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Home My WebLink AboutVON VIHL HEIGHTS THIRD SUBDIVISION - BDR240007 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 2 - Variance Request (2)A CCESS V ARIANCE R EQUEST C ARLSON U TILITY P LAN F ORT C OLLINS ,CO 19 OLD TOWN SQUARE #238 | FORT COLLINS, CO 80524 | 970-530-4044 | www.unitedcivil.com July 22, 2024 BRAD BUCKMAN 700 WOOD STREET FORT COLLINS,CO 80522 RE: ACCESS ALTERNATIVE COMPLIANCE AND VARIANCE REQUESTS CARLSON UTILITY PLAN –3036 WEST PROSPECT ROAD PROJECT NUMBER:U24001 Brad, This letter is being submitted on behalf of the owner of the Carlson site development. The project is currently in the Preliminary Development Plan process and two (2) separate variances are being requested to modify portions of the Larimer County Urban Area Street Standards. The second of the two is as follows: VARIANCE REQUEST –LARIMER COUNTY URBAN AREA STREET STANDARDS (LCUASS) DESIGN CRITERIA OF VARIANCE BEING REQUESTED Section 9.1.1 (C) within the Larimer County Urban Area Street Standards Manual which states: The specific separation distances between accesses shall be as shown in Table 7-3 or Table 7-4. Greater separation may be required to eliminate conflicts or overlaps of center left turn lanes as determined by TIS. For this project, driveway separation found in LCUASS Table 7.3 for 2 lane arterials is 460-600 feet minimum. HARDSHIP REGARDING REQUIREMENT The site is located at 3036 West Prospect Road and exists as Lot 11 within the Von Vihl Heights Subdivision, County of Larimer, State of Colorado, and is surrounded by existing developed residential properties to the north (1504 S Overland Trail) and east (3030 West Prospect Road). The project site is also bordered by West Prospect Road and South Overland Trail to the south and west respectively. The developed project proposes to subdivide the lot into two separate lots with the existing residence, driveways/access, and utilities being encompassed in the southern lot or Lot 2 leaving the northern lot, Lot 1, as a vacant parcel which will require access from Overland Trail and utility service lines. In its existing condition the site maintains an asphalt driveway providing two access points to the property along West Prospect Road. The two site access points in their current condition exist approximately thirty-one (31) feet apart from one another. Additionally, the south facing property line consists of approximately one hundred and eleven (111) feet in length. West Prospect Road is considered a 2-lane arterial road and therefore is required to uphold a minimum distance between driveway edges and a corner clearance between driveways and street intersections of 460’-660’ per the LCUASS street design and technical criteria. Please refer to appendix A for the LCUASS table implementing said constraints. Seeing as the entirety of the property length running parallel to Prospect Road is only one hundred and eleven (111) feet, which makes up only a fraction of the requirements, and the entire block itself is shorter than the required length, there is no possible driveway placement/configuration that satisfies the design requirements. Yielding to these constraints is therefore deemed to be unattainable. PROPOSED ALTERNATE DESIGN The existing and proposed site design provides direct access to the existing residence and Lot 2 from West Prospect Road from existing driveways. As such, the development team proposes to maintain the existing conditions and uphold the current A CCESS V ARIANCE R EQUEST C ARLSON U TILITY P LAN F ORT C OLLINS ,CO 19 OLD TOWN SQUARE #238 | FORT COLLINS, CO 80524 | 970-530-4044 | www.unitedcivil.com access design, bypassing costly and unnecessary removal and construction of infrastructure and providing residential access to the site. The following sections of this variance request serve to document the negligible impacts this alternate design will have. Seeing as access to the site must be provided, and the current site design includes previously approved access points, upholding existing conditions accomplishes the goal of providing site access without expanding project scope, site and road disturbance, or having negative consequences on the health safety and welfare of the public. In summary, by maintaining the existing site conditions: 1.Disturbance within the existing roads and site are minimized 2.Direct access to the residence is provided via an existing driveway and approaches Based on the information provided for this access variance request, it is the design teams opinion that the proposed design will have no negative impacts on the health, safety and welfare of the public and will have no negative impacts on City infrastructure, or neighboring properties. On behalf of the owner of the Carlson site and the design team, we thank you for your consideration of this request. If you should have any questions or comments regarding this request, please feel free to contact us at your convenience. Sincerely, United Civil Design Group, LLC Brady Kirkbride, EI Design Engineer Nate Stroud, PE, LSIT Project Manager APPENDIX A – Referenced Materials A PPENDIX A R EFERENCED M ATERIALS Chapter 9 – ACCESS REQUIREMENTS AND DESIGN CRITERIA Section 9.1 General Larimer County Urban Area Street Standards – Repealed and Reenacted August 1, 2021 Page 9-1 Adopted by Larimer County, City of Loveland, City of Fort Collins CHAPTER 9 – ACCESS REQUIREMENTS AND DESIGN CRITERIA 9.1 GENERAL Access may occur as one of two types: (1) access for land use (driveways) and (2) public streets (street intersections). 9.1.1 Designing Placement of Accesses A. Direct Access Restricted Direct access to individual lots from Arterials is restricted. For City of Loveland (GMA and city limits) direct access to is restricted from Arterials and Collectors. B. Avoiding Conflicts in Center Left Turn Lane When establishing the placement of offset accesses (either driveways or intersections), ensure that traffic making left-hand turns into the accesses does not conflict or compete for the simultaneous use of a center left turn lane. C. Separation Distances The specific separation distances between accesses shall be as shown in Table 7-3 or Table 7-4. Greater separation may be required to eliminate conflicts or overlaps of center left turn lanes as determined by TIS. D. Access Control Plan For a street controlled by an adopted Access Control Plan, the proposed access shall conform with the applicable Access Control Plan. 9.1.2 Review and Approval A. Review Procedure 1. Advice Available. To determine the extent of technical justification required for all access requests, consult with the Local Entity Engineering staff. It is recommended that this advice be sought prior to submitting any application. 2. Access Permits. All access permits shall be reviewed and approved through the Local Entity, in Fort Collins (GMA and city limits) and in Loveland (GMA only). Loveland (GMA and city limits) does not issue or require a separate access permit. The requirements of this chapter are covered in the City of Loveland's design review of the right-of-way permit. 3. Permit Required. A permit must be requested by the Developer and approved by the Local Entity prior to the construction or reconstruction of any access. See Chapter 6, Permits. 4. CDOT Approval for State Highway Access. The Colorado Department of Transportation shall review and approve all State Highway access. B. Approval Access is granted through Local Entity approval of the final plat, final construction plans, or final site plan. The number and location of access points shall conform to Table 7-3 Fort Collins (GMA and City Limits) Street Standards - Technical Design Criteria 1~2 lane Design Element Arterial Collector Local Comm/Industrial | Residential Alley 4 or 6 lane Major Minor Overall Design Parameters Design Speed / Posted Speed 50/40-45 (6) 50/35-45 (4) 30/25 connector 25/2550/30-45 40/30-35 40/25-30 30/25 15 Stopping Sight Distance 425 425 305 305 200' 200’ 80 Horizontal Alignment Minimum centerline radius 1075’ 1075’ 600’ 600’ 275’275' connector 165’ 50’ (with no super-elevation) Maximum super-elevation 0.04 ft/ft 0.04 ft/ft 0.04 ft/ft NA NA NA NA 200’ 200’150’ 100’ 100’ 100’20’Minimum tangent between curves or at intersections 1 Vertical Alignment Maximum Centerline Grade 5% 5% 6% 8% 8% 8% 8% Minimum Gutter Flowline Grade 0.5% 0.5% 0.5% 0.5% 0.5% 0.5% 0.5% Minimum K-values for Vertical Curves Crest 84 84 44 44 19 19 connector 12 all others 3 Sag 96 96 64 64 37 37 connector 26 all others 10 Intersection Design Minimum sight distance at driveways and intersections 1030’ 1030’660’ 660’310’260’210’ Without Raised Median With Raised Median Without Raised Median With Raised Median Access Management Signalized 2640’5 Min. 2640'5 Min.Distance between intersections2 NA NA NA NA NA 460’- 660’5 1320'6 Min. 460’- 660’5 660'6 Min. 460’- 660’5 1320'6 Min. 460’- 660’5 660’6 Min. 330’ Min. 250’ Min. 200’ Min. 200’ Min.Unsignalized NA Distance between high volume driveways and intersections2 460’- 660’5 1320'6 Min. 460’- 660’5 460’- 660’5 1320'6 Min. 330’ Min. 200’ Min. 175’ Min. 175’ Min. 150’ Min. NA 660'6 Min. Distance between driveway edges 460’- 660’5 660’6 Min. 460’- 660’6 660'6 Min. 460’- 660’5 660’6 Min. 330’ Min. 75’ Min. 30’ Min. 30’ Min. 12’ Min. No limit Corner clearance between 460’ - 660’5 460’ - 660’5 175’ Min. 100’ Min. 175’ Min. 50’ Min. 40’ Min. driveways/alleys & street intersections2 Driveway approach street config.3 Curb cut4 Curb cut4 Curb cut4 Curb cut4 Curb cut4Radial curb return Radial curb return 1 Intersection tangents are measured from flowline of the intersected street at intersections. Note: Two curves in the same direction must be separated by a tangent at least two times the minimum tangent lengths shown in Table 7-3 and Table 7-4. 2 These distances are measured as shown in Figure 9-1. 3 Table indicates residential driveways. All commercial driveways shall be constructed with radial curb returns (see Section 9.3.2). 4 Radial curb returns are also allowed where traffic volumes meet the requirements for a High Volume Driveway. 5 For a distance less than 460' an administrative variance must be approved by the Local Entity Engineer; for a distance greater than 660’ a modification in accordance with the Land Use Code will be required. 6 Minimum spacing for full movement and/or potentially signalized intersections Larimer County Urban Area Street Standards - Repealed and Reenacted August 1, 2021 Adopted by Larimer County, City of Loveland, City of Fort Collins Page 7-8