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Recommended The current or historic character of lawns should be preserved. Front yard areas, common lawns and tree lawns should remain open. New or replacement trees should be compatible in variety with those presently growing. Vacant lots should be kept landscaped appropriately while vacant, and may be used for recreational or residential development. When replacement of utility poles or power supply lines is necessary, consideration should be given to underground conduits or utility poles erected along rear property lines. Prohibited Existing relationships of building and their environments shall not be destroyed by widening existing streets, applying asphalt or other bituminous coverings or by introducing new streets or parking lots. Signs, streetlights, benches, new plant materials, fencing, walkways and paving materials which are out of scale or inappropriate to the neighborhood may not be used. The erection of high walls or barriers, which would alter the relationship of the houses, shall be prohibited. Utility poles with high intensity overhead lights shall not be used on main thoroughfares. B. BUILDING SITE, LANDSCAPING & ACCESSORIES This section focuses on individual properties and amenities. Building sites tend to be irregularly shaped, of varying topography and with different setbacks with regard to plots. Alleys are generally behind houses. Landscape accessories like fences are unique to each structure. Chapin Place presents a unique situation within the district. Applications from properties that have property lines on Chapin Park will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Required Fencing, walkways, outbuildings, private yard lights, signs (i.e. house numbers) and benches (visible from the street) as well as trees located in a yard or tree lawn which reflect the property's history and development shall be retained. A tree located in such areas shall only be removed if the removal is required due to storm damage, disease, threatened damage to a structure or for such other reason acceptable to the Historic Preservation Commission. Storm damage or diseased trees should then be replaced with an approved species at the same or approximate location wherever possible. Fencing visible from the street in front of the structure shall be open (meaning spaces between the pickets) and consistent with the historic character of a structure enclosed. Recommended New site work should be based upon actual knowledge of the past appearance of the property found in photographs, drawings and newspapers. New site work should also be appropriate to existing surrounding site elements in scale, type and appearance. Front yard areas should remain open. (See above for information regarding fences.) Trees in close proximity to a building may cause structural damage. Owners are encouraged to remove these trees and replace (or replant) them at a more appropriate location as soon as planting season permits and upon approval of a C of A. is Prohibited No changes may be made to the appearance of the site by removing trees, fencing, walkways, outbuildings or other elements before evaluating their importance to the property's history and development. Front yard areas shall not be transformed into parking lots nor paved nor blacktopped, nor enclosed by solid fences, chain link, nor industrial / commercial style fences. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: First, the Chapin Park Standards and Guidelines are explicit that `fencing visible from the street in front of the structure shall be open (meaning spaces between the pickets) and consistent with the historic character of a structure enclosed" (emphasis added). While this particular application is for a stretch of fence along the border or edge of the property, the project fence is visible from the street. Further, the Standards and Guidelines state that "the erection of high walls or barriers, which would alter the relationship of the houses, shall be prohibited" (emphasis added). Second, both the Historic Preservation Commission (through its administration of the ordinance that created the Chapin Park Local Historic District) and the Building Department require that appropriate paperwork and permitting be received before projects like fence work should be started. Were the Historic Preservation Commission — or the Building Department — to have been consulted before the initiation of this project, the design and format of the fence could have been in compliance with both Historic and local Building Department requirements. Staff would recommend that the fence — certainly the portion closer to the street from the set -back line — be removed and replaced with an `open' format (for example, metal or wood picket fence). Written by Adam Toering Historic Preservation Specialist Approved by Elicia Feasel 0 Historic Preservation Administrator