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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-09-20 HPC Agenda packet MINUTES PRELIMINARY HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION EMMA J. HARVAT HALL December 12, 2019 MEMBERS PRESENT: Thomas Agran, Helen Burford, Cecile Kuenzli, Lyndi Kiple, Quentin Pitzen, and Jordan Sellergren MEMBERS ABSENT: Kevin Boyd, Gosia Clore, Sharon DeGraw STAFF PRESENT: Jessica Bristow OTHERS PRESENT: Greg A Sims, Austin Wu RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: (become effective only after separate Council action) CALL TO ORDER: Vice-Chairperson Agran called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANYTHING NOT ON THE AGENDA: There was none. CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS: 330 North Gilbert Street – Northside Historic District (rear porch opening relocations). The first agenda item concerned the property located at 330 North Gilbert Street where the applicant is requesting a second curb cut and driveway with a parking pad. Bristow stated that staff received an emailed letter from the applicant’s lawyer this afternoon which was emailed to Commissioners and provided for them in hardcopy at the meeting. She said that since staff did not have time to read the letter or respond, staff would like to change the recommendation for the project. Bristow said that staff would recommend that the Commission defer the discussion and decision of the project until the January meeting at which time staff will have had the ability to respond to the letter. She said that the applicant had been emailed that the recommendation would change. Bristow said the project will be published with the letter and the response in the agenda packet. Agran asked the members of the public in attendance if they would be able to attend the January meeting instead. Bristow said that if they could not attend in January, they could email any comments to her to be shared at the meeting also. MOTION: Kuenzli moved to defer the project at 330 North Gilbert Street to the January 2020 meeting so that staff can respond to the additional information. Burford seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. REPORT ON CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY CHAIR AND STAFF Certificate of No Material Effect – Chair and Staff Review. 1203 Sheridan Avenue– Longfellow Historic District (storm window replacement). HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION December 12, 2019 Page 2 of 6 Bristow said that while storm window replacement does not require review, several recent projects funded by the Historic Preservation Fund involved the replacement of storm windows, and sometimes the repair of the original windows so that the original windows are saved from demolition. Minor Review – Staff Review. 811 1/2 East College Street – College Green Historic District (exterior metal stair railing replacement). Bristow said that the stair replaced is the main access to the second-floor apartments on the rear building. Bristow showed an image of the front building and a photo of the fire escape stair on the back. She said that since the two stairs had matched before, the new one will also be similar. 123 North Linn Street – Local Historic Landmark (Brewery Square entrance door and arched transom replacement). Bristow this entrance is a non-historic addition between the Economy Advertising Building and the Union Brewery. She said the project is the replacement of the entry doors and windows and the arched transom window under the steel tube arch. Bristow said the steel tube will be repaired and painted and a storefront system will be installed in the entrance. CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES FOR NOVEMBER 14, 2019 MOTION: Kuenzli moved to approve the minutes of the Historic Preservation Commission’s November 14, 2019 meeting. Pitzen seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. COMMISSION INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION: Receipt of statement of eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places for the Clinton Street and Railroad Depot Historic District. Bristow said that the attached letter was the official notification that the propose District was found to be eligible for listing in the National Register but was not listed because of owner objection. Bristow said that if the owners changed their mind at any time they could notify the National Park Service and the district would be immediately listed. Kuenzli asked if there might be a possibility that they would change their minds on this. Bristow said it seemed unlikely at this time. Unscheduled item from the floor: Greg A Sims asked permission to address the Commission on an item near and dear to his heart. Sims informed the Commission that there were historical documents, specifically, bank certificates issued by the Bank of New York that if located could be redeemed for as much as $250,000. The description of the certificate included a gold seal and several different ribbon attachments. Sims stated that he had grown up in Des Moines where preservation happened and they had done good work. He said that he appreciated history and this type of work. His information was being presented as a public service. Sims requested a copy of the Commission minutes as record of his participation in the meeting. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION December 12, 2019 Page 3 of 6 Preliminary discussion of potential work plan activities Bristow said that the purpose of this discussion was to provide the Commission with information about on-going work and potential work. She said that since the creation of a work plan is required as a part of our Certified Local Government agreement, staff wished to have a preliminary discussion so that Commissioner interest in specific projects could be included in the work plan draft that will be presented next month. Bristow began with the list of regular tasks that happen on an annual basis, most of which are the daily tasks that occupy staff. Bristow continued with the high-priority projects. She said that the Downtown National Register Nomination is in process and will likely proceed to review by the State Nominating Review Committee in June which means it will be reviewed by the Commission in May. She said that since this is preservation month, we may have a public presentation. Bristow said that the University of Iowa planning project that is ongoing involves other staff and they will present to the Commission in January. Bristow said the Summit Street Monument was reviewed by a consultant as part of one of the grants that the Commission had last year. The consultant issued recommendations on how to preserve the monument. Because the deterioration is ongoing, this a high-priority project which will involve Commission review and a recommendation to City Council on how to move forward in regard to the monument. Bristow said that an update of the National Register listing of the College Green Historic District to include the house relocated to 623 College as a contributing resource is necessary for the current and future property owners. She said this is a good time to review the entire district to confirm the status of the other properties, especially since this is a small district. Bristow said that the Iowa City Preservation Handbook needs to be updated to correct inconsistencies and include recent code amendments. She said that given the scope of this project, it would be helpful to have a sub-committee of the Commission help with this process. Bristow continued with the low-priority or future projects list stating that the Sanxay-Gilmore House is on the list only to keep the Commission aware of the future project. She said that the budget for the project was removed and there may still be discussions on allowing it to remain. She showed a picture of the house so that new Commissioners would know which house was discussed. She said that the University letter from last year said that they do not have plans to use the space and that it may be three years before the house would need to be relocated or demolished. Bristow said that this project would likely begin with some programming discussions similar to those that happened with the recent landmarks on Gilbert Street. The process to move the house would be involved and likely take most of a year. Bristow said that the Montgomery-Butler House is a similar situation. She showed a photos and aerial images so the Commission would know where this house is located. She said that many years ago the City got a grant to study the house and another grant to mothball it. The mothballing is now failing. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION December 12, 2019 Page 4 of 6 Bristow said in 2015 a stakeholder meeting about the project was inconclusive. Kuenzli asked if it could be sold off and become a single-family home. Bristow said that because it is on City property that is unlikely and better options will probably result in a use by Parks and Rec or something similar. Bristow said the next item is the update of the Brown Street National Register District. After the Commission reviewed the status of the house at 724 Ronalds and changed its status from contributing to noncontributing to the district, the State Historic Preservation Office wanted the district updated. Bristow said that while there is no rush, there are several other properties in the district whose status has changed and they could all be updated at the same time. Bristow said that evaluation of the Kirkwood Avenue area and Lucas Farms could begin at any time because the first step is a reconnaissance survey which can be done by volunteers with limited training. She said that given the strength of the neighborhood involvement in the area, they may be interested in helping. Bristow said that the evaluation of the Mid-Century housing stock was something that began as an interest in the 2015 work plan but it was not a priority once the Commission began moving forward with a list of individual landmarks. This could also begin as a reconnaissance survey or mapping project. Agran asked if these latter were all supposed to be completed in the coming year or whether they were just suggestions of topics from which the Commission might make a selection. Bristow replied that the list is more of an aspirational list of targeted projects but that constraints on staff time and commissioners’ availability suggested that the Commission should target the high priority projects and further, that if any commissioner had a particular interest in a project in another category, he or she would be welcome to pursue that as a goal for the year. Kiple indicated her interest in the Summit Street Monument project. Sellergren said she would be happy to help gather information to designate Kirkwood Ave as a historic neighborhood. She said she could take down info about house exteriors and cross check background info on the assessor site. Burford said that she could assist in the review of her College Green District and that update. Kiple asked for more information on the digital online presence project. Bristow said that in 2015 when she performed a study of Historic Preservation Staffing in other communities it was noticed that other communities had a much stronger digital presence. She said that this helped increase the availability of information and has been on the work plan ever since. She said it would likely take involvement with the City IT department which currently doesn’t have time budgeted for the project. Kuenzli said she would be interested to be on the committee to consider replacement of the Summit Street historic monument marker. Bristow said she felt she had enough information from the discussion to create the draft work plan for review at the next Commission meeting. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION December 12, 2019 Page 5 of 6 Bristow introduced and welcomed the new at-large Commissioner, Austin Wu, who was attending the meeting for observation prior to completing training and joining the Commission for the January meeting. ADJOURNMENT: Kiple moved to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Pitzen. The meeting was adjourned at 6:15 p.m. Minutes submitted by Judy Jones HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION December 12, 2019 Page 6 of 6 ATTENDANCE RECORD 2018-2019 NAME TERM EXP. 1/10 2/14 3/14 4/11 5/09 5/23 6/13 8/08 8/19 9/12 10/10 11/14 12/12 AGRAN, THOMAS 6/30/20 O/E O/E X O/E O/E X X X X X X X X BOYD, KEVIN 6/30/20 X X X X X O/E X X X X O/E X O/E BUILTA, ZACH 6/30/19 X X X X X X X -- -- -- -- -- -- BURFORD, HELEN 6/30/21 X X X O/E X X X X X X X X X CLORE, GOSIA 6/30/20 O/E X X X O/E X O/E O/E X X X X O/E DEGRAW, SHARON 6/30/19 X O/E X X X X O/E X X O/E O/E X O/E KARR, G. T. 6/30/20 X X X X X X X X X X -- -- -- KUENZLI, CECILE 6/30/19 X O/E X X X X O/E X X O/E O/E X X KIPLE, LYNDI 6/30/22 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- X X X X X X PITZEN, QUENTIN 6/30/21 X X X X X X X X X X X X X SELLERGREN, JORDAN 6/30/22 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- X X X X X X SHOPE, LEE 6/30/21 O/E X X X X X O/E -- -- -- -- -- --