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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMARINE SPORTS WEST AND HARRIS MACHINE PUD FINAL - 43 92 - MINUTES/NOTES - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGEY6)�TiVT0A:*V The following are QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, and RESPONSES expressed at a Neighborhood Meeting for Marine Sports West/ Keulen PUD. The applicant is proposing a machine shop and boat engine repair shop in an existing 2000 square foot single story wood frame building on a .5 acre site. The existing residence on the property will remain. There was a previous Planned Unit Development on the site for a retail/wholesale business, which did not include engine repair or machine shop uses. The business has operated for several months and is in violation of the RP, Planned Residential, Zoning District. The applicants were notified by the Zoning Department that they needed to take measures to correct the violation. There are two employees on site. The hours of operation would be Monday through Saturday from approximately Sam to 6pm. Much of the work is done by appointment as the site can handle a maximum of 5 to 6 boats at one time. Most of the machine shop business is shipped in and out by UPS. The project would be reviewed as a Planned Unit Development and must meet the criteria of the Land Development Guidance System. The property is located at 921 E. Prospect Road, west of Lemay Avenue and east of Stover Street. MEETING PLACE: Barton Elementary School MEETING DATE: October 14, 1992 MEETING TIME: 7:00 p.m. CITY PLANNER: Kirsten Whetstone COMMENTS, QUESTIONS, CONCERNS 1. What is that A -frame structure at the southeast corner of the property? Can it be moved? APPLICANT: The A -frame is a hoist so we can remove large engines from some of the boats so we can work on them. We do plan to move the hoist to the west or south side of the property. It would be easier to work on the boats and would not be directly next to the residences. 2. Do you use solvents, toxics, or other dangerous chemicals? APPLICANT: We use a substance called "Safety Clean" which acts as a solvent but which is non -toxic. It is kept in a cleaning tank and when we need to replace it, the "Safety Clean" truck comes and takes the used stuff and replaces it with the new. We can not get new unless we trade in the old, which is taken to Denver and recycled into new "Safety Clean". The stuff is very safe, it is not flammable and is safe to put your hands in. We don't use any toxics or dangerous chemicals. We called the Poudre Fire Authority to have them inspect our operation and they did not find anything that we use in enough quantity to be dangerous to us or to the surrounding neighborhood. We each have a portable 6 gallon gas tank. We can use only premium, unleaded fuel (because that is what we have to run in boat engines). The amount is no more than someone would have in their garage for a lawn mower or boat. The Poudre Fire Authority gave us approval for the gas tanks and the safety of our business. 3. So you don't have underground fuel tanks? APPLICANT: Definitely not. 4. I don't have a problem with the machine shop. Especially if the work is done inside the building and parts are mostly shipped to and from the site by UPS. I do have a problem with the boat repair, because of the engine testing. That is really what I object to; the noise, fumes, and smoke are what I object to. 5. How often do you test engines and what is entailed in an engine test? How long would you run an engine to test it? APPLICANT: The majority of our engine testing is done out at the lake behind Harris Marine. Really, the only way to accurately test an engine to find out what is wrong or whether the problem has been fixed is to test it in the water and rev it up a bit. We do some testing of engines at the site with either a garden hose set up or a small test tank. The test tank is filled with water and the noise is muffled and exhaust is released underwater. The garden hose set up is probably noisy, but we don't do many tests in a week, maybe 5 or 6. Generally you can only run the engine 3 to 5 minutes, ten minutes would be a long time. 6. I have a petro-chemical film on my windows which I have to hire someone to clean off. I suspect it is coming from the boat exhaust. Sometimes there is an actual cloud of smoke that comes across the fence and fills my living room. I usually have to keep my windows closed, even in summer and it is not possible for me to sit on my patio because of the fumes and noise. Those three things are my objections- noise, fumes, and smoke. APPLICANT: We don't know for sure that all of the fumes and smoke are coming from us. We don't do that much engine testing and most of the work we do is inside repairs on an engine or engine part. Most of the work we do is fairly quiet. Mr. KeulenIs and our windows don't have a film on them so we don't know about this film. 7. I am home on Saturdays and object to noise coming from that property on Saturday. 8. My objections are the noise and the odor. The fumes are really bad sometimes. I can not say for sure where the fumes are coming from, but they are bad. They might be coming from the property several houses to the west, where someone does car repair, auto body work, painting, and maybe diesel repair. Is there anyway we can find out where the fumes are coming from? STAFF: We will look into this matter. It is important to know where the various fumes and odors are coming from. The applicants have seen clouds of paint dust and have smelled fumes coming from properties to the west of them. There may be a larger problem in the area than the exhaust from 5 or 6 engine tests a week. 9. The traffic on Prospect Road is getting worse every year. Maybe some of the fumes are coming from the cars and trucks on Prospect. I object to the large diesel trucks using Prospect and putting out big billowing clouds of smoke and fumes. Can the City see if semi -trucks are allowed on Prospect? My front porch is cracked from those trucks and my whole house trembles and shakes when those trucks go by. STAFF: We can look into the matter to see if there are any weight restrictions on Prospect Road. 10. My concerns are with the hours and mode of operation. I respect the fact that Mr. Keulen has lived there so long and had a machine shop at that location before the condominiums were built, but we do live in this neighborhood now and the business needs to be compatible to a residential area now. If the business can be conducted without a lot of noise and without fumes and smoke, then maybe it can be compatible. It is the engine testing that I object to. 11. I am concerned that the business, especially the engine testing part, is not compatible to the higher density residential area to the east. The whole area is basically residential, except for some people west of here doing auto repair and other non-residential uses which I assume were grandfathered in when the area was annexed to the City of Fort Collins. The area across Prospect is residential, as is the area to the south, across the bike path and Spring Creek. 12. The changes that have happened in this area are towards residential uses and away from the uses that are grandfathered in. I am concerned that this would set a precedent for more uses of this kind and that we would go backwards. I'm also concerned about the noise, air pollution, and fire hazard. APPLICANT: The noise is from the engine testing, which we don't do that much of. The Fire Authority has already inspected us and there is no greater fire hazard with this business than with what people have in their own garages. 13. There is a lot of traffic on Prospect. Is it possible that some of the fumes are from the traffic? Is there a way to tell whether the fumes are from the traffic, the boats, or some other use? STAFF: We will look into this matter. There maybe a way to distinguish between the boat engine fumes and the traffic fumes. 14. Maybe studies should be done on the amount of exhaust fumes that are generated by the traffic on a busy street like Prospect. The Prospect and Lemay intersection must be one of the busiest and most polluted in the City. Cars at least have emission standards, boats don't, as far as I know. 15. Does the PUD go with the land or with the owner? STAFF: The PUD approval is generally attached to the property, so when a property is sold, the PUD approval goes with the property. In some cases, as was the case with the PUD approval for retail uses on this property, a condition can be placed on the PUD, such that, if the use ceases for a period of one year or longer then the PUD is no longer valid. 16. Could the PUD be worded or written specifically enough to ensure that if this particular operation were sold to someone else for some other use, that the new use would not be allowed unless it was reviewed by the neighborhood? STAFF: This has been done before, but it can be fairly cumbersome and can be difficult to enforce. The use can specify boat engines and that would not allow auto repair, or lawn mower repair, or any other kind of repair, with out some level of review by the City Planning Department. 17. I am further east in the Prospect Springs development and I don't hear the noise or smell the fumes. 18. our property is adjacent to Mr. Keulen's property on the west and the south. We also don't hear any noise or smell any fumes coming from that property. It could be that we are buffered by the building but we don't have a problem with this business. 19. I understand that there are two or. three (including the property owner, Mr. Keulen) people trying to make a living here, but I would like to see that it doesn't have to be at my expense. 20. Is there some way to test all of the engines under water, in a larger test tank? Would this get rid of the noise and fumes? APPLICANT: We could try out one of the larger testing tanks that are available and see if the noise would be muffled. We would be willing to limit the amount of testing that is done, or even say that we wouldn't test. on Saturdays. I can understand the needs of the neighborhood and don't want to subject them to noise, fumes, or smoke. I just am curious as to whether all of this is stuff is really coming from our operation because you would think that we would notice it. 21. It might be the way the wind blows or the lay of the land that traps air above the condominiums. 22. I bought my place because of the quiet location on the bike trail and open space. I thought it would become residential around me because the zoning is residential. I don't know if this use can be made compatible to the residential character. 23. I don't object to the machine tooling and repair shop. It is the running of engines that is a problem. PROJECT: elorilit 40A Jle�1 � TYPE OF MEETING: A/ /� O /? /NYlGZ77d/L �� h DATE: NAME ADDRESS WRITTEN NOTIFICATION YES/NO 0WNER RE`. A/ fi 9ai©s P� f��, ej- .� Ps .�a s pv 3 < a� dA P cspEcfT