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09-15-2004 DRC MinutesCITY OF ORANGE DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE MINUTES September 15, 2004 Committee Members Present: Jon Califf Craig Wheeler Joe Woollett Donnie Dewees Staff in Attendance: Leslie Aranda Roseberry, Planning Manager Dan Ryan, Senior Historic Planner Howard Morris, Landscape Assessment/District Coordinator Committee Member Absent: None Administrative Session - 5:00 P.M. The Committee met for an administrative session beginning at 5:00 p.m. The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m. Regular Session - 5:30 P.M. A motion was made by Committee Member Craig Wheeler to approve the September 1, 2004 minutes as submitted. SECOND: Donnie Dewees AYES: Donnie Dewees, Craig Wheeler, Joe Woollett NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAINED: Jon Califf MOTION CARRIED City of Orange -Design Review Committee Meeting Minutes for September 15, 2004 Page 2 1 DRC No. 3842-03 -SOUTH MAIN PROFESSIONAL BUILDING - POMEROY III Relocation of 1927 Gas Station Building and construction of new office building (see next DRC Item for relocation site at 887 N. Glassell Street). 350 S. Main Street Staff Contact: Daniel Ryan, Senior Planner DRC Action: Recommendation to Planning Commission The item was introduced by Senior Planner Daniel Ryan. He explained that the item was a parcel of land at the southeast corner of Main Street and Palmyra. The property currently has 1,414 sq. ft. of service buildings and an existing 98 sq. ft. 1927 Provencial Styled gas station. The applicant is proposing to demolish the 1400 sq. ft. service building and relocate and rehabilitate the gas station, and build a 4,142 sq. ft. professional office building. The new building will serve the local medical community and be designed in a modern style to fit the site and to be compatible with other medical offices in the vicinity. The site will also include parking for 26 cars, and bicycle and motorcycle racks. The applicant has requested an administrative adjustment to reduce the front and side setbacks as noted on the plan. The landscaping plan was also attached for the presentation. The proposal is to have the Design Review Committee make a recommendation to the Planning Commission to relocate the historic gas station to another project site that the applicant is also designing at Glassell and Collins. These two projects are being reviewed together and will go forward through the process to the Planning Commission for review of the environmental documents and relocation of the buildings. The gas station is listed as eligible for the National Historic Register and it is one of the few remaining 1920s gas stations in the County of Orange. The property owners have looked for a suitable site within the Old Towne Historic District for the last couple of years, and having been unable to find a suitable site, have decided to relocate it to their other property at Glassell and Collins. Mr. Ryan also noted that the maximum height for the proposed new medical building is 32 feet, and the parapet height on the equipment is 34 feet. This was incorporated into the administrative adjustment, but if the applicant can lower the parapet height by two feet, this will be unnecessary. The applicant has also been asked to provide lighting details and photo metrics for the project for approval, which will also be required by the Planning Commission. Leason Pomeroy, III, architect, gave a summary of the project. He noted that the site was extremely small, and that the style of architecture was designed to be very clean and simple. Because of the many city improvements required to develop this site (signals, etc.) combined with the relatively small size of the lot, there was an enormous effort to get the maximum yield from the office buildings to make the site economically viable. He mentioned that this site, in addition to the other two, were in vast need of improvements (citing weeds, decaying buildings, etc.) He stated that there would be no problem with dealing with lowering the equipment enclosure's parapet by two feet (as previously mentioned by Daniel Ryan). He described the smooth plaster finish on the outside of the building. Committee Chair Jon Califf invited comments from the public. City of Orange -Design Review Committee Meeting Minutes for September 15, 2004 Page 3 Janet Crenshaw, OTPA, stated that she was more concerned about what would happen to the gas station once it was relocated. She stated that she would reserve her comments until that item came forward. Mr. Pomeroy brought several images to show the direction of the project. Chair Califf said that one of the questions on all of the plans was when the architect stated "smooth" on the finish, is that smooth sand finish or hard trowel, because obviously the cracking of the stucco would be a real concern. Mr. Pomeroy stated it would be smooth troweled, and they were also concerned about the cracking and would make the necessary adjustments to alleviate that. The committee members asked about the composition, and Mr. Pomeroy stated it was shear wall, paper, wire and 3-coat exterior over wood studs. Chair Califf stated that obviously because of the finish, any breaks in the plaster would become design elements, and Mr. Pomeroy stated that there would be no reveals, that there would only be the slightest element of a connection between the plaster areas. The color of the plaster was also questioned, and Mr. Pomeroy stated it would be colored a dark grey. He explained that the color palette contained a yellowish wood, a greenish glass, and the darker plaster color. The idea of the design is to make it look rich. Committee Member Craig Wheeler questioned whether there were any issues with the exposed stairway. Mr. Pomeroy stated that there was, the police department had noted this. He didn't believe there was any security issue in terms of getting into the building, the police (he believes) were more concerned about people going up there and sleeping on the second floor. Mr. Wheeler asked whether some sort of gate could be put across the bottom. Mr. Pomeroy felt that if you did, you would lose the design element and there could still be access if someone really wanted to get to the second floor anyway. The office space and restrooms have been gated off, the building is fairly well lit, and that is one way to help eliminate it. Committee Member Joe Woollett felt that there was not quite enough information on the landscaping, noting that it was the preliminary landscape plan. Howard Morns, Landscape Coordinator, suggested adding several trees because the landscape was rather sparse, and he suggested tightening up the space between the ground cover plants. He also suggested that the Tasmanian tree ferns would grow too large, and the area where they were to be planted would be too hot, so those should be changed. Mr. Pomeroy reconfirmed that the final landscape plans should be submitted when the working drawings were submitted. A motion was made by Committee Member Joe Woollett to approve the project with the following conditions: 1. Modifications should be made to the landscaping as discussed prior to review by the Planning Commission. 2. Provide lighting details, fixtures and photo metrics prior to review by the Planning Commission. Final review of these items should be made after review by the Planning Commission. City of Orange -Design Review Committee Meeting Minutes for September 15, 2004 Page 4 SECOND: Jon Califf AYES: Jon Califf, Donnie Dewees, Craig Wheeler, Joe Woollett NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAINED: None MOTION CARRIED City of Orange -Design Review Committee Meeting Minutes for September 15, 2004 Page 5 2. DRC No. 3936-04 RETAIL CENTER - LEASON POMEROY III Development of new Retail Center including move-on of gas station building 887 N. Glassell Street, SEC of Glassell Street and Collins Avenue Staff Contact: Daniel Ryan, Senior Planner DRC Action: Recommendation to Planning Commission Senior Planner Daniel Ryan introduced this item. He noted that this was a C-1 limited business district zone. The proposed development is one-story infill retail development including relocation of the Provincial Style 1927 gas station building from 305 S. Main Street. The proposed project includes the construction of a 2, 187 sq. ft. retail center on a vacant lot. The proposed site would be bisected by the drive aisle from the driveways (one on Glassell, one on Collins). The gas station building with two arched canopied roofs would be located at the front corner. Anew triangular shaped retail building will be set on the rear property lines. Ten parking spaces will be provided (8 spaces in front of the new retail center, and two covered spaces under the arched roof of the gas station). At the northeast corner of the building will be a loading area and trash enclosure. Handicapped, bike and motorcycle parking will be provided on the site. Pedestrian walkways, trees/landscaping treatment and lighting are provided. In addition, the setback on the Glassell side was an additional 5' because of the residential zone adjacent to it. Additionally, the dedication for street site improvements took quite a lot of the available building area from the site. The project has been through quite a lengthy staff review, and the end project is a bit smaller and some administrative adjustments were needed to deal with the parking and drive aisle lengths, landscape setbacks, etc., to avoid doing a variance. It took an extreme amount of work to not only meet all the requirements, but at the same time relocate the gas station building on the corner and integrate it into this site. The gas station building will have its existing canopies, posts and other elements removed in preparation for the move. The gas station building will ultimately (on the new site) be repaired and items replaced to match the existing elements including wood shutters, windows and any structural elements. The building will have an earth-tone composition roof and matching smooth plaster finishes to the retail building. The placement of the gas station is intended to be an historic centerpiece and add interest to the site. The limited height of the gas station will not obscure the view of the retail building as seen from the street. Complementary materials, finishes and wood trim will additionally unify the two buildings. The landscape plan is also attached. Staff is recommending that the design review committee approve the project as a recommendation to the Planning Commission. Leason Pomeroy, III, architect, noted that they had worked with the planning department staff for over a year until the idea came together to move the gas station to this site, which became the catalyst to make both this project and the previous project (3842-03) work. Setting it up on the corner of this property kind of makes it a gateway as you come down the corridor on Glassell into Old Towne. Mr. Pomeroy showed a small model of the project so that the DRC Members could get an idea of the scale of the project. He noted that the gas station building is in incredibly bad shape, and would require extensive rework by preserving the roof and reframing the entire building. City of Orange -Design Review Committee Meeting Minutes for September 15, 2004 Page 6 Janet Crenshaw, OTPA, stated that she was happy with the move of the building and suggested that she knew someone who might want to use it as a retail space. She also felt that it was a good use of the placement of the building to have it at the site as a sort of entrance to Old Towne. Jeff Frankel, OTPA, stated that he had driven by the building numerous times and did not recognize it as a gas station. The applicants stated that they were negotiating with someone to possibly buy the original Mobile signs, as they wanted the building to remain looking like a gas station no matter what retail establishment eventually leases it. Mr. Frankel stated that he was pleased with the move to this location and the rehabilitation of the building. Chair Califf expressed concern about the south sun's effect on the reflection from the roof onto the neighboring property, and being on the property line, there would be no opportunity to provide any landscape relief. Mr. Pomeroy noted that the proposed new building and the adjacent neighboring buildings were almost the same height, so that would mitigate the reflection. Relative to the color of the new buildings, Committee Member Wheeler stated that his preference would be to not have the new building and the gas station have the same color scheme, but rather to have a contrasting color palette. Ideally, perhaps it could recall the color scheme of the original gas station building. Mr. Pomeroy stated that he would look into this. Landscape Coordinator Howard Morris suggested being careful about the landscaping along the sidewalk areas as they tend to get stepped on. He suggested possibly using Rhaphiolipus Clara, which would provide a mounding effect. It was decided the Staff would review the Final Landscape Plan, and no Conditions of Approval were added to this project. A motion was made by Committee Member Joe Woollett to approve the project. SECOND: Craig Wheeler AYES: Jon Califf, Donnie Dewees, Craig Wheeler, Joe Woollett NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAINED: None MOTION CARRIED City of Orange -Design Review Committee Meeting Minutes for September 15, 2004 Page 7 3. DRC No. 3889-04 -PALM CENTER REPLACEMENT BUILDING Proposal to construct a 5,945 square foot commercial building. 970 North Tustin Street Staff Contact: Kim Chaffin, Associate Planner DRC Action: Final Determination An overview of the project was given by Kim Chaffin, Associate Planner. She noted that the applicant was proposing a building that would house two commercial tenants, one being a bank, and the other tenant has not been identified as yet. The building, as proposed, is 5,945 sq. ft., and is to be built up against the existing building (the former building on this site had an alley between it and the adjacent building that was seen as a potential problem by the police and fire departments). Because the new building will abut the existing buildings, it will mimic, somewhat, the design of the columns, etc. She noted that the massing, material palette and the textures were consistent with the surrounding buildings. The roof-mounted equipment will be screened by the parapet walls. The police department noted, and City Planning Staff concurred, to recommend deletion of the Queen Palm in front of the area where the ATM would be located for security purposes. Staff also recommended that bollards be placed in the wide area which is the handicap access point so as to avoid problems with people trying to park there, etc., and is strictly kept for pedestrian use. Staff also recommends removing the existing sign on the property (from the former establishment), which does not comply with the City's sign ordinance and is a code violation. Klaus Barre the architect was in attendance to answer questions by the DRC members. Mr. Barre wanted to note that the owner of the property had owned the property for over 30 years and believes that he has documentation that will allow him to grandfather the existing sign for the new building. Other than this issue, they were in concurrence with the staff's conditions of approval. Leslie Aranda Roseberry, Planning Manager, spoke to the signage issue and stated that if the sign was deemed to the "legal non-conforming" then only the face of the sign could be changed, not the shape or the height. Committee Member Joe Woollette stated that after review of the drawings, it was not clear to him how the new building related to the existing buildings on the south side (there is an arcade that runs the length of the existing building and the new building is actually set back from there). Mr. Barre stated that because of the position of the driveway, the new facility must be positioned for pedestrian access and provide a welcoming and significant entry to the property. He noted that because of the grade difference between the two areas, the transition would include a stairway of approximately three risers. Asked if there would be a gap between the two buildings, he stated that there would be an approximately 6-inch gap. Committee Member Craig Wheeler stated that his biggest concern was that it was close to an addition to the existing building in form, but it's different, it's adding a new element that doesn't occur already in the design, getting more into eclectic forms rather than the relatively simple forms of the existing buildings. Adding in the cornices and the round columns, etc., is going to make the building stand out as being contrary to what else is there. He said that were it up to him, he'd try to use something more of the vocabulary of the building that it was being attached City of Orange -Design Review Committee Meeting Minutes for September 15, 2004 Page 8 to, and not adding the different design elements. It was noted that the cornices were foam extrusions, and the columns were pre-cast concrete (round in shape). Craig Wheeler asked, "So some of the columns are round, some are square?" The answer was yes. The glass color is noted as being a dark bronze, with anodized aluminum frames. Committee Member Donnie Dewees stated that he agreed with the earlier committee member comments, that the new structure had elements that made it different from the simplified form of the adjacent existing buildings. Mr. Wheeler felt that by removing the cornices it would bring it more into the look of what is currently there, and clean up the design a bit. Chair Califf felt that it was critical to see the joint where the buildings were connected, and it would be helpful to see at least the corner of the existing building and how it relates to the new building. How that works together is important, because, in a sense it "reads" like an addition. Perhaps the six inch separation needs to be more, or perhaps the way the other building terminates needs to be studied a bit more. The drawings don't clearly articulate this. Mr. Woollett stated that the DRC had been consistent in advising how additions were made in shopping centers and industrial centers, where their concern had been maintaining the continuity of character. It doesn't have to be the same, but you can't just ignore the existing buildings; their design must be taken into consideration. The new building must consciously acknowledge the other building. Mr. Wheeler stated that as far as he could tell, the other building wasn't acknowledge in design at all, and he would insist on seeing that (how the buildings relate). How it joins is very important, there are different heights, different in-and-outs, multiple columns of differing heights and sizes and scales, and the colors aren't the same. Mr. Woollett felt that the design as it existed was unacceptable. He reiterated that it needed to relate to the other building. Mr. Barre, for clarity, asked if Mr. Woollett believed that the column treatment, alone, was sufficient to relate the buildings -and Mr. Woollette stated no. Mr. Wheeler stated that the heights needed to be the same or significantly different -right now they were almost too close in height, but still not the same. A motion was made by Committee Member Joe Woollett to continue the project. Chair Califf asked the applicant if he felt there was sufficient direction to guide him, and Mr. Barre felt there was. Kim Chaffin summarized: (1) deletion of the cornices, (2) the need to see how the building relates to the existing building, and how it connects with the existing building, (3) how the walking path works, (4) how the colors relate, and (5) heights should be significantly different or the same height. Mr. Woollette also stated to Mr. Barre that the DRC was not trying to be the architect of the building, but there needed to be some rationale as to how the buildings related to one another, and it needed to be done graphically. SECOND: Craig Wheeler AYES: Jon Califf, Donnie Dewees, Craig Wheeler, Joe Woollett NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAINED: None MOTION CARRIED City of Orange -Design Review Committee Meeting Minutes for September 15, 2004 Page 9 DRC No. 3939-04 -TURNER FACADE REMODEL Proposal to remodel an existing non-contributing commercial facade in the Plaza. 119 S. Glassell Street, (Old Towne Orange Historic District) Staff Contact: Daniel Ryan, Senior Planner Historic Preservation Item continued from DRC Meeting of 09/01/04 due to lack of a quorum. DRC Action: Final Determination The project overview was given by Daniel Ryan, Senior Planner Historic Preservation. Committee Members Woollett and Wheeler recused themselves from the discussion. Mr. Ryan noted that there was originally one storefront design submitted, but that they had submitted two additional designs at this meeting. All of the three proposals are the same as to the second story changes and awnings; the only variation is the first floor window and bulkhead design. Because of a fire to the structure some time ago, the original materials are no longer there. Susan Secoy, the architect on the project, introduced herself and Cheryl Turner, the applicant and owner of the building (along with Gary Turner, her husband). Ms. Secoy stated that they had submitted two additional designs, because after speaking with staff and Mr. Ryan they understood that the first design might not have been quite as sympathetic to the designs resident in the other buildings on South Glassell as far as the streetscape, as well as the rest of Old Towne. She invited an open discussion with the DRC as to what would be the most appropriate design. The Turner's stated that their goal was to make the building more open and accessible, as the old design was dark and non-welcoming. Bringing the design out more onto the streetscape would accomplish this they felt. Chair Califf invited the public to comment. Janet Crenshaw, OTPA, stated that she like the third plan, where the building slanted in (as Old Orange Photography did). Jeff Frankel also liked proposed storefront plan number three, as the square windows follow the pattern of the block where the building is located, because he didn't recall too many arched windows in the district (as shown on the first plan). Ms. Turner mentioned that they would also take the first plan and square off the windows. A motion was made by Committee Member Donnie Dewees to approve Version #2 with straight windows including the following conditions: 1. Applicant pay attention to brick pattern in front so that it relates to the bay. 2. Actual building materials be called out on documentation. SECOND: Jon Califf AYES: Jon Califf, Donnie Dewees NOES: None ABSENT: None City of Orange -Design Review Committee Meeting Minutes for September 15, 2004 Page 10 ABSTAINED: Craig Wheeler, Joe Woollett MOTION CARRIED N:\C D D\P L N G\Council Commissions Committees\DRC 9-15-04 drem.DOC