Commissioner Henry recused himself as he is part of the design team for Case No. HPC2015-30. Commissioner Christmas recused himself as he is an immediate neighbor of the Couse Foundation. Mr. Louis Fineberg read the rules for Public Hearing and introduced Case No. HPC2015-30. Mr. Bob Parker introduced the Couse Foundation Archives Team. Mr. Parker is the owners agent and part of the design team, Mr. Carl Jones is the President of the Couse Foundation, Mr. David Henry is part of the design team and Ms. Virginia Couse-Leavitt is the Granddaughter of Mr. Eanger Irving Couse and a member of the board. Mr. Parker gave a PowerPoint presentation on the Couse Foundation site and the proposed building location and design. The proposed access to the parking is an existing driveway that is in front of Ed Sandoval's studio. It will require modifications to make it a proper access to both the parking for the Archives and the parking for the studios. All the utilities are contained in the right-of-way on Quesnel Street and in the application is a letter from Kit Carson Electric that they can service the building with the existing transformer. The massing and the scale based on the design guideline for the Historic Overlay Zone the building is proposed to be in harmony and compatible the dominant scale and architecture of the surrounding neighborhood. The building is in the Pueblo/Spanish Revival style with numerous points of articulation and set into the slope with a six inch exposure above grade in the North West corner. The excavation cut that will be used will be used to berm the back northerly side and the westerly side of the building to minimize the height above grade. The building has been purposely designed with a low profile to minimize intrusion into view planes both from the westerly neighbor and onsite towards the Couse property. All exterior corners are per the guidelines and are softened with a four to five inch rounded bullnose to soften the profile and blend with existing structures. All windows and doors are a minimum of three feet from any corner. The fenestration and glazing will be consistent with the neighborhood and on the Couse property with divided lights for windows and doors, the muntin bars will be true muntin bars for the windows and all the doors will be wood. The south façade is substantially less than what is maximum allowable based on the design guidelines. There is no exposed vigas, there is no exposed mechanical equipment on the roof other than plumbing vents that would come through the roof for the bathroom. The building will be stucco with El Rey Stucco to match the existing buildings and the doors will be the turquoise of the existing Couse Property buildings. The mechanical yard is within an insulated concrete volt most of which is well below grade and will be heavily landscaped on the westerly and northerly sides. The proposed archive building and the location of site have been reviewed with an onsite visit by the state architect for the State Historic Preservation Office and there is a letter of support of her endorsement in the application packet. Chairman Palacios opened the Public Hearing. Those present to speak were: Mr. Ken Manning - Great building design. His only comment is on the western wall he would like to see windows or something to break the blank wall. Mr. Carl Jones stated their intention of this is to be as low profile as possible. They will landscape to hide as much of the western wall as possible. They have not hired a builder they are waiting for approvals before they acquire quotes and then they will go out to raise the money. It will be a while before the shovel goes into the ground. Everything they can source they will source locally. Before they start they will do all necessary soil testing on the site. Chairman Palacios closed the Public Hearing. The Commissioners and applicant had a lengthy discussion concerning the impact of the west view looking at just a façade of El Rey colored Stucco, the difference in the shipping and receiving doors and the mechanical room doors, the handrail on the portal to the entrance of the building, handicap access for researchers, the size of the building, the need to grow in size in the future, the building does not have the character like the rest of the buildings on the site, the possibility of the applicant marking the location with poles and tape so they can go for a site visit to see the proposed building location on the site, if there will be sidewalks and the curb appeal. The Commissioners gave the applicants ideas and asked them to bring the changes back to the next regularly scheduled Historic Preservation Commission Meeting on August 12, 2015. The Commissioners and staff will go on a site visit on August 12, 2015 at 10:00 am and will have the Historic Preservation Commission Meeting on August 12, 2015 at 2:00 pm. |