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Home My WebLink About2024-09-11 Historical Commission Minutesn r I Town of Reading "R'eGEIVED Meeting Minutes TOWN CLERK 2 RE�DIN MA. a'aJi`IKKOP CCss 3 Board - committee - commission - Council: 9021 OCT 10 AM 1: 36 Historical Commission Date: 2024-09-11 Time: 6:30 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Conference Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Open Session Purpose: General Business Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Virginia Adams (VA), Jonathan Barnes (JEB), Sarah Brukilacchio (SB), Samantha Couture (SC), Amelia Devin Freedman (ADF), and Christine Keller (CK) Members - Not Present: Pino D'Orazio (PD) Others Present: Andrew MacNichol (AMN), Community Development Director - by phone Bret Bennett (BB), Building Commissioner - by phone Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Christine Keller Topics of Discussion: SC was Acting Chair for the meeting and called it to order at 6:36PM. VA was elevated to voting member for the evening. Discussion with Community Development Director regardino demolition delav extension JEB phoned AMN at 6:38PM and introduced members of the RHC to him. The RHC requested AMN's advice on how to proceed with plans to increase the demolition delay from six months to 12 months. Discussed procedural steps to be taken prior to going to Town Meeting, resulting in RHC considering to take this to next Spring Town Meeting in April 2025. AMN suggested that we Invite the owners of properties on the Historical and Architectural Inventory to a meeting to discuss the proposed demolition delay extension. AMN's office can help assist with the mailing of letters to the owners as well as securing a meeting space and fine tuning our presentation. As there are more than 300 structures on the inventory, the meeting would occur at RPL with a Zoom option. The RHC will need to be prepared mid-February to have a warrant presented at Town Meeting in April 2025. It was suggested that the RHC would need to appear before the Bylaw Committee and hold one to two public meetings to inform the community about the demolition delay. The Demolition Delay is outlined in General Bylaw 7.2.2 Historic Demolition Delay. The call with AMN ended at 6:54PM. The RHC discussed the timeline it would need to follow to be ready for a letter to be mailed to structure owners ahead of a meeting in January. SB asked if we could use an online petition of support. It was decided that ADF will manage RHC documents regarding the Demolition Delay on a Google drive. Page I 1 Discussion with Building Commissioner regarding demolition guidelines and bylaw language SC phoned BB at 7:20PM and introduced members of the RHC to him. Our discussion was focused on understanding the nuances of a demolition permit, alteration permit, or renovation and repair permit for properties on the Historical and Architectural Inventory considering a partial demolition. We discussed a particular example, 99 Pearl Street, where a homeowner wanted to take down a full garage that was attached to a historic property. In this case, the homeowner filed for a demolition permit rather than an alteration permit. VA noted and BB confirmed that the state building code provides leeway for historic buildings, e.g., railings, balusters, window openings, stair wells, etc. BB will continue to offer courtesy notice to the RHC of permits being pulled for historical properties in these cases. Two ongoing projects on historic structures were mentioned and will be on the RHC October agenda: fagade of 32 Lowell Street and 25 Haven Street. The call with BB ended at 7:40PM. Adding homes to the Historic Inventory update The RHC will hold a Public Hearing at 7:OOPM, October 9, to add four properties to the inventory. Town seal and land acknowledgment update ADF sent Linda Snow Dockser a scan of Hon. Lilley Eaton's Genealogical History of the Town of Reading. Massachusetts regarding the 1687 purchase of Reading land from Native Americans. School Committee's Athletic Facility Naming Advisory Committee CK reported that the committee had its first meeting on September 4, chaired by Chuck Robinson of the School Committee. The committee is comprised of two Reading business owners, the RMHS principal, a representative from the Select Board, a representative from RHC, and two RMHS students. Charlie Hardy (former RMHS lacrosse Coach) and Phil Vaccaro (former RMHS math teacher, soccer coach, and Athletic Director) have been nominated for naming places within the RMHS athletic facilities. Nominating parties will be invited to the next meeting to present their nomination to the committee on October 2. Fall Street Faire recap There were three Inquiries from the Street Faire (September 8) to follow up on. SB will research a property on Washington Street; SC will contact a woman who has Campfire Girl memorabilia and WWI nurse journals she would like to donate to the archive; ADF will keep the contact information from a citizen interested in increasing the demolition delay. The group agreed that it was nice to have our own booth space. The booth location was not ideal, and our tent disappeared. SB is using her extensive contact network to help track down the tent. The new RHC banner was very well received, and visitors to the booth were interested in increasing the Demolition Delay. Arts & Culture Festival - October 5 VA has posted a sign-up sheet for booth duty, 1:00 - 5:OOPM. Rain date is October 6. SC will have additional grommets added to the banner. CK will provide a 5' display table and tablecloth. We will use VA's Demolition Delay display. Vernon Chandler future speaking engagements Mr. Chandler will speak to Mr. D'Entremont's history class at RMHS. SC has contacted RPL about sponsoring an event for Mr. Chandler. Based on the RPL schedule, this may not occur until early 2025. Page 1 2 CataloaIt software SC and Robin Morrow (RM) are collaborating with the company to determine the best and most cost-effective way to upload Archive records to Cataloglt. The Town's IT department will be instrumental in this. Update on research into historical homes SB is researching two homes and preparing Form Bs. She will target May 2025 for the Public Hearing for adding these properties to the Historical and Architectural Inventory, as May is Preservation Month. Demolition Delay bylaw procedure document JEB discussed RHC's suggested revisions to the document with AB. Community Preservation Act - nothing to report Town Archive review and updates SC will meet with RM next week and review her hours. We want to be sure to use our ARPA funds for RM. Finance/Treasurer's report Event expenses: • JEB moved to reimburse SC up to $175 for the new RHC booth banner and materials; VA seconded; Vote 5 - 0. • At the August meeting, SC made a motion to spend up to $150 for the Fall Street Faire booth fee; JEB seconded; Vote 5 - 0. JEB will send a thank you letter to the Cummings Foundation for the $1,000 Community Giving donation. The August 2024 budget reports have not been issued by the Town yet. Future agenda items VA's 409 Grove Street files for accession to the Archive • 32 Lowell Street/fagade preservation • 25 Haven Street/Art Deco light fixture preservation Accession of Daniel Pratt clock • Email response system • Fall Street Falre and Arts and Culture event inquiries • Connected Reading: An Open House for Our Community (October 22) Review minutes from the August meeting VA made a motion to accept the minutes as amended, JEB seconded, Vote 5 - 0. SC made a motion to adjourn at 8:52PM, JEB seconded, Vote 5 - 0. Next Meeting: October 9, 2024, 6:30PM, Town Hall Berger Room. N" 1 3