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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCITY OF FORT COLLINS UTILITY SERVICE CENTER PDP AND PLAT FIRST NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING - 16 90E - MINUTES/NOTES - CORRESPONDENCE-NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGc NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING MINUTES AU6 �/ CFO WOOD STREET MASTER PLAN ✓gFNT p B 200� s THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2001 QR%NTp NNN, G Attending• /NG Neighbors Citv Leigh Lentile 527 N. Loomis Ave, 80521 Alan Franklin 715 Elm Street, 80521 Chris Marshall515 N. Loomis, 80521 926 West Mountain, 80521 (Rental) Rodger Ames 503 N. Grant Charles Nauta 832 Wood Street, 80521 Connie Nauta 832 Wood Street, 80521 Raymond Souders 1101 Beech Street, 80521 Laurel Davis 612 Griffin Place, 80521 Jim Wurz 425 N. Sherwood, 80521 Chuck Warner 1242W. Mountain, 80521 Claudia Schimert 313 Arlene Drive, 80521 Commencing: 7:10um Tim Sagen, Meters Wendy Williams, Utilities Tom Rock, Utilities Rich Brewbaker; Traffic Carol Rankin, Operations Services John Renhowe, Vaught -Frye Architects Jack Gianola, Operations Services Ken Mannon, Operations Services Frank Bruno, City Manager's Office Suzanne Jarboe -Simpson, Utilities Mike Smith, Utilities Jim Hibbard, Water City To give a little history, in 1997 the City acquired the property to the South of the existing building at 700 Wood Street. At that time we had thought about adding an access road onto Elm, but due to neighbor concerns, we decided not to proceed.. In 2000 our plans were to build a 18' high vehicle storage building, to house our 1-ton vehicles, parallel (East/West) to Elm Street with a berm to help camouflage the building. The idea was to buffer noise for the neighbors. The neighbors again did not like this idea because of the large building, wanted to see if it could be moved to the North So, we looked at a plan that would move the building to the north of 700 Wood Street, but the issues we ran into with this was 1) Major regarding of the area. 2) The need for a expansive and expensive retaining walls. 3) Not sufficient area for oval vaults (assembly and traffic). 4) Security at entrances.. 5) Cross -Traffic Safety. 6) Wall would amplify the sound. 7) Splitting the Yard. The Plan we decided would work the best would be to move the welding shed to the North and build the garage closer to Elm, but going North and South. This would allow for a larger green zone, 135' from Elm Street to building. The berm would be built higher with large trees and more trees to improve the buffer zone. We are trying to be good neighbors with the type of vehicles that will be in this area. Neighbor How big is the garage? Citv 18' high, 270' long and half the width of the existing garage. Wood Street Neighborhood Meeting 11/15/2001 Page 1 of 7 C City (Continued) The first part of the project will be grading and landscaping giving it about 2 years before buildings are built. Neiahbor Does the City own the railroad right-of-way? CitV Yes. With the landscaping, we will remove the existing railroad berm:: We'll lose some trees, but new trees will be planted and a pedestrian path to Martinez Park will be created. We have also addressed the lighting issues that affect the Elm Street neighbors. We have taken some of our existing lights off and have installed motion detectors in some areas. With the new building the lighting will be cut-off lighting which should reduce the light. Neip,bbor The original design almost seems best, is it killed? CCi The building going East and West would not be as good a buffer as we thought, it would actually create more noise for the neighbors. Neighbor I just bought the Ramerez house on Elm and we like the empty lot and dirt are the any other alternatives to moving the building and keeping the empty lot? CC Utilities bought that land a long time ago, and need to expand our area. Nei bor So this is a done deal, this is going to happen. we do want to work with the neighbors, but we CC Yes, but we feel this is the best option. Just to let you know some history we were asked about satellite office, but we had already purchased the property and then brought it to the neighbors and they felt we acted in bad faith. Since then, we have been trying to be good neighbors, but this is a done deal. Nei or Could you still have the building go East and West and move a further north from Elm Street? CC Maybe about 20' from our original drawing, but again I don't know how the noise would affect the neighbors. Wood Street Neighborhood Meeting 11/15/2001 Page 2 of 7 1- L Neir A wall and vegetation would seem better, and replace the railroad buffer. Nei bor What's happening with the railroad buffer? C We've recreated the buffer, but pulled it back, there's no angle. With the type and quantity of plantings it should be the same as having a wall, but a building is not interesting to the neighbors. Neighbor How high is the berm? C& 7' — 8' high Neighbor Can you make it higher? CV We have to take into consideration the channel for water and the grading 'for plants, but we could make it little higher. civ Evergreens will make a good buffer. Neighbor I know Ramerez always was complaining about lights, Neighbor The lights are still a bother. Citv We'll look into it. Neighbor The lights are intense, it would be nice to Have them blocked. C� We'll look into replacing some of the existing lights with different lights that are less intense. Neighbor How high are the lights on the buildings? C� 10' —15' high. Wood Street Neighborhood Meeting 11/15/2001 Page 3 of 7 Neighbor Why change the dirt road? CC Last year, we discussed this issue as well and the majority of the neighbors wanted it paved. Also, we would add inlets that would alleviate the flooding. CCi The other site we're looking to renovate is the old Milliken Lumber Yard. When we bought it in the late 80's we did an environmental clean up on the site. We thought about using it for storage, fueling facility, yard storage and a detention pond. But, decided the fueling facility would be bad for the neighbors. Not much has changed on the site since the 80's except we added a community garden, curb and gutter, bus stop and a small berm. What we want to do with the site now is keep the retention pond to the very North, South of the retention pond have material storage, South of storage build an enclosed -vehicle storage with dual side access doors large enough for our heavy equipment which needs to be stored inside in the winter, South of the vehicle storage a smaller open -vehicle storage for 1-tons. The buildings would act as buffers for the activity that would take place in the material storage area. This would be about 100' from Vine Drive. We will have to go through all City planning process before we could proceed with this plan, this plan is probably 0-5 years off. Again, the landscaping would come first. Neighbo_r What's being stored there now? CC Road base, gravel, staging area for spoil material, and pit run. Basically, this will stay the same. Nei bor Where did you move the fueling facility? city We didn't move it at all we left it where it is. We contracted with Schrader's to help with City vehicle fueling to alleviate some of the volume coming to Wood Street. Neighbor Are they going to do anything about widening Shields Street and the Shields/Vine intersection? CC I don't know all the details, but I know Traffic is looking at improving the intersection. CC We can check into this. Neighbor Are you routing the truck traffic to Shields? Wood Street Neighborhood Meeting 11/15/2001 Page 4 of 7 CV We have to have access to Shields, but we disperse vehicles in every direction for equipment trucks, and admin. CUY Part of the City planning process will require a traffic impact study. C The Plan we brought you in 2000 for the Wood Street site was adding to the existing building at 835 Wood Street, and building a new building to the Southwest for the Administration Office. In 2001 we have changed the Plan somewhat. We have bought -land to the West, but did not need Claudia's property: We would have a screen of plants to help buffer noise for Claudia and the other neighbors to West. We would only build the new Administration Office and not add to the existing building at 835 Wood. With the vote, our Plan is about 5-10 years out. To give you some idea of the amount of people and traffic, for the entire site; in 1984 —14 people out 2000 — 4 people out 1989 — 8 people out 2001 — 13 people IN 1994 — 52 people out 2002 — 18 people out 1999 — 2 people out 200x — 22 people IN This reflects a net loss of people and traffic of 63. Neighbor Would you be sharing the exit onto Shields? So instead of 3 or 4 cars there will be an additional 30-40 cars? C The Technicians would be using the exit, but their office hours are 6:O0am - 2:OOpm, so the impact of traffic would be on off hours. Neiphbor I think 6am would be a bad time for neighbors. city With the other access roads, they may actually go out several different exits depending on where they need to go. Neighbor The traffic is bad going through neighborhood.. CAY Right now, with the Traffic and Natural Areas driving through, when they move out and we move in the traffic should break even. Wood Street.Neighborhood Meeting 11/15/2001 Page 5 of 7 E CCi A solution to some of the Traffic problems would have to be resolved when the Plan goes through the City Plan. NeiQAbor The people living in the County have a huge issue with the Street impact on Shields. Neighbor With Facilities moving in, there's lots of vehicles in an old neighborhood. What is the life of Facilities in 10 years? Are you going to grow and have to move somewhere else? CC The customer base is in this part of town. What is likely to happen is satellite offices to the South, but we'll always stay here for the North part of town. Nei bor Facilities deals with City buildings, why move them out of downtown when most of their work is there. Why move into a neighborhood and drive back into downtown? Why not move to Streets area? Cjjy We looked at several areas. At Streets, a new sand/salt facility is being built, the State has a new building, and the new Traffic Operations facility is being built in that area. We also looked at buying land from New Belgium, but they would not sell because of their expansion needs. Neighbor Still this is not the best place for Facilities. Why not move them into the new office building? city The needs of Facilities would not work with the Civic Center Master Plan. Neiglibor We're getting a nice downtown, but moving all the work areas into a residential area. Nei bor You're giving this to us all as one package, is it all happening together? cit� The Master Plan is a group, but it breaks down into sections. Not everything is going to happen at the same time. city With the vote, I think we're looking farther down the road than 5 years = more like 10 years. And, options will continue to be looked at. We try to find best sites fore everyone including the cost. Wood Street Neighborhood Meeting 11/15/2001 Page 6 of 7 C For instance, the cost for new facility at New Belgium would have been around $14 million. To build at this existing site will be around $8 million. Neighbor If it's likely not to happen for 10 years, why is it in the planning process now? CitV It's not. It won't go through Planning until we get closer. Nei or So this is academic? Cy Right, but we want the neighbors to be involved. CAY There are always changes with neighbors moving in and out, we want to be able to say these are things that could happen so that we're acting in good faith. Nei bor I'm glad about that. Another issue is there is a path to the East of the Salvation Army which people are using to go 4-wheeling. Is there anyway we can have the street closed off. It's not platted as a street; Qfty We'll see what we can do. Nei bor In about a year will the empty lot across from Elm Street be paved and have lights? CitV Yes, it will be paved, but the lights are at a later stage and they will beat a minimum. city To summarize, we need to create a higher berm, use move evergreen trees, and strategically place them to minimize lights. city And, Operations Services is on hold at this point. Meeting Adjourned: 9:OOom Thank you to everyone who attended. Wood Street Neighborhood Meeting 11/15/2001 Page 7 of 7