Architectural Board of Review

VILLAGE OF CHAGRIN FALLS ARCHITECTURAL BOARD OF REVIEW JANUARY 21, 2025 Meeting Called to Order 8:30 A.M. Members Present: George Clemens, Mike Corkran, Chuck Fazio, Eric Kaminski, Steve King, Wendy Naylor Also Present: Dominic Cribari, Joan Andersen ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING: Nomination of Chairman: Motion by Naylor, seconded by Kaminski to nominate Steve King as Chairman. Roll Call: Corkran-yea, Naylor-yea, Kaminski-yea, King-yea. Motion passed. Nomination of Secretary: Motion by Corkran, seconded by Kaminski to nominate Wendy Naylor as Chairman. Roll Call: King-yea, Corkran-yea, Kaminski-yea, Naylor-yea. Motion passed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Motion by Naylor, seconded by King to approve the minutes of the December 17, 2024, meeting. Roll Call: Kaminski-yea, Corkran-yea, Naylor-yea, King-yea, Fazio-abstain. 1. Difiore 55 Wilding Chase Exterior Alteration-Preliminary Will Miller (Builder) and Todd Sciano (Civil Engineer) presented these plans. Will said that they had presented this as a walk-in. Kaminski said that they took the Board’s recommendations and dropped the roof ridge on the addition and flipped it 90 degrees. Corkran said that the size of this project makes it seem like it will be a business. Will said that they are adding an in-law suite and a music studio. He said the sound and lighting will be done by an acoustic person. Clemens said they need to show how it relates to the house. Will said that they are adding a master bedroom, bathroom, laundry and mud room. Clemens and Corkran said that they don’t have an entrance to the main house from the addition. He said they should do the in-law suite and add the accessory building separate from the house. Will asked if they can still add an eight-foot addition and they said he could do that. Koepf said that they should forgo the music room and show drawings with configuration of the inside of the house, and they need a site plan. Summation-motion by Naylor, seconded by King to table this summation for the following reasons: Board is requesting stamped Architectural drawings: Recommendation to detach the acoustic area and create an accessory building. Drawings to include floor plans of all four elevations and how it relates to the addition and accessory building: Site plans showing neighboring topography. Roll Call: Kaminski-yea, Corkran-yea, Fazio-yea, Naylor-yea, King-yea. Motion passed. 2. Kaminski 118 May Court Accessory Structure-Preliminary King read the Historical Significance Report and said that because the house is one year shy of 100 years old the subject property meets the standards of a “Historically Significant Property”. Proposed change #1 has an adverse effect on the design and historical significance of the house. The proposed design does not follow the “guidelines” for “preservation of features”, “replacement of features”, and “compatibility”. Proposed change #2 has no adverse effect on the design and historical significance of the house. Motion by Naylor, seconded by King to receive the HSR report. Roll Call: Fazio-yea, Corkran-yea, Kaminski-abstain, King-yea, Naylor-yea. Eric Kaminski (Homeowner) presented these plans. Building and Zoning Inspector Dominic Cribari said that the building is 19’ 11” and for every foot over 18 they need to be 5’ of the property line or they require a variance. Corkran asked about the building having a kitchen. Eric said that it will be an office with a bathroom. Koepf said he doesn’t like the exterior stairs going to the second floor of the building which is not consistent with the historic architecture of Chagrin Falls. Clemens said that the garage meets zoning and that he likes the design. Eric said that he could remove the stairs from the outside and put them in the interior of the garage. Naylor said that the board and baton siding is not consistent with the historic character of the neighborhood which is eligible for listing on the National Register. She asked if Eric would consider a change to a clapboard siding. Eric said that he could change the materials. King opened the meeting to the public for the demolition of the garage. No one was there to object. Summation-motion by Naylor, seconded by King to table this discussion for the following reasons: Request for plans showing no outside stairs to second floor: Kitchen to be removed from drawings: Change siding to a clapboard siding. Roll Call: Corkran-yea, Naylor-yea, Fazio-yea, King-yea, Kaminski-abstain. Motion passed. 3. Noll 48 Church Street Exterior Alteration-Preliminary King read the Historical Significance Report and said that because the house is more than 100 years old the subject property meets the standards of a “Historically Significant Property”. Proposed changes #1-3 have an adverse effect on the design and historical significance of the house. Proposed changes #4-5 have less of an adverse effect on the design and historical significance of the house. Proposed change #6 has no adverse effect on the design and historical significance of the house. Motion by King, seconded by Naylor to receive the HSR report. Roll Call: Fazio-yea, Kaminski-yea, Corkran-yea, Naylor-yea, King-yea. Corkran said he disagrees with the HSR report. He said the house is deteriorating and in bad shape. He said the proposed plans are consistent with the neighboring houses and that he likes what they have proposed. Mike Cato (Architect), Daniel Villani (Project Developer) and Kevin Noll (Homeowner) presented these plans. Mike said that they had brought this project in as a walk in and took the recommendations of the Board by correcting the roof line and simplifying brackets to be consistent with the neighborhood. Clemens said to add a sideways facing gable to break up the eaves and add a beam with the brackets. Clemens said to restudy the window proportions and consider larger windows. Mike said that they are thinking about getting rid of the extra window. Kaminski asked what the material for the exposed foundation is and Mike said they are restudying that. Naylor and Fazio said to have simpler window headers on the new windows to be compatible with historic headers. Kaminski asked about the siding, and they said they are matching the existing Dutch lap smooth finish. Mike said that they are adding egress windows to the basement. Summation-motion by Naylor, seconded by King for preliminary approval of plans with the following recommendations: Restudy south elevation bathroom window configuration: Add simpler window headers at new elevations to match historic ones: Restudy window proportions: Smooth finish siding to match historic siding: New roof to match existing. Roll Call: Kaminski-yea, Fazio-yea, Corkran-yea, King-yea, Naylor-yea. Motion passed. 4. Miller 55 Center Street Exterior Alteration-Preliminary King read the Historical Significance Report and said that while the house is dated as being over 100 years old there have been extensive alterations dating to 1968 that the subject property does not meet the standards of a “Historically Significant Property”. Proposed change #1-13 has no adverse effect on the design and historical significance of the house. George Clemens (Architect) presented these plans. George said that in the late sixties they bumped out the entry and added windows. He said that the old siding is still good and that they are trying to work with the front elevation and are trying to make it a more elegant front porch. He said the picture window is where they want to put the front door. George said that there is a mix of windows, and they are going with more classic ones. Corkran said that the house is very neglected and likes what they are doing. George said that they are taking a narrow sunken room and bringing it up to the first-floor level. He said that they are pulling the existing sliders and adding transoms. He said that they are putting two separate doors on the garage and adding one door with a man door. Fazio said to remove the transom windows on the doors. Summation-motion by Naylor, seconded by King for preliminary approval of plans with the following recommendations: Restudy the rear elevation: Make the doors taller and remove the transoms. Roll Call: Corkran-yea, Kaminski-yea, Fazio-yea, Naylor-yea, King-yea. Motion passed. 5. Ashba 105 Bell Street Accessory Structure-Preliminary King read the Historical Significance Report and said that because the house is more than 100 years old the subject property meets the standards of a “Historically Significant Property”. Proposed changes #1-5 have an adverse effect on the design and historical significance of the house. Because of the proposed design massing along with removing the historic materials from the site, the proposed changes do not follow the guidelines for “preservation of features”. Proposed change #6 has an adverse effect on the design and historical significance of the house since it does not follow the “guidelines” for “preservation of features”, “replacement of features”, and “compatibility”. Motion by King, second by Naylor to receive the HSR report. Roll Call: Fazio-yea, Corkran-yea, Kaminski-yea, King-yea, Naylor-yea. Motion passed. Building and Zoning Inspector Dominic Cribari said that they need to get a variance for a through street not abutting an alley they need to determine if Vincent and Bell Street measuring from the right way lines fall right at 45 degrees. He said that neither of the adjoining houses have Vincent Street frontage, so there is no prevailing setback of no adjoining lots. “Through lot” means a lot which has two street lines opposite each other, and which are parallel, or within forty-five degrees of being parallel to each other. Where there are no adjoining lots, the minimum distance from the rear lot line shall be the required side yard setback plus five feet. George Clemens (Architect) presented these plans. He said that there is a small garage and that they are still exploring going through the variance process. He said that they might move it to another conforming location. He said that pulling out onto Vincent Street is a more comfortable option. He said that the existing house is a small one-bedroomed one-bathroom home. They want to add a master suite with a second bathroom on the second floor and opening on the first-floor level. He said they are keeping the front elevation. He said on the rear of the home is where the first- floor addition is going and that they are adding a second floor and moving the stairs. He said that would make good use of the space. Fazio asked if they were keeping the existing drive and Clemens said that you can’t because it’s against Village code. George said that they are removing windows. Koepf said he wouldn’t add the swag to the new windows. The Board liked the garage having entrance on Vincent Street and would recommend the variance. King opened the meeting to the public for the demolition of the garage. Thomas Muscenti 271 Bell Street said that he thinks the design of the house is great and has no objection to demolishing the existing garage. The meeting was closed to the public. Summation-motion by Naylor, seconded by King for preliminary approval of plans. The Board also recommended the variance allowing the garage entry from Vincent Street: The Board recommended repairing hood molds on the front elevation. Roll Call: Corkran-yea, Kaminski-yea, Fazio-yea, King-yea, Naylor-yea. Motion passed. Meeting Adjourned at 10:08 _____________________________________________ 2-4-25 Steve King (Chairman) Date