HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 7/21/2020 - Memorandum From Karen Mcwilliams Re: Leadership Planning Team Questions On Landmark Designations, Historic Property Survey And The William Robb ContextPlanning, Development & Transportation
Community Development & Neighborhood Services
281 N. College Ave.
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: July 8, 2020
TO: Mayor and City Council
THRU: Darin Atteberry, City Manager
Kelly DiMartino, Deputy City Manager
Caryn Champine, Planning, Development & Transportation Director
Paul Sizemore, Community Development & Neighborhood Services Director
FROM: Karen McWilliams, Historic Preservation Manager
RE: Leadership Planning Team Questions on Landmark Designations, Historic
Property Survey, and the William Robb Context
Introduction
At the July 7, 2020 Leadership Planning Team Meeting, further information was requested
regarding four properties proposed for landmark designation and how these properties relate to
the goals of the 2018 Historic Preservation Division audit and the current historic property
survey project, including a context on architect William Robb.
Landmark designations:
• Landmark designation furthers the action items identified in the 2018 Historic Preservation
Program audit by “Encouraging the designation of historic properties to retain Fort Collins
sense of place and to promote the City’s social, economic and environmental sustainability
goals.”
• Prior to being presented to Council, an application for designation is first vetted by staff for
its ability to meet National Park Service standards, for significance in one or more of four
categories and for retention of integrity against seven measures. If the property qualifies, it
is brought to the Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC) for its consideration. The
property is then forwarded to Council with LPC’s recommendation to approve or deny the
application.
• At Council’s July 21, 2020 meeting, staff is bringing forward four landmark designations,
three owned by Housing Catalyst and one privately. These are voluntary designations, at
the request of the property owners. Designation provides owners with the assurance that
their property will be protected from inappropriate alterations and offers financial programs
for rehabilitation and repairs.
• None of these four properties under consideration for landmark designation are in areas
surveyed through the Historic Building Survey Project.
• In the case of the three Housing Catalyst properties (331 S. Loomis St., 1016-1018 Morgan
St., and 228 Whedbee St.), the designation will meet the housing agency’s federal Section
18 requirements for the intended sale of the properties. Housing Catalyst is required to meet
these regulations as it receives federal funding.
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• The local designation of the properties will maintain their eligibility for National
Register listing; and will mitigate any adverse effects of their sale by ensuring that
they continue to receive protection from alterations that do not meet the federal
Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, adopted by Council as the LPC’s standards.
• If Council chooses to not designate the properties, Housing Authority and the State
Historic Preservation Office will enter into a process to identify an alternative
mitigation strategy that maintains the properties’ eligibility and protects them from
inappropriate alterations. This will delay Housing Catalyst’s sale
• Landmark designation of these properties also furthers Housing Catalyst’s interest
in ensuring that the new owners have access to financial programs to assist with
sustainable rehabilitation and repair.
• The fourth property, at 129 N. McKinley Ave., is owned by Kim Medina and Ramon Medina
Aguilar. They are seeking landmark designation to ensure the protection of their property
and to access the financial programs for rehabilitating the property.
Historic Survey Building Project and William Robb Historic Context
• The Historic Survey Building Project, made possible with Council’s approval in the 2019-
2020 budget of a contractual position for historic property survey, furthers the action items
identified in the 2018 Historic Preservation Program audit:
• “That the City prioritize the completion of survey work and regular updating of
existing surveys;”
• “That one of the duties of the LPC identified in the Municipal Code is to direct
historic surveys to be completed and regularly updated;”
• “That staff should seek to create partnership with other organizations to develop a
program for regularly surveying historic properties;” and
• “That staff focus on survey work to develop an inventory of eligible historic
resources."
• The Historic Survey Project has surveyed over 750 properties, identifying those that have
the potential to be designated as landmarks and those that do not. Of those properties
surveyed, 607 have been identified as not eligible or not likely to be designated, paving
their way for quick approval for redevelopment and infill.
• Another duty of the position is to prepare and manage grant requests for additional historic
survey and for the preparation of historic contexts (or studies), critical to evaluating the
relative importance of surveyed properties. The City has received a grant for the survey of
50 properties along College Avenue between Mulberry Street and Laporte Avenue
(underway), as well as a grant to prepare a context on Fort Collins architect William Robb,
notable for the design of several of Fort Collins’ most interesting Mid-Century architectural
buildings.
• A historic context provides the body of information by which a building can be evaluated for
its relative importance to Fort Collins. For example, two of Robb’s buildings are believed to
be the 1957 Municipal Building and the Key Bank at Drake and College, identified through
surveys dating back to the 1980s as excellent examples of Mid-Century architecture. Robb
also designed several structures, additions and renovations, which are less grand. The
historic context would enable staff, the LPC and Council to better identify each building’s
relative importance in the overall body of Robb’s work, and confirm or refute their
significance.
• Fort Collins has over a dozen historic contexts used to evaluate a property’s significance to
the community, including: Agricultural Resources, Germans From Russian, Hispanics in
Fort Collins, the Streetcar “Suburbs,” and Poudre R-1 Schools.
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