Last night's Historic Resource Preservation Board meeting (12 12 12)

I'd like to take time to highlight some of the items that appeared on our agenda last night.  It served as a reminder of some of the many unique features and historic resources that we have in our city.  You can certainly not call Lake Worth commonplace.  You can click here to reference the entire back-up material for the meeting.  I must commend city staff for the thorough preparation for the meeting and how it was obvious that they took much time with the individual applicants to make the process as painless as possible.

The Gulfstream Hotel appeared on our agenda last night.  Not related to anything that might make a significant step to reviving the hotel, but so that new cellular equipment could be added to the "tower" portion of the hotel.  The application was submitted by a representative of Sprint and will allow them to install "4G" service - an upgrade over what is available now in the area.  Since this dealt with wireless communication, the FCC was involved in licensing and federal regulations kicked in so that review was required by the State Historic Preservation Officer - since the hotel and the service area included National Register historic districts.  Our staff also pointed out the the hotel itself is individually listed on the National Register - something that has been in place since 1983.  The other two individually listed resources on the National Register are the City Hall Annex building and the Osborne School.

In case you are wondering, the official height to the top of the parapet wall of the Gulfstream is 72 feet.  and there was no news from the owner regarding the status of the hotel or any future plans related to the property.

The board approved the request which will allow the new equipment to be installed but required that a visual barrier be placed around the area of the tower where these new 17" x 17" x 3" modules will be installed.

Another important downtown property appeared on our agenda.  The owners of the Hummingbird Hotel on the southeast corner of K Street and Lucerne Avenue requested approval for modifications related to converting the building into a restaurant/bar with a rooftop dining/bar area.  The Hummingbird Hotel was built around 1921, and in its most recent operation as a hotel was referred to as a "European-style hostel" by some and a "flophouse" by others.  It has been vacant recently.  The proposal would eliminate the second floor of the building entirely, which would created a large open, high-ceiling area for dining.  A rooftop stair tower would be constructed to provide access to the roof area - which would not exceed 30 feet.

As a sidebar, let's talk about this 30 feet limit - which is the de facto height limit in Lake Worth now since anything over 30 feet requires some sort of "community benefit."  Well, guess what - we don't have that mechanism in place with the land development regulations yet and there is some question exactly what form that mechanism will actually take.  So that means even if someone wanted to build a 45 foot tall structure in this part of the downtown, there is no approval mechanism in place to allow that to happen.  Just something else to put in our collective pipe to smoke on for a while - but not for too long.

The board approved the various modifications - which were modest and minimal - it would be difficult to really tell what changes were made to accommodate the new use of the building.  There are still issues related to whether or not the existing windows with shutters will be used or new impact windows will be installed.  Also there might be a concern from the Building Official (which the city is in the process of hiring someone right now to fill that role on a permanent "in house" basis - someone with experience in a coastal community with a lot of diverse architecture according to William Waters) about whether one stair tower from an assembly occupancy on the roof is sufficient for emergency egress.  I am sure that we will see the project again as it moves forward - which was also part of the condition of approval given by the board last night.  One more thing - the sign that has the neon "HOTEL" was determined to be a "character defining feature" and will be treated as a nostalgia sign, as defined in the code, and it was given special protection in another of the conditions of approval.

Here are some of the plans related to the Hummingbird property.  Click or hover for larger image.

This is/are the proposed elevation(s) - you can see the required safety rail added to the roof - which will be black with a glass panel below.  Also note the stair tower to provide access to the roof.  The board approved a slightly different roof treatment for the stair tower - more of a parapet, flat roof.

We also considered and approved modifications to a property on North Lakeside that had an existing two story house with an attached "bomb shelter" that was constructed in 1961 - a relic worthy of preserving from the Cold War era.  The property owner attended the meeting and plans to carry out the improvements to the property as time and resources permit.  We wished her well in the process.

The last item under new business tore at the heartstrings a bit.  The subject property was on South Lakeside - about 300 feet deep and 50 feet wide with Intracoastal frontage.  There was a small one bedroom, one bath cottage near the water that had been under the same owner for many years.  The last owner was a centenarian who recently died and left the property to his granddaughter.  The request was for demolition of the structure, consideration of its possible relocation and whether or not there was an economic hardship facing the owner should the board not approve the demolition.  There was also a request for new construction, with some conceptual plans for a new structure in which the granddaughter and her family would live.  The board postponed consideration of the new construction, but ended up determining that there was an economic hardship present.  Much documentation was presented with the application showing severely deteriorated conditions of the structure.  Its "improvement" value as determined by the property appraiser's office was all of $3,400!  Bringing the structure "up to code" would be an enormous task costing over $200,000 - and relocation would add to the cost and one would still have to deal with the deficiencies present in the building.

Lisa Maxwell, who many know that are active in the Lake Worth political scene, lived next door to the property, only recently moving to the College Park area.  She wrote this letter in support of the granddaughter's efforts to maintain ownership of the property in her family and allow her to build a new house on it.  She had gotten to know her former neighbor well over the years.  It is worth a read.  So, it was a melancholy decision to allow the demolition as it did represent a part of Lake Worth's history and early development, but - this time - practicalities and the future won over pure preservation.  The board asked that the design of the new structure somehow reflect a hint of what was there before.

If you want to hear and see any portion of the meeting, the video is up already on the city's website.