HomeMy WebLinkAboutNIX FARM NATURAL AREA FACILITY - PDP/FDP - 10-01 - CORRESPONDENCE - CITY STAFFGeneral Care Clinic and our facility is 1,400 vehicles per day. According to the City's Traffic
Engineer this is a low traffic volume for this type of intersection. Our projected 100 vehicles a
day is less than a 10% increase in traffic volume. We feel that this is an insignificant increase to
the existing low traffic volume.
We appreciate your concerns about the heavy traffic volumes on Lemay Avenue and that the
traffic on Lemay Avenue will get worse over time. We feel that the traffic we are adding to
Poudre River Drive will not have a significant impact on the existing access to Lemay Avenue
off Poudre River Drive.
Hoffinan Mill Drive is a private drive that is currently being maintained by the City. If Poudre
River Drive is ever extended to the east in the future, Hoffinan Mill Drive may be rerouted to
connect with the extension.
We understand your concern about the safety of your elderly clients trying to access Lemay
Avenue. However, we do not see how the slight increase to traffic on Poudre River Drive will
affect their safety. The traffic volume on Poudre River Drive is very low.
You have suggested that we extend Hoffinan Mill Road to Timberline Road for our access and
for an alternative access to Poudre River Drive. We do not want to do this for a variety of
reasons. Natural Resources purchased the property along Timberline Road for the Kingfisher
Natural Area to restore, protect and enhance wildlife habitat. Having a road between the two
ponds would have a significant impact on the wildlife habitat. Although the City's regulations
allow an emergency access road between the two ponds, the regulations prohibit a street being
built. If Hoffman Mill Road were extended to Timberline, it would not decrease traffic on
Poudre River Drive it would actually increase the traffic volume on Poudre River Drive. If
Hoffman Mill Road were connected to Timberline, it would greatly increase the value of the
undeveloped land east of Lemay and accelerate the development of that land. Also traffic would
use Hoffman Mill Road as a short cut to avoid Riverside Drive or Mulberry Street.
I hope that I have addressed your questions and concerns, but I would like the chance to meet
with you and discuss your concerns in more detail. I will give you a call to set up a meeting.
Respectfully,
Mark Sears,
Natural Areas Program Manager
Cc: Cameron Gloss, Current Planning Director
Elmer Schneider
Dave Hill
Comml ty Planning and Environmental rvices recycled paper
Natural Resources Department
City of Fort Collins
May 23, 2001
General Care Health Services
P.O. Box 2127
Fort Collins, CO 80522
Internal Medicine Clinic of Fort Collins, PC
1100 Poudre River Drive
Fort Collins, CO 80524
Attn: Charles Hatchette, M.D.
Michael J. Lynch, DO
Robert C. Homburg, MD
David M. Abbey, MD
William L. Harrison, MD
Jorge A. Allende, MD
Debra Schoonover, Practice Manager
Re: Access to Natural Areas Facility at Nix Farm Natural Area
I'm sorry that I am so slow responding to your two letters stating your concerns about the
proposed Natural Areas Facility traffic accessing Lemay Avenue. I thought it would be best if I
responded to both letters in this one letter, so that everyone could see my responses to the issues
raised in both letters. There will be a public hearing for this project on June 6, at 4:00 PM, at
281 N. College Avenue, at which you may also voice your concerns. You should receive a
separate letter notifying you of the hearing. I would like to meet with you prior to the hearing in
an attempt to resolve the issues before the hearing. This hearing is the final approval for our
proposed development and we would really like to get approved.
The Nix farmhouse will be remodeled into an office building for some of our Natural Areas
Program staff and a new maintenance facility will be built for our maintenance staff. We
anticipate very few visitors coming to our facility, therefore we do not need to be visible to the
public. Since our facility will be a long way from Lemay Avenue we did not want to encourage
the use of our site as a trailhead parking lot. The maximum future daily traffic in and out of our
facility is anticipated to be 100 vehicles a day, with a maximum number of 29 vehicles in an
hour. Most of our staff work ten-hour days so our traffic will be spread out from 6:00 AM to
6:00 PM seven days a week rather than 8 to 5 Monday thru Friday. They will be driving almost
exclusively cars and pickups. The existing traffic on Poudre River Drive is approximately 1,000
vehicles per day. The projected future traffic on Poudre River Drive including traffic from the
281 N. College Ave. • P.O. Box 580 • Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580 • (970) 221-6600 • FAX (970) 224-6177