After months of public hearings and work by Crestwood city staff, a draft ordinance is ready to go to the Board of Aldermen for approval — an ordinance that, if passed, would establish a conservation overlay district on the city’s Ridgewood neighborhood.
The approximately 258 homes in the Ridgewood neighborhood are known for their mid-century modern architecture: large windows, exposed chimneys and gradual roof pitches. The homes were designed by local architect Ralph Fournier, and Burton Duenke built them in 1951-1953. This conservation overlay district aims to protect the historic, architectural style of the neighborhood by establishing new requirements for homeowners when renovating, expanding or building on these properties.
“The primary intent is to capture the shape and angles of the mid-century modern homes with a few of the dimensional design characteristics, without getting too detailed into materials, window design — that type of thing,” city planner Danny Jendusa said.
Work on this project started in November. Now, the Crestwood Planning and Zoning Commission has passed this draft ordinance along to the Board of Aldermen, who will be able to amend the ordinance and decide on its final approval or denial. This ordinance is currently anticipated to appear on either the October or November aldermanic agendas — there will be a last public hearing at that time for citizens to voice their opinions before it goes to a vote.
“I know not all 258 homes have been here,” Chairman Robert Sweeney said. “I know staff and the commission have done a robust job attempting to get opinions from folks. … We’ve had a lengthy span of time offering folks to come in and express their opinions, and they’ve done so. It’s time to either fish or cut bait.”
If this ordinance passes, homes that are renovated or built in the Ridgewood neighborhood will need to meet new design guidelines, as well as existing Crestwood building codes. The draft ordinance creates roofing requirements: only gable roofs may be used, and the roof pitch must not exceed a maximum slope of 2:12. There are also specific measurement requirements for roof eaves.
Ridgewood homes would not be able to exceed two stories or 25 feet, whichever is higher, and maximum wall heights were established for exterior walls. Doors, windows and fireplaces would not be allowed to be centered directly below the ridge of the gable roof. Exterior fireplaces would also need to conform to specific measurements and materials.
If passed, homeowners will not need to make changes to existing properties, but any homes built in the future will be required to meet these guidelines. Homeowners remodeling or expanding their home would also need to follow these guidelines if the renovation or expansion would exceed 400 square feet and be “readily visible” from the street at the midpoint of the lot.
“We recently received an application to build a site addition onto a home,” Jendusa said. “The property owner was able to present a plan that conformed with all these requirements, even though (the ordinance) is not in place. It was just the most logical extension of their home — following that shape and pattern, the design of it. They found that these guidelines had no limiting effect upon the plans or their construction cost.”
Homeowners could submit an appeal to Jendusa if they wished to be exempted from these guidelines while building or renovating. Jendusa would then pass that request to the Planning and Zoning Commission; the homeowner would be asked to present their reasoning before the commission for not complying with the guidelines, and the commission would vote to grant them an exemption or not.
Commissioner Angela Sebben expressed concern about “buy-in” from the Ridgewood community and whether the city is able to confirm that this is a desired ordinance. Jendusa responded that he plans to send out a survey in the next month to gauge community support and opposition.
Six commissioners voted “yes” to send this draft ordinance to the Board of Aldermen. Commissioner Justin Charboneau voted “present,” abstaining from a yes or no vote. The commission added the caveat that this ordinance will wait a month before being added to an aldermanic agenda, giving Jendusa time to send out a survey to Ridgewood residents and receive responses that could be presented to the board.
“If an individual wants to preserve their individual home and continue to follow these guidelines, that’s great. I have no problem with that,” Charboneau said. “My concern would be if you’re asking others to do that 10 or 15 years from now.”