HomeMy WebLinkAbout2 Staff Report13L
STAFF REPORT
City of Little Rock
DATE: April 2, 2004
Historic
District
Commission
APPLICANT: Jim Etters
ADDRESS: 1000 McGowan Street, Little Rock, AR 72202
COA REQUEST: To construct a 56 unit complex for law students.
Commissioncrs
Wyatt Weems,
PROJECT BACKGROUND, DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS: The subject property
Chairman
is located west of I-30, on the west'side of McGowan Street, between 10ti' and 11t" street.
The subject proj ect's legal description is the Lot 1 Block 48, Original City of Little Rock,
Pulaski County, AR.
Terence Bolden
The purpose and intent of this project is to construct a living quarter complex for the
Carolyn
students at the Arkansas Law School. The project will consist of 34,362 square feet
Newbern
including sidewalks and landscaping. The structure will be a three-story building
encompassing 12,500 square feet on the ground floor.
Marshall Peters
The facade of this rectangular building is symmetrically designed, to be constructed of
brick veneer and stucco in an attempt to tie in to the Law School on the south side and
Wesley R.
the residences to the west. The brick and stucco coloring will be complimentary to the
Walls
Law School coloring. The window fenestration is residential in scale, except for the
ground floor main entry on the east side, The building will have a sloped hip asphalt
shingle roof.
Air Conditioning Units are currently scheduled to be installed under the window for
each dormitory room. An alternate plan would place some AC condenser units behind
shrubs and bushes at ground level on the North, South, East and West sides of the
building. The rest of the AC units would'require a flat roof design with parapet and
the units placed on the roof out of sight.
The architect stated that an effort was made to incorporate particular architectural
elements of the Law School and other surrounding commercial properties. As the
historic district is predominantly residential; the design guidelines do not address
specifically commercial property in new constriction.
This development is scheduled before the city's Zoning Board of Adjustment on April
26, 2004. The owner is seeking two variances of the development provisions of
Section 36-342.1-c Development Criteria (10) Parking lots and Section 36-342.0.(f)
Area Regulations (1) Front Yard. The first variance request concerns the location of
500 W.
Markham
parking spaces between the building and the streets because of unusual lot
Suite 1'20W
configuration and the scale of the building. The second variance request concerns the
Little -Rock,
zero front yard setbacks between the building. and the street because of the unusual lot
AR 72201
configuration.
501-918-5330
There are several criteria in the district's design guidelines for consideration.
1. New construction 39;
a. Of primary buildings should maintain, not disrupt, the existing
pattern of surrounding historic buildings along the street by being
similar in:
1) Shape
2) Scale (height and width)
3) Roof shape and pitch
4) Orientation to the street
5) Location and proportion of entrances, windows, porches,
and divisional bays
6) Foundation height
7) Floor -to -ceiling height
8) Porch height and depth
9) Material and material color (if brick -closely matching
mortar and brick color tones, if frame -matching lap
dimension with wood or smooth - masonite, not vinyl or
aluminum siding
10) Texture (details such as trim around windows, doors, eaves,
watercourses, corner boards, eave depths, etc. should be
similar in size; and
11) Placement on the lot (front and side yard setbacks)
NEIGHBORHOOD IMPACT AND REACTION: At the time of distribution, there
were no objections to this project request either in writing or by phone.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff will offer a recommendation at the public
hearing.