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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-01-21 Historical Commission Minutes Town of Reading "r: E C E i V L) 9 Y Meeting Minutes TO'Wti CLERK Board - Committee - Commission - Council: 2:'27 '6` 2�5 PM 2:5 Historical Commission Date: 2021-01-21 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Location: Address: Session: Purpose: General Business Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Virginia Adams, Associate (VA) Jonathan Barnes, Member (JEB) Samantha Couture, Chair (SC) Pino D'Orazio, Member (PD) Amelia Devin Freedman, Secretary (ADF) Sharlene Reynolds Santo, Treasurer (SRS) Members - Not Present: N/A Others Present: Guy Manganiello (GM) Julie Mercier (JM) Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Amelia Devin Freedman Topics of Discussion: JM helped PD establish himself as the host of the meeting and then left. SC called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. She described the rules for the Zoom meeting. She advised attendees that the meeting was being recorded and that it might be live streamed by RCN, either on television or on YouTube. 16 Eaton Street: GM, the project's builder, reported that owners are still considering the Commission's design requests. He said that they asked if they can add these features initially and then remove them later, which he advised against. VA restated the Commission's desire to see mullioned windows and gable ornamentation in the new construction. ADF asked GM what the owners' objection to the Commission's suggestions is. GM said that they and their adult children simply do not like how the suggested features would look. SC asked if the RHC should release the demolition delay early. JEB reminded attendees that the six-month demolition delay was imposed in August and will expire in February. VA said she thought the delay should not be released early because the owners have not made an effort to adapt their plans to the Commission's suggestions. JEB and ADF agreed with VA that the demolition delay not be released early. VA expressed her disappointment that the owners have been unwilling to work with the RHC; JEB concurred. SC asked GM to let the owners know that the Commission is willing to speak to them and to offer advice if they would find it useful. VA asked GM to relay to the owners her suggestion Page 1 1 that they not discard the gable ornamentation when they demolish the house; she hopes they will store it for any future owners. GM said he would talk to the owners after the meeting, and that he would give them the messages. RHC Membership: JEB congratulated PD on being named a full member of the Commission. He noted that there were no applications for the open associate positions, although he had alerted people that he knew to be interested about them. He also mentioned that it looks like only one associate position was advertised although there are two open; he suggested SC ask the Select Board to post and to fill both vacancies. SC said she would also post a message about the openings on Facebook, in the hopes of identifying possible candidates. 25 Haven Street: JEB sent an email to the project contact, Shelby Francis, answering her questions about what material was missing from her initial application; she has not replied. 27 Hillcrest Road and 632 Main Street: The Commission discussed scheduling a public hearing to add these houses to the Historical Inventory. VA and JEB described the process for scheduling the hearing, which involves letters to the homeowners and the abutters, as well as a public notice. VA said that, since neither building is currently in jeopardy, the Commission might do well to put the hearings off until May, which is National Historical Preservation Month. The Commission discussed whether to hold the hearings in April or May and agreed to seek to schedule them in April. JEB will follow up with the owners about their availability. 767 Main Street: Former member Ron Weston recently brought it to the Commission's attention that the house at 767 Main Street was never added to the Inventory, although the paperwork ("Form B") was completed in 2003. VA recalled that the paperwork had been completed after the RHC toured the property but said that it must have"fallen through the cracks." SC asked if the RHC should contact the owner, Craig Brandt, and VA offered to do so since she knows him personally. The Commission considered combining the public hearing for this house to be added to the Inventory with the hearings for 27 Hillcrest Road and 852 Main Street. Regardless of when the hearings take place, JEB suggested that the Commission work to generate press coverage about the addition of these buildings to the Inventory. PD proposed putting this news in the letter that the RHC is planning to send out to the owners of all the houses on the Inventory. JEB asked PD if he had made any progress yet with generating a list of the owners of all houses on the Inventory and their most recent sale dates. PD said he'd asked Amanda Beatrice at Town Hall if there were an easy way to generate such a list using Town records; he will follow up with her. VA pointed out that the recent home sales appear on Thursdays in the Reading Chronicle. JEB suggested putting ordering information for the historic house markers in the planned letter. He said that he thought someone should make sure that the company that has produced these markers in the past is still in business; SC will follow up. Utility Box Vinyl Wrap Art Project Update: JEB reported that the RHC received a $3000 grant from the Harpley Foundation. Although the grant was requested to finance the utility box vinyl art wrap project, the grant approval letter says that the funds are unrestricted. JEB reported that he'd spoken to Andrew MacNichol at Town Hall, who is considering another round of his "Outside the Box Mural Program" for the spring. Mr. MacNichol is interested in using the utility boxes in the following locations: the train depot; Memorial Page 1 2 Park; Hunt Field, at Pleasant and Eaton Streets. He asked whether the RHC was considering expanding its Utility Box Vinyl Wrap project, and whether it was considering specific locations. The Commission discussed whether they would like to use any of these locations and decided to express its interest in the box at Memorial Park. VA pointed out that there is a large photograph which was taken on the community work day in 1919 when Memorial Park was constructed, and which would be appropriate to use at that location. Members discussed other possible locations for the vinyl wrap project, as follows: at Woburn and High Streets; at Woburn Street and Summer Avenue; across from Postmark Square; at Summer Avenue and Prescott Street. Members finally agreed that they would like to wrap the utility boxes at (1) Memorial Park, (2) Woburn and High Streets, and (3) Summer Avenue and Woburn Street. JEB suggested using a photograph of the Prospect Street School on the box at Summer and Woburn. SC will communicate the Commission's desires to Mr. MacNichol. SC reported that she had spoken to Mr. MacNichol about QR codes for the two utility box projects. He said he had ended up not doing them for his boxes. SC will look into the issue for the RHC's boxes. Demolition Delay Review: ADF reviewed the research that she has done thus far on demolition delay bylaw in Reading and other towns in the state. The relevant data is that (1) most demolition delay periods are longer than Reading's, and (2) that the rate at which Reading has lost historical houses was higher when the delay was 6 months than when it was 12 months. JEB said he had researched the length of demolition delay in Readings—peer communities" (namely, Andover, Bedford, Belmont, Burlington, Canton, Danvers, Dedham, Lynnfield, Mansfield, Marshfield, Milton, Natick, North Andover, North Reading, Shrewsbury, Stoneham, Tewksbury, Wakefield, Walpole, Westborough, Westford, Wilmington and Winchester). Of these 23 towns, he found that 10 had a demolition delay period longer than Reading's. In the course of his research, he spoke to Walpole's Historical Commission chair, Jennifer Karnakis, who described their recent successful effort to extend the demolition delay period from 6 to 12 months. Ms. Karnakis sent JEB a copy of the presentation to Walpole Town Meeting and related files for the use of the RHC. JEB pointed out that the Walpole Historical Commission used Mass Historical's recommendation that demolition delay bylaws should be 12 months. VA again suggested that the RHC consider the timing of any presentation to Town Meeting. She said she thought the Commission might do well to wait until an iconic property in town is threatened; JEB concurred that asking Town Meeting to extend the demolition delay period would present some risk. Based on his experience as a member of Town Meeting, JEB said that some Town residents and Town Meeting Members will likely oppose extending the delay period because they will see it as an infringement on the rights of property owners. SC asked what percentage of Reading homes are on the Inventory (i.e., what percentage of property owners are affected by the demolition delay bylaw). PD checked the Town website and said there are 6549 single family homes in Reading. SC suggested that the apparent low percentage of Reading homes on the Inventory might be a selling point for an extended demolition delay period at Town Meeting. ADF said she'd like to discuss what other information the RHC would need to put together for a presentation to Town Meeting. JEB suggested forming a subcommittee of two members, who would continue the research and report back to the larger group. ADF and PD volunteered, and JEB said he would be willing to provide backup. SC said she thought the RHC should continue research on the issue and hold its presentation until the time is right, politically speaking. Finances: SRS reported having purchased a copy of"If This House Could Talk." She has not yet submitted her reimbursement form. Page 1 3 MHC Preservation Projects Grant Program: JEB suggested that the Commission might consider making use of the Massachusetts Historical Commission's"Mass Preservation Projects" Grant Program in an effort to protect structures on the Inventory from the risk of being transferred to developers and demolished. Given that virtually all of the recently demolished historic structures in Town have been in disrepair and sold to developers before being demolished, he said, the RHC could identify vulnerable structures on the Inventory that are currently in "disrepair," and consider whether and how to best access this grant program for their owners to use as an alternative to demolition. RHC Member Packet: SC said she would like to update the files in the RHC member packet that former member Ron Weston produced. JEB said he personally has some of the files in digital form, and that a digital copy of the Inventory is on a flash drive at the Archives. SC will distribute digital copies of the updated files to all RHC members. SC will contact former member lack Williams to ask for the return of his hard copy of the Inventory; this copy will go to new full member PD. Town Archives: SC said that VA has written a loan policy for Archive materials that should be added to the Archive Policy Manual. Motion: To add the "Archive Loan Policy" dated 1/10/2021 to the Archive Policy Manual. Motion SC, second SRS; vote: 5-0-0. SC will update the manual with this new material and send to all RHC members. New Business: VA said she'd received notice of two virtual workshops, to be given by Mass Historical in February, which RHC members may find useful; they should contact her for details. She stressed the importance of members staying up to date on topics relevant to the Commission's work. JEB offered to send subscription information for Mass Historical's listsery to anyone interested. SRS asked if there was a cost to attend the workshops. VA said no; SRS said preregistration is required. Review Minutes: Motion: To accept the minutes from 12/17/2020 as amended. Motion SC, JEB second; vote 5-0-0. Next Meeting Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 7 PM Adjournment Motion: To adjourn. Motion JEB, SC second; vote: 5-0-0. The meeting adjourned at 9:14 PM. Page 1 4