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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-11-08 Business and Economic Development Committee Minutes � BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE November 8, 2006 � Minutes Councilor Attendance: Greene, D'Errico, Farrington, Paimer, Allen � Staff Attendance: McKay, Barrett, Gould Others: Rob Frank, Scott Norman, Ed Hanson � 1. Design Review of Bangor Historic Track, Inc. Permanent Gaming Facility � On )une 12, 2006 by passage of Resolve 06-229 the Council accepted and adopted the report of the Task Force to Enhance Bangor's Future Architectural � Character. The design guidelines adopted are to be used by the City Council and Council Committee in reviewing the design of projects proposed for City owned � properties within the downtown, waterfront, Main Street corridor and Bass Park areas. Bangor Historic Track has submitted its plans for a permanent gaming facility for review and requested an opportunity for a presentation to the , Committee of the design of the permanent gaming facility and to explain how � the design relates to the standards in the report. McKa said that the plans have been found to meet the necessary guidelines. In � Y its review of the plans, the staff had three concerns which related to providing visual pedestrian interest along the extensive building fa�ade and pedestrian �� walkway along the Main Street side of the building, a similar concern along Dutton Street, that the plans as submitted didn� provide enough information on � the exterior building materials to be used. These concerns would be addressed during the presentation. Rob Frank introduced Scott Norman from Urban Design Group and Ed Hanson, � who reviewed the ten architectural guidelines in detail. Norman said he sees the building as an expanded gateway to downtown. The building design will follow � downtown Bangor architectural guidelines. The focal point will be the corner of Dutton and Main that has a visual connection across the street to Bass Park. He showed architectural renderings of the future hotel. Allen spoke about the � position of the building and the sidewalk. She talked about the routes of the BAT/Community Connector and possible inclusion of the new facility. She asked if there would be access for the BAT in the design of the street and the building. � Norman said there was a drop off area on the river side on the back of the site to accommodate public/private/charter buses. Allen said the BAT would be on a possible hourly schedule. Facility employees will be encouraged to use public � transportation. McKay asked if there was a possibility for a BAT stop along Main Street in terms of trafFc flow. Norman discussed the lanes and turning lanes. � He also spoke about their planned heated sidewalks, parking lot and stairways. Palmer spoke about the Paul Bunyan statue being the most photQgraphed site in . the City. He wanted to be sure that it is included in trafFc planning. Norman � � said the statue is directly across from the planned main entry and inside the entry will be a retail shop. Palmer asked for details about the waterfront side of � ! the building and hooking on to the waterfront in terms of biking and hiking. � Allen asked about crossing over from the facility to Bass Park. An existing crosswalk at Dutton Street will be reinforced. Ailen asked if traffic caiming devices would be put in place. Norman spoke about the planning traffic lanes � and signals indicating it would work as calming. Discussion continued about providing a multi-tenant pedestrian oriented � development on the street. The facility will be a single use one but the breakdown of the building elements and the fa�ade suggests that the overall complex would be smaller building, smaller facades, and smaller tenants in the ,� architecture. For security reasons, there will be one entry to the building. Most customers will come from the parking deck directly into the building. Norman spoke about window displays between the racino and the parking to suggest . � store front spaces. There is a 500 f�. long parking deck. The exit stairs will be in front of the parking deck to provide two strong vertical elements to break up the � distance. There will be glass walls that front on Main Street. The stairs will be well lit. He also spoke about landscape plans with park benches. Allen asked if the design was a standard, factory-like design. Norman responded definitely no. � There will be a layering of detail from the parking structure to the street to breakdown the size of it. � Palmer spoke about the need of a fence to separate the sidewalk from the facility to discourage homeless individuals from gathering. Norman said he did not want barriers. The benches are on private property and, if there is a security issue � with extended loitering, it can be handled. Norman spoke of accentuating the primary entrances. There is a secondary � primary entrance on the river side. The plan encourages the inclusion of local character with the use of brick, which is a strong image of downtown Bangor. � He spoke of on site parking control. The vehicles will not be visible from Main Street due to a screening element. On the ground level, there will be a low brick wall. The lighting will not bleed onto adjacent property. � He spoke of utilizing quality construction methods and materials. The facility will be brick and the parking structure will be precast. Moving around the corner � from Main and Dutton, Norman said the scale of the building will change to stucco pre-fabricated panelization with a brick wainscoting. Responding to Palmer, he indicated they are of high quality. 99 Franklin Street is one of the first to use this method. The largest height of the building will be 35 ft. Moving into the racino, the height � is maintained but it is above the roof. They will provide sky windows into the fa�ade. There will be a parapet along Main and Dutton Streets, they are rooftop � units pushed back into the center of the building. They will be visible from the interstate but not from Main Street. Regarding the intensity of the site, every square foot will be used. The facility takes into consideration the integration ,� with the overall development plan for the area. All utilities will be underground for the entire block. Appropriate lighting and signage will be in place. The design will create a lantern effect on the cor�er with the display windows. The � � signature Hollywood signage will be in place on the facility. Entry points will be internally lit. Palmer asked about lighting on the waterfront side. The cap of the � hotel will be softly lit to create a visual awareness. Palmer asked about an observatory at the hotel. No plans in place at this time. Regarding pedestrian movement, Palmer asked if a new arena was in place at Bass Park, would this � building model take the additional traffic into consideration. It has been considered. The interstate and off-ramp changes should improve the current traffic flow. � Compared to the temporary Hollywood Slots and its logo, Greene mentioned that � the drawing for the new facility's logo is Hollywood. The City's ordinance . regarding signage plus Penn's desire to have a logo as large as possible to attract interstate and downtown traffic, the word slots would have reduced the � overall size of Hollywood to the point where it would not be readable. Greene asked if the hotel is now an actuality. At one point in previous discussions it had been a potential facility. Norman said that at this point they are designing and � including the hotel as part of the initial construction. Also, they are currently going through a formal pricing exercise which will determine when the hotel will be built. Penn would like the hotel in the original construction. Farrington asked � if the pricing is based on the price of the material and cost of the building or on the production. It is based on the actual construction of what was presented in _ design format at this meeting. Norman said their present schedule will be for a � closing at the end of 2006, a hazardous material abatement during January 2007, and then into demolition once MDEP gives approval. Actual construction would start April 1, 2007. Discussion centered on the Planning Board and State � approval process. All of the small changes will be brought back to the city comprehensively, at one time. Architectural and building plans will be in a � formal set of documents could be prepared but normally they.deal with the Planning stafF on an as needed basis. It should be completed by early]anuary. Gould asked about the pedestrian cycle crossing Main Street to the facility. The � City should be receiving its copy of the traffic related changes this week. The MDOT work should start late fall of 2007 or early spring of 2008. Gould asked further questions regarding traffic flow. A trafFc engineer will be at the Planning `� Board meeting to provide detailed answers. Gould inquired about traffic around the parking garage. McKay said it would be appropriate for the Committee to consider a motion � finding that the plans and information were consistent with the design guidelines � � adopted by the City Council by passage of Resolve 06-229 on June 12, 2006. A ,� motion was made and seconded that the plans and information provided were consistent with the design standards adopted by the City Council. Responding to � D'Errico, Norman said that a marina in the area of tanks would be a great asset but he could not commit to any future plans by Penn. Palmer indicated that the presentation was one of the best. He feels it will serve as a model for other � groups who come before the Council with development plans. The motion passed unanimously. . � � - _