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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.hpc.20141119 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2014 Vice-chair Willis Pember called the meetingto order at 5:00 .m. P Commissioners in attendance were Sallie Golden, Nora Berko, Jim DeFrancia and Patrick Sagal. John Whipple was absent. Staff present: Debbie Quinn, Assistant City Attorney Amy Simon, Preservation Planner Sara Adams, Senior Planner Kathy Strickland, Chief Deputy Clerk MINUTES: Nora moved to approve the minutes of October 22, second by Jim. All in favor, motion carried. 135 E. Cooper— Minor Development— Continue the public hearing to April 8, 2015 Jim made the motion to continue the public hearing for 135 E. Cooper to April 8, 2015, second by Willis. All in favor, motion carried. • 232 E. Bleeker— Conceptual Major Development, On-Site Relocation, Demolition of Existing Garage and Variances, Continue the public hearing to December 10, 2014 Jim made the motion to continue 232 E. Bleeker to Dec. 10°2014, second by Willis. All in favor, motion carried 113 W. Hopkins —Minor Development, Public Hearing Debbie said the applicant left the affidavit at the office. Kim Raymond stated it was posted within 15 days of the meeting. Kim said she can provide the notice to the Clerk's office tomorrow and the photograph. Amy said the property is facing Paepcke Park and it is a Victorian era house that has had a number of expansions and alterations made to it. On the east side of the house there is a lower roof section. At some point the historic pitch was extended out toward the rear to create a kitchen and the head height is very low. The applicant would like to change the roof pitch and in 1 I�EE ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2014 doing so staff is looking to re-establish the original historic corner of the building. The applicant would like to change.the roof pitch over the kitchen. to try and show new and old. Staff recommends approval as drawn. Kim said the building is facing Paepcke Park. On the back side there is a little flat roof which is the original roof on the back side of the building. `We would like to take off the sloping roof. We would take the existing wall and move it in six inches to expose the corner of the original building. By doing that we will brace under the foundation and add more framing under the wall and add a flat roof a little taller above that. It will be taller but under the existing gable ridge. The windows would be replaced with the same proportion but slightly taller when the roof goes up. It would take six square feet off the building. Patrick this would be a good time to be able bring the side back so that both sides are at the correct pitch. Amy said the piece to the right might be original. The owner is not changing anything else. • Willis opened the public hearing. There were no public comments. The public hearing was closed. MOTION: Jim moved to approve resolution #34 for the minor development on 113 W. Hopkins subject to the conditions recommended by staff; second by Nora. Roll call vote: Sallie, yes; Jim, yes; Willis, yes; Nora, yes; Patrick, yes. 232 E. Main Street— Planned Development— Project Review, Growth Management, Conceptual Commercial Design, Conceptual Major Development in a Historic District, Waivers and Variances Willis said there was an inquiry at the attorney's office over a conflict of interest. Howie Mallory submitted a letter stating a position on this application and the inquiry was regarding Nora's potential for conflict of interest based on her relationship with Howie and it was looked into by the attorney's office and reviewed and it was found that there was no conflict of interest. Nora is independent and can make up her own opinions and that • she can be fair and impartial in this situation. 2 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19 2014 Debbie said our determination was that Nora can be fair and impartial despite the fact that her husband took a position in this case. Debbie reviewed the affidavit of publication as well the affidavit of post, mailing of notice and neighborhood outreach. Mitch Haas said the neighborhood outreach is the same thing that is being presented with a few additional things. Debbie said the notice has been appropriately provided, Exhibit I. Sara said the proposed development has a gas station and a small commercial building on the property. The property is about 6,000 square feet and located in the mixed use historic district. You are asked to make a recommendation to city council on all aspects of the project. The applicant has requested that all the reviews be consolidated at city council which is a way to streamline the process. The proposal is for a three story lodge building, commercial on the first floor and 40 lodge rooms at 180 square feet in size. There is also roof deck proposed as the public amenity space for the • project. It is proposed to be publicly accessible. Variations are also being requested. The purpose of the project review is to use the underlying zone district as a guide which is the mixed use zone district and to ensure that the proposal fits into the context of the neighborhood. To summarize the variances they are requested height variances, floor area, parking waiver, a waiver of affordable housing and a waiver of impact fees. All the waivers will be decided by city council. The location of the project is a very transitional location. It is where the mixed use zone district turns into the commercial core historic district. Each have very different dimensional requirements for their zone district. In the commercial you can have a 0 setback in the commercial core, a ten foot front yard setback for the mixed use zone district and height in the mixed use is between 28 and 32 feet. The height for the commercial core is between 38 and 40 feet. This is important because we are in a transitional location and we are talking about context. How can this development play into the transition of the downtown commercial core. Staff is supportive of the small lodge rooms that are proposed and supportive of the location for this project, commercial on the first floor and lodging on the upper floors. We are also supportive of the design. We find that the gabled roof and flat roof and the punched window openings are reminiscent of historic resources that you find in the mixed use zone district and downtown. We are recommending that the mass and scale 3 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2014 • be reduced. This is a challenging context. The Cortina lodge which is adjacent should be taken into account for some sort of height reduction. The applicant will present new design studies that would reduce the height. Staff is recommending continuation until Dec. 3r1. HPC is also being asked to make a recommendation on growth management review and the demolition. Staff is in support of the demolition. Regarding growth management mitigation instead of using the lodge generation rate use the lodge preservation rate which results in a smaller number of FTE that are generated which is 2.98 to 1.78. Jim asked about the setbacks and parking reduction. Sara said staff is supportive of the zero setbacks that are being requested. The Cortina Lodge also has a zero front yard setback. They are also asking for zero parking. Staff is in support of a parking reduction. They are working with the City to develop some alternative parking options. Possibly having some parking spaces reserved in the parking garage. Patrick inquired about the height in different zone districts. Sara said mixed use is 28 feet and 32 feet can occur through commercial design review. The request is for a planned development approval. Mark Hunt, applicant Mitch Haas, Haas Planning Charles Cunniffe, Cunniffe Architects Jay Maytin Spiro Tsaparas Mark said they are proud of the design and we feel it pays respect to the West End. Mitch said this is a redevelopment for a straight lodge. There.is no free market component on this project and no fractional ownership interest being sold. The average square unit is less than 190 square feet. The project requires several variances which is typical in Aspen. All the spaces in the project are open to the public except for the actual lodge rooms. The roof top terrace is open to the public, the restaurant and retail and lower amenities • are also open to the public. If you want to watch the 4th of July parade the decks are open. We are looking for a fun atmosphere. The proposal is for 4 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19,.2014 37 rooms. In the lodge preservation the employee generation is .3 employees per room. Using the .3 employees and sticking with the standard generation rates for the commercial spaces we came up with a total employee generation of 17.1 total employees. Given the size of our rooms being under 300 net livable square feet the code provides that the mitigation is 10%. Our total mitigation is essentially 1.7 employees. We are proposing that the 1.7 employees not be mitigated by city council. We will have two of these lodges with overlap of employees. The HPC is allowed to reduce an employee generation requirement contributable to a free market residential component. We are asking that you reduce the lodging component by 1.7 employees to get us down to not having a mitigation requirement for employees. Affordable lodging is one of council's ten goals. We are not providing on-site parking. The lot is essentially 6,000 square feet and you can't ramp down. The parking requirement is 21 1/2 parking spaces. The code could be as low as 19 parking spaces. Clearly we can't provide it on- site and we have been working with the city to use to potentially use some of the city's parking. We have been told that 45 spaces could be available for the two lodges in the fall, spring and winter seasons and '/2 that-in the summer season. The cross town shuttle picks up at the site. Bus passes will be provided for the employees and we will have a bike share program. We are trying to reduce the auto dependency. Mitch said the Floradora and Smith Elisha house are at approximately 38 feet to the ridge height. 7" and Main affordable housing is at three stories and the Jewish Community Center's height is at 40 feet. The Christiana and. Hotel Jerome are both higher buildings. The streetscape will greatly be improved with the wide sidewalks detached from the curbs. On Monarch there will be two parking spaces for pickup and drop off. The roof top terrace will triple the open space amenity. There is also a variance requested for the trash area. The standard is 20 feet wide by ten feet deep. We are 15 feet wide by 20 feet deep. Our proposal is 300 square feet. We are trying to bring back the younger demographic. Mark Hunt went through the prospectives. We have taken off the third floor of the transition piece next to the Cortina Lodge. We have made a gesture from the roof less of a pitch on the west side. The top of Car's pharmacy aligns up with the ridge. We are using handmade brick with different dimensions and corten steel. We are asking for concessions from the city and we are excited and proud of what we are putting in front of you. We are • anxious to hear all the opinions. 5 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2014 Jay Maytin said he asked Mark to join his team because we need these lodges and there are huge benefits for your community. A lodge should be able to sustain itself without the residential financial engine. I know of no developer presenting without the need of the penthouse or home. We have been sold on the fact that projects cannot be done without the need of the penthouse or home. This proposal has no private areas and provides a lodge for the community and our visitors to stay in a moderate facility not found anywhere else in Aspen. The requirement of the height is for the public. The city often grants approval of penthouses on top of projects to keep the commercial rentals inexpensive. The variances will benefit everyone. In my r experience in attending HPC and City Council meetings the direction has been to get rid of those private components which increase mass, scale and height. Mark is bringing forward a proposal that fits the direction of our community needs and the Aspen.Area Community plan and it fill the gap with real affordable accommodations. A sky lodge or two. These lodges will create skier interaction. People staying there will use the common areas and will create social energy that this town lacks. The rooms are small so the visitor will be out spending money in our community. This lodge will • create return visitors and a new crop of aspen vacationers, a younger crowd that can grow old while coming to Aspen year after year. Off- season visitors will have a cheaper place to stay. Our community needs more beds. Mark is offering something back to your community. This proposal does not compete with any other business. The two lodges will create the demographic diversity that our town lacks. Jim inquired about the materials. Mark said the lower level is glass which is the base of the building which is meant to read lighter. Then there is poured formed concrete. The heavy part of the roof is corten steel. The inlay is a handmade brick. Sallie asked where the 19 parking spaces will go. Mitch Haas said they would go in the parking garage. People can walk back and forth or use the shuttle service. Sallie said the ski teams etc. could be driving in.due to the cost of a plane • ticket. 6 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2014 Mark said the parking garage is under utilized. This can be a win win for the city. Sara said a recommendation would be made to city council that the off-site parking be addressed and then city council would work out the conditions and it would be in their approval. Mitch also said lodges can get lodge parking permits that allow guests to park up to a week at a time in any residential zone. Nora inquired about the function of the fourth floor. Mark said it is a gathering space that utilized the peak of the roof. It is an open roof. Nora said it is impossible to park in the West End already. It would be helpful to have the garage arrangement in place before approval is given. If height is an issue can some of the commercial be taken out and the building be scaled down to three stories. • Charles said when you look at the entire project you need to look at the proportions and shape and scale. If it becomes squatty you lose the design. Mark said you could knock off the peak and have a flat roof and hit the 32 foot height. In this design the peak is appropriate. Charles said if that was done you would lose the uniqueness of the building. Typically it is 15 square feet per person on the roof and there is a regulation from the fire department as to how many people could be on the roof. The roof could hold around 180 people. Patrick said if the roof is open you will get the west wind in the afternoon that will keep the roof top cold. Possibly the parapet could be changed in a different direction. Willis asked about the ceiling heights. Charles said the heights are 12 feet on the first floor, floor to floor. 7 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2014 Mark said food and beverage would be on the ground floor in order to service the rooms. There would also be athletic and ski type retail included. Vice-chair, Willis Pember opened the public hearing. Ben Genshaft, representing Monarch Holdings LLC and Dr. Joseph Chalal Ben said he represents the two owners on 117 N. Monarch. It is a-duplex condominium first and second floor. It is directly on the other side of the alley from the development. My clients are the most effected by the development. Their homes will be in the shadow of this building. They are also concerned about the neighborhood and the mass and scale and height is too big. This building will be very visible coming into Aspen and there is a lot of traffic around this corner. Even if there was a five foot setback in the rear would be very important to my clients just to give some space. My clients request that the setback not be waived. The roof top as a public amenity is also a concern and the public might have a difficult time finding their way to the third floor. My clients respectfully request that the project be denied. Craig Cordts Pearce said he has lived here for 20.years. Craig said he is excited about that corner being alive and have energy and action. This development will bring young people to Aspen and see apres skiing again. I don't want that corner to have development that is boring. Justin McDuffy said he has been a bar tender in Aspen for 8 years. He came to this meeting out of curiosity. There are not a lot of youth in town in the tourist industry. The idea of this would do a nice job of being able to stem some.of that and bring some people in that are younger and bring tourist that will come years to come. The building is very nice and neighbors will be affected by it but you can't have everything. This will be a great addition. Mak Keeling said he has been a resident in the valley for ten years. There are multiple things about this project that I enjoy. The openness to the community is pleasing. The roof top is great. There are plenty of buildings coming from the S curves that are drastically taller and some are shorter. This building gives the north side of the road character. This is an excellent transition. Kim Raymond said the concept of the lodge and the affordable lodging is a great idea. The concern is being consistent with all the projects. All the 8 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2014 parking requirements and variances that are required for the different projects should be consistent. A project a block away from here asked for one car parking variance and didn't get it. This is a busy corner and the parking is a big thing to keep in mind. Working with the city and the Rio Grande parking is a good concept but as Sallie said most people staying in affordable lodging will be driving into town. With the parking garage you get ten or twelve parking spaces for each lodge which is not even half of what they are required to provide. I feel the building is tall with no setbacks and maybe it can be set back a little bit. Carl Bergman said he is the neighbor to the east. I have lived her since 1963 and my game is.retail 100%. The main objections are the height and the parking. This lodge will take away our parking on the side of Carl's. This project is going to put my business out of business which is Carl's pharmacy. All the lodges along Main Street have their own parking. Katie Bergman said the parking is our main concern. Bleeker Street is full all the time with the two hour parking. Who is going to make sure people use the parking spaces at the garage. What happens when there aren't any parking spaces left in the Rio Grande Parking garage. It will take service people to make this happen. We are one of the few businesses in town that try to have the needs in the store that people want. Jeff Warner said creating an open space and retail on the lower is a good idea. A partially covered roof top is a good amenity.Jeff inquired about the parking. Sara said for commercial you are required to have one space per 1,000 square feet of net leasable but you can also pay out of that if you are in the commercial core. For lodging it is 1/2 space per unit. Terry Butler said she owns the Residence Hotel and has been in town for 47 years. My lodge is the smallest lodge in Aspen. I have no parking. I have lived in the hotel for 26 years and own and operate it but I do not own the building and have a 50 year lease. I have watched downtown become a second and third floor empty 16 million pent house arena. Without even trying I can come up with 13. There is nothing this developer or another developer coming into town that we are all going to be happy with. This is going to be a compromise. I also agree that the parking has to be looked.it. It is so nice to have somebody build something in town that doesn't have all 9 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2014 • the 16 million dollar empty pent houses on the top floor. As far as the youth in my hotel I always try to keep one room under $300. I have 8 suites and it is not easy staying in business. I have tried to train my people to fly in and take a cab. We use the parking garage a lot and it is underused. We aren't getting everything we want and at one point in time we have to decide which developer is perhaps better than the next one coming or is the one we got in front of us about as good as it is going to get. We need to be realistic at looking at these things or we can just continue to look at the gasoline station which wasn't even pretty when they built it 60 years ago. We need to be for something and not always against it. Mark Hesselschwertz said this is his 44 ski season. I am a fan of Mr. Cunniffe's architecture. The applicant is trying to figure out what to do with a 6 million dollar piece of realestate. The roof top public amenity is not going to be used by the public except for the 4 of July parade. The roof top deck is going to be in the view of the people to the north. The snow coming off that roof top is going to be falling on the heads of everyone on the sidewalk. The mass and scale is inappropriate for this mixed use zone. I love the idea of a lodge for ski bums and the idea of having affordable lodging. Parking is a huge problem. It is very busy here in the summer and it is impossible to come into town with a car in the summer: Jim Ferry said he has been coming here for 8 years. Jim said he has know the Hunt's for 15 years and the possibility of having more hotel rooms in Aspen is nothing but good. As far as their attention to detail and how that building will look as a gateway coming into Aspen you are in good hands. Sara said Mary Hayes relayed that she is against the roof deck because it makes it four stories. The second point is that the basement should be parking because the surrounding streets are full already. Exhibit II Letter from Howie Mallory, Junee Kirk, Joseph Chalal, Jim Smith, Phyllis Bronson, Steve Goldenberg, Walt Madden Paul Auvil, John Fezza, Ben Genshaft and Monarch Holdings LLC. Charles said we have lost fun places in town as new development excludes the young and restless that come to Aspen to party. This is like a starter lodge for the young and young families. Every other business will benefit. 10 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2014 Mitch said there is a whole chapter in the Aspen Area Plan that talks about getting rid of our auto dependency. There is another chapter on economic sustainability. This is-a great opportunity to get affordable lodging. The rooms are 190 square feet. Carl's parking is not Carl's parking it is in the public right-of-way. No project in Aspen is going to make everyone happy. Mark Hunt said the fact is this property isn't going to be a gas station. I don't think a 5 foot setback in the back is going to make a difference. I understand that parking is important and that people are going to drive here. We are addressing the parking and it isn't onsite. It is a 59 foot lot and we couldn't park on this lot if we wanted to by the time you tried to ramp in. An elevator would be more taxing on the alley. The location is in the downtown. The people will get their car valeted and they won't see their car until they leave town. This town is interesting and you go one block in any direction and it's a completely different neighborhood. It is not logical to think that we can put 21 1/2 cars on this site. We all need to be glad that town is busy otherwise we wouldn't have the things that are available to us like the ARC, school, etc. I was asked to put my best foot forward and I am not nervous about my investors. Regardless or not if this building ever gets built I'm proud of it and I feel we did a good job. I do hope we get a chance to building it but if this isn't what this community wants we aren't going to force it down someone's throat. Willis closed the public hearing. Willis identified the issues: Waivers and impact fees Parking Affordable housing mitigation as it relates to GMQS Dimensional variances on all four sides Mass and scale Height Sara said council will look strongly on HPC's design recommendations since that is typically your role in the process. Willis said regarding the waivers, impact fees and affordable housing mitigation I am all for giving monetary benefits for bringing forward such a unique and creative project. The project avoids penthouses and affordable housing stuck in a dark corner and it is designed as a single program and that hasn't been done since the 70's. This is astounding and it will be generating 11 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2014 a lot of excitement at that corner. The rooms are small and it will be a starter lodge. As for the noise and roof top deck people have been used to power tools generating from the garage for many years. It is not our purview to solve acoustic issues. People always get upset with the height but the form and representation comes first. The form is vernacular, industrial and cool and at the same time has a hipster appeal. Variations in design is what creates the excitement throughout the town. The entrance on Monarch is appropriate. We can't solve the parking tonight and it will take some time. We are getting so much here and it is commendable. Jim said you get an affordable lodge but where are you going to eat. In the winter the driving range is reduced to 350 miles which barely gets you past Denver out to Limon. I find the request for the waivers questionable as they relate to affordable lodging. Is the affordable lodging truly addressing the public need. The affordability is going to drive the parking issues. The board needs to see a vehicle access plan. The height is no issue but the mass could be softened up some. The snow sliding off the roof and how that will be dealt with needs addressed. • Sallie said this is not the venue for personal attacks. If we can relieve fees that cut down on the impact I am all for that. The architecture is fine. At the next meeting the snow issue needs addressed and possibly look at a five foot setback on the back. This is a good project. The parking also needs to be further reviewed. Nora said we all applaud the concept. The mass and scale is an issue and the building is too big for the lot and doesn't fit on the site. Setbacks are in place for the livability of the neighbors and waiving them doesn't do anyone a favor and it makes it unlivable for everybody. This is a mixed use zone and transition is not the zoning. The project should adhere to the dimensions that are in the zoning which is mixed. It breaks the Smuggler ridge line as you come into town and you can no longer see Smuggler. The landmarks on either side need respected. The parking at the Rio Grande needs to be a condition. The building should come back with the mixed us dimensional requirements. Patrick thanked,the public for coming. The fee waivers are OK and the Cortina side elevation is fine. The people behind are going to have a 25 foot wall either five feet away or on the alley. On the Monarch side and Main side should have the face changed so that it isn't a solid wall. Possibly Ski 12 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2014 Co. could partner with the developer on both the properties in the hopes of making a package deal for those coming to stay at the lodge. The pitched roof is appropriate but council can decide if they want a pitched roof or flat roof. MOTION: Jim moved to continue 232 E. Main to December 3rd. second by Sallie, All in favor, motion carried. MOTION: Jim moved to adjourn, second by Patrick. All in favor, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m. Kathy Strickland, Chief Deputy Clerk\. • 13