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PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION Meeting broadcasted by LexMedia Minutes of Thursday, March 5, 2015 Selectmen's Meeting Room, Lexington Town Offices 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA 7:00 PM Commissioners present: Lynn Hopkins, Chairperson, Paul Ross, Robert Warshawer and Britta McCarthy Associate Commissioners, Marilyn Fenollosa and Nancy Shepard Department Clerk: Linda Rainville FORMAL HEARINGS 12 Waltham Street: Aaron Derderian, representing Lexington Wealth Management, presented drawings for a new blade sign. The blade sign will comply with zoning by -law requirements and clear the sidewalk by eight feet, be less than six square feet and clear the building wall by a minimum of six inches. The font will be a san serif font. The sign will be two sided, 28" x 26 5/8 ", sign foam with carved letters and raised logo, three inches thick. It will hang from a wrought iron bracket. Approved - All in favor. CONTINUED HEARINGS 21 Muzzey Street: Adam Shuck, Spacecraft Architecture, presented photos illustrating successful examples of clad windows already in the district, as well as examples of newer wood window installations the commission found less successful. Under most circumstances all wood windows are required in the district. However, this project is a commercial building, of all new construction and with some more modern materials already approved. Therefore the commission agreed that under these specific circumstances the use of aluminum -clad windows was an appropriate choice. The Commission was explicit that this decision would be granted for this particular building given very specific circumstances, and should not necessarily be seen as establishing a precedent. The Commission approved installation of aluminum clad Pella Windows. The window casing would will be detailed to conceal the window frame lip, providing a more traditional installation appearance. The sash will have a black or gray matte finish. Trim will be white. Mr. Shuck will return with the final color scheme. All in favor. 847 Massachusetts Avenue: John Abbott, the owner, came before the Commission to present some changes to the previously approved project. These project changes were discovered by the building inspector when he came to review modifications necessitated by inadequate existing structural conditions uncovered during renovation. Mr. Abbott said that restructuring the interior second floor had necessitated reframing the south side of the house, which meant that it was less practical to salvage the existing siding. Further, he said that he was required to use fire rated siding on a portion of the house because it came so close to the property line, although he did not have the code citation that outlined the specifics of this requirement and could not explain how much of the wall needed to meet this requirement. Mr. Abbott then admitted that he had begun to replace all of the siding on the house with Hardy plank, a concrete siding product that had not been reviewed or approved by the commission. Mr. Abbott also admitted that he had removed an existing chimney because the new HVAC system has a sidewal exhaust and the chimney was not longer required. He claimed there were safety concerns with the old chimney. The removal of the chimney had not previously been discussed with nor approved by the Commission.