15 March 2011 | Approved: 19 April 2011
Present Bob Booher, David Stopak, Mimi Styles, Margot Bohan, and David Neumann. The meeting began at 7:45 p.m. David Neumann took minutes.
Approval of Agenda and Adoption of Minutes
The proposed agenda was modified and then adopted unanimously. Minutes of the March 1, 2011 meeting of the HPC were approved subject to a few changes. The HPC meeting on March 1 was in place of our regular meeting in February. The approved minutes will be filed in the Town office and submitted to Bill Saar to be added to the Town Web Site.
Projects
There were no projects to be reviewed.
Report by the Council Liaison
Joli McCathran, the Council Liaison to the HPC summarized recent activities of the Town Council that were relevant to the HPC.
Town Archivist
Members discussed the need to hire a part-time archivist. It was decided that that a job description needed to be written. The idea is to have someone work for the Town 3-6 hours a week. The files are set up already, so the main tasks will be filing whatever new documents are received and entering data into the computer data base called Past Perfect that was set up by previous archivists and Missy Yachup. David Neumann said he would make a first attempt at a job description. The goal is to eventually put the archive database with photos and documents online.
Welcoming new residents
We discussed the welcoming committee of the Woman’s Club and coordinating that effort with the HPC. The HPC had thought its main goal in this area was to make people who move into houses that are “contributing structures” aware of the historic value of their new homes and some of the incentives that exist to maintain that historic character.
HPC members decided to provide the Woman’s Club a general flyer on historic preservation in the Town of Washington Grove. They could then decide if they wanted to distribute that with their welcoming materials. HPC members also decided to request that the Town Clerk contact a designated member of the HPC, at this time, Mimi Styles, to let her/him know when a house changes hands. The HPC will then provide the new owner (if the house is a contributing structure) with a package on the specifics of the property related to its historic significance.
Windows Workshop
We discussed the announcements that would come out in the Town Bulletin, the limit of 35 participants, notifying neighboring Gaithersburg and Rockville about the workshop, and the price of participation of $20. There is a video that can be viewed which shows the material that will be covered. It may be referred to in the announcement and/or the Town Website or at the workshop itself.
Draft of Letter to Town on the Proposed Anti-Mansionization Ordinance
The PC wrote to the HPC chair and members that it was not entirely satisfied with the Draft letter to the Town. Members discussed the changes proposed by the PC. The draft letter was re-edited by the HPC members. The Chair said he would send the re-edited letter to the chair of the PC. We discussed what we should say as an HPC, and we decided that as a group we had agreed to the substance of the draft ordinance and the letter. But, we agreed that we felt strongly that the Town Council should consider passing a resolution stating that additional changes to the Town ordinances are needed to prevent mansionization, and that the PC/HPC discussions on further changes to the ordinances should continue.
Rules of Procedure
Members read over the final draft of the “HPC Rules of Procedure,” and discussed the material edited on “Demolition” at the last meeting. Except for one spelling error, the members voted unanimously to adopt the current draft and asked the Chair to sign the final document. Changes could certainly be made in time if needed. A copy will be filed in the HPC loose-leaf binder kept in the Town Hall meeting room. A copy will be sent to Bill Saar for posting to the Town Web site.
Annual Historic Preservation Award
The HPC has previously decided on its criteria for the HP award. Suggestions were made for the award. It was said that one could go one year without making an award. We decided to discuss this at our next regular meeting in April.
Contacts with other HPC and HDC’s
It was decided to contact Rockville and Gaithersburg HDC’s or HPC’s. the purpose was to let them know about our Windows Workshop and to seek help in writing a job description for the part-time archivist and finding a person to fill the need. David volunteered to contact Chris Kirtz. We discussed again the timing of the notice about the Windows Workshop for the April and March Town Bulletins.
Permit Approval Process
The Town Clerk has suggested that a member of the HPC receive applications and their supporting documents to determine if the material is sufficient for a review. The PC is currently doing this. It has one member who sees if it is sufficient. That PC member also examines it to see if it satisfies zoning requirements. It was suggested that we provide the PC with guidelines on what we as an HPC need and that the PC point-person use those guidelines in addition to those of the PC to determine if the material presented in and with an application is sufficient. For the present time, the HPC will send someone to the Town Hall meeting room to look at the material submitted and check that it is sufficient.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned shortly before 10:00 pm. The next regular HPC meeting will be Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at 7:30 pm in the McCathran Hall meeting room.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m.