News from Friends of Mt. Sanitas
February 29, 2012
Update, 2/29/2012: Planning Board
meeting to review Moonbeam's Concept Plan set for March 15, 2012.
The Planning Board meeting will be
held in the City Council Chambers at 1777 Broadway within the municipal
building at the corner of Broadway and Canyon. The meeting begins at
6:00 pm.
Update, 2/27/2012:
City Planning Staff comments on Moonbeam's Concept Plan
are available below. Lots of detail about departments' thoughts,
concerns, and recommendations.
Former Junior Academy Site Update
Greetings, neighbors and friends. As
many of you know, the former Junior Academy site at 4th and Dewey was
purchased by Chris Foreman, of Moonbeam LLC, who has retained Surround
Architecture (www.surroundarchitecture.com)
to develop site plans. A Concept Plan for 23 new houses was recently
submitted to the City Planning Department and staff comments will be
submitted to the Planning Board this month; staff anticipates that the
Planning Board will address the Concept Plan in a March meeting.
Friends of Mt. Sanitas met with the City to discuss the plans and
provided input summarized below. To quickly view the Site Plan and
project updates, please go to:www.moonbeamboulder.com.
To view all Concept Plan documents, click
here.
Below is an overview of our concerns.
4th Street Row
Our top concern is the placement of 15
houses (facing east) along 4th Street. While RL-1 zoning requires a
minimum 7,000 sq. ft. lot size, the Concept Plan shows 15 houses
cheek-by-jowl on smaller and narrower lots (@37' x 100') with
a FAR significantly higher than nearby homes, despite the smaller
average house size of 1,700-2,000 sq. ft. Maintaining a visually
"permeable" site has consistently been one of the Planning
Board criteria, and a wall of 15 uniform houses along the eastern edge
of this property does not meet this standard.
To enhance the openness of the site, we recommend that lot sizes
conform with minimum RL-1 lot size requirements, while keeping house
sizes modest to blend into the neighborhood. The width of the lots
should approximate existing neighborhood lots, averaging 50
ft.; setbacks between houses should be consistent as well. This
would allow for eight to nine houses along 4th Street, more closely in
line with the existing number of houses on the other side of 4th Street
and the surrounding neighborhood.
We are concerned by not only the impermeability of the site along the
entire stretch of 4th Street, but also by the regularity of the lot
size and house and garage placements. The surrounding neighborhood
enjoys a pleasing variety of house and lot sizes and this should be
incorporated along 4th Street. The proposed layout has a decidedly
dense, high-intensity, urban feel, very much out of character with the
Historic District to the south and adjacent neighborhoods to the north
and east.
Site Density
Overall the density of the site is
calculated at four units per acre, which is in keeping with the
neighborhood. But the plan has front-loaded the density along 4th
Street, with approximately two acres carrying 15 units, or 7.5 units
per acre, much higher than the surrounding neighborhood. We recommend
the plan relieve this density by distributing six to eight houses into
the back zone, which currently calls for only eight one-half acre lots.
Traffic
While the submitted plan cites a past traffic load for
the former school of 372 trips per day, this calculation is based on
standard assumptions, not actual use. The now-demolished school hadn't
operated at full capacity for years, and even then many students walked
or carpooled to the school generating few trips to the site. The claim
that the site will generate roughly half the car trips of the previous
use is simply disingenuous. More relevant: 200+ new trips per day after
development.
Construction
As best we can glean, the owner is
planning on designing and building houses along 4th Street and selling
the back lots for individual development. Design guidelines would be
provided for all homes. Typically the City grants three years for a
project of this size to be completed, though extensions have been
liberally granted during the economic downturn. Plans call for
extensive excavation and regrading, removing dirt from the eastern edge
of the site to the back portion, and some material will leave the site.
The construction impact on the neighborhood will be considerable, and
we advocate a tight construction timeline and particularly strict
oversight of the cut and fill phase.
Parking and Site Access
Parking plans submitted call for two-car garages for all
23 homes, with limited additional parking throughout the site. City
Staff comments express concern about whether this will be adequate for
the neighborhood, and Friends agrees. With inevitable drop-ins and
ongoing visitor parking needs for the Mt. Sanitas trailhead, we
recommend the City insist on options to provide adequate parking on and
off the site. With only one access point into the site, Friends also
assumes the development team will follow City direction to improve
proposed site access and circulation.
Water Rights
The site comes with water rights to the Silver Ditch, a
portion of which will be negotiated with the City. We wouldn't be
surprised if this becomes a contentious issue with existing ditch
rights holders.
Comments, Concerns, Action
If you have comments and concerns
about the Concept Plan we encourage you to email/mail City Planning
Staff or the Planning Board prior to the March 15th meeting. Public
participation is always encouraged; attend and speak if you can!
Thank you so much for your time and interest.
The Friends of
Mt. Sanitas
Contact or comment:
Karl Guiler
City of Boulder Planning & Development Services
PO Box 791
Boulder. Colorado 80306
Email: guilerk@bouldercolorado.gov
or:
City of Boulder Planning Board
boulderplanningboard@bouldercolorado.gov
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