LA GRANDE — Owners of a La Grande business at odds with the city over replacing windows in their building in the city’s historic district may soon find their issue resolved.

Jay and Kristin Wilson, owners of Appliances and More, 212 Greenwood St., filed an appeal with the La Grande City Council in December 2024 seeking to overturn a decision made by the Historic Landmarks Commission. Councilors will vote on whether or not to approve this appeal on Wednesday, Jan. 8, during the regular session meeting.

After successfully operating Appliances and More in Baker City since opening the store in 2017, the Wilsons opened the second location in 2023 in La Grande. The 10,000-square-foot store is a historic contributing building within the historic district of downtown La Grande.

The Wilsons in August 2023 submitted an application for four projects to the La Grande Landmarks Commission, which approved everything except for the replacement of the transom windows. Community Development Director Mike Boquist said the retention of the transom windows was a condition of approval on the commission’s decision order.

When the Wilsons’ contractor, Ne-Hi Enterprises, came out to measure the bottom windows, the building owners learned the wood supporting the windows was rotted due to leaks. So, in January 2024 Jay and Kristin Wilson applied for building permits to complete two projects — a window project and a garage door project.

They received the permit but can’t move forward on the project.

The Wilsons claim the building permit applications they filed with the city included details of their intent to replace the transom windows. However, Boquist said this is not the case and there is no explicit mention of the transom windows in the application.

Given their understanding of the situation, the Wilsons purchased custom modern integrated storefront and transom window combos in February 2024. However, the building permit was placed on hold in May 2024 following the Wilsons’ application for grant funding from urban renewal, which raised red flags for the city because it included the intent to remove the transom windows.

A few months later in September, the Wilsons went before the landmarks commission again and requested an amendment to the original decision. However, the commission upheld its earlier decision.

Councilors tabled the topic during the December 2024 council meeting at the recommendation of City Manager Robert Strope. Following the meeting, Boquist and Strope sat down with the Wilsons to discuss possible avenues forward as presented by the city’s legal counsel.

The business owners opted to hire a third-party engineer to evaluate the storefront windows and transom windows, which is the option city staff believes is the most likely to result in a favorable decision for the Wilsons from the council.

Les Tipton with Associated Design and Engineering Services completed an inspection of the windows at Appliances and More on Dec. 20. The evaluation found the walls around the windows have been repaired over the years with “band-aid solutions” and, as a result, there have been leaks. This has led to rot in the sills, which may have structurally compromised the lower windows. The transom windows are set directly into the molding and only supported by the lower window base.

“In my opinion, for reasons outlined above, the upper transom windows will probably not survive intact during construction associated with lower window replacement. It makes more sense to replace them at the same time as the lower windows rather than try to isolate and preserve them separately,” Tipton wrote in the evaluation.

Given the results of this evaluation, city staff is recommending the council approve the appeal and overturn the commission’s decision.

The Wednesday, Jan. 8, regular session of the La Grande City Council, which is open to the public, will begin at 6 p.m. at La Grande City Hall, 1000 Adams Ave. The meeting also will be streamed live on the EO Alive website and Facebook page. The meeting also can be viewed on Charter Communications channel 180.

The full agenda for the Jan. 8, regular session meeting can be found online at the City of La Grande’s website.