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HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION PRESERVATION SPECIALIST REPORT October 19, 2015 Hello Commission! Lots of things to talk about Demolitions: 213 E South St 1631 Lincolnway West (fire practice) The garage at 745 Leland Ave was also demolished. This is a local landmark and is located within the Chapin Park Local Historic District. The demolition for the small one car garage happened at a Code meeting on July 18, 2015. The owner Lynn Gorski was in attendance as well as myself for this meeting. As I ALWAYS do, I restated in during the meeting that this affirmed demo will require a COA application and will need to be approved by HPC before this action takes place. The safeguard for this action is that the building department will not issue a permit to demolish since this is a designated property. Code department in order to save money used their clean-up crew to tear down the structure. The new director of code was unaware that a building permit is required to remove a garage. I confirmed with the Building Department that a permit is required and also learned that anything above 600 square feet requires a $100,000.00 bond. The owner called us very upset that the garage was taken down last week and she was not informed. I talked to her and reminded her that she was in fact informed at the meeting we both attended in June. She is unsure what was all in the garage. However, this is October and she had 90 days to empty it. Code enforcement posts an announcement on the structure a minimum of seven (7) days prior to demolition. Trees: We need to review our language in regards to tree removal. The current process begins with a notice to us and the owner that a tree in the tree lawn or an area within the public sidewalk is failing and needs to come down. The notice which is from the City Forester states that an approved COA needs to be obtained from HPC in order to remove the tree. The homeowner comes in completes an application which is treated as an RME and the owner then hires a tree company that has a LICENSED arborist on staff. (The company must have one to do business within South Bend city limits as per city ordinance) The standards state that an acceptable replacement must be planted where the old tree was located. The problem is that we have quite a few stumps that have not been removed and no replacements planted. I would like to ask that the legal affairs committee works on a specific COA application dealing with trees. This application needs to acknowledge that the stump needs to be removed within a specific time frame and the replacement planted within a specific timeline as well. With a signed application, the owner/tree company is held within a signed contract as to how to proceed and when. Thank you, Steve Szaday Preservation Specialist