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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOVENTRY SECOND - Filed GC-GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE - 2003-07-31August 15, 1995 Mr. Dennis DeRemer Front Range Community College 4616 South Shields Fort Collins, Colorado 80521 RE: Coventry 2nd Filing Off site Drainage Dear Dennis, Thank you for calling us back the other day. We appreciate your time in this matter. As we discussed. Northern Engineering, on behalf of Colorado Land Source, is preparing construction plans for the second phase of the Coventry development. The second phase will consist of 18 lots adjacent to Harmony Road. Harmony Road will also be widened adjacent to the Coventry development. With the Harmony Road improvements, the existing drainage channel east of the Front Range Community College Campus will also be improved. We are exploring the possibility of obtaining an easement from Front Range Community College. This easement would be for a grading and drainage easement. Presently, these flows follow a shallow, wide drainage course. Attached is a sketch of the alignment we are proposing. I understand from you that this area has been designated as a wetlands area. The area which we would disturb is under an acre in size, thus would be allowable by Federal guidelines. We also understand that the College has plans to realign their access road to Harmony Road to line up with Starflower, Drive, north of Harmony Road. These proposed channel improvements would not interfere with this proposed access road shift. We are submitting Final Utility plans to the City of Fort Collins for Coventry 2nd Filing on August 21, 1995. Our plans will show this grading encroachment on your property. Should this concept not meet with your approval, we will change our design to isolate all disturbed areas within the site boundaries. If this is an acceptable concept, we will coordinate with your personnel as to construction schedules, along with the revegetation of the disturbed areas. Thank you for your time and consideration. Our apologies for not getting you involved in our design process earlier. Please feel free to call if you have any questions regarding this letter, or any of our design concepts. Sincerely, Roger Curtiss P.E. cc: Jim McCory, Colorado Land Source Jim Sell, Jim Sell Design ,Northern Engineering Services, Inc. Januray 23, 1996 Mr. Ted Shepard Community Planning and Environmental Services City of Fort Collins PO Box 580 281 North College Avenue Fort Collins, Colorado 80522-0580 RE: Coventry 2nd Filing Request for Variance Dear Ted, This letter is to request a variance to the City of Fort Collins requirements regarding the Coventry Subdivision, Second Filing. In particular, this request is for a small portion of the improvements to Harmony Road, and the City of Fort Collins engineering standards for cross slope. As you know, the developer of Coventry 2nd Filing is being required to widen that portion of Harmony Road adjacent to the site. This widening will be accomplished by matching the existing edge of asphalt, and extending it to the south, approximately 24'. Per City standard, cross slopes for this type of extensions will range from 2% minimum to 4% maximum. This presents some interesting design considerations. First, the engineer is restricted by the elevations of the existing edge of pavement, as constructed. To maintain a consistent and smooth curb and gutter, the new cross slopes need to vary from station to station. In the case of Harmony Road adjacent to Coventry 2nd Filing, there is a portion (approximately 100 linear feet), in the vicinity of Hinsdale Drive, which Northern Engineering has designed the intersection where there is less than 2% cross slope. There are two alternatives to get the prescribed 2% minimum cross slope. The first would be to lower the flowline at Hinsdale Drive. The second would be to raise the existing edge of asphalt. There is an existing City regional conveyance channel along the south side of Harmony Road. A box culvert will need to be installed at Hinsdale to pass the developed flows. Northern Engineering, analyzed this crossing, and found that it would be hydraulically inefficient to make a lower profile structure to pass these flows. Therefore, this structure was designed as flat as reasonably possible, and a minimal amount of cover was used over the 420 S. Howes, Suite 202 • Fort Collins, Colorado 50521 • (970) 221-4155 • Fax (970) 221-4159 box culvert. In our opinion, the elevations of Hinsdale Drive are as low as we felt they could reasonably be, and still maintain a hydraulically sound'design of this regional drainage improvement. The second alternative would be raise the existing elevations of Harmony Road. This would require shifting the crown of Harmony Road to the south. Shifting the crown of an arterial roadway presents problems with the rideability of the pavement section. In our opinion, this was also not a viable alternative. Therefore, we are requesting a variance from the City standards for cross slope for this small portion of Harmony Road adjacent to Hinsdale Drive. Runoff from Harmony Road will be collected at Hinsdale, and transferred to the channel section. Please call if you have any questions regarding this letter, or any questions pertinent to the Coventry Second Filing submittal. Sincerely, Roger A. Curtiss P.E. = r cc: Jim McCory, Colorado Land Source �N ` Sheri Wamhoff, City of Fort Collins Transpor►_.ion Services Engineering Department City of Fort Collins February 22, 1996 Mr. Roger A. Curtiss Northern Engineering Services, Inc. 420 S. Howes, Suite: 202 Fort Collins, Co 80521 RE: Coventry 2nd Filing - Variance Request. Dear Roger, This letter is in response to the variance request dated January 23, 1996 to allow a portion of Harmony Road cross section to have a slope less than the minimum 2.0% required. After reviewing the variance request and the utility plans submitted it is the Engineering Departments conclusion that the 2.0% minimum can be met without impacting the box culvert elevations at Hinsdale and without raising the edge of the asphalt, therefor the variance request is denied. It appears to be possible to meet the minimum cross slope requirement by moving the low point in Hinsdale to a point north of the box culvert and therefore dropping the corners at the intersection of Harmony Road and Hinsdale. This would allow for the slope on Harmony road to be increased, therefore lowering the flowline and allowing the 2.0% cross slope to be met. If you have any questions, please contact Sheri Wamhoff at 221-6750. Sincerely, -C==;P67Z Sheri Wamhoff CC Ted Shepard, Senior Planner Jim McCory, Colorado Land Source 281 N01-th College Avenue • P.O. Box 580 • Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580 • (970) 221-6605 LbQ��Tcy [us+iomej U.S. HOME CORPORATION A NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE COMPANY 118 E. 29th Street Suite F Loveland, CO 80538 (970) 593-0500 Fax (970) 593-0600 September 15, 1999 Basil Hamdan City of Fort Collins - Stormwater 700 Wood Street Fort Collins, CO 80521 Dear Mr. Harridan: It has come to my attention that you have aced a departmental hold on Certificates of Occupancy in our Coventry Subdivisio You are holding US Home responsible for issues concerning the original engineer on the project (J. R. Engineering), developer Jim McCory (Colorado Land Source) and the City of Fort Collins (Stormwater). US Home purchased completed lots in this sub -division, which were approved per design and accepted by all the governing bodies in plan review. My expectation at this point is a clear explanation as to how US I ome would be responsible for the incompetence of plan design. development, and subsequent approval and completion acceptance process. As to date, I have received nothing in writing which addresses your intent. Not only have I offered my assistance, but also in fact I have been the pivot person trying to facilitate some accountability on the part of Jim McCory and Stormwater to resolve the poor design issues that continue to exist on Crest Road. At this point I would like to revisit a few of the issues we have already addressed: The drainage swell at the southwest end of Crest Road was poorly designed and/or poorly built. When you and I met with Derek Lile (homeowner at 4807 Crest Road), all parties acknowledged it was improperly constructed by the developer. In good faith, US Home corrected it at our expense. The southwest "evebrow" was not draining properly and was puddling at 4807 Crest Road. US Home mandated that Jim McCory take responsibility to meet with Stormwater and correct the poor design of this "eyebrow". Although it was completed to the "satisfaction" of both Mr. McCory and Stormwater, the problem still remains. After numerous conversations. Jay Barber asked me to help pressure Jim McCory into taking responsibility for the inadequate design. Afler a meeting between yourself, Jim Drop (US Home) and Greg Ceebohm (Double Eagle) your word was no holds would be placed because of US Home's commitment in trying to remedy the situation and hold Jim McCory accountable. I have worked closely and continue to work closely with Jay Barber on any issues that pertain to a particular US Home site. I have been working diligently at trying to resolve any outstanding issues for US Home whether or not they are directly related to US Home. My work ethic is to be 2 a part of the resolution and not a part of the problem. During the past five years, I have demonstrated that in each situation. In closing, you have not only gone back on vour word, but also you have extinguished any good will we have offered. US Home did not engineer or develop Coventry. I have covered the incompetence of others at my expense for the sake of good will for the last time. Holding US Homc and the families that want to move in their new home ransom to correct mistakes made by others is unbelievable to say the least. It seems someone has released the liability of others and is using US Home as the trump card. I question the integrity and legality of holding US Home liable for the incompetence of engineers and developers. If US I lome incurs any further financial damages or loss of business as a result of problems and errors between the developer and the City of Fort Collins. we are prepared to defend ourselves as needed. Please respond in writing what the City's intentions are and position is regarding release of permits and certificates of occupancy on US Home properties. Sincer I Clay R. -Meyer US Home Vice -President, Construction cc: Bill Stenberg - US Home Ray Martinez - Mayor Steve Roy - City Attornev John Fishbach - City Manager Roger Buffington - Stormwater Glen Schlueter - Stormwater CRM/Imm 4807 Crest Rd Ft Collins Co 80526 September 29, 1999 Mr Ray Martinez Mayor, City of Ft Collins Dcar Mayor Martinez, You have recently been copied on letters from Clay Meyer at US HOME and Basil Harridan at the Citv of Ft Collins' stormwater division regarding a situation that exists along Crest Rd in the Coventry subdivision south of Harmony Rd. I am one of the homeowners affected by the problem and, since my name was mentioned in the letter from Clay Meyer, I thought it nvght be helpful to recount the situation from the perspective of one of those most immediately impacted. To reinforce the fact that the problem affects to some extent all of the property owners on Crest this letter is being co -signed by each of us. We moved into our new home at 4807 Crest Rd in April 1997. Not long thereafter, around the time that the sprinklers were started on the berms that run between the street and the "eyebrows" in front of the homes. it became clear that there was a drainage problem and that water on the evebrows did not drain to the street. After repeated calls to US HOME and the City, as well as meetings between each of the parties as well as Greg Seebohm, a portion of the south end of the evebrow in front of ours, and our neighbor's house, was resurfaced. Because the elevation of the evebrows had to be raised in an attempt to alleviate the poor drainage a portion of our driveway had to be removed and repoured. While this work improved , although did not totally correct, the drainage from the evebrow it did create a new problem since the slope on a portion of the replaced driveway is row in the wTong direction so that water no �a does not drain from the driveway! Although the details are different, the two other eyebrows on Crest suffer from similar problems so that in all cases standing water remains continually on areas of the eyebrows due to runoff from the landscaping irrigation as well as from rain. In an endeavor to get these problems corrected there have been numerous conversations between the homeowners. US HOME, and the City's stormwater office. US HOME has repeatedly verbally agreed to resurface the eyebrows but has also made clear that this will not solve the drainage problem. TLus evidently is a result of either faulty engineering or poor construction by the original developer and US HOME has seemingly been unwilling to accept responsibility to fix it. Although more creative solutions may be possible the brute force approach of resurfacing the evebrows at the correct elevation to ensure positive water flow to the street will also seemingly require repouring a number of the driveways as well as necessitating corrective action to establish the correct grading of the landscaping on a number of the lots. Since it is not possible to adequately describe the poor condition on Crest I would encourage you to have one of vour staff visit the street and observe the sad state of affairs that exists in front of these houses. AlthouL.h we are not unsympathetic to US HOME's situation, at the same time, as homeowners who invested considerable money in good faith expecting a well engineered development, we feel it is totally unrealistic that we should have to continue to live with this problem. Please realize that the first homes on this street were occupied about three years ago. This is, therefore, not a new problem and we believe the homeowners have been very patient in dealing with US HOME in trying to arrive at a solution. With Coventry nearing completion it seems perfectly understandable that the City is being forced to take extreme measures to ensure that these problems are corrected before US HOME vacates the development. Any help your office can provide in resolving this problem will be very much appreciated. Sincerely, Derek & Christine Lile 4807 Crest Rd Lam & Janeen McGrew �--� 4801 Crest Rd Gordon & Joan Morthole G% 4737 Crest Rd _ /r Bruce & Mary Kimball 4731 Crest Rd Joe Ontiveros & Kathleen Kelly 4725 Crest Rd , Timothy Braden 4719 Crest Rd Billy Burt & Mary Ont 4713 Crest Rd Tom & Martha Noo 4707 Crest Rd Bill & Karen Matthews 4701 Crest Rd .Kai-uwe & Lucie Jensen 4619 Crest Rd Edward & Magdalena R 4613 Crest Rd O_ l� Robert & Marcie Brooks 07 Crest Rd cc: Mr John Fischbach, City Manager cc: Mr Mike Smith. Utilities Director cc: Mr Basil Harridan, Civil Engineer cc: Mr Steve Roy, City Attorney cc: Mr Clav Meyer, US HOME cc: Mr Bill Stenbere, US HOME