[BoulderCouncilHotline] Re: Landmarking Building Interiors of City Owned Buildings

[Carr, Thomas]

Dear Mary,

Thanks for your question.   I see several alternatives if council wishes to protect the interior of the teahouse.  I have listed them below.  The order does not reflect any staff recommendation:


  1.  Council could support the approach taken by the landmarks board.  The landmarks board recommended that Council require the creation of a maintenance manual.  Enforcement of these provisions would be done by city employees.  This should provide protection for the interior and will document proper/recommended maintenance methods into the future.
  2.  Council could direct staff to record a declaration of use protecting the interior.  This was the approach taken with the Harbeck-Bergheim House.  I have attached a copy of the declaration of use.  Council may wish to amend the landmarking ordinance to include a specific reference to the declaration of use.
  3.  Council could include in the landmarking ordinance a specific requirement that any interior modifications be approved by the historic preservation .  If council wishes to take this approach, council may wish to add language defining what constitutes a modification significant enough to require historic preservation approval.  It would be best to exclude routine maintenance, such as cleaning, but to include work such as painting.  The definition of alteration, which does not apply to interiors, uses the following language "changes in the architectural style, arrangement, texture, or material of the building or feature or significantly changes the color." This approach would be limited to the Teahouse and not intended to set a precedent for inclusion on interiors in future landmarks, although Landmarks Board and Council could take this approach on future landmarks.
  4.  Council could landmark as approved by the Landmarks Board and ask staff to bring forward a change to the Historic Preservation code to allow for landmarking of interiors.   Council and Landmarks Board could later consider an application to landmark the interior.  Council cannot make a change that affects a pending application.   It would be helpful for council to give direction regarding the application of such a change.  That is, should it be limited to buildings owned by the city or extend to other public spaces?  Council may wish to engage the public in a manner that could avoid unintended consequences.  Many historic city-owned buildings, such as the Municipal Building, the Chautauqua Dining Hall and Auditorium  and the Dairy Center for the Arts, have required extensive renovation to retain their vitality.
  5.  Council could accept the interpretation of the Historic Preservation code offered by Council Member Wallach.  This would mean that the code has allowed landmarking of interiors all along.  This is not a reading of the language that has ever been adopted before.  This type of change generally is best made with extensive community outreach.  Council may wish to consider the consequences of this interpretation.  Although this could be managed, the possibility that a voluntary landmarking proposal could be extended to interior features may dissuade some from considering landmarking at all.

Tom


From: Young, Mary <YoungM at bouldercolorado.gov>
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2020 11:07 AM
To: Carr, Thomas <CarrT at bouldercolorado.gov>
Cc: HOTLINE <HOTLINE at bouldercolorado.gov>
Subject: Landmarking Building Interiors of City Owned Buildings

Dear Tom,

For tomorrow night's hearing on the landmarking of the Teahouse, would you please present council with a set of alternatives that would allow us to do so? A set of advantages and disadvantages for any such alternative would also be very helpful.

Thank you.

We're all in this together...six feet apart.


In solidarity,

Mary Dolores Young
Boulder City Council
303-501-2439

[cid:image001.png at 01D6A6DC.91A16DE0]

"All ethics ... rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts..." - Aldo Leopold

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