Historic Preservation & Architectural Review Board Agendas and Minutes

MINUTES OF THE COHOES HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD MEETING HELD VIRTUALLY VIA ZOOM ON WEDNESDAY, November 16, 2021 AT 6:30PM MEMBERS PRESENT: Daniele Cherniak, Chairperson Barbara Hildreth, Vice Chair Evan Lamb MEMBERS ABSENT: John Frainier Thomas Rifenberg ALSO PRESENT: Joseph Seman-Graves, City Planner Sharon Butler, Administrative Assistant Chairperson Cherniak called the November meeting of the Historic Preservation and Architectural Review Board to order at 6:30PM. CONSIDERATION OF THE SEPTEMBER 21, 2021 AND OCTOBER 20, 2021 MEETING MINUTES Chairperson Cherniak; first item on the agenda is consideration of 2 sets of minutes from September 21st and October 20th. Have board members had time to look at the minutes? Member Lamb; I’ll make the motion to approve Vice Chair Hildreth; I’ll 2nd it All in favor; AYE motion carried to approve both meeting minutes YES NO ABSTAIN Daniele Cherniak X Barbara Hildreth X Thomas Rifenberg ABSENT Evan Lamb X John Frainier ABSENT CONSIDERATION OF A HANGING SIGN AND 2 WINDOW DECALS AT 192 REMSEN STREET Chairperson Cherniak; so our next item on the agenda is 192 Remsen Street, is the applicant here? Ms. Lamiano; yes Chairperson Cherniak; ok can you tell us a little bit about what you plan to do? Ms. Lamiano; this is for the sign right? Chairperson Cherniak; yes Ms. Lamiano; we’re doing a new sign for the store. There should be design for them in there, they were dropped off. Vice Chair Hildreth; you’re the apothecary Ms. Lamiano; yes, it’s pretty much the decals on the window Vice Chair Hildreth; the grand opening is tomorrow at 2 Chairperson Cherniak; are there any questions for the applicant? Vice Chair Hildreth; what color is the sign, black and white? Ms. Lamiano; yes Chairperson Cherniak; is this a new support bracket or is there an existing one? Ms. Lamiano; it’s a new one Chairperson Cherniak; where will it be located on the building facade? Ms. Lamiano; I believe they are putting, they wanted it on the corner so you could see it from both sides. Sign Studio is doing it, but we’ll put it wherever we have to I’m not to picky about that. Vice Chair Hildreth; you’re going to take the Metro signs down off the windows right? Ms. Lamiano; they’re already gone Chairperson Cherniak; so it will be installed on along this area? (Pointing to picture in packet) Ms. Lamiano; yes Chairperson Cherniak; ok, are there any other questions? Do I have a motion to approve the application? Member Lamb; I’ll make the motion Chairperson Cherniak; do I have a 2nd? Vice Chair Hildreth; 2nd All in favor AYE motion carried YES NO ABSTAIN Daniele Cherniak X Barbara Hildreth X Thomas Rifenberg ABSENT Evan Lamb X John Frainier ABSENT Joe Seman-Graves; can you make sure that it is adjacent to or above the light because if it’s any lower, the Mayor is like 6’2” so don’t want him hitting his head Ms. Lamiano; yes Sign Studio is going to be doing it so I’ll make sure it done right CONSIDERATION OF A HANGING SIGN ON THE EXISTING BRACKET AT 25 WHITE STREET Chairperson Cherniak; ok, our next item on the agenda is 25 White Street, can you tell us a little bit about what you’re planning to do Ms. Ford; yes, so the previous owners was Spades and I just want to take that sign off and put my logo up. I want to keep it in the same spot so it’s going to be the same size sign just with my logo on it. Chairperson Cherniak; ok Sharon; you are using the existing bracket too correct? Ms. Ford; yes Chairperson Cherniak; so you also want to add the restaurant name on the window as well? Ms. Ford; no we want to do LED lights with an open sign other than that…. Chairperson Cherniak; so is that an existing LED open sign or would you be adding that? Ms. Ford; I will be adding that Vice Chair Hildreth; so you’re putting an open sign in the window? Ms. Ford; yes Chairperson Cherniak; in the past we sort of Vice Chair Hildreth; I know but every store has one Chairperson Cherniak; yeah… Vice Chair Hildreth; without the LED lights inside you can’t tell if a business is open or not because they don’t know, so you’ve got to have that sign in the window Ms. Ford; that what we were debating on because otherwise…. Vice Chair Hildreth; you can’t tell it’s open Ms. Ford; right, and I’m only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday and I don’t want to confuse the customers Chairperson Cherniak; right. Ok any other questions for the applicant? Vice Chair Hildreth; you’re not changing the front at all, just putting a new sign up Ms. Ford; just putting a new sign up with my logo Chairperson Cherniak; ok do I have a motion to approve? Vice Chair Hildreth; I make a motion to approve Member Lamb; 2nd all in favor AYE motion carried. YES NO ABSTAIN Daniele Cherniak X Barbara Hildreth X Thomas Rifenberg ABSENT Evan Lamb X John Frainier ABSENT CONSIDERATION OF A HANGING SIGN AND EXTERIOR LIGHTING AT HOLIDAY TIMES AT 129 REMSEN STREET Chairperson Cherniak; ok, what about this 129 Remsen Street Sharon; she took her daughter to Disney for her birthday, so she said she wasn’t going to be here. I think she’s relatively simple Chairperson Cherniak; I guess I did have a question on where the sign would be located because I don’t see that information. There’s a bracket but it doesn’t say where the location is of the sign and is that a new bracket, is it existing? Sharon; that’s a new bracket I don’t think there’s one there now. Chairperson Cherniak; but we would all need to know where it will be located and I have questions about this other holiday lighting, where those would be Sharon; it would be inside the windows, is there a picture of the place, do you have one of the building? Joe; I don’t I can go get one Chairperson Cherniak; it says lights on the outside of the building in the application Sharon; I need to see a picture of the building Chairperson Cherniak; technically it’s a basically a holiday decoration so we really don’t have approval of that, but I was just curious Sharon; that’s what she said like for the holidays, she is going to have a company come in to do the decorating in the windows. Chairperson Cherniak; if people put up pumpkins or wreaths, we really don’t have Sharon; picture of building on Joe’s phone showed members where holiday displays would be in the windows and where on the outside of the building any holiday lighting would be, she said she might put some outside lights there. It’s more decoration inside the display window Chairperson Cherniak; we really wouldn’t have jurisdiction over that Vice Chair Hildreth; no Chairperson Cherniak; so there’s already a sign there, if the sign will be in that same location Sharon; we can just tell her the sign has to go in the same location Chairperson Cherniak; yes, if she’s changing the bracket, the bracket is fine Member Lamb; yes Chairperson Cherniak; ok are there any more questions? If not we can have the motion that as long as the sign is in the existing location Member Lamb; ok, do we have to mention anything about the lights? Chairperson Cherniak; and the lights, in a sense, because it is a temporary holiday decoration, we really don’t have jurisdiction over that. But if they were going to keep them on all the time, then it would be different Sharon; no, she said Christmas, Halloween, 4th of July, Member Lamb; she’s got them all on the application, Valentine’s, St. Patrick Vice Chair Hildreth; 4th of July, Memorial Day red, white and blue Chairperson Cherniak; ok so do I have a motion to accept the application with that stipulation about the location of the sign Member Lamb; I’ll make the motion Chairperson Cherniak; do I have a 2nd Vice Chair Hildreth; I 2nd it all in favor AYE motion carried YES NO ABSTAIN Daniele Cherniak X Barbara Hildreth X Thomas Rifenberg ABSENT Evan Lamb X John Frainier ABSENT CONSIDERATION FOR 2 MOCKUP WINDOWS AT 97 MOHAWK STREET Joe Seman-Graves; would it help if I got my big set of plans? Chairperson Cherniak; sure that probably would be Joe Seman-Graves; ok so the start of this process, probably a year ago or more. The goal is we have 330 windows in City Hall, not all of them need to be replaced but we need to know the size for replacements. We did this at the music hall and the original ones that were ordered, not all of them but some were about a half inch off. Because when you take these out you realize that there is, the dimensions aren’t what you think. So ultimately this is a review for 2 mock up windows, you can see multiple sets of drawings. One window is going to be in this room and one is going to be in my office. They were taken out a few weeks ago to get measured and ultimately they’re going to come back next week to do molds, then they get sent off for 4 weeks to get constructed. Vice Chair Hildreth; they’re going to replace all 3 right? Joe Seman-Graves; the mock up is just going to be this one (went over to the window that will be replaced) because ultimately State Historic gave us approval for 2 mockups nothing else. They want to see what they look like in there first, before anything else can be looked at. These are going to be, while wood replicas and, so wood replicas and there’s nothing visibly that is going to change on these windows from the outside, the one caveat is the glass. SHPO is concerned that the tint of the glass will not be the same so they want to see the mockup in there first before allowing anything else to happen. The size is going to be the same, the curvature is going to be the same, we going to be restoring the transoms on top or if you’re looking at this window unit (went over to the windows) the only things coming out are these 2 pieces (just the actual window) the bases are all staying the same, the will be peeled down, recoated and restored. Vice Chair Hildreth; they’re going to be refinished Joe Seman-Graves; tops are going to be refinished they’re not touching those at all, just the two, these 2 pieces specifically are coming out. We’re looking to get Kolby which is what we have at the music hall wood replacement windows. So you can see the existing window elevations (showing members on the drawing), and the proposed, identical same with the curved glass. These are going to be identical, nothing’s going to be changing with the angles, and nothing’s changing with the thickness of the wood. The only thing that would be changing from the original would be the pulley system are not going to be left in tacked. They’re going to be pretty much, not removed necessarily but they’re not—what’s happening is the system is already within the wall, if you’re looking at the window or at the wall, so they’re in here (pointed to the casing of window where pulley system is located) so pretty much the chain is coming out and then they are sealing that up and then the replica will be placed as is no so you won’t have that ease necessarily but just a normal window action—open and close. We went through 3 sets of revised plans for SHPO we got approval. The reason I wanted to go through it, we are actually spending our own money for this so we don’t need to get approval through SHPO they really only have prevue when we either have grants, state funding or we have something in place that makes us go through the Secretary of Interior Standards. In the past we have received grants that put let’s say a 5 to 10 year time period on how long we have to be maintaining the building per Secretary of Interior Standards so I talked with them and they said you don’t need our approval of this however we can afford 2 windows but when we go back for grants we’ll need their approval. So I wanted to go through the hardest part now saying ok if you’re approving this to the fullest extent then we will be able to come back later and should be able to get approved ideally. Although you’re dealing with human beings over there so it tends to change. So ideally these will be put in as soon as the weather turns better in the spring, because we’re going to need 4 months to build them. Vice Chair Hildreth; you’re doing it at a good time Joe Seman-Graves; we started a year ago so it just worked out like this. These are actually supposed to be taken out and stopped with insulated plywood, but the way these windows were constructed we were actually able to take them out without damaging anything and put them back, only thing is they can’t open any more so…. Vice Chair Hildreth; but you don’t need to open them Joe Seman-Graves; no you don’t have to but I was happy to see them put back in without damage for the winter. So that’s the request, I believe I attached SHPO’s approval letter in there and it specifically has the 2 mockups, nothing more nothing less. The reason we’re doing these 2 in particular is we need to get the dimensions on both curved and standard. We have different sized windows in the building, but if we get the dimensions and we are increasing height and not necessarily the width of them because they are all the same width should be go through and do a more detailed restoration of the building SHPO wants a window by window analysis before so it will take quite some time. I did bring up the fact with them that if we were able to restore certain windows but not others would they have any issues with the look because if you put a new one in no matter how good the paint job is it’s not going to look exactly like the old one next door they said they would prefer to retain as much as possible and they’re ok with replacements if it doesn’t match 100% of what you’re seeing next door, to the other window, I had questioned that but that is up to them and they are going to want to see a survey I think that will give them an idea of west elevation do x amount of windows what do we think that is going to look like. Are we going to have window replacement, restoration or taking out a full swath of it – they’re going to want more detail. We also picked these 2 sides so we can see how the sun is hitting the glass respectively which is a big sticking point with them. We decided to not go with the tinted glass at all so we trying to go basic clear see through however their point is you’re going to have a different tint regardless because of the age of the glass and how it was made, so even with no tint in it we’ll … Vice Chair Hildreth; true, look at that window over there Joe Seman-Graves; I don’t think this is glass anymore Vice Chair Hildreth; is it plastic? Joe Seman-Graves; it’s plastic, We also have pending grant applications for roof work and new HVAC, which the HVAC shouldn’t poke outside, but there was $500,000 for windows so this hopefully will get the ball rolling if we are fortunate to get that grant we’ll have an idea of how best we can utilize the $500,000. It’s going to be way more than that at the end of the day unfortunately but that’s just how it goes with old buildings, and government work everything is prevailing wage and we pay a lot more than we have to otherwise. So I don’t want to give you the quotes I got for the whole building. So that is what’s here, that’s what I’ve got today. Thoughts, questions? Vice Chair Hildreth; it’s a big project Joe Seman-Graves; the 2 windows are a big project in itself. Chairperson Cherniak; but it is laying the ground work for the future, so this is getting all the approvals getting all the reviews Vice Chair Hildreth; and then inside are we going to have identical shades so they look the same? Because when you drive by here the shades and blinds are in all different directions, it’s a mess Joe Seman-Graves; I think the shades have to come out altogether, I’m working on the windows the shades are something separate. Vice Chair Hildreth; I don’t care how beautiful your windows are, if you don’t have consistency to the window shades it’s not going to make any difference Joe Seman-Graves; I can tell you they are going to get destroyed when the windows have to come out, but I think the good thing is the window shades will not make it through the process, we’ll have to get new ones. Another big thing is we applied for HVAC because we don’t want to put air conditioning units back in. These nice windows if we get them or restore the old ones, just does so much damage over the years so HVAC is important but it’s a whole building restoration. I mean the roof needs major work, the heating and cooling need major upgrades, windows, not to mention accessibility. We had 3 people down stairs for a meeting last week, they couldn’t hear anything because our camera wasn’t working, so they were just sitting downstairs because they couldn’t get up here, so major work has to get done this is definitely laying the ground work, but there is a lot more that needs to happen if you want to keep this building up to literally up to code, we not even up to code and insulated Vice Chair Hildreth; and an elevator was never a thought Joe Seman-Graves; we have a grant application in for accessibility with Mark Fowler. And part of that is seeing the feasibility where could we put an elevator. I think there is really only one spot that would work, we used Mark Fowler because he did a project that he showed us where—if you picture where the police stairs are that is really the only feasible spot that we could put an elevator. And if you are just thinking elevator right there, it just isn’t going to be right, He showed us a project that he did where it was the same kind of situation and the building didn’t lose character, they did it in a way that retained it Vice Chair Hildreth; but it makes sense to put it down there because that has a handicap entrance. No sense in putting an elevator in front when people can’t walk up those stairs Joe Seman-Graves; the thing is, is there is a—the best spot would be on the back side but we can’t because there is a private house there and that is there entrance, that is their driveway there. Vice Chair Hildreth; but it’s got to be near an entrance that is handicap accessible Joe Seman-Graves; yes. Well that whole thing would come out if they way that Mark is like talking about it. It wouldn’t look anything like it currently is. Big issue over there is our utilities come in right under the police stairs, so there is only so much that you can really do. This is very far out though we’re talking a very long time. We’ll work on mock up windows first then we can talk about full façade restoration and changing the layout. Now is the time to speak up on anything you don’t like because they’re … Chairperson Cherniak; this looks like the way to go and if SHPO is happy then we are ok So do we have any other topics to discuss this evening? Joe Seman-Graves; you need to take a vote Chairperson Cherniak; we need to vote, what is it we are voting on? Joe Seman-Graves; just approval on 2 mock up windows Chairperson Cherniak; ok Member Lamb; I’ll make a motion to approve Vice Chair Hildreth; I’ll 2nd it all in favor AYE, motion carried YES NO ABSTAIN Daniele Cherniak X Barbara Hildreth X Thomas Rifenberg ABSENT Evan Lamb X John Frainier ABSENT Joe Seman-Graves; we also have street scapes coming up we have a meeting tomorrow at 12:30 for design, everyone is more than welcome Chairperson Cherniak; I thought it was 11? Joe Seman-Graves; sorry 12:30 is National Grid it is 11. So we’re going to go over the basic designs. It’s going to look very similar to Remsen Street not trying to change up the look to much. There’s going to be some things we’re going to change obviously Vice Chair Hildreth; where are you going to do this? Joe Seman-Graves; so we’re working on designs for Howard, White and Ontario. We have funding out there for White right now. Vice Chair Hildreth; what are you going to do with it? Joe Seman-Graves; the Remsen Street treatment lights, sidewalks, new…. Vice Chair Hildreth; have we finished the sidewalks all the way down Remsen Street yet? Joe Seman-Graves; so, that is actually going to start this spring. Vice Chair Hildreth; ok Joe Seman-Graves; so that’s going to be done in the Spring minus the fire parcels, we’re going to leave that for future developers so we don’t, they’re going to destroy it anyway when they come in Also have an application in for the length of Columbia Street and White Street. And included in the White Street is the pocket park over there which is now just a vacant piece of grass across from the new building on White and Remsen. So we have designs we’re trying to finalize for those 3 streets there’s funding out for one of them. I think I asked for funding for Ontario, Howard is going to be the 3rd whenever that happens not in the next year or so. So we’re going to look at those designs once they’re finalized design wise then will bring it to the board for final approval. I’m not sure that happened with Remsen Street Chairperson Cherniak; I don’t think so Joe Seman-Grave; but it seems like an exterior alteration so it should come through this board. That’s what I’ve got going on, the library is coming around you’ll notice the stone work is taking a while because it’s cold but it’s happening. Vice Chair Hildreth; we’ve been talking that when it opens we’ll have to bring in commercial cleaners because that place has been vacant for how long and with all the rodents that normally go in there we need to have professional cleaners go in there. Holiday Hope is usually there, but we put them at the Senior Center Joe Seman-Graves; have you been in there Vice Chair Hildreth; no, I haven’t but there’s no way that Holiday Hope is going down in the basement. I don’t know how dirty or clean it is, and we’ve got to clean that. The Library Board is talking about professional cleaners to come in and clean Joe Seman-Graves; ok. On the construction side of things it’s coming along. We’re waiting for the lift to come out for the tower work, and that should be the last phase. Also when that happens, we’re going to try to get the lift over to the Music Hall because there is some, its’ not noticeable, but the back side of the chimney they need to repoint but, if you know how to get to the roof of the Music Hall, you don’t want to bring your material up through the roof, so it’s better to have a lift and just work that way, because that ladder is probably as old as the Music Hall. So we’re going to try to come over there and do some light touchup. I don’t know if the board wants to see it, it’s 2 or 3 bricks that are loose but where they are it’s just better to have those guys do it rather than DPW going up there. But it’s not noticeable from the street at all Chairperson Cherniak; that’s fine, they’re just repairing and repointing Vice Chair Hildreth; it’s not like your changing it, you’re just repairing it Joe Seman-Graves; no and we want to keep the bricks where they are and not in the street. That’s what I got. Chairperson Cherniak; ok so if there are no more topics for discussion do I have a motion to adjourn? Vice Chair Hildreth; I’ll make a motion to adjourn 2nd by Member Lamb all in favor AYE motion carried to adjourn at 6:59PM