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2017-11-29 DRB MinutesDRB November 29, 2017 Page 1 of 5 City of Salem Massachusetts Public Meeting Minutes Board or Committee: Design Review Board Date and Time: Wednesday, November 29, 2017 at 7:00 pm Meeting Location: Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square DRB Members Present: Chairperson Paul Durand, Helen Sides, Chris Dynia, Ernest DeMaio, David Jaquith DRB Members Absent: J. Michael Sullivan , Glenn Kennedy Others Present: Tom Daniel – Director of Planning and Community Development, Tom Devine – Senior Planner Recorder: Colleen Brewster Chair Paul Durand calls the meeting to order at 7:00PM. Roll call was taken. Urban Renewal Area Projects Under Review 1. 30 Church Street (East Regiment Beer Company): Discussion and vote on proposed signage and outdoor seating area (café permit) scheme. Devine states that the City has not received and reviewed a complete sign application. Scott Perry, part owner of East Regiment Beer Company, was present to discuss the project. He said a mulch bed and brick will be removed to make it accessible and a deck will be constructed above it on sonotube footings with capacity for 48 patrons. A wood perimeter shelf with backsplash is proposed with a “Forest Green” awning. Sides asks about managing the area in the winter. Perry says they own the building so they will handle snow removal. The awning will be built to hold a heavy snow load and it will be bolted to the building and clipped to keep it waterproof. Durand asked for more detail on mounting and installing posts. Lighting will include pendants and string lights for a soft white illumination. Gas heaters will be attached to the ceiling. Outdoor furniture will be secured at night. Taps will be removed for cleaning each night. There will be a hand sink with running water. Perry described the proposed corrugated metal on the bar. Jaquith commented that the wood may be too rustic for a city location. Perry stated that he wants to reuse old wood beams similar to those inside the building. Perry said that the wood will be finished. The brewery, cleaning area, and bathrooms are all inside the building. A ramp will make the deck accessible. Perry said only a perpendicular sign attached to the building with a bracket is proposed with no awning signage. Power conduits will not be outside the awning. Food will be provided by Nick’s Firehouse Coffeeshop until 3:00 p.m. with a possibility of another food provider leasing that space at night. Sides remarked that she does not prefer the proposed sign with a gun in it. Perry stated that it is based on local history. DRB November 29, 2017 Page 2 of 5 Chair Durand opened for public comment. A member of the public asked if this will be a tasking or tap room. Perry stated that it will be a tasting room. Another member of the public suggested replacing the gun on the sign with a bow and arrow. Chair Durand closed public comment. Jaquith: motioned to continue to the December 19. 2017 meeting. Seconded by: Dynia. Passes 5-0. 2. 9-11 Dodge Street, 217-219 Washington Street, and 231-251 Washington Street (Hampton Inn, Mixed-Use Development Project): Discussion and vote on proposed revisions to final design Present to represent the project were Attorney Thomas Alexander of Alexander & Femino, owner’s representative Ken McClure, and Architect Andrew Queen. Atty. Alexander stated that they are looking to modify the prior approved plan and will present modification made since the last meeting in response to their comments. They hope to break ground in the spring and complete the project in 2020. He noted that the previous plan couldn’t make the numbers work so it has been redesigned. Queen stated that the blue mass at the corner of Washington and Dodge Streets was reinstated to its previous dimensions and changes were made to create depth and shadows at the upper floors. They have projected the bays along Washington Street and as well as changed the tone and color to a lighter shade and created some deeper reveal between the two building sections. The separation/reveal between the two masses of the retail and hotel at the upper floors is not a glass window wall. The Washington Street windows were increased in size to make a greater window to wall ratio. At the high façade of Washington Street a section of retail was added at the corner and the façade and window groupings were adjusted. Queen stated that at the first floor pedestrian connection on Dodge Street they brought the Hampton Inn entry vestibule forward and added two steps and a landing onto Dodge Street with a sloped walk. The second level parking has no changes. The two bays at corner of Washington and Dodge Street have become window walls to separate the massing at the corner that will become retail. The mass at that corner is close to being in line with the Hawthorne Building. The vertical element at the rear corner of Dodge and Dodge Street Court has been eliminated and replaced with a reveal to highlight the material change. They brought back a louver to create a top line at the roof that were grouped together and separated by a wall at the higher end of Washington Street. DRB November 29, 2017 Page 3 of 5 Queen reviewed the finish materials that are the same as previously approved: • The residential wing will have a Morin brick with edge flashing and full size bricks will be used. • Cembrit (cementitious) panels will be used at the upper floors and there will be a 6” step back from edge of brick. The panels will be 4’x8’ and its seams will be designer selected. • Windows and window wall will have a Classic Bronze Aluminum finish. • Mortar at the upper walls will be a Briarwood to compliment the earth tones of the masonry. • The retail facing Washington Street will have panels with a striation created by a difference in color and the upper façade have striations with texture only. • The stepped back vertical ribbed material is a cementitious board. • All of the aluminum doors and walls will be a charcoal color. DeMaio asked what panel material has been added to the window walls. Queen replied that is the mechanical system louver covers. As much clear glass as possible will be used at the connector and spandrel glass will be used to conceal the floor and wall sandwich. Unlike curtain walls where the glass goes past the floor, the window walls will sit on the floor and divide the room and the glass will be fixed. Jaquith stated that the glass looks dated and suggested that it look more like the proposed glass on the other side of the building. Sides noted that the reveal doesn’t wrap the corner and continue to Hampton Inn sign. Queen replied that it is the 8” step in the façade. There are a several different depths in the façade occurring at the changes in the material; 8” at the middle material change, 12” at the panel next to the Hampton Inn sign, the area above the Hampton Inn sign is the zero plane, the brick towards Dodge Street Court extends out 6”. All this is to create depth and shadows. The brick at the Hampton Inn sign will be a flatter brick for a modern look and the mortar will closely match the brick color. The masonry along the retail corner will be a concrete masonry unit product and the face will be polished and in a color called “Ocean Mist” that’s 4” thick and comes in 8”H x 24”L pieces. All aluminum frame windows will be charcoal. Queen stated that on the residential wing all the precast lintels and heads will be a light limestone. Jaquith asked for lintel and sill heights. Queen replied 8” high lintels and 4” high sills. Sides asked if the top panel will be green as they appear in the rendering. Queen replied no, it will not look as it appears on screen; it will be an earth tone and the lighter color bay will be a cembrit material, but in a “Pearl” color. Durand asked what the plane difference would be at the projected bays. Queen replied 24” from the zero plane. Dynia asked if the cornice would be the same material. Queen replied it will be a cementitious material and the signage band treatment will depend on how the signage will be mounted. Sides noted that the restaurant corner could be more creative and less traditional, and could use similar materials and not have such a traditional corner. DeMaio noted that the classic cornice is old fashioned with a modern box on top of it. In an earlier version the box was overhanging rather than sitting as box on top of something that dated and detached. DRB November 29, 2017 Page 4 of 5 DeMaio stated that at the upper floors of the transition piece there is a spandrel material, a grouping of 4 windows, with a darker spandrel between the windows. That darker spandrel doesn’t exist on floors 2 and 3 and that switches back and forth at the upper facade. Queen replied that it was apart of the previous design. Durand asked about the sidewalk pattern. Queen replied that it is the pattern that was previously approved. Queen noted that the metal material will be a metal shingle-like Millennium Tile that locks together and will be placed at top edge of Dodge Street. Sides stated that the brick along Dodge Street looks thin. Queen replied that the brick is 1’-4” at the window reveal and jamb, and the outside corner will be 2’-0” at the edges. There will be a 6” difference in the plane above the brick. Durand asked if the brick will have a cap. Queen replied that a pre-cast cap was not in previous design, only a thin metal flashing with a modern look they’d like to keep. Jaquith asked if the flashing will match the match the brick color. Queen replied yes. Dynia asked what material is proposed at the projection over the masonry at the corner retail space. Queen replied the a cornice overhang to cap off the brick. DeMaio asked why it is only at the corner of Washington and Dodge Streets. The original design made the corner a special element and sat proud of the other facades and created a connection to them. The windows were grouped to make them feel bigger and it had a more civic scale which was appropriate for Riley Plaza and some of that has been lost in the current design. DeMaio asked what railings are proposed for the balconies. Queen replied that they will be aluminum; some will be glass and others vertical pickets, but all of the aluminum will be the classic bronze to match the window frames. Queen noted that the glass was approved in the previous design. Devine asked about the public parking and retail connection for the newly proposed retail at the upper area of Washington Street. McClure replied that it is still being explored; however, their goal was to include some public parking on the 3rd floor parking level to be accessed off of the upper portion of Washington Street. They are investigating a connection between it on the third floor and the 38 public parking spaces on the first floor, which would involve some changes to the security of resident vehicles. Having some public parking available on that level is being considered. Durand stated that they could approve with conditions to review certain items. Chair Durand opens public comment. William LeGault, 2 Orne Street, said his concern was the public parking which has been provided. DRB November 29, 2017 Page 5 of 5 No one else in the assembly wished to speak. Chair Durand closes public comment. DeMaio stated that he believes the following items need further development and review: the corner design, cornice condition at the classically styled restaurant and its transition to the upper modern building above, the projecting bays on Washington Street and how it relates to the cornice and setback pieces, which could be resolved with changes in color and material choice and not necessarily changes in the design, and larger scale drawings to highlight the nice materials choices. Dynia added that he’d like to see a study of how the metal shingles at the window wall unite the buildings to highlight the corner of Washington & Dodge Streets. DeMaio noted that the previous design had a connecter on either side of that corner with similar materials and the new design is more three different entities, making the glass window wall appear suddenly. Jaquith that requested different, more modern, glass options at the connector be considered. The hotel windows and the lintels at the residential side should be 8” if they aren’t already. Sides suggested larger details in color. Durand: Motion to continue to the next regular meeting and approve general concept as presented with a request to provide the previously mentioned details. Seconded by: Sides. Passes 5-0. Old/New Business Minutes The minutes from the September 27, 2017 regular meeting were reviewed. Jaquith: Motion to approve the minutes. Seconded by: Durand. Passes 5-0. Adjournment Durand: Motion to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by: Jaquith. Passes 5-0. Meeting is adjourned at 8:25PM. 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