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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Exception for a Minor Area Modification to allow a reduced setback for the reconstruction of a historically accurate front porch at 320 9th StreetInstrument H: 2018-04726 06/04/2018 10:20:44 AM Total Pages: 3 00 OTHER Recording Fee: g 17.00 Stacie Herridge, Recorder, Story County Iowa mill K FNIVAIIA41 WIN Wh 11111 DO NOT WRITE IN THE SPACE ABOVE THIS LINE, RESERVED FOR RECORDER Prepared by: City of Ames Legal Department, 515 Clark Ave., Ames, IA 50010; (515) 239-5146 Ce4\vi Return document to: Ames City Clerk, 515 Clark Ave., Ames, IA 50010 Address tax statement to: Jim Wilcox, 320 9`h Street, Ames, IA 50010 CITY OF AMES, IOWA ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF JIM WILCOX, FOR AN EXCEPTION FOR MINOR AREA MODIFICATION TO ALLOW A REDUCED SETBACK FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF A HISTORICALLY ACCURATE FRONT PORCH, SECTION 29.1506 OF THE AMES MUNICIPAL CODE, FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 320 9TH STREET CASE NO. 18-04 GEOCODE NO. 09-02-325-010 DECISION & ORDER MAY 2 4 2018 ]1 I CITY CLERK FACTS CITY OF AMES. IOWA Applicant Jim Wilcox is seeking an Exception for a Minor Area Modification to allow a reduced setback for the reconstruction of a historically accurate front porch for the property located at 320 91h Street, within the Old Town Local Historic District. The house is a modest historic one- story, single-family dwelling with a cube form and rear wing and is covered with a steeply pitched hipped roof with an off -center gabled front dormer. The structure is dated as being constructed between 1905 and 1910 and appeared to include a full -width front porch at that time, as recorded on historic Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from 1911. The Applicant is proposing a new 7-foot by 38-foot porch across the front of the home that will extend across most of the front fagade and past the west edge of the home. On April 9, 2018, the Historic Preservation Commission granted the property owner a Certificate of Appropriateness for new construction of a front porch consistent with the Historic District Design Standards and 1 Guidelines, based on the findings presented. The Commission had no conditions, except for the approval of a Minor Area Modification by the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Chapter 31, Historic Preservation, refers to porches as "character defining features of historic structures". For this reason, it requires historic porches to be retained whenever possible and encourages new porches to be built consistent with the architectural style of the home. Porches were and remain an important element within the Old Town Historic District. Furthermore, Chapter 31 states, "When designing and constructing a new entrance feature or porch, if the historic entrance or porch is completely missing, the new one may be a restoration based on historical, pictorial, and physical documentation or be a design that is compatible with the historical character of the building". The property is located within the Residential Medium -Density (RM) zoning district. Required setbacks of this district allow for only an eight -foot projection into the required 25-foot front yard and would effectively prohibit the addition of a front porch due to the historic setback of the home at only 16-feet from the sidewalk. However, the Zoning Ordinance allows an exception for reconstruction of historically accurate structures as a Minor Area Modification. A Minor Area Modification is permitted to allow the reduction for front, rear, and side yard setbacks without limit for reconstruction of historically accurate structures. City Planner Eloise Sahlstrom reviewed the site plan, project description, applicable law and Findings of Fact and Conclusions. She explained that the existing house is situated 16 feet back from the sidewalk, which is typical of the homes facing 9th Street, Historic Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps indicate 91h Street as having a 66 foot right-of-way and identified homes with porches very close to the right-of-way especially between Burnett and North Kellogg. The distance is hard to scale, but porches are estimated as between six and ten feet from the right-of- way from these maps. She explained that porches are beneficial to the health, safety and welfare of the street and neighborhood, as porches are a place from which natural surveillance of the street and neighborhood can occur. Historically, all of the homes in this area had porches but over the years many have been removed or converted to interior living space. Ms. Sahlstrom stated that restoring homes to be more historically accurate also enhances the value of the neighborhood. Additionally, the new porch will not encroach on side yard setbacks and will have no detrimental effect upon neighboring properties. Other properties in the area also have nonconforming front setbacks similar to the existing home. The new porch will not have an impact on the general front yard character of the homes along 8th Street. Typically homes are built with their front fagade parallel to the street; however, this is not the case along 9th Street. Rather, these homes are built with more of a true east -west orientation, as if built along 8th Street or one of the other older streets. As a result, the front yards are not square to the street. Each of these instances established a pattern of home and porch placement that occurred over a hundred years ago, resulting in the present day historic character of the neighborhood. It is for that reason that the exception for a minor area modification is needed and allowed. The reduction allowed in Section 29.1506 is "without limit" for the reconstruction of historically accurate structures. The proposed porch width of seven feet is in keeping with the historically depicted porch width illustrated on the historic Sanborn Maps. It will be placed nine feet from the sidewalk, and requires three or four steps in order to meet the existing grade. The first step will be just over seven feet from the sidewalk. Applicant Jim Wilcox of 320 9th Street, Ames, Iowa, testified that the Historic Preservation Commission had approved a Certificate of Appropriateness for the proposed porch, and that he accepts the conditions as recommended by staff. DECISION The Board considered the facts as detailed above and provided in the staff report, and found that all of the relevant standards in Section 29.1506 were met and established by the Applicant. WHEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the Applicant is GRANTED, pursuant to Ames Municipal Code Section 29.1506 of the Ames Municipal Code, an Exception for a Minor Area Modification to allow a reduced setback for the reconstruction of a historically accurate front porch for the property located at 320 9th Street pursuant to the following conditions: a) The Applicant must record the approval of this Minor Area Modification in the office of the County Recorder, in order to make effective the approval; b) The front' porch must be built consistent with the attached plans and must meet the definition of a porch as "fully open, except for support columns and balustrades, and it must never be enclosed by walls, windows, or solid doors"; and c) The front porch and roof structure must not extend more than 8-feet from the house. Any person desiring to appeal this decision to a court of record may do so within 30 days after the filing of this decision. Done this 9"' day of May, 2018. 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