By a narrow 3 to 2 vote, the San Luis Obispo (Calif.) city council has approved certain architectural changes to the downtown space at 899 Higuera Street, the site of a proposed Apple retail store. The decision means that Apple can now begin the construction process on the store, city officials say. The council’s vote (pdf) upheld an appeal of a decision by the city’s Architectural Review Committee last year that required, among other things, that sidestreet windows remain transparent.
The appeal was filed by Copeland Properties, owner of the building, and presented to the council by architect Mark Rawson. Among Apple’s original proposed changes to the building was a request to convert the sidestreet (Morro St.) windows to opaque glass, allowing Apple’s standard interior store configuration. However, the Architectural Review Committee recommended that the windows should be essentially transparent in order to make downtown streets “more interesting for pedestrians and encouraging pedestrians to linger.” After the committee issued their conditions, Apple took the project off the city’s approval agenda. However, architectural revisions and negotiations were apparently on-going, leading to the appeal.
During the council meeting, Rawson noted the narrowness of the space and the need for wall space by the retailer he did not name. Council members commented on the increasing number of “dead walls” in the downtown, versus the improvements that the changes would bring. No public comments were made during the discussion period.
The council’s vote approved “the enclosure or obscuring of all windows along Morro Street.”
A San Luis Obispo (Calif.) Tribune newspaper story says in light of the city council’s vote, Apple’s plans were then approved by the Community Development Department last Friday. It’s not clear what other changes Apple made to its original plans in response to the Architectural Review Committee’s conditions. (pdf).
