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Cold Spring historic-board workshop presses owner to limit porch, study ADA alternatives
Summary
At a Cold Spring Historic District Review Board workshop, the applicant for a Main Street bakery renovation outlined plans for a front porch, swapping the historic doors to outswing and adding inset glass doors; board members urged smaller front interventions, brick or lattice foundations, and exploring an east-side accessible entrance.
The Historic District Review Board held a workshop on a proposed renovation to a Main Street building in Cold Spring focused on a new porch, the treatment of the building's historic wooden double doors and options for providing handicapped access.
"Just for everybody's information, this is a workshop," the Chair opened, reminding participants no vote would be taken. Applicant Brian Tormey said the Certificate of Appropriateness application centers on a porch along the Main Street (north) facade, with tempered glass storefront doors inset behind the existing large wooden doors. "My name is Brian Tormey, and thank you all for calling and attending a a special meeting," he said while outlining construction progress and recent supply setbacks.
Board members praised the project's goal of reactivating a long-vacant building but pressed the applicant on scale and materials. One committee member said a brick foundation would be more historically appropriate than the proposed stone veneer, and several urged the applicant to avoid a continuous, wide deck that would visually dominate the façade. "I think a brick foundation would be way more appropriate than a stone veneer for something like this," the committee member said.
The meeting repeatedly returned to accessibility. Members recommended studying an east-side (Lanterra-side) ground-level entrance or reconfiguring interior circulation so a single, obvious glass entrance serves customers and a rear or side entrance provides ADA access. The applicant said structural constraints and easements complicate alternatives but that he would develop two concept options for the board to review.
The board and applicant agreed to bring revised designs to the next workshop or monthly meeting and signaled that a full porch addition would likely require a public hearing. The session closed with a procedural motion to adjourn.
