HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/6/2019 Item, 4, Barasch1
Tonikian, Victoria
From:Scott, Shawna
Sent:Thursday, May 2, 2019 4:29 PM
To:CityClerk
Subject:FW: Proposed Modifications to 1185 Monterey Street
From: BARASCH Architects & Associates <barascharc@aol.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 2, 2019 4:24 PM
To: Advisory Bodies <advisorybodies@slocity.org>; Scott, Shawna
<sscott@slocity.org>;
Subject: Re: Proposed Modifications to 1185 Monterey Street
Allan,
Very good letter defining our current urban design and "architectural fashion" quandary which allows local architects to
use a limited palette of currently acceptable design elements & materials to be seen as "contemporary", hip or with it...
Our city has allowed local architects& developers to get away with "murder" by simply "dressing" new and expanded
larger buildings in acceptable "so called" anonymous clothes in order to minimize their design explorations for the sake
of getting "paid" at the community's expense.
I spent eight years of my life serving as the co-chair of the Pasadena Urban Design Commission which was responsible
for the oversight of the development of a comprehensive Downtown Urban Design Plan which resulted in the adoption of
a "strict" set of downtown urban design, architectural and landscape design standards
in the form of an overall Downtown Pasadena Specific Urban Design Plan along with the adoption of a fairly detailed
Downtown Housing Development Plan now commonly referred to as "The City of Garden's Plan.
I guess I've seen a similar set of interrelated real estate development / design and economic & legislative / enforcement
problems be dealt with in a comprehensive manner in my "Pasadena Days" and kinda know whats possible to achieve in
a city of about 160,000 residents rather than our community of about 46,000 residents.
Respectfully yours,
Stephen Barasch, Ph.D, AIA, NCARB
(Local Guy)
-----Original Message-----
From: Allan Cooper <
To: advisorybodies <advisorybodies@slocity.org>; sscott <sscott@slocity.org>
Sent: Thu, May 2, 2019 1:30 pm
Subject: Proposed Modifications to 1185 Monterey Street
Save Our Downtown
______________________________________________________________________________
Seeking to protect and promote the historical character, design, livability and economic
2
success of downtown San Luis Obispo.
To: Architectural Review Commission & Shawna Scott
From: Allan Cooper, Secretary Save Our Downtown
Re: Proposed Modifications to 1185 Monterey Street
Date: May 2, 2019
Honorable Chair and Commissioners -
Architectural design and urban design within our downtown core and throughout the city is
monitored through the use of unenforceable policies, conceptual plans and guidelines.
These are summarily ignored time and time again because of a prevailing culture which
promotes laissez faire, market-based planning. We have examples of this in the form of
460 Marsh Street (former ARC Chair Jim Duffy’s project), 1135 Santa Rosa Street (Dennis
Kucinich’s project) and now 1185 Monterey Street (George Garcia’s project) which have
either been approved or are in the process of being approved with the understanding,
promoted by both the Chamber and the City Council, that our downtown and City needs
more examples of trendy, contemporary style buildings. This translates to more black,
more boxy, more over-scaled projects that “could be anywhere” - projects that are,
certainly within the context of our Downtown core, both jarring and singularly unfriendly.
This is compounded by the fact that we are now confronted with State-imposed mandates
which further hamstring our ability to enforce these design guidelines at the local level.
Is there a solution? What we need are a set of enforceable, objective, clear design
standards that our city, the developers and their architects cannot ignore - design
standards that will preserve the best qualities of our city. What we need is a clearer vision,
not to be found in our Downtown Concept Plan or Community Design Guidelines,
describing in unambiguous terms the community's future physical form. If this can only be
achieved through the development of “form-based codes” or by way of an urban design
ordinance, then let’s do it.
In the meantime, I beg the ARC to adhere more closely than it has done in the past to our
Guidelines when reviewing these proposed modifications made to 1185 Monterey Street .
Please consult the guidelines regarding adhering to a color palette consistent with the
immediate context, please consult the guidelines discouraging the introduction of large
expanses of blank wall and please consult the guidelines and the Downtown Concept Plan
where both encourage setbacks above the third floor. Thank you!
Allan Cooper, Secretary - Save Our Downtown, San Luis Obispo, CA
Website: www.SaveOurDowntownSLO.com