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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-11-20 HPC Minutes MINUTES MAPLEWOOD HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION COUNCIL CHAMBERS - CITY HALL NOVEMBER 20,2008 A. CALL TO ORDER Chair Ron Cockriel called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. B. ATTENDANCE Present: Chair Ron Cockriel, Vice Chair Richard Currie, Commissioner Lu Aurelius, Commission Caleb Anderson (7: 1 0 p. m.), Liaison Lois Behm, Staff Representative Shann Finwall Absent: Commissioners Pete Boulay, Bob Creager, AI Galbraith Ron noted a quorum did not exist; therefore no official business could be conducted. However, there could be open discussion of some items to prepare for the next meeting with full Commission attendance. He suggested tabling Approval of the Agenda and Minutes, then move on through the items that do not require a decision: F2 - regarding previous discussions about having a Commissioner join the Ramsey County Historical Society, as noted in the Historic Preservation Commission ordinance, Ron said he had obtained the membership application information. He commented on the cost ($40/year) and some of the benefits for membership, and asked if anyone would be interested. Lu, who was the only person indicating interest at the previous meeting, said she still would like to be the member and Ron passed the paperwork on to her for submission. Caleb Anderson arrived at 7: 1 0, creatinq a quorum, so business could continue as usual. C. APPROVAL OF / AMENDMENTS TO AGENDA Lois requested addition of G4: December Meeting Ron requested addition of G5: Richie Place Lu moved to approve the additions to the Aqenda, Richard seconded, Aves - all. D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. MINUTES OF AUGUST 21, 2008 Lu moved approval of the minutes of Auqust 21, 2008, Caleb seconded, aves - all. 2. MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 1 Lu moved approval of the minutes of September 18, 2008; Richard seconded, aves-all 3. MINUTES OF OCTOBER 16, 2008 Lu moved approval of the minutes of October 16, 2008, Richard seconded, aves - all. E. CHAIR OPENING STATEMENTS / VISITOR PRESENTATIONS Ron commented on the November 4th passage of the Legacy Amendment, which included a provision for funds for historic preservation, and could potentially be a source of help in the Commission's and City's preservation efforts. No Visitor Presentation for this meeting. F. OLD BUSINESS 1. CERTIFIED LOCAL GOVERNMENT STATUS Ron reported that Shann Finwall has done some research regarding achieving Certified Local Government Status and asked her to report on her findings. Shann said she talked with Michael Koop, who spoke at the Commission meeting in February, and asked about the next steps required for CLG status. First, the current ordinance would have to be amended to ensure that the Commission has oversight authority, and that ordinance would have to be approved by the City Council. Next, the Commission would have to come up with a system for surveying and inventorying historic properties in the City. Currently there is a list the Commission made up of historic houses, but there is currently no official survey of what the City considers to be historic properties. A system would have to be created for surveying those and the way we did it would have to be approved by the State Historical Society. Third, it would be necessary to ensure adequate public process for any historical projects. That is, if there was a plan to place historical signage throughout a neighborhood we would have to ensure that the public was notified and given an opportunity to join in on that process. Then, once all those things are met, we would go to the City Council for approval of an amendment to the Ordinance and a resolution of support to apply for Certified Local Government status. Once that was approved we would bring it to the State Historical Society and they would have 90 days to review our request and then notify us either that we are approved for this status or denied. Once we are certified, the City would have to submit an annual report stating we are following through on all the goals and objectives of the status doing various programs, etc. Any time the State Historical Society decides we are not fulfilling the goals and objectives of the status they can decertify us. The Certified Local Government status makes the City eligible for Federal and State grants for historical purposes, but these grants are nearly always 50% matching grants, 2 meaning that if you receive a grant for $20,000 to do historical markers in a neighborhood, the City of Maplewood or some other body such as the Historical Society, would have to come up with 50% of that, i.e., $10,000, and only 20% of that, or $2,000, could be used for in-kind work such as staff time administering the program. So that is something to consider before applying for funds, that there always has to be financial backing from the City or some other body. She then read the purpose of the program from their procedures manual: "The Certified Local Government program seeks to encourage and expand local involvement in preservation issues through a partnership between the Certified Local Government and the State Historical Preservation Office to strengthen existing local preservation programs and promote the development of new ones. Certified Local Governments are eligible to apply annually for grants administered through the State Historical Preservation Office from a designated federal Certified Local Government pass-through allocation. A Certified Local Government would assume a leadership role by identifying, evaluating and protecting historic resources within their community, receiving technical and advisory services from the State Historical Preservation Office and having a formal role in the National Register process." Shann added that during the discussion with Mr. Koop about Maplewood's opportunities to become a Certified Local Government he indicated that to begin, what this Commission needs to do is come up with some goals and objectives before just jumping into the application process and making all these modifications to the ordinance and so forth. The City needs to know what the Commission's goals and objectives are, what their plans are as far as the preservation of particular sites, which is why she talked with Ron earlier about a possible goal setting meeting that would be an important first step to determine whether it makes sense to apply for the certification. Ron said he believes it is a good opportunity. It will give us some direction and allow us as a Commission, as well as the City, to do a little bit of soul searching about what our role is or should be as an advisory to the Council. Shann previously went through the 8 or 9 steps that would be involved to complete this process and, looking at them, they all seem achievable. As to the 50-50 match, we would be looking at different resources if we get our goals together and if, when the Council reviews them they agree those goals go along with what the City is doing, maybe they can kind of budget them in, setting aside some dollars each year as we go through development and redevelopment. The City Council and Staff could provide a budget; we can go to the Preservation Office and maybe they can provide the other 50%, then maybe we can get our signage up; get our inventories in place; or we can identify significant sites and structures. As mentioned in 3 the opening statements regarding funds which may be available because of the Legacy Amendment, he feels that if the Minnesota Historical Society recognizes Maplewood as a Certified Local Government it might give us an edge when applying for funds from those sources. With some goal setting and finding out what we as a Commission see as important, the fact that many of us also work with the Maplewood Area Historical Society which also has preservation goals, and there are probably some projects we could do jointly, with shared costs. Regarding goal setting, December is a busy month for most of us, so after we have taken care of our personal resolutions we can get together somewhat informally in January, sitting around a table and focusing on goals. We could think through the process and the types of goals we would like to have. Commissioners who are also Historical Society members could talk to that group and find out what types of projects they feel would be beneficial and get some input and support from them. All Commissioners could perhaps come up with goals which may be their pet projects that may be within the parameters of our mission. Ron asked if the Commissioners think setting the January meeting as a goal-setting meeting and to review past activities to create a year-end report for the Council, as re~uired by our Ordinance. We could possibly go back 18 months to incorporate the 50t Anniversary work and, at the end of the report, attach the goals for 2009. The Council would then know what we have done and what our goals are and what we hope to do in the future, and would have the opportunity to either accept it as is, question and/or comment on it then possibly incorporate it into their process and hopefully there will be a few dollars they can set aside for those goals. Lu asked when in January the meeting would be as she is going to be out of town until around January 23rd would hate to miss the meeting as she is very interested in setting the goals. Ron will check with Staff to see if we could meet the last week of January which would be the 29th Shann said she would check on it and e-mail everyone. 2. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY See Chair comments between B & C 4 3. TIME CAPSULE Ron reported that a City resident stopped by his house last week and dropped off some photographs, letters and other things, so it is trickling in but he would like to get it done before our 70th Anniversary, so that is one of his goals. He would like to get a copy of the Comprehensive plan in there; the Historical Society is planning to put some things in also. Richard said Chuck Turning is working on a disc of the entire 50th Anniversary activities and expects to have it done soon. Lu inquired about the video that was prepared for the 40th Anniversary, which contains a lot of historical information. Richard reported that has been copied to a DVD and can go in. Ron wondered if a DVD player should be included - discussion indicated there should still be one around in 50 years. The Commission is still hoping for and accepting items to be placed in the time capsule. 4. CITY MAPS - HISTORIC SITES / MARKERS Ron suggested tabling this item until January. At that time everyone should have more ideas and several sites, with information, to add to the master map. 5. MAPLEWOOD MOMENTS Ron: What historic national sporting team event took place in Maplewood in 1995? Answer: The first Women's Hockey Tournament was held at Aldrich Arena. Not sure which teams, but it was the first ever women's hockey tournament - not Ringette, but actually with a puck. G. NEW BUSINESS 1. EXPIRATION OF COMMISSIONER TERMS Shann reported two 3-year terms are expiring, Lu and Bob, and the procedure is to reapply if interested, along with any other applicants for appointment, and be interviewed by the Council. There was discussion about the status of terms, as they are supposed to be staggered to assure continuity of experience. but at this point 2 terms are expiring in 2008 and the other 5 terms are shown to expire in 2010. There was also discussion about the discrepancy between the Ordinance, which states the Commission is to interview the applicants and make a recommendation to the Council, while the Council Procedures, which were amended in 2004, state the Council will interview the applicants with questions submitted by the Commission. Shann will look research the questions and report back. City residents who are interested in applying for appointment to the Commission can find 5 an application form on the City website, or obtain one from the City Manager's office. 2. YEAR END REPORT - 2008 ACTIVITIES & 2009 GOALS Completed in F-1 3. UPDATE ON SOCIETY ACTIVITY Open Houses - December 6 and 7, 1 :00 to 4:00 Members Potluck December 10, 6:00 - Everyone brings food. Nominating Committee is preparing for January officer elections - 2-year terms January Holiday Tea is January 10, with seating at 11 :30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Reservations can be made through Charlotte Wasiluk or contact any member for her telephone number. 4. DECEMBER MEETING Based on discussions in F-1, Ron moved to cancel the December meetinq and move the Januarv meetinq to Januarv 29. Lu seconded. aves - all. 5. RICHIE PLACE Ron reported there is a proposed new development on the border of Maplewood and Little Canada, between 2 nature preserves. Residents of both cities have contacted Ron because they believe the area was once inhabited by Indians because they have found what they believe to be Indian tools and other artifacts, as well as a raised area they feel could be an Indian burial ground. Ron has worked with Dr. Callahan of the U of M and based on knowledqe he has qained, he aqreed to walk the propertv with one of the residents. The resident did not brinq anv of the items believed to be artifacts, so other than a red qranite rock saw nothinq to convince him, but referred the qentlemen to Dr. Callahan. H. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Ron thanked the technical staff for including the Historic Preservation Commission on the meeting re-broadcast schedule. It is appreciated Shann said now that the Commission has a staff liaison it will be necessary to have a "Staff Presentations" items on the Agenda - location is not important. She also announced that a great group of U of M Environmental Policy Undergraduate Program students working on their capstone project chose Maplewood to work on their project. Their project is titled Sustainable Maplewood and they are presenting their final report on Tuesday, December 11 from 6:30 - 8:30 at the Community Center. 6 Some of the problems they worked on were: Altering impervious surfaces for storm water mitigation Public area vegetation management Managing sustainable parks Green workplace models Planning connectivity and capacity building - South leg Supporting a learning community Ron said that Lion's Park has a steel "snail" that is in perfectly good condition and wondered whether that could be saved by placing it somewhere else. Discussion followed relative to the vandalism of sculptures in Legacy Park, and a suggestion was made that perhaps the "snail" could be placed there as a sculpture. I. ADJOURNMENT - 8:20 7