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2011-02-03CITY OF BEVERLY PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES BOARD: Design Review Board DATE: February 3, 2011 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Colleen Bruce, Bill Finch, Patrick McGowan BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Jane Brusca STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: OTHERS: RECORDER: Bruce calls the meeting to order. Associate Planner Kate Newhall Tina Cassidy, Planning Director, Gin Wallace, Executive Director of Beverly Main Streets Kate Newhall 1. 135 Cabot Street — CA$H POINT — Nazek Mahtesyan, 132 Walnut Street, Watertown, MA 02472 Mr. Mahtesyan of CASH POINT presents his sign design to the Board. The proposed 6' long by 2' high aluminum panel sign will have a red background with yellow letters and a yellow border. The application states that the sign will not be illuminated; however, the photograph of the building shows existing external illumination that the applicant may choose to use. The members ask about the sign placement. The applicant confirms that it will go in the existing sign frame on the facade of the building. Finch: Motion to approve the sign design as presented, seconded by Bruce. All in favor. 2. 13 Enon Street — Studio 13 — J.J. Hano, 13 Enon Street, Beverly, MA 01915 Ms. Hano of Studio 13 presents her proposal for a sign to be located at 13 Enon Street. The sign measures 3' in height and 10' in length and is constructed of wood with a dark brown smalt background and beige vinyl letters. The sign is not illuminated. Newhall asks about lighting. Applicant states that she has no plans to illuminate the sign Finch asks how tall the letters are. Ms. Hano states the sign is 3' high so the letters are less than F. The applicant shows photos of the businesses in the same complex: the Meat House and Calico Corners. She states that her sign is significantly smaller than both. Bruce: Motion to approve the sign design as presented, seconded by McGowan. All in favor. DRB February 3, 2011 Page 2 of 4 3. Discussion: Conceptual Plan for a 7 -story building in the CC Overlay District on Rantoul Street — Miranda Gooding, Esa., Glovsky & Glovsky, 8 Washington Street, Beverly, MA 01915 Miranda P. Gooding, Esq. of Glovsky & Glovsky, LLC, Thad Siemasko of Siemasko and Verbridge, and Lee Dellicker of Windover Development, LLC have come to the DRB to discuss a conceptual plan for a 7 -story building to be located in the overlay district in the CC zone on Rantoul Street. The proposed structure will be at the corner of Rantoul, Park and Pleasant Streets, across Pleasant Street from the Depot Square condominium building. The proposed project would include underground parking, ground floor commercial space and upper -floor residential use. This is an informal discussion, prior to the applicant's formal proposal to the Planning Board and its Site Plan Review process for the Special Permit necessary to construct a building exceeding 55'. This meeting represents the first time the DRB will have a chance to apply the City's January 2007 Design Guidelines for Tall Buildings. Gooding and her team hope to have a valuable discussion that can help guide the applicant to a design that is both acceptable to her clients and to the City. Gooding states that this building will be referred to as "Depot Square 2." Siemasko states that he will be discussing an "idea" rather than a concrete project. Underground parking will be accessed off of Park and Rantoul Street. The lot, as it is presented today, can fit up to 65 vehicles on two levels of parking. The building currently has 66 residential units: 41 single bedroom and 25 two - bedroom units; there will be some affordable units and some accessible units. The project team is going to try to get one more space in the parking facility so that each residential unit has one space. There are also two commercial spaces along Rantoul Street. From the commercial space, the building rises vertically for three stories. The fifth story will be vertically set back and the sixth and seventh stories will be vertically setback even more. The building will be constructed so that the center core of it will have exterior walls. This will insure that all of the units will have windows to provide natural light. Currently, the proposal meets the Design Guidelines until the fourth floor. The ratio for the vertical setbacks presented in the guidelines does not enable the applicant to obtain the number of residential units in the building to make the project economically feasible. fits the guidelines up to floor 4. Siemasko shows the proposal drawn in as presented next to a drawing of the existing Depot Square. He compares the architecture on both. Siemasko describes how the building will look from the streetscape: Ground level: from Rantoul, heading north, see Depot Square and then the proposed without any real difference in view. South bound will see Casa de Luca with the building behind it. DRB February 3, 2011 Page 3 of 4 The view of the proposed from the train station is limited due to the existing buildings. Building palette: traditional brick look on the bottom levels to match the current streetscape. Lighter colors and materials on upper levels that are vertically setback. The street level will have the traditional open storefronts with glass windows. Finch comments negatively on the parking entrance off of Rantoul Street; it interrupts the facade. He says the design guidelines state that parking entrances should be from the rear. Dellicker states that the topography of the site limits where they can place the parking entrances. Finch states that by not have a setback along Pleasant Street, the project is creating a canyon down that public way. He is also concerned with how the building would be viewed from Veteran's Memorial Park. Even though the other two buildings will block some of the view, he is concerned with the view of the upper stories on the building. Finch considers the view from the park a prominent public viewpoint. Seimasko states that the two existing buildings will someday be at least 55' in height, limiting the views of this proposed building. Finch is not in favor of the upper level facades; he thinks will look like blank canvases that will be visible so long as the two adjacent buildings remain the same height as they stand today. Seimasko states that some of the empty facade is the stairway corridor, which would be hard to articulate. Dellicker states that Windover is trying to acquire all of the buildings in that block. However, this will not happen in the short term so he is trying to move forward with plans for the parcels he does own. Gooding states that it's difficult to meet all of the guidelines listed in the document. She hopes to get a feel from the DRB as to what design elements are consistent and not consistent with the document. Dellicker hopes to find a balance between design, economic feasibility and the guidelines. He states that this is a prime smart growth location and a strict interpretation of the guidelines would restrict the number of housing units he could construct, which is contrary to smart growth principles. Finch appreciates the design articulation along the primary facades. He does not want to see a tall cornice tower on the corner of Rantoul and Pleasant Streets. However, he does want the corner to be articulated. He states that the corner articulation as presented is good. Bruce does not want to see a parking entrance off of Rantoul Street. She understands the topographical limitations of the site but would like the applicant to try to find an alternate entrance. Finch tries to envision other places to enter the parking area from streets that are not Rantoul. DRB February 3, 2011 Page 4 of 4 McGowan asks about equipment on the top of the building. Siemasko states that since the building is vertically setback from the public way any HVAC will not be visible. McGowan does not have an issue with the canyon feel along Pleasant Street and suggests creating more of the canyon on that side so that the opposite side, visible from the park, could have vertical setbacks. Gin Wallace, Executive Director of Beverly Main Streets expresses her support of the project, how it fits into the tenants of the organization's Downtown 2020 plan, which speaks to increasing housing downtown. Main Streets is in support of housing downtown to attract more retail. She requests that the DRB to use this as a model of Transit Oriented Design and work through any issues so that this type of development can occur. The discussion is concluded. The applicant does not need a written document stating the major areas of concern from the DRB. 4. Approval of Minutes — January 6, 2011 Meeting Bruce: Motion to approve the minutes as presented, seconded by Finch. Approved 3 -0 (McGowan abstains). 5. New /Other Business There is no new or other business to discuss. Meeting is adjourned at 7:35