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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSPRINGWOOD INSTITUTE PUD PRELIMINARY AND FINAL - 2 92 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - TRAFFIC STUDY (2)N :z 0 r P 10 19 0 M W n. s v W C C� W x H MEMORANDUM To: John Clarke Fort Collins Planning Staff .Fort Collins Transportation From: Matt Delich _17�/ (y j Date: December 27, 1991 Staff Subject: Springwood Institute PUD traffic study (File:9152) The proposed Springwood Institute is an avocational instructional facility for artists and photographers. Students/participants will attend four day courses taught by experts in the fields of art and photography. Students and instructors will generally be from outside the Northern Colorado area. Occasionally there may be someone from the Fort Collins vicinity. Both students and teachers will be housed on site with meals provided on site. The current use for this site is a single family residence with photography studio. The photography studio is operated on an appointment basis. There is little/no "drop -in" business. The primary traffic related concern is that of current traffic/operation, trip generation, on -site parking, and intersection (driveway) operation. Current Traffic The proposed Springwood Institute will be located at 706 East Stuart Street. This address is at the Stuart/Stover (south leg) intersection. Stuart Street (between College Avenue and Lemay Avenue) is designated as a collector street. It is a two lane, east/west street with primarily residential land uses along it. There is a wide (10'+) parking/bike lane on both sides. The street is posted at 30 mph. There are signals at College Avenue and Lemay Avenue. Other intersections have stop sign control with Stuart Street having the right-of-way. There is a school pedestrian crossing on Stuart Street just east of Stover Street. This crossing is provided with flashing lights, 20 mph school speed, and an adult crossing guard. Stover Street (south leg) intersects with Stuart Street across from the subject property. Stover Street is classified as a local street and is posted at 30 mph south of Stuart Street. Stover is a two lane street with a wide (15'+) parking/bike lane on both sides. The approach to Stuart Street functions as a two lane approach even though it is not striped as such. The north leg of Stover Street intersects with Stuart Street approximately 140 feet west of the south leg. The north leg has stop sign control. The nature of this offset causes no left -turn conflicts on Stuart Street. Peak hour traffic counts were obtained at the Stuart/Stover (south leg) intersection in December 1991 and are shown in Figure 1. Raw peak hour traffic data is provided in Appendix A. Analysis of this and historic traffic indicates that traffic has been fairly stable over the past few years. Using the peak hour traffic in Figure 1, the Stuart/Stover intersection operates as indicated in Table 1. This operation is acceptable. Acceptable operation is defined as level of service D or letter. Calculation forms are provided in Appendix B. Signals are not warranted at this intersection based upon current traffic volumes. Signals will not be warranted in the foreseeable future. Trip Generation Trip generation is usually determined from Trip Generation, 4th Edition, ITE, 1987. However, the existing and proposed uses are not listed in this reference. Therefore. data was obtained from John Clarke, who is proposing to operate the Springwood Institute. His knowledge of the trip generation characteristics is based upon information from similar facilities and how he intends to operate the Springwood Institute. In order to compare the expected trip generation of the Springwood Institute with the trip generation of the existing residential and photography studio use, John Clarke tabulated the family and business trips for a year. Trips to/from 706 East Stuart Street were compiled for 49 weeks of 1991. The days the photography studio was open were Tuesday through Saturday. These were the highest trip producing days. Travel on Tuesday through Friday was used in the trip generation analysis. In the first 25 weeks of the year, the weekday trips averaged 14.6. In the second 24 weeks of the year, the weekday trips averaged 22.9. The yearly average was 18.7 trips per weekday (Tuesday -Friday). The peak hour trips are likely to be slightly less than the average dwelling unit, since the Clarkes have their studio in their home. The average current daily travel of the site is presented in Table 2. Along with John Clarke's estimated trip generation information, the proposed use was discussed with City of Fort Collins staff. The lowest trip generation scenario is that all participants will arrive at Springwood Institute by limo or bus from Stapleton Airport. This would result in about ten trips per day. These are made up of trips by a model, van trips for field trips, operator (the Clarkes) trips, and M N caretaker trips. The Clarkes would participate at the institute on a daily basis by providing help to the caretaker and teaching some classes. The highest trip generation scenario is that 1/3 of the participants have a car available. It is assumed that approximately six additional daily trips would be made by institute participants. However, none of these would likely be peak hour trips. There may be occasions when a photography client will come to the site for a sitting. This may not be on a daily basis and would be by appointment only. It is expected that this would add an average of two vehicle trips to the site on a daily basis. Therefore, the maximum daily travel under this scenario would be 18 vehicle trips. The low travel and high travel scenarios are also presented in Table 2. It is concluded that from a trip generation perspective, the impact of the Springwood Institute will be less than the current use in the low trip scenario and approximately the same as the current use in the high trip scenario. The operation of the street and driveway intersections will not be significantly different than that which currently exists. Any changes in traffic volumes or operation will be a function of the background traffic and will not be caused by Springwood Institute generated traffic. Parking On site parking at the Springwood Institute will become an issue with the neighborhood and City staff. While parking is allowed on Stuart Street, it is not a heavily parked street in this area. It is the intent of Springwood Institute that all parking be accommodated on site. Parking requirements for this type of use is not well documented. Therefore, a parking analysis using an adaptation of the parking requirement for a "bed and breakfast" was used. The parking requirement for a "bed and breakfast" is one space for two bedrooms. If it is assumed that typically two people occupy each bedroom, then one parking space is required for four people. At maximum occupancy (20 people), five parking spaces are required for institute participants. Parking should also be provided for the caretaker's car, the Clarke's car, the model's car, the institute van, and the occasional Clarke photography client. This would require that an additional five spaces be provided. Figure 2 shows a site plan of the south portion of the subject property. A total of eleven parking spaces are shown. Six parking spaces are full size car spaces and five parking spaces are compact car spaces. The westernmost compact car space will require widening of the exit driveway. This will need to be investigated further to determine whether mature trees are lost with this widening. This parking site plan satisfies the foregoing estimated requirement. As mentioned earlier, in most cases, institute participants will not have a car available and therefore, the parking demand will be less than that indicated. Based upon the foregoing analysis and lack of detailed parking requirements for this type of use, it is recommended that the parking plan shown in Figure 2 be the approved parking for the proposed use on this site. Since it is in the interest of John Clarke that adequate off-street parking be provided, parking should be monitored for a period of time after the Springwood Institute opens. If parking is a problem, then additional off-street parking should be provided. This can be accomplished by providing a parking area on the west side of the building as indicated in Figure 2. This parking area will require a sizeable expenditure. Therefore, delay of this investment is prudent, since the need is not readily apparent. 212/146 AM/PM 1991 PEAK HOUR TRAFFIC Figure 1 h N Table 1 Existing (1991) Peak Hour Operation Level of Service Intersection AM PM Stuart/Stover (south leg) NB LT C B NB RT A A WB LT A A Table 2 Trip Generation Daily A.M. Peak P.M.Peak Land Use Trips Trips Trips Trips Trips in out in out Existing Residence & Photography Studio 19 1 1 1 1 Springwood Institute Low Trip Generation Scenario 10 2 1 1 2 Springwood Institute High Trip Generation Scenario 18 3 1 1 3 Widened Driveway M W O F- N � M Q N No Scale I Springwood Institute Main Building I I Carriage r House , I I I STUART LEGEND: FP - Full Size Parking CP - Compact Size Parking s-> - Vehicle Direction r 3 SITE PLAN SHOWING PARKING SCHEME Figure 2