11 April 2005 | Approved: 19 July 2005
HPC members present: Bob Booher, Chair, Chris Kirtz, Bruce Rothrock and David Neumann. David Stopak attended as Town Council liaison.
The April 19th meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission began at 7:30 p.m. with the approval of the agenda. Chris Kirtz volunteered to take minutes.
Old Business
Rules of Procedure: The Commission approved the first page.
Design Guidelines. The Commission reviewed and unanimously approved Design Guidelines prepared by Bob Booher and Ed Mroczka.
Heritage Committee Volunteers: Chris Kirtz reported that Mary Challstrom had approved the use of Raymond Malengo to research how to cost-effectively get multiple hard copy prints of the digital photos of the Grove’s Contributing Structures both for archival use and to have reference manuals in the Town Office to use during HPC meetings.
Mansionization Conference. Chris Kirtz was asked to see if Wayne Goldstein would write a summary of the meeting and all Commissioners were asked to think about how the HPC could build upon the momentum of the well-attended Conference.
FAR Subcommittee: Met again and distributed a draft for discussion at the next meeting.
Budget: The Commission discussed the possibility of matching grants from various organizations to support gathering statistical data to support zoning changes to support Historic Restoration, e.g. making an overlay zone for the houses on the Circle.
Award Requirements: There was unanimous agreement on the recipient of this year’s Award.
Review Session
The Commission looked at plans for a 12′ x 14′ deck for 124 Grove Avenue [Carol Uhlendorf]. No review was prepared.. The Commission agreed that, in the future, it may review some decks and would develop criteria to determine which it would and would not review. It also noted it would ask the Planning Commission to ensure its ordinances were compatible with the existing Montgomery County rules regarding NOT requiring a County Permit if the deck is within 36 inches of grade.
The Commission listened to a presentation on proposed roofline and other changes to 206 Chestnut Avenue. The owner, Jean Moyer, was very helpful in explaining the changes she desired and the reasons therefore. David Neumann agreed to write the review.
The Commission listened to a presentation by George Paine the property owner of 15 The Circle of facade changes he proposed to the front of his house. Though a Montgomery County Building Permit was not required for the changes he proposed, as it impacted the front of his home facing the Circle, he brought it to the HPC for review.
Mr. Paine’s presence and the digital mock-ups he’d prepared showing how the house would look after the replacement of a modern sliding glass door with matching wooden 15 light ones with matching two over two side windows was extremely helpful. The Commission elected to schedule time at the next meeting to discuss how reviews of items such as Mr. Paine’s should be handled. In addition, the HPC discussed the desirability of having it’s own note-taker as does the Planning Commission.
The Commission reviewed a more complete set of plans for 352 Ridge Road. Bob Booher agreed to write the review. The Commission noted the importance of having copies of the Planning Commission’s meeting summaries to reference should questions arise.
New Business
The Chair mentioned the Gumula’s bringing to HPC attention that their house was not listed as a contributing structure and should be.
Editing/updating house histories. The Commission discussed the need for developing a way to update house histories as changes were made or new information found.
The Commission noted the Board of Zoning Appeals was conducting a hearing on 103 Brown Street on May 7th.
The next meeting was scheduled for May 17, 2005
The meeting was adjourned at 10:39 p.m.