20 September 2016 | Approved: 18 October 2016
Members Present: Bob Booher, Wendy Harris, Gail Littlefield, David Stopak and Mimi Styles, along with Georgette Cole, Town Council Liaison, and Cynthia Werts, Town resident. In addition, Ann Briggs, Town Resident, was present for the review session. The meeting was called to order at 7:35pm.
Approval of Agenda:
The agenda was reviewed and approved, as amended.
Adoption of Minutes:
The draft minutes from the meeting of August 16, 2016, were reviewed with one change – the motion carried unanimously to approve the minutes as amended.
Review Session:
Ann Briggs (203 Grove Ave) made an appearance to discuss improvements to her basement entrance. She provided pictures of the current location and steps for review. There are several obstacles that make it difficult to permanently cover the stairway, however, the HPC recommended possibly installing an awning of some type to keep the water from filling up in the stairwell and entering the basement. Ann will contact her contractor to discuss ideas that the HPC suggested. She thanked the Commission for their time and input.
409 5th Avenue: The Commission discussed the history of the O’Connor’s permanent easement application for the existing front porch. The original application was first discussed at the HPC meeting in July 2015, however, it was withdrawn in October 2015. The O’Connor’s are now moving forward with the easement application and the role of the HPC is to document the character defining elements of the front porch for future council. The recommendations will include a description of any historic integrity features identified by the HPC for any portion of the structure that is on Town-owned land and its relation to the subject property and compatibility with the neighborhood. Bob has already provided photo documentation that will be included in the HPC review, and, Gail has volunteered to work on the project organizing and preparing the document in a PDF format. Once the review is complete, it will be submitted to the Town Council. The easement resolution requires HPC documentation before it can be passed by the Town Council.
The Commission also discussed problems with retrieving old information from the current website. It was decided that Georgette will email Bill Saar (copy to Mayor McCathran and the Town Clerk) to advise him that it is imperative that a disk with a mirror of the old website be given to Pat Patula, Town Archivist.
Archives:
Pat Patula provided the HPC with an update of archival work done in August 2016:
- Records Management Plan: The State Archives has submitted their review with recommendations to be made before the Plan can beapproved by the State Archivist.
- Library Additions: We have a new paperback, “The Chronicles Of Georgetown, D.C. from 1751-1878” in our library. The book has also been processed into PastPerfect.
- Prisoner of War (POW) Pillars: Clare Kelly has informed us that Montgomery County has rebuilt the one pillar that was demolishedat the historic site where Camp Gaithersburg was located during World War II.
- Town Bulletin: Pat and Wendy are continuing to prepare articlesfor the series in the early days of camp meetings.
- Scanning: The Town Council minutes (from the late 1890s into theearly 1990s) are being scanned. The minutes are being incorporated into PastPerfect and other indexes for research. In addition, a ledger book from the Camp Meeting Era (1893 through 1896) has beenscanned for us by ARC in Gaithersburg (the book was too large to scan in house).
Clare Kelly Presentation:
Clare Kelly will speak about her most recent book, Montgomery Modern, in McCathran Hall on Friday, October 21st at 7:00pm. Mimi will post another announcement in the October Town bulletin. Clare also requested that a link to Montgomery Modern be incorporated into the Town website. Georgette has volunteered to post signs at the four entrances to Town and the announcement will be posted on the Grove Yahoo site, as well. Charlie Challstrom will provide A/V support and Mimi has volunteered to take care of the refreshments which will be served after the presentation.
Bulletin Material:
Wendy reported that she has prepared Part 2 of the series devoted to Washington Grove’s earliest days based on historic newspaper articles and original records in the Grove’s archives. The article will appear in the October Town bulletin.
Council Report:
Georgette gave a report on issues discussed at the Town Council meeting. There was an update on the application for permanent easement at 409 5th Avenue. It was reported that the application was sent to the HPC for review some time ago, however, the review process was stopped when the original application was withdrawn. Now that the application has been presented again, and, once the HPC review is completed, the package will go to the Town Attorney. Upon receipt of the documents from the attorney, the Town Council will then move forward with the resolution of the permanent easement.
PC Meeting Report:
Bob attended the meeting and presented a report on HPC concerns regarding the Cator Property. The Harrisons were present to give an update on the property. The Commission reviewed the Forest Conservation Plan and subdivision process, which includes conditions of the Annexation Agreement with the Town and the Zoning Ordinance. The documents have been sent to the Town Attorney for review.
An update was also given on the Block Corner survey project in the East Woods. The Request for Proposal is now in the hands of the Town Attorney for review.
There was also a status report on the Block 11 Survey. It was reported that Maggie Range has now removed the steps at #8 Circle that encroached on Town land.
It was agreed that a HPC representative attend future PC meetings as follows:
October – David Stopak
November – Mimi Styles
December – Wendy Harris
January 2017 – Gail Littlefield
February 2017 – Bob Booher
With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:35pm.
Minutes prepared and submitted by:
Cynthia Werts