19 June 2007 | Approved: 17 July 2007
HPC members present: Bob Booher, Chair, Mimi Styles, Margot Bohan, and David Neumann. Ed Mroczka was unable to attend. David Stopak attended as Liaison from the Council. The meeting was called to order by the Chair at 7:45 p.m. The agenda proposed by the Chairman was adopted after a few changes by members. David Neumann agreed to take minutes for the meeting. The minutes of the regular meeting of May 15 and of February 20, 2007 were approved subject to changes requested by members.
Reviews
- The new owner of the house at 114 Grove Avenue, formerly the home of Coach Adams, came in to informally discuss his plans to remodel interior portions of the house.
- HPC members reviewed plans for exterior remodeling of the residence at 125 Chestnut Avenue. The plans for this project had been discussed at a previous meeting with the HPC. The owners, Margaret Cavenaugh and Mark Dubnick were present with their architect, Ms. Robin Renas of 211 Briscoe St., Gaithersburg, MD. The discussion was aided by plans as well as a model showing the planned renovations.
Town Council Report
David Stopak reported that Georgette Cole had proposed that a pink sign be created that should be posted in front and in back of a residence at the time that the owner obtains a building permit application, before they submit the permit to the Planning Commission. It would show the dates when the application would be discussed by the HPC and the Planning Commission.
David agreed to talk to the Town Council about the cost of the plaque to be placed at the front of the Town in the park near between Brown and Railroad Streets.
David Stopak also discussed the Cator property (see below).
Other Business
New merged Rules of Procedure for the HPC will be presented next meeting by David Neumann. The plaques would be discussed at next meeting. Ed would get more information on prices Margot would look into prices of rocks. There was discussion of obtaining a grant from the State Highway Administration for historic markers.
The plaque for this past year’s preservation award to the Henninger’s is on order.
HPC members discussed the need for someone to prepare a grant proposal so that we can afford to transcribe the oral histories being obtained from our older long-time residents. Judy Mroczka is organizing the gathering of the oral histories with the help of Alton Ghrist. The question was brought up, but left unanswered, whether these oral histories could be stored on the Town Web site.
Again, members discussed the need to submit written house histories to the Town Web site via the procedure set up over the last two meetings. Histories are submitted to the Town Web Site via Bill Saar’s publishing mechanism which he installed into the Town Web site. Mimi Styles is acting as the editor of the materials submitted.
The Master Plan was discussed. The members resolved that the text proposed by Bob Booher be included as is in section 8.4 of the Town’s Master Plan. Margot Bohan proposed the resolution, Mimi Styles seconded it. The members unanimously adopted the resolution.
Members discussed the need to write criteria for the Washington Grove Annual Award for Historic Preservation.
Cator Property Annexation
Bob Booher as Chair discussed The Cator Property briefly. He explained that the annexation plan had been approved by the Town Council; and that the subdivision plat submitted by the Harrisons had also been approved by the Town Planning Commission. Note that John McClelland had called Bob Booher for his input a day before the PC meeting on June 6 where the PC approved the subdivision plat for the Harrisons.
The members felt that Article XV of the Town Ordinances had not been followed. It requires that the HPC provide a review of the subdivision plan to the Planning Commission. The HPC is allowed 60 days under Article XV to review a subdivision plan. We had previously done such reviews for flag-type subdivisions on Ridge Road and other proposed subdivisions in the Town. The members agreed that a letter should be drafted by the Chair to be sent to the Town Council explaining that the members of the HPC feel that the Town Planning Commission and Council should adhere to the Ordinances.
The next meeting will be on Tues. July 17, 2007 at 7:30 pm.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m.