighborhood. The change in scale may be the most dramatic impact of buildings over 40 feet. The following items can be used as a basis to evaluate scale: Relative Height. The relationship of building height to the height of other buildings in its neighborhood must be considered to evaluate neighborhood scale. The height should not be intrusive to the established or emerging scale of its surroundings. The neighborhood height may be either built height or the height of natural vegetation, or both. The relationship between areas of low height and areas of high-rise can be made more pleasing if the transition and other considerations between such areas are gradual. Relative Length and Mass. The relationship between the horizontal dimensions of buildings relative to their vertical dimensions is also important to evaluate potential impact on neighborhood scale. The intent is to achieve a balance between the height and mass to produce buildings in harmony with the scale of the neighborhood and to avoid the appearance of buildings over 40 feet in height dominating the neighborhood. 3. Human Scale. Too many high-rise buildings have no detail at ground level to which human beings can relate. People are dwarfed and excluded from them. The intent is to provide human scale to all structures over 40 feet in height through appropriate design elements such as plazas, seating areas, and window size. 4. Building Character. Buildings over 40 feet in height should be made sympathetic to the character or emerging character of the neighborhood. This is a particularly important consideration when the proposed building is located in or adjacent to a historic area, such as Historic Old Town or the Laurel School neighborhood. The intent is to ensure compatibility of a taller building with its neighborhood through the use of consistent design elements. 5. Relative Location. The relative location of buildings over 40 feet in height within or adjacent to an activity center is another consideration of Neighborhood Scale. The relative location between structures in an activity center can be important. A structure over 40 feet in height located at the edge of a center can have a different impact than a structure located within the middle of a center which is buffered by other structures and has the benefit of additional setback distance. The transition between any structure over 40 feet in height and the abutting neighborhood should not be abrupt. Adverse effects can be derived from buildings which depart from established scale in an area with respect not only to height, but to mass of building, intensity of use with respect to building coverage, density, open space configuration, building setbacks, distance between buildings, proportions of openings and facade variety. These elements should be compatible with the comparable elements in the neighborhood. Beneficial effects can be derived from buildings which help to visually and functionally integrate a building with its surrounding natural and built environment. Such buildings provide variety and diversity of design to an area in a manner which is sympathetic to, or reinforces, established neighborhood patterns. Submittal Requirements The Land Development Guidance System provides for a PUD preliminary plan submittal to include "Impact studies and other studies as the Planning and Zoning Board may require for the full and complete consideration of the planned unit development." The staff of the Development Review Center should be conferred with about actual requirements. PUD proposals which include building heights in excess of 40 feet will, at a minimum, include the following: Coc l] Continued 1. A shadow analysis which indicates on the preliminary site plan the location of all shadows cast by the building (with associated dates of the year); 2. A visual analysis which identifies existing views to be blocked, from where, of what, and to whom, and which depicts in graphic form views before and after the project utilizing photographs of the area and neutral drawings derived from photographs with proposed buildings drawn in. Depictions should be made from at least two points from which the proposal will be commonly viewed, one of which should be a vista towards the foothills. These points of observation should be indicated on an inset map or plan of the area; and 3. The PUD statement and planning objectives should evaluate the shadow and visual analysis, and specifically address the above review criteria. 6.31 • • F- .0-,£l o-.zs z N Z J J O <.i H 0 LL Q Y U LO Q O) � C) W Z Fc Joa 3Ja W D Co m T Q Z O Q U O J Q N U cB Q U) C O Q. 0 O O W cn ca W E 0 LL cn N 3 a� 1 0 0 R I Fa The criteria for light and shadows indicates that it is important that the proposed PUD not have a substantial negative impact on adjacent property. The shadow analysis accompanying this narrative indicates that even during December 21, when the sun angles are the lowest, the building will not cast a shadow off Hewlett-Packard property, and therefore will have no effect on the access to light and solar energy for any adjacent property owner. PRIVACY: The view of the building from the north-east, shows that there may be some privacy infringement from the third floor office windows of the north east corner of the building, looking to the north east over the residential development in that direction. This infringement is minimal due to the central location of the building on the site. The nearest window on the third floor would be over 650 feet from the nearest private land owner to the north east. This is over three times the distance and relationship between office buildings and residential co -existing in other developments in Fort Collins. At 650 feet in the worst case the privacy infringement is believed to be extremely minimal. NEIGHBORHOOD SCALE: The building siting central to the campus, as discussed previously, is consistent with the neighborhood or campus scale. The set back of the building being in excess of 300 feet from the nearest property line separates the building and campus from surrounding properties and uses. The extension of landscaping consistent with existing site landscaping around the building and between the building and the property lines further separates the building from surrounding properties. This allows the building to become a part of the existing site and accentuate the campus feel and community of the Hewlett-Packard site allowing the office complex to be its own neighborhood with out negative impact to the adjacent properties. • HEWLETT-PACKARD BUILDING 5 PUD PROPOSAL NARRATIVE This is a request for special PUD height review to allow the construction of a 3 story building on the Hewlett-Packard campus to exceed the existing 48 foot height limitation. The proposed Building 5 will have a building envelope 52 feet high with penthouse mechanical equipment that would not exceed a 65 foot overall height. The site is the north central portion of the existing Hewlett-Packard campus on 3404 East Harmony Road. The proposed Building 5 is sited, more specifically, approximately 100 feet north of Building 6, the most recent addition, approximately 325 feet south of the north property line, 900 feet west of the east property line, and approximately 625 feet southwest of the northeast property line. HEIGHT: The proposed Building 5 is located in the established "employment center" of the Hewlett- Packard complex and is sited central to the overall complex. The building mass and proportions are consistent with the balance of the existing buildings on the campus and is intended to continue the campus feel and quality for the employees. The scale of the building is consistent with the other buildings of the site. This building will be appropriately located central to the site to minimize the impact of a building 9 feet taller than its campus neighbors. Through the utilization of exterior skin fenestration, color, canopy, and landscaping, especially at entries and pedestrian areas in close proximity to the building, the detail is provided to create a more human scale environment. This is consistent with and will be an extension of the existing campus and a continuation of the dense campus landscaping already in place. One needs only visit the courtyard exterior to the cafeteria which was completed with the addition of Building 6, or the older courtyard surrounded by buildings 1, 2, & 3 to feel comfortably at home in a forest or natural environment in the middle of an employment center of approximately 700 employees. VIEWS: Building 5 will alter existing view corridors to a very minimal extent. The building will not be visible from the Harmony road corridor. Because of the existing hill to the north-east the building will block no views to the south-west from the development north-east of the site. Directly to the east of the Hewlett-Packard site is dedicated open space. From the Interstate-25 corridor the building appears as a minor addition the existing campus to the west and has only minimal impact of the view to the west for north and south bound motorists. The accompanying illustrations show these three views and the minimal impact Building 5 will have. It will not disturb or alter any other established view corridors. The building while not having a negative impact on views from off site does take substantial advantage of the existing quality views from the site of foothills to the west and the platte valley to the north-east. LIGHT and SHADOW: