Commission Splits Over Metal Railing at 55 High Street; Owners Withdraw New Carport at 52 Clark Street

At its July 10, 2019 meeting, the Historic Preservation Commission approved a front step and porch renovation at 55 High Street for Carla Kramer and Michael Moschella that includes a new decorative metal railing, but Commissioner Grisafi voted no after questioning why the railing lacked balusters; other members responded that metal railings are conventionally detailed differently than wood ones. At 52 Clark Street, the commission approved demolishing an existing garage in poor condition for owners Jeff Kogan and Juliette Durban, but the owners withdrew a companion application to build a new open-air carport in its place after the commission said it hadn't been given enough information -- no site plan, dimensions, or material specifications -- to evaluate the new structure.

Several other renovation applications passed unanimously with routine conditions, including a rehabilitation of a two-family home at 5 Bay Street for Hari Singh (where the owner agreed to keep wood shingle siding rather than switching to vinyl on a side elevation, after commission pushback), a garage-to-outbuilding conversion at 404 Ridgewood Avenue for Steven D'Addone (conditioned on realigning the garage's roofline to better match the main house), and smaller projects at 18 Lincoln Street, 11 Lorraine Street, 100 Hawthorne Avenue, and 200 Thomas Street.

In subcommittee reports, members noted that PSE&G changed its engineering plan to eliminate a piece of electrical equipment at both Forest Avenue and Linden Avenue Schools, and that the Central School mortar color mock-up still needs an aggregate adjustment. The commission also reviewed an updated, fillable PDF version of its application form.