at 9:30 uh welcome to the January 18th 2024 meeting of the downtown design Review Committee my name is Justin Brandon I am chair of the committee when called on applicants and speakers will come to the front Podium to speak only one person at a time should come to the podium uh do not approach the podium until vacated by a previous speaker speak into the microphone please and identify yourself and provide your address for the record when you begin speaking address your comments questions and testimonies to the committee only limit your comments to 3 minutes it is unnecessary to repeat testimony previously given by others citizens May address the committee on agenda items by responding to the chair's call for speakers during discussion on each item and signing the speaker log on the podium all comments must be relevant to the item the chair or providing or presiding officer May in his or her discretion prohibit a person from addressing the committee and or remove that person from council chambers if that person commits any disorderly or disruptive behavior please please see the agenda for more information about these requirements if you have parked in the Sheridan Walker parking garage north of John Rex elementary school or in the arts district parking garage south of City Hall staff can provide parking validation for you the agenda and documents are located at https col.
Prim.com SLU portal you would then select a downtown design review committee meeting and click on an agenda item and the relevant documents will come up below below the item Keith will you please call Ro Brandon here FL here Jones here s Schmid here we have quum thank you okay item two the agenda approval of minutes make a motion that we approve the minutes okay have a motion by Jones I'll second second by BL please vote okay motion passes next on the agenda uh item three cases withdrawn we have none item four continuous requests we have none item five on consent docket and Laura remind me we need to review this or we're just interesting no unless if somebody wants to pull it for discussion we can otherwise you'd be looking for motion to approve the consent okay anyone to speak on this item do you have a motion motion to approve through consent okay Jones motion make a second okay blot second vote okay motion passes okay item six on the agenda case for individual consideration we have dtca 23- 000059 at 200 North charel Avenue Laura thank you Laura Griggs planning department I remembered um so the last time we had an item on this site was the partial demolition of the mechanical room because of the fire you might recall this is the old jail um and so what we're going to be discussing today is um a more um solid means of securing the window openings because the windows have gotten if you drive by there the windows have been broken people are breaking in they're getting in the building they've set a lot of fires in the building um and so Public Works has researched and come up with a an option that they're hoping would secure it more firmly um so I provided you a lot of the background which I don't need to go into on the building um and so they're proposing to remove window screens metal windows and plywood covers and install metal panels with the appearance of Windows um and so it kind of looks cool from the air um I think it almost looks like it's a park around the Smoke Stack um and so this is the view from chartel you can see that the lower windows I mean the glass is totally gone because they've repeatedly been broken the windows are also not the same on the building they're they're different as as you might be aware the upper floors were where the prisoners were housed and those windows were totally different than um say the first and second floor this is the South facade and so you can see it has Windows it has individual pains and some of those individual paines are gone um and then you have windows that are just totally missing um and this is the back so this is where the partial demolition was done of the mechanical room and there had been a connection which is still open um on the back of the building and so part of what you saw saw in the application was um covering that over that opening as well as some doors openings um and so I did some closeups just so we can kind of look at the windows if if you're wanting to to show you that um the upper floors are the they're probably um the iron with the individual um panes um on those and then the lower ones were ones that look more like the Civic Center the more art de looking ones um with the two and then one long and then you can see on the first floor that they've actually got them covered with plywood that they've painted to try to match the brick so it doesn't really necessarily look like Plywood And then as you're aware across we've got the the current um Oklahoma County Detention Center and we have the new Municipal Courts Facility across the street um the Civic so we do have some residential in that area you have the Civic Center and um unfortunately this was a picture that I took several months ago so I did not have a picture because they have that addition you approved it's been finished so you might want to go by um and look at that um and then you have uh the new police department so I'm going to just go back let's just say I'll leave it on this one um so I do reference in the staff report um that the the jail is eligible for the national register in the nomination process has been initiated uh the nomination was recommended by the city's historic preservation commission and the city council that is still ongoing and it's been ongoing for a Time an extended time so it's not dead yet it's just taking a while um and as I mentioned earlier this vacant building continues to get broken into and fires have been set in the building um what their Public Works has is proposing and they brought me samples that I'm going to pass around there's two samples one is the thicker that's the smaller one and then the thinner so this is a uh the outside edges are aluminum and then there's a poly something or another on the inside um it's not like this I'm start one here that's one so I asked them for this because this is not a material I'm familiar with sure we normally don't deal with aluminum other than like a frame around a window or a door very small so um this it's called dibond and you can look it up I couldn't find any examples of exactly what we're proposing to do there was a really cool one where they used that product at a church and they made it look like it was a stained glass window with a arch on the top and it looked really cool so um it's being used for a lot of different uh things a lot of them are um they're putting murals different artwork on them and putting them up um and actually using them almost like freestanding type things for art um installations um the intent is to duplicate the art deco windows from the Civic Center which is uh really similar to what those first floor windows and the second floor windows are um and it they feel that that would help it fit in with the area um so the one thing I wanted to point out in your packet on a sheet they provided which was a101 the attachment detail and I discuss this with Public Works we typically do not support doing anything other than fastening through the mortar when it's masonry of any type or stone however um Public Works had indicated that that would not secure that firmly enough to the window so we understand the need to secure the building but we're concerned about the dam potential damage to the masonry material um in the interest of seeing this significant building secured successfully because the last thing we want is for it to burn down because it keeps getting broken into staff supports the application as submitted um because I think the of utmost importance is getting this building secured um and so we're recommending approval of the application we have a representative here from the public works department uh Jim lellan if you have any questions or you might have questions for me you know I don't think this is a material that has been used anywhere on a city project yet so this will be you know this is a learning process and hopefully this works great and they'll be able to use it in other instances as well okay and it's not a cheap and so it's not that they're looking for the cheapest solution because that's that's not how they landed on this product any questions for Laura has there been any and maybe the applicant can speak to this has there been any other um kind of mode of trying to secure this building other than this option have I have they discussed any other options with staff we we had some discussions one of the discussions was fencing it but they would need a really tall fence and part of this is a front yard fence and so even if they did decorative metal the the tallest fence is six foot tall they could go to 8 foot on the sides um but fencing you know is not would not do what they're wanting it to do I mean they've had some temporary fencing up to try to keep people away from the building um obviously we wouldn't want something that with barbed wire or electric or anything like that at all at this location um and I think if you put a fence around it it would really draw attention to it more um especially the the chartel frontage um I mean that's that's the long Frontage so yes we did discuss that you know they obviously have tried plywood which you can see how that looks yep um and I don't think anybody wants to see this building with all the openings covered in plywood they have also um I was just going to say they have also cleaned up a lot of the landscape around the building um that was creating you know easy places to hide sure um so I think that's been another step toward trying to keep it secure okay thank yeah so and that's one thing I guess I should have mentioned um I had a cooworker thank you Keith who went out for me um the end of last week when I was trying to pull this together and I was looking for pictures so I have P this is the north facade and it was like a jungle and you really couldn't see the first two two and a half floors which meant people could get in there and they could hide they it was easier for them to break in because nobody could see them and so they've cleaned you know cleaned that out of there so you actually do you can see anybody driving by can see if oh that's somebody breaking in or you know um and so hopefully that's also going to help um but hopefully I answer that question y that's perfect thank you thank you Katie okay can like to speak on this item if there are any questions or Jim in public works department U yeah we've been trying to secure this building for long long time and it doesn't matter so far what we do we still managed to break in and like I said we've done some research and it looks like this is a the best option for securing those windows and having it still look like a occupied building instead of something abandoned sure okay any questions for the applicant no I I would like to say I appreciate you guys trying to uh one figure out a way in order to secure the building second is to come up with something that does not detract away from the other buildings and more importantly look like it's a boarded up building I hope it works we do too I'll make a motion that we approve the application on the basis that the project complies with the regulations and guidelines of the downtown Design District zoning ordinance as referenc in section c and d of the staff report okay motion by Jones I'll second plot second okay motion passes thank thank you appreciate Jim could I just say one thing the the Fasteners they've noted corrosion resistant Fasteners you might consider asking them to do a pop rivet something that you can't unscrew from the outside on the ground floor so if yeah these are going to be secure Fasteners okay um I think the ones they going to use you have to have a special tool to be able to access them and you know just the discussion about the attaching to the brick and the mortar because of the building's age the mortars deteriorated to the point where we'd never be able to get a secure Bond or link to that so we're going to have to go into the brick thank you very much thank you okay next for uh individual consideration is dtca 23- z68 part two at 101 North Broadway Avenue I don't think I've ever had a part two on here yes so part one was the stuff I could do administratively on on this this was formerly the bank first building before they bought the Cotter Ranch Tower and redid it and um if you haven't been by the change by just putting the blue glass on the outside of that building is it is um it looks like a totally different building um and so you've probably been reading articles uh about this building it's it's historically been a bank and it is now being converted um into to the harlo and it will have apartments and amenities for those apartments um in addition to the building at the north end of this block which you don't have to see anything on but it's also part of the harlo project and it is being converted from an office building to apartment so we're kind of excited we've got that going on downtown um this is before you today because the sign that they want to put they want to put a blade sign you can see from this picture which is a Google Earth photo Bank First had this really strange squatty looking um blade sign on the corner um in your packet and I should have put that in my presentation but in your packet was a historic photo that the applicant provided I don't know what the oh there it is Katie's got it thanks I don't know what year this is from but you can see that at one point it had a blade sign that literally went from the top of the building down to the the middle of of the second floor um which is significantly bigger than the one that they're proposing and so they're kind of you know trying to go back to that um and in the when you see the design of what they're proposing it uh you know is not detracting from the building at all um it's probably less than half the size they're asking for just a little over 200 232 square feet um um it's a very interesting project I'm looking forward to forward to it be being finished um there's I've seen a lot of things in other cities in the United States where they're converting Office Buildings into residential downtown because of all the vacant office so that's exciting as well so um other than that um you know different part one is actually under administrative approval reports okay so if you had a chance to look at that part of that cover removing all of the existing signs because they're already gone but we needed to capture them they're changing all the awnings they're going to have you know they will have signage on the awnings um there's um there's some windows that they have to change but they're going to look like the historic windows that are on it there's the ATM machine was removed there and it's set up and they're able to put a door there so they're going to put a door there that's on the south and that's going to go into the where the bicycles are going to be stored for the tenants of the building um so all of that you know most of that stuff that I'm talking about was all in part one so um if you have any questions for me I do have a representative from the Arctic firm here um but it's only on your agenda we had no issues because it's 100 square feet or larger and those have to come to you any questions for staff okay do the applicant wish to speak on this item hi I'm John senner with Tradesman architecture 500 North Broadway um you know we're asking for a a a very nice sign to go back in place of where historically we've had a blade sign since the 40s um this would be the fourth blade sign in its location um we really feel we have precedent we feel um we've we've met several times with the state historic preservation office they're on board we are working through some attachment details with NPS right now um but other than that we feel this uh would be a great addition to our project okay any questions for the applicant okay didn't want to rush it this time I felt bad that Eric still had a question so I'll make a motion to approve the application on the basis that the project complies with the regulations and guidelines of the downtown Design District zoning ordinance as referen in section c of the staff report okay motion by Jones s a second okay motion passes thank you thank you okay okay item seven other business sounds like we have a presentation by Mr h yes let me let me pull this up you don't have these very often but oh we'll do hi everybody I'm Scott Holly I'm with Holly company and uh I would like here I'm going to go ahead and start off on ah first timers all right uh the site plan here that's at North Francis I don't know how many of you are uh familiar with this with this property but it's a long lot it's about 190 ft deep and uh we're proposing to do 18 units uh as you see here it would be one building we're just going to kind of create a little bit of a pass through we were going to put the uh front doors on the North side uh that kind of give this aesthetic and as I was talking with Laura the biggest kind of concern was how do we feel about which would be the um uh the west side there facing Francis and kind of creating that aesthetic of how do we make it fit in with the community and not feel like it's just the side of a building so uh I kind of came up with something that I came across uh over in Rosemary Beach there's these windows and these columns and I just felt like it would would complement the community and you know fit in and not just look like a blank canvas on the side there along Francis but then still give us that fun aesthetic of this North facing facade so as you drive by you can kind of see the the the blocking and then of course the side would have those windows and a little bit of that kind of that block feel uh so this is just a about a half block south of tenth yep so you have yeah the apartments to the north on Tenth yes well ac across tenth AC but immediately across the alley it's it's medical it's it's office stuff it kind of surrounds uh a bunch of Office Buildings um you know businesses and then um then directly to the uh the east on the other side of Francis is uh Tim hughes's uh townhouse project be to the west then as you go down to the South you start seeing you know more residential coming in pretty much all residential at that point so I was explaining to Scott that there's a guideline about front doors being on the street so what's unusual about this is this lot is surrounded by three alleys and then the street is on the west side and that's a short side and so what you're what you can see here and that Midtown no I'm sorry uh yeah I didn't mean to you're west of the the the clinic yes right and so there's a as the the bottom street is ninth and as you go forward on the east side there's a new house then there's a duplex then there's the alley that runs on the south side of this and immediately on the east side of this property is that uh that I can't say that word r Rheumatic disease office um it's separated by another alley there's a short north south alley and then you can see the east west alley on the North North is actually in and so that would be where the front doors would be for the property but um we've been discussing various options to try and get the feel that you're wanting from the the streetcape and you know the inviting feel and everything which is a little difficult when it it's going to be facing to the north and so I suggested that he share some ideas with you and and see about getting some feedback because you guys will probably also have some ideas also we're getting you know at this point uh we'd be you know pretty much committed to this project and trying to create something uh and getting it approved um you know moving forward we're trying to create as many units we're proposing 18 units um we'd like to try to stick to that to kind of make the cost of the land and and getting into there but um so that's why I came today to just to get feedback on on feasibility as we move forward with uh making this obviously an active project in our pipeline so you have 18 parking spots to the North and South off of both Alleyways with two essentially front door back doors north south side so we'll kind of create something with our floor plan with our bedrooms maybe an entrance for the people that that um you know if they're parking on the backside maybe they come in through through their one of their bedrooms if they want to make that an option as well but um obviously utilizing as much of this and uh the those Alleyways for our parking areas and we have a parking spot for every bedroom um which is always a big thing for me is that making sure that the street doesn't get congested true is it's already a little snug especially during construction um I I'm not sure how many are familiar but I have a project on aan Francis is a townhouse um that that we have nine units there and you know we've we've felt the the feeling of having contractors and and the homeowners there as you know we've been working through that project we're finishing up and obviously the the neighbors will have their street back so but uh and that project is is an urban design project it's in cottage so one of you would be more familiar with that area um because this is really close to the cottage dividing line which happens to be the alley between 8th and 9th yeah um and so that area it actually except for setbacks it it has a similar feel throughout the whole area when you drive in through there so that's just the biggest thing as I want to make sure that we fit with the community as as you go into you know the boundaries of the cot District can we go back to do you have floor plan yes so on our our unit there closest to Francis I plan to flip it to put the stairs on the other side uh lining the the exterior wall with as many windows as possible um but from there you know just kind of a a simple floor plan of two bedroom options you know just under 1100 squ F feet each unit so the images that you're showing they're not they're not images of what you're planning to design or build they are concept images of we want to open the entire um we want to open the units from a front porch standpoint to the north to an alley we want to open the units from a bedroom access to the South and then on the West Side you just have you want to be able to put an elevation that has no entrance that's the real question East and West sides will have no entrance but just cosmetically you know something architecturally appealing to to the community as they see it driving by it and Laura that's that's the issue since we're it's not it's not the floor plan it's the fact that we would be um the guideline or the or or the regulation the guideline is that the front door should be on Francis on Fran in this in this for this site and we're looking to be creative and come up with a solution where the front doors are not on Francis that's the that's the question that's that's the biggest thing done Sensi obviously we don't want a blank wall yeah yes I think done done sensitively um with real care and purpose for all four elevations opening to the north is not something that I would take exception to say opening to the North and South not something I'd take accept I'd be fine with it yeah okay great yeah I mean we're just trying to work with with the land that we're given that it's obviously long you know it's much more I mean if you if you put front doors on Francis now you're starting to choke down to where you really got four units you know with with a lot of unused space I do think there is care with the final plan with the final elevations when that comes before us I think that that's where the the conversation will have we'll have about how does it look yeah but just the question of on this site can we open North and South I I think there's a solution there to be uncovered great thoughts yeah I would just say if you're going to create units that enter from the North or the South and you have an opportunity on Francis you might have a higher value unit that basis West that creates new opportunities for day lighting entrances things like that that you have a special end condition that could address Laura's concern but also could provide more value for that unit for you so yeah I would Echo Eric sentiment I would think that your most desired condo would be the one that faces Francis um so that would when you maximize that kind of East facade yeah with some lighting or natural life from Windows I think that would look really great I think that'd probably be your your first cell yeah yeah I um I mean obviously that's a condensed version but and we'd be having a flat roof with units on the on the roof um you know just to keep the exterior as clean as possible but um you know I'll be pushing for you know the greatest use for the community U you know cosmetically because like you know like our project on eth we we care about um you know how the rest and the neighbors feel about that community and it's special to even can be a part of of the cottis district even have done a project in there so um you know obviously I wanted to come today and just see about the the actual layout having doors on the North and the South side and then from there I told Laura this is you know that's totally acceptable to say we'll work this thing until everybody feels that we've got something that's going to be a a nice piece of the community so yeah now immediately to the West it's all nor north of the alley is all vacant all that stuff has been torn down but south of the alley is there's four units that they're still under construction aren't they are they done yeah uh yes no they're under construction okay yeah and then at the corner down at 9th um in Francis on the southwest corner was kind of a it was an oversized lot it wasn't 25 foot wide it was wider than that that has been split into three lots and there's going to be three houses built um on of very very small Lots but it's the kind of density that you know we would expect downtown and so there's a a lot of building going on in that area as well as his his project down on um eth okay that one on the corner that she's speaking of it's there's three units and uh I haven't seen quite the exterior rendering of that but I'm assuming that they may have a door along Francis and then a door along um oh you talking about the houses yeah the three houses oh I'm sorry I thought that's one well no cuz those three all their their access is on the North facade it is on the North yeah so they're all they're all from ninth yeah um if I remember correctly oh yeah and they what I would assume yeah so they're they're three stories you know they have garages on the first floor but there's a lot a lot of building going on um the lots are filling up in that area um I've gotten a lot of calls on this over time it's just people were trying to figure out it's so long what the heck can I do with it and here we are y well you found a a solution so I think I would say um if you want to try and tie into the community or give back to the community think very strongly about your Landscaping your street trees your interaction on that facade so if all the front doors are off of valleys that's your prerogative It's Your Land go for it but how you interact with the rest of the city could be your all of Branch yeah yeah yeah yeah now you're thinking two stories right yeah two stories yeah which is the minimum they can yeah they can do two stories here wonderful okay all right thank you so much I appreciate it all right thank you thank you okay next up we have communications um so one that I'll talk about because there's one on there and you're like oh my gosh I have a whole page of addresses um that is the Broadway um grab this again North Broadway streetscape project it has been appealed so you see the original one which was number two and then you see the revision which was number three and that revision was uh after discussing with the property owner that appealed uh and to address his concerns some of the project was removed but we still have the appeal out there and hopefully we'll get that solved um and that is hopefully starting soon which will um address some of the issues we have with the intersections is being so wide and pedestrians trying to get across the street without getting taken out by a vehicle um and hopefully this will be the last time we have to go in on Broadway to to do a project because we've had I think three maybe over the last seven eight years already um let's see anything else well part one of the project we just did the sign for so you could see the specifics of all the other stuff they're actually doing an outdoor space which is which will be kind of cool it's kind of tucked in now that we have a tall building next to it it's kind of tucked in on the the west side so they're creating this outdoor space which doesn't exist now for the tenants um and yeah the last one and I don't know how many of you are familiar with itm machines I had to look it up I kept wanting to call it an ATM machine I'm like What's the difference it's Video Connection is the difference um so there putting one up in married Gardens just in case you need to do your banking you can you can go to mared Gardens U with Tinker um and other than that that that's that's those items that are on there and then that kind of just morphs into the next one staff comments um I'll be doing a quorum call as I look at the projects and see where we're headed with some of them just as to make sure we have enough healthy people to to have a meeting and Katie did you have anything no okay okay any comments from committee members okay our next regular meeting is Thursday February 15 2024 new applications were to be submitted to staff by 4M on Tuesday January 16th 2024 revisions and information on continued projects have be to be submitted by January 23rd 2024 and if that's it we're adjourned thank you