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Home My WebLink About9/23/2019 Item 3, Cooper Wilbanks, Megan From:Allan Cooper <saveourdowntownslo@gmail.com> Sent:Saturday, To:Leveille, Brian; Cohen, Rachel; Advisory Bodies Subject:CHC Review of the Parking Garage and Repertory Theate @ 609 Palm Street Attachments:809_21_19...lettertochc.pdf Dear Brian and Rachel - Would you kindly forward the letter attached below to the CHC before their Monday, September 23, 2019 meeting? Thanks! - Allan Allan Cooper, Secretary - Save Our Downtown, San Luis Obispo, CA Website: www.SaveOurDowntownSLO.com 1 Save Our Downtown ______________________________________________________________________________ Seeking to protect and promote the historical character, design, livability and economic success of downtown San Luis Obispo. To: San Luis Obispo Cultural Heritage Committee, Brian Leveille, Senior Planner and Rachel Cohen, Associate Planner Re: 609 Palm - Continued design review of two new structures  From: Allan Cooper, Secretary Save Our Downtown Date: September 21, 2019 Honorable Chair and Committee Members - Staff described some of the Architectural Review Commission’s concerns at their August 19, 2019 meeting which led to a continuance. Surprisingly, staff left out the conditions for approval at their September 16, 2019 meeting. So that neither the CHC, ARC and PC remain in their respective “silos”, never beneﬁting from what used to be free and open communications with one another, it is incumbent on us to share with you some of the Commission’s September 16th concerns. Perhaps you can “build” on some of these concerns. It is our understanding that last Monday, the ARC asked to continue the repertory theater. Staff is suggesting that the ARC approved this project with conditions. In any event, the ARC requested that the simple boxes should come back with a more pleasing, receding appearance, that the theater blend more with the garage behind it and that the high contrast horizontal banding be toned down. You now have a color elevation of both buildings along Nipomo Street. As you can see, the two buildings remain in stark, uncompromising contrast with one another. Permit us to explain our concerns with both buildings and humbly suggest ways these two buildings could better relate to one another. Staff has stated that “the proposed project is in an area of the downtown that consists of existing and proposed structures with a variety of architectural styles that do not reﬂect many of the typical downtown historic architectural characteristics”. We disagree. There are some architectural features (not styles) recurring within this area that should be taken into consideration when addressing neighborhood compatibility. Therefore, we would like to suggest ways these buildings might more compatibly ﬁt into this important, historic neighborhood. Critique of the SLO Repertory Theater The SLO Repertory Theater is historically out of context with its surroundings. Why? Because the theater has ﬂat roofs and an unrelentingly busy, decorative terra cotta motif. It’s understandable why a parking garage would have a predominantly ﬂat roof. But with the exception of the false-fronted Soda Works building, all of the buildings in the immediate vicinity of the Old Mission have either gable or shed roofs. The Leitcher House at 667 Monterey and the houses at 679, 664 and 658 Monterey Street have gabled roofs and the SLO County Historical Museum has gabled roofs. The Children’s Museum has both gable and shed roofs. Even the more contemporary 667 Monterey Street (Monterey Place) project will have a few gabled roofs. Wouldn’t it, from a deferred maintenance point view, be important to ﬁgure out a way to get rainwater off the theater roofs by introducing a shed roof here and there? We invite you to look below at a few contemporaneous examples of buildings with shed or gable roofs. Wouldn’t it be better if the Nipomo Street elevation had not only a bulkhead faced with stucco plaster and/or stone veneer but that the entire wall fronting onto Nipomo Street would be faced in plaster or stone veneer to provide a better transition to the parking garage? Wouldn’t it be better if the strange terra cotta, sesame-colored banding on the theater were eliminated altogether? Critique of the Palm/Nipomo Parking Garage The parking garage elevation along Nipomo Street is less plain than it was back on August 19th, but we question why this facade has not taken on the qualities of the North facade along Palm Street or the East facade facing the adjoining properties. It’s also puzzling why the tower facing Nipomo Street couldn’t be a replica of the Palm Street tower with its more traditional rustication, proportions and scale. The Nipomo Street facade should continue the decorative insert reliefs that can be found running along the top fascia of the North Facade. The Nipomo Street facade should, like the Palm Street facade, have a continuous ﬁrst ﬂoor belly band. This would succeed in emphasizing the horizontal and bringing down the scale of the building. And ﬁnally, the Nipomo Street facade, in order to tie in with the more rectilinear qualities of the theater, should dispense with its arches altogether. We are also aware of your concern about the preservation of the historical, circa 1939 bituminous adobe brick house located at 614 Monterey Street. We know you are considering moving this structure. But from a contextual point of view, wouldn’t it be better if the architect could, using all of the skills available to him, incorporate this structure in situ into the rest of the repertory theater? Given the importance of these two projects relative to their location downtown we urge you to continue this project with direction. Thank you! ACCENT TREES SEE L-2 FOR PRELIMINARY PLANT LIST VEHICULAR ACCESS (THEATRE ONLY) DROUGHT TOLERANT UNMOWED GRASS, REINFORCED LANDSCAPE SURFACE DECORATIVE HARDSCAPE SEE L-2 FOR MATERIALS PROPOSED PARKING STRUCTURE OAK UNDERSTORY LANDSCAPE DROUGHT TOLERANT PLANTS ADAPTED TO MEDITERANNEAN CLIMATE. REFER TO WATER CONSERVATION NOTES. LANDSCAPE ORNAMENTAL GRASSES CITY WAYFINDING KIOSK DECORATIVE BOLLARD PARKING STRUCTURE EXISTING ENTRY/EXIT ADJACENT RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY BUILDING FRONTAGE 0' SETBACK OAK UNDERSTORY SCULPTURE GARDEN AND NATIVE PLANT LANDSCAPE NIPOMO STREET PUBLIC USE AREA AT CORNER OF NIPOMO AND MONTEREY VEHICULAR LANDSCAPE AREA (THEATRE ONLY) PRIMARY THEATRE ENTRY LANDSCAPE BUFFER ADJACENT RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY PEDESTRIAN CIRCULATION TO THEATER AND PARKING STRUCTURE PARKING STRUCTURE STREETSCAPE 12' WALK BY OTHERS NOTE: A PART OF NIPOMO PARKING STRUCTURE PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT PLAN BENCHES SCULPTURE GARDEN ABSTRACT ELEMENTS ON DECOMPOSED GRANITE SURFACE STREETSCAPE A PART OF NIPOMO PARKING STRUCTURE PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT PLAN LINE OF ROOF DECK THEATRE MARQUEE SIGNAGE SCREEN SHRUBS EXISTING OAK CRZEXISTING TREE CANOPY PODOCARPUS SPP. M O N T E R E Y S T R E E TN I P O M O S T R E E T BENCHES SEE L-2 FOR AMENITIES STREET TREES PER CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO MASTER TREE LIST PLAZA SEAT WALL EXISTING OAK CRZ SALVAGE EXISTING GRANITE BLOCKS AND RE-USE AT PLAZA SEAT WALL PLAZA 25' TYPICAL SCALE: 1” – 10’-0” @ 30” x 42” SHEET SIZE 05'10'10' 20' 30' NORTH: l a n d s c a p e a r c h i t e c t s p l a n n i n g • e n v i r o n m e n t a l s t u d i e s 187 Tank Farm Road, Suite 230, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 phone: 805.781.9800 fax: 805.781.9803 Conceptual Landscape Plan SAN LUIS OBISPO REPERTORY THEATRE L-1 July 5, 2019 File Path: firma_SLO Repertory Theatre_21803 Last Date Modified: 07052019 ATTACHMENT 1