1997-11-05 Historical Commission Minutes

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Minutes Reading Historical Commission November 5, 1997 Meeting convened at 7:45 p.m. Regular members present: Virginia Adams, David O'Sullivan, Gladys Montgomery Jones, Roberta. Sullivan Associate members present: Louise Sandberg, Alan Ulrich Guests: Joe Connelly (town engineer), Ed Palmer (former RHC member), Phil Vaccaro (owner) Minutes recorded by Gladys Montgomery Jones Minutes for October 27, 1997 approved as amended by a vote of 4-0-0. Treasurer's Report (Roberta): David moved, Virginia seconded and members approved by 4-0-0 payment of a new bill amounting to $17.48 for film processing related to the Bandstand siting. Archives: X" g j ggLt • Eleanor'has been hired and is working on the Inventory. • Other work is moving apace. • Alan is donating a printer. • Ed Palmer said he would proceed with the project to produce photographic prints from the glass-plate negatives of old Reading and will scope out what and how many more images need to be done. Then he left. Historic Structures: • Ipswich River Bridge: Joe Connelly brought a drawing of the proposed plan for the new Ipswich River Bridge and discussed this with RHC members. The plan developed by the consultant will be subject to review by the Mill Street residents, Conservation and Historical Commissions in early December. The plan retains the existing granite slab and abutments. It will rebuild the wing wall, replace the decking and excavate behind the slabs to sink the new decking into that, so the granite holds no load. Endposts will be concrete, possibly masked with a stone surface, and the railing will be metal, possibly painted brown. Excavation and building equipment will be on the road only so the historical and archeological site remains undamaged. A heavy vehicle exclusion has been filed for the bridge. The state is bearing 100% of the construction cost, with Reading and North Reading splitting the design costs. It will be possible to place a plaque on the bridge. Joe asked the RHC to draft a letter of support; David to follow up. Then Joe left. • 605-607 Main Street: Phil Vaccaro presented new plans for the reconstruction, noting he had given his architect carte blanche, not `prejudicing' him with the RHC's recommendations. ZBA parameters were followed. The new plan calls for a one story building set back 18-22' from the street rising to a flat-roofed building of two stories to replace the gable roofed 1840 structure. The gable plan was not followed because of water drainage toward the Manning building, and the new building will be on a slab instead of a basement foundation. Plans call for the HVAC equipment to go onto the flat roof. RHC members expressed problems with the flat roof plan, since the Commission had agreed to reduce