21 September 2004 | Approved: 18 October 2004
HPC members present: Bob Booher, Chair, Chris Kirtz, David Neumann, and Bruce Rothrock. Also in attendance, David Stopak as liaison to the Town Council, Candi Byrne, Chris Currier, and George Paine.
The September 21, 2004 meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission began at 7:30 p.m. with the approval of the agenda. The Chair asked Chris Kirtz to take minutes.
Open items from the last meeting
Design Guidelines. Bob Booher said he would prepare a working version for Commission consideration.
Oral History: Bob Booher said he had spoken with Sylvia Appleby who was open to an oral history. He spoke with Carolyn Luxford who declined the study of her house, but was willing to discuss an oral history at a later date. The Commission decided to approach Ms. Luxford on the matter at a later date.
Application Handout Revisions. The Commission agreed to discuss the materials handed out by the Town Clerk at its October meeting.
Schedule Legal Review: The Commission noted the Town Attorney had been scheduled to address all interested Commission and Council and Committee members on October 11th and agreed to use that as a forum to pose their questions.
Augment List and descriptions of Contributing Structures. The Commission elected to discuss this at its October meeting and noted it should address how to deal with contributing accessory structures.
Archival Matters: Bruce Rothrock agreed to look into the status of the Grove’s planned purchase of Archival Software.
Heritage Committee. Chris Kirtz agreed to develop a list of specific tasks that Heritage Committee volunteers might perform which could serve as the basis of a WG Bulletin item soliciting assistance.
Public Review Session
Bob Booher agreed to prepare Certificates of Review for the proposed renovation of 103 Brown Street – the Higdon/Kershaw residence and garage – and also for the house proposed for a newly sub-divided lot at 350 Ridge Road.
Ms Currier [who lives next store to the Higdon/Kershaw house] and Ms. Byrne expressed concerns regarding the proposed renovation of the main house and rebuilding of the garage. In the main they felt the massing was out of scale for the Grove and that, the garage would loom over and dwarf the adjacent existing brick Currier dwelling.
The Commission elected NOT to review a proposed sub-division for the Cator Property on Railroad street which is not currently part of Washington Grove proper.
Public Work session
The Commission approved the September minutes with minor agreed upon edits.
The Commission also discussed the feasibility and desirability of hosting a "McMansionation Conference" which would likely draw 40 – 50 participants. Bob Booher agreed to look into this further and also whether we could use the Town Hall should we elect to host this event.
Other Business
The Commission briefly discussed the possibility of an Open House/Walking Tour.
Lastly, David Neumann and Bob Booher agreed to provide their ideas regarding heights and floor area ratio [FAR] impacts with an eye to discussing these ideas with the Planning Commission in their ongoing deliberations on revising the Town Ordinances.
The next meeting was scheduled for October 18, 2004.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:20 p.m.