Glen Ridge Preservation Panel Sends Linden Avenue Addition Back for Redesign, Reelects Officers for 2018

The Glen Ridge Historic Preservation Commission opened 2018 with its annual reorganization, reelecting Herrigel as chair and Githens as vice chair, appointing longtime preservation consultant Margaret Hickey as secretary, and adopting its bylaws and 2018 meeting schedule.

The most significant application of the night, a plan by Rob and Kelly Lyons to add a full second floor at 300 Linden Avenue, was withdrawn at the owners' request after commissioners spent much of the meeting picking apart the design. Architect Ann Sears's plan called for essentially lifting the home's first-floor footprint onto a new second story, but several commissioners said the result looked "top heavy," and members raised specific concerns about misaligned windows between floors, a conflicting roofline over a half bath, and disagreement over whether to continue the home's shingle siding onto the addition or switch to a different siding material. The application will be resubmitted with those issues addressed at the commission's February meeting.

Two more modest projects were approved unanimously: at 350 Ridgewood Avenue, Nichol and Michael Quinn won approval to remove an interior chimney and replace their carriage house doors, and at 39 Clinton Road, Annie and Tim Bayne received approval for a new two-story deck (with PVC decking and aluminum railings styled to look like iron), pending fixes to a structural framing detail and the choice of fascia material.

In subcommittee updates, Herrigel reported that Glen Ridge's Planning Board upheld the commission's earlier decision on railings at 134 Ridgewood Avenue after the property owner appealed. Separately, Vice Chair Githens warned that the Planning Board may soon see more appeals challenging the commission's longstanding policy of requiring slate roofs to be repaired or replaced in kind rather than switched to cheaper materials, and said the disagreement could eventually have to be settled by the Borough Council if it escalates further.

What to watch

• The 300 Linden Avenue second-floor addition is expected to return, redesigned, at the commission's February 2018 meeting.
• A subcommittee vote is planned between meetings on a revised sign location for Linden Avenue School.