Historic Preservation Commission Agenda and Packet 2017 05 15

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Historic Preservation Commission Meeting Minutes April 17, 2017 Page 9 of 14 The reason I am interested in this topic is because the current policy is a threat to the historic character of Downtown. The probable cause we just saw tonight was a collection of a lot of individual buildings and a great example of what we want the character of Louisville to be maintained and preserved into the future. I am showing a slide from the Downtown Framework Plan which is a visionary document. It shows a lot of individual buildings being repurposed and reused. This issue came about because from a development point of view, you have a small Downtown building and an owner who wishes to do an addition. We hear that if you tear down a building and build that SF plus 1000 SF, there is no tap fee. If you wish to take off the roof and add 1000 SF on top, there is no tap fee. If you tear off the back of the building and add 1000 SF, there is no tap fee. But if you are sensitive to the historic character of the building and you separate the 1000 SF new addition, there is a $35,000 tap fee and probably another $15,000 installation fee. This is a financial hit for a property owner doing the right thing. One of my issues is from a planning perspective. We want to locate buildings and improvements to buildings that are appropriate, and not have Public Works dictating where improvements happen on a property. If Public Works says you have to tear off part of your building in order to avoid this tap fee, it is a crazy incentive. We have a vision for Downtown and the design guidelines ensure that the vision comes to fruition. For historic buildings, this document is based on the Secretary of Interior Standards for the proper treatment of buildings. The point is, we want the connector to disappear. We want it to look like two building instead of one building. Generally, a solution that is independent from the building and does not alter the historic characteristics is encouraged. It is better to separate your addition from the building rather than attach to it. The current incentive is to scrape it off, remove the roof, or remove one of the facades. I don't think that is the right structure if we want to achieve the vision for Old Town. 836 Main is a great example of what really works and fits with the character of Old Town. If this property owner were to come to the City today and propose a new restaurant in the rear accessory building, they would be slapped with this $50,000 expense. I don't think they would propose it today. I am not sure why the policy changed. 908 Main is a large building and probably did not have a tap fee charged by the City. Another property owner on the south end of Main Street wanted to repurpose the accessory garage with a taproom. The City told him that he would need to pay the $35,000 plus $15,000 installation fee. That is not feasible for repurposing a garage. It tells the developer that he should probably scrape off the whole thing and build something like 908 Main Street. In conclusion, I think the tap fee structure encourages removal of historic resources which is not what we want to encourage. There is talk about using grants to pay for this. There was a conversation at the Utilities Committee I attended where the Mayor said it was a bad idea. We don't want to use historic preservation money to pay for tap fees. What do you think is appropriate? There is a $75,000 grant for new construction. If it costs $50,000 to put in a new tap, that is not much of an incentive. You are only left with $25,000. There are at least two examples of businesses that are not able to proceed because of this fee. There may be other owners or businesses that have been affected. I hope we can send a message to CC and City Staff that this is not a good policy and it needs to be looked at. It should encourage the things we want to do and not discourage us. John Leary, 1116 LaFarge Avenue, Louisville, CO I think the current policy can create a lot of game playing which undermines the intent of taking a $75,000 grant. You can make a connection and it goes away. You are not accomplishing anything. I'd like to compare the previous project at 931 Main with 908 Main, known as the wedding cake building. That building probably takes twice as much space as the 931 Main building, yet the 908 Main building probably has a $500 water tap. It has been there a long time. It is twice as big and using twice the amount of water. It is not fair. The ordinance says, "tap fees shall be based on and used for the growth related capital expansion costs for water resources, water supply, water storage, transmission treatment and distribution facilities, related costs and