23 August 2019 | Approved: 17 September 2019
Members Present: Bob Booher, Mimi Styles, Wendy Harris, David Stopak and Darrell Anderson.
Absent: Gail Littlefield
Attendees: Robert Johnson, Kirk Greenway
Bob Booher took minutes.
Approval of Agenda and Adoption of Minutes
The proposed agenda was modified and then adopted unanimously. Guidelines and 150th Anniversary items deleted. 8 the Circle and Demolitions were added.
Project Review
No reviews.
Old Business:
National Register Nomination Progress:
MHT is still reviewing the final Draft. Wendy pointed out the growing urgency due to initiation of the Amity extension planning and the Board of Governors meeting in October. Bob will follow up.
Status of Sale of Land at 409 5th Avenue
The Town Council has set the date for the Public Meeting for comments on the ordinance for the sale of the land to the O’Connors. The draft ordinance for 315 Grove Ave has been provided by the Town attorney and introduced at the Town Council Meeting. It included all the elements the HPC had suggested in the spring. Darrell indicated the it will be the model for all sales going forward including that for 409 5th Ave. Thus the HPC reviewed and approved a revised recommendation letter finalizing our responsibilities for the process. Bob had forwarded to the mayor the final Exhibit C that was approved at a previous meeting.
There is also no further action needed for 315 Grove Avenue as our recommendations were included in the final ordinance. The TC will set a Public Hearing date for that ordinance sometime this fall.
Ordinance 2019-10 Adopting an Amendment to the WG Zoning Ordinance to Modify Definition of Dormer and to Modify the Minimum Lot Line Standards for the RR-3 Zone;
This ordinance has been tabled by the Planning Commission for further review. A new ordinance regarding the definition of ½ story is being prepared for review by the PC, and was shared with the HPC. There was much discussion but no action taken. Bob suggested that the HPC and the PC each state the purposes of the definition and/or regulation and discuss at a common meeting. Wendy suggested a subgroup to discuss suggestions for the dormer language. Wendy, David and Bob volunteered.
Masterplan update:
The Woods committee requested Wendy to provide historic descriptions of the East and West Woods for inclusion in the Masterplan. Section 6 Environmental Concerns will be considered in August. The HPC has provided comments for this section.
The historic description on section 8 Commercial Corner provided by Gail was approved to be forwarded to the working group.
Bob reminded the group that section 9 Development and Preservation Strategies will require a subgroup of HPC members to work on.
Design Guidelines
No discussion.
Bulletin Material
Suggestion to announce that the draft of the National Register Nomination is posted on the website, and to post some of the other material that Wendy and Gail have developed for the Bulletins.
PC Meeting Report
David provided comments from the August Planning Commission meeting. The land sale issues and the tabled ordinance were discussed. There was also discussion of strengthening the demolition ordinance. David offered to contact the MAHDC representative who offered help in developing such ordinances. A joint meeting was suggested by Peter Nagrod to discuss this issue. David suggested dates in October and will contact the representative and coordinate with the PC.
Council Report
Darrell provided a written summary of the August Town Council Meeting. The sale ordinances for 315 Grove and 409 5th Ave were introduced. A meeting with WSSC was held to review plans for replacing sewer lines on Ridge Rd. and Grove Ave. The HPC requested Darrell to provide copies of the public ways permit for review of the plans.
New Business:
8 the Circle
A request for sale of a portion of the rear alley was received by the Planning Commission from Maggie Range. A plat showing the portion and a meets and bounds description were provided by the PC. There is no original construction conflicting with the portion in question. After a brief discussion, the Commission agreed that there were no historic issues generated by the potential sale and authorized Bob compose an official recommendation letter and send it to the mayor.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm. The next meeting will be Tuesday, September 17, 2019, at 7:30pm in the McCathran Hall meeting room.
Signed:
Bob Booher