Historic Commission Opens 2019 by Denying Hardie Board Swap on Ardsley Road, Rejecting Cost Argument on Clinton Road

The Glen Ridge Historic Preservation Commission opened 2019 with its annual reorganization, electing Herrigel as chair and Githens as vice chair, appointing Margaret Hickey as secretary, and adopting the year's bylaws and meeting schedule before turning to applications.

The most pointed exchange of the night came at 38 Clinton Road, where owners Fang Shi Sun and Yixiang Huang asked the commission to reconsider a $10,000 window change -- removing one large kitchen window and installing two side-by-side casement sashes -- that the commission had required at a previous meeting. The owners argued the cost was a hardship and that the window wasn't very visible from the street, and asked whether they could instead swap this work for a planned future restoration of the front porch. The commission held a lengthy discussion but reiterated that cost is not a factor in its historic-renovation reviews and that trading future work for current requirements isn't something it can accommodate. The application was ultimately approved as submitted; commissioner Vande Stouwe recused herself from this vote.

Several other exterior-renovation applications were approved with only routine conditions and no dissenting votes: a portico and second-floor addition at 98 Sunset Avenue (with a condition dropping proposed corbels under a box bay), a front-step railing required by an insurance company at 46 Hamilton Road, a rear addition at 118 Essex Avenue (McMahon recused), a rear addition and side entrance at 16 Windsor Avenue, reconstruction of the long-missing front porch at the borough-owned Hurrell Fieldhouse (Chair Herrigel recused), and roof and window changes at 368 Ridgewood Avenue (Vande Stouwe recused again).

At the subcommittee level, a request to replace board siding with Hardie Board at 10 Ardsley Road was denied, while smaller revised plans at 1 Roswell Terrace, 16 Oakwood, 233 Forest Avenue, and 60 Lincoln Street were all approved.