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Home My WebLink AboutDAKOTA RIDGE PUD FIRST FILING PRELIMINARY - 60 91D - CORRESPONDENCE - STAFF'S PROJECT COMMENTSCommr 'ty Planning and Environments !rvices Planning Department City of Fort Collins May 21, 1992 Mr. Jeff Couch Parsons and Associates 432 Link Lane Plaza Fort Collins, CO. 80524 Dear Jeff: Staff has completed the interdepartmental review of Pine Cone P.U.D., First Filing, and has also received comments from outside utility providers. The following comments are offered: 1. Staff is very concerned about the proposal to accomplish the required second point of access to satisfy the requirements of the Poudre Fire Authority. In its present configuration, the arrangement appears unconventional, cumbersome and difficult to preserve as a viable. access way. In addition, the continuous access way at the ends of cul-de-sacs is an unexpected intrusion on.a normally dead -ended street. A vastly preferred alternative is to coordinate the completion of Road A (Pine Cone Circle?) with the developer of the Pine Cone Apartments (Timberline and Vermont) thereby obtaining two points of access. Absent the street connection over to Timberline Road, and only as a last resort, Staff is willing to allow the temporary fire access drive as far as Court B. Poudre Fire Authority requires the access lane be designed and constructed to support a 50,000 lbs. fire truck. Also, the edges of the access lane must be delineated. The entry onto the cul-de- sacs must be signed "No Parking - Fire Lane" with approved signs. 2. The 32 foot wide local street for the cul-de-sacs is not standard. The Engineering Department has indicated that a variance request to allow anything less than the 36 foot street will not be met with approval. Unless there is sufficient off-street parking, or the lots are of sufficient width or.size, it is feared there will be inadequate space for onstreet parking to provide the necessary 20 feet unobstructed access for Poudre Fire Authority. Solutions include providing parking in the cul-de-sac, or staggering the driveways so parked cars onstreet are not directly opposite each other. Anytime streets are double loaded, and have fairly typical lot widths, it is difficult to maintain the 20 feet of unobstructed access for Poudre Fire Authority. 281 North College Avenue - P.O. Box 580 - Fort Collins, 'CO 80522-0580 - (303) 221-6750 ro 3. The Transportation Department advises that Road A be widened to collector standard to allow for onstreet bicycle lanes that do not conflict with onstreet parking. Please be reminded that a City Neighborhood Park will be accessed by Road A and there may be a demand for onstreet parking. Since the athletic fields will be on one side of the street (single loaded), there maybe some justification for some modification to the standard. The key is to provide onstreet parking and two-way bicycle traffic. If an off-street bicycle path wide enough for two-way traffic (8 to 10 feet) can be provided, then modifications to the standard may be possible. Staff is sympathetic that this street not become a raceway but the demand for onstreet parking and two-way bicycle traffic seem to call for the collector standard. 4. There is a problem with the width of the planting area along Horsetooth Road. The 4' 6" planting area does not provide enough horizontal separation for street trees and underground electrical facilities. Parkway strips along arterial streets are desired in order to provide an attractive streetscape and safe separation for the sidewalk. This area also is used for storage of plowed snow. In addition, Light and Power runs underground electrical conduit to supply streetlights. In order for all these elements to work properly, there must be a parkway strip 10 feet in width. Within this width, street trees must be kept four feet away from the conduit. If this pushes the sidewalk outside of the right-of-way, then the sidewalk may have to be placed in an access easement. Please refer to the attached detail. 5. Light and Power also requires that deciduous shade trees be kept 40 feet away from a streetlight. Attached is the streetlighting plan from Light and Power. One streetlight is indicated along your Horsetooth frontage. Please space the street trees accordingly so there is'40 feet of clearance on both sides of the streetlight. 6. Since the Horsetooth Road frontage is only 525 feet, it is recommended that only one variety of street tree be used. Too much variety in such a short span is not effective. Please select one species for the entire frontage. 7. Pinon Pine are not an approved street tree. Please select another deciduous shade tree, not an evergreen. 8. Staff is concerned about the area along Horsetooth Road that lies outside the perimeter fence. If there is.no homeowner's association to maintain this area, then it be maintained by the Parks and Recreation Department. As such, the plant material, seed mixture; and irrigation system must be designed according'to Parks and Recreation specifications. Please keep in mind that P & R will not assume maintenance until establishment, and only 'after the developer is. no longer involved with the project. Finally, please realize that P & R maintenance operations will be rather minimal and probably on an "as needed" basis depending on the rate of growth. This will contrast sharply with the proposed development to the east which will feature larger open areas along Horsetooth with maintenance by a homeowners association. 9. As we have discussed previously, the bike path in Tract B is not part of the recreational trail system envisioned by the Parks and Recreation Master Plan. Since the path does not serve the City wide trail system, it does not fall under maintenance obligation of the Parks and Recreation Department. Consequently, the long term maintenance issue must be addressed without the benefit of participation from the Parks and Recreation Department. Note #7 should be revised until this issue is resolved. 10. At the end of Court E, between Lots 61 and 62, there should be a sidewalk connection to the path in Tract B. This walk should be in place of the. secondary temporary fire access (See comment #1). The offstreet bicycle and pedestrian system within Pine Cone Overall Development Plan was designed to mitigate the absence of local street connections and to promote alternative modes of transportation. For these reasons, access to the path behind the houses on Court E should be provided. 11. Staff is strongly supportive of providing a detached walk along Road A and planting street trees in the parkway strip. Will 3' 6" be enough width for these trees? Should this be increased to 4' or 5111 The width of this area and the location of the gas line will have to be coordinated with Public Service Company so trees are not planted over the gas line. If the sidewalk ends up outside the right-of-way, then it must be placed in an access easement. 12. The minimum setbacks call for a 10 foot rear setback. This is not acceptable. Rear yards should be kept to a 20 foot minimum. If building envelopes are planned to be so large as only leave 10 feet in the backyard, then maybe the lots are too small and the property should be replatted. i3. Sight distance easements will be needed for Courts B and E. 14. Please provide for the 15 foot utility easement adjacent to Horsetooth Road. 15. All intersections should be 90 degrees or not off more than 10 degrees. 16. Is there a project entry sign? If so, please indicate. 17. Please add street names to the vicinity map. e 18. In summary, there are a lot of issues with this Preliminary that will require coordination with various City departments, outside utility providers, and adjacent developers. This coordination effort may result in issues being raised that are not represented in this letter. Please be cautioned that we are early in the review process and these comments represent the initial phase of City review. In order to stay on schedule for the June 22, 1992 Planning and Zoning Board hearing, please note the following deadlines: Plan revisions are due Wednesday June 3, 1992 P.M.T.'s, 10 prints, renderings are due June 15, 1992. Please call our -office if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or to set up a meeting to discuss the issues. Sincerely: Ted Shepard Senior Planner cc: Sherry Albertson -Clark, Chief Planner Kerrie Ashbeck, Civil Engineer