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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHDC_2026 04 02 1 DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 723 West Markham Street Little Rock, Arkansas 72201-1334 Phone: (501) 371-4790 Fax:(501) 399-3435 www.littlerock.gov LITTLE ROCK HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION MINUTE RECORD Thursday, April 2, 2026, 4:00 p.m. Board Room, Little Rock City Hall, 500 W. Markham I. Roll Call Members Present: Christina Aleman, Chair Amber Jones, Vice Chair Dr. Thomas DeGraff III Tom Fennell Scott Jones Chase Waters Diane Thomas-Holladay Staff Present: Sarah Spakes Hannah Ratzlaff Raeanne Gardner II. Finding a Quorum A quorum was present being five (5) in number. Scott Green and Christina Aleman entered the meeting at the start of the public hearing for HDC2026-002, bringing the quorum to seven (7) in number. III. Citizen Communication No citizen chose to speak at this time. IV. Minutes March 5, 2026 Minutes April 2, 2026 Historic District Commission 2 The minutes were presented to the Commission. Commissioner Fennell made a motion to approve the minutes as submitted. Commissioner Waters seconded. The minutes were approved by voice vote as submitted. V. National Register Nominations None VI. Deferred Certificates of Appropriateness None VII. New Certificates of Appropriateness 1. HDC2026-002 Apartments at Gracie Mansion, LLC/Patricia Blick, Downtown Dwellings (agent) 503 E. 6th Street Paint brick masonry April 2, 2026 Historic District Commission 3 ITEM NO.: 1 FILE NO.: HDC2026-002 NAME: Apartments at Gracie Mansion - Certificate of Appropriateness LOCATION: 503 E. 6th Street OWNER/AUTHORIZED AGENT: Apartments at Gracie Mansion, LLC Patricia Blick, Downtown Dwellings 1101 Cumberland Street 1101 Cumberland Street Little Rock, AR Little Rock, AR O’Gary Construction Group 7234 Cock of the Walk Lane North Little Rock, AR Figure 1: 503 E. 6th St., facing south, Absalom Fowler House on left. Figure 2: 503 E. 6th St., facing southeast. April 2, 2026 Historic District Commission 4 AREA: 2.65 acres NUMBER OF LOTS: 1 WARD: 1 HISTORIC DISTRICT: MacArthur Park Historic District HISTORIC STATUS: Non-Contributing (subject buildings), Listed (Absalom Fowler House, on site) CURRENT ZONING: R4A – Low Density Residential A. PROPOSAL/REQUEST/APPLICANT’S STATEMENT: The application proposes to paint the unpainted brick masonry on six (6) non- contributing apartment buildings on site surrounding the Absalom Fowler House (Listed 1973). B. BACKGROUND Location The subject property is located at 503 E. 6th Street. The property’s legal description is “Lots 7, 8, and 9 and South 40 feet of Lot 10, Block 151 of the Original City of Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas” and “Lots 1 and 2, Fowler Square Amended, Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas.” Context The subject property is the site of the Apartments at Gracie Mansion, a set of six, two-story frame construction structures built on continuous cast concrete foundations and constructed as multi-family residences surrounding the Absalom Fowler House (“Gracie Mansion”). Built in 1977, the structures are considered new construction and are non-contributing to the MacArthur Park Historic District. The most recent Arkansas Architectural Resource Form (PU2804, 2007) is provided as Attachment A. The subject structures are located on the same parcel as the Absalom Fowler House, a two- Figure 3: 503 E. 6th Street., located in MacArthur Park Historic District. April 2, 2026 Historic District Commission 5 story brick structure constructed as a residence for Mr. Fowler. Built in 1840 in the Greek Revival style, the Absalom Fowler House is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register Nomination form (PU3142, 2007) is provided as Attachment B. Development History The subject structures were built in 1977 using red brick veneer cladding and feature low pitch roofs, 6-over-6 windows, brick quoins, and shutters. In 1976, the Fowler House was converted for office use through a Conditional Use Permit, and the construction of apartment units was allowable by-right as the property was then zoned as High Density Residential. Since 1840, the Absalom Fowler House has sat on this lot, with several accessory buildings. One accessory structure, formerly the kitchen and servants’ quarters, shown on the 1897 Sanborn Map still stands. Many of the other accessory buildings were demolished between 1960 and 1970. Sanborn Maps and Aerials Figure 4: 503 (formerly 507) E. 6th St., Sanborn Maps, 1897, Volume 1, Sheet 9. Figure 5: 503 E. 6th St., Sanborn Maps, 1913, Volume 2, Sheet 176. April 2, 2026 Historic District Commission 6 Figure 6: 503 E. 6th St., Sanborn Maps, 1939, Volume 1, Sheet 64. Figure 7: 503 E. 6th St., Aerial View, 1960. Figure 8: 503 E. 6th St., Aerial View, 1970. Figure 9: 503 E. 6th St., Aerial View, 1998. April 2, 2026 Historic District Commission 7 Historical Photographs Figure 10: 503 E. 6th St., photo courtesy of Arkansas Architectural Resources Form, 2007. Figure 11: 503 E. 6th St., photo courtesy of Arkansas Architectural Resources Form, 2007. Figure 12: 503 E. 6th St., photo courtesy of Arkansas Architectural Resources Form, 2007. Figure 13: 503 E. 6th St., drawing from zoning case file Z- 3052. Previous Action On October 31, 2011, the Board of Adjustments approved a variance (Z-3052-A) for the construction of a 6-foot-tall steel picket fence. On October 10, 2011, a COA (HDC2011-029) was issued to HMF, LLC to construct a 6- foot-tall steel picket fence with gates, to add signage, AC unit screens, removing shutters from the Fowler House and storing them, and masonry repair. On April 1, 2011, a COC (HDC2011-010 and HDC2011-011) was issued to Fowler Square Apartments for a temporary chain link construction fence. On December 19, 2008, a COC (HDC2008-036) was issued to Fowler Square Apartments to repair trim boards on apartment buildings. April 2, 2026 Historic District Commission 8 On December 2, 1997, a COC (HDC1997-016) was issued to Fowler Square Apartments for maintenance and repainting. On June 6, 1995, a COA (HDC1995-004) was issued to Barnes, Quinn, Flake, & Anderson for a roof repair for all 8 structures on the lot, both contributing and non-contributing. On August 16, 1976, the Board of Adjustments issued a Conditional Use Permit (Z-3052) to allow for the property to be used as professional offices, to decrease the off-street parking spaces provided, and to waive the yard setback for the new apartment buildings. No previous actions were found on this site. C. EXISTING CONDITIONS: See application packet (Attachment C). The application packet includes a cover letter, the application, site photos, a notarized authorization of representation, and a paint sample sheet. D. NEIGHBORHOOD COMMENTS: At the time of distribution, there were no comments regarding this application. All owners of properties located within 200 feet of the site and all neighborhood associations registered with the City of Little Rock that surround the site were notified of the public hearing. E. ANALYSIS: Painting Non-historic Brick Masonry The application proposes to paint the brick masonry of the six (6) non-contributing apartment buildings. Sherwin-Williams’s Greek Villa (SW 7551) is the proposed color, which is an off-white. Staff finds the proposal to paint the unpainted brick masonry of the 1977 non- contributing structures to be consistent with the Design Guidelines, specifically Guidelines 3.9 and 3.32., and inconsistent with the Secretary of Interior Standards for Rehabilitation, specifically Standard 9.Guidelines 3.9 and 3.32 state that paint and coatings should not be applied to historic masonry that was not originally painted or coated. The applicant proposes to only paint the non-historic brick masonry associated with the non-contributing apartment buildings. April 2, 2026 Historic District Commission 9 SOI Standard 9 states, “New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work will be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment.” Currently, the Fowler House is the visual focal point of the site. Staff is concerned that the proposed paint color (SW 7551) is not differentiated enough from the traditional off- white of the Absalom Fowler House and that the impact of a large parcel of clustered off-white buildings interrupts the rhythm of the area of influence which includes historic and traditional building materials and textures. To make the proposal more consistent with the SOI Standards, Staff recommends that the approved paint color be complementary to and differentiated from the Fowler House. This would preserve the existing visual differentiation from the 1977 non-contributing buildings and the historic Fowler House. F. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends the approval of the application, as submitted, with the following conditions: 1. The paint color is conditioned to be complementary to and differentiated from the Fowler House, to be submitted to staff for final review and approval. COMMISSION ACTION: (April 2, 2026) Staff presented the item to the commission. Commissioners Aleman and Green entered the record in attendance. Staff announced that the agent desired to bring into record an additional submittal document—a two-page letter responding to staff’s recommendation. Mrs. Patricia Blick, agent for the owners of the Apartments at Gracie Mansion, LLC, read the letter to the Commission. There was discussion regarding the ability of the Commission to regulate paint color. Ms. Ratzlaff clarified the Commission has the authority to regulate paint color per A.C.A §§ 14- 172-208 and Sec. 23-115 of the Little Rock Municipal Code, as applying paint to an unpainted material is considered an alteration. The Commission has chosen not to regulate color in the instances of repainting, which is considered in the MacArthur Park Local Ordinance Historic District to be ordinary maintenance. Where the painting of unpainted non-historic masonry may negatively impact the historic site, the Commission may allow the application of paint in its best judgement and place conditions on the color April 2, 2026 Historic District Commission 10 to reduce negative impact to the affected historic site. Ms. Ratzlaff asserted that in this specific case, the sites requesting to be painted are sited surrounding the Absalom Fowler House (Listed 1973). The Fowler House was built in 1840 in the Greek Revival style and is painted off-white. As the historic site would be less differentiated if the six surrounding buildings were painted a similar color, taking the site further from conformance with the intent of the Design Guidelines, the staff recommendation presents a compromise to allow painting of the non-historic sites by a condition that mitigates impact. Ms. Ratzlaff clarified that this case was not similar to the recent approval to paint unpainted non-historic brick at 718 and 720 E. 10th Street as these sites are not sited on the same parcel as, and surround, a significant historic site. There was continued discussion regarding this. Commissioner DeGraff asked Mrs. Blick if they were experiencing occupancy issues due to the brick being unpainted. Mrs. Blick said that they’ve only owned the property since December, there is a total of 75 units, and at that time there were about a dozen vacant units. There was a lot of deferred maintenance and the work to address that was recently administratively approved. Mrs. Blick said occupancy was not an issue right now but they think it could be better and tenants seem to care more about improvements to the interior space. There was additional discussion. Commissioner Fennell asked Mrs. Blick if they were not going to entertain the compromise provided in the staff recommendation. Mrs. Blick said they were amenable to the compromise but disagreed with the implementation of the regulations. Commissioner Fennell made a motion to approve the application with staff recommendations. Commissioner Green seconded the motion. The motion passed with a vote of 4 ayes (DeGraff, Fennell, Green, Waters) and 3 noes (Aleman, Jones, Thomas- Holladay). April 2, 2026 Historic District Commission 11 VIII. Other Matters 1. CLG Grant Updates Ms. Spakes updated the Commission on the 2025-2026 CLG Grant. Clifton Historic Services, the consultant, is finished with survey drafting and is now digitizing the surveys and drafting the survey report. Ms. Spakes updated the Commission on the 2026-2027 CLG Grant. The grant is being reviewed by the City Attorney’s Office as a contract, and they should be returning that to staff in 30-60 days. Ms. Spakes updated the Commission that staff is currently working to register for FORUM 2026 attendance. 2. 2009 Historic Preservation Plan Assessment Ms. Spakes outlined the Assessment to the Commission. Staff highlighted recommendations that were successful and were not accomplished, explanations for success and lack of accomplishment, and the graphs. Staff answered questions and requests from commissioners 3. Social Media Feature Ms. Spakes reminded the Commission that since the social media presence has picked up and since more visibility for the Commission’s work is part of the 2009 plan, she requests short biographies and headshots from the commissioners to be featured on social media. She will be sending the commissioners the information she requests via email. 4. Certificates of Compliance HDC2026-003 – 503 E. 6th St. – stair replacement and wood trim repair IX. Adjournment There being no further business for the commission, the meeting was adjourned at 4:58 p.m.