Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.hpc.20070711 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF JULY 11. 2007 405 Gillespie - 707 N. Third ..............................................................................................3 ASPEN JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER - recommendation ....................................... 4 435 W. Main - variance......................................................................................................5 500 W. Francis - Minor Development ............................................................................... 6 208 E. Hallam - Frost Barn FAR bonus .............................................................................7 1 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF JULY 11.2007 Chairperson Jeffrey Halferty called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.rn. Commissioners in attendance: Brian McNellis, Sarah Broughton and Michael Hoffman. Alison Agley was excused. Staff present: Amy Guthrie, Historic Preservation Officer Sara Adams, Historic Preservation Planner Kathy Strickland, Chief Deputy City Clerk Jim True, Special Counsel Disclosure: MOTION: Brian moved to approve the minutes of May 9th as amended by Michael and the minutes of May 23rd; second by Sarah. All in favor, motion carried. Staff comments: Amy summarized Ordinance #30. Any property that becomes 30 years of age, in whole or part you cannot make exterior alterations. You cannot apply for a building permit or landuse review until you have gone through a screening to determine if there is an historic resource on the site. The screen starts with Chris Bendon and he will apply the landmark criteria. Ifhe determines that there is nothing there eligible we will inform council and HPC and you have seven days to object otherwise we will give the property owner a letter that is good for five years that says we are not talking about this. If there is something worth evaluating we will initiate a landmark application. Amy said we think there are about 120 total properties that are potentially significant but there is no list that has any status. Properties will be dealt with case by case. HPC commissioners were disturbed because they were not brought into the loop. They did not know how to react when people asked them about the ordinance. They are against the process as to how it came into place. The board also felt that it should not have been brought in as an emergency ordinance. Sarah commented that at our last work session it was brought up by Rachel Richards about updating the list and informing the homeowners of their potential landmark status. That seemed like a proactive approach and what we have created is an alarmist situation. . 2 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF JULY 11. 2007 Michael said the ordinance pushes back the time period at which something can be considered historic from 40 years to 30 years. It doesn't automatically create new historic structures. It creates a process to identify those properties. Brian commented that he also is concerned about the process and will review the ordinance. Jeffrey and Michael said in 1999 that whole symposium was about creating a more proactive symbolic relationship between the public and the private sector when it came to property rights. We just took a few steps back. We need to revise our guidelines incredibly to help with this process. 405 Gillespie -707 N. Third Amy said staff is not in agreement regarding the material selection for the roof. Carol Craig has a Victorian in the West End and right now it has a wood shingle roof on it. It has been remodeled and there are odd roof junctures and it is leaking. Staff said they would be willing to sign off on wood shingles or asphalt shingles but she would prefer metal. Carol Craig said her house has been leaking for five years and every year she got it re-shingled and she is fed up as it started leaking again. On the ranch at Woody Creek she has a metal roof and they don't have to worry about the pro-panel. Carol presented two types of metal roofs that would be acceptable to her. The color would be dark. Jeffrey inquired about the process that the roofer used. Carol said the roof put a rubber under liner on but it still leaks in one particular place. Sara said it seems to be in a joint in a comer. Carol said she took many pictures of the leak and the leak is in one of the valleys. She would also like to put more insulation in the roof at the same time. Brian said the wooden shingles are a great character to the house and he would hate to loose them. Brian said he is sympathetic to the problem because he has dealt with it in the past. The pro-panel could compound the problem the way it is installed with rivets. 3 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF JULY 11. 2007 Jeffrey said there are numerous Victorian's that have rooflines and valleys that do not leak. Since it is happening in the same location it sounds like there is a detail that is being missed. Amy pointed out that there is a flat roof in the house and it is almost like there is a little swimming pool up there. Jeffrey and Sarah offered to meet with the contractor and owner on site to see if they can meet the owner's objective and still keep the historic character of the roof. Carol said the contractor was Shane Stevenson construction. ASPEN JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER - recommendation Amy said there are three cabins that are to be relocated. In the approval the condition was that three cabins be relocated pending the approval of a specific site. In the packet are lists of property owners. who are interested in the cabins. In general the Parks Dept. is not thrilled to continue to be the focus of landing various historic buildings. If at all possible the three cabins should be kept together but that might not happen. What are the areas that HPC wants us to concentrate on: Should they be designated if a private property owner takes them? Can they be hooked together, and can they be out of the City. Lennie Oates said they have been working on the cabin issues and would like some feedback. If all three cabins were to be required to be on the same property that would complicate the task unless you were willing to look at the link idea or the Aspen Camp School for the deaf who might be interested in the cabins. If they were designated it would be the cabin only not the entire property. Sarah suggested looking at the area behind the Red Brick and possibly they could be turned into an art studio. Jeffrey suggested that they have public visibility and a plaque with the history of the cabin on it. They could be used as a shelter for the golf course. 4 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF JULY 11. 2007 Michael's feeling is that they be visible, preserved and maintained. A commitment from the land owner to preserve them for some period of time should be drawn up. If they are out of the City maybe a deed restriction could be attached. Sarah said it would be best if they could be used and not be a gardening shed. 435 W. Main - variance Affidavit of posting - Exhibit I Amy said at the final review for the Jewish Center there was the expectation of a setback request on the west end of the site related to the playground due to the slope and the drop in grade from west/east. They tried very hard to have the building all in one level for accessibility, safety etc. You cannot have something that lowers or raises grade within the setback more than 30 inches. IfHPC did not grant the variance it would limit the use of the playground. In terms of the review standards staff feel the variance should be granted because the whole idea of the project was to be respectful of the height and the grade conditions of the cabins and that has been respected. Suzanne Richmond, landscape architect Design Workshop. The area is basically five feet from the property along the length of the playground. With the variance the playground can remain on one level. The variance goes from 30 to 48 inches along Fourth Street. Also, in order to preserve the spruce tree we n~ed to keep the grade higher. Michael asked what the purpose of the regulation was. Amy said it is to eliminate activity in the perimeter of the property. Chairperson Jeffrey Halferty opened the public hearing. Cheryl Goldenberg ask for clarification. Suzanne explained that there will be a wall and a fence along the sidewalk and it will be on the inside of the fence and shrubs. The fence design has not been determined. Dan McCartney, neighbor asked if the very old lilac bushes will be taken out. Susanne said the lilac bushes under the spruce tree will stay and the ones along the alley will be removed and placed on the site at a later date. 5 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF JULY 11.2007 The public hearing portion ofthe agenda item was closed. Brian pointed out that a section drawing would have been helpful. Michael said the change in grade are based on the preservation of the historic cabins and because of that constraint this variance is necessary and thereby mitigates an adverse impact that would otherwise exist to the historic structure. MOTION: Michael moved to approve Resolution # 31 approving the setback variance on the west side of 435 W. Main Street, second by Sarah. Roll call vote: Brian, yes; Sarah, yes; Michael, yes; Jeffrey, yes. Motion carried r 500 W. Francis - Minor Development Sara explained that the applicant wants to replace all of the windows that are on the carriage house. Staff recommended that double hung windows be the replacement window. HPC should discuss the window on the second story above the door on the east elevation. We have not been able to find any photographs of what was there historically. Staffrecommends approval with conditions: I. The windows be replaced as double hung windows. 2. Second story window be replaced with a style approved by HPC. 3. The windows on the north can remain the same style. Trevor Everett represented the owner. It is our intent to replace the windows on the carriage house. The window in the upper east elevation has a couple of challenges. The window is right at the top of a set of stairs and a child could fall through it. We need to make it a tempered glass and we are proposing a mullion down the middle merely to add strength. We could make it an awning style or double hung and just make the top operable. Chairperson, Jeffrey Halferty opened the public hearing. There were no public comments. The public hearing portion of the agenda item was closed. MOTION: Sarah moved to approve Resolution #32 for 500 W. Francis with the following changes: #2 condition states that the second story window will be placed as exhibited tonight, as a double hung. Motion second by Brian. All in favor, motion carried 4-0. 6 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF JULY 11. 2007 208 E. Hallam - Frost Barn FAR bonus Exhibit I - affidavit Sara said this request for 120 square foot bonus is a little different than your normal request because the barn has already been rehabbed. The property will voluntarily forfeit the remaining 380 square feet of the FAR bonus if the 120 square foot bonus is granted and that will be contingent on the establishment of buy TDR certificates. The bonus is needed to convert the garage into living space. There is 1,147 square feet of un-built FAR remaining on the property. Staff finds that this request meets the criteria for a bonus. By granting the 120 sq. ft. the applicant is able to establish one more TDR. If the bonus is granted they forfeit 380 square feet of the remaining bonus and they sever the five TDR's then there will be 17 square feet of un-built FAR on the property. Basically the way you see the barn is the way it will remain and staff feels this is a great preservation effort. Mitch Haas, planning consultant The applicant has a couple options. They could convert the garage to living space and have 1,140 square feet of FAR build out left on the property and the potential to ask for the 500 square foot bonus. They could convert the garage and ask for 4 TDR's without the bonus. Once you sever the TDR's the end result would be another 147 square feet ofF AR left plus the potential of 500 square foot bonus. Mitch said to leave nothing left on the property we need a small bonus to make the math work so that we can sever 5 TDR's and leave only 17 square feet. The concept is very basic. The approval would be conditional on council approving the TDR's and the owner severing them. Sarah said it seems like he is using the 120 ofthe bonus for the building and packaging the leftover square footage of allowable FAR into TDR's. Brian said the crux of the matter is there is a discrepancy between 147 square feet and an additional 1,000 square feet that could be built somewhere else. 7 ASPEN HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF JULY 11. 2007 Sarah said she understands the reason for the bonus but we are giving you square footage for not doing anything. I somewhat feel this is contrary to what the program is for. Michael said there are a few assumptions here, he has a right to build up to the maximum FAR which is wrong. Sarah said you should build to the right you have by code. This barn is not the historic barn and that should be taken into account. Michael said he supports the application but not the assumptions. Mitch said this is simply that we move the square footage or not. Chairperson, Jeffrey Halferty opened the public hearing. There were no public comments and the public hearing was closed. Michael said this is about preserving the balance of the lot and he can support the small bonus. The HPC also needs to make a finding. Jeffrey said we have an adaptive reuse of this barn and there is a greater appreciation of this building. Sarah said we are not talking about this historic structure we are voting on that we are not building or adding onto this structure. Sarah said the variance request meets criteria B, G, H for granting the FAR bonus and that we appreciate the owner's willingness to transfer the development right away from this property. MOTION: Michael moved to approve Resolution #33, second by Sarah. All in favor, motion carried. MOTION: Michael moved to adjourn; second by Sarah. All infavor, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.rn. ,. 8