The Ebey’s Landing Historic Preservation Commission unanimously denied an after-the-fact permit for a homeowner who made changes to a historic home that did not conform to design guidelines.

Members of the commission, people in the audience and Trust Board staff expressed concern and outrage at the unpermitted work on the historic Samuel Libbey farmhouse, built in 1860 and among the oldest in Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve.

The owner of the Central Whidbey house, Bellevue area resident Ian Olsen, replaced cedar shake roof with metal, removed and rebuilt a deck and made changes to windows without either obtaining the necessary “certificate of appropriateness,” which pertains to historical conformity, or any buildings permits at all.

Olsen purchased the house in 2021 for $726,000 in 2021 and has it listed for sale at $1.4 million.

Art Huffine, a member of the commission, said the unauthorized work represented an affront to him as a general contractor.

“Absolutely wrong. Everything about this is wrong,” he said. “The people who did this should be ashamed of themselves.”

Marshal Bronson, chairperson of the commission, pointed out that the house is one of the most historic on the Reserve.

“This is a bad problem. It’s a bad precedent,” he said. “It’s a bad thing it came to us in a particular way.”

Many others were also concerned seeing a precedent in allowing a homeowner to flout the rules and get away with it.

Audience member Alan Hancock, former superior court judge and a member of the Ebey’s Landing Trust Board, said it would be totally inappropriate to approve the application, which would allow the property owner to profit from “wrongdoing.”

Mary Hansen, daughter of the former owners of the house, said she went to the Island County Planning Department to complain about such drastic changes being allowed and learned that Olsen had not obtained any permits.

“What he did to it is shocking,” she said. “It’s just shocking.”

In introducing the issue, Josh Pitts, preservation coordinator for the Trust Board, discussed the historical significance of the house and property, calling it “priceless” and recommending that the board not approve the after-the-fact application for a certificate of appropriateness.

“One thing preservationists often ask themselves when reviewing a property, in regards to its significance and integrity, is if the original property owner were to see the house today, would they recognize it?” he said. “If Samuel Libbey were here to view the house from the front yard primary facade, he may recognize it, but he may have to squint.”

The denial of the permit application means that Olsen now needs to start from the beginning in applying for permits and working with county and Trust Board staff to find solutions to bring the house in compliance with the design code for the Reserve.

The county has a special set of design guidelines for properties within Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, which was established in 1978 “to protect and preserve a rural community and its unbroken historical record of exploration and settlement in Puget Sound.” The Reserve encompasses the town of Coupeville and surrounding areas of Central Whidbey, which represents one of the earliest non-indigenous settlements in the Pacific Northwest and retains hundreds of historic structures.

“It represents a unique model of preservation based on partnerships between government and citizens,” the Reserve’s website states. “The Reserve’s history is in the town, the farms and fields, roads, historical buildings and historic sites found throughout the Reserve. The story is not a thing of the past — it is kept alive by people who live, work and maintain deep connections with this place.”

In introducing the application to the board, Reserve Manager Marie Shimada talked about how a post on Facebook about the house and the application drew a surprising amount of attention, with more than 200 comments. She pointed out that Reserve staff was never given the chance to interface with Olsen. She said if he had come in, the staff would have worked hard to find solution that conformed to the guidelines.

“We probably would not have recommended that giant metal roof,” she said.

Shimada suggested that the integrity of the Historic Preservation Commission process would be at stake with the outcome of the application process.

Olsen declined to comment on the commission’s decision, but said earlier in the week that he did the work without permits because he needed to act quickly to fix a failing roof and a crumbling deck.

Mike Beech, county planning manager, attended the meeting and explained the enforcement process. He said the county already issued a notice of violation to Olsen for doing work without a permit. Yet, he said, the county doesn’t have a direct way of punishing people for not following the rules. If a property owner isn’t cooperative, the county can issue an enforcement order that would come with fines for continued noncompliance.

If all else fails, the prosecutor might seek to put a lien on the house.