HomeMy WebLinkAbout609 S COLLEGE AVE MIXED USE - BDR200004 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - PROJECT NARRATIVEland planning landscape architecture urban design entitlement
Thinking outside of the box for over two decades.
401 W. Mountain Ave., Suite 100 Fort Collins, CO 80521 tel. 970.224.5828 fax 970.224.1662
www.ripleydesigninc.com
609 South College Ave.
Project Narrative – Basic Development Review
January 28, 2020
Introduction
The property owner would like to renovate the existing home at 609 S College and build an addition of
approximately 800 square feet. The proposed renovation would create studio (professional office) space
and temporary (less than 30 days) artists-in-residence accommodations. The addition includes a storage
area, stairs to the renovated attic, and flex space.
The renovation is in accordance with Administrative Interpretation #2-18 Section 4.18 (B) of the Land Use
Code regarding permitted uses at 609 South College Avenue which is contiguous to The Music District at
619 – 647 South College Avenue. The Administrative Interpretation was issued October 24, 2018. The
home is within the Community Commercial District (C-C). Office spaces occupy the property to the north
and the Canino’s restaurant is directly south. The east side of the property fronts College Ave. and there
is an alley to the west.
Site Design
The proposed design includes a remodel and new addition to the existing building. The existing building
façade will remain the same as the remodel will take place in the interior of the existing building. The new
addition will extend from the rear of the building toward the alley and will not be visible from College
Avenue. The remodel and new addition will include two-bedroom lodging and a music room for visiting
musicians while playing at local venues in town.
The existing building will retain an entrance on College Avenue and a second entrance will be located
along the southern side of the new addition. The new sidewalk connects the parking area to the home
addition. In the rear yard a new patio space including a seating area and fire pit has been provided.
Landscape will screen the parking from the rear yard and patios space. Along the edges of the house,
planters have been added to catch and treat runoff falling onto the existing and new addition. These
improvements would increase total impervious surface area to approximately 4,701 SF.
Parking and Trash Enclosure
Parking requirements are met with a small parking lot located off of the alley. Three parking spaces are
provided in the lot and flexible loading area in the rear yard of the lot. One of the three spaces is a van-
accessible handicap parking stall. The flexible loading area will be paved in grass crete, reducing
impervious surface and is intended for a touring van or bus. While in use the vehicle will be enclosed
within a fenced area and will have a safety light and security camera.
609 South College Ave.
Project Narrative – Basic Development Review
Page 2 of 3
Thinking outside of the box for over two decades.
401 W. Mountain Ave., Suite 100 Fort Collins, CO 80521 tel. 970.224.5828 fax 970.224.1662
www.ripleydesigninc.com
A trash enclosure with trash bins will be located in the parking lot along the alley allowing for easy trash
pickup. The enclosure will be constructed with decorative split face C.M.U walls with a tube steel frame
metal panel gate that will enclose two 96-gallon bins.
Architecture
609 S. College Avenue is an historic house along College Avenue and is owned by a subsidiary of
Bohemian Companies who wish to have it become part of their Music District. To date, several meetings
have been had with Karen McWilliams and Maren Bzdek, both of the City’s Historic Preservation
Department.
The home is said to be historically significant, which has been agreed to by all. The owners’ desires are to
save and restore the exterior of the existing home, remodel the interior floorplan from a home use for
some occasional overnight stays. This would include adding some second story space within the existing
attic space. Then there would include adding some second story space within the existing attic space.
Then there would be additional space added to the rear of the building where a new rear entry would
occur along with the addition of a music/flex room.
During the meetings with Historic Preservation, the design has been modified several times so as to
conform closely to the State’s Guidelines for Rehabilitation of an historic building. A connector piece has
been added which becomes the new rear entry foyer and stair to the upper level bedroom/loft area. The
two-story building, remodel and new addition, will not exceed the existing height of the building (22’-0”).
The new addition, connector and music/flex room will have a max height of 20’-0” and will be inset 5’ on
each side from the edge of the existing building, ensuring reduced visibility.
Behind this connector piece is the single-story new addition of the music/flex room. The scale of this
addition is single story, smaller in footprint, and becomes “secondary” to the original structure as
recommended. This piece utilizes the same stone base as the exposed foundation of the existing home
with a simple cubed structure of dark stucco along with vertical rectangular windows mimicking the
existing windows on the historic structure. Again, this addition has been positioned to not interfere or
compete with the view of the existing historic home from College Avenue.
Drainage and Utilities
Site grading has been designed to improve existing lot drainage and conform to Fort Collins LID
requirements. Per Stormwater Manual, 75% of new impervious area is required to be treated by LID.
This will be achieved through two planters containing biomedia receiving runoff from roof gutter
downspouts on the existing building and the addition, filtering pollutants before discharging into a
concrete pan and onto College Avenue. Proposed grading is shown on the Grading Plan in the Utility
Plan set. Onsite detention will not be required as the increase in impervious area is less than the 5,000 sf
threshold for the Old Town Basin.
Existing water and sanitary sewer services will be reused. A 4” pvc fire service will be installed and
connected to an existing 8” main located in the northbound lane of College Avenue east of the site.
Existing electrical service will be reused. Existing gas service will be relocated as needed. Proposed
utilities are shown in the Utility Plans.
609 South College Ave.
Project Narrative – Basic Development Review
Page 3 of 3
Thinking outside of the box for over two decades.
401 W. Mountain Ave., Suite 100 Fort Collins, CO 80521 tel. 970.224.5828 fax 970.224.1662
www.ripleydesigninc.com
Existing Trees
There are seven existing trees on site, one street trees along College Avenue. Five of the existing trees
will have to be removed due to the remodeling and new addition. A large Bur Oak in the rear yard and a
bur oak street tree will remain on site. Trees removed include a juniper, two crab apple trees, a blue
spruce, and a buckthorn tree. Removed trees will be mitigated. Mitigation trees are proposed at the new
City standards per coordination with Forestry. In an effort to protect an existing high-quality bur oak in the
rear yard a 19’ critical root zone has been established. Within the critical root zone there will be no
excavating over 4” in depth. Keeping the critical root zone clear of compaction and excavation will
decrease the chance of encountering structure roots that would compromise the stability and health of the
tree.
Traffic Narrative
The renovation and new addition to 609 South College will create studio space and temporary (less than
30 days) artists-in-residence. In the event of an artists-in-residence accommodating the building as
lodging, estimated to be only 10% of the average use, we estimate that there would be 3 of trips daily,
with a majority of trips during evening hours of the day. The building will be in use, on average 75% of the
time and remain empty the other 25%. The building is over the required parking, providing 3 parking
spaces as well as an additional flexible loading area on grass pavers in the rear yard.