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0042.2009.ASLU/PUD Amendment Summary.doc
Insubstantial PUD Amendment Application
for Top of Mill Affordable Housing Residences Unit A
Owners: Austin and Rebecca Weiss
922 South Mill St.
Unit A
Aspen, CO 81611
970-544-4731
Project Summary
Jennifer Phelan, AICP
Deputy Director
Community Development Department
City of Aspen
130 S. Galena Street
Aspen, CO 81611
RE: Insubstantial PUD Amendment
My wife and I are applying for a Insubstantial PUD Amendment for our residence at 922 South Mill St. Unit A. We have included both existing and proposed elevation drawings of our home.
We are asking for permission to add several windows to the west side of our home and one additional window on the south side of the building.
The Top of Mill Affordable Housing Residences were built into the hillside along the east side of Mill St. The majority of our lower level is beneath the existing grades and there is
only one window on the entire level that allows daylight to enter the house. This window is only 19" X 19" and is located adjacent to our front door. Each bedroom located on the
first floor has a window that looks into 16’ deep window wells; consequently, these bedrooms are very dark. Essentially very, very little natural light enters the entire lower level
of our home. Of the windows we propose to add or change, the following two will greatly increase the amount of natural light for the lower level of the home: the square window (window
A) adjacent to the front entry and the large, rectangular window (window C) on the second floor which will daylight the stairway and lower level halls.
Features of the landscape further dictate certain design elements of our building which have limited windows on the second level to north and west aspects. The large window in the master
bedroom which faces south is placed so high in the wall that one cannot look directly outside through it (placement of this window matches the height of the wall along the back of the
building). Therefore, we would like to open up more views and light on the aspects where we can have windows at normal height placements.
Window C, located in our living room would open up views of Shadow Mountain, and would also increase daylight into our main living space.
Window B is proposed to become a square (smaller than the original) simply because our piano will go there, as it is the only spot along a living room wall where there is no baseboard
heat.
Window E is proposed because it would add light and views to a dark part of the master bedroom.
In our research, we pulled the Top of Mill PUD to see what was originally recorded with the development (See attached exhibit, Book 62, Page 4). To the best of our knowledge, it looks
as if the recorded elevation drawings are not what was actually built. Recorded in the PUD are elevation drawings labeled ‘North’ and ‘South.’ The view labeled ‘South’ is actually
the west side of our condo.
The improvements we are proposing are in keeping with both the character of the original development as well as the City of Aspen’s Design Review Standards. These windows will not span
through the second floor level and all are orthogonal in design. We are simply adding more windows to the west and south aspects, and we are proposing to use the same type of windows
that were used in the original construction. Where possible we will re-use windows that are being moved.