HomeMy WebLinkAboutFORT COLLINS WHOLESALE FLORIST SITE - Filed GC-GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE - 2003-11-03JUN 17 'S7 02:25PM THOPP ASSOCIATES PC
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Thorp Associates, P.C.
Architects and Planners
June 17, 1997
FACSIMILE
Mr. Stephen Olt, ASI A, City Planner
City of Fort Collins Current Planning Department
P.O. Box 590
Fort Collins, Colorado 80522-0580
Re: Fort Collins Wholesale Florist
Dear Steve;
Enclosed with this letter you will find three partial site plane showing optional access layouts from the
wholesale florist property onto Caribou Road and Automation way. The site plan marked #1 shows the
access as presented at the Conceptual Review, which was rejected by Transportation as having access
points too close to the side property lines.
Site Plan #2 shows a revised shared access, both on the east and west corners of our property, which
was approved by our neighbor to the east, but rejected by the storage unit owner on the west, who
indicated that he already had too much traffic into his property and did not want to share the access.
Therefore, as a compromise, we are proposing Site Plan #3, which shows the shared access on the east
side of the property, and a continuous access, which includes our truck access and the access to the
storage units on the western side of our property, The storage unit owner indicated he would approve
this approach. As indicated, all site signage and public access to our project would occur on the eastern
shared access, and we would only need the western access point for truck and delivery traffic.
Please review this information with your staff and let me know if we can proceed to finalize our
Administrative Review drawings for submittal showing the shared and continuous access points as
illustrated in Site Plan Sketch #3. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to give me a call at any
time.
Sincerely,
Ro r M. Thorp, ?A,N , OAA, MAIBC, President
TH SSOCIAPES, P.C., Architects and Planners
Encla,
cc: Spiro Palmer, Palmer Properties
Keith Sheaffer, TST Consultants
Terry Drahota, Drahota Construction
131 Stanley Ave., P.O_ Box 129 • Estes Park, 00 80517 • Local:970.588.9528 •Metro*303.534.1378 •Fax:970.58&4145
JUN 17 '97 02:25PM THORP ASSOCIATES PC P.2
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Thorp Associates, P.C.
Architects and Planners
FORT COLLINS WHOLESALE FLORIST WAREHOUSE
LANDSCAPE PLAN OBJECTIVES
July 23, 1997
The objective of the landscape design for the Fort Collins Wholesale Florist Project is to
provide a safe and beautiful natural buffer between the proposed structure and the public
way. The landscape plan is also designed to soften the apparent connection between the
building and the natural grade. The plan includes site amenities, such as a bike rack and
several benches for pedestrian use. Partially due to the fact that the major tenant on the
property will be a wholesale florist, the interior landscape area amounts to approximately
fifteen percent of the total landscape area, somewhat above what the City requires. These
interior islands are also used to buffer the building from neighboring properties to the east
beyond the pedestrian -scaled landscaping next to the building.
The building has been situated on the site to front onto Caribou Drive, with major
landscaping areas providing different textures and colors along the street frontage, as well
as direct access for pedestrian and bicycle linkage to the building, without crossing the
parking area. The service side of the building faces the rear of existing storage units of the
Timberline Storage PUD. Since there is very little public visibility or access to this area
and there is presently considerable landscaping behind the existing storage unit building,
the intent of this plan is to supplement the existing landscaping with lower level shrubs and
mulched areas. There is, however, considerable large scale landscaping proposed on the
south side of the property to visually separate the greenhouse and dock area from future
development in that area.
In an effort to conserve resources, sod areas alone will be sprinkled above grade.
Mulched areas with trees and/or shrubs will be irrigated with drip irrigation systems.
Likewise, all topsoil on the site will be stockpiled for reuse in the landscaped areas.
131 Stanley Ave. • P.O. Box 129 + Estes Park, CO 80517 • Local:970.586.9528 •Metro:303.534.1378 •Fax:970.586.4145
Thorp Associates, P.C.
Architects and Planners
PLANNING OBJECTIVES
FOR
FORT COLLINS WHOLESALE FLORIST BUILDING DEVELOPMENT
July 17, 1997
It is the objective of the developers of the Fort Collins Wholesale Florist Building to meet all
applicable community wide planning principles and policies as set forth in "City Plan' recently
adopted by the City of Fort Collins as a planning guide to help the City achieve the values and
ideals expressed in the "Community Vision and Goals 2015" document.
The Fort Collins Wholesale Florist site is located within the E-Employment District and has been
designed to specifically meet the principles and policies called out for this specific use district. For
example, Principle: ED-1 calls for Employment Districts to be major employment centers in the
community, allowing a variety of complimentary uses. As designed, the Fort Collins Wholesale
Florist site, although anchored by a wholesale florist business, will also incorporate 6,984 square
feet of leasable space for uses of other companies meeting the requirements of the Employment
District. The Wholesale Florist Building Project will particularly encourage a limited auto traffic in
the area, as called out under Principle ED-1, since minimal retail facilities will be located in the
building. Employee van pooling will be encouraged, and public transit sites are well within
walking distance of the property, along Timberline Avenue.
Policy ED-1.1 has been accommodated in the design of this facility, as possible with the limited
site size, since the building will be rentable to small business concerns, as well as the larger
wholesale florist business. Furthermore, the light industrial uses anticipated for the site meet well
with Policy ED-1.2 of the "City Plan' document.
As indicated earlier, the Fort Collins Wholesale Florist site is located well within walking distance
of present and future public transit sites along Timberline Avenue, making the property a walkable
destination, as called out in Policy ED-1.5. The E-Employment District, in which this project is
located, is also within walking distance of residential sites to the east and northwest of the
property.
The Fort Collins Wholesale Florist Development also meets the requirement of Policy ED-1.8, as
the design character of the structure and landscaping will be complimentary to the general
business park setting present in the area. Parking areas will be fully landscaped and building edges
buffered to minimize the scale of the overall development. To an extent, Policy ED-1.7, referring
to infill of presently developed areas, is being met by this development, since the building will be
located in the Collindale Business Park area, which has present business facilities in place.
The design of the Fort Collins Wholesale Florist Development also meets the principle ED-2 for
providing accessibility to community multi -modal transportation systems. The interior street
system of the Collindale Business Park has been designed with a width to allow vehicular and
bicycle transportation, and parking will be provided for both automobiles and bicycles on the site.
131 Stanley Ave.• P.O. Box 129 • Estes Park, CO 80517 • Local:970.586.9528 •Metro:303.534.1378 •Fax:970.586.4145
The walkways proposed for the project will meet all City requirements, and will eventually tie into
transit stop links along Timberline Avenue and Horsetooth, as the business park is fully
developed. These design elements meet the Policy requirements of ED-2.1 through ED-2.4 as
called out in the "City Plan" document.
For the above reasons it should be apparent that the Fort Collins Wholesale Florist Site
Development Plan. achieves the general "City Plan" principles and policies as called out for this
specific district.
While the Fort Collins Wholesale Florist Site Development Plan is for a single site, and therefore
does not provide extensive public open space, the plan does provide significant landscaping and
natural buffering to the public way and surrounding neighborhood properties. Pedestrian and
bicycle traffic is encouraged by the use of bicycle racks and pedestrian benches within the
landscape plan. Safe pedestrian access to the right of way is provided without having to cross any
parking or traffic way. All maintenance of any landscaping and open space on the site will be
done by the Owner as a service to occupants of the project and their patrons. It is estimated at
this time that there will be approximately twenty-eight to thirty-five employees working within the
development at any given time.
It should also be mentioned that there will be no anticipated usage of hazardous materials of any
kind within the project. The wholesale business uses all natural materials and will provide on -site
separation of natural and storage wastes and incorporate composting of natural materials and
recycling to the extent possible.
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Thorp Associates, P.C.
Architects and Planners
September 12, 1997
Mr. Stephen Olt, ASL.A, City Planner
City of Fort Collins
P.O. Box 580
Fort Collins, Colorado 80522-0580
Re: Fort Collins Wholesale Florist
Supplementary Information
Dear Steve;
This letter is in response to several comments by reviewing agencies which have not been addressed in the
drawings or other supplementary documentation. For example, this letter documents the fact that the site is
accessible to persons with disabilities in accordance with Section 3103 and Appendix Section 3106 of the
Uniform Building Code. Accessible routes of travel have been shown on our Revised Site Plan. These
accessible routes comply with ANSI Al17.1-1992 for Running and Cross Slopes. Parking Signage will be
provided per Appendix: Section 3107 and Parking Access Aisles shall comply with ANSI A 117.1-1992,
The relocated greenhouse structure will comply with all building code requirements, except the Fort Collins
Non -Residential Energy Code, which is not required for a building of Agricultural Use only. There will be no
office or retail usage made of the greenhouse. It will be utilized for the planting and nurture of plant materials
only.
After discussion of the issues with your office and further with Matthew Delich, our Traffic Engineer, we
would request relief from the Transportation Planning Office comments that this project should be responsible
for building a sidewalk connection from its property to Horsetooth. We recognize the Transportation
Planning's concern for providing unrestricted pedestrian access where possible. It is our understanding,
however, that the intent of the requirement is to assist pedestrians when a project is constructed some distance
away from present facilities. The Fort Collins Wholesale Florist Project is more accurately described as an
"infill" project, where former structures were previously required to provide sidewalks in front of their
Property as we are proposing. The Fort Collins Wholesale Florist Project is not at the end of a long
unoccupied street, and in fact, a good portion of the sidewalk area from Caribou to Horsetooth already exists.
Please consider our request when finalizing your review of our documentation.
Thank you for you consideration.
Sincerely,
�ly
Rog M. horp, AIA, N OAA, MAMC, President
THOR>ASSOCIATES, P.C., Architects and Planners
131 Stanley Ave.* P.O. Box 129 • Estes Park, CO 80517 • Local:970.586.9528 •Metro:303.534.1378 •Fax:970.586.4145