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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC Packet 12.12.2019 MINUTES PRELIMINARY HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION EMMA J. HARVAT HALL November 14, 2019 MEMBERS PRESENT: Thomas Agran, Kevin Boyd, Helen Burford, Gosia Clore, Sharon DeGraw, Cecile Kuenzli, Lyndi Kiple, Quentin Pitzen, and Jordan Sellergren MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: Jessica Bristow OTHERS PRESENT: RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: (become effective only after separate Council action) CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Boyd called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANYTHING NOT ON THE AGENDA: There was none. CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS: Agran recused himself from voting on these two agenda items since he is on the Board of Public Space One and is serving as volunteer general contractor for the projects. 225 North Gilbert Street – Local Historic Landmark (rear porch opening relocations). Bristow noted this is the first of two houses that recently became local landmarks, both purchased by Public Space One. Bristow noted that Public Space One must provide an accessible entrance for the public to both properties. A deck and ramp configuration for each house has already been approved. Bristow said especially with the corner house, a large run must be accommodated. Bristow showed a view of the deck and ramp that was approved. She said for this property it was easy to follow the guidelines for a deck and have something that could work as a gathering space on the back of the house. The deck will be set in from each side and will provide stair access to the north and south and ramp access to the north between the two houses. The current project before the Commission is the reorganization of the openings on the currently enclosed porch in order to access the ramp and deck in the most efficient way. Bristow explained the porch currently has one entrance door that faces north. There is a solid enclosed bit of wall facing west, and one existing window and one missing window on the south. Given some of the details on the porch including base molding above the porch floor and a railing, and infill with some beadboard, Staff believe this infill happened sometime around the 1940s, maybe just before, making it an historic enclosure of the porch. The way the door was set in is not necessarily optimal. It does have a good head height to hit the frieze board on the top of the porch, but it did not fill the whole space. Bristow said on the south side the two windows would have filled the whole space of the enclosure and she assumed the west wall also had storm windows ganged together when the porch was originally enclosed. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION November 14, 2019 Page 2 of 7 The proposal in the application was drawn with one window each on the north and south side and relocating the door to the west wall with a window next to it so the existing exit of the house would go straight out to the deck. Staff talked to the applicant about this. Instead of treating the porch like walls with windows and doors centered in them, it seemed more appropriate, since it was historically enclosed, to treat it more like it was still an enclosed porch. Instead of putting just one single centered window in the south wall, it would retain the two paired windows. On the wall that now has a door (north), instead of having one single centered window it would have two paired windows like the south wall, and that would make space for the door straight from the existing interior door and then likely a pair of windows again on the west. Bristow said with this arrangement, these windows don’t need to be trimmed out; they will butt against the corner column on the porch. They will be able to sit on top of the railing, which will act like a sill as it does on the existing window. The head will hit under the frieze, so it will be a less invasive move to take out what is probably modern material on the west and put in the windows and the door, and replace the missing south window and do the same thing on the north side. Bristow said the applicant does intend to locate reclaimed materials. Staff talked to them about the possibility of using the Historic Preservation Fund in case there is a need to alter a reclaimed window and door, or to have something custom made if it doesn’t exist, because it would be best to match the existing window with all of the new windows and have an appropriate door. Staff recommends approving this project with the windows as described, allowing the window and door product to be approved by Staff in the future. Boyd asked for any clarifying questions, then opened the public hearing. Thomas Agran, in his role as a Board member for Public Space One and the volunteer general contractor, said he was available for questions. He said this whole project has been a schooling in what it takes to make an historic house into a viable commercial property. Kuenzli wondered if they would keep the shutters on the front. Agran did not know. Bristow said Staff would recommend the shutters be removed because they do not fit. Kuenzli asked if they had plans to put on the porch again. Agran said the front entrance is going to realign so it will have a better interface with the sidewalk. He did not know about plans for the porch currently. Boyd closed the public hearing. MOTION: Kuenzli moved to approve the Certificate of Appropriateness for the project at 225 North Gilbert Street as presented in the application with the following conditions: The plan is revised to show two windows matching the existing filling the space between column and wall on the north and south elevations and a door and at least two windows filling the space between columns on the west wall, and door product approved by Staff. DeGraw seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 8-0 (Agran recused). HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION November 14, 2019 Page 3 of 7 229 North Gilbert Street – Local Historic Landmark (rear porch opening relocations). Bristow noted this local landmark has synthetic siding all over it, making it difficult to tell how the porch was enclosed. She said what’s under the siding is not known and maybe the first time this porch was really enclosed was when the siding was put on. She said it was odd from the inside, as well. Bristow said this project will have a much longer ramp because it is out of the ground further. The proposal is to move the door around the corner to the west side so it could go onto the new deck, with stairs to what will be their ADA accessible parking spot, and sidewalk connecting to the neighboring house. The deck also adjoins with the ramp. The existing window would move around the corner and take the existing location of the door. She said it will still be fairly open, like a porch. In the future, Staff hopes the siding will come off. The openings may be reconfigured at that time. Staff added to this project the idea of removing the cellar door which is not needed for access to the basement. The basement can be accessed from stairs in the kitchen area. The cellar door will be covered by the deck, making it difficult to maintain and access. Animal activity would be hard to monitor. Staff suggests approving its removal. That would give the applicant the opportunity to determine whether they need to remove it or want to remove it. They could also leave it and let it remain under the deck. It would be completely covered. Boyd asked for any clarifying questions, then opened the public hearing. Agran was again available to answer questions. He said the long-term vision is to take all the siding off. Burford asked if they would want to use the basement for storage. Agran noted there is an internal staircase in the house going to the basement. Burford asked if it was easy to get up and down. Agran said it was surprisingly easy for a house from 1895. He also noted the basement is surprisingly small. Burford thought it would be a good idea to keep the exterior access for storage of large items that would be difficult to take through the house. Agran said the vision for the house is use as a gallery space and the second floor as studio rentals. He said in the other, smaller house, presses had already been moved into the basement. All the heavy equipment is in the other house. He said this basement would not be ideal for storing items. Sellergren said if animals were a concern, maybe a metal door could be an option. She said exterior cellar doors were one of the things she found fascinating about historic properties. Agran said he would share the comments with the Board of Directors. Bristow explained that as long as the property will be for commercial use the ramp must exist, so the deck that covers the cellar door will always be there. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION November 14, 2019 Page 4 of 7 Boyd asked if Commission guidelines required keeping cellar doors. Bristow said no. They are considered as an opening on a house and the Commission reviews their removal. In the past, the Commission has approved the replacement of a wood cellar door with a Bilco metal cellar door at the rear of the Clark House on Kirkwood. If it was in good condition, usable, and more of an architectural feature then the Commission would likely want to retain it, but Staff does not feel that this one is an item of concern. Pitzen said in the last year he knew of an instance where a tunnel was put under a new porch floor to extend the old basement stairs out, and another one on Summit Street where a section of the porch goes up like a trap door. Agran said if they decide to revisit the cellar door, they will put two headers in the deck flooring for a trap door. Public Hearing was closed. Boyd said he was inclined to give maximum flexibility. DeGraw said she liked the door being there and believes they should consider keeping it. Kuenzli agreed. Boyd said the Commission needed to decide if they felt strongly enough to take it out of the motion or if they wanted to strongly encourage the applicant to consider it. MOTION: Clore moved to approve the Certificate of Appropriateness of the project at 229 North Gilbert Street as presented in the application and Staff report with the option of leaving or removing external access to the basement. Burford seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 8-0 (Agran recused). Agran said he would sincerely will bring these comments to the board to talk about leaving maximum options open. Boyd noted the last comment to be a point of personal order from the applicant. Agran rejoined the meeting. REPORT ON CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY CHAIR AND STAFF Certificate of No Material Effect – Chair and Staff Review. 1034 East College Street – East College Street Historic District (roof shingle replacement). Bristow said this is a roof shingle replacement. She noted the owners wanted to replace all the windows, but after speaking with Staff they are replacing none of the windows. The owners were encouraged to cut back the plant material around the house so they would have less rot in the future. She said they did, and it looks great. 425 Clark Street – Clark Street Conservation District (soffit and fascia replacement). Soffit and fascia were replaced. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION November 14, 2019 Page 5 of 7 Minor Review – Staff Review. 831 East College Street – College Green Historic District (roof shingle replacement on carriage house which is 215 South Governor Street). The carriage house at 831 East College, also known as number 215 South Governor, is getting its roof shingles replaced with architectural asphalt shingles. 601 Oakland Avenue – Longfellow Historic District (rear porch and front stoop reconstruction and new rear deck construction). Bristow said 601 Oakland is the house where the Commission approved putting a pair of French doors where the windows are on the back last month. They are now rebuilding the front stoop. The back porch is being rebuilt. There are original porch piers in both locations that are forming the basis for the rest of what they are doing. They will also be installing a simple rectangular deck with stairs. It’s more like a little platform that will be in the back corner. It will be set in from the side of the house. 1026 East Washington Street – College Hill Conservation District (metal handrail installation). This will be a simple railing at the front steps. 225 North Gilbert Street – Local Historic Landmark (rear deck and ramp construction). The deck and ramp for 225 and 229 North Gilbert Street were approved. 229 North Gilbert Street – Local Historic Landmark (ramp and landing deck construction). 424 Clark Street – Clark Street Conservation District (porch floor replacement). Bristow said this is a multiphase project. This is a Prairie School House, originally built as “flats” that could be a real gem. It is covered in two layers of shingled asphalt siding. The porch roof is probably original except for having metal soffit. She said the little pipe columns are not original. She said there are porch piers that are original and match. This phase of the project is only replacing the porch floor. There is a wood floor that has been covered with a very, very thin layer of concrete. It is all broken and rotted out. They will replace that. Intermediate Review – Chair and Staff Review. 416 South Governor Street – Governor-Lucas Street Conservation District (new driveway and curb cut). Bristow said this driveway is all broken up. It will only be slightly widened, but it will receive an appropriate curb cut because it had none. CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES FOR OCTOBER 10, 2019 MOTION: Burford moved to approve the minutes of the Historic Preservation Commission’s October 10, 2019 meeting. Clore seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 9-0. COMMISSION INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION: Historic Preservation Awards Update. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION November 14, 2019 Page 6 of 7 Bristow said a meeting was held about the Historic Preservation Awards. The Commission’s subcommittee attended, as well as members of the Johnson County Historic Preservation Commission and members of Friends of Historic Preservation. It was a productive meeting. The awards date has been officially changed to May 7, 2020. Bristow said the Commission and Friends of Historic Preservation should have a greater role in locating potential award winners. Commissioners who represent a district should review what’s going on in their district for projects that might be worthy for a variety of categories. Bristow said she will send the Commissioners information outlining what she wants sent to her for nominations. She said they should not try to assign a specific category, just communicate any improvements that have been made. A determination about categories will come later. She said at-large Commissioners can take on the Conservation Districts and if somebody wants to drive around Manville Heights, Morningside or Lucas Farms to look for potential projects, please do. The Commission subcommittee should review nominations in February so the Commission can approve the winners right away in early March, then letters can be sent out to the winners and get information back so the presentation can be produced. Since May is Historic Preservation Month, the awards can be tied in with some other events and exhibits. It was decided to return to the idea of creating posters for the award winners. Bristow said long before her time, because she has never seen any of them, there were posters put up about the award winners in the Library and other places. Many people have mentioned how they liked seeing those posters. Having the posters up will give the Commission a presence in the community longer than the length of the awards ceremony. ADJOURNMENT: Agran moved to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Clore. The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 p.m. Minutes submitted by Judy Jones HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION November 14, 2019 Page 7 of 7 HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION ATTENDANCE RECORD 2018-2019 NAME TERM EXP. 12/ 13 1/10 2/14 3/14 4/11 5/09 5/23 6/13 8/08 8/19 9/12 10/10 11/14 AGRAN, THOMAS 6/30/20 X O/E O/E X O/E O/E X X X X X X X BOYD, KEVIN 6/30/20 X X X X X X O/E X X X X O/E X BUILTA, ZACH 6/30/19 X X X X X X X X -- -- -- -- -- BURFORD, HELEN 6/30/21 X X X X O/E X X X X X X X X CLORE, GOSIA 6/30/20 X O/E X X X O/E X O/E O/E X X X X DEGRAW, SHARON 6/30/19 X X O/E X X X X O/E X X O/E O/E X KARR, G. T. 6/30/20 X X X X X X X X X X X -- -- KUENZLI, CECILE 6/30/19 X X O/E X X X X O/E X X O/E O/E X KIPLE, LYNDI 6/30/22 X X X X X PITZEN, QUENTIN 6/30/21 X X X X X X X X X X X X X SELLERGREN, JORDAN 6/30/22 X X X X X SHOPE, LEE 6/30/21 X O/E X X X X X O/E -- -- -- -- --