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HDC_09 02 2021Page 1 of 5 LITTLE ROCK HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 723 West Markham Street Little Rock, Arkansas 72201-1334 Phone: (501) 371-4790 Fax:(501) 399-3435 www.littlerock.gov LITTLE ROCK HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION MINUTES Thursday, September 2, 2021, 4:00 p.m. Grant Still Ballroom, Robinson Center Roll Call Quorum was present being five (5) in number. Members Present: Chair Jeremiah Russell Vice Chair Ted Holder Christine Aleman Mark Hinson Robert Hodge Amber Jones Jonathan Nunn Members Absent: None City Attorney: Sherri Latimer Staff Present: Brian Minyard Jamie Collins Walter Malone Citizens Present: none Approval of Minutes Commissioner Amber Jones made a motion to approve the July 2, 2021 minutes as amended. Commissioner Christine Aleman seconded and the motion passed with a vote of 7 ayes, 0 noes, and 2 absent (Frederick and Jones). Brian Minyard, Staff, the notice requirements were met on all the items except as noted in individual hearing items. Notice of public hearing was printed in a newspaper of general circulation, posted on the internet and emails were sent to interested citizens and the press to inform them of the agenda being posted online. Page 2 of 5 LITTLE ROCK HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 723 West Markham Street Little Rock, Arkansas 72201-1334 Phone: (501) 371-4790 Fax:(501) 399-3435 www.littlerock.gov STAFF REPORT ITEM NO. One. DATE: September 2, 2021 APPLICANT: Staff ADDRESS: District wide FILE NUMBER: NA COA REQUEST: Guidelines revision on Rehab Standards PROJECT BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION: The Certified Local Government Agreement with Arkansas Historic Preservation Program requires that the city review it guidelines on a parodic basis. This review will fulfill for that requirement. Previous revisions include: July 2018 – Minor revisions. December 2016 - Expansion of Infill Section based on design factors. August 2010 - Modified Alterations, Additions and New Construction Section and Site Design. May 2006 - Added photos in Architectural Styles and updated graphics in following sections. A major revision was started by the Commission when they were staffed by Housing and Neighborhood Programs. It was finished by Planning Staff. Previous versions include 1997, December 1996, April 1995, April 1993, and an undated early copy that is possibly the first generation. The current effort strives to revise the Rehabilitation and the Alterations and Additions Sections. Previous editions of the Guidelines placed Alterations and Additions in the same section. This edition places Alterations within the Rehabilitation section and creates a new section for Additions. Rehabilitation projects, for the purpose of these guidelines, do not add additional living space to a structure that would involve raising the roof, or additions to the footprint of the structure, or enclosing porches. Additions involve the addition of spaces, whether enclosed or not. The Rehabilitation – Alteration section will more closely follows the previous versions with subheadings of Foundations, Walls, Porches, etc. The Rehabilitation – Additions section will more closely follows the Infill Section by organizing along the eleven design factors. Both the Alteration and Addition sections discuss the residential before the Mixed Use and Commercial. Currently, only the text is shown in the submittals to the Commission. The graphics, which are from the 2016 version, will be inserted into the document at the appropriate location. Photos Page 3 of 5 could be taken and labeled to express the same concepts. This would be on a case by case for each graphic. Staff keeps a list of conversations to add to the revision of the Guidelines. All the small non- substantiative changes are included in this version. The sections have been renumbered. The latest application has been added to the guidelines. One topic that will need discussion is the question of full or half screens on storm windows. Historically, full screen storm windows were the norm. Lately, the Commission has been approving storm windows with half screens since the National Park Service has been approving them on tax credit projects and because of the availability in the marketplace for an operable storm window with full screens. Another topic that will need discussion is fence heights. The Guidelines state that rear yard privacy fences “should be set back from the front facade of the structure at least halfway between the front and back walls of the main structure”. On interior lots, (not corner lots), this does not always make sense. Breaks in the footprint of the house: bays, extensions, etc., would be a logical place to place the fence. COMMISSION ACTION: March 4, 2021 Brian Minyard, Staff, made a presentation as to where the Guidelines Committee was in revising the guidelines. The Commission then discussed the issue of full screens versus half screens. Commissioner Amber Jones stated that there is the option of full glass with no screens. She also noted that the Park Service has approved half screen for tax credit projects. Vice Chair Ted Holder agreed with Commissioner Jones. He has Allied Storm windows on his house, in a historic district, and the storm windows are almost invisible. He has half screens. Mr. Minyard read the guidelines as stated in the adopted Guidelines (December 2016). He suggested that in the second paragraph on Windows: Screen and Storm Windows on page 14, the sentence ‘Screens should be full view” and the first part of the last sentence “Half screens and “ could be deleted. There was a motion entertained by Chair Jeremiah Russell that was seconded and approved. The next discussion was about fences. It was decided that the fences should be discussed in more detail at the next meeting. Commissioners stated that the graphic was hard to understand. Mr. Minyard stated that he could provide additional drawings about the location of fences. Mr. Minyard continued that two pdfs were sent to the Commission before this meeting. One was a clean copy of the adopted guidelines of this section and the other was a marked up copy of this section with text only. All the text in red in the marked up copy will eventually need to be Page 4 of 5 approved by the Committee and the Commission as a whole. There are sections of the text in red that need to be fleshed out. Some of the recommended and not recommended sections need text. Graphics have been deleted from the marked up copy. Those graphics will need to be reinserted in the appropriate place after the Committee finalizes the text and before the Commission adopts them. Photos could be inserted instead of the graphics. Photos would need to be taken or photos in the image library could be used. It was discussed to continue the discussion of fences and the guidelines in general at the next regularly scheduled HDC meeting since there are no other cases on that agenda. Chair Russell, who is on the Guidelines Committee stated he would be out of town on October 7th, the regular date. It was decided to meet on September 30, 2021, at 4:00. Page 5 of 5 Other Matters Enforcement issues Staff had none to report to the Commission. Certificates of Compliance HDC2021-017 500 E 9th Street Karol Zoeller roofing HDC2021-018 1309 Cumberland Matt Owens remove burnt garage HDC2021-019 1311 Cumberland Jenna Dixon replace burnt outbuilding and fence HDC2021-020 411 E 9th John Hofheimer roofing HDC2021-021 1001 Cumberland Delbra Caradine siding repair HDC2021-022 301 E Capitol CAW install artwork HDC2021-023 521 Rock DDF replace hvac Citizen Communication There were no citizens that chose to speak during citizen communication. Adjournment There was a motion to adjourn, and the meeting ended at 4:40 p.m. Attest: Chair Date Secretary/Staff Date