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• .- (1) Staff recommends approval of the portions of the proposed fence running between the house and the neighbor's fence, and from the garage along the driveway. Staff feels it is too great an intrusion upon the original Sunnymede landscape plans for open unfenced spaces with a five foot tall fence, even if it is open style, running seventy feet long and two feet from the sidewalk. Staff feels some compromise could be appropriate, since the houses behind this one are not in the historic district. But the house on the other side of Esther Street and the houses across the street are in the district. (2) Staff recommends that the proposed fence along Esther Street be approved only if it is significantly reduced both in height and length. (3) Staff suggests that the Commission recommend, but not require, that the owners give serious consideration to a cast metal fence of the same or a similar style to the decorative iron grating originally in their home. (4) If the owners wish to amend their application to include repair or reconstruction of the damaged pergola behind their house, staff recommends approval of that as well. I have two amendments to add to this report. This information has been acquired since it was written, they are as follows: (1) While the statement of historic context says that some of the decorative iron grating around the house was removed for donation to the Patriotic Scrap Iron Drive during World War II, on a closer view of the house, actually it is probable that all of the' original metal was donated to the war drive. What is presently there is probably a 1950's era replacement. (2) I understand from Mrs. Erickson that the city forester believes that all five maple trees in their tree lawn have some degree of girdling roots; and so all five trees will need at least root -crown excavations and pruning, and possibly some of them may need to come out. Staff would recommend that the application be amended to include the forestry concerns and pergola repair, as well as those on the written application. EDWARD HINCHCLIFFE: We are really interested in having a five foot fence along that area, because we have twenty -month old twins and we would like to be able to allow them to play in the back yard. Right now the back yard is open to a street with a fair amount of traffic. We are not only concerned with our children's safety, but we are also concerned that if we do decide to let the children play in the back yard that they will have to have constant supervision by us. We would prefer to have a low fence instead of a high fence there. The reasons we had recommended having the fence extended as far as it did is because of the following two reasons: 1. To increase the area that the children would be playing in. 2. Wanted the fence to have a natural cut off point that would match up -with the extension that has already previously been added on to the back of the house. We would like to enclose the basketball court with a fence and then we would like to eventually in the future get rid of the basketball court, and still keep the area fenced in. We are planning on changing the color of the house from a battleship gray and black to a green color. We want the fence that we are going to have installed coordinate with the colors and design of the house. a