Gym Addition Gets Commission OK

The Historic Preservation Review Commission recommended approval of a 4,800-square-foot addition to the at its meeting  at Benicia City Hall on Thursday.

Commissioners focused mainly on landscape elements of the plan after resident Roger Lipman, who owns a home across the street from the gym,  noted that landscaping improvements agreed to as part of a 2003 project at the same site never were completed.

"I'm not against the project," he said.  "I think what Norm is doing is a good idea.  I just want it to be a really good project."

The commission voted to approve the with the following stipulations:

• Require all landscaping be completed before a Certificate of Occupancy is issued or have the owner post a bond equal in value to the cost of completing the landscaping.
• Enter into an agreement with the city regarding landscape maintenance.
• Require all landscaping included in the 2003 agreement be completed.
• Require any retaining walls over eight feet tall be divided into two separate walls that are terraced with landscaping included between the two walls.
• Require the addition of two windows in the round floor and on the second floor of the north side of the addition and have the windows spaced to match existing windows.
• Identify the paint colors in the application.

Commissioner Steve McKee, an architect by trade, was less concerned about the landscaping but did seem to take city staff  and the applicant, Norm Koerner, to task for not providing proper elevation drawings showing the north side of the addition.

McKee wanted more details on proposed placement of windows and asked for a construction detail that would specify a specific type of sound-deadening material, resilient channel, so neighbors wouldn't hear the noise from fitness classes.

The vote to approve the project with the additional conditions was unanimous.