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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOfficial Act No. OA258-26 - Official Act - Appeal Historic Preservation Committee's Denial of Certificate of Appropriateness - 311 Broadway AdditionRenovation OFFICIAL ACT The Common Council of the City of Rochester, Minnesota hereby approves the requested appeal and overturning the denial of the certificate of appropriateness for an addition to the project at 309-317 Broadway Avenue based on the following information: UDC Section 60.200.040C.8.d indicates that the Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties will be used in the review of COAs with locally adopted design guidelines providing additional guidance. Following in bold are the Secretary of the Interior's 10 Standards for Rehabilitation, with a notation from Community Development stating how the project meets each. 1. A property will be used as it was historically or be given a new use that requires minimal change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces and spatial relationships. The property will continue as mixed-use, with upper-level residential and the majority of ground-level commercial space remaining. So too will the distinctive materials, features, spaces and spatial relationships that are located along Broadway Avenue. While there will be changes to the spatial relationship between the new upper stories of the addition and the existing historic buildings on Broadway, the massing of the new addition is smaller and does not expand beyond height and width boundaries of the 318 Commons building directly adjacent to the rear. 2. The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The removal of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces and spatial relationships that characterize a property will be avoided. The historic character of these properties is primarily located within the facades facing Broadway Avenue. The historic features of these will be preserved, with no changes being approved to the Paine Furniture or Bach Music Buildings facades. The storefront at 309 will be rehabilitated, removing the infill that was put in place around 15 years ago, reestablishing its historic opening. The remaining portions of the brick facade of 309 will be preserved. 3. Each property will 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 elements from other historic properties, will not be undertaken. Changes that have occurred within the district's period of significance will be maintained. The rehabilitation of the facade at 309 and to the alley side of the buildings will utilize a more contemporary design and not create a false sense of historical development or add conjectural features. 4. Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in their own right will be retained and preserved. Changes have occurred to the storefronts of 311-317 over time within the period of significance, and no alterations are currently proposed to these spaces. 5. Distinctive materials, features, finishes and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property will be preserved. None of the material being removed qualifies as distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship, and altered spaces are not character-defining spaces of the properties. 6. Deteriorated historic features will be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature will match the old in design, color, texture, and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features will be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence. None of the character-defining historic features are being replaced in this project. 7. Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be used. No such treatments are proposed as part of this project. 8. Archaeological resources will be protected and preserved in place. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken. Due to construction projects in close proximity over a wide period of time, it is unlikely that any significant archeological resources would be found. 9. New additions, exterior alterations or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work will be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment. The proposed project will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that provide the historic character of these properties along Broadway Avenue. While the addition will alter the spatial relationship between this property and its neighbors and the broader historic district, the presence of the 318 Commons building mitigates the additional building mass this project adds to the district. The addition has been designed to be both compatible with and differentiated from the property's historic elements. 10. New additions and adjacent or related new construction will 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. The essential form and integrity of the historic properties are being preserved along Broadway Avenue. If the addition was ever removed, the historic property and its environment would be virtually unimpaired. PASSED AND ADOPTED BY THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA, THIS __________ DAY OF _______________, 2026. ___________________________________ PRESIDENT OF SAID COMMON COUNCIL ATTEST: __________________________ CITY CLERK APPROVED THIS _____ DAY OF ______________________, 2026. ___________________________________ MAYOR OF SAID CITY (Seal of the City of Rochester, Minnesota)