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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC-Minutes-20081216 HASTINGS HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION Minutes of the Meeting of December 16, 2008 Held at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall I. Quorum : Goderstad, Behnke, Dahl, Hellie, Martin, Simacek, Sovik-Siemens, and Warg present. Staff: Fortney; Chairman Goderstad called the meeting to order. II. Minutes September 16, 2008. A. A motion by Martin for approval was made and seconded by Sovik-Siemens; motion carried. IV. Business A.Discuss the recent designation study process Commissioner Warg stated that he believed the Designation Study did not go very well since 5 of the 16 recommended sites were not designated. He added that the Council was unanimous in there decisions not to designated the 5 properties. He stated that there were comments made by a Council member that were contrary to preservation. It was said at the council meeting that the preservation ordinance should be amended to make designation voluntary. Warg added that it may have been due to the pending election, but he thinks the HPC should respond to the Council. He added that he talked to Michael Koop at SHPO and he said Hastings could loose its CLG status if we had a voluntary designation process. Fortney mentioned that the Council did in fact designate the walls at Todd Field as a heritage preservation site so only 4 properties were not designated by the Council. Commissioner Behnke said a designated property does require more money to repair and may be harder to sell, but long term the property value will increase because the all past repairs had been done correctly. Commissioner Martin said we need to educate the community on preservation and we should start with the City Council. Grossman said it may be appropriate to meet with the Council Committee on Preservation made up of Alongi, Hazlet, and Hollenbeck, at least until January. Chair Goderstad said he wondered if Michael Koop could attend the meeting. Grossman said that could be possible. Commissioner Dahl said it may me a good idea to have one of the committee members attend one of our HPC meetings. Commissioner Hellie said to get people involved at the grass roots level we could send out a survey to property owners regarding preservation. Martin said the problem with surveys is that usually only people who are upset will respond so often they are not accurate. Martin asked if the HPC could invite the Council Committee to an HPC meeting for the discussion. Grossman said that may be possible, but would be up to the Committee. Grossman said at the next meeting the HPC should decide if it would like to approach the City Council Committee on Preservation, this would give the Council time to appoint new committee members. If the HPC would like to meet with the committee, we would need to come up with a timeframe and provide the committee with the HPC concerns. Martin said that she believes aspects of the study could be improved for the next time one is done. She said at the first meeting where they were choosing properties to study, she was not aware that the property owners were notified to attend. Martin said she thinks we should have provided more information to owners on what designation means. Martin said the owners should be informed that public meetings are not time where people can affect change. She added that the HPC is charged with making a technical determination as to a properties merit for designation and making a recommendation to the Council based only on the technical merits. Martin said the PowerPoint should match the handouts order. B.Develop questions and points of interest for discussions with a Red Wing HPC member in January Fortney said it would be nice to brainstorm questions and discussion points for the Red Wing Commissioner so they can prepare for the discussions and possibly provide pertinent examples or documents at their visit in January. Some staff examples are: -How does Red Wing conduct designation studies -In Red Wing are there any positive impacts to the property owner of a designated property -It may be interesting to hear how they handle some of our common requests like porch floors, window materials, residing, etc. -Hellie- how do they deal with non-approved work, hardships, building dept. cooperation with spotting changes to historic properties. -Goderstad said if information is provided, have copies made for all commissioners. Motion by Warg, second by Martin to provide this information to the Red wing HPC; motion carried. C.Request that HEDRA provide low interest loans for designated properties Fortney said that the City Council is combining the HRA (Housing Redevelopment Authority) and the EDC (Economic Development Commission) to form HEDRA (Hastings Economic Development Redevelopment Authority). As an opportunity to provide a benefit to the owners of designated properties staff proposes that the HPC request a more attractive loan program than the one that the HRA currently extends to property owners of designated properties. A loan program for owners of designated properties at a flat interest rate of 3% would be very beneficial to making repairs to historic homes. Motion by Warg, second by Martin to ask HEDRA to provide loans with 3% interest to owners who have obtained a Certificate of Appropriateness for repairs to their designated property; motion carried. V.Information and Reports A.OHDS (Original Hastings Design Standards) ordinance amendment to allow for demolition without review . Fortney said the OHDS ordinance does not speak to demolition of structures so the Planning Director asked the Planning Commission and City Council to determine if it should and both responded that it shouldn?t. Because of this determination the Planning Director decided to put forth a proposed ordinance amendment so the intent of the ordinance would be clear to all. The ordinance amendment would specify that structures could be demolished without review from the staff, Planning Commission, or City Council. Martin said that the OHDS is supposed to protect changes to the streetscape and there is no grater change than the removal of a building. That change is greater than the building of an addition, which does require review. Hellie said there should be guidelines for the Planning Commission to follow before a building is approved for demolition like is the building make the traditional character of the neighborhood, is the building a nuisance or unsafe, and what is the intent of the property and is that appropriate in the OHDS area. Dahl said the traditional neighborhood cannot be preserved without saving the structures of that neighborhood. Motion by Martin, second by Hellie that the HPC recommend to the Planning Commission and City Council that the OHDS ordinance is amended to include a process for the demolition of structures with criteria that should be met; motion carried. III. Review of building permits or design proposals A.323 Ramsey St- stove pipe in garage (Staff Approved) B.715 Vermillion St ? New doors Fortney saidthe applicant is applying to replace the front and rear doors. The owner bought the property from the bank in October and did not realize it was designated as historic. They already replaced the front door and were then notified of its historical status. Door replacement information: Proposed doors: steel with two bottom panels and top half glass. 9 panel divided light. Existing front door: steel, two bottom panels, top half arch divided light glass. Existing back door: steel, two bottom panels, top half glass (severely dented) Martin said it is unfortunate that to they were not made aware of the historical status of the property, but I want to make sure the guidelines are followed because the other homes in the area that recently were improved followed the guidelines perfectly. Hellie said the door should be a solid door with no light that has raised panels. Commissioner Sovik-Siemens said what if they want a window in their door, the guidelines do not prohibit it. Motion by Martin, second by Hellie tonot approve the front door as proposed and table it until the applicant brings back a door that is more closely resembled in the guidelines on page 22 of the Design Guidelines; motion carried. Motion by Martin, second by Behnke to approve a back door similar to the current door that is installed there and to be verified by staff; motion carried. VI. Adjourn. Motion by Martin, second by Sovik-Siemens to adjourn; motion carried. ? 9:05 P.M.