CITY OF ROCKVILLE PLANNING DIVISION

STAFF REPORT

 

December 1, 1999

 

SUBJECT:

 

            Use Permit Amendment USA98-00581A

 

Applicant:                     George Aleurogianis

                                    Kontas Construction

                                    9212 Burbank Road

                                    Philadelphia, PA 19115

 

Date Filed:                    November 12, 1999

 

Property Location:        855 Rockville Pike

 

 

REQUEST:

 

The applicant is seeking approval for the modification of the exterior building façade at the former Chi-Chis restaurant site. The site is part of the Wintergreen Plaza shopping center, and is located at the southern edge of the property, and is directly adjacent to Rockville Pike and the Kenny Rogers Roasters site. The applicant is requesting the change in the façade to facilitate the creation of a 1950s style diner. The applicant is proposing a change that is a significant departure from the existing building façade, as well as the recently approved changes to the center that were part of the location of the Food Lion grocery store.

 

PREVIOUS RELATED ACTIONS:

 

·          USE98-0581 approved September 1, 1999. For the redevelopment of a portion of the main building from several tenant spaces into a single larger tenant space, a building addition, and a reconfiguration of the parking lot. The above referenced Food Lion grocery store is to be the single larger tenant.

 

·          USE79-0147:   To construct a 142,719 square foot shopping center. Approved by the Planning Commission on November 28, 1979.

 

·          USE87-0397:   To construct a 1,269 square foot addition to house car stereo installation. Approved by the Planning Commission on October 28, 1987.

 

 

STAFF RECOMMENDATION:

 

Approval is recommended, subject to the following conditions:

 

1.                  Submission, for approval by the Chief of Planning, of eleven (11) copies of the building elevations, revised according to Planning Commission Exhibit A, to show the following:

 

a.                   Any changes recommended by the Planning Commission to the building façade.

 

b.                  A materials schedule incorporated on the building elevations to indicate matte finishes for the tan color, as well as color, texture and finish of all exterior materials.

 

 

ANALYSIS:

 

Background

 

The Zoning Ordinance requires Use Permits within the Rockville Pike Corridor be acted upon by the Planning Commission.  The Planning Commission, however, does not usually review use Permit Amendments, unless the scope of the project is deemed to be a significant change.  This Use Permit Amendment, although limited to a minor parking reconfiguration and a façade change, is deemed to be a substantial deviation because the proposed façade is a significant departure from the overall continuity of the currently approved plans for the shopping center.

 

Wintergreen Plaza, as well as the adjacent Congressional Oldsmobile site, was developed under conditional zoning that required the building materials used in the development of the site to be earth tone in color.  A subsequent addition to the Congressional Oldsmobile property and the recently approved Use Permit for the Food Lion grocery store continued to incorporate the earth tone color palette.  Although the grocery store and the freestanding restaurant building renovations include brick veneer to a height of about 3 feet, brick pilasters that extend from the sidewalk to the roofline and green standing-seam tin roofs, the basic color scheme for the center, most notably the main walls, awnings and signage, was maintained.

 

Property Description and Proposal

 

Despite the uniform color scheme of the center, individual stores contain unique elements, which help identify the business. Examples include the window treatments at Niwano Hana restaurant and roofline and awnings at Kenny Rogers Roasters. It is anticipated that even though there has been a facade change approved, the overall theme of the center will be maintained, while retaining basic individual elements of each tenant space as referenced above. Based on the modifications proposed by the applicant, the proposed color scheme for the diner will be compatible with the center, while maintaining a unique identity typically associated with diners.

 

Even though the recently approved renovation plans for Wintergreen Plaza include a style different from the remaining balance of the center, the texture, color and architecture are all compatible.  This application, however, proposes a 1950s style diner façade at the former Chi Chi’s location.  Not only does the proposed theme restaurant depart from the style currently approved for the plaza; the texture, façade and massing are significantly different.  As a result, staff has brought the application to the Planning Commission for review.

 

The current proposal establishes a primary color scheme consistent with the center. Stainless steel has been added in strategic locations as an accent element that is typically associated with diners.

 

Staff has worked with the applicant to alter the design of the diner to include colors that currently exist in the center.  The original design included large areas of mirror finish stainless steel, combined with red and blue panels illuminated with neon, which staff found to be incompatible. The current plans include a more subdued but authentic interpretation of a 50s diner that is mostly tan and red, incorporating the existing primary color scheme of the center.  The current proposal is an attempt to simplify the design for a better balance of style between two divergent and distinctly different architectural treatments. Along with the color scheme, the prevalent box cornice bands rimming the roofline of the recent renovation plans have been incorporated into the latest diner design to facilitate the transitional architectural treatments previously referenced. 

 

The proposed design includes many features that are prevalent in diner architecture.  New, larger windows are included on the front and side elevations.  A red rolling barrel-like roof treatment is located above the frieze or cornice band.  Horizontal red, tan and metallic banding is proposed along the front of the cornice band and below the windows.  At the front entrance adjacent to Rockville Pike, stainless steel vertically bisects the roof treatment and banding as well as the trimming of the windows.  Prevalent in the design is a front vestibule constructed of glass block crowned with a protruding entry feature of red and tan with stainless steel banding.  The exterior is fabricated from metallic-based products, whether bonded with color or retaining a metallic finish, and glass. This material results in a texture that is different from the finish on the balance of the center. Staff recommends that regardless of the material used, any portion of the construction that is tan should retain a flat or matte finish to mimic the main exterior design feature of the center, which is stucco.

 

Staff finds that the design overall is a marked improvement to the original proposal for several reasons.  Even though it is a theme design and not matched in architecture to the existing center, it provides some compatibility in color scheme.  Although the materials are significantly different from the finishes currently located and proposed for the center the tenant space is not as dominant within the center as it appears to be when viewed directly from from Rockville Pike.  It occupies the southernmost tenant space in the center where it is located between one of the restaurant buildings on-site and the bank building located on the adjacent property. 

 

Traveling south on Rockville Pike, the proposed diner tenant space is basically obscured until nearly in front of the structure.  This is due to the substantial berm and the elevation of the main driveway.  The shopping center's identification sign, the landscaping located within the entry island and the mature trees located in front of the center, further obscures it. Traveling northbound, its prominence is diminished by an even alignment with the bank building and, again, the substantial berm and mature trees.  As a result, a first glance at the space would reveal a different treatment to the façade but a color scheme compatible with the other buildings in the center.  Closer inspection from on-site would reveal the significantly different materials, as well as the mix of building style that will eventually comprise the balance of the center.

 

 

STAFF COMMENTS

 

As a result, staff recommends approval of a 1950s style diner façade design, but believes that the banding pattern on the cornice, metallic finishes and amount of neon lighting should be determined by the Planning Commission.  Consequently, staff has asked the applicant to prepare several options for the Commission’s review and action. If a less glossy look is desired, selected elements of the mirror finish can be replaced with a brushed finish

 

 

NOTIFICATION

 

Although Use Permit Amendments are not typically reviewed by the Planning Commission, postcards were sent to approximately 1,600 residences and the civic associations in the Hungerford and Rockcrest subdivisions.

 

 

 

Attachments