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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-09-2008 Historic Preservation CommissionIOWA CITY HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION Thursday, October 9, 2008 City Hall, 410 E. Washington Street Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 p.m. A. Call to Order B. Public discussion of anything not on the agenda C. Selection of Historic Preservation Award Winners D. Discussion of Public Forum E. Consideration of minutes for September 11, 2008 F. Other - Summary of Statewide Historic Preservation Conference G. Adjournment lo\va Clt\ E1Stor1C Preservation Commission. fin f lail, -1 IU I : A\.I,]Iinorun �,creri, t;itc. I.A. i'.210 MEMORANDUM Date: October 3, 2008 To: Historic Preservation Commission From: Christina Kuecker, Associate Planner Re: October 9, 2008 Meeting Historic Preservation Awards The Historic Preservation Awards are scheduled for November 10. The Award winners need to be selected now, so certificates, programs, and the presentation can be finalized. I have provided a list of approximately 30 nominations and will present a slide show of photographs of the work, with before and after when available. The Commission will need to determine which projects follow the Guidelines and the Secretary of the Interior Standards. I have also invited Friends of Historic Preservation to attend the October 9 meeting, so their opinion can be factored into the selection process. Virtual Forum Update I spoke with Planning Staff and the Cable TV Staff. The virtual forum is possible, and staff believes that inviting people to attend the forum in person is very important as well. One possibility is getting a commitment from neighborhood association leaders to attend in person as a representative of the neighborhood. In addition, there was concern about the live question and answer portion. If no questions are asked or if a question is asked where an immediate answer is not known, there would be considerable dead time. One suggestion was to solicit questions via email or call in prior to the forum and then read/answer the questions during the forum. The other challenge is going to make it worth watching. Short, interesting, relevant segments will be needed, and it may be a good idea to record some "in the field" segments before hand. Statewide Historic Preservation Conference Finally, it has been requested that I provide a summary of the Statewide Historic Preservation Conference in Sioux City on September 19-20. I will have a short presentation of the conference and answer any questions at the meeting on October 9. Historic Preservation Award Nominations 1. 102 Church Brick pavement restoration 2. 113 S. Johnson Paint 3. 228 Brown Stucco repair 4. 315 Brown Paint Restoration 5. 325 Beldon Paint Window re -glazing 6. 412 Church Paint 7. 418 N. Gilbert Rehab of house especially porch 8. 420 Fairchild Paint — the front is waiting for another year 9. 424 Jefferson Commercial restoration (G-Spot Hair Salon) 10. 437 Garden Paint 11. 451 Rundell Addition Paint 12. 521 Clark St Restoration of retaining wall, driveway, stoop 13. 603 Brown Paint 14. 701 College Restoration of the bay area 15. 715 Park Rd Renovation Addition of new garage and hot tub room 16. 727 Brown Paint 17. 803 Market Paint 18. 819 River Restoration Paint 19. 819 Iowa Restoration - tornado repairs Paint 20. 828 Washington New Construction 21. 830 Clark Siding New garage 22. 1011 Woodlawn Paint 23. 1030 Burlington Rehab 24. 1104 Muscatine Restoration Siding 25. 1123 College Addition Paint 26. 1125 Burlington Restoration, porch, trim, dormers 27. 1131 Burlington Addition 28. 1618 Wilson New garage Paint 29. 538 S. Gilbert Close Mansion Stewardship Paint/Restoration of railings 30. Johnson County Courthouse Retaining wall MINUTES HISTORIC PRESERVATON COMMISSION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008 EMMA J. HARVAT HALL Preliminary MEMBERS PRESENT: Esther Baker, Thomas Baldridge, Lindsay Bunting Eubanks, Pam Michaud, Jim Ponto, Alicia Trimble, Frank Wagner MEMBERS ABSENT: William Downing, Ginalie Swaim, Viktor Tichy STAFF PRESENT: Christina Kuecker OTHERS PRESENT: Helen Burford, Robert Kellogg, Cindy Parsons, John Rummelhart CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Bunting Eubanks called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANYTHING NOT ON THE AGENDA: There was none. CERTIFICATES OF APPROPRIATENESS: 702 East Washington Street. Kuecker said that this is an application concerning an apartment building at the corner of Dodge and Washington Streets. She said the owners want to remove the fiber board siding that has a twelve -inch reveal and replace it with six-inch reveal fiber cement board siding. Kuecker said this is a non -historic, non-contributing structure in the College Hill Conservation District. She said staff recommends approval of the project as presented in the application. Kuecker said Michaud pointed out to her that it is likely that there is an old house underneath this. She said that Sanborn maps show that the bay had been covered at some point and possibly removed at some point. Kuecker stated that staff believes there have been such significant alterations that there would be no way to recover the old house. Parsons, the owner, showed photographs of properties her company owns at 1130 and 1128 East Washington Street that have the same kind of siding, in order to give Commission members an idea of how this building would look. Michaud asked if it would be appropriate to some how distinguish the original house bay. Parsons said that corner boards would be necessary wherever the wall bends MOTION: Ponto moved to approve a certificate of appropriateness for the application for 702 East Washington Street as proposed. Baker seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 7-0. Ponto said he thinks the six-inch reveal will look nice, and Bunting Eubanks agreed. 706 East College Street. Kuecker said that this property is on the corner of Dodge and College Streets. She said the house was built in 1867, was remodeled in 1906 for use as a fraternity, and was subsequently divided into apartments. Kuecker said the applicant proposes to remove the steel siding to access the original wood siding, remove a limited amount of wood siding to insulate the house from the exterior, replace the wood siding, and then restore the wood siding. She said there is a chance that there is not wood siding underneath the metal siding, and the applicant would like the option to put fiber cement board siding on the house, if wood siding is not present or is severely deteriorated. Historic Preservation Commission September 11, 2008 Page 2 Kuecker said staff recommends approval of this application as presented, with the condition that if the applicant finds that the wood siding is not present or is unable to be used, fiber cement board will need to have staff approval. Rummelhart, the future owner of the house, said that one corner appears to have some pretty good original siding. He said he would like to get insulation in there yet this fall. Rummelhart said he wants to be able to go around and get the openings needed to foam from the exterior. He said if there is good wood, he would want to strip all of the steel off the house yet this fall. Rummelhart said that if there is not wood siding under the steel, then he'll be in a. pinch on protecting the exterior so that he'll probably just open up what he needs and then temporarily cover those areas until spring. Rummelhart said that when he insulated the house next door, the house then used 60% less fuel, so it is paramount to this house and the whole program to insulate. Wagner said that either way, Rummelhart plans to take the steel siding off. Rummelhart confirmed this. Wagner said this will look better whether it is wood or fiber cement board. Rummelhart said he hopes the wood is underneath, because he would rather try to work with that. MOTION: Baker moved to approve a certificate of appropriateness for the application for 706 East College Street, as proposed, with the condition that if the applicant finds that the wood siding is not present or unable to be restored, the use of fiber cement board must be approved by staff. Baldridge seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 7-0. 503 Grant Street. Kuecker said this is a contributing property in the Longfellow Historic District and is located at the corner of Grant Court and Grant Street. She showed an image of the front of the house. Kuecker said there are several projects proposed, including the addition of two shed dormers, alterations to the front porch, extension of the rear roof line, alteration to the rear porch stairs and landing, and alteration of the window pattern in the gable end. Regarding the alteration to the front porch, Kuecker said the proposal is to remove the curved awning and wrought iron posts, remove the stairs, and relocate the door to be more centered on the front, raise the awning to the roofline, add wood columns, and reconstruct the concrete stairs with stone sides. Kuecker stated that the alteration to the rear porch is to remove the roof overhang that seems incongruent with the lines of the house and extend the actual roof line straight down to become the new overhang. She said that instead of the post, it would be held up by brackets similar to what already exist on the house. Kuecker said there would no longer be columns there. She said the rear stair would be reconstructed to have a platform outside of the door, and then the stairs would come down. Kuecker said the alteration to the gable end windows is to remove the single window and replace it with two smaller windows to allow more light into the upper area that the owner is trying to make more livable. Kuecker said the last alteration would be the addition of the shed dormers, one on the front and one on the back. She stated that the roof would have the same overhang and rafter ends as the existing roof. Kuecker added that the windows would be the same style, double hung, with the middle window being slightly bigger for egress. She said they would be metal -clad wood windows, and the siding would match the siding on the rest of the house. Kuecker said the guidelines allow the addition of dormers as long as the proportion, size, and scale are compatible with the existing architectural style of the house. She said staff was concerned that perhaps a clipped gable end dormer would be more appropriate in this situation, but the applicant indicated that with that sort of dormer, the living space he is trying to create would not be achievable. Kuecker said staff does not feel that the shed dormer is incompatible but felt a clipped dormer would be more compatible. Kuecker said that overall, staff believes these changes are not incongruent with the architectural style of this house. She said staff recommends approval of the certificate as presented in the application with the Historic Preservation Commission September 11, 2008 Page 3 conditions that the dormer roofs have the same overhang and rafter tails as the existing roof; the dormer siding and trim match the existing siding and trim in dimension and profile; that the divided light pattern in the windows is created by using true divided lights or muntin bars adhered to both sides of the glass but not by using snap in muntin bars; porch skirting being placed under the rear landing and stairs; and the handrails adhering to 4.10 Balustrades and Handrails of the Iowa City Historic Preservation Handbook. Bunting Eubanks said it is her understanding that the proposed design will result in the front porch looking more as it did originally. Kuecker confirmed this. She said it is likely that his house was a mail-order catalogue house. Kuecker said she did not find this exact house in any of the catalogues, but a lot of the houses had the awning overhang higher, close to the roof, and had wood columns rather than the wrought iron columns. Baldridge asked why the door was not in the center. Kellogg, the owner, said he thought it had to do with the interior space and moving the door close to the stairs and exterior wall. MOTION: Baldridge moved to approve a certificate of appropriateness for the application for 503 Grant Street, as presented, but subject to the five stipulations recommended by staff. Trimble seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 7-0. CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES FOR AUGUST 28, 2008. MOTION: Michaud moved to approve the minutes of the Commission's August 28, 2008 meeting, as written. Baldridge seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 7-0. DISCUSSION OF PUBLIC FORUMS: Kuecker said the Commission will need to narrow down the work plan item regarding holding district forums or meetings. She said the Commission may want to decide which district to start with, if some should be combined, if there should be a community -wide forum, potential dates to hold the forum, and what should be discussed. Kuecker said round -table discussions starting with some of the smaller districts have been suggested. She said that staff would do most of the legwork of getting a room reserved, getting invitations out, etc., but she would like to ensure that at least four to five commissioners would be available for each forum to be held. Bunting Eubanks asked if it would be possible to hold some kind of virtual forum. She said if people could tune in from their TVs to see some type of presentation, perhaps about the new guidelines or some other subject such as contractor advice, and then call in a phone number if they had questions, they might be more likely to participate than if they have to leave their homes after a full day of work. Wagner said it seems like an interesting way to present the concept to the public and get the whole City behind this. Bunting Eubanks said that if people want to attend in person, they are still able to do that. She suggested about an hour-long presentation, with half an hour to 45 minutes of Commission time and then 15 minutes or longer if necessary for questions. Bunting Eubanks said the forums could perhaps highlight a couple of properties, have statistics regarding what historic preservation has done for the City, examine typical problems for historic properties and how they were resolved, show winners of the historic preservation awards, and/or discuss the Salvage Barn and the cost effectiveness of reusing materials. Bunting Eubanks suggested February as a potential time period to hold the forum. She said that people are just starting to think about spring/summer projects, and there isn't a heavy workload for the Commission at that time. Ponto suggested having the forum be part educational, part meeting the Commission, and also include bringing in Friends of Historic Preservation, so people know that organization exists. Bunting Eubanks suggested having five-minute segments each on a different topic and then 15 minutes at the end for questions. Historic Preservation Commission September 11, 2008 Page 4 Bunting Eubanks said that if there are problems that the Commission is dealing with a lot, then some segments could exist out there and be useful even years down the road. Kuecker said she would look into the resources that the City has and see how to get going with this. Burford said her only question would be whether this would meet the State regulations for notification. Kuecker said she would also check into that. Ponto said he would not want to have this be restricted to just people in historic districts. Bunting Eubanks agreed and stated that she would like to have it be really public, just as the meetings are. She said there are a lot of topics to be addressed, as previously mentioned, and also suggested including the Wetherby House and tornado recovery. Bunting Eubanks said she had discussed with some people finding volunteers to lead walking tours but had not yet called the school. She said that the Commission will probably have to find a teacher who would want to make that part of their curriculum. Wagner said that the template for the walking tours is available. Kuecker said that the Commission was invited to the dedication of the new sorority house on Governor Street. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m. Minutes submitted by Anne Schulte 1 lxlxl , IU0IXIXIXI,I°I 1XIXI !I lXIoI IXIXIXI0 0l `IXIXI 1 1 I 1XIXI ' lxlxlxlxlxl'0I IXI 1 I 1 I � HX1 , lxlxlxlLu0l><Iul = 1 1><l ; I ; I ot- lxlxl ;1 IOIOXIXXI0 '1 IXI1 'I1 'I IxIxI ;1 I0IXIXIXI0I0IXI0I1 'i1 'Eo I IxIxI 1 1>+<I0ul><10'10"1><I><l 1 1 1 �I I lu0 lxli 1 1xHuolxlxl><Ixlxl .I !I lxlulo;I0IXIXiXi0I004 IXIXI'I �I I M I 1xI0ulxl>+<I"I><li 1 1><I><l 1 1XI N I ,IXIOIXIXIXIXI0I1 :I0I� � 0 '1 IXI i XXXOXXX X X i O N� N N N X H N f0`V � N N N N N Z! M W M M M M M M M M M M M M C C M E C d c C m m O " . T£ C M _ zmmmow2MWi=F- R 0 3 v O; v O M 33 4)