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HomeMy WebLinkAboutALPINE BANK - PDP200020 - - MODIFICATION REQUEST (2) 6162 S. Willow Drive, Suite 320 Greenwood Village, CO 80111 303.770.8884 • GallowayUS.com December 2, 2020 Maren Bzdek Senior Historic Preservation Planner City of Fort Collins, Historic Preservation Department 281 N. College Avenue Fort Collins, CO 80524 RE: Alpine Bank at SEC of S. College & E. Prospect 1608, 1610, and 1618 S. College Avenue Fort Collins, Colorado Request for Modification of Standard to Section 3.4.7 – Historic and Cultural Resources of Land Use Code (DRAFT) Background Information Alpine Bank is currently under contract to lease approximately .96 Acres at the Southeast corner of S. College Avenue * E. Prospect Road in Fort Collins. Colorado. Property is more commonly identified as 1608, 1610, and 1618 S. College Avenue. Property consists of multiple lots which include three existing buildings. All three buildings either have been or are currently being used for commercial purposes. Two of the three buildings appear to have been designed for commercial purposes and are believed to have been constructed in the mid-1960s. The remaining building is a residential design and believed to have been constructed in 1928. All three properties are currently zoned General Commercial District (C-G) which allows for a variety of retail and commercial uses including “Offices, Financial Services & Clinics” as defined in the Zoning District Matrix of the City of Fort Collins Land Use Code. The proposed development would be subject to a Preliminary Development Plan (PDP), subsequent Type 1 Review and Public Hearing, and eventually a Final Development Plan (FDP). The decision maker for Type 1 Hearings is an Administrative Hearing Officer which is a land use attorney from outside of Fort Collins. In order to facilitate the proposed project, we anticipate the demolition of two of the three buildings and on-site relocation of the third building which has been identified as being ‘Architecturally Significant’ as the result of a Colorado Cultural Resource Survey completed in January 2020. The two buildings to be demolished are located at 1608 and 1618 S. College Avenue. The building to be relocated on-site is currently located at 1610 S. College Avenue and would be relocated to the South end of the site to better facilitate redevelopment of the northern portion of the property into a branch office for Alpine Bank. While we have not formally submitted our application for PDP, we have had two Concept Review Meetings with the Development Review Team and several follow-up meetings and calls to work through a variety of issues. One of which is the possible relocation of the architecturally significant building located at 1610 S. College Avenue. Based on those discussions and our understanding of Section 3.4.7 – Historic and Cultural Resources of the Fort Collins Land Use Code there are no provisions in place for the relocation of structures deemed to be of architectural significance. Modification of Standards Requested We are requesting a Modification of Standard Section 3.4.7 – Historic and Cultural Resources of the Fort Collins Land Use Code which would allow for the relocation of a building deemed to be of architectural significance based on the following justifications. Alpine Bank S. College & E. Prospect December 2, 2020 Galloway & Company, Inc. Page 2 of 6 Justifications 1. Proposed deceleration lane creating undesirable proximity of Architecturally Significant Building to College Avenue – Proposed redevelopment will require the addition of a deceleration/right-hand turn lane to north bound College Avenue to Prospect Road. Proposed deceleration lane will require a right-of-way dedication on behalf of the property owner as well as the addition of a detached sidewalk and tree lawn to the College Avenue frontage. Per recommendations found in the Traffic Impact Study by Kimley-Horn dated October 2020 the length of the deceleration lane should be maximized and expected to about 190’ which will correspond with the proposed location of the right-in/right-out access. These improvements result in approximately 30’ of encroachment into the property vs. existing conditions which will eliminate any existing historical or residential context in and around the building. The proposed on-site relocation would not only allow us to shift to building further south but also to shift the building to the east and allow us to create some separa tion or buffer between the existing building and College Avenue. Figure 1.1 – Site Plan Alpine Bank S. College & E. Prospect December 2, 2020 Galloway & Company, Inc. Page 3 of 6 2. Spacing of revised access point from College – Right-of-way dedications and addition of a deceleration lane will also require modifications to existing access along College Ave. Per recommendations found in the Traffic Impact Study by Kimley-Horn dated October 2020 the length of the deceleration lane should be maximized and expected to about 190’ which will correspond with the proposed location of the right-in/right-out access. It should be noted that the preferred location does take into account spacing between existing access points located further south on S. College Avenue. Please note that proposed access location conflicts with location of existing building to remain. Please see Exhibit 1.1 above for additional details. 3. No Existing Historical Context at Present Location – Existing location on S. College in which the building is flanked on both the north and south sides by buildings constructed nearly four decades later provides no historical context for the building at this time. Referenced buildings are both believed to be constructed in the 1960s a represent a significant departure in architectural style from the building located at 1610 S. College. While it is believed that several similarly styled residential houses were once located along S. College Avenue prior to construction of these two adjacent buildings in the 1960s, those build ings no longer exist making this building the only remaining example of this type of architecture along this stretch of S. College. Since no historical context remains in the existing loc ation, we believe relocation to the south does not represent a significant departure from the current context. We further believe that relocation to the south and possibly to the east away from S. College actually presents an opportunity to provide or enhance the surrounding context to better reflect what might have existed when the building was originally constructed in the 1920s. 4. Integration into overall development in a way that allows for a functional site plan for new use as well as adaptive reuse – Existing location of house essentially bisects the site into one mostly developable area to the north and a mostly undevelopable area to the south. By leaving the building in place we would be trying to redevelop the property around it wi th a somewhat inconsistent or incompatible use located in the middle of the property. Simply shifting or relocating the building to the south would allow for a more cohesive or contiguous development of the property to the north. We have included two hypothetical site plans below for reference. Note that current location of historically significant building creates two undesirable scenarios for proposed access – one in which stacking for the deceleration lane is too short and the other in which in extends so far south the spacing between additional access points along College is insufficient. Exhibit 4.1 – Hypothetical Exhibit 4.2 – Hypothetical Alpine Bank S. College & E. Prospect December 2, 2020 Galloway & Company, Inc. Page 4 of 6 The location of the existing building further limits our ability to develop the property in a functional manner by forcing customer parking away from the proposed building. In both hypothetical site plan scenarios customer parking is not at all convenient and therefore not functional for a retail banking facility such as Alpine Bank. 5. Structural Concerns – Based on a preliminary review of the foundation of the existing building there are definitely concerns that will need to be addressed in order to safely reuse. With both ends of the building indicating some form of movement we believe soil movement may be an issue. Not only will the existing foundation need to be repaired, but we will also need to determine the source of the movement and correct if possible. For these reasons, we believe relocation of the building onto a new foundation system at the sout h end of the site is the best long-term solution for the reuse of this building. See photos below for reference. Exhibit 5.1 Exhibit 5.2 Exhibit 5.3 Exhibit 5.4 Alpine Bank S. College & E. Prospect December 2, 2020 Galloway & Company, Inc. Page 5 of 6 Section 2.8.2(H) of the Fort Collins Land Use Code(LUC) provides that “the decision Maker may grant a modification of standards only if it finds that the granting of the modification would not be detrimental to the public good.” Even more than not being detrimental to the public good, the requested modification would benefit the public for the following reasons: (i) allow for the redevelopment of this quadrant of this prominent intersection with a first class community oriented banking service not currently present in the community; and (ii) allow for the preservation and reuse of an existing historical resource in a manner consistent with maintaining historical context, redevelopment into a cohesive and functional site plan, and maintain the future structural integrity of the building ; and (iii) allow for improvements along S. College Avenue in a manner that will enhance traffic safety in a manner consistent with the other three quadrants of this intersection. In addition to not being detrimental to the public good, the decision maker must a lso find, pursuant to Section 2.8.2(H) of the LUC, that the modification meets one of four criteria. Within this modification request we believe we have substantiated that we meet the following criteria. Criteria 1 of 4 – “The plan as submitted will promote the general purpose of the standard for which the modification is requested equally well or better that would a plan which complied with the standard for which the modification is requested. The plan as submitted which anticipates the relocation of the existing historical resource will promote the general purpose of the standard by allowing the resource to be preserved, reused, and incorporated into the proposed development in a manner that will not only enhance the overall development but also address public safety. The proposed relocation will not adversely affect the integrity of the historic resources on nearby property because the adjacent properties along S. College have not been deemed of historical significance and the relocated building will not be moved from the property. The relocation will also allow for the design of a site plan compatible with and protect the historical resource by integrating it into the overall site plan in a functional manner. Criteria 2 of 4 – “the granting of a modification from the strict application of any standard would, without impairing the intent and purpose of this Land Use Code, substantially alleviate an existing, defined and described problem of city-wide concern or would result in a substantial benefit to the city by reason of the fact that the proposed project would substantially address an important community need specifically and expressly defined and described in the city's Comprehensive Plan or in an adopted policy, ordinance or resolution of the City Council, and the strict application of such a standard would render the project practically infeasible” The plan as submitted will benefit the city by allowing for the redevelopment and subsequent off-site improvements at the southeast quadrant of the intersection of S. College & E. Prospect . The proposed improvements will not only be consistent with recent improvements at the other three quadrants on the intersection but also address an overall community need of improving traffic safety at the intersection through improved design and traffic movement. Criteria 4 of 4 – “the plan as submitted will not diverge from the standards of the Land Use Code that are authorized by this Division to be modified except in a nominal, inconsequential way when considered from the perspective of the entire development plan, and will continue to advance the purposes of the Land Use Code as contained in Section 1.2.2.” We believe the proposed relocation will not diverge from the standards of the LUC except in a nominal, inconsequential way that will likely not be noticed once the redevelopment and relocation are complete. From an overall perspective the relocation creates a significant positive impact on the redevelopment and future use of the building when compared to leaving the building in the original setting. Alpine Bank S. College & E. Prospect December 2, 2020 Galloway & Company, Inc. Page 6 of 6 Please review the accompanying materials and let us know if you have any questions or require additional information. Thank you in advance for your consideration. Sincerely, GALLOWAY Zell O. Cantrell Site Development Project Manager Zell Cantrell@GallowayUS.com