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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTHE OVERLOOK AT WOODRIDGE PUD - FINAL - 55-87D - CORRESPONDENCE - CITY COUNCIL 1'P ri Al MEMORANDUM lit" r50 Date: August 1, 1991. To: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members From: Matt Baker, SID Coordinator Thru: Gary Diede, Director of Engineering RE: Harmony Road Realignment Council has raised several issues regarding the purchase of right of wayfor the realignment of HarmonyRoad. `1'g The �oll;;wi;.y information will detail the analysis and staff's recommendation on the alignment of Harmony Road. HARMONY ROAD REALIGNMENT: Harmony Road was planned to be realigned in 1980 when the Master Street Plan was developed. Staff recognized that the property immediately to the west of Taft Hill Road on the Harmony Road alignment had been platted in the county for single family lots without a right of way dedicated for the extension of Harmony Road or Overland Trail and, therefore, thought to be disruptive and expensive to extend Harmony Road on a -straight alignment to possibly connect to Overland Trail. Staff also recognized that topography was a factor that would require expensive construction due to the steep hills. Several alignment options for Harmony Road have been revisited as follows: Option 1 e Retain the present alignment of Harmony Road at Taft Hill. The present alignment of Harmony Road stays on the section line and intersects Taft Hill. The north side of the road has a steep hill which was an old Larimer County Landfill. The south side of the roadway drops steeply approximately 40 ' in height. Taft Hill Road was built on fill material and has drop offs of 30 - 40 feet on each side. The street grades on these roads are much steeper than city standards for safety. CONS: O Difficult and costly ($1.9 million) project with massive earthmoving required. The roadway could not be built to provide direct access to the adjoining property. O Old county landfill would require excavation and removal of contaminated material to new county landfill. O Extension of Harmony Road west of Taft Hill blocked by county development. O Leaves a jog in the east - west arterial road connection. PROS: O Straight road alignment is consistent with city street grid system. Option 2 - Curve Harmony Road to meet Taft Hill south of the present alignment. CONS: O Costly project ($1.4 million) with massive earthmoving required. The street would have to be elevated on high fill material. The roadway could not be built to provide direct access to the adjoining property. O Extension of Harmony Road west of Taft Hill blocked by county development. O Environmental impacts to wetlands and wildlife areas would have to be mitigated. O Leaves a jog in the east - west arterial road connection. PROS: O Avoids old county landfill from east Ft. Collins. O Favors route to county landfill site. 4 Option 3 - Curve Harmony Road to meet Taft Hill just north of the present alignment. CONS: O Extension of Harmony Road west of Taft Hill blocked by county development. O Creates an offset arterial hampering traffic flows. PROS: O Less earthmoving required than previous options. Construction costs moderate ($950, 000) . O Avoids old county landfill. Option 4 - Curve Harmony Road north to connect with Taft Hill at the intersection of CR 38E. CONS: O Bi-sects property which makes development more difficult. O Curved road varies from the city's grid street system. PROS: O Least expensive construction costs, estimated at $750, 000. O CR 38E provides arterial extension west of Taft Hill to (future) Overland Trail. O Avoids offset arterial intersections. O Can be built safely to meet arterial design standards. The Harmony Road realignment has been re-analyzed since its original adoption in 1980. The City's Transportation Department has looked at Harmony Road in this part of the city at various times to determine if the concepts that were analyzed in 1980 are still valid and still meet the needs of the city's transportation system. We have two specific work efforts in which we have looked at the city wide street system: one, as a part of the Transportation Plan development and second, the Colorado Highway 14 review performed in conjunction with the Ad Hoc Transportation Committee. In both cases we used the transportation model to analyze traffic flow/capacity and air quality. The results of both efforts indicate that the Master Street Plan System and the recommended realignment of Harmony Road (option 4) , continues to provide for an acceptable traffic flow. Staff has also looked at traffic impact in this area on a more site specific basis. As PUD's are submitted to the city a traffic impact study is required for Transportation Department review. Over the years there have been a number of traffic impact studies that have looked at this area and the impact of development of the street system. In the case of the Arapahoe Farms Master Plan, which is the project that included the realignment of Harmony Road, a traffic study was completed. We looked, at the traffic impact numbers and their relationship to the proposed street system. Staff believes that the realignment of Harmony Road to connect with. CR 38E (option 4) is still the preferred option of the arterial street network in this area, providing both efficient traffic flows and reasonable construction costs. OTHER ISSUES: Citizen Involvement: Since 1987 there have been 12 development projects in the immediate area that have gone through the development review process. In addition to the formal P & Z meeting, five were subject to neighborhood meetings. All meetings had mailed notification of affected property owners within a minimum of 500 feet of the project. These neighborhood meetings included the development projects of the PR-1 Southwest Elementary School, Clarendon Hills Master Plan, Clarendon Hills PUD, Arapahoe Farms Master Plan, and Arapahoe Farms Amended Master Plan. Maps, planning material, and project information at all of these forums clearly indicated the realignment of Harmony Road. There were no negative comments about the realignment and several that were positive. Garbage Trucks: Taft Hill Road is the major haul route to the County Landfill. In �n i n r+ntheir talking to the. waste d�..posal companies in town and comparing numbers and routes, it appears that approximately 75% (172 trucks per day) of the truck traffic uses Taft Hill Road and 25% (58 trucks per day) use Harmony Road in this location. • Arterial roads are designed to carry trucks and higher speed traffic. For this reason, single family developments are designed to avoid facing or having access onto an arterial street. Usually, the backs of the lots are found along arterial frontages and provided with a buffer by using setbacks and landscaping. Current Status of Development: The developer of Arapahoe Farms on the north side of Harmony Road has received Planning and Zoning Board approval of 28 homes on the curved. Harmony Road alignment in option four above. The developer of Arapahoe Farms is planning to build the remainder of the development in phases. Each phase will construct a portion of the realignment for site access. Harmony Road will continue in its present straight alignment until the development of Arapahoe Farms progresses to the point where the connection can be made at Taft Hill and CR 38E. This is projected to be in five to seven years. Future Access to South.: Seneca will eventually function as a collector from Horsetooth to Harmony serving this square mile. It is also planned for Seneca to serve future development south of Harmony and east of Taft Hill. The actual alignment of this facility will need to be sensitive to any wildlife habitat in this area, but until development is proposed this actual alignment is uncertain. It could be designed to encourage or discourage truck usage depending on the land use. Other Arterial Street Improvements in the Area: There are no immediate plans for improving Taft Hill to the north and Harmony Road east. As the Transportation staff implements the action plans in the Transportation Plan, gaps in the pedestrian/bike system will be identified and funding methods will be explored. Current city policy is to require developing properties to improve their adjacent street frontage plus improvements to mitigate their traffic impacts, whether on or of.f site. If there are properties that have previously developed without improving the streets (such as, the Harmony Mobile Home Park, Imperial Estates County Subdivision, or the Ridge County Subdivision) then improvements to these frontages fall back upon the city to complete as a Capital Improvement project. Recommendation: Staff recommends that realigning Harmony Road to connect with CR 38E (option 4) is the most desirable option. Staff also recommends that the city purchase the entire right-of- way from a single property owner at this time. This would be advantageous for three reasons: 1. ) Undeveloped land prices are lower cost. 2. ) The recommended realignment of Harmony Road would be in place with one negotiation. 3 . ) The eventual timing of the connection of the realignment would be more under the city's control. Rather than wait for development to construct the last portions of the realignment before connection is made, the city would be in a position to initiate or delay the connection as future traffic conditions warrant.