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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTHE QUARRY BY WATERMARK - PDP200019 - - PROJECT NARRATIVENovember 10, 2020 The Quarry by Watermark Project Narrative Concept Review Date: 8-20-20 Neighborhood meeting date: 10-28-20 Existing Owners: NORTH SPRING CREEK PROPERTIES LLC 416 W OAK ST FORT COLLINS, CO 805212611 Proposed Owners: Thompson Thrift Salesforce Tower 111 Monument Circle Suite 1600 Indianapolis, IN 46204 Proposed Use Watermark Residential is proposing to construct 319 Class A multi-family dwelling units. Commercially, the applicant is proposing 4,000 s.f. of commercial space in the mixed-use building. What improvements and uses currently exist on the site? The site is currently undeveloped. Site circulation (auto and pedestrian), parking and how it coordinates with the existing neighborhood. Primary vehicular access is from Shields Street at the signalized intersection at Stuart Street. A street-like private drive with diagonal parking is proposed to connect from Shields Street to Hobbit Street. The Spring Creek Trail is adjacent to the site along the east and south. The Trail in combination with the Spring Creek drainage prevents vehicular access to the south and to the east. Standard parking spaces are provided in the quantities required by the LUC with up to 40% compact spaces proposed. Some of the two-family units are not within 200’ of a public sidewalk. To mitigate that the design is proposing a major walkway spine along the eastern boundary. The spine will provide a pedestrian and bike access to the Trail and Wallenberg ROW through the replacement of the existing pedestrian bridge in the northeastern corner of the site. A detached sidewalk, street trees and a bus stop exist along Shields Street. A pedestrian enhanced nine- foot attached walk with trees in tree grates are proposed along the street-like private drive. Describe site design and architecture. This upscale multi-family project is designed to be visually attractive within the context of the community and neighborhood. Safety and convenience of residents is also a primary design objective. To that end buildings are placed along streets where possible with parking located behind, away from public view but convenient for residents. Other factors that affected the site plan include: • A forty-foot wide, existing sanitary sewer easement that crosses the site east to west located to the north. • A twenty-foot wide, existing waterline easement that crosses the site east to west located to the south. • The need for a street connection from Shields to Hobbit. The existing cul-de-sac right-of-way on Hobbit Street determined the logical connection point. • Two zone districts exist on the site. The majority of the site is zoned MMN – Medium Density Mixed-Use Neighborhood, while approximately 6 acres to the southwest is zoned NC – Neighborhood Commercial. Multi-family buildings in the MMN zone cannot exceed three stories, while Mixed-Use buildings in the NC zone can be five stories. • The City requires Natural Habitat Buffer Zones along the east and south sides of the project. A 100-foot development setback is required from Spring Creek on the south and a 50-foot development setback is required from the eastern drainage. The proposed project consists of a 319-unit, Class A multifamily residential rental community divided between one 4-story mixed use building seven 3-story, garden style walk-up buildings and ten two family buildings. The garden style buildings have 3 points of pedestrian access at sidewalk entrances along the parking side of the buildings and direct sidewalk access to the ground floor units on the street side. The exterior of the buildings consists of a mix of materials and a neutral color scheme to tie into the natural landscape and are complimentary to existing Fort Collins developments including the neighborhood to the east. Timber accents, fiber cement lap siding and stone are used as shown in the enclosed elevations. The units feature spacious, open floor plans, walk out balconies or porches, in unit washer and dryer and high-end finishes. The required bike parking will be designed to allow for 60% covered parking within the multifamily buildings and shelters throughout the site. The architect also providing a bike space in the enclosed corridors and units to meet code requirements. 535 parking spaces are required the development is currently showing 545 parking spaces. Those spaces are broken up into 4 categories: standard stalls, long term stalls, compact stalls and garage spaces. A detailed chart breaking down the parking requirements has been provided on the cover sheet. The community will also have various amenity areas. To satisfy 3.8.30 (C), a large amenity space has been centrally located east of the mixed-use building. Amenities will include a pool, grilling areas, picnic areas and open green space for recreation. The total square footage of the area is ~11,263 s.f. In addition, a plaza wraps the mixed-use building providing bench seating, areas for tables and public art. This is in compliance with 4.23 (E)(1)(b). Tenants will have ample surface parking provided within the property, with covered detached garage parking options. One trash and recycling enclosure is located near the Hobbit Street connection. Watermark’s Property Management Division will offer full valet trash service so that residents are not required to take their refuge to the enclosure. How is your proposal compatible with the surrounding area? In 2017 the site was re-zoned to reduce the amount of land zoned NC and increase the MMN portion. The zoning was approved along with Conditions designed to ensure compatibility with the adjacent neighborhood. The Conditions require a buffer and transition between multi-family buildings and single- family homes in the adjacent neighborhood. The maximum number of multi-family dwelling units is capped at 365 and the “rent-by-the-bedroom” leasing model is not allowed. The proposed Watermark Residential project responds to these conditions in following ways: • Watermark is proposing 319 multi-family dwelling units, substantially below the 365 cap. • The multi-family units are proposed to be upscale and not marketed to students. • No 3-story multi-family buildings directly face the neighborhood. • One and two-story two-family dwellings are placed along the eastern edge of the project to create a transition of building height and character. In addition, the two-family dwellings are placed at an average of 50’ farther away from Wallenberg than the rezone plan (85’ in some instances). This is to provide more buffer to the adjacent neighborhood per the neighborhood meeting request. Three of the two family building are within the Sheeley Neighborhood historic influence zone. Those three building will be one story ranch building with an aesthetic that compliments the Sheeley neighborhood per 3.4.7(E) The student-oriented Landmark Apartments exists north of the project site. Both Landmark and Watermark are multi-family projects with similar size buildings. Landmark Apartment residents will benefit if Watermark is built because the proposed street connection to Hobbit will allow them to access Shields Street at a signalized intersection. Currently their access on to Shields Street is unsafe for left turn movements. Storm Water Although the project has proximity to Spring Creek and Canal Importation drainageways it was not able to "Beat the Peak" in the stormwater analysis models. Therefore, onsite detention is required. Stormwater will be detained throughout the site in a combination of Low Impact Design (LID) Rain Gardens, Water Quality (WQ) ponds, and underground stormwater chambers. Most notable are the two large water quality detention areas on the southern edge of the site. Both large detention areas have been designed to provide a natural aesthetic through varying grading (4:1 to 20:1 as well as natural stone retaining walls as needed to provide appropriate stormwater detention space requirements), undulating detention banks, and have incorporated native plantings. How does the proposal impact natural features? Natural Habitat Buffer Zones (NHBZ) and enhancements are provided along the east and south sides of the project. While development is minimally proposing to encroach into the NHBZ, only through the street like private drive connecting to south shields street, the project provides additional NHBZ area that exceeds the area that code is requiring by over an acre. Watermark intends to minimize the disruption inside the buffer space along the eastern edge of the property (Wallenberg drive and the canal importation channel). This area is to generally remain in a natural state and/ or enhanced with native seed and plantings. On the south side of the property, along the boundary of spring creek trail, the natural habitat buffer zone will take on a dual purpose as stormwater detention. This area has been designed to provide a natural aesthetic through varying grading (4:1 to 20:1 as well as natural stone retaining walls as needed to provide appropriate stormwater detention space requirements), undulating detention banks, and native plantings. Clearly defined trail connections allow pedestrians to access spring creek trail without cutting through and creating dirt paths to Shield’s Street. Concerning code section 3.4.1(I)(1), The Spring Creek Trail is recessed several feet below the grade of the site development. That along with substantial existing and proposed vegetation between the trail and the development, the visibility of developed structures from the spring creek corridor will be densely screened. In addition, the site design limits the number of structures along the natural habitat buffer with no buildings encroaching on the buffer. Most of the natural habitat can be viewed from the site and from Shields and Wallenberg right of ways. Neighborhood meeting: As stated above, the design provides additional landscape buffer from Wallenberg as compared with previous designs shown to the neighborhood. That addresses one comment which expressed the want for more buffering. The other comments were related to compatibility. The applicant has redesigned the one-story two-family units to meet the compatibility requirements of 3.4.7(E). At the Landmark and Preservations Commission (LPC) hearing where the project received unanimous approval the Chairman of the commission was quoted saying, “Very fine project that will fit well with the historic district.” Watermark is replacing the existing bridge connection to the spring creek spur trail ensuring future connection to the spring creek trial for the adjacent Sheely neighborhood. In addition, Watermark is updating of a fence along Wallenberg drive as requested by the neighborhood. Do any existing structures have automatic fire sprinklers? Will the new structures have fire sprinklers? There are no existing structures. New structures will be sprinklered per code. Are there any unusual factors and/or characteristics are present that may restrict or affect your proposal? Watermark has worked through multiple iterations of the site plan in order to closely match and improve in certain locations the previous rezoning plan supported by the neighbors to the east. Modifications: We are requesting two modification to section 3.5.2(D)(1) Have you previously submitted an application? Watermark has submitted a concept review and a first round of PDP review. Several development proposals have been brought forward over the years, the most recent one being Spring Creek Multi- Family PDR200002 in March 2020.