HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/01/2000 - Regular Minutes - Historic Preservation Committee Prewal/on Gommi/Qe
9egular
eel/
Cnilege
dial/on GonferCenter
(Drive1300 george %lab
clOecinesdas 97/arch m
2000 - 5:15 pm
MEMBERS PRESENT: Deborah Jasek, Chair; Russell Duke, Co--Chair; Bill Lancaster; Shawn
Carlson; Monte Trenckmann; MargaretGriffith; Joan Perry
MEMBERS ABSENT: Elton Abbott; Dock Burke; Marsha Sanford
STAFF PRESENT: David Gerling, Special Facilities Superintendent; Pamela Springfield,
Committee Secretary
VISITORS : teve Beachy, Parks Recreation; Jeff Kersten, Office of Management rye d. et
Caill to Order: Deborah Jasek called the meeting to order at 5:23 p.m.
2. Approval i t Bill Lancaster made a motion to approve the February 2, 2000 minutes.
Hearing objection, the motion passed.
3. Hear Visitors: Mike Luther had nothing to present,. Steve Beachy's presentation is covered in
item #4.
4. Discussion r ion of Recommendations to the Cityit
Concerning ri riPolicies. for Fiscal Year 2001; Steve Beachy
introduced Jeff ersten. He explained that they were there to get input from the Historic
Preservation Committee regarding specific items r policy issues that needed council
attention or consideration through the budget process for the next fiscal year. He said not all items
would necessarily get approval, but it wouldgive Council time to consider the issue. Jeff
distributed the City's ission and vision statements to all present. Jeff said that Council is trying to
move forward with a strategic planning process, and tie it in with the budget process.
After some discussion the members had the following items s for consideration:
a. A continuation of the lights project--additional lights for Southside, and lights for Eastgate.
b. Budgeting money for memorial plaques in Brison Park. One light and one plaque for each
bonfire victim. It would also be a way for the lighting project to continue, by giving citizens a
chance to recognize someone if they wished to purchase a lamp.
c. Deborah had a concern, which she thought might be a policy issue. She'd been told that
Planning and Zoning was going to hire someone to do historic overlays or to map out historic
areas, and the HPC hadn't been informed. Her concern is that there is not enough
communication between the different boards, and some of them are working on the same
things.
Steve said that was a good point, and agreed that there was a lot of overlap, adding that
additional interaction and coordination was needed between the different advisory boards. He
said for instance, there is a policy in place through the Parks and Recreation Board for the
placement of monuments/memorials in city. He said another good example is Veteran's Park.
Although Parks Board has been working on the Master Plan for that park, there are some
historical sites that have been identified in the park, so the HPC should be involved. Steve said
how coordination between all the various boards and commissions could be accomplished was
a good question. Deborah stated that it might be something as simple as a website that
summarizes what each board is doing.
d. More historic home plaques needed to be ordered. Deborah explained that those were ordered
in large quantities because it was more cost effective.
Steve said this wouldn't be the only opportunity for ideas to be put forth, and added that the
items discussed were helpful, and would give some guidance. Jeff said that in April they will be
going back to City Council with the input from all the different areas. With this input the City
Council will have the information needed to make decisions on what direction to take when
putting the budget together. Jeff said if the HPC had any more ideas in the next month or so, to
let he or Steve know, and they would be glad to pass on the information.
5. Historic Home/Building Plaques — Discussion and Possible Action: Judson Loupot subject
marker — David stated that this application had been turned in previously as a building marker for
Loupot's Bookstore, however, the information that had been presented at that time had dealt more
with Judson Loupot than with the property. Suanne Pledger had been contacted, and after doing
more research, had turned in a second application for a building marker for Lipscomb's
Pharmacy/Loupot's Bookstore. Shawn Carlson said she liked the idea of two markers, however,
there had to be additional information available somewhere on the building itself. Bill Lancaster
stated that the City's façade committee was currently working on restoring the façade of this
particular building, and they should have more information that could be added to the application.
Deborah suggested that Suanne Pledger talk to the City's Planning Department as well, since they
had done a lot of information on the buildings in Northgate about five or six years ago.
Shawn moved to approve both the subject marker and the building marker, and Margaret Griffith
seconded. All were in favor and the motion passed. David said he'd get in touch with Ms. Pledger
and let her know the applications had been approved. He said the subject marker would have to
be cast. Pam Springfield said she could do a synopsis for the text of the subject marker based on
the information given in the application, and have it ready for the next meeting.
Shawn had turned in a home application for 1210 Munson. She stated that she discovered that
Truman Jones had built a lot of houses in College Station, and while she was researching 1210
Munson she found information about houses in the Southside that he built. Truman Jones was a
professor at A&M, but he built houses on the side — a lot of them — and she found that interesting.
Joan Perry moved to approve the application for a marker. Russell seconded and the motion was
approved unanimously for historic house marker#58.
6. Updates from David Gerling:
a. Status on someone visiting from the Texas Historical Commission (THC) — David stated that
he'd just heard back from THC and they'd faxed over some information the day before for the
HPC to read through. Shawn said she would take it, read through it, and report back at the
next meeting.
b. Texas Historical Commission's Annual Historic Preservation Conference — David reminded
everyone of the conference. He said if anyone wanted to go they needed to let him know as
soon as possible, because classes usually fill up quickly. Shawn said she would like to go for
the session on Thursday. It was decided that David would contact Elton Abbott to see if he
would like to attend as well.
c. Status of Updating "A Guide to Historic Brazos County" — Bill Paige is accepting the corrections
for the updated guide. David said if anyone had information to get it to Bill Paige. Pam told the
members that she had started updating the guide based on information in the historic home
applications files, and was expanding on the information that was in the original guide. David
said the new guide would be in the form of a book.
d. Update on oral history book — David talked to Jeff Carroll who said he's getting into the later
years which had a lot more information. David said that Jeff had so much information that it
was going to be hard to get it all into the book. David said it was probably time to talk to a
publisher, and the members agreed that they would like to try and get someone from A&M
Press to come to the next meeting. Shawn stated that A&M Press wouldn't agree to publish the
book unless they could read it first, however they would probably be able to make a decision
based on what Jeff Carroll has written so far. Deborah said in case A&M Press fell through,
she knew of another publisher that publishes that type of book.
7. Update on the Status of the A&M Church of Christ, Elton Abbott: This discussion was tabled
until the next meeting since Elton was not present.
8. Southside Area Lis Min• Project Us date from Subcommittee — Discussion and Possible
Action: Russell stated that nothing had been done yet, as far as identifying the locations for the
light poles. He and Margaret agreed to get together over spring break week. David said David
Massey would be the man from the Electrical Department that they would go with. David said he'd
e-mail David Massey and have him get in touch with Russell.
9. Memorial Plaques for the Decorative Light Poles — Discussion and Possible Action: The
members discussed this, and agreed not to follow through with the idea of putting the memorial
plaques on the lights in Brison Park for the bonfire victims. This decision was based on the fact
that A&M will be erecting a memorial for the bonfire victims. It was thought that the memorial
plaques could be done for College Station citizens, or the idea could be dropped completely. It was
decided that the discussion would be tabled until the next meeting.
10. Boundaries for Historic eighborhoods: David stated that at the last meeting, boundaries had
been discussed. After the meeting however, Shawn had found something that needed to be
corrected. Shawn reviewed the boundaries that had been decided on for those members who were
not present at the last meeting. She stated that she later found out that an area on Prairie Heights
needed to be included in the historic area. After a brief discussion of the revised area, Margaret
made a motion to accept the boundaries for the Eastgate Historic District as Shawn had described.
Russell seconded; all were in favor, and so the motion passed unanimously. Mike Luther had a
question about the motion. He said the motion stated "Eastgate Historic District", which would
impose heavier restrictions. Margaret amended her motion, moving that the HPC accept the
Eastgate Historic Area boundaries as outlined by Shawn. Joan Perry seconded. The motion
passed unanimously.
Shawn said she would go back to the City's GIS Department and have them redo the maps to
reflect the historic areas only and leave out everything not included. David said Gus Roman would
be able to do that.
Monte made a comment about an earlier discussion regarding the historic area growing as the City
grew and the neighborhoods got older. He said there was something about expanding the historic
areas that would cause it to lose its intimacy. Deborah said you wouldn't expand on an original
historic area, you would create a different one.
11. Criteria for Historic Area Ordinance(s) — Discussion and Possible Action: Shawn asked if
anyone was able to get in touch with someone regarding ordinances., David said he'd sent out
several e-mails, and no one had responded. Shawn said she felt that the HPC should meet with
someone before proceeding with the creation of this ordinance. Deborah agreed, adding that the
HPC needed to find out what the Planning and Zoning Commission was doing as well. David said
this item would be placed on a future meeting agenda after someone has met with the HPC about
it.
12. Wall of Honor at the High School — Subcommittee Update: There was nothing to report.
13. Agenda Items for Future Meetings: Deborah said she would be able to give a report on the
Veteran's Athletic Park at the next meeting, to include archaeological findings. David said Alston
Thorns on campus was doing the archaeological survey, and the first phase had been completed.
Deborah said the archaeological survey is part of the environmental impact assessment, which is
required any time any type of development is done.
14. Adjourn: The meeting adjourned at 6:38 p.m.