CITY OF SALEM MASSACHUSETTS
PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES
BOARD OR COMMISSION: Design Review Board, Regular Meeting
SUBCOMMITTEE:
DATE: Wednesday, December 19, 2007
LOCATION: 120 Washington Street, 3rd Floor Conference Room
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairperson Paul Durand, Earnest DeMaio, David Jaquith, Glenn Kennedy
MEMBERS ABSENT: Michael Blier
OTHERS PRESENT: Tom Daniel, Economic Development Manager, and Kirsten Kinzer, CDBG Planner
RECORDER: Andrea Bray
Chairperson Durand calls the meeting to order.
Projects Under Review
1. 316 New Derby Street (Radiance Aveda) – Continued discussion of proposed signage
Ken McTague of Concept Signs states that the colors will be black and white with the letter shadow and line in dark grey.
Kennedy: Motion to approve, seconded by DeMaio. Passed 3-0.
Jaquith arrives at 6:35 PM.
2. 304 Essex Street (Liberty Tax Service) – Discussion of proposed signage
Daniel states that and the signage will go in existing sign panel areas.
Kinzer states that the logo and colors are corporate.
Valerie Whittier of Liberty Tax Service states that the aluminum sign must use colors from a specific palette which she displays and the members review. The members express concern with the spacing of the letters.
Kennedy states that the first letters need to be smaller and closer to the other letters. He adds that there should be less space between the lines. Kennedy suggests that Whittier look at the kerning between the letters and tighten it up a bit. He says that the T in tax must be brought in closer.
Whittier states that the three signs would say different things.
DeMaio says that the logo and the text size should be the same for the two signs on the corner.
Kennedy agrees and states that the door sign will have different dimensions but should have similar kerning and logo.
Kinzer states that the submission is not clear on the location of the lights.
Charles Fallon of Liberty Tax Service states that there will be two over the front door, one over the side door and two over the side window.
Kennedy states that they need more specifics about the location and the method of installation, specifically there should be no conduit.
DeMaio states that the fixtures should be black, not red.
Whittier states that they are opening on January 3, 2008.
Kinzer states that the next meeting will be on the 4th Wednesday in January and then SRA meets on the 2nd week in February.
Kennedy suggests they can get some corrections for review within the next two weeks to facilitate an approval at the January SRA meeting.
Kinzer suggests a conditional approval pending Kennedy’s review.
Durand iterates all of the recommendations as follows: The kerning should be reviewed and tightened up, especially the T in tax, which is spaced too far from the other letters. The lines should be brought closer together and there should be more white space on the left and right edges of the door sign. The logo and text size should be the same for the two corner signs, and the door sign will have similar kerning and logo but different dimensions.
Daniel states that they should come back with a lighting plan.
Kennedy: Motion to approve the signage design with the above noted recommendations, seconded by Jaquith. Passes 4-0.
3. 2 East India Square, Suite 119 (Rita’s Water Ice) – Continued discussion of proposed signage
Kinzer states that this is a continuation of the last meeting and the applicant lives in New Jersey and asked that the board review the sign and approve or make suggestions for changes.
Kennedy states that in the email stream Durand raised the issue of the position of the decals on the doors.
Durand suggests dropping the decal down to the middle of the door for safety purposes.
DeMaio states that the decals should be smaller (14”) and the others agree.
The members determine that the decal should be dropped down 1 foot.
DeMaio: Motion to approve the sign with the above recommendations, seconded by Kennedy. Passes 3-0.
4. 207 Washington Street (Living Well) – Continued discussion of window decals
Kinzer states that after Kennedy and Durand visited the site they determined that the decals on the right were at the wrong height and needed to be moved up, but they cannot be moved because of the film on the window.
Durand asks if they can go lower and Kinzer states that they can.
DeMaio states that he doesn’t like the placement of the phone number and the Living Well sign.
Kinzer states that the SRA did not accept the recommendation for the internally-illuminated sign.
Daniel states that the SRA members looked at the building after their meeting and decided that the internally-illuminated sign would be acceptable.
Durand states that the phone number and the Living Well sign needs to move.
Kennedy suggests that one of the sections of the decal could be replaced by the phone number. Alternatively, he adds that it would be okay for them to put their hours and phone number on the door.
The members agree to have the white of the decals extend to the mullions.
Durand suggests that when the awnings are added, the height of the decals should be adjusted.
Kennedy: Motion to approve with the above noted recommendations, seconded by DeMaio. Passes 3-0.
5. 275-281 Essex Street (CF Tompkins Building) – Update on approved alteration to façade design
Durand states that when the developers removed the façade from the building they found the original columns and will leave these on the front of the building. He adds that the windows had already been ordered and were not wide enough to fill the space between the columns so the developer will be using brick inlay to fill those spaces between the windows and the columns. He asks if they will submit a design.
Kinzer states that the brick infill is already approved. She adds that the plan is to do a brick sill and above the windows it will be whatever was approved.
Durand asks Kinzer to get the drawings.
The members study the drawings.
DeMaio says that he wants to know what is going above the windows because he doesn’t want brick there.
Durand confirms that the brick adjacent to the vertical columns is approved. He adds that the original approved plan called for the windows to extend to the sign band above, but there appears to be a space between the top of the window and the sign band and the board does not want brick to be there, so the applicant will need to come before the board for approval of the material to be used.
Minutes – November 28, 2007 Meeting
Kennedy: Motion to approve the minutes for the November 28, 2007 meeting, seconded by Jaquith. Passes 4-0.
Kennedy: Motion to adjourn, seconded by Jaquith. Passes 4-0.
The meeting is adjourned at 7:20 PM.
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