Historic District Commission

Town Hall TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Historic District Commission Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Meeting Minutes Chair David Schwartz Duncan Lascelles Deputy Vice-Chair Sean Murphy Nancy McCormick Madhu Beriwal Polly Van de Velde Josh Gurlitz Thursday, January 28, 2021 6:30 PM Virtual Meeting Virtual Meeting Notification Board members will attend and participate in this meeting remotely, through internet access, and will not physically attend. The Town will not provide a physical location for viewing the meeting. The public is invited to attend the Zoom webinar directly online or by phone. Register for this webinar: URL After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar in listen-only mode. Phone: 301-715-8592, Meeting ID: ###-####-#### Opening Roll Call Staff present: Anya Grahn, Liaison to Commission, Jake Lowman, Planning Department, and Brian Ferrell, Counsel to Commission Present 6 - Chair David Schwartz, Deputy Vice-Chair Sean Murphy, Josh Gurlitz, Duncan Lascelles, Nancy McCormick, and Polly Van de Velde Absent 1 - Madhu Beriwal Secretary reads procedures into the record Approval of Agenda A motion was made by Gurlitz, seconded my Murphy, to approve the agenda. The motion carried by a unanimous vote. Announcements Commissioner Lascelles stated that he had to leave at 8:28pm, but could return to the meeting by 9pm. Commissioner Gurlitz announced that he had to leave the meeting at 7:30pm and he would return by 8:15pm. The Commission chose to end Page 1 of 5 Historic District Commission Meeting Minutes January 28, 2021 the meeting at 7:30pm when they lost quorum. Petitions Old Business 1. Historic District Design Standards [21-0029] Staff liaison Grahn explained that she and Jake Lowman, Planning Department, were available to help facilitate the meeting. She explained that consensus was required on all proposed edits. Brian Ferrell, counsel to the commission, clarified that four votes were required to have consensus. Chair Schwartz confirmed that Commissioner Lascelles supported of all the changes proposed by Commissioners McCormick, Steifbold, and Schwartz except for four edits proposed by Schwartz. Chair Schwartz then confirmed that Commissioners Van de Velde, McCormick, and Gurlitz,also supported all the proposed changes except for the four that Commissioner Lascelles objected to. McCormick expressed interest in defining congruity. Chair Schwartz then suggested adopting all of the proposed changes except the ones objected to by Commissioner Lascelles. Commissioner Murphy expressed concern about the process and the Chair's proposed edits. He stated that the process on revising the Design Guidelines had begun in early 2020 and was supposed to be a six month process with the consultant. The project deadline had been extended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He explained that the timeline had allowed a small committee of Historic District Commission members, town staff, and the consultant to review comments from the Commissioners, comments from members of the public, and design guidelines and standards from other communities before incorporating the proposed revisions. He said that staff had sent emails to the Commission about comments and deadlines. He explained that in the last two weeks there had been a flurry of comments from commissioners and the public that the Commission should not incorporate without consulting the committee and the consultant. The Commission discussed Commissioner McCormick's edits to clarify congruity standards. McCormick pointed out that the language had not changed; however, she proposed relocating congruity from the section about the public hearing to a different section so as to highlight the importance of the concept of congruity. Page 2 of 5 Historic District Commission Meeting Minutes January 28, 2021 Commissioner Murphy stated that he wanted to review the Chair's comments before accepting them into the document. He advocated that they be reviewed by the committee and consultant before coming before the Commission for review. Commissioner Lascelles stated that there were public comments that honed in on specific points and insertion of language that he did not agree with. He thought some of the edits would tie up the Commission in the future. He stated that his comments pushed back on some of the last minute revisions. The Commission debated whether or not to discuss and approve the proposed edits. Ferrell stated that there was a lack of case law dictating what items could and could not be included in design standards. He described the intersection of the Design Guidelines and the Land Use Management Ordinance. He spoke to the Chair's recommendation to implement a ratio of built to unbuilt area as a comparison tool for approving new construction. He stated that the Council could adopt a specific quantitative ratio as part of the zoning ordinance. He explained that the congruity standard should be based on contextual congruity rather than specific standards based on calculated ratios created by the Historic District Commission. Commissioner Murphy spoke to the difficulties of establishing specific ratios. He described the Historic District as a quilt with uneven patterns. He stated how requiring a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) to be within the range of FARs existing in the immediate surroundings would impact development. He thought this approach was inconsistent with zoning, would cause issues, and would not achieve the Commission's goal of limiting the size of buildings in the historic districts. Commissioner Lascelles recommended the Commission focus on tweaks that could be made within the deadlines of the project. He found that FARs required additional research and evaluation that required the Commission to petition the Town Council. The Commissioners discussed proposed changes to individual pages. They considered small changes that could be made to the draft document and the majority found that specific metrics should not be proposed at this time without further research and direction from Town Council. The Commissioners discussed proposed edits to the Additions section of the Design Standards. They spoke about measuring congruity based on past Commission-approved additions to historic buildings. Page 3 of 5 Historic District Commission Meeting Minutes January 28, 2021 Commissioner Gurtlitz moved, Chair Schwartz seconded, to approve the edits as proposed by the Chair except that the disclaimer remain on page 42; no changes be made to pages 47,126, 131 and 132; the narrative about garages be clarified on pages 54 and 126; and the incorporation of Commissioner's McCormick's edits to the congruity standards. The motion passed unanimously. The Commission asked about whether the edits would be vetted by the community. Grahn explained that she would review the Commission's list of edits with the consultant and the revised document would be made available online prior to the Commission adopting the Design Principles and Standards. The Commission discussed the need for the consultant to review the proposed edits and that nothing precluded the consultant from making changes. Commissioner Gurlitz left the meeting at 7:30. The Commission discussed the public feedback they had received regarding the document's photos. The majority of the members present supported the staff and the consultant reviewing the photos and making updates as necessary. Ferrell discouraged the Commission from taking public comment as there was no longer a quorum and the public should have an opportunity to provide their input in front of a whole commission that has the ability to consider their comments. He explained that with less than six members present, the Commission did not have a quorum and they could not conduct their business. The meeting adjourned. Adjournment Next Meeting - DATE Page 4 of 5 Historic District Commission Meeting Minutes January 28, 2021 Order of Consideration of Agenda Items: 1. Staff Presentation 2. Applicant’s Presentation 3. Public Comment 4. Board Discussion 5. Motion 6. Restatement of Motion by Chair 7. Vote 8. Announcement of Vote by Chair Public Charge: The Advisory Body pledges its respect to the public. The Body asks the public to conduct themselves in a respectful, courteous manner, both with the Body and with fellow members of the public. Should any member of the Body or any member of the public fail to observe this charge at any time, the Chair will ask the offending person to leave the meeting until that individual regains personal control. Should decorum fail to be restored, the Chair will recess the meeting until a genuine commitment to this public charge is observed. Unless otherwise noted, please contact the Planning Department at 919-968-2728; planning@townofchapelhill.org for more information on the above referenced applications. See the Advisory Boards page http://www.townofchapelhill.org/boards for background information on this Board. Page 5 of 5