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Board accepts Ventner porch replacement proposal; applicant to pursue wetlands jurisdictional review
Summary
Applicant requested removal and in‑kind replacement of a historically significant front porch. Board accepted materials and scheduled a May hearing; applicant said DEC jurisdictional submission may be required because of footings and nearby wetlands.
The planning board accepted materials for Barry and Michelle Ventner’s application to remove and replace in kind the front porch of a circa 1880 house and scheduled a public hearing for May 5.
Lauren Cause, the project manager for Art of Building, told the board the porch has settlement and rot in ledger connections, posts and fascia; the team proposes to replicate historic porch details — brackets, moldings, 6x6 posts, flooring dimensions and square lattice — while adding contemporary footings and code‑compliant steps. The applicant said the roof framing would remain in place unless additional deterioration required more work.
Cause reported she had spoken with the town’s pre‑application reviewer and, because new footings are planned and a wetland lies nearby, the team submitted a jurisdictional determination (JD) request to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. She told the board the DEC JD could take up to 90 days. The applicant also provided a historic inventory summary noting that porch elements were significant to the property’s National Register inventory.
Board members asked whether the applicant would document original framing if uncovered during demolition; Cause said the team would photograph and record any findings and could produce as‑built documentation. Staff said a demolition permit would be required for portions of the porch and that the project may need a wetland JD because of footing work; the applicant said the JD application was submitted.
What’s next: The board scheduled a May 5 public hearing and will expect the applicant to provide any DEC jurisdictional correspondence and the demolition permit materials. The board also noted the application will be circulated to advisory committees.
