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To: The Chapin Park 2005 Local Historic District Standards Committee, The Chapin Park Neighborhood Association Board The South Bend / St. Joseph County Historic Preservation Commission From: Daniel J. Slattery, 754 Leland Avenue, (574) 234-3310 Date: July 13, 2005 RE: Chapin Park LHD Guidelines and Standards, July 2005 version. As a property Owner in the Chapin Park LHD, I offer the following comments, observations and suggestions regarding the current draft of the proposed Guidelines and Standards. The document is much improved from the originally distributed guidebook. However, it is still in need of correction and clarification. It is also disappointing in that it fails to live up to the representations made about it to the neighborhood prior to adoption of the LHD by the Common Council. Page 11: "Under the requirements of City of South Bend Zoning Ordinance No. 5565- 73, as amended, a Certificate of Appropriateness (C of A) would be required for any activity in the district which requires a building permit or which alters the appearance of a building or site, including houses, garages, and other outbuildings, as seen from the streets around the property." This language is over broad in two ways. As written, it is not limited to exterior changes to a home, but would include any renovations, interior or exterior, which require a building permit, whether or not it had an impact on the exterior appearance of the building. Using the word "or" instead of "and" also breaks one of the most direct representations made to the neighborhood in the debate, that the LHD would ONLY effect those things significant enough to require a building permit. I would also suggest the addition of the word "permanently" in the phrase "which [permanently] alters the appearance of a building...", as matters that have no lasting impact on the historical integrity of the structure or site should be outside the scope of the HPC's oversight. "Changes made before Local Historic District Status was adopted, as well as paint color, flowers and landscape vegetation, do not require a C of A. Planting or removal of trees in the yard or tree lawn does require a C of A." The first sentence as written sounds akin to the statement "If you have died prior to receiving this notice, please do not respond." How can changes made BEFORE the LHD was created ever need a C of A? Why state the utterly obvious? It would make more sense written in the positive form of "Changes made [after] Local Historic Status was adopted, [except] paint color, flowers and landscape vegetation require a C of A." The second sentence of the paragraph was specifically clarified by the Standards Committee to refer to trees located in front yards and tree lawns, in keeping with the letter from HPC Director Catherine Hostetler to the neighborhood dated September 22, 2004, the letter from the president of the Chapin Park Neighborhood Association to the neighborhood dated February 13, 2005, and the opinion of the Standards Committee that