21 April 2009 | Approved: 19 May 2009
Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) members present: Bob Booher, Chair, Ed Mroczka, David Neumann, and Mimi Styles. Joe Clark, member of the Town Council (TC) and Liaison to the HPC, was also present. David Neumann agreed to take minutes for the meeting which was called to order at 7:30pm by the Chair. The agenda proposed by Bob Booher was reviewed, modified, and then adopted by the members. Minutes of the regular HPC meeting of March 17, 2009 were approved subject to changes to be made by David Neumann.
Review of Projects
There were no projects to be reviewed.
Council Report
Joe Clark reminded members of the coming Town Meeting on the Legacy Open Space (LOS) legal process. Joe Clark explained his view of the status of the condemnation process on the LOS area. He discussed the status of the County and State actions with respect to repair of the Humpback Bridge. He explained that the bridge will probably be closed from 6/172009 to 8/30/2009 for repairs, and it was agreed by all present that this was a great success for the Town as the structure will be repaired and preserved in its historic form. Members were reminded again to think about giving comments on the Gaithersburg West Master Plan.
Testing of Building Permits
Mimi Styles and Margot Bohan are still intending to test the building permit process via the Town Web site.
Bulletin Material
We decided that something about the library would be appropriate in the HPC column of the next Town Bulletin. We decided that we should all think of ideas for HPC space in the next Bulletin.
Annual Award and Annual Award Criteria
Annual award criteria were examined. Mimi Styles and Bob Booher looked over recent reviews. HPC is not just concerned with preservation of older structures. Owner, architect interaction with HPC. Scale and modest size. We discussed the idea of having more than one award. Concluded that disadvantages outweighed advantages. We adopted the award criteria with several changes. We will discuss these again when Margot Bohan is present. The Award criteria can then be revised. Annual Award nominations were made for projects by Joe Clark and Meredith Myers at 402 Grove Ave. (Mulberry Cottage) ; Gary Hayward and Janet Lottero at 201 Cherry Ave.; Georgette Cole and Ernie Kawasaki at 217 Ridge Road (Chez Col-asaki); and Mark Dubnick and Margaret (Margo) Cavenaugh at 125 Chestnut Ave. After discussion it was decided to give the award to Margo Cavenaugh and Mark Dubnick.
The Town Archives
David Neumann reported on the progress made to-date on organizing the Town archives. The question was asked whether the recordings of oral histories were all on DVD now and if they could be put up on the Town Web site.
Contributing Structures Identifiers
It was proposed to give the owners of houses presently considered contributing structures some plaque or recognition so they will know or see the value of owning a house which is recognized as a contributing structure. We decided that this should be done gradually. The awards can be given out based on the date of the original construction if known.
Minutes Taker
We discussed again the need to hire a minute taker. David Neumann proposed an advertisement for the Gaithersburg Gazette.
PC-HPC Joint Meeting
The next joint meeting of the PC-HPC will take place on Wednesday, May 13 at 7:30 pm. The minutes of the last joint meeting will be circulated.
Adjournment
The next meeting will be held Tuesday, May 19, 2009, starting at 7:30pm.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m.