Summit parking garage is back in council’s hands
“The Fort Collins City Council on Tuesday will hear the second appeal of a 345-space parking garage at The Summit on College student housing project developed by Alabama-based Capstone Development Corp.
The garage, approved and appealed twice, has been mired in controversy since it was first proposed a year ago. It now goes back to council, which could uphold the approval, uphold the appeal or send it back to the hearing officer, as it did earlier this year. Remanding it to a hearing officer again would make the decision subject to yet another appeal.
Both appeals came from Lester Kaplan, owner of 1801 College Ave., next door to The Summit, and Jeffrey Leef, Angela King and David Rose, owners of The Laboratory restaurant in Kaplan’s building.
Kaplan has also filed a lawsuit in district court claiming council ignored some claims in his first appeal when it sent the garage plan back to the hearing officer with recommendations that Capstone propose a smaller project. No court date has been set to hear Kaplan’s suit.
Kaplan contends the first appeal should have been reviewed by the city’s Planning and Zoning Board rather than hearing officer, that it violates the Summit’s intent to be a transit-oriented development that depends heavily on the MAX bus rapid transit system rather than individual vehicles, and that it does not protect viewsheds looking west toward the mountains.”
Ferrier, Pat. The Coloradan 30 November 2014.