The Landmark Preservation Commission had originally planned to discuss Country Club Gardens in its March 20th meeting, and then put it on schedule for April 3 (as attached)... but now the applicants have postponed again until May 1.

Their reasons for re-delaying the application have not be announced, but it's likely the cause of some frustration on the part of the opponents.

UPDATE (04/06/07): The Broe Corporation asked to resume the discussion at LPC at an earlier date than scheduled (April 17th), but city council members objected. Such a controversial issue shouldn't disadvantage the parties who want to attend the hearing and yet are subjected to constantly shifting dates. So for now, it remains on the calendar for May 1st.

UPDATE (04/24/07): The meeting will take place as scheduled on May 1st. It is currently on the calendar for a 3:15 start, as per the attached agenda.

The Landmark Preservation Commission had originally planned to discuss Country Club Gardens in its March 20th meeting.

After changing the time of the proposed hearing changed once, the entire affair is now being pushed back. Since one of the applicants has a scheduling conflict, they have requested a delay of the discussion.

As a result, this discussion will likely take place either April 3 or April 17th. Interested neighbors are keep watching these pages and the LPC agendas online for further updates.

On January 20th, Rocky Mountain News columnist Mary Voelz Chandler provided an update on the fate of Country Club Gardens and two other endangered landmarks. In the process, she also gave a larger window into the history of the site:

"WHAT IT IS: A complex of apartments built in 1940 to a design by Fisher, Fisher and Hubbell, as the first Federal Housing Administration project in the region. The lines are moderne, the landscaping lush.

When the landmark commission began to consider the campus for historic district status in the late 1990s, owner Pat Broe said no way; he was considering plans to demolish more than 50 percent of the site to put up 28-story towers. The flap led to a three-year discussion and a months-long public hearing to create a development agreement and design guidelines if Broe wanted to proceed on the site.

WHY IT'S SIGNIFICANT: Those plans are back, though modified. Now Broe is talking two towers, at a maximum height of 300 feet, holding up to 500 units, plus a 36-foot-tall parking structure. About 30 existing units would be destroyed and views affected at the neighboring Norman."

The complete article can be found online.

On December 19th, the Landmark Preservation Commission reconvened to discuss revising the design guidelines for the historic Country Club Gardens.

After Rick Peterson of Oz Architecture presented a shadow study indicating the impact of two large towers on nearby buildings, eight neighbors testified: 7 of them were against the proposed changes, 1 was in favor.

Considerable concern was raised over the impact on the Norman Apartments, also a designated historic landmark. Neighbors worried about the traffic impact of nearly a thousand more cars in the area, as well as the impact of two skyscrapers on neighborhood character. A "skyscraper" is generally defined as a building greater than 150 feet; the towers under consideration are each 300 feet tall with an estimated 900 total units.

Pages 5-8 of the attached document detail the LPC deliberations. As in their October discussion, members expressed concerns over the impact on the Norman and the massive size of the redevelopment. In the end, the commission sent the project on to City Council striking the most contentious guideline changes, and requesting restudy of the massing to further reduce the impact on the Norman.