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HDC_09 08 20081 DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 723 West Markham Street Little Rock, Arkansas 72201-1334 Phone: (501) 371-4790 Fax: (501) 399-3435 LITTLE ROCK HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION MINUTES Monday, September 8, 2008, 5:00 p.m. Sister Cities’ Conference Room, City Hall I. Roll Call Quorum was present being four (4) in number. Members Present: Marshall Peters Bob Wood Julie Wiedower Susan Bell Members Absent: Wesley Walls City Attorney: Debra Weldon Staff Present: Brian Minyard Citizens Present: none II. Approval of Minutes None III. Deferred Certificates of Appropriateness None IV. Certificates of Appropriateness None V. Other Matters: Enforcement Matters: Staff Brian Minyard stated that he only placed the active items on the enforcement list. Scott Manuel modified his light so that they would not be visible from Cumberland Street. 2 Angela Murray signed the Certificate of Compliance for the trim board they replaced and obtained a building permit with triple fee for starting without permit. Rainwater LLC for the old Rainwater building is under contract. Karen Butler Miller Reddig removed her stained glass and replaced the original windows. She removed the screen in the back. She did receive a COC for painting the carriage house in the back. Bob Wood is to sign his COC for the repair work. Jay Core was in town this weekend, but Mr. Minyard stated that he is not able to serve as an enforcement officer. Staff is to send Jay Core notification letter to Charles Marratt c/o Scott Wilkins address at Midtown Properties. Debra Weldon asked if it was citation. Mr. Minyard stated that it could be a courtesy notice giving them 30 days to remove the fence and that a letter from Staff at this time is a mute point. The applicant has been in front of the commission to get a COA and was denied. Steve Hitt with Arc Arkansas, they are continuing to work on the landscaping. Tonya Robinson Fisher had a public hearing in August 2008. Staff is to call her to ask if she will file for October or November hearing. Thomas Foti's letter was sent to Country Club address and he has signed for it. Chairman Marshall Peters stated that Charles Marratt did the repair work for the Foti; Marratt used to be on the commission and knows better. Trapnall Place LLC will be a topic of discussion on the agenda today for the security bars on windows. Bert Zinamon needs to send his certificate back. Lisa Lynn Ross sidelights are being restored. Mr. Minyard has talked to the future owner. Caroline Apartments put in a corner stone. According to one of the property owners, the developers added the cornerstone. It has been added since the gates. Preservation Plan: Phil Thomason will probably be here in mid September and have the first big public meting during first part of October. Staff had dinner with him after the last meeting and he was pleased with the progress thus far. Staff to add neighborhood associations to invitation list. Commissioner Bob Wood asked where the list was of neighborhood associations. Mr. Minyard stated it is on the website under Housing and Neighborhood Programs. The Mac Arthur Park neighborhood association is trying to be revived. 3 Work Plan: Staff asked if all of the commissioners had a chance to read the item. Staff commented on the photos. Picture 1 and 4, the security bars are painted white and the first time staff saw the house, the blinds were down and Staff had a hard time telling if the house had bars. Picture 2 and 5 is the Answerfone building and the security bars are custom. Picture 3 is on the Caroline Apartments. Commissioner Wood commented that it was a bad design for the house. Staff commented that the original design was more ornate and the final design installed was more simple. Chairman peters commented that the commission did not have any preview of color. Attorney Debra Weldon stated that the review of color was not prohibited, but this commission has opted to not review color of paint. The paint color was not considered as substantive change of the property. Marshall asked all of the commissioners to drive through the district at least once a month. The Commission had in the past decided not to consider color. Commissioner Wiedower clarified that Statute language is the state enabling legislation and the ordinance language is the city law. A discussion ensued concerning regulating color in the state statute. Changing the color is not maintenance according to the state. A Certificate of Appropriateness language states "a building being altered.” The question is if the change in paint color makes a building altered. The state and the city laws are different on their clarity. Staff suggested that the commission will look at painting in another session. Staff maintained, that if security bars are removed to be painted and put right back up, that is maintenance. A discussion continued on the amount of time that the bars were removed. Commissioner Wiedower commented that we needed a benchmark. Every building needs to be cataloged with the new photos form the last survey to list whether they have bars or air conditioners on the street facades. Chairman Peters stated that there was a list of air conditioners in the past. Staff asked if they had a list. The starting point for enforcement it to have a list of non-conforming air conditioners and security bars. Commissioner Wiedower suggested that new security bars be painted white or off white. This needs to be communicated to the homeowners in a letter to paint them white. Staff contended that white security bars in front of white blinds or curtains are the less obtrusive. Commissioner Susan Bell added that it was dependant of the trim color. Others agreed. There was a discussion on whether to adjourn or not so that the commissioners could attend the MacArthur Park master Plan meeting at the Arts Center that starts at 6:00. Chairman Peters asked everyone to attend. 4 Air Conditioners: The question is if the air conditioner is taken out to repair a window and the air conditioner is reinstalled, is it maintenance. If it takes a year to repair the window, is it still maintenance. Commissioner Wiedower commented that you should not take the unit out until you are ready to work on the window. Chairman Peters asked what if you took it out for a year. What should be item time limit, 30 days, 90 days, etc? Ms. Weldon stated that the commission was establishing policy without voting on them or notification of them. Mr. Minyard stated that the commission could go along the process and that there would be a vote at the end of the process. Commissioner Wiedower commented that there was a loss of opportunity with the time frame. The question is if we are modifying policy or guidelines and how to notify. Since maintenance takes more time than usually predicted, how do you set a time frame for completion? How does the commission know if it is maintenance or if they have just removed the ac unit? It is the role of enforcement and driving the neighborhood. Mr. Minyard stated that in the case of air conditioners, hopefully, they would not be out for a whole summer season. If you miss the whole season, that may not be maintenance. These discussions may result in new guidelines or new policies. Commissioner Wiedower asked if the commission was mandated to provide a copy of the guidelines to each property owner. Staff commented that a notice has been provided to the owners that new guidelines have been adopted and that they are available. Commissioner Wiedower asked Ms. Weldon her feeling on the timeline on the removal of ac’s. How do you know if it was indeed maintenance? If it is a new air conditioner unit, that is an enforcement issue, and those can be dealt with. The situation of taking a 1980’s unit out and replacing it with a brand new air conditioner unit in the same window is the topic of discussion. Staff was leery of sending a letter on that. Commissioners commented that that was maintenance. Chairman Peters stated that the Cook house had no tenants for about a year and removed the bars and air conditioners for a period of about a year. Commissioner Wiedower commented that they had been painting the house and that it was maintenance. Chairman Peters asks if someone completely redoes a house, spends a lot of money, under a COC, he dislikes it that we have nothing to say to go a little further to install central heat and air. Commissioner Wiedower tried to summarize that the suggestion is that the commission cannot do anything. Chairman Peters stated that only new units can be enforced upon, if the units that are there, it is maintenance issue and nothing can be done about them.