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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHARMONY MARKET PUD - PRELIMINARY - 54-87B - CORRESPONDENCE - STAFF'S PROJECT COMMENTS Develoteent Services Planniii ; Department i Ci of Fort Collins March 28, 1989 Mr. Frank Vaught Vaught-Frye Architects and Planners 2900 South College Avenue Fort Collins, CO. 80525 Dcar Mr. Vaught: Staff has reviewed the request for P.U.D. approval for the Harmony Market. Please be aware that the comments pertaining to the amended Master Plan have been sent to Cityscape Urban Design under separate cover. The following comments for the P.U.D. are offered: UTILITY INFORMATION 1. A 16 inch water main must be constructed in Boardwalk, and connected to an existing 12 inch main in Boardwalk north of Harmony Road. The City Water and Sewer Dept. will pay for the oversizing. A 20 inch water main is existing in Lemay Avenue. Both mains will be used to provide service to the shopping area. 2. A sanitary sewer main is existing at the intersection of Oak Ridge Drive and Lemay. This main will have to be extended to Boardwalk, and will be used to provide sewer service. 3. Mountain Bell requests a 10 foot wide easement on the east side of Boardwalk Drive to continue north to Harmony Road. 4. The First Filing of Harmony Market P.U.D. will not affect existing Public Service Company easements. However, future filings will need to indicate one and possibly two recorded PSCo. easements. Public Service cautions that trees or fences will not be allowed in these easements. Street streets should not interfere with underground gas lines. 5. Oak Ridge Drive will need to be extended east to Lemay with the First Filing or additional costs must be paid to the City Light and Power Department to install temporary overhead electric power lines from the west side of Lemay to the east side of the First Filing. The estimated cost for this temporary overhead line is $10,000. However, if the Light and Power Department is able to complete a bore under Harmony Road, then the extension of Oak Ridge Drive, or the temporary overhead line will not be required. ,;)() L.i1'orte \venue • PO. Box 380 • Fort G>llins, CO S0522-0580 • (303) 221-670 l Page 2 6. Light and Power advises that street trees should be setback 7.5 feet from the curb to avoid conflicts with buried conduit. 7. The State Division of Highways will require a submittal request to allow the right-in/right-out on Harmony Road (State Highway 68). 8. The water line connection across Harmony (which may require a bore) will need a permit from the State Division of Highways. - 9. Please check all landscape materials at the intersections for possible conflicts with vehicular sight distances. 10. The sidewalk on Harmony Road should be adjusted according to the details provided on the red-lined utility plans. Il. All buildings must be constructed in accordance with the City Building Code with regard to the requirements relating to fire sprinklers and fire containment areas. 12. An engineer's fire flow report must be submitted showing water supply capability of the water supply system. 13. All areas throughout the project where undesignated parking may obstruct fire access must be posted: "No Parking - Fire LaneTM. Approved signage must be used. Areas where this would apply are at the main frontages to the buildings and the rear service areas. 14. All parking lot drive aisles and service drive areas must be designated as access easements. 15. Please indicate the building envelope dimensions for Pad 2 on the First Filing final site plan. 16. Permission must be obtained from the owners of the irrigation ditches before abandonment. 17. The Drainage Report should address water quality aspects as well as the attempts made to prevent degradation of the quality of the runoff. 18. The First Filing landscape plan needs to be revised to show the newly aligned detention pond. PARKING AND CIRCULATION 19. Minimizing air pollution at the site requires the best practical traffic flow, especially when parking exceeds 75% of capacity. Is the design of the parking lot entrances consistent with the best traffic engineering practice? Has internal circulation been designed to reduce traffic conflicts? Safe, efficient internal traffic flow helps air quality. Page 3 20. Have you considered shifting the parking lot access drive on Boardwalk further to the south to directly line up with the internal "loop road". This would avoid a "T" intersection as it is shown now. 21. As stated above, the loop road should be prioritized to reduce unnecessary conflicts and excess turning movements. Staff suggests that the loop road in front of the anchor tenants not provide a "curb cut" for every parking aisle. Rather elongated landscaped islands should define one cut to serve two or three aisles. This would define a series of separate lots with perimeter landscaping. Recirculation could occur on the north loop road so there are no dead-ends. An illustration is available to demonstrate this idea. 22. The parking lot design does not provide sufficient pedestrian amenities. Pedestrian paths (6 foot minimum), flanked by landscaping should be provided to allow shoppers to move safely and freely throughout the entire center. This path could be placed in the landscaped area that would separate the individual parking lots as defined above. Each path could serve two lots. This concept has been used successfully in the Pavilion Shopping Center on South College (T.J. Max). 23. Perimeter stall lengths may be reduced to 17 feet where there is a two foot landscaped overhang. 24. All parking lot islands should include shrub beds. Staff suggests that parking lot islands be treated with slight berms. Such berms should match the height of perimeter parking lot berming. This creates a positive perspective from the street as the view would not include headlights, grills, tires, etc. but rather landscaping and just a partial view of the car. To a limited extent, this has also been done at the Pavilion Shopping Center. To a larger extent, the effect could be dramatic. 25. The employee parking lot needs further definition as to stall locations, landscaping, etc. 26. All interior parking lot landscaping should not be less than 6%. 27. All interior parking lot sidewalks should be a minimum of 6 feet. 28. The loading area on the east side of Pace should be temporarily screened until the adjacent building is constructed. Also, it was not made clear whether trash compactor will be located in such a way as to screen the view and buffer the noise. These details should be made more clear on the final site plan. LANDSCAPING 29. Staff feels strongly that the 80 foot buffer along Harmony should be constructed with the First Filing. Since the Pace is the largest building envelope, it is necessary to establish the landscape buffer now. The buffer should consistently be 80 feet. 1 Page 4 30. Berms along Harmony should be undulating to provide interest. Shrub beds designed to cover the mulched area in 3 to 5 years should be included. Berms should be wide enough to adequately water and maintain. 31. The west side of Boardwalk should be landscaped with street trees to create a quality streetscape and to begin to provide buffering to the west. 32. The landscaping plan should employ large caliper trees (4 inch) around the Pace building. Similarly, the conifers in this area should be 10 to 12 feet in height. These larger materials would be necessary to establish the appropriate buffering. 33. The landscape plan should specify which pine and spruce will be 6 foot, 7 foot, or 8 foot. There should be a mix of one third of each. 34. The City Forester has inspected the site and requests that the 3 mature spruce trees in the area of the farmhouse, be preserved. Also in this area, please preserve the large honeylocust and the large diameter elm. The old willows and small diameter elms are not, in themselves, valuable. However, as a cluster, the old trees provide a visual interest. While you are encouraged to preserve these older trees, it will not become a requirement. 35. Offsite landscaping north of Harmony Road, in the area south of the homes on Seaway Circle, is strongly encouraged. These homes were built before the Gateway concept and do not benefit from the new buffering requirements. 36. Berms along the east side of Boardwalk are strongly encouraged. Again, the width an.d height should be sufficien. t to screen headlights. 37. The final landscape plan does not indicate any shrubs or berming along the south and west elevations of the Pace building. Adding these elements will help soften the effect of such a large structure. ARCHITECTURE 38. One of the major issues identified is the use of quality exterior building materials. Staff encourages the use face brick and other materials to create a quality appearance for the Pace building. Since Pace will be the first user, the quality materials will set a standard for others to follow. Staff expects the Pace architecture will be substantially improved over the elevations that were submitted on March 6, 1989. 39. The buildings along Harmony must demonstrate quality to made compatible with the surrounding area. Staff suggests the north elevations of these buildings to be brick. Also, the north elevation must screen such items as. service entries, dumpsters, pad mounted mechanical equipment, and gas and electric meters. Roofs should screen rooftop mechanical equipment. Blank walls should be broken up with treatments such as "false shutters" to lend a residential character. Roof material should be sensitive. Flat roofs are discouraged and sloped roofs are preferred. In general, the north elevation of Page 5 the buildings on Harmony must not be considered the service . area and demonstrate design excellence. 40. Since the treatment of the buildings along Harmony are so important, Staff encourages the P.U.D. document to specify strict architectural standards in advance of future tenants. As so often happens, these pads are leased by franchise outlets intent on constructing the standard, national, corporate architecture. While Staff recognizes the need for identity, and has and will continue to work with national tenants, it must be made clear that the center will promote a consistent architectural theme, emphasizing quality materials. SITE PLANNING 41. Staff is concerned about the proliferation of perimeter building pads. This does not promote a pedestrian type center. Staff, therefore, suggests the pad buildings be clustered into groups rather than having each tenant on each individual . pad. Perhaps this would reduce the fear that each pad will develop in its own style rather than in a uniform design. 42. Staff prefers the old original alignment •of Oak Ridge Drive. The current alignment does not provide as much buffering to the south. How is the reduced setback compensated? 43. The preliminary site plan should list the anticipated allowable uses. NOISE 44. It will be important to analyze the potential noise impact associated with this development. Staff strongly suggests a noise analysis be conducted to quantify the impacts of truck delivery, the trash compactor, etc. SIGNAGE. 45. Since the Pace lot has no legal frontage on Harmony, a free standing sign will not be allowed on Harmony Road. Similarly, only one free standing sign will be allowed per lot per frontage. Therefore, only one sign will be allowed on Boardwalk. 46. Staff is concerned about the potential lack of graphic consistency throughout the center. As a result, a signage and graphic program is suggested. At the least, modify note number 12 to read: "At minimum, all signs must comply with the City of Fort Collins Sign Code. Final signage allowance and location shall be granted after P.U.D. review by the Planning and Zoning Board. Signage throughout the P.U.D. shall demonstrate sensitivity to surrounding properties, particularity along Harmony Road. Individual tenant signage shall also demonstrate a graphic consistency within the center. The use of common design elements within the signage shall be encouraged." 4110 410 • Page 6 TRANSPORTATION 47. Staff strongly believes that Oak Ridge Drive should be constructed from Boardwalk to Lemay. This would relieve the traffic on Boardwalk and provide recirculation to Lemay. This would also allow trucks to use Lemay as an option rather than having to rely solely on Boardwalk. MISCELLANEOUS 48. Please be aware that a Master Plan comment includes the future consideration of a Transfort bus stop with bench and shelter at the corner of Oak Ridge Drive and Boardwalk. This concludes staff comments at this time. In order to remain on schedule for the April 24, 1989 P & Z hearing, please note the following deadlines: Plan revisions are due April 5, 1989 PMT's, 10 prints, colored renderings are due April 17, 1989. Final documents are due April 20, 1989. Please call at your earliest convenience to discuss these comments. Sincerely, Ted Shepard City Planner cc: Joe Frank, Assistant Planning Director Mike Herzig, Development Engineer.