FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The Larimer County Planning Commission on Aug. 20 recommended the Board of County Commissioners approve a planned land division and rezoning that would consolidate two parcels into one legal lot and rezone the site to a Plan Development (PD) district, enabling review of a potential 18-unit multifamily project.

The proposed site is two parcels totaling 11.36 acres immediately north of East Mulberry Street (Highway 14) between Loma Linda Drive and Camino Del Mundo, adjacent to Fort Collins city limits. The applicant and project team told the commission the multifamily portion of the development would be clustered on roughly 2 acres at the southern end of the property, with the remainder left undeveloped aside from passive uses such as trails or a community garden because Box Elder Creek runs through the parcel and wetlands and flood hazards are present.

The Planning Commission’s recommendation followed a staff report from Senior Planner Michael Whitley, who told commissioners the land must be consolidated because the two parcels were reconfigured after the county’s 1972 legal-lot effective date and are therefore not currently legal lots eligible for development without the plan land division. Whitley also described two requested deviations from the Land Use Code: a reduced wetland buffer (allowing a water-quality pond outfall within about 42 feet of a wetland and a residential building approximately 55 feet from the wetland) supported by a mitigation plan; and a reduced setback adjacent to Highway 14 (a 24-foot property line setback rather than the code’s typical 130-foot centerline or 80-foot right-of-way measurement). County staff recommended approval subject to conditions and asked the commission to include the wetland-buffer reduction described in the applicant’s credible-and-competent-evidence report as an amendment to condition 7.

Commissioners questioned access, density, wetland ownership and long-term maintenance. Staff and the applicant said water and sewer would be provided by the East Larimer County Water District and Box Elder Sanitation District, fire protection by Poudre Fire Authority, and that wetlands would be conserved and subject to conditions and maintenance obligations recorded against the property as part of the site review and approvals. Applicant Kevin Brown and consulting land planner Troy Jones said they intend the project to be a modest, lower-cost multifamily development; Brown said some units might be retained by an ownership group and some sold. Commissioners asked about transportation access from Mulberry and Loma Linda and whether site planning would require off-site road work and screening; staff said access design and any required paving or improvements would be resolved during site-plan review.

After deliberation, the Planning Commission moved to recommend approval, including the amendment adding the wetland-buffer and waterway-setback reductions described in the applicant’s mitigation report. The motion passed by roll call (yes: Eggleston, Weiss, King, Chollet, Duffy, Roe; no: Sullivan). The recommendation now goes to the Board of County Commissioners for a final decision.

What’s next: If the Board of County Commissioners approves the plan and rezoning, the applicant will submit a detailed site plan for administrative review that must comply with the conditions the county attaches; the site plan will address technical design, stormwater, access, utilities and the specific mitigation measures for wetlands and riparian areas.