CITY PLAN COMMISSION

809 North Broadway City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI 53202 Meeting Minutes CITY PLAN COMMISSION PATRICIA NAJERA, CHAIR Larri Jacquart , Vice Chair J. Allen Stokes, Whitney Gould, Stephanie Bloomingdale, and Joaquin Altoro Monday, September 28, 2015 1:30 PM City Hall, Room 301-B SPECIAL JOINT MEETING WITH THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION Meeting convened: 1:35 PM 1. Roll call of City Plan Commission members. Member excused: Joaquin Altoro 2. Roll call of Historic Preservation Commission members. Members excused: Blair Willliams 3. Matters before the Commissions: file 150613 ( An ordinance relating to the change in zoning from Local Business and Two-Family Residential to a Detailed Planned Development for a mixed-use building at 1701-11 and 1717-19 North Humboldt Avenue, on the northwest corner of East Brady Street and North Humboldt Avenue, in the 3rd Aldermanic District) and file 150677 (Resolution relating to a certificate of appropriateness for the demolition of an existing building and the construction of a new mixed-used building at 1701 N. Humboldt Ave.) 4. Presentation by Dept. of City Development Staff and questions from members. Also present: Ald. Nik Kovac Ms. Vanessa Koster, Dept. of City Development said the project will be 3-story building with 23 dwelling units and 23 parking spaces with commercial use on the first floor. The CPC must consider consistency with the comprehensive plan and development compatible with surrounding uses. Mike Loughran, Dept. of Public Works, is present to address traffic issues and other public works issues. The Commission must consider an increase in density. The density is in conformance with the units above the former hardware store to the east. The staff report is based on the September 4th submittal, although a new plan was submitted on Sept. 24th Peter Ogden - developer Mark Ernest - architects (Engberg Anderson) Tim Wolosz - architects Mark Ernest said that the area has a tapestry of building materials and types in the area and the area wasn't built all at one time. He feels developers have to re-invent City of Milwaukee Page 1 CITY PLAN COMMISSION Meeting Minutes September 28, 2015 buildings in order to create interest. Mr. Ogden discussed other buildings he's designed on the east side. The developer submitted 3 designs, the third design which no-one has seen yet. With the original plan, the top floor was set back and designed to fit in with the single-family homes along Humboldt. Parking was an issue in trying to fit it into the design. In April the plans were changed to decrease the amount of glass and make it more masonry and tried to relate to neighborhood buildings in terms of materials and colors. They also went down to one garage door, rather than two. In June/July, an entire floor was removed from the plans as it was too dense. For the Sept. 4th plan, there are 23 parking spaces and with tandem parking one unit could have 2 spots. There is a retractable store front along Brady. They also exxagerated the copings at the top of the building to make them a little more historic. There are also raised planter beds along Humboldt. There is also a bike room in the lower level that accommodates 20 bikes. For the Sept. 11th submittal, the masonry was stepped down on the Brady St. facade for a clapboard look with an undulating skyline. Along Humboldt, the large, projecting metal bays are abbreviated. For the Sept. 28th submittal, a solid base was added to the storefront and moved the canopies to accentuate the corner and the balconies were recessed so they do not project beyond the building wall. The developer is recommending the submittal of Sept. 28th, which was just presented for the first time. Ald. Kovac wasn't aware that Brady Street was going to be made LB3, which is much denser and allows for much taller buildings. Ald. Kovac does not support LB3 zoning on Brady Street or at this site. The developer had originally wanted 30 units and the compromise number was 23, which is the highest existing density on Brady Street. Ald, Kovac is concerned that with this newest submittal that HPC will not support it with this corner element. Ms. Gould was concerned that the view down along Humboldt was rather foreboding. The developer's thought was that Brady is more commercial and Humboldt is more residential. Ms. Gould feared that the zinc patina would change color over the years, while the developer saw it was a high-quality material. Ald. Bauman prefers the second-to-last version over the most recent submittal. He does not like the protuding balconies. The balconies are five feet deep. The balconies only protude 2.5 feet from the building exterior. Mr. Jarosz said the windows seemed very narrow, particularly on the first floor to activate the street level. The mechanical cladding on the fourth floor also seems very ominous and institutional and those should be stepped back as much as possible. There is also very much a feeling of "side wall" along the Dry Hootch side. The developer much prefers the Brady St. facade on the final version. For the final version, the Brady St. base is more versatile, the peek-a-boo balcony is gone and all the canvas has been moved to the corner. Ald. Kovac said that the developer met with himself and HPC staff and that the original version wasn't acceptable. The third version, Ald. Kovac feels, reverses the positive changes that were made that HPC staff felt were needed. Ald. Kovac feels that there are basically just two options - version one was acceptable to CPC staff, but not to HPC staff. 5. Presentation by Historic Preservation Commission staff and questions from members. Dean Doerrfeld said that the building on the corner would need to be demolished, which staff doesn't object to. The neighborhood does vary highly in style, form and setback. The neighborhood has rhythm, but it does not have repetition. They worked off of the second drawings in presenting their report. They did not support the projecting bay on the corner on the Humboldt side and they still feel more or different windows need to be on the Humboldt side and the large mechanicals on the top floor present as a fourth floor. In general, staff did not support the first/third option as too heavy on the street and diminished Glorioso's. The second version is dated City of Milwaukee Page 2 CITY PLAN COMMISSION Meeting Minutes September 28, 2015 Sept. 11th. The scale and massing is fine, but a thoroughly modern design concept might have worked. Ald. Bauman does view this as being modern and Ald. Kovac is fine with having "design by committee" and having developers come back multiple times if needed. The third floor is set back about 6". Staff doesn't support the bay on the corner for a number of reasons. It's not intended to have any residential on the first floor. The mechanical on the fourth floor is the override for the elevator, which they tried to mask as much as they could. Ald. Kovac thinks there must be a solution to make this building look like it belongs there. 6. Public hearing (length of testimony may be limited at the discretion of the Chair). Tony Snell - interested in traffic; he lives at Prospect and Brady and he often gets clipped. He's also concerned about only having one parking space per unit. He prefers the second version. Mike Loughran - Public Works coordinator said there is minimal parking or traffic impact. 7. Discussion by members. Ms. Koster would recommend approval of either the first or second version. HPC staff would recommend approval of the second version only. 8. Vote by City Plan Commission members on file 150613 -- An ordinance relating to the change in zoning from Local Business and Two-Family Residential to a Detailed Planned Development for a mixed-use building at 1701-11 and 1717-19 North Humboldt Avenue, on the northwest corner of East Brady Street and North Humboldt Avenue, in the 3rd Aldermanic District. Mr. Stokes moved, seconded by Ms. Jacquart, for conditional approval. Ms. Bloomingdale said that input from the meeting should be included and she is frustrated as this wasn't really ready for a public hearing. There were no objections. Jim Owczarski, City Clerk, clarified the bureaucratic process between the two bodies. 9. Vote on by Historic Preservation Commission members on file 150677 -- Resolution relating to a certificate of appropriateness for the demolition of an existing building and the construction of a new mixed-used building at 1701 N. Humboldt Ave. Staff recommends approval with the condition that staff review the detail work. The second version (9/11 and 9/24) is acceptable to the developer with today's comments. The Americans with Disabilities (ADA) access, the west windows should be wider, the protruding balcony and other issues should be addressed. Ms. Pieper Eisenbrown said on the Humboldt elevation is a little bit busy above the first floor. She doesn't see how the Brady St. elevation fits on Brady St. as too massive for that street and the storefront appears to be pulled back from the street. She is concerned about the mass of the columns and the glazing. The store front was set back, per the developer, deliberately. Ald. Bauman said if the bay on the corner is modified or removed, that would need to come back before the Commission. Ms. Keating Kahn would like to have this come before the Commission again because there are too many variables to approve at this time. Ms. Keating Kahn moved to hold this matter until October 19th, seconded by Mr. Jarosz. There were no objections. City of Milwaukee Page 3 CITY PLAN COMMISSION Meeting Minutes September 28, 2015 Meeting adjourned: 3:35 P.M. Linda M. Elmer Staff Assistant This meeting can be viewed in its entirety through the City's Legislative Research Center at http://milwaukee.legistar.com/calendar. City of Milwaukee Page 4