Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.hpc.20130227 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 27, 2013 Chairperson, Ann Mullins called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. Commissioners in attendance: Willis Pember, Jamie McLeod, Patrick Sagal and Sallie Golden. Absent were Nora Berko, Jane Hills and Jay Maytin. Staff present: Deborah Quinn, Assistant City Attorney Amy Guthrie, Historic Preservation Officer Kathy Strickland, Chief Deputy City Clerk Justin Barker, Planner Debbie commented that the affidavit of posting is in order and the applicant can proceed- Exhibit I. 514 E. Hyman — Final Major Development— Commercial Design Standards Sallie excused herself Justin Barker said this property was recently designated a landmark Aspen Modern property. Conceptual approval was granted to restore, renovate and add a third floor residential addition. After final submission the property was sold and the new owner wishes to change the program. They would like to replace the residential with all commercial. There are very few architectural changes proposed. There was a residential door on the front and that would change to be more consistent with the original design. With the changes in the program new variances are needed for on-site parking and HPC needs to review the utility/trash/recycling plan. The front plaza is a raised area and that is proposed to be removed. Staff feels that should be re- created to be consistent with the original design. Staff feels this is a good preservation effort. A few changes have been made on the roof with the elevator overrun being slightly moved west on the building. Solar panels are proposed for the top. The mechanicals as drawn will not be visible from the street. Staff would like to see a detailed restoration plan as to how the sandstone will be cleaned and repaired. Staff has no issues with the proposed lighting plan. All trash services will be onsite and the landuse code requires the area to be 15 x 10 and the applicant is proposing something slightly larger but the width is under the requirement. Environmental Health is fine with the changes and suggests a wildlife proof door/fence. More on-site parking requirements have been created. There is no area on-site for the parking. The applicant has chosen to go with their cash out option for the parking but they are also asking for a waiver for their preservation incentive. Staff is recommending the waiver due to the lack of 1 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 27, 2013 space on the site. Staff is recommending approval to allow the height variance to 40 feet that was approved at conceptual UPC review. Restudy the front plaza area to closely resemble the platform design. Provide the mechanical plan for staff and monitor review. Provide a brick restoration plan and to approve the trash area with the wildlife plan. We recommend the waiver of the 1.3 parking space and allow for a five year vesting period. Mitch Haas, Haas Planning Alex Klumb — CCY architects Mitch said the property sold and the new owners want to make the project entirely commercial. Previously we had two front doors one serving the residential unit and one the commercial uses. We have eliminated both entrances and provided one front door in the exact location that the Molny plans had. The trash area will all be onsite. The only other change is on the roofs cape. Alex said there are three components to the project. The restoration of the south fagade to the original Molny intent. The addition of the third floor and the reconfiguration of the plaza in front of the building. After the 1990 renovation the sandstone panels were added. We are proposing that they be removed and we are exposing the original brick. We still have the original window details and sizing. It is our intent to pay attention to the Molny design and incorporate the streetscape with dwell space. In the front there is a bench with a planter behind it and an ADA ramp that doesn't exist today. Alex did a power point on the proposed plans. The second floor is unchanged except for the addition of a few windows. The third floor is setback 15 feet and the roof top accessed by stairs at the back. The plaza level sidewalk within the property line will be a herringbone brick to match the Elks plaza. As you step up to the individual plaza it would be a colored concrete. The original brick would be restored and the vertical elements on the planters would be sandstone. The third floor material would contrast the first and second floor with a zinc product. Mitch said on the plaza it was a response to the vehicular traffic that was beside the building which was at one time an alley. The design was a defense mechanism. It had a railing so one wouldn't have conflicts with the vehicular traffic. Had the Elks plaza that exists today been there he would had a much different response to it. The platform is now pushed toward the 2 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 27, 2013 sidewalk to create a platform feel but make it more inviting and integrated with the surrounding area. We are not proposing a platform with railings around it especially when we are dealing with ADA issues. Amy pointed out that Molny created a platform at the Aspen Athletic Club and he liked creating platform spaces in his designs. Alex went over the lighting. It is very minimal with two step lights and under the soffit there are two down lights and there is some linear strip lights in the soffit as it meets the glass. Chairperson, Ann Mullins opened the public comment section of the agenda item. There were no public comments. The public comment section of the agenda item was closed. Ann identified the issues: Height of 40 feet approved at conceptual Mechanical Restoration plan Utility trash Parking waiver Front plaza design Jamie thanked the applicant for a good presentation. Jamie said she supports everything staff has put forward. She is in favor of the parking waiver. Her concern is the platform and it should not be left to staff and monitor. It is very important how you access the building and how it is perceived from the streetscape. We also need to know the height elevation changes of the platform. The guardrails are not appropriate in this situation. On the lighting my only concern is what the lineal strip looks like at the soffit. Ann agreed with staff's recommendation. The plaza is extremely important and the original plaza was very simplistic. There is always the option if the monitors can't come to an agreement they can always come back to the board. The applicant has done a beautiful job on the restoration of the building and part of that is the simplicity. The plaza as is detracts from the design. Patrick reiterated Jamie and Ann's concerns. The lighting should be reviewed by staff and monitor. The guardrails are not necessary and there 3 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 27, 2013 should be no wall on the east. Possibly have some more benches facing south. The form of the third floor windows following the original is a good design. Willis said he also agrees with staff's recommendation. The handrail is not appropriate anymore. Molny did do extensions for landscape. The original plaza did come out to the property line and "claimed" the space. This can be handled by two monitors and staff. MOTION: Patrick moved to approve resolution #4 with the seven conditions and that the lineal lighting strip of the soffit be reviewed by staff and monitor. #2 should say prior to the building permit. There should be two monitors and staff. Motion second by Jamie. Motion carried 4-0. Patrick, Jamie, Ann and Willis. Willis and Ann are the monitors. 602 E. Hyman —AspenModern Negotiation for Voluntary Landmark Designation, Conceptual Major Development and Conceptual Commercial Design Review, Parking Waiver, Special Review for Utility/Trash/Recycling Area Debbie commented that the affidavit of posting is in order and the applicant can proceed- Exhibit 1. Amy said the project is an Aspen Modern discussion. The same family owned the property from the mid 1960's until very recently. They have offered to voluntarily designate the building. It was a one story block building built in 1960 and in 1964 a large display window was added. In 1966 there was an addition added running from east to west which has Ellie Brickham name on it. In 1968 the second story was added. Staff feels three of the criteria are met. Ellie Brickam was the first woman architect in Aspen and regarding the criteria it scored 17 out of 20. It doesn't have many alterations. Staff supports designation. The applicant is only asking for a parking waiver and are not asking for anything beyond the normal. The addition on the alley displaces three of the four parking spaces on the alley that they need to have. They are asking that HPC waive the parking fee which is $30,000 per space. Regarding the conceptual design right now it has commercial space in the basement and on the main floor. The upper floor has two residential units. The entire upper floor will become 4 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 27, 2013 residential and leave the commercial space in place. There will be an addition in the back which is mainly circulation and elevator stairs and one enclosed parking space for the residential unit. There isn't quite enough public amenity space on the site now but they are improving the situation and a variance is needed. There is a roof overhang on the west side upper floor and staff would like to see that removed. It doesn't appear to be original. HPC does not typically review color but the black and white color is important to that period. There is currently a second floor deck on the corner of Hyman and Hunter and it has a stair case built to the ground. They propose to remove the stair and bring the deck a little more to its original configuration. This creates the need on the other side of the building for a new deck and a new access to the second floor and staff doesn't support that because it never existed before and it diminished the vertical nature of that fagade. There are some roof monitors proposed on top of the building and they would like to bring in some more light and the monitors are over 4 feet tall and we would like to see that brought down in height. We also do not support the hot tub. The addition covers a large portion of the alley fagade and we would like to see a restudy as to how the old and new attach to each other. Maybe a lighter connection or a hallway rather than have the two collide with each other. Regarding the trash area they have proposed a design that the Environmental Health seems adequate with. Staff recommends continuation because of the design and roof monitors and how the addition connects to the historic building. Sunny Vann —Vann and Associates represented the applicant Dillon Johns, architect Sunny said the history of the project is interesting. The applicant had admired the building and had been a guest in the residential unit. He offered the owner to buy it and they accepted. At the same time the city was in the process of reducing the height in the CC zone district. We put an application together and submitted it the day before the regulations went into effect. The project got approval from P&Z for the commercial design. After closing of the property the owner decided he could fulfill his needs by just remodeling the second floor. This would be less time consuming and less expensive and less impact on a building he liked. The third floor application was withdrawn. He couldn't do what he wanted without designation and the owner has no problem with the preservation of the building. The project is under the FAR and under the maximum height. The public amenity space will increase and as a result we will have a project that is far more 5 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 27, 2013 ambitious. The applicant is requesting a modest addition to the rear of the building and modifications that would enhance the livability of the units. The parking reduction results because of an ADA accessible space in the back. The owner is requesting a parking waiver. This will be a desired example of the AspenModern movement. The unit is 1600 square feet and net livable will be 2300 square feet. We have obtained a TDR to accommodate the expanded unit upstairs. The floor area is a little larger due to the circulation elements but is less than the 3,000 square feet that the zone area allows. Dillon Johns said currently there is an interior court yard between the walls of this building and Charles Cunniff s building next door. This part of town has a significant grade change and we need to address the ADA access. We also do not want to impact the three trees along Hunter St. It is the owner's intention to preserve those trees. The trash area might have a few changes to the width. We have lost some parking by the nature of the ADA ramp. There are no changes to the lower level except an egress that is required. The elevator and stair join the existing north wall of the building. On the ground floor we are adding the elevator, stair and garage. There is some modification to the existing wall to accommodate the elevator and stair. The existing unit runs along half of the building and there is some commercial storage there. The existing deck has been pulled back. There will be a stair on the interior of the east elevation. On the west side not a lot of change. The desire is to keep the white and black color scheme. Dillon did a power point on the proposed changes. Jamie said the south stair will be moved from the west side to the east side. Sunny said there is a wrought iron fence around the courtyard and that area will be cleaned up. We could leave the stair where it is and meet our egress requirements but we have to include the stair in the courtyard below it because we need to get to the basement. The stairs do not stack. The current floor area is 5351 sq.ft. of the overall building and the proposed is 6184 square feet including the addition. The allowable floor area is $15,000 square feet. We are adding 883 square feet mostly for the stair tower and elevator. 6 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 27 2013 Amy said with moving the stair from one side to the other the wrought iron fence might be a Francis Whitaker fence. If it is his the fence should probably stay there. Patrick asked about what is proposed on the roof. Sunny said the roof contains a hot tub and mechanical equipment. Chairperson, Ann Mullins opened the public hearing. There were no public comments. The public comment section of the agenda item was closed. Issues: Designation Restoration issues Design issues Ann commented that the board members agreed that the building should be restored and designated. Patrick said he likes the stairs on the new design on the east. The hot tub should be lowered. Sunny said they can lower the hot tub and we can come up with a better arrangement for the transformer. We can evaluate the fence for final. Jamie said she is fine with the addition in the back as it is minimal. At final we need to look at what the pop ups look like and the fenestration of them. For final you need to look at the public space vs. the private space. This is a great project and we appreciate saving the building. I am OK with cash and lieu but I don't know how much should be waived. Willis said he is fine with the waiver and cash-in-lieu. This is one of the finest buildings in downtown. The huge trees destroy the architecture and it would free up space. It would be great if you could preserve as much as possible that is there. Ann said the building is terrific and I am glad that it is not going to three stories. I support waiving the parking and the cash-in-lieu. You are underutilizing the square footage and you are under the height requirement. I feel we should move forward. 7 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 27, 2013 Sallie said this is a great project and she supports not having to pay the cash- in-lieu. They should get some benefit for saving the building. The addition is in the best place. I would suggest studying the pop ups for final and define what is original and what is new. MOTION: Patrick moved to approve resolution #6 with conditions: Restudy the stairs on the south and restudy the roof monitors. Approve the waiver of cash-in-lieu and we recommend to council designation of the property. The hot tub to be lowered. Motion second by Jamie. Friendly amendment Willis made the amendment to maximumize restoration and minimize the connection to the north elevation, second by Ann. Amendment died. Vote on Motion: Ann, yes; Sallie, yes; Patrick, yes; Willis, no. Motion carried 4-1. MOTION: Jamie moved to adjourn, second by Sallie. All in favor, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m. Kathlee rickland, Chief Deputy Clerk 8