The building housing the Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce will be getting a new look in the coming months.

The Washington Historic Preservation Commission, during its meeting Tuesday, unanimously authorized issuing a certificate of appropriateness for the chamber to remove the existing deck and steps at its building at 102 Stewart Parkway and build a new entranceway at the front of the building, designed to resemble the historic Newbold-White House in Hertford, and build a new deck with a handicapped-accessible ramp on the south side (waterfront side) of the structure.

The front entrance will be 8 feet by 4 feet, with the waterside deck measuring 53 feet by 16 feet. The ramp will measure 32 feet long and 4 feet wide, according to city documents.

Composite material will be used to build the decking and railings, according to the document.

“What we want to do, and what the chamber board of directors has decided to do, is to enhance the building on the outside,” said Catherine Glover, executive director of the chamber, during her appearance before the commission. “We’re excited about doing this at the same time, obviously, that the pier — the Peoples Pier — is going to be going near the chamber, as well. What we wanted to do is create a structure that, obviously, is very welcoming to visitors and also residents alike.”

Commission member Judith T. Hickson expressed some concerns that the new handicapped-accessible ramp will result in handicapped people having to travel farther to access the building than they travel now.

“It is a little bit farther distance than what it is now, but we wanted to do, though, when the design was presented to us is, obviously, do a welcoming area on the front. The other design that we had had the handicapped ramp going up the front,” Glover said.

“So, you wouldn’t have had room to do both?” panel member Mary Musselman said.

“This is the best way that we could do both and keep what we wanted in the front to be what it was,” Glover said.

Dee Congleton, a Washington resident and member of the Washington Area Historic Foundation, told the commission she “kind of envisioned like a porch on the front toward the river.”

“It’s really a deck; it’s not a porch, is it? I had envisioned, perhaps, a porch on the front with some nice rockers on the front,” Congleton said.