Designates 1250 Welton Street (Emily Griffith Opportunity School) as an individual structure for preservation in Council District 9. (NEIGHBORHOODS & PLANNING) Designates 1250 Welton Street (Emily Griffith Opportunity School) as an individual structure for preservation in Council District 9. IF ORDERED PUBLISHED, A PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD ON THIS ITEM.  REFER TO THE "PENDING" SECTION OF THE FUTURE COUNCIL MEETING AGENDAS FOR THE DATE. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 4-27-16.
Oh he's excited about the owner supported. Yes so it is an owner supported this is for the entire block and it is divided into contributing and non contributing areas. The contributing areas include the 1926 schoolhouse as well as in 1847 and 1956 editions. This was submitted to CPD on April 1st. It went through the Landmark Preservation Commission. It went through the committee first reading and second reading is right now. All of the notices were done correctly. It was posted on the website in legal journals and all of the RINO's were noticed. This is a slightly different application, so I'm going to kind of talk about this as being Denver public schools were involved as this is their property. They have a policy called the fee policy, which deals with historic schools. And the intent is to facilitate the long term preservation of the school district's most architecturally and historically significant schools, but also to meet the board's ongoing responsibilities for educational requirements and to provide flexibility for future generations to construct new facilities. The route for this particular designation started with a certificate of non historic status in 2012. Denver Public Schools withdrew it after historic Denver expressed interest in landmark designation. They initiated the FB policy evaluation. They hired the architectural firm of Slater Paul to complete the historic structures analysis. The HSA confirmed the National Register of Eligibility Determinations that there was that it is eligible and that there are adaptive use potentials for the building. So Denver Public Schools convened the Historic Evaluation Committee, which is made up of historic Denver Landmark Preservation Staff and History, Colorado. They basically agreed with the HSA findings and the committee determined to prioritize the designation of the Welton Street site as an option. Denver Public Schools formed a sales advisory committee and they wanted to balance capital needs, downtown development, zoning needs and preservation values. The city and county of Denver then hired Humphrey Polies and there is actually a representative of them in the crowd as well. If you have questions to do a study of this and to rate the designation and they felt that that they wanted to preserve the most significant buildings, which are those along Welton Street. And so the recommendations from this study were the basis of the application that's before you. This is a slightly different application. It's going to be kind of three parts. There's the standard designation that you guys have seen in the past. And then there are two other sections, one that deals with the design and development patterns, and it's an addendum to it. And then there's also a supplemental design standards and guidelines, which is an attachment. So part one for the Emily Griffith School. It is designated as a structure. Its zoning is DC and you one it's for the entire block of 170, which has been the historic boundary of the school since about the 1940s. But we understand that there's a large redevelopment for this particular area. So this is an opportunity to integrate the older historic building along with new construction. So the contributing area is along Welton Street. These are architect designed buildings. They were purposely planned and designed as the main street of the school. They were the primary operations and classrooms here. And these have the strongest association and history with Emily Griffith herself. The non contributing portion along Glenn Arm has some consistency in the architectural style, but it's much more simple. These parcels were purchased over time and there's less of a design plan for those. So in order to be listed, it has to have integrity and it has to meet two out of the following three categories and relate to a historic context or theme. This particular property has very high integrity. The school, while it was originally built on the edge of downtown and had more of a mixed residential and commercial setting originally still is in the same location. The original architect's design is intact, the brick and terracotta is visible, and it still has a really strong street presence. It meets the criteria under history for direct association with historical development of the city. The school was founded in 1916 and it provided an alternate education for the residents. It's a very innovative and early form of this kind of education. There was a lot of work for workforce training, for auto mechanics, plumber, plumbers. It helped build a competitive, competitive workforce for Denver. And there were a lot of partnerships during World War One and World War Two with the Emily Griffith School for Training the Workforce. It's also directly related to Emily Griffith herself. She was the driving force behind this. Behind this school, she is was the principal until 1933. She founded in 1916. And she is recognized at the state capitol as a very important woman within Colorado history. The property is also significant for its architecture. The original 1926 design has Renaissance revival styles with Beaux-Arts embellishments, and it's done with a lot of brick and terracotta details. The 1947 and the 1956 additions integrate the brick and terracotta, but they use an international style. And this would be one of the first international style buildings in Denver if it is designated. And finally it meets it under geography. This is a prominent location. It's just off of Colfax. It's highly visible. This school was called out on travel maps of the early 20th century, and it's one of the few remaining historic schools in the downtown area. It relates to the themes of vocational and continuing education, as well as women's history. And the period of significance for this property is 1916 to 1956. The Landmark Preservation Commission determined that it had physical integrity, that it met the criteria under history for historical development, as well as being associated with an important person that embodied distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style or type, and that it had a prominent location and was geographically significant. They also believed it in its historic context and themes of Denver, and they voted unanimously 6 to 0 to recommend it going forward. So part two of this particular designation is intended to help preserve the most significant parts of the building that are associated with Emily Griffith to retain the sense of massing and form as these distinct buildings and to make sure they're visually, visually prominent on the site. But it's also to accommodate new construction and the idea that there's going to be new, dense development primarily along the glenarm side of this. And so it's to ensure that you can integrate both the old and the new. So within this there will be a contributing a non contributing section within the non contributing section. Applications for demolition would not go to the Landmark Preservation Commission, but would be approved by staff. However, they would not be released until there was a replacement plan that was approved by the LPC. That is actually also true within the most part of the contributing areas. There's the demolition area for contributing that could also be approved by LPC staff for demolition. However, it would have to have a replacement plan improved in place by the approved by the LPC and also a plan that would show if you demolished part of the contributing building that the rest of the building could still be retained and would still stay up. That does not include the demolition, does not include the initial 1926 building, building, as well as the facing of the 1947 and the 1956 addition. Within that, what we're calling the preserved area that would go through the typical landmark preservation design guidelines would go through on the typical design guidelines that are currently in place. It includes the significant buildings along along Welton Street on the key Frontages and retains the cantilevered vestibule that's on 13th Street. Any part of demolition that would go through on the preserved area would be subject to the general chapter 30. So in terms of design parameters for this, there are two areas that are restricted, firm, any type of development. There the small yellow areas, restricted areas one and two. And the intent of that is to preserve the size of the buildings and give some sort of allow those buildings to remain prominent, the historic buildings on the site, while also allowing for development and growth in the transitional height area, which is the area that can be demolished , although it is a contributing building that would be allowed up to 112 feet. The remaining part is only restricted by zoning and the state owned state capital of you in terms of the size of the development and in the. Part that faces glenarm. And so this is kind of just to illustrate some of the areas that could be preserved in the areas that would allow for development. The yellow portion of that is the preserved area, and it's illustrated above is the part that would be protected and then you would have the non restricted height envelope and would allow to go as high as a zoning would allow for that area. So in order to sort of enforce that and to maintain that part of it will preserve, but also allowing for new construction. There are design standards and guidelines, and these are intended to be customized design guidelines for this particular site. It's to allow significantly larger construction abutting or connecting with the historic building. And so it's to encourage and integrate both the old and the new and to ensure thorough and high quality architectural design, articulation and materials for new construction. This is a separate document that would be approved as part of this designation process. Landmark Preservation reviews the design guidelines and standards as part of the designation as a whole, and then they in the preserved area in the other areas, they would combine the traditional design guidelines with the new design guidelines that are attached with this designation . Those design guidelines are intended to address the transitional height area, the restricted areas, as well as the zoning restricted areas. And there divided into four parts with an addendum that talks about the character defining features of the historic building at the Landmark Preservation Commission. There were there was a letter from historic Denver, which is a co applicant, as well as 30 additional emails and letters of support. We have not received any other emails since the Landmark Preservation Commission Commission hearing. There were four comments from the public. Three were in support and one was in opposition. And the Landmark Preservation Commission passed this unanimously. Thank you. We have four speakers and I'll. Call all. Four and you can make your way up the beat to Bruce and Levinsky, Jane Chrisler and Sarah McCarthy so you can make your way up and Ms.. Bruce can begin your remarks. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I am DEVITA Bruce. I have the pleasure of serving as the director of operations, outreach and engagement for our Denver Public Schools. Mr. President, Councilman Brooks, and other distinguished members of Council, thank you for the opportunity to speak speak briefly regarding the historic designation bill for the Emily Griffith Opportunity site. What you have before you is a culmination of years of thoughtful dialog and a broad with a broad spectrum of stakeholders with varied interests. As DPS prepared for the sale of the site. We were seeking to. Create a designation that honors the legacy of Emily Griffith and the countless contributions she made to the field of education. The city of Denver and the state of Colorado. How fitting that this designation bill occurs and the year that we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Emily of Emily Griffith's first school. We also recognized that it was important to establish a set of design guidelines that provided greater certainty and clarity for potential developers as they determined how this prominent square city block could continue to be a catalyst for future opportunity. What we. Discovered. In the act of this exploration was a pathway that allowed committed stakeholders to proactively resolve competing interests to get to an outcome that met the needs of all. Each step of the process leading to the has this. Historic designation. And design guidelines has been carefully considered. Having the support of the historic community as evidenced by historic Denver being a co applicant. There is a testament to what is possible. With the synergy. Of collaboration, the willingness of the civic, business and development communities to engage and provide input on how to balance the goals of the school district and the interests of the broader community has been invaluable. Just as Emily Griffith herself opened the doors of opportunity for all who wish to learn. Our hope is that the certainty provided with this designation will yield continued opportunity for downtown Denver and ultimately for the. 91,000. Students currently served by DPS. Thank you for your consideration of this bill. As Denver Public Schools seeks to utilize all available resources to ensure that every child succeeds. Thank you. Thank you. Annie Levinsky and this 76 minutes. Thank you. Hi, I'm Annie Levinsky. I'm the executive director of Historic Denver, located at 1420 Ogden Street. And I'm really thrilled to be here tonight. And it's not quite. The 11th hour. Yet. And fortunately, it's not the 11th hour for the Emily Griffith Opportunity School. We've been. Working on this. As the beta mentioned, for several years, more than three years of analysis and. Conversation and planning. And so I really want to thank DPS for their willingness to take a really careful look at this site before it transitions out of public. Ownership for the first time in 150 years. And I also want to thank the. City and. Brad Buchanan's leadership in helping the stakeholders. Work through the details related to this designation and the redevelopment concept before you. Tonight. Historic Denver does have a long history of working with DPS regarding historic schools, and in the 1990s we received a National Trust. Honor Award for efforts that. Encouraged student led designations of many of our most important public school buildings. And Sarah McCarthy will. Speak in a minute. But she was one of the volunteers that was really intimately. Involved in that. In the early 2000s, the program was further structured through. The DPS policy. RFP, which. Karen mentioned the policy at that time. DPA also conducted a survey. Of many of its UN designated buildings and ranked them from Tier one through Tier three, with Tier one. Being the schools that were most appropriate for historic. Designation. And Emily Griffith. Was identified as one of the Tier one schools. In 2012 when word spread. That DPS plan to move the school program from the. Site. Historic Denver heard from many concerned. Community members about what would happen to the buildings. We reached out to DPS to express the importance of preservation and they agreed to work with us and implement the policy outlined in policy. F.B. The process outlined in policy be the Emily Griffith. Site and specifically the Welton Street side of the campus, has been in public ownership for more than 150 years, with. The first public school opening there in the 1870s. In 1916. DPS granted Griffith, who was then principal at. Crofton Elementary. School, still standing, and Curtis Park. The permission to open a. Nontraditional school for all who wish to learn in the vacant building on the site. Based on her early teaching experiences, Griffith recognized. The needs of not only her students, but also their parents. Her first offerings at the Opportunity School included English language courses, citizenship. Courses and technical training programs. By the 1920s, the school. Was so popular that DPS. Invested in its expansion, constructing the classical. Revival style building that now sits at the corner of 12th and Welton. It was later expanded with Annex to. Significant international style. Additions that complement the 1920s building. One in 1947 and one in 1956. And that really. Completed the build out of the Walton Street side of the. Campus and replaced that earlier school, the Longfellow School, that had. Stood and been first used. Gradually and incrementally. DBC then acquired the property. Along Glenarm place to build a variety of one story shops. The 1926. 47 and 56 buildings along Welton Street are interconnected. And today are experienced as one. Building. With multiple entrances. The interconnected structure clearly and definitely meets all three criteria. In the landmark ordinance for designation. Representing the most historically, architecturally. And geographically significant. Aspects of the Emily Griffith site. And serving as a symbol of her legacy. It is through the doors along Welton that more than a million students have access to education and opportunity, and it is above these doors that the school's values of opportunity and achievement are emblazoned. Griffith's legacy is. Profound and historic. Denver feels strongly that it deserves. To be physically represented in a. Place that has deep and authentic history. We are confident that the Welton Street buildings, deemed most significant through this whole process, can meet the. Site's. Story and represent its architectural character. The designation application before you clearly identifies the structures on Welton as the structures for preservation and the smaller one story structures on Glenarm place as non contributing. This means the buildings on the Glen own side of the block may be approved for demolition without a public hearing. And historic Denver fully anticipates and is aware that a new and most likely quite large development will take place in this location. DB has officially listed the property in the same week the designation was filed and we are commend them and thank them for doing this process concurrently so that both the prospective buyers of the site as well as the community will have certainty about its future. Before those discussions get too far underway. Preservation, as Devina mentioned, is most successful. When it is collaborative. We are grateful to the city, the Community Planning and Development Office. Humphreys Polay Architects, the Downtown Denver Partnership, and all these stakeholders for engaging in thoughtful and productive planning for a place with great importance in our community. The Emily Griffith process demonstrates that property owners and the preservation community can work together to find solutions that make our. City more unique. More vibrant and more adaptable for the future. So thank you. Thank you. Ms.. Levinsky. Jane Chrisler. Good evening. I'm Jane Kreisler with Humphreys Poly Architects. And we acted as a consultant to the city and Denver Public Schools. And I am here to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you. Thank you. Sam McCarthy. Good evening. Thanks for your attention. More than 20 years ago, a collaboration began between Denver's preservation community and Denver Public Schools, led by Jennifer Moulton, who was then the president of historic Denver. This effort sought to identify the district's architecturally and historically significant schools. We found dozens of them. More than 500 students researched the history of their schools in their community, its architectural style, so they could nominate their schools as Denver landmarks. Many dozens of these students came happily before this body to defend these nominations. DPS and historic Denver received a national award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. For this program, I spoke of it as raising little preservationists. But we ran. Into a problem. Since the 1880s, DPS has been hiring noted local architects to design its schools using high quality materials and craftsmanship. These schools represent a spectacular 130 year span of the spectrum of architectural styles, ranging from. The 1880s. Richard Sony In Style through the. 1920s Collegiate Gothic style to the 1950s Usonian and international styles until 1952. No. Two Denver schools were built alike. Denver schools were built to last 100 years and more. And they have, consequently. All the schools first surveyed met Denver's landmark commission criteria for designation to designate all would devalue the recognition. So a tearing system was to was developed to identify the districts most architecturally and historically significant schools. The Denver Board of Education established its policy to recognize this. Unique ranking process to support. The preservation of schools like Emily Griffith Opportunity that was ranked Tier. One while balancing. The district's responsibilities to educate our young residents. Schools are tangible symbols of the value the community places on education. And in Denver, the value of our history, especially our public assets. I applaud this continuing collaboration. I wholeheartedly support this. Nomination. And encourage you to vote yes quickly. Thank you, Ms.. McCarthy. That concludes our speakers. Time for questions of members of council. Councilman Flynn. Thank you, Kara. Could you would the height of anything that's going to go behind it? 112 feet? What is the height of the 1926 building? I am sorry. I don't know that off the top of my head. I'm just trying to get a relative sense of the. Changes that it's three and a half stories. I'm sorry, three and a half stories. So. Four 4147. 5157. Thank you. That's almost perfect. I just want to get a sense of the scale. Thank you. Councilman Flynn. Councilman Brooks? Yeah. Kira, quick question. Thank you, Mr. President. Gina is the Gina guy. Is he the one who who wrote or that person? Is that the one who wrote the letter of opposition or spoken opposition? I can double check the name. I don't have it right here in front of it. It is. But just can you give us for just this? She was basically concerned that designating the historic property would lower the value that Denver Public Schools could get for the land. Another member then of the community then spoke up who was part of the sales advisory group and felt that this would allow for a good value for Denver public schools. Knowing the surface. Is Gina a part of DPS at all or just a concerned citizen? I not that I'm aware of. I believe she's just a concerned citizen. Okay, thanks. Thank you. Councilmember in other questions, 311. Seeing on public hearing is now closed. Comments. Councilman Brooks, how many questions for this one, huh? I am excited and really happy to support this designation. I always love to hear KERA Dona Dona owner support it, but I personally was involved this couple of years ago with in the process and was in the early meetings with Down Syndrome in partnership with Davida, leading those meetings with Annie Levinsky with many stakeholders. And I want to be clear that we are celebrating today, but there were many days in that room where I think I think folks were pretty far apart. And it's just amazing to see the community kind of come together. And I think Bradley can and played a huge role in that as well with his ideas as well. And so I'm excited to support this. Sara, I appreciate you bringing up Jennifer Moulton. You know, for for some of us younger urban leaders, she was a visionary that we long to live after as we're city builders here. And so I appreciate you bringing her up. The other reason I really am supportive of this is I think it sets a precedent for what we can begin to to see the integration of new development in historical buildings in downtown begin to look like. So thank you for the Denver Public Schools for being a part of this and being so open around this whole issue and everybody else who works so hard to be supporting this. In Katherine Brooke. Councilman each. Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Councilman Brooks, for the role you played in the process. I was actually going to remember a time slightly even before that, which was with my former colleague, Councilwoman Raab, who really we have to credit her for helping to start the conversation early when the certificate of non historic status was filed . Our first meeting that I went to with Councilwoman Raab with the district was not so supportive. There was a flat out statement that there's just no market potential for this site if we do designation. And Councilwoman Raab, with her experience, was really able to offer the ideas of bringing in developers with expertize to get their input. And I think there was a walk through that happened really early in the process, even before there was a commitment to the committee. And that walk through is an example where folks were in I don't remember who we got. We had suggested folks like Dana Crawford and Charles Wooley and and but to to hear from folks to say there are ways that this could be done. You know, and I think that that first seed of it could be possible. I just want to thank Councilwoman Robb and for her, I think, diligence in helping to kind of help plant that seed and and help do a little activism. And I'm very glad that we have the happy story that we do. But sometimes in those early days, it takes a strong advocate to get that started. And so in this case, I just want to honor her and I'm excited to support this today. My experience with Emily Griffith is through the amazing construction apprenticeships that they have hosted at that school, all of the construction apprenticeships, including most of the union and a few of the nonunion, they get 42 hours of college credit and they've been earning them through a certification that Emily Griffith provided. So one of the things I hope with this designation in this redevelopment is that we get apprentices working on this building as it's rebuilt around with the new development. That would be a great way to bring Emily Griffith's legacy to a completion. So I hope you negotiate that in your sale contract because it would be a missed opportunity if we didn't anyway. Happy to support it tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman. Can each next. Councilman Espinosa. Yeah. Comments. I just wanted to say, this is brilliant. This is a genius. Love it. Love how creative everybody was. And I like the councilman, Brooks said. I hope it sets a precedent. I know this is not easy work and we can't always do this, but I do think we should. We should be able to figure out how to when we have those buildings that we go, oh, when we see it, when a proposal comes in, whether they've applied for historic MENA status or, you know, it's going to lead, there is do we have the tools to sort of capture both new development in a creative fashion? I think part of the charm of Europe is they figured that out. And so we sort of have the two extremes. It's either preservation and maintaining it in its in in an intact form or gone. And there's actually a lot of potential in in this sort of blending. And so where we have those opportunities, I'm glad to see this this happen and this tool exists because I think we're seeing it over there potentially at the tavern as well. So thank you to historic Denver, Annie and John Annie. You guys are doing a wonderful job and CPD staff. Thank you, Brad. Thank you. So thanks. Thank you. Councilman Espinosa. Councilman Flynn. Thank you, Mr. President. Shooting. There are very few places in Denver that I think can match this site for its historical significance, along with its connection to so many, probably thousands of residents of Denver. I can think of maybe Union Station as another example where not only a historic structure, a magnificent structure, a beautiful structure, but one that has a connection to the daily lives of of so many people who grew up in Denver. And it's just a pleasure to to see this. It's it's almost an emotional connection to this building with a lot of people in Denver who took advantage of what what Emily Griffith established in 1916. And I think, Mr. President, my only regret is that the building on the on the Glenarm Street side is is going to be demolished because we taped so many programs from DPS on Channel six of Don Kinney's State of Colorado show in there. And I think just for that reason, it ought to be historic, but it'll be sad to see that one go. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Flynn. Councilwoman Black. Thank you, Mr. President. I know the answer is no. I know you want us to stop talking, but I just have to say, I have a long personal history with this school. My dad taught there in the fifties. He taught bookkeeping and accounting. And I have a very long personal history with the Denver Public Schools. Hello, David. A long time supporter of DPS and the Emily Griffith Opportunity School, which is no longer called that. And as co-chair of the 2012 Bond Committee, we talked about this building a lot because its sale was supposed to fund the purchase of 1860. Lincoln, which is the home of the new Emily Griffith Technical School and High School. So I know everyone figured out a way to make it all happen, so I couldn't be more thrilled and also thrilled that Emily Griffith's legacy continues at 1860. Lincoln, which is now called the Emily Griffith campus and all of the things that she worked for are still happening today. And it's really incredible. And it is one of the greatest success stories of the Denver public schools. So thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Black. Councilman Lopez. I am picking that up from that screen. I am super enthusiastic about this designation. You know, I think Councilman Flynn really hit the hammer or really hit the nail on the head and that it has so many such a big connection to so many people in the area. I talked about him earlier, but my grandfather was pictures right here and played the role of my dad. He was called to service in World War Two before he can finish high school from Ault, Colorado from up north and really use a beat picker. He ended up coming back and was able to finish that a program for folks who if they had, he was an older high school student. So after they came back from the service, he came back and finished his high school diploma at Emily Griffith. And that was the impact that that had for him in his life. But there's so many people around that time in Denver. Emily Griffith was the school. It was the school to go to. Yes, it was west and east and north and south. But you still had Emily Griffith right there. And he was able to do that, finish out and. You know, provide a foundation for a lot for a lot of his children and grandchildren. And I think, you know, that that's the historic nature of the school. We can talk about the architecture, but in its walls and in its brick and mortar, those kind of stories throughout Denver. So, you know, thank you. I'm proud to vote yes for this. Thank you, Councilman Lopez. I believe that all the speakers. Are actually all the councilmembers are chime in our. Screens. Kind of crazy right now. I think that's everybody. So they were good. All right. So you know the comments, Madam Secretary, wrong call. Roll call. Brooks. Hi, Clark. Hi, Espinosa. Hi, Flynn Hi. Gilmore I can eat Lopez. I knew Ortega I black I Mr. President. All right. Now, secretary, please for civilian house results. 11 ice 11. Ice 311 has passed one for a German announcement Monday, June 13th Council will hold a required public hearing accountable to 61, allowing short term rentals as an accessory to a primary residential use with limitations where residential uses are currently allowed.