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Written Description of Proposed Project: 933 Riverside Drive <br />Submitted by: Kevin Burke and Lauren McLennan (Owners) <br />The project will perhaps be better distilled in other documents attached (accompanying <br />pictures tell a more illustrative story), but here I will attempt to summarize and justify <br />three main points: <br />1. We intend on removing garden beds in the front yard (which wraps from <br />Riverside to Park) and replacing with sod, leaving trees in tact; this will from the <br />picture in the Historic Preservation Commission's publication, take the exterior of <br />the house back to its original (or at least `earlier') character. Our hope, too, is to <br />remove railroad ties that have been added to the Riverside tree lawn to embellish <br />the height of the curb. Since the repaving of Riverside, this is no longer necessary <br />and, again, is not original to the house. <br />2. We'd like to refurb the fence that is at the north edge of the house, continuing <br />along the property line west into the back yard. Our hope was to replace the <br />picket fence extant (it's in poor shape) with a privacy fence to match the once <br />� A ' that was added by previous owners on the south, west and east of the back of the <br />jr.ed` house. The fence will be wood. It also will help, considering our significant foot <br />6 traffic, to keep our dogs from a view of passersby as they've taken up a penchant <br />for barking. We realize this is an ancillary concern, but figured it was neighborly. <br />3. We would like to remove the front concrete sidewalk leading to our stoop and <br />replace it with brick pavers, redirecting it to Park. The intention is to shift <br />the `entry' to the house from Riverside to Park, as parking on Riverside is a) <br />according to neighbors, dangerous due to traffic that comes up the hill from <br />Leeper Park (apparently there have been numerous parked cars hit in front of <br />our house specifically) and b) inconvenient as the sewer is uphill from the street <br />and whenever there is rain, a significant swath of water pools directly in front <br />of the walkway. The pavers we've chosen match the brick of Park and the new <br />walkway would then, we hope, flow naturally from the street to the house. We <br />feel this would be more in character with the neighborhood than the current <br />walkway, which is also oddly wide (5 feet or so). <br />We also had a question regarding a tree on the parkway /tree lawn in front of the house <br />on Park. As you'll note from pictures, it's on its last legs (sadly, as it is a regal old <br />tree) and lost a giant limb in June of last year. We wondered if we're responsible for <br />having that tree attended to or if that parkway /tree lawn is city property and thus under <br />the purview of South Bend. Any guidance here would be helpful, particularly if it is <br />our responsibility as we see it increasingly as a safety issue having the tree there with <br />summer storms upcoming. <br />