51 High Street roof-raising withdrawn over height concerns as HPC approves wheelchair-access addition elsewhere

At Glen Ridge's Historic Preservation Commission meeting on October 4, 2023, owners Luke Franklin and Nicole Little withdrew their application to raise the roof and add dormers at 51 High Street after commissioners, including Nicholas Colello and Chair Geoffrey Darby, raised concerns that a roughly five-foot ridge increase would loom over shorter neighboring houses on one side of the street. Joaquin Stearns asked for adjacency diagrams comparing the house to its neighbors before any future vote; the owner agreed to return the following month with that information rather than press for a decision.

The commission approved several other applications, including a rear addition and accessibility improvements -- enlarging a bathroom for wheelchair access and enclosing the front porch -- at 64 Benson Street for Michael and Mrs. Baur, with conditions on window cut sheets and railing details. It also approved a rear extension with a simplified gable roof (replacing an originally proposed turret) at 199 Baldwin Street, a second-floor addition over an enclosed porch at 957 Bloomfield Avenue after the commission rejected an initial design scheme, and more minor interior-driven exterior changes at 188 Midland Avenue and 18 Rudd Court. August 2023 minutes were approved with Dina Deshan abstaining; September 2023 minutes passed unanimously.

In a smaller but notable item, the commission's subcommittee reviewed mock-ups of cedar versus Hardie composite shingles for a home at 30 Snowden Place that is being used by the television show "This Old House" for a 2023 project, and voted against allowing the composite material.

What to watch

• The withdrawn 51 High Street application is expected to return with adjacency diagrams comparing the proposed roof height to neighboring houses.
• HPC leadership planned to meet with Borough officials on ordinance changes affecting the window-approval process, with no date set.