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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/06/2000 - Regular Agenda - Historic Preservation Committee Historic Preservation Committee Regular Meeting College Station Conference Center 1300 George Bush Drive Wednesday, September 6, 2000 -- 5: 15 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Deborah Jasek, Chair; Bill Lancaster; Margaret Griffith; Thomas Taylor; Myron Gantt; Robert McGee; Marsha Sanford; Monte Trenckmann; Shawn Carlson; Graham Sheffy MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: David Gerling, Special Facilities Superintendent; Pamela Springfield, Committee Secretary VISITORS PRESENT: Julie Schultz, Brazos Heritage Society; Cyra Gatling, The Battalion; Dennis Maloney, City Council 1. Call to Order: Deborah Jasek called the meeting to order at 5:19 p.m. 2. Consideration & Approval of Member Requests for Absences: There had been no requests submitted. 3. Approval of Minutes: Margaret Griffith made a motion to approve the August, 2000 minutes as written. Myron Gantt seconded. The motion passed unanimously. 4. Hear Visitors: Cyra Gatling with The Battalion, a senior journalism major, stated that she was there to do an article on the meeting. 5. City Historic Home/Building/Subject Plaques — Presentation, Discussion, and Possible Action on Submitted Applications: No new applications had been submitted for approval. 6. Election of a New Chairperson & Co-Chair: Deborah stated that Shawn Carlson would agree to serve as Chair of the Historic Preservation Committee (HPC) if she was nominated. The floor was open to nominations and discussion. Being no discussion, Margaret made a motion to nominate Shawn and Robert McGee seconded. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. Deborah turned the meeting over to Shawn. Shawn asked if anyone would like to serve as co-chair. Margaret said she would be willing to serve. Graham Sheffy made a motion to elect Margaret as the co-chair for the HPC. Robert seconded. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. 7. Neighborhood Recognition Program: Shawn asked if there had been anything else done on this. Deborah said no, that there had been delays due to other projects, therefore, nothing has Historic Preservation Committee Minutes, September, 2000 Page 2 been done and standards still need to be set. Shawn stated that perhaps a subcommittee should be formed to decide on the standards. For the benefit of the new members, Deborah gave a brief overview of the project. She stated that the original idea had been that this would be a semi-formal type of program that would recognize the efforts of either commercial developers or private citizens to restore, protect or enhance a property in one of the historic neighborhoods. There would be a nomination process and the winner would receive a certificate by City Council. A sign, similar to the type used by Brazos Beautiful, could also be placed at the project. Shawn stated that it would be a good idea for someone to contact Brazos Beautiful to see what their nomination process is. Margaret made a motion to have a subcommittee study whether or not the HPC should move forward with the Neighborhood Recognition Program and, if so, what the parameters would be. Graham seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. Tom Taylor and Myron volunteered to work together on this. 8. Update on Brazos Heritage Society's Historic Film and Book Project: Julie Schultz distributed a list with answers to questions that the HPC and the City's Public Information Officer had about the project. She said attached to that list was a timeline but until the project begins it would not be known what will actually be in the film. She said it would be a history of the Brazos County from beginning to end. People will be interviewed and hopefully a lot of photographs will be shown that haven't been seen before. She said the book would be a nice companion book to the HPC's oral history book, but quite different. It will be a coffee-table type book, with a nice cover, in scrapbook form. It will have some text, but mostly photographs, that you could look through in one sitting and get a very good idea of the history of Brazos County. She stated that they would not use the same photographs that are used in the HPC book. She said the Society has decided not to use just one author for the book, but will have several authors contributing. Information gathered for the film will be used to put the book together through Insite Publishing. Julie said the City of College Station would be paying for one fifth of the project. Concerns were expressed over the City of College Station having equal representation for what they are paying for. Julie stated that the film could not be divided up into a set number of minutes for each contributor. Julie assured the HPC that the City wold be getting ample time for what they're paying for and that she would not approve anything that showed one entity more favorably than any other. Greg Phelps is the director of the project and will be making the film. There will also be an editorial board of about five or six people with a good knowledge of local history, who will decide what goes into the film. She said the Heritage Society would be overseeing the project. David Gerling is on that board and his opinion will be taken into consideration. Julie said that there would have to be at least 75% of the funding in place, with the assurance of 100%, before the project will proceed. Margaret asked what would happen if the project was halfway completed and the money ran out. Julie stated that she didn't foresee that happening with the film because Greg Phelps was doing it and Insite Publishing will address the cost to publish the book upfront. She said she would check with Greg Phelps to see if there was something that was not a sure thing, to make sure everything is covered. She said as far as content, she could come back and show the HPC the storyboard if interested. The film could be broken up into a two-part series with total length somewhere between one and two hours. Shawn thanked Julie and stated that she wanted to spend time looking at the information she'd provided. Shawn asked that this item be placed on the October agenda. Historic Preservation Committee Minutes, September,2000 Page 3 9. Update on Brison Park Bonfire Memorial: Shawn stated that Sylvia Gritter, the folklorist in the TAMU Anthropology Department who had collected all the bonfire memorabilia from the site, had completed the text for the marker. All members had copies of the text and Shawn wanted the HPC to discuss and vote on it due to the six-to-eight week turnaround for the marker. David said he estimated that it would cost $900-$1,100 (the cost for a state marker). He said it would be modeled after a state marker and would probably be made of cast aluminum instead of bronze. Tom made a motion to accept the wording for the marker and to authorize David to proceed with getting the plaque ordered. Marsha Sanford seconded. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. It was agreed that the names of the students should be listed alphabetically on the marker. It was also agreed that each student's class year should be added to the marker, as well as being on the individual plaques. David stated that there would be a marker dedication ceremony and the families and local officials from the University and the City of College Station will be sent invitations. The date and time of the ceremony will be decided after an estimated date for the marker's completion is received. David said he'd get in touch with Dr. Malon Southerland's office at the University to get the dates for their ceremonies so that there wouldn't be a conflict, as well as names of those who should be invited. Tom suggested contacting the neighborhood association in that area so that they could get the word out to the residents. The members stated that they'd leave the details of the ceremony to David. Shawn asked David to report on the status of this at the next meeting. 10. Southside Lighting Project: David stated that all the lights from the original purchase have been installed. City Council is currently looking at funding the second phase of this project. There is currently $70,000 in the budget with an option to double that amount if they wish to. That decision will be made by October 1, 2000. The money will come out of the Electric Department fund. The Electrical Department installed the lights free of charge last time, however, as part of the agreement there will be a charge this time. David said that the HPC needed to decide if the installation of lights in Southside should be completed before beginning installation of lights in Eastgate or if lights should be put in both areas. Tom asked for a diagram showing where the lights are currently located, to help decide on the location of the second phase lights. Marsha said she believes it would create more of an impact to complete Southside before moving on to the next area. Shawn said she thought it would help to know how many more lights would be needed in order for Southside to be complete. David said he would bring maps to the next meeting showing the yellow lights and the existing historic lights, as well as a map of Eastgate showing possible locations for lights. 11. Agenda Items for Future Meetings: a. Neighborhood Recognition Program b. Brazos Heritage Society Project. Deborah stated that, as directed by the HPC, she had gone before the Council on August 29, 2000 at the budget workshop. She said she doesn't believe this project will be funded in this budget cycle. She stated that she told the Council that the project was a very good idea, however, knowing that Council had to make a decision on the budget right away, the HPC couldn't recommend the funding at the present time until they had received answers to some of the concerns and questions they had. c. Brison Park Bonfire Memorial d. Southside Lighting Project e. Historic Ordinance f. Update from Deborah regarding Facade Committee g. Veterans Park Update Historic Preservation Committee Minutes, September,2000 Page 4 10. Adjourn: Tom made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:35 p.m. Margaret seconded. All were in favor and the motion passed.