On Sept. 10, the Pagosa Springs Planning Commission, acting as the Historic Preservation Board, approved a certificate of alteration application proposing facade improvements for the Hersch Building at 452 Pagosa St.
Community Development Director James Dickhoff explained that the “facade rehabilitation” would include replacing all of the storefront windows and replacing the aluminum framing of the entrance with a wood framing.
He also explained that the current awnings would all be removed, but there was some discussion at the meeting about whether new awnings would be installed on the ground level.
The property is zoned as Mixed Use–Corridor (MU-TC), Downtown Business and Lodging Overlay District (ODB) and is part of the downtown historic business district.
As part of the town’s certified local government designation, the town is required to maintain a Historic Preservation Board, “or commission of some sort,” to review and decide on proposed alterations, developments and additions within the historic district, Dickhoff explained.
The town council appointed the planning commission to act in this role of the Historic Preservation Board (HPB) “until enough members have been appointed to fill the role of the HPB,” states the town’s website.
Dickhoff noted that being a part of the certified local government program “opens our community up to available funding and resources to help us with historic preservation,” he said.
Although the Hersch building “is not a listed local landmark, it is within the historic district, and so our adopted historic design guidelines apply to any building within the historic district,” he explained.
He told the commissioners, “Your role tonight on this particular application is serving as the Historic Preservation Board” for the proposed alteration of the building’s facade.
He added that town staff concluded that the proposed improvements comply with the approval criteria in the town’s Land Use and Development Code (LUDC).
J.R. Ford, representing the alteration project, explained the plans for the improvements.
He noted that he has been working with Larry Lucas, architect for the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) Main Street Program.
He stated that the project meets the intent of “what you guys want to see happening downtown,” and that the only question is about the awnings, adding that if you look back at photos through the years, “sometimes there were awnings and sometimes there weren’t.”
Ford added that the building’s facade has changed over the years, and “we are trying to make it more uniform with what we think it would have looked like the best we can.”
The project is “a good way of cleaning up the building and making it last another 75 years and then let somebody else deal with it then,” he said.
Dickhoff explained that the town surveyed some of downtown’s historic buildings in 2001 and the Hersch building “was identified in this particular survey.”
Town staff’s interpretation, after reviewing the survey, is that the original wood building burned down in a 1919 downtown fire and was subsequently rebuilt with brick to meet new building codes that required brick following the fire, Dickhoff added.
Ford said that he would like to “reappoint the brick, and put all the new windows in and insulate it with glass and then see what it looks like and see if it will work for the tenants.”
On the awning question, he stated that if it won’t work for the tenants without the awnings included, due to intense sunlight coming in through the windows, “then we can add the two awnings on the bottom [level] if we need to.”
“I’d rather take it in two steps and see if that works for you guys,” he said.
Dickhoff chimed in, saying, “As many of you know, if you’ve been on main street, this side of the street gets a lot of sun beating down. It gets really hot with the way the building faces, so there’s certainly value in considering the awning, even though not all of the historic photos showed an awning.”
He continued, “From the staff’s perspective, we would encourage the awning, whether it’s now or later. I think it’s up to the historic preservation board to consider this as part of your decision.”
Board member Julie Gurule also encouraged Ford to include the awnings, especially on the ground level, and preferred that the awnings stay green, rather than the blue shown in the plans, to match the surrounding buildings.
She also asked about the two benches near the building, which appeared to be removed in the design plans, saying that she wants the benches to remain.
Ford noted that he’d prefer to have the benches removed, but that they “belong to the town,” so it would be up to the town on whether to keep it or get rid of them.
He added that if the benches remain, he’d prefer that they be moved a little further from the building to prevent skateboarders and others from breaking the windows of the building.
“One of the reasons we got started on this is all those windows are broken from skateboards, or people sitting at those windows hitting them with their head … we don’t know exactly how all of them broke, but they keep breaking the windows or cracking them,” he said.
He’s noticed the windows being broken more often “since the benches have been in.”
Gurule said, “I would recommend keeping the benches. We are a tourist town. Main street gets really busy and sometimes gentlemen are waiting outside while their wives are shopping … and with benches there you also want a little bit of shade, so I’d recommend keeping the benches and keeping the awning.”
Dickhoff suggested, on the issue of the benches, that the Colorado Department of Transportation’s (CDOT’s) Main Street Reconstruction project could be an opportunity to move the benches farther away from the building.
CDOT plans include widening the sidewalk in this area during the project.
Dickhoff also explained that any new windows going in would be required to be “tempered glass,” with Ford replying that tempered glass wouldn’t prevent the windows from breaking, but would only prevent them from “shattering.”
Ford added that the design plan for wood-framed windows would allow for replacing the windows one piece at a time if they break again in the future.
When asked about the time frame for completing the project, Ford stated that his plan was to be done before the CDOT project gets started downtown.
“If you give me approval, I’d love to, between now and June, be done before you guys start the highway [160] project,” Ford said.
“I think one of the more difficult parts of this position is making opinions on style and color. It’s something I certainly don’t feel comfortable with,” board member Chris Pitcher said.
He sought clarification on the brick.
“It sounds like you thought maybe the brick was a facade. It’s not part of the original structure, is that correct?” he asked.
Ford affirmed this interpretation, with Pitcher asking him if the “construction of the building had a stucco exterior.”
“Well, originally it was wood on the outside,” he explained, but that the construction of the walls are a mixture of “adobe, wood, brick, stucco and studs. That’s all in that wall,” he said.
He explained it as a hodgepodge of different building types, to which Pitcher responded, “It’s the perfect Pagosa building,” receiving chuckles from the crowd.
During public comment, echoing Gurule’s statements, Maria Macnamee, owner of Happy Trails Boutique, expressed that she is in favor of keeping the benches.
She said that, as a tourist town, “we don’t have enough sitting areas here,” adding that awnings and benches “are very useful.”
A motion was then made to approve the certificate of alteration application for the building facade improvements, with the inclusion of lower-level awnings, finding the application in compliance with the approval criteria of the town’s LUDC.
The motion was approved unanimously by the board.
derek@pagosasun.com
