By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(May 10, 2018) The Berlin Historic District Commission last Wednesday discussed the following items during at public meeting at Town Hall:

Addition approved

The commission unanimously approved removal of a rear room and deck for a home on 310 South Main Street. The homeowners plan to build a 16 by 26-foot addition in the space with a kitchen, bath and laundry room.

Signage

A new cut-steel and wooden sign will hang outside of On What Grounds? coffee shop on 103 North Main Street. The shop recently expanded into the space formerly occupied by the Maryland Wine Bar, and the sign will replace the old Wine Bar sign. That business moved inside Sisters, on 113 North Main Street.

More signage

Although the applicant did not show and was briefly scolded by Chairwoman Carol Rose, the commission had no problem approving a sign mounted above the front window of The Burley Florist on 12 Pitts Street.

Roof repairs

Also approved unanimously were roof repairs and new shingles for a home on 312 South Main Street. Rose said the house was built in around 1930.

Additional business

Commission member Laura Stearns, a manager at The Atlantic Hotel, asked Planning Director Dave Engelhart if commission approval was necessary to install security cameras at the hotel.

She said they would resemble fish-eye lenses and be unobtrusive, installed underneath the front porch and not visible from the street.

Rose said commission approval was not necessary.

Additionally, Rose again took to task Burley Café owner Bryan Brushmiller, who apparently has not yet fulfilled his pledge to conceal an outdoor refrigerator installed outside the 17 Jefferson Street business.

“We’re what, eight months now or seven months since approval?” Rose said. “I know we’ve sent letters – numerous, numerous, numerous letters.” She also complained about the structure during a public meeting last month.

Engelhart said he spoke with Brushmiller last week, but there was no resolution yet.