LA GRANDE — Owners of a La Grande business who found themselves at odds with the city over replacing windows in their building in the city’s historic district finally received approval to move forward with their project.  

Jay and Kristin Wilson, owners of Appliances and More, 212 Greenwood St., filed an appeal with the La Grande City Council seeking to overturn a decision made by the Historic Landmarks Commission regarding their business’ transom windows. Councilors unanimously voted to grant the appeal and overturned the decision during their regular meeting Wednesday, Jan. 8.

Even though the end results were in their favor, Kristin Wilson said navigating this process during the last 18-months has been “pure hell” for her and her husband.

“Our honesty and our integrity has been challenged here.” she said. “That’s very frustrating. We are a brand new business coming into La Grande trying to make the best of it and we have hit nothing but roadblocks.”

After 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.

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

Given their understanding of the situation at the time, 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 first learned about the issue during the December 2024 council meeting, but tabled the topic 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.

Boquist told the council the city suggested the Wilsons hire a qualified engineer to evaluate the condition of the windows. The Wilsons hired Les Tipton with Associated Design and Engineering Services, who completed an inspection of the windows at Appliances and More on Dec. 20.

Tipton found the transom windows were in need of maintenance and repair, but were otherwise in OK condition. However, this was not the case for the mullions between the transoms and the lower windows.

“He is confident that in the process of removing those larger windows below, the transoms will be significantly damaged and destroyed in the process and will result in them being removed,” Boquist said.

Given this evaluation and the Landmarks Commission’s approval of the replacement of the lower windows, Boquist said replacing the transom windows with the same style of window could satisfy the historic landmarks standards.

The Wilsons told the councilors they believe the city needs to take a deep look at the  process and reconsider what’s important within the historic district.

“I don’t think the city or the historic district are supporting the people that have the houses or the buildings that need to be repaired,” Kristin Wilson said. “This has taken a lot of our time, a lot of our energy, a lot of frustration, and I really don’t think it needed to be this complicated.”