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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Downtown Facade Grant applications RESOLUTION NO. 13-381 RESOLUTION APPROVING DOWNTOWN FACADE GRANTS FOR FY 2013/14 FOR THE CITY OF AMES, IOWA WHEREAS, the City Council annually budgets $50,000 Local Option Sales Tax revenue for the Downtown Fagade Improvement Grants program; and, WHEREAS, one application is accepted per building location, and there is one round of review per year with the option of a second round of review if there are available funds; and, WHEREAS, because of unused funds from the previous fiscal year, the City has $67,550 available for the 2013-2014 program, and four property owners have submitted a total of five applications totaling $72,000; and, WHEREAS, the maximum grant amount is up to $15,000 for fagade work, plus an additional $1,000 if an applicant chooses to use an architect in preparing a design; and, WHEREAS,three Main Street Cultural District representatives and two City staff evaluated the grant applications based on the City Council-adopted 2011 scoring criteria and guidelines;and, Amount Total Address Business or Building Name Requested Project Score 330 Main Town Center, west building $15,000 $150,000+ 85 Design Fees $ 1,000 328 Main Town Center, east building $15,000 $100,000+ 80 Design Fees $ 1,000 $ 1,000 402 Main The Spice Restaurant $ 8,000 $ 98,000 62 122 Main Lee's Computers & More $15,000 $120,000 52 Design Fees $ 1,000 $ 1,000 323 5th Vacant $15,000 $ 57,000 31 (Burnett fagade) Design Fees $ 1,000 $72,000 $527,000 WHEREAS,the improvements to 330 and 328 Main Street are intended to return as much of the building as possible to its appearance of the 1940's and 1950's, before the white metal panels were added to the front of both buildings; and, WHEREAS, this would include recreating two distinct building facades that existed previously with a traditional brick facade and rehabilitation of former windows, but it would not include restoring the former decorative parapet elements that were removed; and, WHEREAS,until the metal panels are removed it is not possible to be certain of the extent of improvements that are possible, therefore, awarding of these two fagade grants should be conditional on final plans being prepared after the metal panels are removed and those plans being approved by staff as being consistent with the scope of fagade improvements required by the grant criteria and the Downtown Design Guidelines in terms of the types of materials and design details relating to the windows and storefront design; and, WHEREAS, staff has concluded that these are two separate buildings qualifying them for two fagade grants, and this conclusion was based upon the fact that the buildings were built independently at different times and contain separate businesses with separate store fronts; and, WHEREAS, the project at 122 Main will replace the entire front fagade of this small shop in what is a multi-fagade building and restore the individual fagade as much as possible to its appearance in 1914, including transom windows, placed at the front property line rather than recessed as is the current storefront; and, WHEREAS, the project at 402 Main will apply the same fagade design as was completed at Lucullan's next door, removing the remaining wood insets and installing display windows and transoms above the windows and front door, and the building will be painted; and, WHEREAS,it should be remembered that the general policy of the Council has been to not allow a second grant for the same building in the first round of grant solicitation, however, this request is similar to the 203/205 Main (Antique Ames) where two separate grants were awarded for two separate store fronts in what was built as one building; and, WHEREAS,the project at 323 5th Street(formerly Mathison Ford), on the former vehicle service shop bays that face Burnett, consists of replacing the overhead doors with commercial entrances and replacing the windows to prepare the building for office use; and, WHEREAS, the improvements are not intended to comply with the historical design guidelines, but rather to comply with the separate commercial guidelines for other downtown buildings; and, WHEREAS,while the conceptual improvements would be beneficial to the site,it did not rank well compared to the other applications as it did not provide a great deal of visual or economic impact due to the location and building type and has minimal detail on its proposed commercial improvements other than replacement of non-compliant overhead doors. NOW,THEREFORE,BE IT RESOLVED,by the City Council of the City of Ames,Iowa, that the first four projects listed above, 330, 328, 402, and 122 Main Street are hereby approved, with the grants for 328 and 330 Main Street conditional on final plans to be approved by staff as consistent with the Downtown Design Guidelines and grant criteria after the metal panels are removed. ADOPTED THIS 13"' day of August, 2013. Diane R. Voss, City Clerk Ann H. Campbell, Mayor Introduced by: Larson Seconded by: Davis Voting aye: Davis, Goodman, Larson, Orazem, Szopinski, Wacha Voting nay: None Absent: None Resolution declared adopted and signed by the Mayor this 13th day of August, 2013.