15 November 2011 | Approved: 16 January 2012
Bob Booher, Mimi Styles, Margot Bohan, and David Neumann. Councilor Joli McCathran was present as Town Council Liaison. The meeting began at 7:30p.m. Bob Booher took minutes.
Approval of Agenda and Adoption of Minutes
The proposed agenda was modified and then adopted unanimously. Minutes for the October HPC meeting were approved subject to a few changes. They will be filed in the Town office and submitted to Bill Saar to be added to the Town Web Site.
Project Reviews
Members reviewed a permit application from Gary Hayward to build an addition over the garage of his house at 201 Cherry Avenue. Mimi Styles agreed to write the review.
Council Report
Joli McCathran presented her report on Council activities relevant to the HPC.
Permit Procedure
David Stopak reported on the presentation to the Planning Commission of the proposal to modify the permit procedure to require the HPC review to be complete before the application is submitted to the Town. The PC was generally receptive to the idea, had many questions that were answered by David and Bob at their meeting. They stopped short of actually voting on the proposal until they could become more familiar with it. The HPC will draft a possible separate application and a formal proposal.
Weatherization Workshop
The response to the Workshop was reviewed. It was attended by roughly a dozen residents. It was divided into three sections -the first was a presentation of thermal and moisture migration in various eras of housing construction. Then the group divided into two in order to visit several houses each and discuss issues and question that arose. One group visited the Cavicchi, Hehne, and Favret houses. The other the Styles, Hutcheson and Roberts houses. The group re-congregated for the fmal wrap up phase at the Hall.
The powerpoint presentation will be placed on the Town website for use by the residents. Other possible topics to continue the series include frre safety and code changes.
Archivist
David Neumann reported that Patricia Patula has started as the part time Town Archivist. He has met with her to orient her to the material, goals, the data and the Town. The second meeting is scheduled for this Thursday. We will schedule a time at a future meeting to meet with her and review our directions. David suggested establishing a group of”elders” that could help identifY people and places in photos, or elaborate on Town lore. Another possibility is to engage high school students to do some of the data entry work as part of their service obligations. The Town would need to be registered for the work to be credited. Pat will look into developing a mission/policy statement and a collections policy. She will also look into coordination with Judy Mroczska and Ken McCathran about the Oral History project.
Bulletin
Suggestion was made to provide a postscript of the workshop in this bulletin, and then start a series using the adopted Guidelines.
Deer Park Bridge
Bob reported on the progress of the workgroup in their efforts to investigate the impacts of the proposals to raise the bridge and/or lower the tracks. The group is focusing on avoidance and mitigation of the impacts and also area improvements that can be made in conjunction with the work. The group will meet with CSX in early December to review their progress and confer on the possible paths forward. After this meeting the group will focus on preparing for a Town Meeting to consider the results of their investigations.
Heritage Montgomery
The Commissioners discussed whether to coordinate with Heritage Montgomery in their efforts. Peggy Erickson had presented the film Life in a War Zone to a full McCathran Hall and it was suggested that the HPC establish a more formal connection. The organization’s purpose is to encourage historic tourism in the county. Several members questioned whether this was at odds with the residential focus of the community. It was agreed to revisit the issue at a future meeting.
Adjourmnent
The next meeting will be Tuesday, December 20, 2011, at 7:30pm in the McCathran Hall meeting room.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m.