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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Historic Preservation Commission Minutes 06/12/2017 MINUTES CITY OF AMES HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION CALL TO ORDER: Jason Dietzenbach, Vice Chairperson, called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM. Mr. Dietzenbach wanted noted that he will be excusing himself from item five due to conflict of interest. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: MOTION: (Hallock/Grevstad-Nordbrock) to approve the Agenda for the meeting of June 12, 2017 MOTION PASSED: (4-0) APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF May 8, 2017: MOTION: (Hunter/Hallock) to approve the Minutes of the meeting of May 08, 2017. MOTION PASSED: (4-0) ____________________________________________________________________________ PUBLIC FORUM: There were no public comments. ____________________________________________________________________________ CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS TO REPLACE THE FRONT PORCH AT 829 DOUGLAS AVENUE Mr. Anderson, Planner stated this item is for the Certificate of Appropriateness to replace the front porch at 829 Douglas Avenue in the Old Town Historic District. He noted that the property owners are not present tonight but they are Ryan and Sonya Newstrom. The owners have been working on different porch designs over the years but what is being submitted now is in the Italianate style of architecture, an open porch, columns, moldings similar to the roof line of the house, and the deck skirting will be the tightly woven lattice. The covered porch will go across the entire east façade and wrap around the north side of the house to the second entrance. Mr. Anderson noted that there have been two inventories of properties in the Old Town district done back in 1989 and 2003 and both found this to be the Italianate style of architecture and this design criteria for this style is in the code that was adopted back in 1989. Staff reviewed the design criteria and what the owners are proposing is consistent with the criteria. Staff also reviewed the design guidelines for porches as adopted back in January of 2015 and it meets this guideline as well. In the report there are architect renderings of the building elevations along with a history description of the building. It is not a replication of the original porch but it is somewhat close and consistent with the Italianate style. It does meet the building setbacks in the zoning code and a building permit will be required. Staff recommendation is for approval of the Certificate of Appropriateness. Mr. Hallock stated that the proposed design seems more fitting to the house than the historic photo. He mentioned that the new design seems to conform to the style of the time period with the wrap around porch and flat roof. 2 Ms. Hunter stated that she just wanted to note on the report that under Project Description on the second bullet point it should say porch not garage. Mr. Anderson stated he will get that corrected on the report. MOTION: (Hallock/Grevstad-Nordbrock) to issue a Certificate of Appropriateness to allow replacement of the front porch on the dwelling located at 829 Douglas Avenue, if it finds that the porch, as proposed, complies with the Design Criteria and Design Guidelines of Sections 31.14 and 31.15 of the Municipal Code. MOTION PASSED: (3-0) ____________________________________________________________________________ CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS FOR A FENCE AT 817 DOUGLAS AVENUE Mr. Anderson, Planner stated that this item is for the Certificate of Appropriateness and is a request to repair a fence at 817 Douglas Avenue. He mentioned that the fence looks like a wall but technically by the code it is a fence, it is concrete with a brick imprint. The fence was constructed in the early 1990’s and there was never a Certificate of Appropriateness issued, it was required but the fence was built without one and the City did not pursue enforcement either. Mr. Anderson stated right now they have a non-conforming concrete fence that is not legal. A portion had recently collapsed when they were excavating for a new garage on a property to the north, about 46 feet of it collapsed. He stated that the owners are unable to build it back since it was a non-conforming that is not legal and they are not allowed to re-build unless the concrete fence is approved by the Commission for the Certificate of Appropriateness. The concrete fence would still be non-conforming but would be a legal non-conforming, which means they would be able to build the collapsed portion back as it was originally constructed back in the 1990’s with those design guidelines that were in place at that time as the guidelines have since changed. Mr. Anderson stated it is really a retro-active approval that the Commission has not done before. Staff is recommending approval. Mr. Dietzenbach asked Mr. Anderson if had spoken with any of the neighbors. Mr. Anderson mentioned that he has not other than Mr. Lott to the north who is building a garage and he is not opposed to building the wall back up. He stated that no other neighbors had any other comments and they have not had any complaints throughout the years. Mr. Hallock stated he lives around the area, it is an attractive feature and ties into the features of the house which is actual brick. Harold Pike, 2715 Valley View Road, Contractor came up to the lectern to answer questions from the Commission. Mr. Dietzenbach asked if the concrete masonry will match what is already there. Mr. Pike stated they will come close to it as possible but not sure they do make that form anymore. Ms. Hunter asked if it was going to be painted on the south side as well. Mr. Pike stated they are going to match whatever is already there. Mr. Hallock stated that the north side will be primarily covered by the neighbor’s garage. Mr. Pike stated the property owner has been waiting about 6 months to get this done and would like to move forward, he noted that the wall is in an alley way. MOTION: (Hallock/Grevstad-Nordbrock) to issue a Certificate of Appropriateness to retroactively approve the fence constructed on the property at 817 Douglas Avenue, in the early 1990’s, if it finds that the fence, as constructed, complies with all design criteria and design guidelines of sections 31.12 of the Ames Municipal Code, as adopted in Ordinance No. 3062. (This Alternative will allow reconstruction of the 46-foot section of the fence to match the original fence construction) MOTION PASSED (4-0) 3 __________________________________________________________________________ CONSIDER CHANGE TO THE START TIME FOR COMMISSION MEETINGS IN THE STANDING RULE Mr. Anderson stated this was discussed at the last meeting about changing the start of the meeting time from 7:00 PM to 6:00 PM. It could not be acted upon at the last meeting but could be brought up as we were discussing the By-Laws and Standing Rules. This item is on the agenda tonight for consideration to vote in favor of or leaving the start time as is. Mr. Dietzenbach asked the Commission if they had conflicts. Ms. Hunter stated the 6:00 PM time would be consistent with the other Commission start times. MOTION: (Hunter/Grevstad-Nordbrock) to approve the change of the start time for Commission Meetings from 7:00 PM to 6:00 PM. MOTION PASSED (4-0) ____________________________________________________________________________ COMMISSION COMMENTS: Mr. Dietzenbach asked for feedback from the Preserve Iowa Summit. Ms. Hunter stated that this was her first time and enjoyed the conference. She noted it was nice to see how far ahead of the curve that Ames is as opposed to some other Cities, she felt the Keynote speaker did a great job especially at articulating what the Commissions do. Mr. Hallock stated it was his first time as well, he noted that the focus of the other Commissions where actively trying to promote things for specific properties. He stated that during a conversation he had he was told that the City of Ames has a Historic Preservation Plan that has been adopted and he would be interested in seeing this. Mr. Anderson stated there is one that is about 10 years old and can send a copy to the Commission members. Mr. Hallock mentioned he would find it valuable to know if there are things that are pending that where adopted as work items. Mr. Anderson stated there are work items on there and some things have been done for example revising Chapter 31. Mr. Dietzenbach asked if this could be added to the next meeting. Mr. Anderson stated it would be. Ms. Hunter stated that it was well worth going to the Summit and heard that next year it is going to be in Des Moines. ____________________________________________________________________________ STAFF COMMENTS: Mr. Anderson stated he went to the conference as well; one of the sessions he went to was regarding more modern commercial building and the recent past and how to still preserve those. He stated this is something interesting to look at as those building are now getting older and how to proceed in the future. Ms. Hunter stated that someone had pointed out that 50 years ago was only in 1967. Mr. Hallock mentioned it was interesting as one of the awards went to the American Republic Insurance in Des Moines and looking at the building he doesn’t think historic but time wise it is but is a modern looking building. ____________________________________________________________________________ MOTION TO ADJOURN: MOTION: (Grevstad-Nordbrock/Hallock) to adjourn the meeting. MOTION PASSED: (4-0) The meeting adjourned at 6:23 PM. _________________________________ ____________________________________ Jason Dietzenbach, Vice Chairperson Amy L. Colwell, Recording Secretary Historic Preservation Commission Department of Planning & Housing S:\Planning.Dep\PLAN_SHR\Council Boards Commissions\HPC\Minutes\2017 Minutes\HPC Minutes 06-12-17.docx