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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2022-03-08 minutesCity of Jefferson Historic Preservation Commission Minutes Regular Meeting – Tuesday, March 8, 2022 Council Chambers – John G. Christy Municipal Building 320 E. McCarty Street/Virtual WebEx Meeting Commission Members Present Attendance Record Donna Deetz, Chairperson 3 of 3 Alan Wheat, Vice Chairperson 3 of 3 Gail Jones 3 of 3 Tiffany Patterson 3 of 3 Brad Schaefer 3 of 3 Michael Berendzen 3 of 3 Commission Members Absent Attendance Record Steven Hoffman 0 of 3 Council Liaison Present Laura Ward Staff Present Rachel Senzee, Neighborhood Services Supervisor Karlie Reinkemeyer, Neighborhood Services Specialist Dawn Kirchner, Neighborhood Services Specialist Guests Present Rory Krupp, Owen & Eastlake Historic Preservation Consultant David Taylor, Historic Preservation Consultant Jacob Robinett, citizen Councilman Ron Fitzwater (via WebEx) Call to Order Ms. Deetz called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. Adoption of Agenda Ms. Patterson moved and Mr. Berendzen seconded to adopt the agenda as printed. The motion passed unanimously. Approval of Regular Meeting Minutes Mr. Wheat moved and Ms. Patterson seconded to approve the minutes from February 8, 2022, regular meeting as written. The motion passed unanimously. Old Business A. Historic Preservation Commission Work Session The work session will take place immediately after the regular meeting. New Business A. West Main Phase II Survey Project and the Historic East Re-Survey Project Ms. Senzee introduced Mr. David Taylor. Mr. Taylor is consulting on the West Main Phase II Survey Project and the Historic East Re-Survey Project. Mr. Taylor is a historic preservation consultant from western Pennsylvania. Mr. Taylor has been doing this since the 1970s from Connecticut to North Carolina, Missouri to Kentucky. This project was funded through a Certified Local Government grant (CLG). The CLG program is administered by the Historic Preservation office. Every year, states receive funding from the National Park Service to perform historic preservation activities within their state. They are required to pass through 10% of their federal grant to Certified Local Governments, such as the City of Jefferson. Then the local governments regrant and make contracts to do various historic preservation activities. This particular grant was a survey of two fairly large areas in the City of Jefferson. The first one was a re-survey of the east side from a 1992 survey, and the other is phase two of the W. Main Street Area that runs from Havana St. out to the Waterworks, for a total of about 700 buildings. Mr. Taylor spent three days photographing buildings in the area for a total of 778 photos. Investigating the character of the properties. Historic Survey forms must be filled out for each property. He will be turning in a stack of forms for each of the properties within these two districts and will identify National Register properties with historic significance. Mr. Taylor will produce a report with a series of recommendations, which will include things like additional survey work, looking at areas in terms of National Register designation, and perhaps at individual properties that could be listed in the National Register. Mr. Taylor explained that the National Register carries with it no restriction on private property rights. It would not affect property rights but would make available significant tax benefits for the rehabilitation of historic properties. These are strong incentives to encourage the rehabilitation of historic properties. Historic is defined as fifty years old or older. Mr. Taylor stated that two very interesting properties are the old shoe factory and the old Simonsen structure. Ms. Patterson asked if the City had looked at the “little triangle area” where West Main and High intersect. This area is outside of the West Main Phase II Survey map. However, Ms. Senzee explained that the City has not gotten to this area yet. The City is trying to look at as many properties as possible in the survey area to make it manageable. Ms. Senzee explained that there are usually 150-200 properties in a survey area. B. Historic Context- Rory Krupp Mr. Krupp explained that he is working on the Historic Context project for the City. The Historic Context will provide a history of how the City developed and how “we got here”. The Historic Context will examine the whole city, and why we see what we see today around us. Mr. Krupp explained that there are a lot of interesting features downtown and there is a pretty wide range of interesting features in close proximity. Mr. Krupp stated that both of his advisors are from Missouri and they gave him very interesting reading lists. Mr. Krupp said he has contacted Lynn Morrow, former archivist for Missouri, who also gave him a reading list to help him fill in some of the gaps. Mr. Krupp will be in Jefferson City from March 8-15th. He will do research this week. He will definitely be back to continue. Mr. Krupp said the finished product will provide insight on how to prioritize buildings and neighborhoods in the historical sense. Mr. Krupp said the context will also touch on economic development suggestions, what structures are in danger and what structures should be saved immediately, developmental patterns, examine transportation patterns and educational institutions. Ms. Deetz asked if Mr. Krupp found anything interesting so far in his research. Mr. Krupp stated that he found the 1949 Cholera Boat interesting. He thought there may have been two of them but is not sure. Mr. Krupp asked, “Where did they bury the bodies”? Mr. Krupp is interested in the recent annexations. What areas got picked to annex and why. This is part of the broad history. Other Business A. Code Revision Committee Update Ms. Deetz explained that the Code Revision Committee met on March 3rd and started working on updates to the code. The committee reviewed code about local historic districts and landmarks, specifically the landmark awards. The committee determined that the Landmark Awards would be an honorary award. The Landmark Award would not place restrictions on properties that are awarded. Ms. Deetz stated that the committee made good progress in reviewing the code. Another update brought forward was that the percentage of property owner signatures required for local historic districts will be lowered to 33% instead of 75%, which will make it easier to obtain property owner signatures to proceed with the formation of a local historic district. Councilwoman Ward and Ms. Deetz stated that there are a lot of property owners that live out of town. B. Preservation Month-May 2022 Ms. Senzee stated that the tentative work session would allow the commissioners to discuss Preservation Month activities more in-depth. C. Missouri Preservation Conference- June 13-15, 2022 The state preservation group will be here next week. D. Certified Local Government Coordinator Ms. Senzee stated that a letter was received two weeks ago stating that the City’s Certified Local Government Coordinator, Kelsey Matson, has taken a position close to her home, so we do not currently have a Certified Local Government Coordinator with the SHPO. Ms. Senzee explained that Communication with the SHPO may be a little more difficult as a new CLG coordinator has to be hired. Public Comment No public comments. Dates to Remember A. Next Regular Meeting Date-April 12, 2022 Adjournment Ms. Deetz moved and Ms. Jones seconded to adjourn the meeting at 6:24 p.m. The motion passed unanimously. Work Session Minutes Commission Members Present Donna Deetz, Chairperson Alan Wheat, Vice Chairperson Gail Jones Tiffany Patterson Brad Schaefer Michael Berendzen Commission Members Absent Steven Hoffman Council Liaison Present Laura Ward Staff Present Rachel Senzee, Neighborhood Services Supervisor Karlie Reinkemeyer, Neighborhood Services Specialist Dawn Kirchner, Neighborhood Services Specialist Guests Present Rory Krupp, Owen & Eastlake Historic Preservation Consultant David Taylor, Historic Preservation Consultant Jacob Robinett, citizen Councilman Ron Fitzwater (via WebEx) Call to Order Ms. Deetz called the work session to order at 6:26 p.m. The first item on the agenda was a discussion of what the Historic Preservation Commission wants to do to honor Historic Preservation month in May. The second item that was addressed is the Commission's role in working with city staff, moving forward into the future. What role does the commission want to play in the three current grants? What does this commission want to be? Ms. Deetz outlined upcoming activities of the Historic City of Jefferson to provide some ideas for the Historic Preservation Commission. She said the Salvage Shop received a $10,000 grant from DNR to expand their salvage operations. They are taking on eight counties to keep historic features from going to the landfill. The shop is open on the third Saturday of the month. They will also be having workshops on those days. The workshops will cover topics on how to utilize salvage doors and refurbishing furniture, as opposed to dumping it in the landfill. HCJ has also asked a couple of contractors to come in to show how to cut tile and other construction practices. The Homes tour this year will be in September and will be on Capitol Avenue. There are going to be workshops during the Homes tour. HCJ is trying to make it more interactive. HCJ will be holding its annual luncheon on May 22. Ms. Deetz will let the Commission know the details when they are determined. The Volunteer Award, Pioneer Award, and Gregory Stockard Award will be given out during the luncheon. Ms. Patterson agreed. Why reinvent the wheel when another organization is already working on things and we can work in tandem with them? HCJ is looking for workers for the Salvage Shop so it can open more than one day a month. Ms. Patterson – Maybe the commission could work on a clean-up day at one of the city-owned cemeteries in honor of Historic Preservation Month? This would be an investment of time and sweat equity. Ms. Senzee brought up the Historic Preservation Plan as a reminder of the powers that the commission holds. Ms. Senzee explained that this is why the code revision is so important. If you have a good foundation, then you can draw in your non-profits and your private entities that can use historic preservation as a tool. The Commission should definitely do some outreach. Ms. Senzee verified that all members have a copy of the plan as a tool for their work. Mr. Wheat thought that working at the cemeteries, (cleaning headstones, etc.) would be a good way to get the public involved. He thought this would be a good way to get a lot of citizens involved. He volunteered to contact Nancy Thompson to set this event up. Ms. Deetz stated that she and Councilwoman Ward are working on making changes to the ordinances and it is something the commission can start working on. Ms. Deetz explained that this is the demolition for dangerous buildings and it tells how to get the bids to take down the buildings. There are actually two facets to this: 1) Once it is settled that a building is dangerous and a contract has been set for the demolition, a week can be built-in for a licensed, insured group to go in and do salvage, somebody that would benefit from that salvage; 2) The other one covers dangerous buildings. It is Missouri’s Abandoned Housing Act – Action Item B-27 that says that a non-profit can go to the court and petition it to make improvements to a building. At the end of the process, the owner would either repay the non- profit for the work that has been done or, the court can deed over the property to the non-profit. This is an identified measure in our plan. Ms. Patterson guided the meeting back to Historic Preservation Month in May. She asked that the commission focus on May. She proposed that the commission try a “Did you know?” campaign. This would be a vehicle to get the word out about the code revisions and other actions of the HPC. Ms. Patterson suggested using social media or the newspaper. Ms. Senzee stated that the Commission does have a Facebook page. Ms. Senzee was contacted by Cathy Bordner, who is the previous administrator for the Facebook page. Ms. Senzee will check and make sure the HPC can reestablish a social media page. The HPC discussed each member creating 3-4 “did you knows” and getting them to Ms. Senzee before the April meeting for review. Ms. Patterson proposed going back to the Historic Preservation Plan and pulling items from there so they are not creating things from scratch. Ms. Deetz checked with members about this plan of action and the consensus was in favor of the idea. Mr. Wheat agreed to follow up with the city cemeteries about clean-up efforts for May for Historic Preservation month. Ms. Senzee next discussed the grant cycle for the HPF grant funding. We have until August 31st until the first grant is due and usually around that time is when the next grant cycle opens up. We have already applied for two grants for this next cycle. One of these is a grant for design guidelines. The design guidelines will be a how-to of preservation across the community. It is not going to be for specific design guidelines for local historic districts, even though it will have those as appendices. Design guidelines will be a one-stop-shop for everything preservation, whether you are doing infill development, whether you are doing restorations or demolitions. Basically, taking your old historic neighborhoods and making sure they still have vibrant life in them. Ms. Deetz asked Ms. Senzee who would do this work? Ms. Senzee stated that this work would be contracted out because this is a big project. Ms. Senzee is hopeful that the design guidelines will be incorporated into the code revisions. The other grant is for Phase III of the West Main area. Staff applied for more survey work along West Main last fall. Ms. Senzee explained that the Commission approved of the boundaries. Ms. Senzee explained that surveying all of the West Main areas is going to take time to get done. Ms. Senzee explained that staff likes to use the Paul Bruhn grant as an example. We are working on program development for the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization grant and the City a kickoff meeting with the National Parks Service. Ms. Senzee stated Jefferson City was only one of eleven in the country to receive it and there were only two other municipalities, the rest were Historic Preservation Offices or state historical societies. Ms. Senzee stated that the City used Historical Preservation Funds to do the structural survey of 100 properties in the Missouri State Capitol and Old Munichburg historic districts. Ms. Senzee explained that the City completed this project to demonstrate what the City already knew. The City already knew that we had some problems with our structures. Ms. Senzee explained that we knew that we had the problems first and went after the Paul Bruhn grant to help solve the structural issues. Ms. Senzee said if we think about our projects in the long-term cycle, we can plan our activities because it is a three-year cycle. Ms. Deetz asked Ms. Senzee how the Commission could help with this and Ms. Senzee replied that the Commission could help identify the priorities and she thinks that the Historic Context will help identify a lot of priorities in context. Ms. Senzee wants to also start looking at some of the more commercial areas, maybe do a resurvey of downtown, because the last one was in 1976. Ms. Senzee stated that the Commission can think ahead of some of the activities they want to do and plan. Councilwoman Ward stated that the Old Munichburg Association is looking to extend its National Registry area. Councilwoman Ward asked if there are ways we can look at ways to expand that area. Currently, there is the Broadway Street district and the 500 block of E. Dunklin. Ms. Deetz asked Rachel Senzee to send the Commission the GIS links for National Register properties. Ms. Senzee said yes. The City is also working on its GIS layer and eventually implementing it to story mapping. This would let people see what their property used to look like for restoration purposes. Mr. Schaefer thought that the “did you knows” would be a good place to post this information and link so people would know what to go after. Things like, what are the requirements, how do I qualify for a National Register or am I in a Historic District? That is information that would benefit a lot of people. Maybe the Commission could start with an ad in the newspaper pointing out the GIS links and how to get to them. Ms. Deetz encouraged everyone to read through the action items and bring some ideas to the next meeting on how the commission can be more proactive. Ms. Deetz also asked for commissioners to bring back three ideas, for did you knows to the next meeting. Ms. Patterson made the formal motion to adjourn, Mr. Schaefer seconded. The ayes were unanimous.