 And just as I did start recording this meeting, thank you, Rob. Okay, great. Welcome to the Amherst Design Review Board meeting of December 18th, 2023. My name is Erica Zegas and as the chair of the Amherst Design Review Board, I'm calling this meeting to order at 501. This meeting is being recorded and I will and will be made available via the town of Amherst YouTube channel minutes are being taken. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021 and extended again by chapter two of the acts of 2023, this meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so via Zoom or by telephone. No in person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. A hyperlink to the hearing will be posted on the town's online calendar. Board members, I will take roll call when I call your name. Please answer affirmatively. Catherine Porter. Here. Lindsay Schnarr. Here. Pat Roth. Present. Karen Winter is not joining us this evening and Erica Zegas. Present. Board members, if technical issues arise, we may need to pause temporarily to fix the problem and then continue the meeting. If discussion needs to pause, it will be noted in the minutes. Please use the raise hand function to ask a question or make a comment. I will see your request and call on you to speak. After speaking, please remember to remute yourself. The general public comment item is reserved for public comment regarding items that are not on tonight's agenda. Please be aware the board will not respond to comments during general public comment period. Public comment could also be heard at other times during the meeting when determined appropriate. Please indicate that you wish to make a comment by clicking the raise hand button when public comment is solicited. If you've joined the zoom meeting using a telephone, please indicate that you wish to make a comment by pressing star nine on your phone. When called on, please identify yourself by stating your full name and address and put yourself back into mute when you're finished. Residents can express their views for up to three minutes or at the discretion of the chair. If a speaker does not comply with these guidelines or exceeds their allotted time, their participation will be discontinued from the meeting. Tonight's agenda includes the following. We have one application, DRB FY 202409, Town of Amherst, to construct a three-story elementary school on the Fort River site. We have approval of meeting minutes, general public comment period, and other business. And if it is okay with the board, I'd like to move general public comment period forward in this meeting in case there are folks in attendance who are also trying to get to the town council meeting tonight. I don't know how long our review is going to take. So I would ask Rob or ask the public if you are in attendance and you'd like to make a comment to let us know. So this can be done by either using the raise hand function or by pressing star nine if you're on the telephone. And again, this is for general public comment because we'll give people minute or two. Sure. So I'm not seeing any hands up at the moment. So I would assume that there is no public comment for tonight's meeting. Great. So we'll move on to hearing about the River Elementary School and we can always look for comment after the introduction to the project, sorry, lots of words. So there are some folks in attendance who would like to present. So I believe we have the architect presenting tonight. Let me see if I can go ahead and promote them to panelists. Hi, Mr. Cooper. Good evening. Is anybody else joining you on the screen this evening? Rick Rice, if he is in the gallery, should be joining us from today's co-design. And he just got a panelist invitation. There he is. All righty. And Mr. Rice, welcome. Welcome. Thank you. I just have a little bit of a reminder for everyone and that is that to members of the DRB and our presenters, the DRB will focus our comments on the exterior expression of the building and its landscape. We are definitely interested in all the things that happen inside the planning and design of the building, but it's not in our scope, except as what's happening on the inside shows up in the building's form, like location of apertures, materials, etc. So DRB members, if you could remember to limit your comments and questions to what's happening on the outside of the building that will help our conversation along. And after your presentation, I'm going to move the DRB through the nine design review standards to guide our conversation. There's a fair amount of redundancy in these. So bear with us and some things actually don't apply, but we're going to do our due diligence with this project. So thank you for hearing me out. And do you have the ability to share your screen? I will test that ability right now. Okay. And you can just walk us through your project and we'll listen and take notes. Sure. If at any time I am going into too much or not enough detail, just let me know and I can expand or move along as you so desire, but I'm just going to jump right in. Thank you. Starting with an existing site plan just to give a feel of what's on the site now the existing for River Elementary School occupies the north half of the site. It's off Southeast Street. It has parking for about 175 spots and two connections to Southeast Street. And then there's a good amount of playing fields to the east and south. The building itself, we have not heard a lot of comments that there is much to preserve or pay homage to in terms of architecture or program educational value. So moving to the redeveloped site. The new building will be three stories occupying the southern port of this site. Part of that is so that it can be built while the existing school is fully operational during construction. Part of that is to maximize the field space parking and circulation. You can see that the southern access drive is bus and service only with space for vans. And then parent and staff will use the north entrance circling through the parking lot and there's a drop off area adjacent to the main entrance and plaza at the west side of the building. The north of the building are playgrounds and outdoor heating areas adjacent to the cafeteria. Full size basketball courts and half size basketball courts at the east side of the building. And then on the further east and to the southeast there are components designed specifically for outdoor education. There is a micro forest garden, planter gardens, a pollinator garden and then an outdoor shelter classroom. The main playground is in between the building and the athletic fields to the north. Currently designed as a port and place of play service and the structures of the playground itself are yet to be designed. They would be designed this spring. The dash lines over the southern part of the canopy. The southern part of the parking lot are the canopies that will support the PV. They are in this location so that they can be built while the existing school is still operational so that the school can be net zero on day one. The building is three stories for multiple reasons, one of which travel distance are actually easier, shorter, I should say for people to get from one part of the building to another rather than spreading it all out on one floor. Another part is we are dealing with high water table and so that decreases the footprint and the amount of impervious area on site. And then north of the school development itself, we have athletic fields, which can be used for the school, obviously recess very sports, but it's also a community asset that will be developed as part of the site. And then quickly moving into the building to give context to the discussion of what's on the outside. Entering the main entrance at the west end of the building. The administration office is immediately inside to the south to your right as you walk in. The cafeteria and the music classroom with the associated practice spaces is to your left. And then right past the administration is the gym. So these are the two major spaces that will be used by the public outside of the school population. And then moving past those spaces, you move into the academic part of the school with classes group by grade in six classrooms, clusters of three on either side of the corridor. And those are lockable from the public part of the school if there should be something that happens during the day, voting or something. Moving up in the building, the media center is on the second floor above the cafeteria. And the classroom configuration remains the same on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor. So it's going to be on the 1st, 1st and 2nd. The two art and STEM classroom are on the 2nd floor adjacent library and then moving up through the building. We have the 3rd floor of classrooms and mechanical room on the 3rd floor. Literacy library that doubles as a professional development space. So with that, we move to the exterior starting from the north elevation. There's a starting from the east, the west end, the right looking from the north is the main entrance. You can see the canopy that covers the front door and then the clear story glass that defines the volume of the lobby. And the library on the 2nd floor, the cafeteria, the public spaces in the building where the entire school and the community of large users of those are individually identified and the massing is apparent on the exterior. So as we move around the building, you'll see that the roof lines change and the volumes are legible on the outside for the gymnasium, the cafeteria, the library and the main administration space. And then the classroom wing themselves is a sort of pattern with a bit more regular, but the there is some play in the exterior materials. We have a basic palette of masonry with composite aluminum panel where we mark entrances and want a little pop of color. But the main palette is brick using two moderately contrasting field colors, a medium iron spot and then a blend of grays with accents of glazed masonry near windows. Moving around to the south. The party is similar. You can see the roof is sloped at the main administration. The gymnasium is its own volume. The entrance to the south to the bus loop has a stair immediately adjacent to it. So it's legible from the exterior and you can see light is led into the building through this glazing. It's a little more current here. Like the same pattern in terms of the fabric of the building being the classrooms and that repeating from the center of the building to the east is shown here. On the north side, there are no exterior sun control devices and on the south side there are to control glare. The windows in the classrooms are actually quite large they are nine feet tall. One of the guiding principles of the building was to let as much natural light in as possible and then further between the classrooms that have this light coming in. There is clear story and very large side lights into the spaces outside of the classrooms and the corridors that connect them. Views of the west elevation where you have the main entrance. This is part of the two double doors to the main vestibule and lobby. Clear story glazing that illuminates the lobby is facing north and west so there will be some light getting in but glare will not be that much of an issue. Then here you can see the roof line of the media center, the gymnasium and the music room, partial elevations of the areas that are hidden. And then just a close up view of the fabric of the building to the east of the central stair. Large windows, three per classroom sun control devices with patterning in the brick in between. You know, it's a dance of how much undifferentiated brick you can have before we start to introduce a pattern to liven it up a little bit. Various other elements. This is looking at the edge of the canopy to the main entrance, starting to do some brick patterning at the main administration area. This is a corner where the roof of the gymnasium turns down with windows beyond. Another close up view. We do slightly different patterning materials within the media center library. One slide back you saw a slightly different pattern at the gym just to give each element a slightly different looking field so that they are legible from the outside. This is the main administration roof line in front of the gym. This is the east facade facing the woods on site and there is a stair here. Actually, so here's a close up view of the palette of materials. There is the darker brick medium iron spot that we're looking at and then the main lighter brick is going to be a blend. But then where we have insert panels at the stairs and around the gym we have a more solid version of the lighter color and then this is the field of the gymnasium itself. Wherever you see the bright orange linear expressions on the elevations and the model I'm about to show it's a composite aluminum panel. And then the accent panels next to the classroom windows are a spectroglaser composite on a CNU. Here are some overall views. This would be approaching on the top from the bus loop the south entrance to the site. In the foreground you can see the main entrance and that canopy over the entrance of the main lobby. The roof line of the main administration and the clear story glass the gym and the media center. Tim, I hate to interrupt you, but do you think is it possible to zoom in on those images while you're talking about them? Okay. Thank you. That's great. Sorry, it's a little jumpy. So gymnasium the glazing at the corner is a little bit sort of to mirror the roof line. There is some equipment that's going to be visible on the roof, but the majority of it is at the roof of the gym level and it will be screened. And then here you can see the canopy mounted PV as you approach from the south. And this is the bus loop. So this is the view you would have looking back after drop off or leaving the site, but you know, it's a good size building and a good size site so you have to take a step back to see the whole thing. The main entrance is behind this line of trees, but here you can see the prominence of the media center, the glazing at the cafeteria, and then the classroom going beyond. Here are a few more views, but I think it might be best if we just switch to the model that will allow me to go around the building. Starting at the main entrance, walking through the plaza that is defined by the drop off on the left of the screen to the north, going through the parking lot and the bus loop to the south. And then the name of the school has not been decided yet, but that is a likely location for the signage. There are also opportunities for art on the exterior which we are showing here but again that is in process of the location and the design. As we are right now we were looking past the biker x to the music room cafeteria media center. This view is taken from the middle of where the playground will be. There is no equipment shown because it is designed. This door connects directly to the central stair that will allow kids to come up and go down to recess. Here you see the main bulk of the classrooms facing north without some control. And moving around to the east side of the building where you have basketball courts beyond the basketball courts where you see the planting area there are stormwater features that can be connected to the educational curriculum it's a rain garden. Some patterning in the brick on the east side of the building to, you know, this is the least articulated wall of the building so we introduce some patterns to break it up. And then as we come around to the southeast you can see the outdoor planner gardens the structure that will serve as an outdoor classroom. And we're getting toward the bus entrance on the stair that will connect all three floors, the service area is tucked in here behind the gym and the south entrance to the building. And then here we are moving back toward the gymnasium and eventually to the front of the building. We have a other. That is what we have presented. And I would like to, you know, if there's more you'd like to see or know about. Let me know and happy to answer any questions you have by see. Patricia has her. Yeah, fantastic. I am. I'm going to, I think, ask us to hopeful members that you reviewed the the various components we are. This is such a significant project for the, for the town. So we really appreciate your, your review for us. That's great. And we've all received your documents in advance, although the fly through is new, which is great to see our design review standards include things like height and proportion and relations to structures and spaces and building shape, that kind of thing. So Pat, do you have a comment that kind of falls outside of those or it's probably outside of it, but you keep talking about main staircases. Is this building handicapped accessible with an elevator. Yes, absolutely. So there is one elevator at the center of the building and go to the plan to show you one second. So the main entrance is here. The elevator is here centrally located in the building adjacent to the entrance from the south. And then I should note the one that all of the floors are completely flat with no level changes except for the platform at the cafeteria with a ramp to the practice areas and then on the second floor to accommodate ceiling height required in the cafeteria. The media center is 18 inches above the rest of the second floor, but there is also a ramp from the floor proper to the media center. So the building is fully accessible. Thank you. Okay. I guess I just had one more question and then I'll listen. Is the bus drop off separate from the parent for the car drop off and pick up. Okay, so the first design review board standard is about building height. This is the height of the, any proposed alteration should be compatible with the style and character of the building structure or site being altered in that of the surroundings. Given that there is very little in the immediate context, my sense is that the building is appropriately scaled. And as you mentioned, you are wrestling with the density of the program and the footprint of the building for drainage issues. And there was there's a there's a note in the application that the RBC, you're exceeding the building height of 35 feet that's the kind of standard limit of the RBC so you need a special permit. I think that that, you know, that's that's for the ZBA. My sense is that the to retain the openness of the site going to 43 feet is perfectly appropriate in this context. Does anybody else any other members have a comment on building height. The entry is quite appropriate. And I wanted to also note that I, the creative design where the entrance is only like one story. And so there's, so when you come up to it, you don't even understand that baby behind it are three. And I think that gives a very welcoming and creative approach. Yeah, I like it. I like the entrance too. Thanks. Had any comments on building height. No, I would tend to agree with you and Catherine that that given given the location and the spaciousness of the ground surrounding it that it would certainly be compatible with the neighborhood. And Lindsay cameras off, but you're welcome to comment if you have anything to say on this one. Okay, I'm going to move on because there is there's a ton of redundancy in these, especially on a site like this one that doesn't have the density of the downtown. The next standard is proportions, the proportions and relationships of height to width between windows doors signs and other architectural elements should be compatible with the architectural style and character of the building or structure and that of the surroundings. My thoughts are that Dennis goes down a really nice job of reducing the scale of the building similar to Catherine's comment before I feel that the building and reducing the scale of the building at the entrance is really smart and I think, you know, a building to serve hundreds of students and teachers and staff is necessarily large but you've treated the building as a series of smaller stacked blocks. So the primary point of entry at the middle which really splits things up in a in a nice way and helps to reduce the sense of this, you know, overall mass. And I really also appreciate the darker cladding on the bottom two stories and getting lighter as you move up the building to help us feel like the scale is being reduced. Lindsay, do you have thoughts on building proportion. I, I agree I mean I think the overall is the, I mean I want to speak more more to massing but it's just the way that the scale is, is really broken down and play of materials is really, I think, successful in helping to keep it, keep a very large building feeling not totally overwhelming and monolithic so I think you've done a beautiful job with that. Thanks. Catherine or Pat. I agree with both your comments. Thank you. So move on to relation of structures and spaces, the relation of a structure to the open space between it and adjoining structures should be compatible with such relations in the surroundings. I don't really see it as an issue here there's no immediately adjacent buildings and no significant visibility from the neighbors. Anyone else on this shape, the shape of the roofs windows doors and other design elements should be compatible with the architectural style and character, the buildings or site and that of its surroundings. Anyone share thoughts on shape. I think that the mix of the sloped roof lines with flat roof lines works really well again to create more of a play on the larger volumes media center, being that kind of most obvious focal point. And, like, kind of playing down the classroom scale by leaving not as more of a flat roof line. I also really appreciate the use of materials to define the kind of linear elements and the wrapping elements. I don't, I don't remember Erica do we have a separate item for her materials specifically. Well, although number eight is architectural insight details which references materials. But I think that overall, you know the use of materials and reflections to create various shapes that that work with portions is really nice. Agreed. So the next stop is landscape. Any proposed landscape development or alteration should be compatible with the character and appearance of the surrounding area. Landscape and streetscape elements including topography, plantings and paving patterns should provide continuity and definition to the street pedestrian areas and surrounding landscape. Yeah, I actually like the cluster of the landscaping. It has a design integrity, but it also leaves the building free for the flow of air and light. And, and it also kind of demarks the difference between the building area and the playing fields and the playground it's it's nicely done it's low it's it's, I think it's it's appropriate. The way it was shown. Um, you know you're proposing a significant change necessarily right to the current site with a new location for the building and there are modifications to the traffic flow. And I'm wondering if a traffic study has been done to kind of weigh the impact of people coming and going at this that same like point. Yeah, a traffic study has been done. Part of the separation of car and bus traffic was to mitigate the congestion at the entrance and exit to the site. With all of the traffic now entering and exiting the cars I should say at the northern entrance we have moved that entrance to the south to the extent possible to move it away from the intersection of main and south the street where there is significant queuing. But our attempts to mitigate those stop at the property line and then you know connections to the intersection and other stuff that is done in the street is in the purview of the town and they have told us that so. I appreciate that it's definitely as a place that I have to pass through on my way to work every day. It's notable. Yeah, I appreciate that kind of contiguous nature of the playing fields and the playground spaces and love an outdoor classroom I think that that using the landscape as a really wonderful thing I'm glad that that's been part of your scope as well. Lindsay any comments from you on on landscape. I mean, I agree that everything I said I my only question was on the area where there's some kind of raised seating as I look like concrete bench seating. I don't want to go back to that image, but just to better understand the use of that landscape. Here, or to the north of the building. Right there. There's some planters that kind of around that center circle. Yeah, so the radial the radial array is planters, maybe not rendered as verdant as they should be, but they're. In addition to the planters. There is also. What is intended to be a pollinator garden so that's just species growing in the ground that are minimal to. Pollinators that all the forms that they take and then there is an area of trees that were used on site that are going to be cut into benches in addition to your in addition to the outdoor seating area. So, Tim, can I ask for clarification? When you say planters, do you mean like garden boxes garden planters? Yes, we had originally proposed wooden constructed, but the director of the science curriculum. The aggregated metal is how they're going to be because they are the easiest maintain the last longest and honestly replaceable for the lowest amount if that should become necessary. I'm just a question and the design of that, of that space and how, you know, how fully it's been developed at this point if this is something that's still in progress or if this is kind of the final layout. I'm going to go to the site plan just so we can get a better view of it to look at it. But to answer that question, these drawings have been submitted to the conservation commission. The areas that are pervious and impervious. We would hope to change as little as possible. The arrangement of planters, I think would be 1 of the things that we certainly. Good change. Can you see my screen? You see the. Yeah, we see the building plans. There we go. So, here we go. One second. Sorry. So, these paths are. Impervious, but the area around the planter garden itself is stone dust. And the arrangement of the planters is what we have proposed, but it's certainly something that we could revisit, but in general. You know, given the fact that we already before conservation commission and planning, we would like to make as few changes to the plan as possible. Yeah, I guess, I mean, I. I just question the layout in terms of visibility and if that is the intention is that someone is going to be instruction instructing a group of people from that center point. Is that another vision. Well, there are actually enough planters there for two classes. And then the structure is enough for 1. And so, you know, we haven't gotten to the into the curriculum at that granular level, but. You know, my understanding of the way the program works is that, you know, kids with obviously some oversight will be working at the planter beds, but the actual instruction would happen in the classroom. But if there is an arrangement of planter beds that are more conducive to teaching outside, they can certainly be rearranged within the space, but we would have to revisit that with the educators who have seen this. Okay, I would be curious what other people think, especially Erica, you teach some curious about your thoughts on the layout and how conducive it may or may not be to kind of outdoor collaboration or discussion or work. Sure. And I, and I just wanted to add one other note, which was, and I, I'm not sure if you mentioned this and I missed it, but is there a garden area or an intention for an outdoor space where kids are learning about planting and gardening. So there's the planter gardens here. There is a pollinator garden adjacent to it. This is a micro forest so it's going to be saplings and it's more about the forest floor so you can turn over logs and there's bugs and stuff underneath it. And then this is a rain garden. So it's a storm functioning storm water feature, but there's a path around it in a viewing platform. So you can look at the sort of species that exist and grow in that sort of environment. So all of these areas are intended to be tied into the curriculum and they have various forms of vegetation. Great. Well, that's really helpful to understand. I'm sorry if I missed that. So the intention is not just for it to be a landscape element, but really to be an educational opportunity for growing food and other diverse. Okay. That's great. Yes, I just question the layout in particular. I think I'm inclined to default to the science instructors and the food education coordinator on this one. I think that if they're low enough and that they are all radiating from a center point, then that does give somebody the opportunity to like either have a group of kids gather around one planter box or instruct from the center as you suggested Lindsay. So that outdoor learning area that's kind of radially organized. It feels kind of formal in this particular landscape, but I can, I can understand why it is. I have a couple of questions since we're on this particular slide. One is just to kind of understand what scope of this outdoor space is accessible. And the other is to, if you could describe a little bit about how that service entrances being shielded how how how it's going to work when a delivery of food for the cafeteria arrives or something like that. Sure. The entire site is accessible, meaning that from the entrance of the site. All herbs will be flush and provide an accessible path. You can just drop off crossing all of this choice and site the grade of all of these paths, as such that you can get anywhere without, you know, going down, may be prescribed grade. The connection between the poor will important place playground surface the basketball courts, they are all flush. The paving surface varies vehicular concrete, but mostly betuminous, but the entire system of paths. Excuse me is continuous and accessible. And then the service area and I apologize for this being green that was not meant to be any sort of sleight of hand here. This is, this is in fact paved there are dumpsters and a transformer here. And actually, I think I'm going to go back to the video because you can get a better sense. I apologize for parking a bus in front of it, but there is a fence that connects, or I should say blocks, the entrance from the service area. And then another one to the West. We did discuss having an opening or sliding gate with Rupert the director of facilities and the rest of the staff. And then for reasons of snow removal, the fact that they didn't think anyone would open and close it. You would basically be there open the entire time the. And they're also to create an aperture. Large enough that a trash hauler could get and pick up the dumpsters and remove, you know, it would be a very large gate opening. The consensus was that that gate would just exist in the open position the entire time. And if it was closed, it would interfere with snow removal. So we elected to have no gate. So if you are passing and looking directly at the building, you will be able to see the service entrance and the bins. But the, go ahead, sir. Oh, I was just going to ask the material of the gate, like, could it handle being backed into by a trash truck? So in addition to the gate everywhere that the trash truck is going, especially the transformer, and maybe you can see it, there are dollars to prevent that movement. So, this is not fully up to date, but there are, there is a triangular continuation of the planting bed here and ballards blocking the path. Thank you for bringing me up to date on that. And does anybody else have comments about the landscape. I just, it's not about the landscape, but, but it seems that this is the bus entrance. And so, so there would be specific times during the day when children would be released to a bus under supervision of staff. And so, is there a conversation about scheduling deliveries at a different at times other than when the buses are there and the children are going to buses. Yes, there has been that conversation and that is how they operate now and how they intend to continue to operate that deliveries will be not. I will not arrive on site when there is bus and car traffic and one of the reasons that the service entrances on the bus loop and not the car. So buses are more predictable, as you say, than cars someone coming to pick up. So there should never be a situation where there's a little free and it's interfering with a car apparent picking up or dropping off whatever time of day that may be so that that is why it's on the bus loop and why the bus loop is separated from the car loop. Thank you. Okay, I promise some redundancy. The next, the next factor is building scale. The scale of a structure or landscape alteration should be compatible with its architectural or landscape design style and character in that of the surrounding. Ground level design elements such as building entry ways, windows, porches, plazas, parks, pedestrian furniture, plantings and other street and site elements should be determined by and directed toward their use comprehension and enjoyment of pedestrians. So Catherine had a comment earlier about the scale of the entry and appreciation of pulling those down. Does anybody else have a comment that might fit into the scale category? I think also Lindsay's comment about the intersecting planes of the roof. It doesn't look massive in the bulky sense. It has design features that create a roof and a cladding side, you know, the bricks that break it up a little bit so that it's got interesting areas and not just one massive structure. One of the things that I'm wrestling with a little bit is the need for security and uniformity around the classroom block. The way that you articulated individual classrooms with a color, right? I love the introduction of color here and I suppose that might fit into the next category as well, but how does the architect balance the need for the security of the kids inside the building and maybe not making an individual classroom recognizable from the outside in the event of the worth possible scenario, right? And then also the kind of saying like, oh, my classroom is the one with the green. It absolutely is a tough balance. I mean, we have very difficult conversations about this and then to the extent possible we build as much into the building to prevent the unthinkable. And you know, just as a back out overview of the security features, the lobby is video phone controlled so you cannot get into the building unless you're buzzed in unless there are staff at the overall building doors, they are locked at all times. As I mentioned in the plan walkthrough, the classroom wing itself is locked off or potentially can be locked off from the rest of the building. I will add that there is security film on the first floor windows with sills that are below three feet so that impedes anyone trying to get into the building in a way that they shouldn't. But you're absolutely right that a very explicit map to a certain location in the building is not something that we want to advertise but we also want to give, you know, the kids. As you pointed out the ability to look at the building and say that's that's where my classroom and then we're not really talking about the inside of the building but we do a similar thing on the inside so by project area and by floor the coloring of the materials, the flooring, the paint on the walls, the light fixtures which are some colors sort of give you a grid of way finding a sense of where you are in the building simply by color alone. And, you know, we've heard actually from the accessibility commission that that is a good thing so we have to balance all these discussions and hopefully not push too far in one direction or the other but we think we've achieved a balance. And I really appreciate that I recognize that it's really difficult and maybe increasingly difficult terrain to navigate and done a nice job of it so thanks. Okay, directional expression, building facades and other architectural and landscape design elements will be compatible with those of others in the surrounding area with regard to the dominant vertical or horizontal direction expression or direction related to the use of historic or cultural character as appropriate. Anybody else. Okay. Here's the fun one architectural and fight details architectural insight details including signs lighting pedestrian furniture plantings and paving along with materials colors textures and grade shall be treated. It will be compatible with original architectural landscape design style of the structure or site to preserve and enhance the character of the surrounding area. There's some additional comments about downtown building downtown districts which I can ignore. And I know tonight you're not presenting signage and you're not presenting lighting but I will say for myself I'm excited about the color on the building that kind of the orange facia in the glaze concrete tile around the classroom windows. I appreciate the brick mix to often the scale of the wall, when you have a big expanse of brick and treat by that. Lindsay go ahead. Yes, I said I think the use of color is this great, especially with the patient wrapping. I was curious about the mortar. I think that the images you showed up the tile the concrete composite material that is the different colors. Is that actually going to be white or is it going to be more of a color match to the actual panels. Very astute observation our intent is to color match mortar those are the colors from the catalog pages for those particular materials. The thing about color match mortar it's not always perfect, but it will be as close as we get it will certainly be closer than a contrast white the intent is not to have a contrast mortar. Okay. I'm going to check on that. And then I also, and this is a very subjective, just to my eye. I felt that the massing of that media center is really feels feel appropriate and scale and then it pops up. I'm curious about the choice of materials there that it is kind of more of a muted. And is that is that primarily because the scale and the massing is so kind of such a focal point is the kind of like draws your eye already or was there an intention to not having a color accent that wraps that that mass. That's a good point and if we shared all of the iterations of the project you would see that at one point we had three very distinct colors for the main entrance which was orange the gym was sort of a blueish green and the media center was a third color. And it seemed like too much. I mean, if we're getting into the realm of very subjective this way, the one color is allowed to stand on its own and then the crisp nature of the composite panel the sort of the contemporary edge around a masonry facade still is there and defines the volume but it doesn't compete with the entrance is the thinking behind the color selection being very vibrant and popping at the main entrance and being somewhat so more subdued at the gym and the media center. Patricia Catherine thoughts on architectural elements category. Well, I agree with the comments about the various materials and also the design of the, particularly of the entrance I think it just going to make just a really welcoming entrance and as much color as you can use on the exterior. I would highly endorse it. We need more color and I don't know a feeling of joy and anticipation and I think this is the way to do it. I agree Catherine and I think it goes back to my comments about differentiating the various areas of the building. It makes it look interesting as opposed to a three story block of brick and it brings some some whimsy to it in some ways for an elementary school so I just kind of round up what everybody else has said. Um, and I have one question. Has there been any provision made for the mural that is currently fairly recently designed and installed as a community effort on the existing Fort River. Cool entrance there been any discussion about ways to repurpose that in this particular case you talked about art on the outside of the building. We haven't discussed it. We don't have a home for it as it were right now we have talked about. Well, one, if it were to be long term it would have to be on the inside just based on the wood, I believe it's painted plywood and you know this is this is a generational building it's not going to last a generation on the outside. We've on other projects we have scanned existing artwork and printed it that would be one way to keep it we do have ideas areas identified on the inside that we have not yet established the art. But, I mean, a short answer to the question is it's not fully resolved if it will be kept or where it would live, but we do have places identified on the exterior which I showed him fly around at the music room and a few on the exterior that could foster or be the area where this is maintained. All right, so I think you know as far as the DRB is concerned I'd love to have it on the record that we appreciate that the kind of re homing or reconceiving that mural is is part of this process I'm sure that the building planning committee as far as that as well. Let's see. Okay. And you haven't. We haven't been reviewing lighting fixtures but you did provide a location plan and automatic plan which seems appropriate. I, we can't really judge the design of it. Maybe at the point when you're ready to do kind of exterior building signage site signage and lighting and furnishings you might be coming back to the DRB. So we can certainly open to that. And then the last category is signs and you mentioned that like the building hasn't even been named yet so you provided a location for the sign but there really isn't it's not a part of this proposal so we don't really have much to discuss there. So, and now I'd open the floor to comments that haven't fit within the scope of anything that we've talked about already. So leave those out so if you have other thoughts, DRB members that you wish to share is speak up. And Rob, are there any members of the public present tonight. Would anybody like to speak before we move this forward. So I'm seeing three individuals and attendance. I don't know them have their hands raised. So I'm assuming they do not wish to provide any public comment. All right, we'll pause just for a moment in case anybody changes their mind. All right. And I think I'm thinking through our comments and there weren't there were a few questions which were answered. Okay. By Mr. Cooper. Would anybody like to summarize any recommendations that you made that I may have missed because I didn't besides my interest in the in the mural I didn't hear any specific recommendations. I don't remember hearing any either Erica and I thought Lindsay was going to bring one up with the mortar color situation but it seemed that they were going to blend it in with the existing color of the brick so I, I don't have any that I wrote down but of course if other members had something want me to keep note of I guess you could bring it up. I would have made a suggestion but we're doing it. So then suggestion. Then I suppose we could have a motion to approve the design is proposed with the one recommendation to make accommodations for the existing mural. And we also know that you're coming back so it would anybody like to make a motion. I so moved. Thank you a second. Second. Thank you. Any discussion hearing none. All those in favor of proof, approve the motion. Please say aye. Aye. That is a unanimous vote. Thank you for making you so easy. Thank you. For us. I gather that we will be seeing you again down the road. Thanks for making this happen for our town. Thank you. Great town to work for. Thank you. Thank you. It's very exciting. Thank you. Okay. Let's see finding my way back to the right screen. Agenda. Meeting minutes. Thank you, by the way. It's a slog to get through all of the questions in such an orderly kind of like. I appreciate your willingness to do that. We appreciate you are going to make it happen. Okay. Let's see. So meeting minutes is the next stop. We have the minutes from November 27. We had this was our last meeting. We just had the one. The one project to review, which was a revisit. Of the. Totally at a loss for words today. Hickory ranch. Thank you. Hickory ranch. Yeah. So that I put the, the, the minutes up on the screen. I'll leave the bulk of it here for you all to. To skim. I didn't have a comment. Uh-huh. And it's, it's. Open discussion, but my feeling is to just. Um, not specify the ADA requirements, but rather to just. Keep it general and say that. Here. Yeah. So there, I think in, and also that the. The hand rails aren't. So there's, there's a guard rail. And there's a hand rail. So the guard rail is like the, you know, the, the part of the railing that. Um, Has the whole kind of like framework and then the hand rail is just thing you hold on to. So, um, So the guard rail is kind of what I was imagining could come down at a 45 degree angle. That's really just a design suggestion. Um, I mean, there is some protection value, but it's not a, it's not an ADA thing. Um, the hand rail coming out a foot. Is an ADA thing. Um, and I guess they're, um, so, but there's, there are, there are nuances to it. So like it has to return to the structure. I don't think we need to spell any of that out. I think if we just say. To ensure that the hand rails. Um, and guard rails need ADA requirements. That's sufficient. Um, and. A 45 degree angle. That's where I would leave up to discussion. Like. If that's an aesthetic idea that we want to include as a specific design suggestion, or that's just a. I thought that. You know, was put out there. It's done with one. You don't want it to be confused. Right. In the language. Um, making it sound like that's part of an ADA requirement. But the one foot out is. Correct. It is, but I, I guess my thought is, is to not specify that. Rather to just say that it needs to be ADA compliant because there are additional elements to the hand rail guard rail. So I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. Requirements that we're not specifying here. So I think just. So just make it more general and less specific. Okay. No, that makes sense. I could change that. Yeah. Thanks, Rob. I think that's a really good point. Like. Because if you specify one small component of ADA compliance and then not others, then. We're not going to have a whole hand rail assembly and designed to be ADA compliant. Um, and then. The suggestion to have the guard rail slope. Down at the ends at a 45 degree angle. I think that was met with. You know, if I remember correctly, the whole everybody on the. On the committee was. I thought that was a nice idea. So I don't have any objection to keeping that. Yeah. Yeah. So the part about the ramps. Um, should I take that out too? Yeah. Cause I think that they, the, the ramp wasn't, um, The image that they shared with us. Did not show the ramp, but it's definitely part of the design. Like it's, that's, they, they spoke about the, the ramp up to the actual. Um, footbridge is being something that's on the way. Yeah. Um, Chris, I see you have a comment. Yeah. Um, thank you for recognizing me, Chris Brest, repining director. So, um, I believe that the final plans do not show any ramps. What they show is a very slight incline up towards the foot bridges or whatever it is that needs to be accommodated. And, um, none of those, um, access points are over 5%. So they wouldn't need any type of handrail. So that's what the final. Decision was. Thank you. Yeah. I guess we could just make it really general and just say, you know, make sure that all, you know, ramps, um, Are ADA accessible. Me, ADA requirements. I think we can just leave it at that. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I'll continue to scroll down a little bit so you can see the. The rest of the minutes. Is there a motion to approve. With. Uh, changes to our. Uh, recommendations. I move to approve. Let's. Changes noted to the recommendations. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Discussion. Okay. All those in favor. Say aye. No. Great. That's everyone. Okay. Let's go back to the agenda. Any other business. No, except that, uh, botanica is a botanica. The, the home. Yeah. Yeah. Got the new, she has her new awning. Sadly the whimsy of the bird on top of the letter didn't make it, but, uh, it's nice and bright and blue and, uh, Certainly stands out. So. Yeah. Great folks. So, uh, we'll see you after the new year. It's some coily wish you all a warm. Winter holiday season. You too. Thank you. Everybody. Thank you everybody. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. I wanted to say to you, I, I do. Oh, you are a response to your email that you sent me a few weeks ago and I will get back to you. Great. Okay. Thank you. Sorry, it's taken me so long. No worries. Take care.