Historic Commission Chair Steps Down Mid-Meeting Due to Illness as Two Ridgewood Avenue Projects Get Conceptual Approval

Chair Herrigel presided over the meeting's first two applications, then excused himself for the rest of the night due to illness; Vice Chair Githens chaired everything that followed.

The commission gave only conceptual approval, pending detailed subcommittee review, to two adjoining as-built-deviation projects designed by the same architect, William Mathes. At 435 Ridgewood Avenue, owners Shamit Mehta and Raina Bhujle received conceptual approval subject to ten separate conditions covering dormers, a repositioned Palladian window, porch column dimensions, and corner-board trim. At 437 Ridgewood Avenue, Michmaric Holdings (Michael Cummings) received similar conceptual approval with four conditions requiring the same corner-board and modillion-spacing treatment be applied consistently across the house.

Two other applications were approved with the architect representing them stepping down from the vote rather than any real dissent: a wood front-porch railing restoration at 142 Ridgewood Avenue, presented by architect Mark Wright, and an attic egress window at 515 Belleville Avenue for owners Jeff and Susan Link, also presented by Wright with five specific conditions on window sizing, trim, and placement.

The remaining applications were approved without dissent: a small kitchen-related rear addition at 369 Ridgewood Avenue, a dormer at 36 Edgewood Road, and a plan at 25 Lincoln Street to reroute an exterior waste pipe -- approved only in concept, since the commission asked the owner to conceal the pipe in a copper leader rather than the proposed wood box, with a subcommittee to review the revised plan.

What to watch

• Whether the pipe-reroute plan at 25 Lincoln Street passes subcommittee review once the pipe is reworked into a copper leader.
• Final subcommittee sign-off on the detailed dormer, column, and trim conditions attached to the conceptually approved projects at 435 and 437 Ridgewood Avenue.