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2012-05-03CITY OF BEVERLY PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES BOARD: Design Review Board DATE: May 3, 2012 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Bill Finch, Rachel Matthews, Karen Bebergal BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Colleen Bruce, Jane Brusca STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Associate Planner Kate Newhall RECORDER: Kate Newhall OTHERS PRESENT: Newhall calls the meeting to order. 1. 40 West Street — Book Shop of Beverly Farms Sandwich Board Sign — Pam Price, 40 West Street, Beverly, MA 01915 Ms. Lalie Clayman presents her proposal on behalf of Ms. Price for a sandwich board sign for the Book Shop of Beverly Farms. The wooden sign measures 2' in width by 3' in height. It is a chalkboard sign, which means that the text will be changeable. Ms. Clayman states that Ms. Price will use it to advertise her store hours and draw attention to the residential- appearing building that houses the bookstore. Ms. Clayman states that the sign will mostly likely state the hours, advertise sales and book signings and draw attention to the store. Finch: Motion to recommend approval of the sign design as presented to the City Council, seconded by Matthews. All in favor. 2. 23 Enon Street — pinkberry — J.J. Smith, NE Frog Pond LLC, 715 Boylston Street, 2nd Floor, Boston, MA 02116 Mr. Smith presents a proposal for wall sign with trellis and a freestanding sign panel. The trellis will be a series of rods, powdercoated in blue and green; it extends along the front facade of the building, and wraps around the corner. The wall sign will be affixed to the trellis and feature the company name and logo with green text and a pink "swirly" berry. The text and logo measure 115.5" in length by 24" in height. The proposed sign panel will be installed on an existing freestanding sign. The white panel measures 68.25" in length by 15.75" in height. This sign is identical to the wall sign in color and text. Both signs will be internally illuminated. However, the trellis is not. Bebergal asks about the lighting in the freestanding sign. Smith states that the panel will be backlit. Finch recommends altering the background color of the panel slightly so that it will match the existing signs. Newhall confirms with Smith that changing the background from white to an off -white will not be an issue. Smith states that there is no issue and he doesn't want his sign to stick out from the others. Finch asks about the illumination on the wall sign. Smith confirms that the channel letters will be internally illuminated. Finch is concerned with the trellis. He believes it is part of the sign even if there is no text on it. He is also concerned with how it will coordinate with the rest of the building. Finch recommends restricting the trellis to between the front facade's two "fins." Smith states that the proposed trellis demarcates the business' space, which extends past the right "fin." Finch is also concerned with wrapping the trellis around the corner of the building. DRB May 3, 2012 Page 2 of 4 Smith explains he has installed windows along the side of the building that are not shown in the photos. He would like to keep the trellis over the new windows along the side. He does not have any problem eliminating the portion of the trellis that extends past the "fin." Finch asks if the trellis is illuminated, Smith says that it is not. Newhall states that she doesn't mind the trellis along the side of the building since there are now windows there, but does not like the small piece that extends past the fin along the front facade. Matthews and Bebergal agree. Matthews: Motion to approve the sign proposal with the recommendation to alter the background color of the panel sign to match the existing signs and to eliminate the extended trellis (Trellis C on the application), seconded by Bebergal. All in favor. 3. Cummings Center, Elliott Street — Site Plan Review: Cummings Center Northwest Parking Deck — Beverly Commerce Park, LLP, 200 West Cummings Park, Woburn, MA 01801 Steve Drohosky representing Cummings Center presents the proposal for a parking deck located at the Balch Street entrance to the property. He introduces Jim Trudeau and Josh Landman. Drohosky reviews the site plan and orients the group. The new parking deck will be located in front of the 500 Building that fronts on Balch Street and will incorporate a solar field on its roof. Finch is concerned with how close the structure is to the property line on Balch Street. Trudeau states that across the street is the soccer field and one residence. Finch asks about setback requirements. Trudeau states that there is no setback requirement, but they are proposing a setback of 18' from the property line and that the existing planting strip between the sidewalk and the property will remain. Finch would like to see the structure pushed back further onto the site. Drohosky states that they need the parking in order to lease the 500 Building. Parking is at a premium at Cummings Center and currently they cannot accommodate new tenants in that building unless the deck is constructed. Finch recommends adding more trees of height and mass in order to buffer the new structure from the street. Bebergal suggests planting evergreen trees. Newhall confirms that the Board would like to recommend more plantings that increase the height and mass of those existing in the buffer strip along Balch Street. 4. 50 Dodge Street — Site Plan Review: Walgreen's Pharmacy — Thomas I Alexander, Alexander & Femino, 1 School Street, Beverly, MA 01915 Attorney Alexander presents the site plan and his team. He details the changes in the plans: the footprint is smaller to allow for the drive thru to come through middle of site as opposed to the Conant Street side; the parking lot and flow has been reconfigured; and a mezzanine level was added. Matt Smith from Bohler Engineering describes site plan — the portion of the historic house remains, the entry now faces the intersection, the drive thru is on interior side of building, vehicles are now able to go all around building, there is a black ornamental fence along Dodge Street with small planting strip, and more landscaping in the parking lot to slow traffic flow down. DRB May 3, 2012 Page 3 of 4 Mr. Lorigan, the project architect, presents the new elevations. Since the footprint was decreased, they went vertical by adding a mezzanine level. Many of the facade elements from previous plans were retained. The mezzanine is visible from Conant Street and wraps around the rear of the building. The drive thru now faces the parking lot, which is what the neighbors had asked for. Lorigan states that a lot of the drive thru will not be visible due to the existing plaza building. The Dodge Street facade has more glass, although some is opaque for security reasons, however the glass will not be mirrored. Some windows will allow visibility into the store. Finch asks about installing a band of glass along the top of the proposed windows. Lorigna states that the interior design of the store prevents adding more glass in that area. Bebergal asks about installing awnings. Lorigan states that while Walgreen's has often used awnings, the new image /branding they are creating does not allow them. Lorigan admits that they could be desirable in this location, but there was a lot of push back from the client; he is adamant that Walgreen's will not consider awnings. Finch states that he has seen awnings at other store locations and he does not think they add any visual interest to the building. Finch does not like how the drive thru roof rises past the building's main roof. He believes that the difference in roof heights is too drastic. He suggests changing the pitch so that the peak lines up with the line of the flat roof on that side of the building. Lorigan responds by stating that Walgreen's wants to highlight the drive thru, which is why they put the pitch on the drive thru roof, however, he states that he can change the pitch so that it is not so steep, bringing the height of the roof closer to that of the building. Finch mentions the tower at the entrance that was present on the first draft of the site plans. Lorigan states that Walgreen's doesn't want that hip roof because it is reminiscent of the old branding and Walgreen's wants to move forward with a new corporate image. Lorigan will not be able to convince his client to put the roof back on to the entry. Finch wants to call more attention to the entrance of the building stating that it is currently very uniform. Finch suggests an awning, something that says, "enter." Bebergal would also like to see more definition on the entryway. Lorigan states that the plane of the entrance is stepped forward from the rest of the facade by 18 ". So, while the height is not there, in reality, there will be some differentiation from the building making the entrance more visible. Lorigan states that Walgreen's will probably support a flat, structured canopy, but definitely not a sloped awning. He confirms that he can add on a flat, 4' wide awning with down lighting that will not extend beyond the sidewalk. Bebergal asks about the color of the brick. Lorigan states that they are going with the buff brick rather than red brick. Finch asks about signage requirements. Newhall states that she didn't look into sizes yet since they did not officially apply for signs. Finch states that the scale of sign band should match the size of sign allowed. Newhall reviews the Board's recommendations: alter the pitch of the drive thru roof so that its height is closer to that of the main building's roof, and install a structured awning with down lighting above both entry ways, not to extend past width of the sidewalk. DRB May 3, 2012 Page 4 of 4 5. Approval of Minutes — April 12, 2012 Meeting Matthews: Motion to approve the minutes as presented, seconded by Bebergal. All in favor. 6. New /Other Business There is no new or other business to discuss. 7. Adiourn Meeting is adjourned at 7:40 p.m.