20 January 2004 | Approved: 17 February 2004
HPC members present: Bob Booher, Chair, Ed Mroczka, and David Neumann.
Public Work Session
The January 20, 2004 meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission began at 7:35 p.m. with the approval of the agenda. The Chair asked David Neumann to take minutes.
Bob Booher and Ed will continue to work on the Design Guidelines initiated by Larry French. David Neumann mentioned his trip to Takoma Park and the signs declaring the Historic District boundaries and the diversity of building styles. Ed Mroczka suggested we be supportive of the diversity of styles in the Grove including the cape cod styles. Bob Booher asked Ed Mroczka to make a list of the styles of houses in the Grove.
The Appleby House was discussed. We decided again that an oral history was needed before the demolition was complete. We discussed the extent of the project and the Chair said he would ask Mr. Jerry Trescott to make a proposal. It would be to document via photos and text the history of the house as could be ascertained from the existing structure and from an interview with Mr. Appleby and his wife.
The question of boundaries of the Town’s Historic District was discussed. The Chair said he would discuss this with Clare Cavicchi. We decided to drop the idea of amending the boundary to include the field. The question remains on (a) whether the boundary can coincide with the boundary of the Town of Washington Grove or the 1979 boundary of the Town. The wording of the letter dated Oct. 22, 2003 from the Town’s attorney to Darrell Anderson on this matter still needs to be clarified.
Posting of the reviews to the Web. David said he would send the reviews he had, which are almost all of them processed by the HPC since the beginning, to Bill Saar the Town Web Master. He will definitely send Mimi Styles house, 346 Ridge, 201 Brown St. and 301 1st Ave.
Discussed possibility of asking someone to take minutes at the HPC meetings. Bob will send an e-mail to Missy Yachup to see if she is interested.
We discussed and decided to send copies of the reviews to the owner, the contractor, the PC, and put one copy in our loose-leaf binder. The PC copy would stay with the building permit application. The summary would be sent to the Town Clerk for placement in the Bulletin. Ed said he would make sure summary got to the Town Clerk.
Ed said he would ask around to see if someone he knew was intereseted in serving. He said that he thought we should ask at more than two people to see if they wished to serve.
Public Review Session
- Pat Kline, 207 Grove Road. The result of our discussion will be a review written by Ed Mroczka.
- Terry and Valerie Arnold, 344 Ridge Road. The result of our discussion will be a review written by Ed Mroczka.
Public Work Session (continued)
The minutes of the meeting of Dec. 16, 2003 were read and approved.
We supported the revisions to the Ordinances for Article IV Sec. 1c, 2a., 2.a.5, and 2.b.
We would like to have Article IV changed with an amendment to include with an application for a building permit the following: floor plans that describe the existing structure, and show the structural and exterior changes planned. See the flyer.
We discussed the open porch definition. We discussed whether the floor footage of an open porch should or should not be included in the total square footage of the building for purposes of the FAR ration calculation.
Our discussion was limited because we still did not have a corrected version of the proposed changes to the Ordinances. We did not understand the purpose of each of the changes. We were also not sure of the status of the 30 foot limitation on height.
We discussed possible procedures when an applicant wants to make changes to the already approved plan.
Next Meeting:
The Commission examined the calendar. The next regular meeting will be held on February 17, 2004 at 7:30 pm. The chair moved that we adjourn.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m.