MCSWEENEY APPEAL BRIEF submitted 62522

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2) HISTORICAL PRESERVATION The Standards and Guidelines of the Chapin Park Historic District [Exhibit C] provides the following definition of Preservation: PRESERVATION [...]can include stabilization work, restoration or rehabilitation work, ongoing maintenance and/or prevention of demolition. [69]. This document moreover includes this sentence: "Original windows and doors shall be retained [... ] When deteriorated beyond repair, they shall be replaced with units and trim resembling the original." [79]. Greentree Environmental Inc, a well-regarded environmental services firm that regularly contracts with the City of South Bend, has attested via an email shared with the HPC that these six windows have deteriorated beyond repair and must be replaced [Exhibit D]. Moreover, we conferred with and took the advice of HPC liaison Adam Toering, revising our proposal to reflect a material previously approved by the HPC, namely wood -clad aluminum [see Exhibit E]. Further, we have confirmed and orally communicated to the committee that the materials will be an appropriate color and grid patterns resembling the original. Given that we have clearly met the Guideline's expectations that the windows have deteriorated beyond repair and that the replacements will resemble the original, the denial by HPC is undeniably arbitrary and capricious and without defensible foundation. FACTS The most important fact that you will read in this document is the following: On October 7, 2021, following hospitalization for respiratory distress, our then -two-year-old child Othello was found to have an elevated Lead Blood level of 7.0 ug/DL. [Exhibit F] The CDC held at that time that any blood level over 5ug/DL risks "adverse health effects, particularly in children under 6 years of age." [Exhibit F, p. 2]. The CDC has since tightened the standard and now holds adverse risks apply to any blood level over 3.5ug/DL. The CDC holds that when a child screens with lead levels above the threshold, steps must be taken to investigate the source of lead and take steps to reduce exposure to lead. [Exhibit G] Othello's elevated screening results were shared by law with the St Joseph County Board of Health, which in turn mandated a county lead investigation. Briannah Johnson conducted this inspection on 10/13/21. Elevated lead was found throughout the home and property. [Exhibit H] Six windows in particular were held to have extremely elevated lead levels, well beyond the others in the house. I have isolated that portion of the report [Exhibit I] as these are the windows under discussion in our initial petition for a Certificate of Apropriateness (COA), HPC's denial, and our appeal.