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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-25-2011 CHCP MINUTES � CALDWELL HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES Meeting of July 25, 2011 @ 6:00 P.M. � ''�� Caldwell Public Library — Idaho Room � c �� r �.�_�m._._..-..�. .�(.�.� � I. Call to order. Chairperson Randolph called the meeting to order at approximately 6:01 p. m. II. Roll Call Members Present. Chuck Randolph, Elaine Carpenter, Gina Lujack, Eileen Davidson, Lorene Oates, Megan Dixon, Anita Shore, Elaine Leppert, Jan Boles. Members Absent. Steve Maughan. Others Present. April Cabello, Planning Technician; Anne Marie Skinner, Senior I �' Planner; Rob Hopper, City Council Liaison; Brian Billingsley, Planning & Zoning , Director. II1. Approval of Minutes. MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF June 27, 2011: with the following corrections: p. 4, VII Old Business: A. 2011 CLG Grant Update. •- change from "Chairperson Randolph wondered about the due dates for the closing of fiscal years Allowing us to skip the mid project report since did not get started until after it was due and Tag and SHPO agreed there should be no problems." - change to the following "Chairperson Randolph wondered about the due dates for the closing of the fiscal year. Due to the delayed Federal budget and the delayed funding for the 2011 CLG Grant, SHPO allowed the commission and TAG to skip the mid project report to meet SHPO's and the City of Caldwell's fiscal year deadline. TAG confirmed the final product would be complete and submitted within the time line." • In the fourth paragraph, change the last word in the last sentence from "area" to "areas" MOTIOiV: Gina L., SECOND: Megan D., MOTION PASSED. IV. Certificate of Appropriateness Interviews. None. CHPC Meeting July 25, 2011 1�. Audience Participation. A. Chairperson Randolph reported on a couple who lives in the 1900 block of Fillmore that may want to attend a meeting in the future. They were invited to attend tonighYs meeting but were unable to attend. They are interested in doing some modifications to their house and they are curious about the process and what kind of steps they have to go through with this Commission. They are looking for help and constructive criticism from this group regarding their project. They are on the odd-numbered side of the street across from Jack and Sylvia Hunt. VI. Actions Since Last Meeting. A. John Hunt — A fire took place in late June on his property and destroyed his garage. His reconstruction project was stopped by the Building Department because the framework for the new garage was constructed without a building permit as the contractor didn't think a permit was necessary since it was an exact re-build in the same location. However, a permit was necessary because it was burned to the foundation and, therefore, a Certificate of Appropriateness was also necessary prior to issuance of the permit. Chairman Randolph reported that he signed off on the Certificate of Appropriateness, without it being presented to the Commission, based upon the following facts: 1) it was one day after last month's meeting and there was urgency to obtain a building permit without having to wait another month; 2) Chairperson Randolph is trying not to hold up anybody on requests that look normal in order to prevent criticisms targeted towards the Commission on blocking progress; and, 3) the Certificate of Appropriateness is worded such that the roofing material must be approved architectural shingles, the siding would be lap siding similar to the style of Mr. Hunt's house, with no change to the size of the original garage. The neighbors directly across the street also had a garage fire a few years ago and the Commission required many things from them in replacing their garage. However, their replacement garage was going to be about a story-and-a-half in height with a cover added off the side of their house to the garage and the garage increasing in size from a very small single-car to a large double-car garage. That was a much bigger project with a lot of changes from what was previously in place prior to the fire. VII. Old Business A. CHPC Ordinance Amendment and Adoption Update — Anne Marie Skinner apologized for not having researched this issue more thoroughly prior to moving forward with a proposed ordinance amendment, but in the process of preparing the ordinance amendment and sending out the public agency notices, she was informed by SHPO (with confirmation from the City Attorney) that the City cannot add into its ordinance jurisdiction over any sites on the National Register. The sites have to be established as a Local District because, per State Code, the Commission can only have authority over Local Districts, not over sites on the National Register. We could add such jurisdiction to the ordinance but it wouldn't matter because the Commission doesn't have the authority anyway even if it's in the City's ordinance. , CHPC Meeting July 25, 2011 ' ' Ms. Skinner emphasized, then, the importance of making all the National Register sites in Caldwell into either individual districts in and of themselves or expanding other districts to include those sites. Councilman Hopper wondered if the Commission couldn't spot all the sites into one district even though they aren't contiguous. Ms. Skinner responded in the affirmative. It would be a matter of the ordinance for that particular district, the National Register Local Historic District maybe, having numerous metes and bounds legal descriptions — one for each of the National Register sites included in that particular district. Chairperson Randolph inquired if the Commission wanted to add this as a topic of discussion for work sessions on the next couple of ineeting agendas to establish the boundaries of new local districts and which National Register sites should be included in an initial National Register Local Historic District. The Commission agreed this should be a work session at the next few meetings. B. 2011 CLG Grant Update — April Cabello reported she received an email version of the completed paperwork today and she printed out what she received and she passed it around for everyone to see. More information will be received via mail, which will be the actual individual survey sheets, pictures and a disk. These items will be placed in the 2010 / 2011 CLG Grant Reconnaissance Survey book. An invoice from TAG has been submitted to the City of Caldwell accounts payable for payment to complete the close-out for the 2011 CLG Grant which must be paid and reimbursed by the end of the City's fiscal year which is September 30, 2011. Ms. Cabello will have the hard copy of the completed paperwork at the office and will also bring it to the next meeting. Gina Lujack wondered about the highlighted properties. Ms. Cabello responded she didn't really know the significance of the highlighted areas. She said TAG is willing to come to a meeting and give a report on the information. Chairperson Randolph responded he thought the highlighted properties might be the truly significant properties, specifically referring to Photograph 5195 which is Alice Dunlap's house which is a classic midcentury property. Ms. Cabello wondered if the Commission would like her to request TAG to give a presentation at a future meeting or if the Commission would like to come to her office and view the hard copy of the report. Chairperson Randolph responded that the Commission should do both. C. 1204 Dearborn — CA-150-10 — April Cabello reported that all items listed on the Certificate of Appropriateness have been completed. They removed the steps leading from a door to nowhere, covered the bare wall where the stairs were removed with siding, the door that was removed has been covered up with siding and the one extra window was removed. A"thank you" letter was sent which included a recommendation to paint the property because portions af the siding are not protected by paint which could result in deterioration. Ms. Cabello received a phone call from the property owner wherein she was informed that the house would be painted by the end of September. D. 2011 Signage Project Update — Brian Billingsley reported he's been working on a project to update and place new signs in the Steunenberg Residential Historic District. He and April Cabello have been surveying all the existing signs. He presented a table of the existing signs and reviewed the table with the CHPC Meeting July 25, 2011 ' ' Commission. There is only one existing sign on Blaine which happens to be in front of Chairperson Randolph's house. On the front side of the sign there is a picture of the Hayman House which is actually on the front side of all the signs in the District. Mr. Billingsley and Jan Boles were discussing the signs last week and feel that it would be a good idea to personalize the signs a bit more to represent a certain house or a certain individual. For this particular sign, he and Mr. Boles are suggesting (after receiving consent from the family, of course) to remove the image of the Hayman house and replace it with an image of the governor on the front side and a brief biographical history of the governor on the back side. The sign at 1223 Cleveland currently has a picture of Hayman House on the front side and text regarding the canopy of trees on the reverse side. Mr. Boles provided a nice photo of Cleveland Boulevard in the 1940s that will be placed on the front side of the sign in place of the Hayman House. The sign at 1602 Cleveland currently has the Hayman House on the front side with language regarding the interurban line. Mr. Boles will be working on providing an image of the interurban rail car used back ir� the 1920s. The sign at 1802 Cleveland has the Hayman House on the front and an interpretive history on the Beale House on the reverse. Mr. Boles will be providing a picture of the Beale House to replace the Hayman House. The sign at 1424 Dearborn is at Rob Oates' house. The proposal is to remove the Hayman House and replace it with a picture of Rob Oates' house instead. The rear side has information on the Steunenberg Residential Historic District. The proposal for 1602 Dearborn is to remove the image of the Hayman House and replace it with a picture of Governor Steunenberg's house as it stood in the early 1900s. The reverse side lists the history of his home and his assassination. The sign at 19 and Dearborn is the easiest sign because that actually is the site of the Hayman House so that sign will remain the same. There is one sign on Everett at 1804 Everett, which is the Julia Finney house. Mr. Boles has provided an image of the house at 1804 Everett to replace the image of the Hayman House. The last sign is on 12 Avenue and is hidden by a telephone pole. The sign will be moved to the corner of 12 and Dearborn so it is visible. The proposal for this sign is to remove the image of the Hayman House and replace it with an old image of Caldwell High School. The reverse side has a history of Serenity Park and Caldwell High School. Five new signs are being proposed. One will be at Boone Memorial Presbyterian Church. Mr. Billingsley has contacted the Church regarding placement of a sign at their site and, as of yet, hasn't received a response. The second new sign will be placed at 1923 Everett, which is the house of the College of Idaho president. Mr. Boles has spoken with the president and has received permission to place a sign at that site. A third new sign will be placed at 1924 Blaine, which is the entrance to the Historic District, and will have an image of the governor in that location since the home at that site isn't really historic. The fourth new sign will be placed at 1824 Everett w�ich was JR Simplot's home. Mr. Boles provided a CHPC Meeting July 25, 2011 '' ' picture of Mr. Simplot which may or may not be used. The fifth and final new sign will be at 1720 Fillmore which is Midge Graves' house. Chairperson Randolph suggested moving the sign in front of his house to 1504 Blaine and placing a picture of the Whittenberger House on the sign with a Whittenberger history on the back. Chairperson Randolph further suggested corresponding the signage to the walking tour. Mr. Billingsley suggested also adding one new sign to the list and that sign would be on Everett Street. He wondered if anyone had any location suggestions for such a sign. Chairperson Randolph suggested that both Crookham houses are on Everett and there was general consensus that highlighting the Crookhams with a sign on Everett was a good idea. Mr. Billingsley further reported that, due to the budget crunch, all non-essential items would have to be pushed back to October 1, 2011. So, none of the signs will be purchased until after October 1, 2011. That will give time to receive permission from all families and estates prior to publishing any images on any of the signs. Mr. Billingsley reviewed with the Commission the items that needed to be obtained or have approval prior to publication and who is responsible for obtaining the item or such permission. VIII. New Business. A. VOTE — FY 2012 CLG Grant — April Cabello reported that it was time to vote on the 2012 CLG Grant. Ms. Cabello would like to have a vote on a final decision since the application needs to be submitted by September 30, 2011. The Commission discussed the various items up for vote on the list. It was unanimously agreed verbally that Ms. Cabello would let SHPO know the Commission is looking at the Riverside Canal along with other sites tied to the canal. Ann Swanson at SHPO will put the finer details together and submit to Ms. Cabello and Ms. Cabello will submit that to all the Commissioners for a final vote. IX. Commission � Staff Reports. A. Megan Dixon wondered about the rentals on the odd side of the 1700 block of Dearborn that have now been foreclosed on and if there is a way to make them not multi-family dwetlings any longer. The response from Gina Lujack was that if the properties are vacant for more than a year, then they convert from their nonconforming use back to single-family dwellings. B. Jan Boles reported that the contents of the log cabins have been moved to the Smylie Archives for documentation purposes and discussed specifically some oil paintings within those contents. C. Lorene Oates reported the "village" is now vacant at the 1800 block of Cleveland which provides a good real estate opportunity for someone. D. Elaine Carpenter reported concerns about the yard sales and the lack of enforcement of the yard sales ordinance. She further reported the apricot tree at Lincoln Elementary lost one-third of its bulk last month. Ms. Carpenter feels the Commission should take that tree on as a project, write a small history of it, take CHPC Meeting July 25, 2011 a -' ' pictures and present it to Lincoln Elementary so the students have a history of it. The tree is diseased so it will eventually be gone. E. Gina Lujack noticed a place on Blaine with an odd-looking fence being constructed and guessed an address of 1224 Blaine. Ms. Lujack wondered if the Commission wanted to take on making Lake Lowell a historic site. F. Brian Billingsley reported the $275 received from Steunenberg Neighborhood Association is in the bank and will be utilized for the new signage project. G. Elaine Leppert thanked the Commissioners for her nominations far the Orchids Award. H. April Cabello wondered about the letter of support for Bob Carpenter's group's proposed downtown project. Chairperson Randolph responded he received some sample letters from Mr. Carpenter and, from those, he would be putting together a �etter from the Commission to submit to Mr. Carpenter. I. Councilman Hopper reported the Council is working on the code enforcement issue regarding code enforcement employees working on the weekends. X. Meeting adjourned at approximately 7:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted by April Cabello, MINUTES APPROVED AND SIGNED BELOW BY CHAIRPERSON CHUCK RANDOLPH ON THE DATE NOTED BELOW. _ _ ��� c � Chairperson Randolph ' - °� �� Date ��� � S-2z- �/ A EST: Brian Billingsley, P& Z Director Date CHPC Meeting July 25, 2011