Agenda

Special Meeting of the Design Review Committee

October 23, 2008

5:30 p.m.

The sole purpose of the meeting will be to discuss an Application For A Certificate Of Appropriateness for building a parking deck adjacent to the American Legion Memorial Stadium. 

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission uses the "The Secretary Of The Interior's Standards For Rehabilitation" to judge the appropriateness of proposed projects.  Below are listed those guiding standards.

1. A property shall be used for its historic purpose or be placed in a new use that requires minimal change to the defining characteristics of the building and its site and environment.

2. The historic character of a property shall be retained and preserved. The removal of historic materials or alteration of features and spaces that characterize a property shall be avoided.

3. Each property shall be recognized as a physical record of its time, place, and use. Changes that create a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjectural features or architectural elements from other buildings, shall not be undertaken.

4. Most properties change over time; those changes that have acquired historic significance in their own right shall be retained and preserved.

5. Distinctive features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a historic property shall be reserved.

6. Deteriorated historic features shall be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature shall match the old in design, color, texture, and other visual qualities and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features shall be substantiated by documentary, physical, or pictorial evidence.

7. Chemical or physical treatments, such as sandblasting, that cause damage to historic materials shall not be used. The surface cleaning of structures, if appropriate, shall be undertaken using the gentlest means possible.

8. Significant archeological resources affected by a project shall be protected and preserved. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures shall be undertaken.

9. New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction shall not destroy historic materials that characterize the property. The new work shall be differentiated from the old and shall be compatible with the massing, size, scale, and architectural features to protect the historic integrity of the property and its environment.

10. New additions and adjacent or related new construction shall be undertaken in such a manner that if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired.

Above is a site plan for the proposed deck.  The curved structure located at the bottom of the drawing represents the stadium bleachers.  The T-shaped building at the bottom of the drawing is an original ticket office.  Below is a map showing the site in the mid-1950s.

Staff believes that the challenge for the Commission is to determine if the proposed parking deck meets the The Secretary Of The Interior's Standard Number 9:

 New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction shall not destroy historic materials that characterize the property. The new work shall be differentiated from the old and shall be compatible with the massing, size, scale, and architectural features to protect the historic integrity of the property and its environment.

The applicant contends that the proposed parking deck meets this standard in the following ways:

While it is clear that the applicant has made a good-faith effort to meet the Secretary's Standards, staff believes that the size and mass of the parking deck causes some concerns, and that anything done to mitigate the impact of the size and mass of the parking deck would be helpful in protecting the historic character of the stadium.   The design as shown includes pyramidal roofs over the elevator towers.  Staff recommends that the pyramidal roofs be replaced with a flat roof design that would be consistent with the roofs of the historic buildings associated with the stadium.  This change would lower the overall height of the building and would make the design of the parking deck more in keeping with the historic architecture of the stadium.