HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-08-05 Historical Commission Minutes-� Town of Reading
r' Meeting Minutes r(ECEIVERK
Board - Committee - Commission - Council: �'-
Historical Commission August 05, 2014 1p1Y SEp
Date: 2014 -08 -05 Time: 7:00 PM
Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Town Hall Conference Room
Address: 16 Lowell Street
Purpose: Regularly scheduled meeting
Attendees: Members - Present:
Chair: Sharlene Reynolds Santo (SRS)
Treasurer:
Secretary: Carl Mittnight (CM)
Robyn Parker (RP)
Nancy Kohl (NK)
Virginia Adams (VA)
Sally Hilgendorff (SH)
Ron Weston (RW)
Members - Not Present:
Jonathan Barnes ((JB)
Others Present:
75 Pearl St: Paul Maloney, The Archtectural Team
Italo Visco, LCB Senior Living (LCB)
Library: G.Stepler, J.Hussins, V. &E.Blodgett, C.Dubois, V.Yablond,
A.Collins, R.Baumgartner, K.Herrick, G.Bums, R.Urell
Christos Colds , CST Architects
Eileen Casciari, CBT Architects
Evan Warner, CTV Construction
Other Attendees: M.Widzinski
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Carl Mittnight
Topics of Discussion:
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subioct
-an
August 5, 2014 at 7:00 pm.
Call to Order
Minutes
Reviewed meeting minutes; Approved as amended for
meeti s held on Jul 1 and Jul 22.
File with clerk.
CM
Budget
General Update: When Issuing a purchase order, include the
meeting minutes where the purchase was approved by the
RHC.
Archives
No update.
75 Pearl St.
P.Maloney and LVlsco, from LCB Senior Living, gave an
update on the progress of the upgrades to the facility as well
as a review of the construction, materials, and appearance of
Provide the RHC
with options for
proposed lighting
Italo
View
the manslucent/low profile canopy leading to the main
for the canopy.
entrance at 75 Pead St. Lighting will be installed on the
posts supporting the canopy; however, none has been
selected.
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Old South
The 2014 Preservation Award plaque for the Old South
Work with the
RW
United
United Methodist Church was viewed at the meeting.
Church Trustees
Methodist
as to when and
Church
how RHC can
present the
plaque.
51 Grove SL
The owner requested that her address be taken off the
agenda for the next RHC meeting. It was an agenda item
after the owner asked to have her home taken off the
Inventory of Historical Homes.
163 South St.
William Johnson from Atch Land DevelOprnent is waiting to
Attend ZBA
SRS
purchase this home unfit he can get a favorable ruling from
meeting and
the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) on two items:
present ownership
1. Special Permit
history letter to
2. Variance
ZBA
If the ZBA rules in favor of the developer, he plans to
purchase the building, demolish the building, and either build
two single - family homes or one four -unit, multi - family home
on the property, depending on the ZBA ruling.
VA prepared a letter on the ownership history and historical
at nificance of the building.
Library
Chris reviewed current and historical photos of the library, the
current site plan, and the updated designs, including floor
plan and three dimensional renderings.
The RHC had several concerns:
1. Can the north side roadway be narrowed? Answer: The
width is required to accommodate emergency vehicles.
2. Can shrubbery and other natural elements be used to
mask the north side roadway? Answer: Yes, this will be
addressed with later design work.
3. Are the memorial trees being removed? Answer: Yes
4. Can the indoor stair cases continue to be used? Answer:
Current codes require enclosed staircases.
5. What is on the alternate priority list? Answer:
a. Porte cochere
b. Spires [on turrets]
c. Copper gutters
d. Planter railings on roof deck
e. New retaining wall on Deering Street
6. The design includes varnished oak shelving and
cabinets. Oak is highly acidic and not appropriate for
delicate historical materials. Answer: The design team
will look into other more appropriate materials.
7. Is another window being added on the west side?
Answer: Yes, when the stairs are removed on the west
side, the window from the east side will be moved to the
west side.
6. Must the windows be replaced with modern materials?
Answer: The practicality of modem windows outweighs
the use of older materials for reasons of high energy
efficiency and low maintenance costs.
9. The re-use of the Porte cochere is not designed
sensitively from a historical perspective. It appears too
large and bulky. Answer. The large windows will allow
the original entrance to be seen from outside. The
design is intended to blend with and not obscure the
original building.
10. RHC: Can the north side roadway not include the five
parking spaces? Answer. The Library needs to Increase
parking space to match the increased program space
created by the project.
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Library -
Library Trustees: Also concerned with the parking spaces.
continued
Solutions:
a. The neighborhood, when surveyed, did not object to
short-term street parking during events at the Library.
Can the spaces be built and simply not allow parking
unless there arises a compelling reason to allow
parking?
b. A shuttle service was proposed that can move people
from the parking spaces by the train tracks along High
Street up to the library should many more spaces be
needed to support an event at the Library.
c. Not build the spaces at all, as the 5 spaces is a small
percentage of the total number of spaces given the on-
street parking available.
Promote walking, regardless of the outcome of the parking
space issues.
The Library Building Committee requested an endorsement
from the RHC as part of their Massachusetts Historical
Commission review. The RHC responded that they would
need to discuss this before rendering an opinion.
119 Salem
Keith Fodizzi was unable to attend the meeting. However,
Verify the Building
SRS
St.
the Demolition Permit is ready to go. There was a question
Inspector received
as to whether the Building Inspector had received it.
the Demolition
Permit
186 Summer
1. Everett Blodgett discussed efforts to include a part of
Coordinate the
VA
Ave.
Summer Avenue, under the West Street Historical
site visit
District (WSHD). Inclusion in the WSHD would enable
the demolition to be prevented.
2. Does the Dover Amendment apply? The Amendment
allows non -profit educational or religious institutions
exemption from zoning - this would allow Criterion to
build a commercial structure in a residential zone.
Answer: Town Counsel is currently reviewing the Dover
Amendment.
3. RW presented an "End State Analysis" showing the
different scenarios under which the structures at 186
Summer Avenue could change hands. The analysis
included looking at estimated finances of each scenario.
4. Two site visa dates were proposed by the RHC, August
12 or August 14, 2014. The RHC will also invite an
engineer and an architect to attend the site visit.
Demolition
RHC discussed an improvement to the Demolition Delay
Investigate what is
I CM
Delay Bylaw
Bylaw by extending the delay from 6 to 12 months.
needed to change
Chang
a Bylaw.
Ad oumad
The meting aooumed at 11:110 pm.
Next Meeting
August 26, 2014 at 7:00 pm
I
All
Copies of referenced correspondence and documents are kept in Meeting Minutes binder and relevant project
folders located in the Reading Historical Commission Archives, lower level of the Reading Town Hall
Preservation only works when we remember it is all about: People - Planning - Partnerships - Politics.
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