Heritage Commission

City Hall Meeting Minutes 601 4th Avenue E Olympia, WA 98501 Heritage Commission Contact: Michelle Sadlier 360.753.8031 Tuesday, April 12, 2016 5:00 PM Room 207 Special Meeting with Downtown Strategy Consultants 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 5:07 p.m. 1.A ROLL CALL Present: 6 - Chair Holly Davies, Commissioner Benjamin Helle, Commissioner Patricia McLain, Commissioner Rachel Newmann, Commissioner Heather Youckton, and Commissioner Nicholas Vann Excused: 2 - Vice Chair Dwayne Harkness, and Commissioner Garner Miller OTHERS PRESENT John Owen, MAKERS Architecture & Urban Design Peter Steinbrueck, Steinbrueck Urban Strategies Community Planning & Development (CP&D) Deputy Director Leonard Bauer CP&D Principal Planner Tim Smith CP&D Downtown Liaison Mark Rentfrow CP&D Historic Preservation Officer Michelle Sadlier 2. BUSINESS ITEMS 2.A 16-0467 Historic Preservation and the Downtown Strategy The discussion between the Heritage Commission and the Downtown Strategy consultant team included the following discussion points: Historic District Boundary Expansion: How would it inform the Downtown Strategy? Why do Commissioners want to expand the historic district’s boundary? · Protect the character of Downtown Olympia · Boundary provides a sense of place…the district tells the story of the history of Downtown through the quality of buildings that have been able to stand the test of time · New development within the district should be compatible with that sense of place...knit in/woven in…should be good quality/built to last…for future City of Olympia Page 1 Heritage Commission Meeting Minutes April 12, 2016 generations, buildings built now should be able to stand as their history · Should be focused now on identifying what makes the Downtown district unique and responding to that; Ballard a good example of where new development happened too quickly and has had a dramatic effect on the historic district · Historic district status should be used as a tool for change management to try to avoid inadvertently erasing parts of Downtown’s character…to help us avoid man-made disasters (vs natural disasters) · Interested in graceful transitions from historic spaces to new spaces · Consider identifying which places are “sacred” to people…ones which should be protected at all costs vs those places which can accommodate more change Peter Steinbrueck Presentation on Older Building Reuse Discussion Points: · Identifying uniqueness & authenticity · Concept of adaptive reuse - works well in smaller towns and cities · Should reuse tools & incentives be included in the Downtown Strategy? à See L.A.’s ordinance on reuse as an example · Small-scale industrial buildings can be reused for commercial/workshops/etc. to complement new construction for housing à see Georgetown (Seattle) as an example · Developer perspective - need incentives to make a project pencil out…ability to put an addition on to add value · Finer grain zoning - up-zoning vs down-zoning · Use streetscape improvements to define spaces à See Ellensburg & Pioneer Square as examples · Consider “Warehouse Reuse District” - identified area of older vernacular buildings…provide incentives & tools for rehabilitation of older buildings John Owen Discussion of Design Review Discussion Points: · Design review code could be given thorough assessment (out of scope with Downtown Strategy but possible recommendation) · Observation that the design review code refers to “preserve the historic context and merit of the district” but this is not defined · Consider recommendation of a thorough analysis of architectural features in City of Olympia Page 2 Heritage Commission Meeting Minutes April 12, 2016 Downtown à Example presented: Pike/Pine Neighborhood Design Guidelines (prepared by MAKERS for City of Seattle) o Identifies characteristics of certain buildings types in district, e.g., multistory commercial, multistory residential,… o Describes characteristics for each o Used as a tool to inform design review to support preservation of historic character of the district · Commissioners commented on frustration with joint design review process - fewer Heritage Commissioners (4) than Design Review Board Members (5); minimal direct reference to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation; cannot conduct pre-submission meetings with applicant to give advice prior to concept design review meeting, which is too late in the process…this contrasts with their usual practice of early involvement for building permit applications. Summary on Consultant's Next Steps for Downtown Strategy · Consider framework models as possible recommendation · Look into why pre-submission discussions can’t happen with the joint design review process · Consider recommending incentives and other tools for adaptive reuse · Provide examples from other jurisdictions on the above The discussion was completed. 3. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m. City of Olympia Page 3