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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.hpc.19800923Historic Preservation Committee September 23, 1980 .,~.,o~o.,~,.~,.,.~.,,,~o.,o~.w. RECORD OF PROC EE DIN GS The Historic Preservation Committee held a regular meeting on September 23, 1980 at 1:00 PM in the City Council Chambers. Members present were Terry End, Mona Frost, Richard Cicero, Georgeann Waggaman, William Clark, Florence Glidden and Marjorie Brenner. Richard Cicero acted as chairman in the absence of Jon Seigle. ~ann~ng staff representative, Sunny Vann, was also present. APPROVAL OF MINUTES One correction was made on the minutes of September 9, 1980. The minutes should have been dated September 9, 1980 instead of September 8, 1980. PROJECT REVIEW 208 E. Main - Preappli- cation Review It was decided to allow Terese David of Terese David's of Aspen to present her case before continuing with the rest of the scheduled agenda. Terese said the work was to be done on her house. She presented a picture of how the house is now and explained that she wanted to move the front door up to the edge of the porch, creatin~ a vestibule. Terese said it would get so cold that it was impossible to heat the front room. There will be glass in the enclosure. The committee agreed that it would look very nice. Richard said that since it was such a limited request, there should be a motion for preliminary and final approval. Terry End made the motion for preliminary and final approval; Marjorie Brenner seconded the motion. Ail in favor, motion carried. NEW BUSINESS 1981 Commercial GMP Applications William Clark explained that during the approval of the three applicants in prior stages of the GMP process, he removed himself from one of the three cases because of a potential conflict of interest as chairman of the Pitkin County Bank. He said that he understood now that: as a result of removing himself, he could not be allowed to participate in the scoring of any of the three appli- cants to the GMP. This was because he might score highez on the one applicant from which he removed himself. He said he did not like the fact that he would be denied participation in the scoring but he respected past practice and would go along with the rules. He stated that he would like to see these rules changed. Sunny Vann said the committee would take the applicants in alphabetical order and the applicants should limit their presentations to fifteen minutes. He said they should confine their comments to those areas that would be scored by the HPC. Primarily, the massing of the building, the choice of exterior building materials, the architectural detailing, color scheme and overall architectural concept. He told the members of the cormmittee that they would score the buildings all at once, after the presentations have been made. Ajax Mountain Associates Axat Russell of Seracuse Lawler & Partners, Inc. made the presentation. He said that the building was the same on~ as presented last year for the 1979 GMP. He said they a~ applying for the other half of the building. There are no changes on the building in exterior appearance. As to the five points which the HPC was scoring; 1) Massing- realizing the building was rising 26,000 feet, they have broken it up both in land and elevation. Axal said they exceeded their open space requirement - in doing so they created an indentation in the project to create a pocket park. 2) Materials - Since the building is already unde~ construction, Axal assumed that most people had seen the color of the brick. He said it is a color similar to the brick used in the Durant-Galena building next door. They tried to blend the building in with the surrounding area. There will be brick, glass and concrete and the builders tried to make the building as inoffensive as RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Mill Street Station possible. 3) Detailing - Axal said they carried their approach in massing a little bit farther in detailing. They broke up the building even farther with masonry - columns, capitals, standals - to break it up in close visual range as well as from farther away. He said they also tried to provide that kind of detail falling into the planter areas. 4) Architectural concept - Axal said this was a contemporary solution to today's problems. He said they have approached it so the building could blend in with the surrounding area. There is quite a variety between modern and traditional and their approach was to try to adapt to all those conditior Richard asked if phase II has changed any and Axal said no. Terry asked what the material on the railing around the building was and Axal said it would be a steel balustrade with wood cap. He said it would be very airy in appearance so people could see through it to the shop~ from the street and vice-versa. Marjorie asked about the trees which were on the side next to La Tortue and Axal said the area was currently demolished all the way to La Tortue. He said he believed they were replacing the area with far more landscaping than was originally there. They will attempt to enhance the color of the building itself with the landscaping, as far as seasonal color. He said they will vary it as far as scale. They will have planter planting which is low-profile and then overstory trees, both in the city sidewalk area and in the planters inside the building. Sunny made a comment that he meant to have in the packets which applies both to the Ajax Mountain building and to the Mill Street building. He said that on the Board guide- lines which have been adopted, the traditional idea is that most buildings do not exceed three city lots. So, one consideration under the massing headline is to take into account the ability of the project to mitigate what amounts to a multiple lot solution. Terry asked about the black piece on the part which is being built now and Axal said it was a solar collector which would aid the heating system of the project. Sunny asked Axal to show how the building related to the adjacent buildings. Axa] said the building would take up the space from the Duranl Galena building to Hunter Street and from Durant to the alley. He said they have met all of the restrictions for heigth limit and view planes. Terry asked about ramps and Axal said they do have a ramp built within the Plaza area. Richard asked about air-handling and Axal said there would be a very minimal amount of air handling. He said there would be one piece of equipment on the roof which will be hidden by a parapet in the back. He said the rest is within the building, in the ceiling itself. An evaporative cooler will be tucked in close to the parapet. He said there will be a bronze tint on the extensive glass in the project, which is non-reflective and will blend in with the other buildings in the area. The aluminum on the building will be a dark brown and will also be non-reflective. Frank Woods said they approached this project with severe considerations. They were dealing with a major elevatior consideration on the Mill Street side and on the Hopkins Street side. They intended to take into consideration what might or might not occur with the Wheeler Opera House addition and they want to connect the addition, if it is built, with the Mill Street Station so that people can pass through. Should it not happen, they have designed the elevation on the alley attractively, keepin~ with the details of the windows of the Wheeler and other similar Victorian scales in Aspen. They,.have also tried to take into consideration the Berkos Studio by setting the whole front of the building 60 feet so that it is in the same plane with Berkos. The bay window of Berkos is actually forward of the plane and sticks out beyond the Mill Street structure. They also kept down the elevation on the Hopkins Street side to make the whole street, which is mainly residential, a one story eleva- tion. By setting the building back, they have allowed the view to be retained as much as possible. They have left a sixty foot opening. Frank said they have taken a building that is now in poor repair and propsed a plan to cover it in a brick veneer tied into the new structure and put in new window openings that are thermal glass as opposed to the single pane which exists today. He said they have had a problem in tearing the building down because it would put the restaurant out of business. The restaurant does not have enough money to build it from the ground. Frank said that in the area of massing~ he could not imagine what more they could have done to take into consideration everyone's needs they are touch- ing on with this project (the Wheeler, Berkos Studios, the fact that Hopkins is low in scale and they have put all of the massing towards the alley.) He said they have worked within those restraints and he believes they have come up with a really feasible solution and a great design which works well with that part of the core. He said this has been a no-mans land within the commercial core up to now. It is just a dirt parking lot and a building which is in substantial need of repair. At this point, Frank turned the floor over to Tim Hagman to talk about the separate points which the committee would be scoring. Tim made a further comment on the massing of the project. He said that their open space, as opposed to surrounding the building or dividing it, would be made into one positively identifiable green area. It would be somewhat passive as opposed to being very open to the street. It will have a potential link to Hyman Street, depending on what happened with the Wheeler addition. It could possibly be used for concert~ during the summer, would include some water and would be an extension in concept of what the mall is right now. He said he understands that Mill Street is never to be made into a mall and they would like to give the mall- feeling in this portion of the city. As to the building materials, they have chosen brick as the primary material for its compatibility with the existing structures. The amount of brick, particularly at the commercial levels, was kept open with a fair amount of glazing such that it didn't become too massive at that level. The glazing and the amount of open space characterizes a lot of the building. The awnings will be included on the Mill and Hopkins sides to maintain the character that is there nov of the covered walkway without actually building a post and beam type of walkway such as exists there now. It will also be reflective of the character of ~he hardware store. At other parts of the structure, they will include a awning of steel that will be permanent that would be of a color that would be backgroundish so it would not stand out. He said these awnings help lower the whole building as well, contributing to the massing they already have. Tim said the planning around the building would be extensive, mainly vegetation. The walking surfaces would be brick with possibly a conser- vative amount of concrete to provide some relief to the expanse of the walking areas. Signing would be handled through the contol of the HPC as well as through the control of the developer. Their approach to how they detailed the building and what they wanted to accomplish there was to keep in consistency the scale that the existing building has now as well as the other buildings which surround the intersection. The detailing around the cap of the building continues all the way around it to knit it together and to provide some consistency as RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Park Place Development to how the people perceive the old building and the new building. By introducing a different colored element on the top, it tends to make the upper level disappear a little bit. Tim said they wanted a relatively simple feeling of detail, they didn't want to overpower the users or the perceivers of the project with extraordinar~ replicas or reproductions of Victorian style details. Tim said they believed the effect of that would be to put the building in more of a background situation, z_~ helping to understate it. He said an overly powerful architectural statement was not their intention. They wanted to focus on the open space and what could be done with the building, also how the users would see the displays. He said the awnings were intended to provide a somewhat light feeling in contrast to the mass of bric~ The railings would be of bronzed anodized, somewhat dark to provide some contrast. The railings would match the window frames to provide a certain level of edging to the brick of the building. Tim said this would, in fact~ help to lighten up the building a little bit. The predominate color, the brick, was intended to be compat- ible with the shade of the Wheeler. It would be a red- brown with a little bit of gray in it. The color of the steel awning over the restaurant would be gray, a very neutral color, intended to understate the upper level of the building. Tim said he felt the architect- ural solution is a very considered and well thought out response to the neighbors. The scale is lower and does not attempt to overpower any of the structures surround+r ing it. He said it presents essentially the same kind of cast as is existing right now. It is also a very strong response to the scale of Hopkins Street. It will not be any higher than the existing building, is lower than the Bank of Aspen and lower than the covered arcade of the hardware store. He believed that their project creates a transition from one of the most massive build- ings in town to the lower scale of Hopkins Street. As well, they wanted to retain the horizontal feeling which exists with the existing building. Sunny reminded the commission that the guidelines which they adopted empha- sizes the fact that all fenestrations, particulary above the first floor, should be expressed in the vertical as opposed to the horizontal. Tom Wells was the representative of Park Place Developers who would like to build on the open space which now exists between the Aspen Leaf building and Guido's. He said that in designing this building they tried to get a rather neutral use of a one stroy brick facade compli- mentary to Aspen Sports, which is directly across the mall and the other horizontal buildings. On the massing of the building, Tom said the second floor was set well back. He said they felt the massing on the alley side was very important because it is a permanent open expo- sure to Rubey Park. As to the exterior detailing, Tom said that on a simple building like this there is not a lot, but there are two details which he felt were quite important. One is an indention in the building. The other is a concrete band across the top. Tom said that all of the colors in the vicinity were taken into consid- eration. The brick will be of a sandy earthstone kind of red. He said it will be a contemporary building, almost hard-edged in some ways, softened by only those few details. Richard asked if they went through PSZ on the height requirements and Sunny said that would be a subsequent plan, if they receive sufficient points on the GMP. Tom said the reason they designed the angle facade, with the indention, was because of the Blue Spruce tree in the front of the lot. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS PROJECT REVIEW Prospector Lodge Public Hearing & Final Approval Sunny reminded the committee that the Prospector Lodge had been in front of the committee once before and had received preapplication approval. After appearing before the HPC, they went before the P&Z because of some view plane and open space restrictions, which were all resolved. Dave Gibson showed some slides which were taken of the model of the proposal held up at the area of the current Prospector, showing how it would look in the vicinity. He wanted to recreate some of the feeling one would get when the building was completed. He said they will retain the Blue Spruces and two of them will become the signal point ot the entrance. There will be some hot tubs on the roof which will not be visible from the street. Terry asked whatlthe "gondola" was next to the chimney on the right side. He said it was a covered stairway. Georgeann thought it might look strange because it was of a different material than the other part of the building, but the applicant said no, it was the same material but it could look strange because of the light. He said the mair roof is 7 feet below the Snowflake line, 10 feet below the Park Central building and 10 feet below the Crystal Palace. The parking garage is 16 feet below the ground level. He believed that the most important thing for the City was that the pedestrian sidewalk would now be continuous. Dave then showed a model of the proposal. He said that since the committee had seen it last, there have been a couple of minor changes but no major changes. The first was to reduce the massing in an area which intrudes into the viewplane and maintain the existing non-conformity which is created by the existing Prospec- tor. They have sacrificed!two units and made one of them into a small unit.again. They have added a trash receptical to go on the alley side and have enlarged the lobby in response to PSZ's suggestions. The lobby was enlarged to about three times what it was. Bill asked how much bigger the footprint of this building was than the existing lodge and Dave thought it was about ~6 or 17 feet. Bill then asked about the cottonwood tree that is on the building site, Dave said that was one tree they could not save and Bill said there was a City ordinance against cutting it down. Dave said that since there is one unit less than what is already there, they do not fall under the GMP. Bill asked why the owner is building this, and Dave said it was because he wants to create a lodge that is up to the standards that Aspen wants and needs. He said that it will be a totally new building, completely tearing down the one that is there now. Bill asked if there was any historical value in the existing lodge. Sunny said it was one of our first lodges but he could understand their desire to upgrade it. Dave said the existing lodge was sadly under code. There was some discussion at this time about the "gondola" or covered stairway. Dave said that what they were doing was taking a lodge with substandard rooms and one good point, a fireplace a lounge and repla- cing it with every room having its own fireplace. Bill said he wished Dave would find out about that tree becaus if they can't cut that tree down, it would completely change the design. Dave said if they didn't cut it down, they couldn't have a parking garage or a basement. B±ll said that didn't justify the removal of the tree. Richard asked if there was any limitation as to the amount of fireplaces in a lodge and Sunny said he didn't know of one. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS The meeting was opened to the public at this point. There were no public comments at this time so the meeting was closed to the public. Bill asked if the owner intends to proceed with the project this year and the awnser was yes. Mona asked about Bill's objections to the project and he said he had objections to the whole building and would express it in his vote when the motion is made. Georgeann asked everyone, infor- mally, their opinions on the gondola. She wanted to know if it was worth taking another look at. Her feel- ing was to let it go ahead and let it go through the rest of the bureaucracy and then have them come back and let the committee take another look. She would like to see what the gondola would look like with an open area rail or something, but she doesn't think it is a good reason to deny them completely. Florence agreed absolutely, she wished something could be done to it. Dave said he could proably treat that stairway the same as the one on the other side of the building. Georgeann made a motion that the committee accept the materials and design on the Prospector Lodge as shown except that when they come to submit their working drawings they would like to see some design alternative for the top of the stairs going to the hot tubs. Florence seconded the motion. Mona Frost, Florence Glidden, Georgeann Waggaman and Marjorie Brenner approved, Richard Cicero and Bill Clark disapproved and Terry End abstained. Bill Clark told the committee his opinion at this point. He felt the owner of the property desired to make some- thing more economic out of what he bought. He thinks that waht he has done was maximize the use of the prop- erty by doubling the amount of space on that property covered by buildings. It appears that he has met the open space requirement along the alley, which is no big deal and it joins Wagner Park, so it's lost. He is also concerned about the use of rooftops in this area for hot tubs, pools, etc. He said he could see a lot of frolicing around on the rooftop and he hates to see that be a stimulus for proliferation of similar uses in the downtown area. He thinks its dangerous and he is not sure that is a good addition to the Aspen lifestyle. Bill also said he has a personal objection to the facade of the building, principally the stairway treatment on the front of the building. There was some discussion as to Terry's abstention. According to the City code, an abstention is counted along with the majority vote. Mona asked her if she wanted to revote. Terry said she had not realized that Richard voted no. She asked Sunny what would happen if they did not pass it. He said it either dies at that point or they re-enter the process and try again. He said if she has a serious concern as to why she voted no, she should indicate to the applicant why she voted no, her problems with the design, so he can rectify that problem. Terry said the massing of the building, in relation to the rest of the downtown area, bothers her. Georgeann made a comment at this time. She said that we hear in the paper and from other people, all of the time, that the quality of the lodges in Aspen is disintegrating, especially those around the central core. She said they are so old, and we throw so many wedges into the process so it is almost impos- sible for the people to develop them. Terry changed her vote from abstaining to approval on the condition that the applicant comes back with a very good solution to the covered stairway "gondola." She had no particular objection to the hot tubs. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS The meeting was adjourned at 3:20 PM. Robin R. Berry Deputy City Clerk