A bill for an ordinance designating the Howard Berkeley Park Chapel as a structure for preservation. Approves an individual Denver landmark designation for the Howard Berkeley Park Chapel, located at 4345 West 46th Avenue in Council District 1. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 6-30-20.
And if there's no objections, we will take a ten minute recess. Council members, please be back in your seats by 720, please. Hello. We have one public hearing tonight. Speakers should begin their remarks by telling the council their names and cities of residents and if they feel comfortable doing so. Their home address when called upon. Please wait until our meeting. Host promotes you to speaker. When you are promoted, your screen will flash and say Reconnecting to meeting. Please do not leave the meeting. You will be reconnected and will need to turn on your camera if you have one in your microphone. If you have signed up to answer questions, only state your name. Note that you're available for questions of council. Speakers will have 3 minutes. There will be no yielding of time. You will see your time flash on the screen when you have 30 seconds left. If for some reason we lose you during your speaking time, please log back in and raise your hand and our staff will try to get you back in the queue if possible. Speakers must stay on the topic of the hearing and must direct their comments to the council members. Please refrain from profane or obscene speech. Direct your comments to council as a whole and please refrain from individual or personal attacks. Councilmember Sawyer, would you please put Council Bill 648 on the floor for passage, please? I move that councilor bill 20 dash 0648 be placed upon final consideration and do pass. Can we get a second, please? Thank you. Thank you. The required public hearing for Council Bill 20 Dash 648 is open. May we have the staff report, please? Hear me? Yes. So this is my name is Karen with Landmark Preservation, with community planning and Development. And this is 44, 43, 45 West 46th Avenue Landmark Designation Application. It's located in Council District one at the corner of Tennyson and 46th Avenue. And the applicant is Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval and the owners is Ben and he will be on the line in a moment. So some of you may be familiar. This came through and you guys saw it over the course of the last year. In the spring of 2019, a demolition application was submitted for this property. After the notice was posted, members of the community submitted a designation application as it went through the course of LPC and City Council processes. There were a large number of discussions between the community members, the developer and the property owner. Through the course of those discussions, there was an agreement where the property was sold to a preservation minded buyer. They are planning on reusing the property and are then going to look at redeveloping the rest of the site. The property boundary is noted in red on the left here and so the property is close to the property at the rear in the side, but encompasses the front lawn area on 46th and along Tennyson. This is the first property that's coming through to you as a designation under the new criteria. So the requirements in order for a property to be designated is that the application must be complete. The structure must maintain its integrity. The structure must be 30 years of age or of exceptional importance to fit it. Younger than that, the structure must meet at least three out of ten criteria, and during the deliberation, the OPC must consider the structures historic context. For this particular property. It meets five out of the ten criteria and we'll go through each of those first and has a direct association with a significant historic event or historical development of the city. This is a direct association with the historical development of the city. Howards Mortuary started in 1917 and it became one of the most successful and longest lasting mortuaries in the city. It was operated as a small family family funeral home. Throughout the time, they emphasized that they had longevity and ties to the community with their slogans that emphasized Denver's heritage as it over the time they began to expand their services to include a variety of different options and services as they grew and provided more services. They also wanted to expand their locations, and when they were looking to expand, they looked at the suburbs to the north of Denver. They were initially in downtown Denver. And so there was a substantial amount of growth in Denver after World War Two within Denver proper, as well as the metro regions. And they found that the Berkeley area was underserved. And so Robert J. Howard, who was the son of the founder and the head of the mortuary, provided a quote to The Denver Post that they look to the north in Denver as the best fit for the Berkeley Park site expansion. And so the site and the location of this particular property is directly tied to the development and growth of Denver. Second, this property is embodying the distinctive. Characteristics of the. Architectural style or type. In this case, it's a type which is the funeral and mortuary type. It's not one that you guys typically see. So we wanted to provide a little bit of what are the character defining features of that. So funeral and mortuary types tend to be 1 to 2 stories in height. They're often located in residential neighborhoods, so they're designed to fit in with the character of the surrounding neighborhood. They're designed to accommodate at home, accommodate hearses. So there's pushchairs or large garages. And then they typically have a mix of specialized uses that would only be needed for a funeral home, such as viewing rooms, storage areas and casket sale rooms. The property at 4345 West 46th has many of those character defining features, with a height being both one and two stories that is architecturally distinguished with the chapel. There's report reposing or slumber room, a display room, a variety of garages and a couple of pushchairs. And so it meets the criteria of having the distinctive, physical, distinctive, visible characteristics of a type. It is also a significant example of the work of a recognized architect. It was designed by J. Roger of Music, who is a well-known Denver architect. He works solo as well as as well as with others. He's most known for working with his brother in music and music. They designed a variety of different properties, a couple of which are Denver landmarks, and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The First Baptist Church in the Webster Elementary School. He also had a partnership with Charles Cordingley, where he actually designed a chapel for it in Lakewood that was used similarly for funerals and weddings. It has been demolished. He also worked with Howard to do the Howard's Hampton Memorial Estate. So he worked with the Howard family and did their memorial estate as well as designing this chapel for them. Music emphasized the importance of the Berkeley Chapel in his career. In an interview when he was asked to select one of his top of his four top five works in the 1950s and 1960s, he identified this as one of his most important designs. And so it's a significant property. As the architect himself said, it was one of his most important works over two decades period. And so the Landmark Preservation Commission and staff found that it is a significant example of the work of a recognized architect. It is also represents an established and familiar feature of a neighborhood, community or contemporary city. Due to its prominent location and physical characteristics. So it's located at the intersection of 46th and Tennyson. And this is an area that is a kind of where the commercial and the civic areas in this area meet. It was advertised as being at the entrance to Berkeley Park, which you can see in the background of those photos . And it's very prominent placement at the corner. This large building size, the materials make it a focal point of the community and an orienting visual feature. And so it was established and familiar feature of the neighborhood. And finally, it promotes the understanding and appreciation of the urban environment by means of distinctive physical characteristics are rare. So this has a variety of distinctive physical, physical characteristics. So it has the Gothic and Tudor arches, the portrait of Portico in the Berkshires, the stained glass and leaded glass windows, including the rose window in the chapel. The exceptional terracotta ornamentation, which I have photos to show in a moment, mean the really the substantial sides. So all of these are very distinctive physical characteristics and they are also very rare for the Berkeley neighborhood and for postwar construction. So staff in the LPC found that it met this criteria as well. And here's some images of the physical characteristics and the terracotta. These photos also demonstrate that the property has a good integrity. Overall, the property maintains a very high degree of integrity. You can see on the bottom what was a rendering of it when it was constructed in what it looks like today. There have been very minimal alterations. The clay tiled roof was replaced a couple of years ago after a hailstorm destroyed it. And then the decorative terracotta, if you noted in the photo before, is painted red. It was originally historically blue. But overall, the building retains good integrity and the commission found that it maintains its integrity. And finally, when the ABC was considering it, it looked at the historic context and noted that it had been constructed as part of postwar growth and strongly relates to Denver's rapid expansion and suburban development after World War Two. If you look at the chart at the bottom, they'll tell us red lines. Note the growth of the city in the 1950s. And there's there is this extraordinary growth on this chapel was constructed. So the LPC considered that historic context when reviewing the criteria. Community Planning and development received. I received letters of support, one from a community member and then five from organizations or community groups, all in support of the designation application. And so CPD staff and the Preservation Commission recommend approval of the property over 30 years of age and meets at least three criteria. It retains its integrity and the LPC considered its historic context. And I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone might have. Thank you, Cara. For that report. Tonight, council has not received any written testimony on Council Bill 200648. And we have three individuals signed up to speak. And our first speaker is Ben Gerhart. Hello? Can everybody hear me? Mm hmm. Go ahead, Ben. All right, great. Thanks. My name is Ben Gearhart. I'm a resident of the Berkeley neighborhood at 3931 Julian Street. Also here with my business partner, Charles Moore. And we're really excited about this day. We want to thank City Councilwoman Sandoval. We want to thank city council, historic Berkeley Regis and also historic Denver and the residents of the Berkeley neighborhood. It's been quite the journey to get to where we are today. And I thought that this was a great opportunity to let everybody know a little bit about the programing of the chapel. As everybody had told us that it was almost impossible to program a mortuary that was specifically designed to be a mortuary. And we identified a great tenant and redemption church. And Christ is here with us tonight. And just to show you guys a little bit of their setup. They've got their heavy equipment and. Their pews social distanced and have been holding service here since March. We also have found another tenant who's a montessori school, and that person will be signing the lease in the near future and the rest of the space will be used as event space for weddings, an amenity for the community and other corporate events. With the parking lot over the summer. We've hosted a summer concert series and our first event was about two and a half, three weeks ago, and that was the Garth Brooks Drive-In event, which was fantastic. And we have about 5 to 6 more events, including a farmer's market for the parking lot through the summer. But again, I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to speak and I'll leave it open any questions. And thank you. All right. Thank you, Ben. Next up, we have Thomas Simmons. And we're going to need you, Thomas, to raise your hand in the attendees so we can get you in to our panelists. Okay. I. I see. We see your picture. Up there, so. Okay. Well, we're going to go on to the next speaker and he Levinsky is our next speaker, please. Hi. Good evening. I'm Annie Levinsky. I'm the executive director of. Historic Denver and a resident of. Denver. Our offices are at 14th and Ogden Street and just wanted to participate tonight to offer my support for the designation of the Howard Mortuary and echo what Ben said in expressing gratitude to Councilwoman Sandoval for her help in facilitating the negotiations and discussion that went on among the community members and the property owner last year and demonstrated that with a little bit of. Time and that opportunity to talk. Things out, there are great resolutions. And ways to save historic buildings and still. Accommodate new development. I also want to thank Ben and Chuck immensely for stepping forward and taking this project on. They've been great partners on other historic buildings in our city, including the award winning Essex apartment conversion and Capitol Hill. So we're really excited to see what will happen with the building moving forward. And excited to have another mid-century modern, although it's a revival style. So people may not realize at first glance that. It is from the mid-century era. We don't have too many of those. And so looking forward to helping to share that story. And in closing, I want to thank the community members as well and the leaders from historic Berkeley Regis for. Their patience and their perseverance. In trying to find a win win outcome for this, as well as to the property owner who was also patient and agreed to a few extensions to help make this possible. So thank you so much. Looking forward to seeing the outcome here and. That Ben and Chuck will be able to use the preservation. Incentives that we have in Colorado. To make this. A successful community space. So thank you so much. All right. Thank you, Annie. And we have Thomas Simmons in the queue, so go ahead, Thomas. Okay. Thank you. Can you hear me okay? Mm hmm. Go ahead. Okay. I'm showing you the interior of the chapel, I hope. It's just your name. So I don't think your video is up or working. Well, anyway, I'll go ahead. There we go. Okay. There we go. So this is the interior of the chapel bin. Showed you a little bit of the chapel. The chapel does have a hand crafted plaster ceiling with the ribs there. Also, you're seeing some of the people that helped on the the application in terms of supporting it. Last year, more than 800 people signed a petition supporting the application of the chapel and a number of other people contributed to a Go Fund Me enterprise. We engaged in the facility, facilitated discussions that was described by Ben, and it reached a successful conclusion in a remarkably short period of time. New owners took possession in February, and they preceded this promise to proceed with a Denver landmark application. I think Kerry did a very good job of summarizing the reasons that this building is significant. I met five of the ten criteria. This is one of the first ones under the new landmark criteria, and we're very happy that it worked as well as it did. I would emphasize the significance of this building as a mid-century mortuary type. It's not the, if you remember, Six Feet Under Fisher and Sons. This is not that type of mortuary. This is a mid-century mortuary, a very large footprint, a very specialized building, and reflects the evolution of the funeral industry in the mid 20th century. The other thing, and I think the pictures show back here, really reflected the amazing terracotta used in this building. This is one of the last projects in Denver, one of the last big projects of the Denver Terracotta Company, one of the big terracotta manufacturers in the country. And it was very lavishly adorned with terracotta. From the columns to the arcades to the friezes, to the gable faces. It's a really nice display of terracotta in this part of town. Finally, in undertaking this project, a number of people came forward expressing their memories of the building. It was a very difficult time saying goodbye to a loved one, but this was a place where they could do it with dignity and they remember it very fondly. The relationship between the mortuary and the people of the neighborhood and this whole part of Denver. So we urge you to approve the application, and we'll be here to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Simmons. That concludes our speakers questions from members of council. Councilman Flint. I thank you. Kara, I wonder if Kara could answer a question about the boundaries of the designation, which seem to just hug the contours of the building and leave out the remainder of the total two acre property. Are there any plans for the portion that's left out of the designation and how does the designation affect what can be done with the remaining net of the two acres? Yes. So the boundary was drawn pretty tightly around the rear and back of the property. There weren't as many character defining features there to allow for the flexibility of re-use of the rest of the area. And in order to get sort of that win win of allowing someone to be able to pay the pay to buy it and then be able to recoup the costs, it was a way to allow for the re-use. Since it was only a parking lot, it did not have a lot of character defining features, didn't contribute significantly to the to the property. And so by excluding that it allows for the redevelopment of it. On why also preserving the most important part of the property. So it was intentionally drawn and they worked with us to find a boundary. It's about, I believe, five feet off the back of the building so that they can do what they want without actually impacting and touching the building. Okay. And maybe I don't know if Councilwoman Sandoval also would like to to speak to this, but does the designation of the structure have any control over the use of the rest of the property so that the rest, whatever happens off the off the designated area does not detract from from the designated property. Thanking Councilman Flynn, I will ask that the owners, Ben and Charles. I know you and I have all talked about the impacts of the MAX three zoning that we are allowed to use. Could you talk about what your idea and the architecture and what you would like to see on that surrounding area because it does not have to go through designing a you. I'll a firm call. Yeah. We have been. Yeah, I'm. I'm here. Can everybody hear me? You know, our focus right now is to really program the chapel and to get the event space and the Montessori school built out. We have looked at development around the chapel from anything from senior affordable housing to affordable housing to. Conservation and just leaving it as open space to potentially a community pool that serves the community to the townhome development. We've looked at every option out there and at this point we have other projects in our pipeline and other historic preservation projects in that Midwest that we're just focusing on. So I can't really answer that question from a design review perspective. I think Landmark would be the one to comment on that. However, everything that we do develop, we obviously are going to be as tasteful and use the materials that are as close to a design review that they could get from a landmark perspective. So we're residents of the community and want to see quality product. And this is a legacy piece of real estate that we're going to hold in our portfolio for a long time. Thank you. So maybe, Carol, if you could if you could wrap that up, the, uh, and the designation of the, of the mortuary does not have any controlling influence over the design of the rest of the property. Yes, that is correct. And that's why the boundary was drawn that way, which allowed for redevelopment. Okay. Thank you. And I appreciate Ben, I appreciate your your explanation of the whole range of obviously a wide range of potential uses for redevelopment. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Flynn. You know the questions from council. The public hearing for council bill 20 dash 20648 is close. Comments by members of council. Councilmember Sandoval. Thank you, Madam President. So, as my colleagues have learned this year, I asked your support to vote this down a couple of times as it came forward to us hoping to work on this agreement that's here in front of you. So for those of you who may not know my little story, we all got elected on June 4th, the new five of us, 2019, I became councilman elect and I got a phone call June 6th about this property and the. Demo permit and the fact that it meant a certificate of non historic status it was eligible to get landmark. So I worked with then Councilman Espinosa and we hosted a meeting at a school not far from there. And unbeknownst to me, it was packed. It was hot. It was in July, right before I got sworn in. The air conditioning was going on. And I knew immediately right then we were going to have a tough road. Coble was the potential buyer, and they were slated for what had looked like some flat homes that were not well received in northwest Denver. So the history quickly, we just put in a file. I filed a non owner. Designation. Application? And I asked. I met with Coble several times and I asked them if they would go willingly to mediation. And I said, Sometimes you just need a mediator. Sometimes you need a therapist to mediate between parties that cannot talk. I mean, they literally said that I think sometimes you need couples counseling. This is like that. You can't hear each other because there's a lot of high emotion. And so we facilitated Steve Charbonneau facilitated several meeting and they were very contentious. It was hard. And they came up with a resolution that if we found a buyer, they would let go of their contract. And I will give a shout out to Ben and Charles. That contract was one of the most tricky contracts I have ever seen, and they still went through with the project. So we are now here and this is the first landmark of its kind to come, of its kind to come under the new ordinance. So on behalf of the community, I decided to become the applicant. Do you see, you know, there's an $850 fee associated with a non owner historic designation and that was all raised by a Go Fund Me account. So I don't remember how many donations were made, but tons of donations were made enough, enough and more, and then some to cover the $850 fee. So this was not just. This was not just a. The historic Berkeley Regis. And there is not just the historic Berkeley Regis. A part of this, that this was a larger community. So this meat, as we just talked about the new criteria, this is the first application under the new criteria. So it's a little bit fuzzy and I think it meets the new criteria and on its merits and also in the new criteria, there's a pie in that apple in that period right now for non owner historic designations that I know. Councilman Black, you worked on this ordinance. I know Cabinet Council members worked on this and this is the first time that this was used even before it was in ordinance. So if you are any of you have questions about how that process worked. Feel free to reach out to me and I can give you the rundown of how it worked and wins and losses. So with that, I just really would like to. I really think my community, Big Tom and Laurie, thank everyone from the Berkeley Religious United neighbors even though they are not they're not mentioned it's the our now and it's an honor to fulfill my role as a county council person and vote on something that definitely meets the criteria and is also a first of its kind by using the past period to come out with a better negotiation. So with that, I would miss the support of all my colleagues. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Hines. Thank you, Madam President. I also have, in some ways, a special place for this. This rezoning and his historic designation. And because, as as my colleague, Councilmember Sandoval had mentioned, we were just starting when when this rezoning was kicked off. And also Tom's Diner, which was in District ten. And and that that was a firestorm. Tom's Diner made national news. We got emails from all over the nation, some beyond actually talking about Tom's Diner and the that actually the idea of someone being able to take his property without his permission. Speaking of the eminent domain conversation that we had earlier tonight, but it's I'm really excited and I want to thank Councilmember Saint of All for all her hard work. I want to thank historic Denver and the property owner and so many other people for for what obviously took a lot longer than Tom's. Diner. Fight. But but appears to be obviously a far more amicable solution for for the property owner, for the neighbors and the community around it. And and and it appears that there's some really good uses that are coming out of it as well. So I want to thank everyone for for measuring twice and cutting once. So I also will be supporting it. Thank you, Councilmember Sandoval, for your hard work and your for your support. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Councilman Torres. Thank you so much, Madam President. I don't I just want to give my kudos as well to the folks involved and really proud to see this conversation go from something that I recognized as something that community in northwest Denver was really going to dig in their heels about. And what emerged, I think, was a councilwoman who could really mediate and listen and apply what she knew about land use in the city. And it was a really incredible thing to watch that took place over the last year. So I really just want to praise all those who came into this with open minds and wanting to arrive at an agreeable place. And for the fact that. There are preservation minded developers and reminding community that that exists. So just thanks to all involved in including the community in the area knows that these things really can come out conciliatory for all involved. So thank you so much. Thank you, Councilwoman. Madam Secretary, roll call. Then the. I. Sawyer. I. As I like I say tobacco. I. Twin. Herndon. I have. I. Passion. I can change. Sorry, I. Comedian. I'm. I see her in muted, but I didn't hear her. I didn't either. I think she might be frozen. You know. Let's circle back around. Well, Madam President, your last. I. Did we want to see about Councilwoman Kimmich? Okay. I think she's frozen, so. Madam Secretary, please close the voting and announce the results. Ten Eyes. All right, ten eyes. And Councilwoman, can each just let me know that unfortunately, she dropped off out of the meeting, so that wasn't intentional at all. So congratulations, Councilwoman Sandoval, on the success of this, your mediation, and congratulations to your community as well. Our pre adjournment announcement on Monday, August 24th Council will hold a required public hearing on Council Bill 610, changing the zoning classification of 14000 and 14422. East Andrews Drive 144081441914421. East Elk Drive a required public hearing on Council Bill 621 Changing the zoning classification for 4901 Green Court and required public hearing on Council Bill 622 Changing the