CC of
objection letter to Aldermen regarding the upcoming Common Council vote on
zoning change for the Goll Mansion development:
October 6, 2008
Common Council
Members
City of
Milwaukee
City
Hall
RE: Objection to Change in
Zoning
10-7-08 Common Council Agenda, ZND Item 1, file #080543,
regarding the
Goll Mansion site located at 1550 N. Prospect Avenue,
Zoning District 4
Dear
Alderman:
I respectfully request your vote against
the above referenced matter.
I do not live at the condominium �1522 on
the Lake�, but I do live and work in the city. My architectural firm has received two
Mayor�s Urban Design Awards, a Cream of the Cream City Award, and was featured
on the HGTV television show, Homes Across America, that showcased my saving the
pre-Civil War era Michelstetter building in the historic Brewer�s Hill
neighborhood.
I preface my request this way because I
have always supported good urban development principles and the preservation of
historic buildings in my work. I do not object to development, or the concept of
development as a means of preserving the Goll Mansion. Rather, I object to the failure to
demand that it be resolved in a way that is consistent with the city�s urban
design principles and the zoning requirements created to help enforce those
principles.
These parts of the development have not
been resolved:
1.
The proposed building does not meet
the street. It sits five stories above the ground. Virtually every other
building including the University Club, Kilbourn Tower, US Bank, Pier Wisconsin,
and the Art Museum meet the street because their parking is concealed in some
manner.
2.
The proposed five story parking
garage is too close (6� feet) to the Goll Mansion given the disproportion in
scale of the two. Besides violating basic design principles it violates our own
zoning code. To not demand more to fix this spacing will surely cause national
design and historic groups to disparage the city for not doing
more.
3.
Mechanical equipment proposed to be
mounted outside the building. Forty air conditioning units and associated
mechanical equipment are proposed to be mounted on the exterior, two per floor,
the full height of the west facade facing the city. Tall buildings have no �bad�
mechanical side where equipment can be placed because they are universally
recognized to be observed from all sides.
Other unresolved issues are the poor
connection of the Goll Mansion to the proposed new building, the large garage
door fronting the street, and the misuse of �green� elements to hide the parking
behemoth.
Prospect Avenue is one of our city�s most
important streets. Buildings that comprise our skyline define our city�s
image. Although this development
will be privately owned, its presence will affect the public in a very direct
way. If the vote is cast for this
zoning change, all residents of and visitors to this city for the next 50-100
years will be living with its consequences. When we care so little about how
development occurs on important sites, we cannot expect to influence good
development on any site.
No world-class city, or one that has such
aspirations, would vote to approve this matter and ask so little of a
development on the site of a registered historic structure. Nor would any
world-class city allow the suggestion of destruction of that historic structure
to be used as a lever in gaining approval of a poorly resolved development.
Our city’s architecture, and how we care
for and nurture its growth, is one of the most visible statements of the
strength, or the weakness of our city.
Voting against this item shows our strength; voting for it shows our
weakness.
Sincerely,
Dennis Burgener,
AIA
McWilliams Burgener
Architecture
735 North Water Street, Suite
727
414-374-1744