301-926-2256 [email protected]

15 January 2019 | Approved: 19 February 2019

Members Present: Bob Booher, Wendy Harris, Robyn Renas, Mimi Styles, Darrell Anderson – TC Liaison
Attendees: Bud O’Connor, Collin Turner
Members Absent: Gail Littlefield, David Stopak

Approval of Agenda:

The agenda was reviewed and modified to: Add Review Items 409 5th Avenue and 405 Brown Street; Add New Business Items Board of Zoning Appeals Application and Planning Commission Schedule; Remove Old Business Guidelines. Modified agenda approved

Adoption of Minutes:

Meeting Minutes dated December 18, 2018 were reviewed, modified and approved.
Robyn to forward Adopted Meeting Minutes to Town Office

Review Session:

Bud O’Connor – 409 5th Avenue
* Small portion of existing original Front Porch is located on Town Land
* Owner shared renovation photos which show state and location of renovated
existing Front Porch. Front Porch footprint was not extended towards 5th Avenue during renovation/restoration process
* Owner has applied to purchase of Town Land as per Zoning Ordinances 2018-04 and 05
* Attendance and presentation to HPC was for informational purposes and to assist as possible with HPC written recommendation for sale of Town land

Collin Turner – 405 Brown Street
* Property has existing 2 car Garage that is in poor condition and Owners are planning to demolish the structure and build 3 car Garage with upper level Storage component in its place. Owner would also like to build a covered structure or Shed for firewood storage
* Existing residence is traditional gable roof 4-square type residence
* Owner considering building Dutch Colonial “barn” type Garage structure
* HPC recommends that roof configuration of Garage should be compatible with residence roof. HPC suggested that firewood storage component may be designed as part of Garage structure as side bay instead of as freestanding structure
* Bob outlined process to submit planned project to HPC for review

Old Business:

Updating and Expanding the 1980 National Register of Historic Places Historic District Nomination progress report by Wendy
* Wendy will serve role of contact person for consultants and will coordinate questions surrounding view-sheds and boundaries and coordinate procedural issues and all non-architectural aspects of Nomination
* Bob will serve role of coordinator for all issues related to architecture such as narrative descriptions of buildings and extension of historic significance period
* Possible Expansion of Phase I Reports to include History of Commercial Corner and Historical Features. Gail would like to write history of the Commercial Corner including the Town’s challenges during the period of 7-11 tenancy there. Gail would also like to write history of historic features such as street/avenue signs, street lights, fire hydrants, drainage structures and the perimeter fence structure. These histories can be included as an Addendum to the Nomination if it is too late in the process to include in Phase I
* HPC would like to be able to review Draft NR Nomination prior to submission of Draft to MHT. Even one week time period for HPC review would be sufficient to confirm that Draft NR Nomination is as HPC envisions based on previous reviews

Master Plan 2019 report by Bob
* First Planning Commission Work Session planned for January 16, 2019
* Third section of the Draft Master Plan 2019 reviewed – “Transportation”
Walkways should all be repaired and as appropriate add benches
Undergrounding electric lines at individual residences could be linked to a requirement of obtaining a PC approval for a project
Remove “no through traffic” and “no right turn” signs at Railroad and Washington Grove Lane or commit to enforcing
* Commercial Corner Input from HPC – draft prepared by Robyn reviewed.
Goal is to add historical input as appropriate and forward to PC for inclusion in Master Plan 2019 review. Draft includes Commercial Corner re-development considerations and goals. Zoning limitations and re-zoning possibilities reviewed and whether existing commercial zoning of Commercial Corner property should be expanded to include residential or mixed use zoning. Further discussion recommended

Zoning Text Amendment Ordinances 2018-04 and 2018-05 report by Bob
* PC will re-examine these two ordinances and confer with HPC

Town of Washington Grove Property Sale Ordinance
* TC reviewed HPC prepared document addressing sale of Town Owned land at 315 Grove Avenue. TC requires further review of language associated to repairs and permitting requirements of portion of residence located on Town Land. Bob to follow up with TC

Bulletin Material report by Mimi
* Mimi plans to include update on street sign restoration project

Planning Commission Report by Bob
* PC Meeting highlights

Town Council Report by Darrell
* TC requests HPC submit budget request for upcoming budgeting process
* HPC to consider Nomination process fee that has not been paid out in current fiscal year cannot be carried over but requires new budget line item request
* Lighting Committee will be meeting for the first time in the next week or so and the HPC is encouraged to have someone attend these meetings to provide input as the decisions are made. (HPC Member Volunteer was not discussed)

New Business:

Board of Zoning Appeals – on February 23, 2019 at 10:30am in McCathran Hall the Town of Washington Grove Board of Zoning Appeals will hold a public Hearing on
105 Washington Grove Lane – Movimiento Pentecostal Rios de Aqua Viva
* A religious congregation would like to rent the tenant space recently vacated by Twice as Nice in the Commercial Corner
* Robyn will attend Board of Zoning Appeal hearing to represent the HPC as Bob will be out of the country
* An “Assembly” zoning use is not included in “Commercial” zoning use and the tenant space under consideration may not be appropriate for an “Assembly” use. An Assembly use requires additional means of egress based on allowed occupancy and other life safety considerations. The existing parking lot may be inadequate to accommodate the intended occupancy of the tenant space.

Planning Commission Meeting Schedule and HPC member to attend/represent HPC
* HPC members will attend PC meeting as follows:
February – Mimi
March – Bob
April – Robyn
May – Gail
June – Wendy
July – David

Adjournment at 10:10pm

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