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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002_03_21 Board of Architectural Review Minutes 4 \ !int MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE c ECEIVf ;,, BOARD OF ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW OF THE TOWN OF MAMARONECK JUL 2 2002 - MARCH 21, 2002, IN THE SENIOR CENTER, TOWN CENTER 740 WEST BOSTON POST ROAD, rATRICIA A.DICIO _.0 TOWN NK, MAMARONECK, NEW YORK MA &i Present: Robert M. Immerman, Acting Chairman Sue Ellen Commender Pamela T. Washington Absent: E. Robert Wassman, Chairman Anthony Spagnola Also Present: Ronald A. Carpaneto, Director of Building Judith Myers, Liaison CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mr. Immerman at 8:00 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES After some discussion, the review of open Minutes was moved to the April meeting. Mr. Immerman said everybody needs to know that there are only three of us here tonight out of our Board • of five which means, any decision that's made has to be unanimous. You have the right to say I would rather come back to the next meeting. Mr. Immerman read the first application as follows: COSI/James V. Mauceri - 1298 Boston Post Road - Block 410, Lot 463 - sign James V. Mauceri appeared and said he is with the firm of Cosi, Inc. and is here to discuss the Architectural Review Board matter for 1298 Boston Post Road. He said I believe you all are in possession of a letter that we sent. We had installed a sign, after receiving your review and approval of a previous sign. The sign that we installed was not consistent with your previous approval. Mr. Immerman said we were aware of that. Mr. Mauceri said I then became aware of it through Mr. Carpaneto, who gave me a call. I was not the project manager in charge of the construction. Upon hearing this, we thought the best course of action would be to try and go back to you and discuss what has been done, being it's up, installed and available to be seen and if it was acceptable, before we did anything else. Mr. Immerman asked, what do you mean before you did anything else? Mr. Mauceri said we wanted to basically present our sign as installed, as opposed to going back, ripping it off the building and reinstalling the sign in accordance with the previous approval. I'm here tonight to seek your review,judgement and hopefully approval of what we did install and ask for a little bit of your forgiveness in the sense that we never intended to not follow your directions. I'm here in sort of a compromise position because there is some dual communications going on within from the Executive • Management of my company and Marketing Department and then my communication to the sign manufacturer. At the end of the day, the sign that was installed is obviously different from what you approved, but all in all we feel it's a nice presentation so we'd like to get your consent. Board of Architectural Review March 21, 2002 Page 2 • Mr. Immerman said let me suggest something. First of all, you're apology letter notwithstanding, we object to the procedural issue. He asked if anyone else would like to talk to that matter. Ms. Commender said I think leave it with what you said. Mr. Immerman said since I told you at the beginning you would have to have unanimous approval, it is my recommendation to you that you come back next month and you will have a better chance with more of us sitting here on the Board. Mr. Mauceri said O.K. Mr. Immerman said we will defer it. Mr. Mauceri said do you have any suggestions? Mr. Immerman said I like the sign. I think it's fine, but I don't think you'll get three persons in favor of the vote tonight. Mr. Mauceri said O.K. Mr. Immerman said take my advice. Mr. Mauceri said O.K. I request to defer the matter to the next Board of Architectural review hearing. Mr. Mauceri thanked the Board for their time. • Mr. Immerman read the next application as follows: DUNIINN DONUTS - 1311 Boston Post Road - Block 412, Lot 288 - signs Mr. Immerman asked if anyone is here for Dunkin Donuts. Mr. Carpaneto said I don't see anyone present. Mr. Immerman said I'm going to take Supreme Auto Spa out of order, because it's another sign issue, and then we'll deal with Land Rover which is a very different kind of project. SUPREME AUTO SPA/Anthony Sgarlata - 626 Fifth Avenue - Block 132, Lot 61 - sign Anthony Sgarlata, 626 Fifth Avenue, Supreme Auto Spa appeared requesting a permit to erect a sign. Ms. Washington said thank you very much for not putting a sign up yet. Mr. Immerman said do you want to talk about it. I don't want to preempt what we already talked about before the meeting. Mr. Sgarlata said O.K. It's going to be a plain sheet metal sign. You have the dimensions in front of you. Basically it's going to be Supreme Auto Spa in bold letters, of Larchmont in smaller letters. What we're going to do is make it in accordance to colors of the Chow Down Pet Food Store, not the colors I requested, unless you want to let me have it. If not, I'm happy with this brown and off-white, which is identical to his actually. The writing is the off-white with the brown background. It's not illuminated. 41111 It's for identification purposes. Color samples were presented which were on the back side of his original white, turquoise and black proposal. Mr. Immerman asked if there are any other comments. Board of Architectural Review March 21, 2002 Page 3 • Ms. Commender said I just have a question. I drive by there all the time, and you can hardly see it. Ms. Commender said so what are you going to do about visibility? Mr. Sgarlata said a couple of things. Number one, the reason I put in for the green with the white background was because when you come up from the Larchmont side, you can see there's another garage in the back. If you're zooming by and not paying attention, obviously you're not going to see it. I'm figuring with these colors, you're going to see green before you see this lighter brown, obviously. Although in the back of the room we'll see the green before we see the brown. My point is from the Larchmont side you can see about 80% of the building, which is about 80% of my garage door, so you will be able to see the sign coming from the Larchmont side. From the New Rochelle side, you can't see it obviously. Mr. Sgarlata said I've had a problem already with people pulling in the parking lot, calling me on the cell phone wondering if they're in the right place. It's basically for identification purposes, once you're there or once you're headed there. If we catch a couple of people that see it from the street, that's great. I just want to be in accordance with the sign ordinance. Mr. Immerman said I pointed out a paragraph in the Minutes of December in regard to the number of colors in a sign. Mr. Immerman said I have one more request. As we asked Chow Down, I would like to have you make your background go from side to side of the garage door. Mr. Sgarlata said end to end, O.K. • Mr. Immerman said I make another suggestion to help you out a little bit,and maybe my colleagues won't disagree, but you could put the text all the way to the right and you'd have a better shot at seeing it. Ms. Commender said then it doesn't line up with the doors. Mr. Immerman said the sign will line up. The panel will line up with the side of the door, but you can have the name off-centered. Ms. Washington said I was going to say if you make the sign body longer, you can pull the "Supreme" and the "of Larchmont" part further out. Mr. Sgarlata said to the right. Ms. Washington said one to the left and one to the right and make it so that it's more one line long and the little pieces are further down and demonstrated same. Mr. Immerman said that's a good idea. You can at least read these words then, because they'll be bigger or a little further away so you can see them. Ms. Washington said maybe so that the tops of it line up and demonstrated same. Mr. Sgarlata said and then have Larchmont, the same thing. Ms. Washington said the word Supreme lines up with the top of the letter of"Auto", and the part that has of Larchmont. • Mr. Sgarlata said now we're talking about two colors only, so we're trying to keep it the same. Ms. Washington said and you have the Larchmont part lined up with the bottom of the letter of the "A", the lower part, and each of those words is half the height or a third of the height of the entire "Auto" and the "Spa" part. Board of Architectural Review March 21, 2002 Page 4 • Mr. Immerman said that's fine. Would you care to make a motion? On a motion made by Ms. Washington, seconded by Ms. Commender, the following resolution was unanimously ADOPTED: WHEREAS, Supreme Auto Spa/Anthony Sgarlata has submitted an application to the Building Inspector, together with plans to fabricate and install a non-illuminated sign over doorway; and WHEREAS, the Building Inspector has declined to issue such permit on the grounds that the review by the Board of Architectural Review is required; and WHEREAS, Supreme Auto Spa/Anthony Sgarlata submitted an application for approval to the Board; and WHEREAS, this Board has examined the plans, inspected the site, reviewed the application and has heard all persons interested in this application; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the subject application be and the same is GRANTED, subject to the following conditions: 1. The lettering on the sign be more in one line, instead of having little letters up above the Auto Spa part and little letters below the Spa part and have the "Supreme" part and the "Larchmont" part be at the upper end and the lower end of the Auto Spa big letters in • the middle. 2. The colors of the sign be brown and beige, to match the Chow Down sign. 3. The entire sign panel be the length of the garage. 4. The words on the sign be shifted to the right-hand end and the back end of the building, so that you can have maximum visibility of the sign from Fifth Avenue as you drive around the corner from Larchmont. Mr. Immerman said good luck to you. Mr. Sgarlata said one final question before I leave. As long as I stay in accordance to these colors and to these sizes of the letters, if I decide I don't like the idea is that O.K., as long as it's in between the jambs of the garage door. Mr. Immerman said yes. Ms. Washington said as long as it meets the intent of this discussion. Mr. Sgarlata said if I want to go with my original plan with the script, however it's going to be in colors as agreed. Ms. Washington said with the original submission and the colors. • Mr. Sgarlata said as long as the sizes of the letters and those colors are used. Ms. Washington asked if there's a length at which the coverage of the sign becomes too big for the building, given that we're expanding it to fill up the entire top of the garage door? • Board of Architectural Review March 21, 2002 Page 5 • Mr. Carpaneto said no, it's still O.K. The maximum is 50 ft., it's very long. Mr. Immerman read the next application as follows: LR WESTCHESTER LLC -1 East Main Street, New Rochelle-Block 503,Lot 117-vehicle exhibit Mr. Immerman said I want to ask Mr. Carpaneto to explain the other boards who will have to review your project. Mr. Carpaneto said the reason why it's here is because I felt it would be important for the Board to have a little input in this application. It's something that I'm not sure if you've ever seen before. He also would need to go to the Planning Board and to the Zoning Board. The Zoning Board for the height of the wall and the fence, total height, and the Planning Board for a site plan amendment. It may be helpful for him now to know what would be good to come back with for next time. I'm sure he's got a little bit of a road to go and maybe this Board can try to help you out a little bit. Mr. Carpaneto asked, do you have another place that possibly we could visit? John Foye, manager for LR Westchester LLC, addressed the Board. There is one in Darien, Connecticut. Not quite the same scale. The person who does this is also one of the people that worked as the primary landscape architect for EuroDisney. We're going to have a little bit higher caliber person working on the plans. Mr. Foye said that the only other dealers are out on Long Island, but I will give you a basic idea of what his demonstration course is about. • Mr. Carpaneto asked if there were photographs of other similar installations. Mr. Foye said I can get you photographs. I can get you a video of what it is. Mr. Immerman said in action? Mr. Foye said yes, in action. Mr. Carpaneto asked, this actually gets used? Mr. Foye said it's not really a display piece. It's really something that's driven over an average of maybe two or three times a day. It has a 30 degree tilt. It's designed so that there's always cars parked in front of it, simply because we don't want somebody in a jeep or navigator to get on there and have a problem. It's actually designed so a jeep or navigator really couldn't clear the first obstacle. Even if they do get on it, we're going to have to pull them back off. Really the odds(?) to the course, as you can see in the profile, there's a side tilt, which is anywhere from 28 to 30 degrees. Mr. Carpaneto said those plans are a little hard to follow. Mr. Foye reiterated the side tilt is between 28 and 30 degrees. That allows you to demonstrate the vehicle on the side tilt. The side tilt is also equivalent to roughly the embankments that you see on a freeway or off of I-95, the typical embankment that you see. Mr. Carpaneto said the embankment being off the road. • Mr. Foye said off the road, right. There's still a large safety margin and our vehicles and most vehicles aren't going to get into trouble there. The other part of the obstacle, you go up the hill and down the hill, and that's where the angles of the pack and the angle structure and the angle is the same on the vehicle. Those are the two high parts. • Board of Architectural Review March 21, 2002 Page 6 • Mr. Foye said one of the options that we've done before, is that we've actually excavated so I can bring the whole track down to say another 5 ft. In doing that, I can also add water obstacles to it, so cars can go through a couple of feet of water. I tend to shy away from that for obvious liability purposes with water and drowning. It would be my preference not to go that route. After some discussion, Mr. Carpaneto asked if it was landscaped in any way. Mr. Foye said it is landscaped. On the front, what our plan is to do, is there are number of planting areas in there. The other thing we want to do is do a stone planter in front. We have bollards now. A lot of the dust and debris gets in there and it requires a lot of maintenance. Right behind that planter, we would plant tall annuals. Mr. Foye said if you look at the rest of our dealerships, we've done quite a bit of work to them and we're going to do this one as well. Ms. Commender said she was confused as to exactly where this was going. Is this going to go between your property and the Saturn dealer or along the back? Mr. Foye said it's actually right on the border of Saturn. Saturn has trees on the other side. Mr. Immerman said Arborvitae. Ms. Commender asked how many feet is that. Mr. Foye said off the top of my head, I think it's 92 ft. • Ms. Commender said it looks like such a short distance to have all these hills and things going on. It really didn't look that deep to me. Mr. Foye said remember the Land Rover only has a 30 inch wheel base, so to accomplish that you really don't need a long hill or a lot of space. Ms. Washington said what's going to keep it from becoming a skate board park? Mr. Foye said it's actually Pennsylvania field stone, so it's not smooth enough to be a skate board park. If you look at the way it's put in, it's compacted earth and then there's mortar and the block is set in there. It's not even grouted. It would be very uneven. It's virtually impossible for skate boards to do anything on that, and that's very intentional. In California we had a test track that we actually tore apart for that very reason, because we did have problems with skate boarders and in-line skaters. I won't make that mistake again. Ms. Commender said is there any way, rather than having a side of field stone, you could plant it. Mr. Foye said I can easily plant it. The side where the field stone is, the high side, is all against the Arborvitaes, so you're not going to see what's planted there. Ms. Commender said you're wrong, because when I drove by I went past Land Rover and I turned around in the Staples parking lot and as you turn around you see the whole sidewall. You see the Arborvitae and everything behind it. • Mr. Foye said I could plant along there. We've taken and actually put plantings in the sidewall. The high spots are at the side tilt and the hill, so up towards the front the building of Saturn is over here, so you're going to see the higher spots are going to be further back on the track not up front. Ms. Commender said of the 92 ft., these two hills. • Board of Architectural Review March 21, 2002 Page 7 • Mr. Foye said are toward the back. Ms. Commender asked approximately how many feet? Mr. Immerman pointed to the two high features. Mr. Foye said I can move the tilt up, so it's not there. I'm happy to plant it, either way. It's not a problem for me to either move it or to plant it. Tell me what you want planted there. It's not a problem. Mr. Immerman said we don't like to be in the business of saying what you should plant. We'd like to look at what you recommend and comment on it. Mr. Foye said O.K. Mr. Immerman said you'll come back with a plan that says what's going to be planted at some point. Ms. Washington said it would make me feel more comfortable to approve this if there was a clause that it would be demolished if the dealership ever left. Mr. Foye, said no problem. Ms. Washington said if the dealership went away, I wouldn't want to know that they drove those cars away and left us with this hill. Mr. Carpaneto said that may also be a condition for the Planning Board to consider. • Mr. Immerman said I have some questions that I would like to ask you about this, but I'd like my colleagues to finish with their comments. Ms. Washington asked what's the rock articulations display? I didn't know that rocks could articulate. Mr. Foye said what happens is because of the features of our vehicles, it demonstrates the amount of articulation you get out of the axles, that's why they call it that. It's basically a round mound of rocks that's angled, so you can back a vehicle up. One side is a little higher and the other side of the front is a little higher. It allows you to do that. That's something I can easily eliminate, as we have elsewhere. We have a similar feature in the showroom. If you drive by on the corner, you'll see there's a vehicle on a stage up there and that's articulated. That's not something I'd be required to do by the manufacturer. Mr. Immerman said one of the things about the drawing is that we had no idea what the circle represented. A circle painted on the pavement? Was it a disk that was 20 ft. up in the air with a car on it? When you come back it has to be delineated so that whomever is looking at it will understand what they're looking at. Mr. Foye said if you were to tell me you prefer not to have that there, that will make me very happy. Mr. Immerman said I didn't say you shouldn't have it there. I just didn't understand what it was. Mr. Foye said I don't think you're going to see much back there anyway, because you're going to have vehicles parked in front of it. • Ms. Commender said, so when you go in the parking lot what you see is a split rail fence at these upper levels? Mr. Foye said you're going to see a split rail fence along the inner line and along the outer line. In front there would actually be a stonewall planter at ground level. It's there right now to keep people from stealing the cars, and what I'd like to do is just enhance them. • Board of Architectural Review March 21, 2002 Page 8 • Mr. Immerman said if you're going to ask us to approve a stonewall planter, you have to show us what it's going to look like. Is it 2 ft. high, 18 inches high? Ms. Washington said this would not be an acceptable submission to us to provide us with enough information for us to make a judgment on what you have. There's not enough information here for us to do that. Mr. Immerman said I also like the idea about dropping it down some. Ms. Washington asked, are you mandated by the national company to put this in? Mr. Foye said it is a franchise requirement, as long as it is approved by the local municipalities. Ms. Washington said what percentage of the municipalities approve these and don't approve these. Mr. Foye said there are seventy (70) approved Land Rover centers which is the status we would obtain by having this and I think there are three in Paramus, New Jersey, Metro West outside of Boston and L.A. Ms. Washington asked, that don't have these? Mr. Foye said that don't have these. Everything else has been approved. Ms. Commender said so 67 out of 70 have test tracks. Mr. Foye said some of them even have fishing ponds and are 2 and 3 mile long tracks. • Mr. Immerman said I have a couple more comments; anybody else want to ask anything? Ms. Commender said I think it would also help to have the dimensions on the plans that the overall is 92 ft. and that these hills are each 10 ft. It's very hard to visualize the magnitude of it. It would help to have what's next to it on the other side, for example, where the building is for Saturn. Mr. Foye said O.K., I think I can get their site plan to coincide. Ms. Commender said and we need lighting. Mr. Immerman said there is lighting there. Mr. Foye said there is lighting there. Ms. Commender said, so you're not going to relight it. It's just going to be the existing lighting. Mr. Foye said I'm not, at this time, going to relight it. Down the road though, I think the lighting needs improvement. After some discussion, Mr. Carpaneto said maybe you want to think about that now. Whether you do it or not you can get an approval for it, and then you can do it later on as long as you do it accordingly. Ms. Washington asked, did this entire project come before us, or is part of this property in New Rochelle? • Mr. Immerman said, you see this dotted line, that's the Town line right there, so their building is in New Rochelle and most of this is in the Town, but the rear piece is not. Mr. Immerman said a couple of other things. In regard to all your drawings on your plans, you should identify all the elevations and sections with standard architectural symbols. Board of Architectural Review March 21, 2002 Page 9 • Mr. Immerman asked, who's fence is it, yours or Saturn's? Mr. Foye said I'm not 100% sure. Mr. Immerman said if it's Saturn's, then obviously you can't take it down and maybe you don't want to take it down. But, if it's there, and you've got the slope of the wall next to the fence, what happens to the newspapers and the leaves and the junk that blows around? How are you ever going to clean it out? Mr. Foye said if you look at my lot, I have somebody spend every day just cleaning the shrubs, so I can appreciate that. Mr. Immerman said, you're going to have a real problem unless you figure a way to maintain the area next to the fence. Mr. Carpaneto said can a netting be used? Mr. Immerman said if it gets dirty then, perhaps rodents would be attracted. It's like a little trap. I assume in the drawing sections, the track is all solid where it says compacted road base and the stone finish is just so it looks nice on the outside. Mr. Foye said correct. Mr. Immerman said the edge delineation in the sections means the stone facing. Mr. Foye said correct. I'd have to actually move the whole track out a couple of feet, so I can get it in • between it and the fence and get access. It's the only way I can get to the fence. It would also give me room to landscape in there, so you're not going to have as much visibility. We tend to put, you can visit some of our other dealerships, Mt. Kisco Volvo, a lot of annuals. We tend to put a lot of flowering vegetation up there. The store I have in Bedford Hills,which is a converted Midas shop, it's a temporary facility. You can look at landscaping we do. We do tend to go overboard on landscaping. Mr. Immerman asked, is there anything else we want to bring to the table? Ms. Commender said when you come back with your planting plan, I would prefer to see more evergreens or things that have year-round interest rather than annuals, because annuals are only here like four months. Mr. Foye said O.K. Thanks for your time. Mr. Immerman said we look forward to seeing how it gets shaped up, after you see the other Boards. Mr. Carpaneto said Dunkin Donuts is not here. I will be in touch with them. He said if you remember, Dunkin Donuts took a few times to come the last time. Mr. Innnerman said that's also right. Mr. Immerman asked, anything else as part of the meeting? Ms. Washington said I was dismayed and astonished that the Dunkin Donuts sign is there in the window and they're coming to us for this stuff. 11111 Mr. Carpaneto said they came as a result of Ms. Commender, who told me about it. That and also Cosi. I haven't been back to the Solo Dry Cleaner. Ms. Commender said half the windows are covered with paper. Mr. Carpaneto said I've got to get back there, and there was another one too. • Board of Architectural Review March 21, 2002 Page 10 • Ms. Commender said the directory sign. Mr. Carpaneto said I talked to David Sauceda from their company. Mr. Immerman said it's in the Minutes that you brought it to his attention, December 20th actually. Ms. Washington said what about the Italian restaurant down at the other end of town across from Staples. Mr. Carpaneto said Augie's. Ms. Commender said I have one other item to bring up, the former Libretts site. Whoever has taken over the space has cinder blocks in the doors. Mr. Carpaneto asked, in the front? Ms. Commender said yes, in the front, and they have signs up on the building. Mr. Carpaneto said that's Airmaster. It's a window company. They called me about that. They had about ten signs on the building. How many are there now? Ms. Commender said the last time I drove by there was only one sign, but I know they took away the doors. They had these big glass doors in the front of the building. Mr. Carpaneto said they should be coming in with an application on that, as they were told if there were any changes in exterior building had signage. I let them keep that one sign, because they were starting to • get deliveries for construction. Ms. Commender said but this a cinder block in the door half way and then there's plywood behind it. The cinder block doesn't look anything like the building cinder block. Mr. Immerman asked, is that temporary protection or something? Mr. Carpaneto said I'll check it out. Ms. Myers asked, what's happening with the Castro building? Why are the windows all boarded up? Mr. Carpaneto said he didn't know. He just noticed the other day. Mr. Carpaneto said I'll check it out. Mr. Carpaneto said I had a sit-down with the owner of Ming's. That may be coming down and they're talking about possibly two small commercial buildings on the site. Ms. Myers said and the windmill be gone and everything. Ms. Washington said it's an architectural landmark. NEXT MEETING The next meeting of the BAR will be held on April 18, 2002. 111 ADJOURNMENT On a motion made by Ms. Washington, seconded by Ms. Commender, the meeting was unanimously adjourned at 8:50 p.m. J?)&,,1 Marguerite Ro , Recording Secretary OVO _ ' Town of Mamaroneck 013Lt. County of Westchester Town Offices: 740 West Boston Post Road, Mamaroneck, NY 10543-3319 914 381-7830 Office of the Board of Architectural Review March 14, 2002 NOTICE OF MEETING A meeting of the Board of Architectural Review of the Town of Mamaroneck will be held on MARCH 21, 2002 at 8:00 p.m. in the SENIOR CENTER, 740 West Boston Post Road, Mamaroneck, New York. The agenda will include the following matters: AGENDA 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 2. COSI/James V. Mauceri - 1298 Boston Post Road - Block 410, Lot 463 - sign 3. DUNKIN DONUTS - 1311 Boston Post Road - Block 412, Lot 288 - signs 4. LR WESTCHESTER LLC - 1 East Main Street, New Rochelle- Block 503, Lot 117 - vehicle exhibit 5. SUPREME AUTO SPA/Anthony Sgarlata - 626 Fifth Avenue - Block 132, Lot 61 - sign • 211 Marguerite Reim,Recording Secretary C t J Panted on Recycled Paper