The Mount Vernon City Council voted 4-1 to award a certificate of appropriateness to the request for four vinyl windows to be installed at a home in the Ash Park Historical District. Council member Debra Herrmann provided the dissenting opinion.
“I do believe the process established by Mount Vernon Historic Preservation Commission is important, and their use was appropriate,” Herrmann said. “The commission tried to do what they are chartered to do, but it was a lack of communication that hindered them in this instance. I don’t think their process failed; I feel it was a communication failure.”
The decision draws to conclusion a multiple month issue for a window request in the Ash Park Historic District. The Amundson family applied for the windows to be replaced in Oct 28,2022. In December the matter made it to Linn County and was also advanced to MVHPC for needing a certificate of appropriateness, according to Suzette Astley, MVHPC president.
The certificate of appropriateness was first discussed by the commission on Feb. 4, where a review was held. The commission had questions not answered in the application, according to Astley, and communication was sent to Amundson in Feb. 6 for that additional information.
That request was not answered, and Amundson had the matter on the Mount Vernon City Council meeting agendas for a number of weeks before it came off their table.
Astley said the commission would be willing to entertain another application if the appeal had been denied.
Council member Paul Tuerler said the questions were answered in the initial application, that the application was not asking for some of the information the commission was requesting– like if the replacement windows are casement windows, plate glass windows or other that could impact the aesthetic of the building.
Tuerler noted that Astley neighbors the Amundson’s and did not visit them at their home at any point during this process, where she could have seen which windows he was looking to replace.
“The old application places a lot of the burden on the applicant to know what the commission wants,” Tuerler said.
MVHPC has worked on an updated application that requests more information to avoid this type of situation in the future, which has been discussed at meetings this spring.
MVHPC member Guy Booth explained that the commission is very concerned about the impact of window changes to the appearance of a building, especially for a significant contributing house in the district, such as the Amundson home. Homes that are labeled as significantly contributed are noted in the maps of historic districts.
“How can we judge if this will change the appearance if the request just uses phrases like ‘windows like everyone else?’” Booth said. “Our job is to know if this will change the exterior appearance and that’s why we asked for more information.”
Booth was concerned if the council awarded a certificate of appropriateness for the windows without seeing them that would establish a chance the work approved would not be appropriate.
City administrator Chris Nosbisch said that the vinyl materials are now allowed in historic districts, since they’ve been allowed in the past in other districts. He did commend MVHPC for the new application process for windows and any construction, as those updates will better serve to avoid these situations in the future.
Council member Scott Rose said the must frustrating aspect for him was that if any follow-ups were answered when asked after the commission’s Feb. 4 meeting, this issue would have been resolved months earlier.
Tuerler moved to appeal the MVHPC’s denial, and West seconded. That passed in a 4-1 vote. In a follow-up motion, Tuerler moved to award the certificate of appropriateness to the project, with West seconding, and again was a 4-1 vote with Herrmann dissenting.
MV city council overturns Mount Vernon Historic Preservation decision
May 11, 2023
About the Contributor
Nathan Countryman, Editor
Nathan Countryman is the Editor of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun.