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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/06/1999 - Regular Minutes - Historic Preservation Committee J-fistoric Preservation Committee ftu(ar Meeting College Station Conference Center 1300 George Bush Drive Wednesday, October 6, 1999 -- 5:15 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Deborah Jasek, Chair; Dock Burke; Shawn Carlson; Elton Abbott; Joan Perry; Margaret Griffith; Russell Duke; Monte Trenckmann' '1nuA41.0. i ��c� MEMBERS ABSENT: Bill Lancaster STAFF PRESENT: David Gerling, Special Facilities Superintendent; Pamela Springfield, Committee Secretary; Vonn Casares, Assistant City Secretary VISITORS PRESENT: Dennis Maloney; Mike Luther; Chrissy Hester, Principal, A &M Consolidated High School; Colleen Kavanagh, The Eagle 1. CaII to Order: Deborah Jasek called the meeting to order at 5:17 p.m. She said some of the discussions would not be held in the same order as listed on the agenda. 2. Approval of Minutes: Elton Abbott moved to approve the minutes from the September, 1999 meeting. Joan Perry seconded, and there was no discussion. The minutes were approved as written. 3. Historic Home /Building Plaques David said a building plaque application for Loupot's Bookstore in Northgate had been submitted. Elton said he would abstain from voting because his firm had done the design and restoration of the building. Deborah stated that Loupot's occupies the building that was once Lipscomb's Pharmacy, one of the original businesses in Northgate. Elton said the building and its contemporary, the Sparks Building across the street, date from the 1930's. He said every effort was made to bring the building back from old photographs, to its original state when it was renovated. After looking over the application the committee agreed that the application didn't include any information about the structure itself, such as year built, what other businesses had occupied the structure, etc. The item was tabled pending receipt of more information, which David said he would try to have for the next meeting. 4. Swearing in of New Members: Vonn Casares swore in the two newest members of the committee, Marsha Sanford and Monte Trenckmann. Historic Preservation Committee Page 2 5. The WalLof Honor at the High School - Discussion & Possible Action: Deborah welcomed Chrissy Hester, and explained to the new members that the wall was what the committee had come up with as a way to honor outstanding educators of College Station. Chrissy Hester had been invited to discuss the idea, and see if it was feasible. Elton said credit for the idea of honoring educators should be given to Mike Luther. David said the idea was to mount /display plaques, with either a picture or engraving of the teacher and a short biography, on a prominent wall at the school. The honorees would be announced at some type of student function at the end of each school year. When the second high school is built the plaques could be split between the two schools. The criteria hadn't been decided yet, since the committee wanted to be sure CSISD accepted the idea. Chrissy Hester said CSISD thinks the idea is great and would be willing to work with the committee. She said at present there were a couple of locked display cases where the plaques could possibly be displayed. A decision would have to be made as to where the plaques would be displayed, but there was space. Vandalism was a primary concern. She said this would be a great tribute to the teachers in the community. Deborah said it had been decided that the first few years of the program would be best directed at the educators of the earlier years - 1920's through the 1940's, then the 1950's - 1970's, and so on. The committee had decided that the program would include retired educators from all grade levels. David asked Chrissy Hester if she had someone on staff that would be willing to work with a subcommittee. She said she had a few teachers on staff who might be interested, but there were a lot of retired teachers in the community - Pat Jones, Mary Hirsch, Grace Keefer, Art Bright - who might have more time and know more of the history. Margaret Griffith and Joan Perry both said they would like to be on the committee. Margaret said she knew some of the older retired teachers that she could contact. Deborah asked Joan and Margaret to head up that subcommittee, get in touch with people, and draff the criteria to bring back to the committee. Deborah said she'd find out who from Lincoln School would be interested in serving on the committee. Margaret asked if they were going to set the number of plaques that would be done per year. Deborah said a dollar amount would have to be decided on before that could be determined. Chrissy Hester suggested working with the College Station Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, who might be willing to do a little fund raising. Deborah thanked Chrissy Hester and told her that she would be kept up -to- date. 6. Status of Old Main Society on Campus - Discussion & Possible Action: Margaret said she had learned that the Old Main Society had been disbanded. She didn't know if it would ever regroup. Deborah said to go under student government activities on the Internet, and check. Margaret said she would find out who the former faculty advisor was, and try to get more information. 7. Status The1one" on Campus Discussion & Possible Action: Margaret said she'd been told that the little building where they sell the Zone tickets (formerly the Bush Library offices and the 12 Man for awhile) is scheduled to be demolished. She spoke to Will Heard, the Student Body President, who said there was nothing that could be done. Margaret said the building had been completely redone when it was used for the Bush Library offices. She said it has a lot of history - it's where A &M athletic tickets were first sold. Deborah said it was out of the committee's jurisdiction. Margaret said if someone on campus was Historic Preservation Committee Page 3 interested in preserving it, then possibly the committee could support those efforts. David said he would contact David Godbey with the Physical Plant to see what he knew. Marsha asked if the committee had a liaison with A &M. Deborah said no. Marsha said she realized it was out of the committee's jurisdiction, but it was still part of the College Station community, and she felt there needed to be a liaison. Deborah said the committee agreed, however the feeling wasn't mutual. Elton said David Woodcock would be a good liaison. He teaches historic preservation, is a historic preservation architect, the head of the Department of Architecture, lives in College Station, and is head of TheHistoric Resource Center at the college. Margaret moved that Elton meet with David Woodcock to see if he would be interested in acting as liaison. Marsha seconded, and the motion passed. David said adding a liaison to the HPC would not require changing the by -laws. The liaison would not be allowed to vote. Deborah said the HPC needed to find out what the status of the old athletic office was, and put it back on the agenda for the next meeting. Elton said he knew the people in Facilities Planning, and would contact them. 8. Oral History_ Book Update /Discussion: All members received a copy of Jeff Carroll's manuscript - what he's done so far. David said the book starts at the beginning of time. Deborah asked everyone to read over the manuscript. David said to check for typos and changes, like from Southgate to Southside. He said there is more to come. 9. He_ar_Visitors: The visitors had nothing to present. Deborah invited them to join in the discussions. 10. City Zoning & Platting Requirements as TheyAffecLHistoric Neighborhoods - Discussion & Possible Action: Deborah said everyone should have received the information from Mike Luther regarding what's going on at 600 Welsh, and most were at the meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustments. In short, a building plat which was two lots and 29', has been re- platted to three lots. The original house remains, and on each of the new side lots they are building houses that are 26' x 52', valued at $52,000, that are going to be four bedroom, two bath houses. There has been a lot of discussion regarding drainage problems which already exist in the area. This project did not go before the Planning and Zoning (P& Z) commission, because the zoning official ruled that it was a minor plat change rather than an amended plat change. According to local government code, a minor plat change can be done by the zoning official without going before P& Z, or holding a public hearing. The next door neighbor has appealed and the Zoning Board of Adjustments will be having a hearing. Deborah said that this type of thing has happened before on Park Place, citing Agenda Item #4, of the P &Z minutes of August 19, 1999, which had been handed out. Margaret said it's not only happened before, it's been happening for years. The same thing happened to her mother who lives on Winding Road, and has also happened over on Lincoln Street in Eastgate. Deborah said there's not a lot that the committee can do except lend personal support to what's going on. She said what the committee can do is create a policy similar to the one that was done for Southside several years ago. That policy, as well as guidelines from the HPC, were both presented to council and accepted unanimously in 1998. According to the policy, areas such as Southside should not be re- platted and infill should be monitored, Historic Preservation Committee Page 4 so that this type thing wouldn't happen. However, it's been discovered that unless a policy is an ordinance, city staff can choose whether or not to follow the policy. Deborah said that recommendations need to be made to council as to what type of ordinances or overlays need to be done to protect Southside, Eastgate, and Northgate. She said Eastgate might be in a little better position because they have a neighborhood association. Something else that was learned was that deed restrictions aren't enforced. Elton stated that he was on the Northgate Revitalization Board's Design Review Subcommittee, and they review projects that are going to be built in Northgate. He said they are facing a similar problem, having been told by the city attorney that their guidelines can't be used unless they are made into ordinance. He feels that it's important that the HPC establish guidelines that would then be put into the zoning ordinance so that a developer knows specifically what he can and cannot do. He stated that there is an obligation to the historic districts of College Station, and an obligation to those people wanting to develop within our city, that there are clear rules for them to follow so they don't waste time preparing projects that aren't going to be approved. Dennis said the Council would be discussing policy issues on neighborhood ordinances and the need for them at the October 28 council meeting. It will be a joint meeting with the Planning & Zoning Commission. They will start hammering out parameters, which will affect all neighborhoods in the entire city, with special consideration given to the historic neighborhoods. He said that would be the time to present concerns and special needs. Sean Carlson said the HPC should contact the Texas Historical Commission (THC), as they will help communities develop ordinances for historic districts. She said if someone from THC could go to that joint meeting and enlighten everyone as to what those ordinances are, it would prevent the HPC from starting at the beginning if those ordinances already exist. Everyone agreed that you didn't want to prohibit development, as long as it was reasonable and in keeping with the integrity of the neighborhood. The type of infill had to be defined. Three houses on two lots was not reasonable. Mike Luther said that the Neighborhood Preservation Committee's report could be used as the core of what the HPC wanted to do, since items 1 -5 and 7 -13 have already been accepted by Council. To save time and effort, if the report was expanded upon, it could cover virtually all the concerns expressed. Elton motioned to do as Mike suggested, Margaret seconded and all were in agreement. Deborah directed staff to get in touch with THC and see if: 1) they could send someone to meet with Council and the HPC; and, 2) to send as soon as possible all information they may have on historic overlays and ordinances that deal with infill and replotting. She suggested that a special meeting be called whenever the representative from THC comes down. She said the committee needed to read through the policy that was adopted in 1998. If there was anything that they thought needed to be added or taken out, if they could get in touch with her by October 22, she'd work up a report to get to Council by the 28 10. Chairman's Report /Update: Veteran's Park - Deborah said that on October 13 there was going to be a walk- through of the park site to look at options as to where the veteran's memorial could be placed. She said if anyone was interested in going to let her know and she will send the details. The VFW has come up with an idea for a way to promote this and raise money, and are thinking about holding the dedication on Veteran's Day. More information will be available later. Historic Preservation Committee Page 5 11. Agenda Items for Future Meetings: Liaison from A &M - Discussion /Update Old Athletic Office - Discussion /Update Wall of Honor - Discussion /Update from Subcommittee Old Main Society - Discussion /Update Oral History Book - Discussion /Update City Zoning and Platting Requirements - Discussion /Update Boundaries and Signage for Eastgate and Northgate areas - Discussion & Possible Action Chairman's Report: Tax Incentives for City Historical Homes /Buildings - Discussion /Update Veterans Complex and Athletic Park - Discussion /Update Marsha asked about tax incentives offered in College Station. Dennis and David both said no. Marsha said she believed the City of Bryan had incentives. David said he would look into that. 12. Adjourn: Marsha motioned to adjourn. Russell seconded, and the meeting adjourned at approximately 6:44 p.m.