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RECOMMENDATION: #1. Staff Recommends approval as the proposal is to return the house to its <br />original appearance with painted wood siding. #2. Staff recommends approval as this proposal is <br />reconstructing an original feature to the house based on historic documentation. (See Photographs 1-3 for <br />current view of exterior and current porch conditions) <br />Luecke: Thank you Catherine, Steven Luecke, reside at 810 Leland, 2 doors down the <br />street from us. First I want to thank the staff, they've been very helpful in helping us to <br />move forward with this project, we're looking forward to converting this back to single <br />family. We appreciate the staff approval to allow us to take off the old asphalt siding and <br />we were excited to discover cedar shakes in the upper level of the house. We'll be <br />repairing and painting those, unfortunately they were painted in the past so we can 't <br />stain them. Of course, we uncovered the clapboard siding on the first floor. This is a <br />modest house but it will I think become a contributing house for the historic district after <br />we're able to complete the work. Just a couple of questions... some of the window <br />concerns have to do with configuration of the inside of the house. We believe that the <br />original kitchen was in the NE corner, it was a very small kitchen so we're enlarging it to <br />make it more adaptable to modern usage. That calls for the moving for the two windows <br />at the rear of the house and combining a double window so that they don't' conflict with <br />counter placement. There is a #4 also in the application items that was not covered in <br />the recommendations. That was a kitchen window on the north side of the house which <br />would stay in the same place but would be a shorter window in that place which would <br />allow a kitchen counter to run along that wall. Concerning the glass blocks, there are 3 <br />basement windows 2 on the south, none are really visible from the street. We asked for <br />the glass block for a couple of reasons; I for security reasons and 2 for ventilation to get <br />into the basement, it's an old Michigan basement. It really needs to have some ventilation <br />in there so we would put in glass blocks with a vent in it and a window for a variety of <br />reasons is impractical. The window line is actually below grade. I know you can put a <br />window well and stuff, but it wouldn't be practical in terms of opening for ventilation. <br />There is a 3rd window that we didn't mention on the back of the house on the addition <br />where the bathroom is, there's a concrete blockfoundation there, we'd actually propose <br />to fill that in with additional concrete block. There's no need for a window or glass <br />block. If I need to amend we will certainly do that. Again, because the house had been <br />converted to apartments, you can see that the there was an additional entry on the south <br />side of the house, we're removing that and we'd like to be able to put a smaller window <br />in there because the stairway comes down at that point and to let some natural light into <br />the stairway right there would be helpful. We can't put a full sized window in there <br />because I need to have turning stairs at that location to bring the stairs down into the <br />living room. Is there anything else? That covers it pretty much, but I'd be glad to <br />answer any questions that you might have. <br />Chase: It's a big project. <br />Luecke: It is a big project, it's more than we really wanted to take on at this point, but... <br />Chase: And we just do the outside, you've got the whole inside to deal with too. <br />Luecke: The house had been seriously under invested in over a number of years. <br />Klusczinski: Would you be willing to formally amend the petition right now to state that <br />the window in the back would be blocked in so that we can consider that? <br />Luecke: Yes. <br />Klusczinski: Any objection from counsel? <br />Meteiver: No. <br />Hostetler: And staff would also recommend approval of the shortening of the kitchen <br />windows... <br />Klusczinski: And that was that number 4 item? <br />Hostetler: Yes, because it really wouldn't be that noticeable from that angle from the <br />street. <br />