The Historic District Commission has initiated a review of its guidelines, using an outside contractor, and commissioners have begun to review some of the recommended changes. With more chapter reviews on the way, City Historic Preservation Officer Kylee Hevrdejs suggested a workshop to give the public the opportunity to comment on the proposed wording. The HDC will next meet on May 4, and the commission decided on a workshop an hour before that meeting. The workshop will begin at 5 p.m.
A bare quorum of commissioners granted approval for two projects, but they deferred a decision on one application, and all drew a hard line against metal roofing with exposed fasteners.
At 29 Elk St., Ryan Devall asked to extend a deck behind his house to accommodate a hot tub with a gazebo cover. The house dates to 1909, and is considered contributing, but the deck addition will not extend past the house line. Hevrdejs noted that all aspects of the project could reasonably be considered reversible and would not affect the architectural integrity of the house. All approved the addition.
Commissioners also approved Kent Krug’s application to build four cottages at 157 W. Van Buren. The lot is currently vacant, and the four neo-Tudor buildings will be placed on concrete-block foundations. The HDC had received one letter in opposition from a neighbor, but that letter objected to “tree houses.” With the slope of the property, only two of the cottages will be visible.
A log cabin located at 55 Center has previously been moved and modified. A deck was added within the past 20 years, and owner Mandy Couey asked to use wooden posts with wire cables for the railing. Commissioner Steve Holifield said he could see the cable railing in some areas, “but this is a log cabin.”
Although the deck is behind the house, commissioner Dee Bright read from guidelines noting that the railing should match the style of the building. The proposal included pictures of two treatments, and the cables were less visible in one of them. Commissioners deferred a decision and asked for more construction details.
Owner Ana Schwade appeared by Zoom with an application for 75 1/2 Wall St. She asked to replace some deteriorated siding with Hardie board, and she heard no objection to that part of the application. Schwade also asked to add a gable roof over the front porch, and she listed her choice of metal roofing as standing seam. Commissioners objected, because the fasteners still show in the system Schwade selected. She offered to use a color that would minimize the appearance of fasteners, but commissioners have consistently called for a true standing-seam product, and they rejected the application.
The HDC will next meet at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4. Level III applications were due April 21, and other levels were due April 27.