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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-25-2013 Historic Preservation Commissionr IOWA CITY HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION Thursday, July 25, 2013 City Hall, 410 E. Washington Street Emma J Harvat Hall 5:15 P.M. A) Call to Order B) Roll Call C) Discussion of Iowa City Gateway: Dubuque Street Elevation and Park Road Bridge Reconstruction Project D) Adjournment FROM: Ginalie Swaim, HPC chair TO: Historic Preservation Commission: Andy Litton, Esther Baker, Pam Michaud, Frank Durham, Frank Wagner, Kate Corcoran, Dave McMahon, Kent Ackerson, Tom Baldridge, Dana Thomann, CC: Bob Miklo, Chery Peterson DATE: July 16, 2013 RE: Gateway Project The following is an excerpt from the Environmental Assessment for the Gateway Project, dated 2/19/2013. This section pertains to historic site and districts. Please review this before our special meeting. The entire Environmental Assessment can be found at www. iowacitvQateway. org Public comments are also available at that website. In addition, Iowa City Channel 4 has video of all presentations if you do a search for "Gateway" & you can watch online. Section 5.0 Environmental Analysis 5.2 Cultural Impacts 5.2.1 Historical Sites or Districts An Architectural/Historical Intensive Level Survey of the project area was conducted by Tallgrass Historians, L.C. in September and October of 2011. The final report was completed in May 2012. All properties in the project area were examined and photographs were taken. Research materials were collected through the Iowa City Public Library, Johnson County Recorder's Office, the Johnson County Web site, State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), the National Register of Historic Places Information System (NRIS), local and regional newspaper outlets, and data already in the consultant's library. Iowa Site Inventory Forms containing research and photos were completed for properties with potential historic significance. Thirty-seven total sites were examined in and around the project area. Sixteen of those sites were initially determined to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), either individually or as contributing resources to two potential historic districts. After refining the project area, six individual properties, one existing historic district, one potential historic district, and one historic wall (exact location unknown) were determined to be adjacent to the proposed project and may experience impacts. Those resources included: ❑ 1501 Ridge Road - Englert-Ball-Pownall House; ❑ 1818 N Dubuque Street - Dr. H.H. & Sylvilla Jacobsen House; ❑ 1032 N Dubuque Street - Kappa Sigma Fraternity; 11816 N Dubuque Street - Beta Theta Pi Fraternity (3m Location); ❑ 804 N Dubuque Street - Beta Theta Pi Fraternity (2odLocation); ❑ 729 N Dubuque Street - Phi Delta Theta Fraternity; ❑ Brown Street Historic District; ❑ "Frat Row" Potential Historic District; and ❑ Park Bridge WPA Wall. The Park Bridge WPA Wall was previously surveyed and determined eligible for listing on the NRHP in 2008. This resource was buried under riprap as part of a USACE Iowa River bank stabilization project completed in 2010. Its exact location and extent is currently unknown because it is currently buried under riprap and is not visible. However, it is assumed to be located on the east bank of the Iowa River south of the existing Park Road Bridge. Exhibit 5-7 displays an overview of historic properties adjacent to the project area. Each resource considered eligible for listing on the NRHP is also considered a Section 4(f) protected resource. No -Build Alternative impacts: The No -Build Alternative will not impact any historic sites or districts in the project area. Preferred Alternative impacts: The Preferred Alternative is expected to impact six properties, one existing historic district, one potential historic district, and one historic wall along the Dubuque Street and Park Road corridors. Impacts are expected to be both temporary and permanent, with minor amounts of right of way acquisitions. Temporary construction impacts are expected to include grading impacts and retaining wall construction. Other temporary impacts are expected to be related to construction staging and equipment usage on individual properties. Exhibit 5-8 provides detailed maps of the impacted properties. Anticipated impacts include the following: 1501 Ridge Road - Englert-Ball-Pownall House - The elevation of Dubuque Street and the re -alignment of the Ridge Road/Dubuque Street intersection north of this property will temporary construction impacts of less than one -tenth of one acre to this property. These impacts will not affect the existing structure and are associated with grading and pavement work to match the property's existing driveway apron with Ridge Road. Ridge Road will be vacated by the City and will serve as the property's access point and will terminate at the property's driveway. Ridge Road will not access Dubuque Street south of the property. These temporary construction impacts will be less than 0.1 acres and will not affect the structure on the property. Any areas of the property temporarily disturbed will be returned to its original condition. No right of way will be acquired from the property. 1818 NDubuque Street - Dr. H.H & Sylvilla Jacobsen House - The elevation of Dubuque Street and reconfiguration of the Taft Speedway and Ridge Road intersections will entail approximately 0.4 acres temporary construction impacts to the property located at 1818 North Dubuque Street. Grading changes will occur along most of the property's frontage in order to elevate Dubuque Street. In the area of the garage located adjacent to Dubuque Street, a contributing feature to the historic character of the property, a retaining wall will be constructed to avoid physical impacts to the garage. In order to construct the retaining wall, less than one -tenth of one acre of temporary impacts to the property will be necessary for materials and equipment placement. The property's current driveway access to Dubuque Street will be relocated south away from the historic garage to better match elevations with Dubuque Street and to provide more direct access to an additional existing garage that the property owner uses for vehicle storage. Less than 0.1 acres of property will be incorporated in to permanent City right of way to accommodate the realignment of the Ridge Road and Dubuque Street intersection. 1032 NDubuque Street - Kappa Sigma Fraternity - The elevation of Dubuque Street will experience temporary construction impacts of less than 0.2 acres of the property located at 1032 Dubuque Street. Construction impacts will occur along the frontage with Dubuque Street and will include grading activities to elevate Dubuque Street above the 500-year flood plain and reconstruction of the property's driveway to match the higher elevation. No structures on the property will be affected by construction activities and no right of way will be acquired from the property. 816 NDubuque Street - Beta Theta Pi Fraternity (3rdLocation) - The elevation of Dubuque Street will not permanently impact the property or structure at 816 Dubuque Street. Temporary impacts to this property are expected to be less than one -tenth of one acre. Temporary impacts will include property access for grading activities. Any disturbed property will be returned to its pre -construction condition. No property is expected to be acquired for incorporation into Dubuque Street right of way. A parking lot serving this property on an adjacent parcel to the north will be elevated to match the proposed Dubuque Street elevation. This action will not result in impacts to the property at 816 N. Dubuque Street. 804 NDubuque Street - Beta Theta Pi Fraternity (2 dLocation) - The elevation of Dubuque Street is anticipated to involve temporary construction impacts of less than 0.2 acres of this property. No structures will be impacted. The temporary impacts are related to grading activities and equipment access during construction along the property's frontage along Dubuque Street. Any temporarily disturbed property will be returned to its pre -construction condition. No property is expected to be acquired for incorporation into Dubuque Street right of way. 729 NDubuque Street - Phi Delta Theta Fraternity - The elevation of Dubuque Street is anticipated to include less than 0.5 acres of temporary construction impacts to the property. Construction impacts will occur in the northeast portion of the property at the existing parking lot. These construction impacts will occur while reconfiguring and elevating the north side of the parking lot, re -aligning the driveway approximately four feet as well as grading activities associated with the elevation of Dubuque Street. No structures are expected to be affected and no portions of the property are expected to be incorporated into Dubuque Street right or way. Brown Street Historic District - The elevation of Dubuque Street and associated elevation of portions of Kimball Road will have temporary construction impacts to five properties within the Brown Street Historic District. All properties are within the Bella Vista neighborhood (5, 6, 8, 10 and 12 Bella Vista Place). Temporary impacts are anticipated along the west and north property lines adjacent to Dubuque Street and Kimball Road. The temporary construction impacts are associated with grading and fill activities along the steep bluff adjacent to Dubuque Street and will not impact any structures. Approximately 0.6 acres of temporary construction impacts are expected across the five properties. A permanent easement along the west edge of these properties contains a 6-foot wide sidewalk used by the general public. An 8-foot wide sidewalk will replace the existing sidewalk and will likely be entirely contained within the existing sidewalk easement. "Frat Row" potential historic district — The Frat Row potential historic district encompasses nine fraternity properties on Dubuque Street. 1032, 816, 804, and 729 Dubuque Street, each discussed in this section and potentially impacted by the proposed project, are included as part of the proposed historic district. The buildings on these properties are considered contributing resources to the potential historic district are considered potentially individually eligible for listing on the NRHP. Park Bridge WPA Wall - The elevation of Dubuque Street, reconfiguration of the Park Road/ Dubuque Street intersection, and construction of a new 0 Park Road Bridge will permanently impact the area south of the existing Park Road Bridge along the east bank of the Iowa River. The Park Road Bridge and Park Road/Dubuque Street intersection will be relocated approximately 140 feet to the south of the existing bridge and intersection. The proximity of the intersection to the river bank requires the bridge abutment to be constructed in the general vicinity of what is thought to be the location of the WPA wall. However, the wall is currently situated under several layers of riprap and its location cannot be visually verified. As a result, any potential impacts to this historic resource cannot be verified at this time. On September 19, 2012 the Iowa DOT, on behalf of FHWA, determined the project will have a Conditional No Adverse Effect upon historic sites and districts in the project area. This finding was based upon the proposed preliminary design plans, proposed impact avoidance measures, minimization of property impacts, and comments provided by the Iowa City Historic Preservation Commission. The Iowa SHPO concurred with the findings of the determination on October 3, 2012. Copies of correspondence from Iowa DOT, the Iowa City Historic Preservation Commission, and SHPO concurrence can be viewed in Appendix B. Preferred Alternative mitigation: To maintain a finding of Conditional No Adverse Effect by the Iowa SHPO, the proposed conditions of impact avoidance and minimization will be implemented on the six potentially affected historic properties. No structures will be affected by the project. Temporary construction impacts from grading will be minimized using a maximum 25 percent or 4:1 slope. A 4:1 grade is considered by the City of Iowa City to be the steepest and most restrictive slope possible that can be seeded with grass and safely maintained. All temporary construction impacts will be mitigated through returning the property to its preconstruction condition through grading, sod installation, or grass seeding depending on weather and seasonal conditions. Impacts to trees and shrubbery on potentially affected historic properties will be minimized. Removed trees and vegetation will be replaced in accordance with the City of Iowa City's Code, Article E. Landscape and Tree Standards. The FHWA determined that impacts to the historic resources in the Dubuque Street and Park Road corridor are de minimis impacts on November 2, 2012. The impacts to the historic properties were determined to have a de minimis impact as they do not adversely affect activities, features and attributes of the property that contribute to their eligibility for listing on the NRHP. 5 Response to City staff comments to Neighborhood Letter to HRC "...the Proposed Alternate for the project maintains the vistas of the river, parks, and the university campus, The views of the Iowa River are Q maintained between Terrill Mill Park and Park Road. The retaining wall running continuously along the river's eastern bank blocks views of the eastern side of the river, and filters the remaining view through a metal guardrail. More importantly, the Proposed Alternate significantly alters the existing scenic character of the Dubuque Street corridor itself. The scenic character is characterized by upland slopes and bluffs covered in dense, mature vegetation on the eastern edge. Extensive filling will remove large stands of vegetation, and reduce the height of the slopes and bluff. From Terrill Mill Park to Park Road, 8 to 15-foot retaining walls with mounted guardrails will alter the naturally landscaped bank along its western edge. The river basin consists of a park -like landscape composed of lawn areas planted with mature trees, gently sloping toward the river. The Preferred Alternate will have along portions of the roadway transitional lawn areas with 4:1 slopes, the maximum slope allowed for maintenance purposes. The impacts evaluated by this study are based on a conceptual design that represents the "maximum allowable footprint". This statement is cold comfort to those concerned with the Preferred Alternative's impacts on private properties, the scenic character of the Dubuque Street corridor, and traffic safety. The City's response to citizens' concerns strongly suggest that the Preferred Alternative's proposed elevations, alignment and roadway profile will not be significantly revised unless public comment can influence the political process. "No historic structure will be directly impacted by the project". This statement is open to interpretation. Grading will significantly impact the properties and structures, in terms of affected land area (11.6%) changes in elevation, removal of mature stands of vegetation, increase in noise level, and mitigation measures that are sensitive to erosion. The garage at 1818 Dubuque Street will be 10-feet below a concrete retaining wall with a mounted, traffic -rated guardrail 36-feet away. Is that really an acceptable context -sensitive solution? "The City does not have record of any old -growth trees within the project area. It will be necessary to remove some trees that will be replaced with species that are appropriate for the area." The Bella Vista neighborhood requested a visit from Mark Vitosh, the District Forester with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. His response regarding the woodland: "Portions of this hillside do resemble native forest cover that can be found in Iowa which includes native species such as white oak, red oak, sugar maple, elm, and basswood. There are also a variety of native wildflowers in the understory (lower layer) of this stand of trees. Looking at the size ofsome of the larger oaks on this hillside it is safe to say that this area has been wooded for manyyears, and if you look at the attached 1930's photo of the area you can clearly see this area was wooded at that time." The question of whether the woodland is old growth is secondary to their importance as a sensitive resource, covered under the City of Iowa City's Sensitive Areas ordinance. The woodland benefits both the private residences and Dubuque Street's scenic qualities. The Environmental Assessment did not thoroughly assess the woodland in terms of quantity, age and species, thus, the full impact to the woodlands of the Preferred Alternative is not known. "Final design of the project has not started and cannot be started prior to the completion of the NEPA environmental review process". The question isn't whether final design has started. Rather, the question is the insufficient level of clear, understandable and graphical portrayal of the Preferred Alternative appropriate for the alternatives evaluation phase of the design process. In fact, in this design phase, all three alternatives warranted better documentation, as stakeholders and potentially affected parties would be better able to understand and supportthe preferred option. Given the magnitude of the Iowa City Gateway project in terms of scope, complexity and cost (preliminary estimate is $40 million, up from $32 when approved by voters in 2009), the level of design development and graphic portrayal has been insufficient "The change (in noise level) in the Bella Vista neighborhood ranges from 1.9 to 6.9, with all being under the IOWA DOT recommended threshold of 67 decibels". Changes in decibel levels need to be understood in real world terms. A background noise of 60 decibels allows people to have a normal conversation at an ordinary distance. Thus, any increase above 60 decibels affects normal conversation. Background noise levels of 68 decibels are twice the noise level of 60 decibels. A goal of the project should be to minimize increases in noise levels, v whether or not they cross the Iowa DOT threshold. "At Park Road Bridge, a right -turn lane from southbound Dubuque Street onto Park Road is warranted by traffic studies and will be designed with the project Increases in roadway capacity induce more driving, resulting in the same congestion the roadway widening was intended to reduce. One of the more extensive studies of this phenomenon found that "Metro areas that invested heavily in road capacity expansion fared no better in easing congestion that metro areas that did not". Adding a fifth lane also widens the distance pedestrians must cross on Dubuque Street Finally, the right -turn lane occurs where the right-of-way is most constrained, and the impacts of raising the roadway elevation are clearly felt by the residential properties on the eastern edge. In summation, the addition of a right -turn will only increase demand, resulting in more congestion, and has a significant impact on pedestrian safety and the adjacent properties. Dubuque Street should remain four lanes.