all right welcome everyone we'll just wait for the attendees to populate give it a minute or two just make sure we see everyone who we expecting in the attendees and then we'll all right all right I see all of our applicants for this evening in attendees so far Robert so if you'd like to go ahead and call the meeting to order all right yes so it's uh December 11th 20123 6:32 p.m. and I now call to order this regular meeting of the Jersey City Historic preservation commission please be advised that in accordance with the open public meetings act the notice of the time date in place of this regularly scheduled meeting of the Jersey City Historic preservation commission has been provided to the Jersey journal the Jersey City Reporter and Ellis beito on Friday December 8th same notice has been provided to the Jersey city clerk for posting on the bulleon board outside of the clerk's office in City Hall and for posting on the city website I have proof of this notice here in evidence okay and this will be B one in evidence for this for tonight's meeting thanks Bridget we'll do a roll call attendance commissioner amuza well I think you me got it I'm here all right cool commissioner GGA here commissioner samp here commissioner Gunther is absent commissioner Lewis oh Callie I didn't hear you there we go okay here commissioner sakong is absent commissioner blazak here commissioner Cronin present Vice chair gucciardo is absent and chairman Gordon present okay there's seven members of the Commission in attendance five affirmative votes are needed for a certificate of appropriateness next item on the agenda is the approval of minutes from the last HPC meeting on October 23rd does anyone have any questions comments Corrections if not staff recommends a motion to approve those minutes I'm sorry who was who made the motion Maggie I have Kelly and then seconded by Tony thank you all right we'll do a roll call on this commissioner GGA abstain commissioner Sanam hi commissioner Lewis hi commissioner blazak uh stain commissioner Cronin I commissioner amza I and vice uh chairman Gordon I should also know Vice chair gucciardo is absent okay there are one two three four votes yes no a and three extensions the minutes from October 23rd are approved correspondents um all application materials are linked through the Blue Links on tonight's agenda um we're going to carry announcements to the end of the meeting so that we can discuss um uh January 2024's meetings and going back in person and that just leaves open public comment there any members of the public and attendance this evening who would like to speak regarding matters of historic preservation that are not on tonight's agenda please use the raise hand function at the bottom of the screen if you're on the phone you can press star n right so uh Jim I see a hand raised I don't know if you want to address the commission now but you have an application on Senda so if you're not in public comment you can lower your hand there we go all right staff sees No Hands raised and recommends a motion to open and close public comment motion came back up I don't know if that was intentional I don't think it was okay we can always reopen if it wasn't but I don't he's the applicant for one of the applications hope the rest the meeting goes a little bit better for me in terms of speaking he's the attorney for one of the applications later all right uh all in favor hi great all right Robert if you want to go ahead and call the first case in Old business that's case H20 d116 the applicant is Alex Leon and Maria Leon owners address is 11 eie Street and this application is for a certificate of appropriateness for the construction of a bul with pergola that is obliquely visible from the public right of way at a previously approved roof deck interior Renovations and an ada8 accessible entry ramp at the ground floor at an altered contributing Greek Revival mixed use building in the haramis Cove historic district built Circa 1855 this application was carried from the August 15 2022 regular HPC meeting okay um you guys should be able to unmute yourself turn your cameras great Alex I promoted you are you going to give testimony on this tonight um if I need to I'm not okay then well we'll just have let Umberto take the lead on this okay we'll have you hang out there and if for some reason we you decide you want to give testimony we can swear you in then thank you all right ambera we're gonna go ahead and swear you in okay just one second please sorry could you raise your right hand to be sworn you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give this proceeding will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do thank you and if you can State and spell your full name Umberto Ramos can you spell that sir hu m b r t o r a m o s okay I think does anybody else hear that e yeah we're getting a little I don't know if you guys are sitting next to each other I know I muted I muted [Music] Alex all right why don't we try amto why don't you just try to quickly talk see if that addressed the issue does that sound better now yes it do yeah Alex I you could also lower your volume on your computer a little bit that'll also help too it looks like you guys are in the same space okay cool Umberto we're just gonna qualify you quickly because this is the first time they presented in front of the HPC if you could just give a very brief um um description of your qualifications including if you're licensed in the state of New Jersey so I'm an architect in the State of Florida I applied for lure in the state of New Jersey my license have has been approved and um I I submitted the letter for the certification so that's in progress um I sent an email earlier today to find out the status and if they had already uh assigned the license but but I haven't heard back but basically uh it has been approved okay and how many years have you been practicing architecture I've been practicing architecture for over 20 years okay great staff recommends that Mr Ramos be qualified as an expert in the field of architecture and you should be able to share your screen and take the commission through the proposal for Leary Street sure okay so can can everyone see that the screen yes yes y so this is the building at 11 Erie Street this is a rendering of The Proposal and basically what we're doing is uh there was a an a previous approval which addressed primarily interior modifications uh and and also installation of this guard rail and a roof deck it also included replacement of the existing bulkhead with a glass enclosure um and um and also I believe rest restoration of the corness top and bottom um so in this and what we are submitting now we are increasing the size of the bulkhead to the maximum allow or just just below the maximum allowed and then extending the um AP pergola to create a covered area um from the front of the building will not see any of this so it it looks uh you know somewhat from from this elevation view it looks large and and more imposing but in reality you won't see it at all from the front and you're going to see a small area from the side but uh minimal amount the other the other thing we're requesting is the addition of a ramp here in the front which uh you will enter the here through this gate ramp up to the to the entry door here and then we will also have another gate here with steps so now I'll go ahead and show this is a you can see information for the site located on Erie Street across the street from the uh old police station this is what the building looks like currently and this is these are the uh floor plans so there are no chain we're not requesting any changes to the second third and basement levels uh that basically remains as previously approved uh on the ground floor all we were requesting is obviously the addition of the ramp and uh we're also reconfiguring the kitchen area so obviously that's not not something that uh impacts the building um on the roof the original original bulkhead was this is the design of the original bulkhead uh and um at one point we were hoping to do the a full uh sun room but now what we are proposing is just going to a a bulkit area just under the 100 square feet that's allowed the uh deck the roof deck was approved moved under the previous permit as well as the uh guard rail here um and let me go to some other sections so here we're showing actually uh yeah you kind of saw this elevation already here we're just showing the the door at 9 eie Street where're we're going to replicate this door which is uh original to to uh replace the existing door uh here's our detail showing what we are proposing um okay so here in this enlarged elevation we're showing the ramp let me uh Zoom that in a bit so this is what we're proposing currently there're there exist a let see if that shows up there exist the neighboring prop here already has a concrete wall with a an iron fence on above it which kind of we're aligning with we're proposing to align with that um and that's basically it um and uh looking at sight lines from the front you're not you're not going to see any of the Bulkhead from all the way across the basry which is kind of like the lateral view of the building you may see just a slight corner of the of the uh bulkhead wall which was increased in height and from these pictures here you'll see more or less what that will look like so this this is the bulkhead the raised wall as it is now and we will be cutting back a section of that bulkhead to make it uh less visible and uh let's see here and this from this angle you really don't see much of it and then actually yeah here you don't see it here you what you're seeing there is the the brick wall that's on the north side of the bulkhead and that's pretty much it any questions okay any Commissioners have any questions guess I just had a question about what was originally approved as a bulkhead what was approved as a bulid uh was uh basically this was replacing the the original enclosure of the bulkhead which was um a stud wall covered with Roofing Mater you know sheathing and roofy material uh to a glass enclosure so in essence the footprint would remain as existing and all we were doing was changing the enclosure to Glass so in our in our uh new request we are we want to extend the bull kit to the maximum allowed um to create more of a of a space up there um so this new extension is not creating any more visibility no the bulkhead because it's moving in board right exactly okay um that's question one and then question two was um the front uh area way the um the iron work did you um select the iron work from an existing or adjacent or how did you select the uh it's uh this you know this is what we would like to use and primarily the the reason for using this type of iron work it's it's there's nothing like it in the area as far as we know uh but the reason for selecting that is because on the elevation at the top there are diamonds in the design of the cornice so we thought it'd be you know a nice thing to sort of pick up on um that's pretty much it but otherwise there uh if you see a picture that we're showing here uh this is more or less what you see in the area so sort of similar but not you know not exactly I think it's cleaner looking um that was that was our idea is that from selected like from a catalog it is you know who the manufacturer or who it's from it looks like something from like the Lawler C uh catalog so I I would be S I wouldn't be surprised if that's been approved elsewhere I don't I don't know if you know based on more evidence on other sites but I I'm seems like something that we may have approved at some point somewhere in Jersey City okay so I guess my question was if there was existing was there any existing um iron work railings on the front of at this facade um or in the adjacent buildings that were of the same design let me see if I have a picture here here you go this one might let's see if it shows yeah this is you can see here what what's existing next door it's you really can't see a whole lot there but it's really it's pretty basic looking not a great picture but uh well I think you have that there's a I mean it's admittedly a bad photo if you go up a little bit on the sheet there's a 1938 photo which might answer Tony's question as well it's a bad photo can't really see much but yeah it doesn't really look like there was iron workk in the front of it no so that was my question you answer it thank you and I have a just a question on what is the the existing material on the south facing portion of the bulkhead and is that proposed to remain the same or is that changing because that's that seems to be what we're getting an oblique view of right uh that basically is a stud wall it's always it's the party wall between the two nine nine eie Street and and 11 Eerie Street uh it's a stud wall it extends up and we've we've uh upgraded the wall you know the wood in there was in poor shape so it was uh was um restored uh and it's just going to have sheathing and we're proposing to plad that in in a brick veneer so what you will see from Bay Street the little bit of what you're going to see you will see uh brick and what is it now currently it's it's just uh like a roofing membrane okay so it's really kind of Unfinished if anything correct have you thought about doing it's interesting sometimes we see Brick ball because when almost wondering if stucco like a light stucco be preferable and a BRI veneer here we reached out to the to the uh um the organization that does the murals with the idea of maybe doing a mural on this side and what little you see on the bulad but I mean that was an option but we haven't been unfortunately nobody has reached reached back to us so for now we're going to stick with you know just finishing it I mean we can we'll we'll do stuckle as well we're fine with stuckle I'm just thinking I I don't know if anyone else has an opinion on that but sometimes if a a bulkhead is is Brick and it's sometimes as it calls all attention to itself like if you look up and you see a little bit of red brick up there as opposed to either what's there now or like a more of a neutral stucco finish maybe um you know we can think of about that if anyone else has an opinion on that I agree with you Brian on that this is uh commissioner amuso uh I think if it was just a stucko color it may disappear um better I would agree as well just something that kind of Blends into the sky more [Music] so do you guys want it to stay the same or change in color is that a question to who is that a question to you you you and Tony or whoever else agreed I think a neutral kind of neutral finish stucco finish would would be better like a gray finish orend what um I think a brick W edible good I think it would also blend in better with the um South facade of number nine that was saying right so never change that seems to be unpainted stuckle yeah that's fine okay I would agree any other questions comments and the other thing I would add about the iron R the idea of iron work I think is fine um I think historically this was a storefront and now it's changing used to residential at the ground floor so I have I have no problem with that kind of added as security there um and I don't know if anyone has any issue with the design but I I think it's kind of maybe it's slightly too or but I I don't really have an issue with it I don't have an issue with the design of the iron work or the fact that it's being added as this is changing from commercial to residential okay have an issue unless there's previous uh iteration of iron work there that we're trying to replicate but since there isn't I don't have I don't take issue okay any other questions comments before we move to public comment okay um no other questions or comments so we can uh open this to the public if there any members of the public in attendance who would like to provide comments on this application please use the raised hand function at the bottom of the screen alternatively you can press star n if you're on the phone right staff sees No Hands new hands raised and would recommend a motion to open and close public comment second second all in favor I I okay so we'll go into staff comments I will go ahead and share my staff report and go down to the staff recommendations and comments so um we think this project is mostly consistent with Secretary of the Interior um we went back and forth with this applicant for quite some time on finding the right middle ground for their project um because they had the previously approved roof deck and bulkhead um which are both uh the roof deck size is larger than we permit now but because they had the approval that is they still have open permits on it so they're allowed to complete that size of the roof deck so we worked with them to find the right bulkhead size that fit within the current zoning it was kind of like a weird thing because you have the roof deck size that's permitted by the old zoning but the new bulkhead which is governed by the new zoning so went back and forth with them found a middle ground um that staff is happy with and uh we hope the applicant is happy with believe they're happy with that being said um the everything that's proposed here is consistent with what we see in the historic districts and we don't think it's going to have an adverse effect on the harsman co historic district or on the resource itself so we have some conditions that we recommend that the HPC adopt along with approving the certificate of appropriateness um most of them are standard conditions but will just take us through the ones that are not standard conditions um the first is that all of the conditions for their previous approval remain in effect for the life of this approval um staff Nots that there's no lighting proposed for this roof Tech so if there are any fixtures added um they do need to be downcast in nature um no portion of the roof deck or accessories on the roof deck so um umbrellas things like that should be visible from the public right of way um there is a going down to the actual facade of the building where some alterations are being proposed the applicant has led um lights on top of the cornice that serve as up lighting for the building we are going to ask that they take those off um we also had some that went down but I think it just got Lost in Translation that we wanted both the downcast lights on the storefront and the upcast lights on the building to be removed um and that um because they do the Ada ramp on the front of the building is outside of the property line the applicant does need to seek a franchise ordinance to install that um this COA will serve as recommendation for that franchise ordinance to be approved but we do have a condition on here that if for some reason um engineering or city council makes them alter the design of this Ada ramp it does need to come back to staff at a minimum for approval and if it needs to come back if it changes so radically that we feel it needs to come back to the HPC gives you guys the ability to have it come back to of HPC everything else is a standard condition I do also have the condition that we talked about that the applicant should change the stco color on the bulkhead wall to a gray color to blend um more easily and we can work at a staff level to find the appropriate color for that um and then the other note I have here regarding the iron work staff we don't have any issues with the proposed iron work um typically we would recommend something a little bit more modern but the applicant liked the replicating diamond idea and from what I could see we hadn't approved that really anywhere else um not to mention there's no historic iron workor that we're aware of on this building that were replic replicate not really replicating so it it's fine as is I don't think it's going to be a big deal does anyone have any questions for staff okay um in that case we recommend that you approve a certificate of appropriateness with the conditions in the staff report and is read into the record I'll make a motion to approve second I have call and then Corey prior to a roll call Vote Alex and Alberto we just want to make sure you guys are okay with those conditions we are great all right we'll move to a roll call vote commissioner samp hi commissioner Lewis okay see you saying I yeah it didn't come through for some reason commissioner blazak I commissioner Cronin I commissioner amuza hi commissioner griga I commissioner Gunther is absent commissioner sakong is absent Vice chair gucciardo is absent chairman Gordon I okay there's seven votes in favor none against and no extenstions the COA with conditions is granted thanks guys thank you all pleasure thank you no problem have a nice night all right Robert if you want to go ahead and call the next application yes so moving to new business I'll Now call case h23 d64 the applicant is James Burke Squire on behalf of Ace B1 r l LC owner the address is 80 Sussex Street and this application is for certificate of appropriateness for the construction of a three-story rear Edition visible from the public RightWay facade restoration and interior Renovations uh at an altered contributing Greek Revival building in the PO hook historic district built Circa 1855 great right um Jim and Jensen are you guys good with do I need to promote anyone else um the clients here Jeremy Zuta but I don't know if he needs to be promoted yet okay but if a question comes up yeah if they decide they want to provide testimony we can always promote them okay let's just go ahead and swear Jensen in all right thank you Maggie uh just for the record Jim Burke I'm I'm the attorney on this matter I'm here because it's an LLC so llc's require counsel uh before a tribunal or a board uh so that's my role I'm not the applicant um and we have one witness here uh Jensen vasel he's the architect of record and again Jeremy Zuta is the uh owner of the LLC he's here somewhere if we need to bring him in we can do that later um hello chairman hello board hello Maggie and hi see Bridget over there hi Bridget um so without further Ado uh Jensen would you uh raise your right hand and we can have someone swear you in you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give in this proceeding will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do thank you and state and spell your full name for the record Jensen vasil uh Jenn and V and Victor a i l thank you thank you staff notes that Jensen has been qualified as an architect in front of this board many times and you should be good to share your screen very good Jensen you're you're U an architect of record and you're you're in good standing as of today correct yes that is correct all right thank you um I I just want to stipulate I understand the applicant uh met with the neighborhood association there there was a considerable dialogue back and forth um so I just want to put that on the record and then I'll turn it over to Jensen uh to walk through his plans good evening Commissioners uh my name is Jensen Vasa I'm the architect for um the project at ad Sussex Street in Paulis hook historic uh preservation District the building is a uh Greek Revival building uh Circa 1855 the proposed project is for a uh interior gut renovation in a in a three-story rear Edition um The Block is the the lot is a midblock lot that is uh 22 ft wide and 100 ft long the the building is um currently there is no building next uh to the to the west of it um as you can see in the 1938 photo that building was uh either damaged or destroyed at one p so it does have some exposure uh obliquely from the from Sussex um so our proposed addition is uh conforming to the zoning ordinance the addition would be is 11 ft deep um would be 50 would represent 55% lock coverage the building coverage the um the deck would represent 5% so that would get us to 60% permitted by ordinance and then there's a set of stairs to the rear yard um otherwise the building is uh all proposed all proposed um alterations are conforming uh as you can see on the Block before I leave HBC one as you can see on the Block there are a number of additions at the rear um this is the open lot that you can see next to it which is which would be um 82 Sussex and then there's a parking lot on the west fronting uh fronting Washington Street our proposed site plan uh has a three-story rear Edition as I mentioned 11 feet uh with a Terrace on top of that that which would be off the existing uh fourth floor top floor the top floor is not being expanded the there's no alteration to the existing front facade materials there uh there is a proposal for replacement of Windows and Doors uh there is no change to the stoop to the areaway to the Garden or any of the fence at the front of the property it's the rear of the property there's a small shed uh a a large patio which is uh makes the existing coverage over 86% uh that would be reduced and brought into Conformity so all of the rear Landscaping hardscaping would be redone um and we would have a a privacy fence around the sides and the rear uh as the detail shows on hpc2 here uh also the paving in the rear would be u a flamed blue stone uh Paving with uh with butt joints on QP um there are a set of there are proposed to be a set of stairs that would be coming from the uh the garden level the garden level is down from the rear yard uh and in the front uh and those would be blue stone Treads with concrete uh concrete risers Concrete Construction and the deck while I'm on this on hpc2 the deck would be EP wood over a steel structure uh which would be painted black uh contextually uh you can see the building uh sits on HP 3 uh there are Aerials from both the back and the side um showing the sort of the exposure um also showing a number of the additions going uh towards the east and and both towards the West as well both both buildings towards the West after the open lot uh do have additions one one full width one partial at the bottom you can show you can see the uh the existing uh facade at suss street obliquely with um the side of the building exposed and um that as I mentioned that is not changing um obviously we would by upgrading the HVAC system we would get rid of all the window units um and uh paint the uh paint the hood and the in the head and the pipe for the electrical service at the rear of the building there's a fire escape currently it's a four family building that oh yes Jensen hang on one second I just the the the park cars that's not part of uh the applicant's property am I correct that is not okay all right I just wanted to be clear for the board sure um it's a four family building currently which is why they have the fire escapes it would be going to a single family U so the fire escapes would go away the uh rear addition would be there and then you can see a small there's a small addition now that go with stairs that go down to the Garden level and then finally a picture of the rear yard showing all the paving currently with retaining walls uh built up retaining walls for demolition uh the on hpc4 uh showing interior interior uh renovation and again at the front facade only the fenestration the windows and doors um at the rear where we're doing the addition we would maintain the returns in the original masonry uh envelope so that um there would be a a distinction a notation a built notation of what was original and what is prop what is new um on the floor plans going through from Cellar to roof uh the cellar is storage and mechanical the uh Garden level is uh has a small bedroom a bathroom and um and sort of a recreation room with a wet bar towards the rear yard on the Parlor level would be uh your formal Living Kitchen and the deck off of that and then a small set of stairs going down to the rear yard on the third floor the master suite a primary Suite with um a laundry room and a bedroom in front with a B with its own on Suite bath and then on the fourth floor um two bedrooms with uh with bath with two onsuite bathrooms the there is no roof deck proposed on the pront oh uh there is a there is a Terrace off of the rear of the uh the third floor roof which is the fourth floor and um at the roof there's no primary roof deck uh proposed it's a skylight with the um the a AC condensing units and um a roof hatch two skylights and the and the roof hatch um the the railing around the Terrace would be a cable rail uh which can is depicted here on the uh on detail one and the deck system is a pedestal deck system um which has EP treads on on top on top of uh plastic pedestals on hbc6 see the existing and proposed front facade again the materials uh for the for the facade don't change the configuration that's there exists just the windows would be replaced with in kind with wood Marvin Windows uh two over two to match the 1938 tax photo and uh and painted um painted the um Tri corn black color which the detail there's a detail later on the set um also there is a proposed uh mailbox which should be on the on the side of the uh the side of the stoop here and a doorbell which would be inset on the jam of the door so it's not visible from the from the street uh or or into the masonry no drilling into the masonry um the facade on the side the existing side facade would be uh would be repainted the stuckle would be patched where needed and then repainted um this uh this Benjamin Moore White Dove at the rear of the building that the proposed addition would be uh would be 4 in uh thick beld and face brick I'm sorry the proposed addition would you repeat that Jenson sure the proposed rear three story rear Edition would be clad in a 4in face brick it's a beldin a beldin medium red and um the windows would be aluminum clad Marvin um so there would be uh a mixture of fixed windows and casements and sliding doors um at the Garden level parlor level and the third floor there would be a uh three sconces proposed on the back two on either side of the Parlor and one on the garden those would have shielding on the sides that are insert into the two uh the two sides for the Neighbors so they don't so no light spreads to the neighbors on the side elevation at the bottom of page hpc7 you can see the uh the proposed cladding for the brick wraps around the side so it on uh all three sides of the addition it be clad in Brick even the sides that are that are right on the uh the neighbor's lot line um visually it both gives a distinction between the original building and the and the new um and I think a much nicer um facade material for the Neighbors uh versus having a having just the plain stuck on and uh at the roof edge of the fourth floor the gutter would be en uh encased in a Yankee a Yankee gutter a clad um wood clad Yankee gutter um finally at the top floor of the windows the existing uh brick would be reused um and and cleaned and then um the wind there would be a doors and a window added to the top floor uh next we have the building section just showing the addition in line with the other floors as well as the deck and the stairs to the rear yard um there's also a sight line diagram here that shows that the AC units would not be visible from um from Sussex Street and also a detail for the entry doors which are two panel solid uh solid wood uh mahogany doors with the transom up above um which is consistent with other with um some other doors on the Block um those would be the this would be glass uppers and the and solid wood lowers and then HBC 9 is the details for the front window and the door underneath the stoop there's currently a door in a transom that also it would stay in that door and transom configuration um and that these would be wood uh this would be clad the one underneath the stoop but the one the the windows that are visible would be would be wood and then the rear facade uh is showing the clad uh clad wood uh doors and windows at the rear that as uh Mr Burke mentioned the uh client did meet with the uh neighborhood association um and I think we uh We've addressed their concerns um specifically with the material on the rear of the addition rear and sides of the addition and uh that concludes my presentation I'm happy to answer any questions Jensen one one question I had um we received a report from Maggie this afternoon did you have a chance to look at that were there any other changes or comments that you would need to make based on that report no okay thank you Mr chair yeah that concludes Our Testimony any questions for Jensen um I just had a question about visibility from the end of the block and for me I guess it was just about is that rear fac obliquely visible from the end of the block it is yeah go ahead it is it was hard to get a it's hard to get a clear picture it's it is pretty far away but you can see the you can see the rear of the building through the through from Washington through the parking lot and past all of the trees and stuff yes right but it's it's three lots before there's three lots at least right before the that's before this Edition yeah and and multiple extensions correct on other buildings yeah I I think it's safe to say that lot probably will be developed at some point I can't imagine an open parking lot like that and a valuable block staying as a parking lot but but we we don't know that to be true what about from the corner of the park that is just set of north of that parking lot is there any visibility from there uh from the from the north corner of that Park um I'm looking as we're interactively as we're doing it I don't know the um it gets blocked by this the um I'll go back to this it gets blocked pretty quickly by this large building here so as you're as you're coming it looks I guess visually it looks like you can here but you really can't in real life the um it feels like this Edition blocks it more um you can see I'm sure you can see it if you further down towards the middle um I I know that and this isn't part of a row it's not the the corner I'm looking at the the front of the building the cornice is higher it looks like even the building that was demolished was on its twin um and I'm asking I'm saying this because and maybe you can go to the rear facade for just a moment sure I think often I wouldn't I would maybe give some push back on some of the windows sizes changing on on the top floor but I think in this case with you keeping the lentils in the same location and you're just removing the areas in between and then there's these it's kind of unusual that you have these small bathroom looks like bathroom size windows so I actually and it's not it doesn't seem like it's part of a consistent row where all the open are the same size on the top floor um when I when this first came in that was one thing that that caught my eye but I I think now that I've looked at any taking this through I don't think I have any issue with that at the moment and what's the material so so you have brick piers on the on the addition um and then that the what is that material at the spandrel there though it's it's route and return ACM so it's to match window um the window material so it'll be a black a black aluminum and can you maybe take us through what's interesting to me so on the on the the the window openings are all the same size on all three floors but the the top floor or the I guess the top floor of the addition is just not is broken up differently can you just maybe take us through the the thought on how you've kind of broken up the window openings and added um mountain and all that into it sure I think it it goes back to um the original building uh jams that were there so we we kept the two side jams which are further over than um than at the addition where we had an ability where we've got cabinets that go back to the um to this uh to the rear wall we had to bring them in a little bit further than where the existing jams were uh I can zoom in on this too that might help so coming off of the say the kitchen which is really a a driver of it um where the cabinets die into the wall we have the cabinet the cabinet plus the plus a little bit of space before the before the W door starts but on the original Windows they they're further towards the side um the original openings were were further over so that they don't line up but they're in a different plane too so we felt like there was ability to have some Liberty there of being able to have the the width change without having them smack right on top of each other any anyone else have any questions all right hearing no other questions we can move into public comment there are any members of the public present who would like to speak regarding this application you can use the raise hand function at the bottom of your screen alternatively if you're on the phone you can press star nine okay staff sees No Hands raised and recommends a motion to open and close public comment motion second all in favor I okay we can move into staff comments on this share my staff report and bring us down to staff comments um so this is a pretty standard edition within the historic districts um it is of course visible both obliquely through the lot and also through the park um but that appears to be a standard condition for this block the building on the opposite side of the parking lot also has a similarly sized rear yard addition that is visible from the public RightWay and visible through the park it doesn't appear to have an adverse impact there so um my assessment is that's not going to have an adverse impact here um the addition is of a similar size to other additions on the block um as you go further down the block you can see 76 and 74 both have similarly sized additions as well um so we don't think there's going to be an adverse effect as a result of this application and we recommend that the commission approve a certificate of appropriateness with um conditions and for what I think is the first time in a long time um we have only the standard conditions on this application we did not need to add one in um so there are five standard conditions and I'm happy to answer any questions and if there are no questions the recommended motion on this would be approval of a certificate of appropriateness with conditions I'll make a motion for approval I'll second it uh do does the applicant accept the conditions in the staff report okay great so we'll move to a roll call commissioner Lewis I okay commissioner blazak I commissioner Cronin I commissioner uza I commissioner GGA I commissioner samp I commissioner Gunther is absent commissioner sakong is absent Vice chair gucciardo is absent and chairman Gordon I okay there are seven votes in favor none against no extensions the COA with conditions is approved thank you all Commissioners have a great evening thanks guys good night good night all take care all right so we can continue down the agenda for this evening all right so I don't think we need to formally call these we can just um next item in new business is the 2024 HPC calendar um like I said at the last meeting um there are a couple of changes to this calendar of course we are going back in person in January so all of the meetings will be at for Jackson Square and we are going from 14 meetings to 12 um in order to accommodate going back in person we are sharing the space on Mondays with the Cannabis control board which means that we needed to accommodate our schedule they needed to accommodate their schedule I don't think going down to 12 is going to be a big deal um there have been a couple meetings especially over the summer and stuff where we had one application or didn't have a meeting at all so I don't think it's going to be a big deal but if you guys have any questions I'm happy to answer them if not recommend a motion to approve the meeting sorry questions about the uh about the inperson meetings so um I believe Maggie you said that you would have computers for us there yeah so we can so basically what's going to happen is we are no longer doing uh hard cut back when we used to meet in person we would have you would get a hard copy set of plans delivered to your house at least the Friday before the meeting we are we've gone paperless since then so you guys will not be getting hard copy plans unless someone specifically requests them in which case you will have to let me know uh at that you'll see on the calendar there's a completion deadline if want hard copy plans for something you have to let me know by that completion deadline date um and I will drop them off at your house but other than that um the meeting room has two types of tablets at each station so there's the standard dis screen where you'll be able to see whatever is on the screen that the applicant is presenting themselves we also have a uh each commissioner it stays in the building each commissioner gets a Surface Pro where you guys will have access to the agenda all the application materials and the internet if you you needed to pull something else up um those will be in Holloway for you guys they'll be there each set up for you at each meeting will we need any kind of login credentials I'll have them all logged in for you ahead of time perfect you don't need specific credentials for each of you it's just kind of one server thing and I'm going to be honest with you guys they we met with them last week you don't want to be inputting these passwords by yourself they are like 27 characters each okay I'm just wondering if there's any sort of uh major learning curve to getting set up on day one for us um I don't think there's going to be I think it's going to be pretty straightforward um and my hope is that it'll be just like accessing the application materials on your computer in front of you with the D screen that'll show what the applicant is presenting on their screen right um we are going to be still recording the meetings and putting them online like we always have um we do not have the ability to do hybrid meetings um so we won't be a go back and forth like that but um we are going to explore the possibility of live streaming but we won't have that set up for the January live streaming would be like city council does where it's just the feed so if yeah that was my so if anyone wants to testify they have to come in person yep yeah and with sunsh I mean and I'm just just thinking especially for when like let's say there's going to be a a blizzard on the first night there's no you we have it would have to be in advance like yep yeah if there's some kind of storm event rain whatever cancel the meeting you guys are off for the night okay any other questions about this uh parking so I saw the email I responded to the email do we need any sort of pass or anything or if we submitted our vehicle information are we in the the system so you're in the if you gave your yes that I was going to bring that up during announcements if you have not already if you intend on driving to the meetings and you have not already given Sheila your information that was requested in that email make sure you do that I do not know if it'll be an individual parking tag or if it's going to be just the security guard has a list of names and you'll just give your name they'll confirm the information matches um we've used both in the fast and it's been perfectly fine both times I do not know which way it's going to be yet but I will know before that meeting and you'll give us instructions on like where I mean I haven't I haven't been there in a while so like where to park where even the I hav left my house in a while so I can I'll I will send out I actually we had a meeting like a public meeting there not a public meeting but like a meeting there on Friday where I had to like make a map for people so I will send you guys has the map um but it's essential for Jackson Square is the building with the parking garage on top so the parking garage entrance is on Orient AV you just go in there you walk down the staircase and the lobby that you exit out of the staircase into is the one that you walk into for the boardroom you quite literally don't need to be outside if you're parking in the building if you're taking mass transit the bus stop is on the corner and Light Rail is the other side of the supermarket market so it's really accessible regardless of which way you choose to travel perhaps not as accessible as City Hall but could be worse okay any other questions if not we should have a motion to approve the meeting days make a motion to approve the 2024 meeting dates okay okay all in favor don't think we need to do a individual one for that all right next item is the Steno contract so this is for Bridget's contract um nothing major on the changes from last year um does anyone have any questions on the Sena contract if not we recommend a motion to approve motion second okay all in favor I I all right so I had pulled announcements down to this portion of the meeting just I was going to discuss most of the inperson meeting stuff but we took care of a lot of that um two more just like quick announcement items just for all of you um Tanya ask to do this reminder I don't think any of you need this reminder but I will just put it on record um if a member of the public contacts you and asks for XYZ whatever in Your Capacity as a commissioner please do not respond to any members of the public we've had an increase of people of members of the public asking for commissioner information and not just you guys uh planning board Z board whatever obviously we do not give any of that information out but on the off chance someone contacts you just to IGN them and let me know okay um hasn't happened in a few years I remember a gentleman wrote me a letter handwritten a few years back yeah I I think I know who that was too because I think I got the same letter um and then just the other note I'm I'm putting this out here more for my sanity than anything else um we are still hiring for Sarah's position we haven't had any successful applicants or off we've offered to a couple people and have not successfully been able to hire someone yet so if anyone knows of anyone who is qualified and is looking for a job we would love to get that position filled and for me to regain an ounce of my um it's posted on the city website so just and if anyone has any questions about it you can let me know that covers announcements um just continuing with the rest of the agenda I have no update on tabled cases we have no demolitions to review at this meeting so no resolutions to discuss memorialize no executive session and that just leaves us with adjournment motion to second okay it's 7:35 PM all in favor I I hi okay happy holidays