Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutSPEIGHTS PUD PRELIMINARY AND FINAL - 17 92 A - REPORTS - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGi SUMMARY The following are QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, and RESPONSES expressed at a Neighborhood Meeting for Speights PUD. The applicant is proposing a mixed use development on approximately 2.0 acres, located on the east side of Timberline Road about a quarter of a mile south of Horsetooth Road. The applicant is proposing a small animal veterinarian clinic and residence in the existing farm house, a 4,500 to 5,000 square foot office building or other business service uses on a lot south of the existing house, and 5 single family lots on the eastern half of the property fronting on Stoney Creek Drive. All responses are made by the applicant unless specifically stated. MEETING PLACE: Linton Elementary School MEETING DATE: March 26, 1992 MEETING TIME: 7:00 p.m. CITY PLANNER: Kirsten Whetstone COMMENTS, QUESTIONS, CONCERNS 1. Will the lots and houses be the same size as the existing houses on Stoney Creek Drive? The market for this area dictates houses in the $120,000 to $130,000 range. We intend to sell these lots to a builder, who would hopefully build comparable houses to what already exist in Sunstone. 2. Would the 5 lots have their own covenants or would they be incorporated in the covenants of Sunstone? The covenants for Sunstone would not govern these lots. We had not considered covenants for these lots, but would be open to suggestions concerning covenants. 3. What kinds of animals would you be treating? The clinic would be limited to small animals. 4. Would you have any boarding of animals? Any boarding of animals would be inside only. We would not be open as a boarding Kennel, we would board animals undergoing treatment or surgery. In the future, we may offer limited boarding services for animals of our clients, but any boarding would take place inside the building. We would exercise the animals outside, under supervision. There would not be any outdoor "runs". 5. What would the future business area be used for? Does this process give that business lot any approval? We would indicate that lot on the preliminary plans as "future business service uses", (this includes offices, retail, personal service shops, clinics, day care centers, restaurants, motels, neighborhood convenience centers...) This area would have to come through the PUD planning process on its own when a use is identified. The approval process for this PUD would only include the vet clinic and 5 single family lots. 6. Could we exclude certain uses from the business services list? City Planning: Yes, that can be done if the applicant is willing. Any use would still have to be reviewed by the Planning Department and would have a neighborhood meeting prior to submittal of plans. A public hearing in front of the Planning and Zoning Board would be required for approval. For instance, a neighborhood convenience center, could be excluded, but it would be very unlikely that Planning would support one at this location because, first of all, the site would be too small, and secondly, there is an approved neighborhood convenience center just north of this site at Fox Meadows. The locational criteria for neighborhood convenience centers suggests that these uses be located at least .75 miles apart. There are a number of business services uses which just would not work at the site, given the lot size. The PUD process would be used to evaluate any use at this site. 7. I would suggest that motels be excluded from that site. 8. How can we be assured that the single family houses will look like Sunstone? I don't want 5 red houses or 5 modular homes built on my street. Restrictions on building construction, materials, colors, sizes,... are typically placed in protective covenants (which the City Planning Department does not have jurisdiction over as they are a private agreement between two or more parties). These restrictions can also be made part of the PUD. It would be very appropriate to place specifications of material, color, architectural character,.. on the PUD plan. 9. What if the lots are sold to someone else, would they have to follow the restrictions? City Planning: If the restrictions or note saying that, for example, the restrictive covenants for the Sunstone PUD apply to this PUD, then that restriction becomes part of the PUD forever, unless the PUD is amended. The PUD essentially becomes the "zoning", and the PUD goes with the land, if it is sold. 10. How do we know that these things get on the plan? You say you will make sure they get on the plans, but how do we know if they really get on? We could have a second meeting after the plans are formally submitted to the City Planning Department. Or what might be more effective, would be to have anyone with specific concerns, call the architect or the Planning Department and ask how your concerns have been addressed. We can send you copies of the plans after they have been submitted. The purpose of this meeting is to write your concerns down, provide input to the applicant so that they can amend the plans to incorporate your comments, and to have some dialogue to see how your concerns can best be addressed. You have to remain active participants in the review process. After the plans are submitted there are approximately 7 weeks before the public hearing. 11. What will the area to the south of this property be used for? How is it zoned? It is not owned by us. It is zoned rlp, with a planned unit development condition, which means that any proposed use will have to go through the PUD process too. I don't believe that property has final approval for any uses at this time. It may be on the master plan for Sunstone, as business service uses. 12. If this property is zoned RL, aren't single family homes allowed and why do they have to go through this process? Couldn't they just subdivide the property into as many lots as they can legally get, and build homes without all of this neighborhood input? City Planning: The property is zoned RL, Low Density Residential, which allows single family lots as a use by right. They could submit a subdivision plat for x number of lots as long as the lots met the requirements of the RL zone. The reason that they are doing a PUD is that the Vet Clinic and office/business service uses are not allowable uses. The PUD would create a new set of requirements for this property. 13. Why five lots, the letter said four, but I think maybe 3 executive lots would be better from a neighborhood perspective. The letter was written with information that the Planning Department had after Conceptual Review. Since that time we have had to reconfigure the lots because the previous design was for four larger lots on an "eyebrow" off of Stoney Creek Street. This design was not very desirable. We learned that we have to provide • utilities to the western lots from Stoney Creek Drive as utilities are not available in Timberline Road. The utilities require a 30, wide easement, mostly paved, which does not run between two side lot lines. Using this configuration, we can use the 30' wide easement as a private driveway to serve the two northern single family lots. Three large lots would be out of character with the neighborhood. We want the houses to look like they are a part of the Sunstone development. Also we have to consider the economics and the development costs of this project, including streets, sidewalk, utilities, landscaping, and other city development fees. We think that five lots will work very well there as they are very comparable in size to the surrounding lots. 14. So will the lots on Stoney Creek be the same size as the existing lots? My own lot is a corner lot and it is much bigger? Yes, the lots are comparable in size. They are slightly narrower, but they will be deeper. The size of home that could be built will be the same as the surrounding homes. We want these houses to blend in, so you won't know that they weren't part of Sunstone. We aren't developing this property and then moving to Florida, we will be living here for a long time and we want to be good neighbors. We will be living close to these houses too and will want them to look good. 15. What about parking on the corner? The guy who lives there now parks a whole fleet of vehicles there, he has a three car garage, but still parks vans on that corner. It is not really a safe corner anyway. Where will the new people park? What about their visitors, will they be parking in the street? Parking will be provided in garages and on the apron in front of the garage. Guest parking for the two northern lots will be provided either on the drive area or in a separate guest parking area. Over flow will occur on the local streets, just like it does for overflow now. 16. What about noise from the Vet Clinic? There won't be any outside boarding. Animals would be supervised and on a leash when they are outside for exercise. We will be living at the Clinic, so we can assure you that the noise will be kept to a minimum. 17. Will the houses have to go through the Sunstone architectural review board for size, materials, colors...? No, unless they became part of the Sunstone Association, or unless the Sunstone covenants are attached. We will look into doing this. We don't really have an objection to that, we won't be building the homes, but we can look into the covenant idea. 1 18. I will give you a copy of the Sunstone covenants to review. That would be great. We would like to incorporate something that would assure you that these homes will be compatible. 19. What kind of landscaped buffer will be between the office and clinic use, and the houses? Will it be a berm? It will be a combination of landscaping and fencing. It is likely that rear lot fences will be installed with the houses. The business use would install landscaping on that site when it is built out. We have a preliminary landscape plan for the Vet Clinic which you can look at after the meeting. There will be a good landscape buffer between the clinic and single family lots, and when a house is built on the lot closest to the clinic, it is possible that the owners of that lot would construct a fence as well. Because of drainage requirements, there will not be a berm between the uses. 20. Will the private drive connect through to Timberline Road? No, it will be constructed to provide an easement for utilities and to provide access for lots 1 and 2, it will not be a through drive. 21. What happens with the dead animals? How are they disposed of? There are strict regulations for disposing of animals that die at the clinic. They are picked up and disposed of properly. We will have a freezer which would be used for temporary storage until the animal could be picked up. We won't be putting them in trash receptacles or throwing them across the fence. 22. What about hazardous materials and other medical stuff? The Health Department has particular regulations for veterinary clinics which we will abide by, especially concerning medical wastes. Some things can go down the sanitary sewer. Other products must be disposed of properly. We have hired an architect from Boulder who specializes in vet clinics. Vet clinics use relatively few cleaning and hazardous materials that you wouldn't have in your home. 23. What is your estimated date of opening? Sometime this summer. 24. When was the house built and is it an historical structure? The house was built in 1900. We don't know if the house is historical, but we do not plan to tear it down. We also plan to make the addition very similar to the existing structure so it will blend together. SUMMARY There were generally two concerns. 1. That of the character and construction of the single family homes. 2. Noise from the Vet Clinic and outdoor boarding. Land Use Conflict Mitigation: This proposed project is a mixed -use project in an RLP zone. The site is greater than two acres and is contiguous to existing urban development with no apparent critical conflicts. Visual and functional interaction between this project and the existing development has been addressed by mixing the uses on the site and will be minimal. The Speights P.U.D. is consistent with the Land Use Policies Plan in regard to infil development. The project is not located at a corner of two arterials, instead taking access from a single drive from South Timberline Road. The residential lots will take access from Stoney Creek Drive. The development site is currently home for several existing mature trees. As many as possible of the healthy trees are to be preserved. Landscape buffers will be provided at the site's commercial perimeter. Landscape buffering will be provided between commercial and residential uses. The proposed commercial uses are oriented to the South Timberline Road portion of the site. The new building addition to the existing farmhouse will be compatible to the residential character of the existing architecture. This will be sensitive to the scale and character of the residential development to the east. The proposed new site are located development. residential lots to be developed on this adjacent to existing similar residential SPEIGHTS P.U.D.