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Minutes 10-11-10 MINUTES OF THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION AD HOC COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2010 AT 5:00 P.M. AT FIRE STATION #2, 2615 W. WOOLBRIGHT AVENUE, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present: Warren Adams, Chair Barbara Ready, Vice Chair Janet DeVries Gaylord Allan Hendricks Eric Jones Linda Stabile Ed Breese, Principal Planner Absent: John McGovern 1. Call to Order Chair Adams called the meeting to order at 5:16 p.m. A quorum was present. 2. Approval of Minutes Motion Vice Chair Ready moved to approve the minutes as presented. Mr. Jones seconded the motion that unanimously passed. 3. Subcommittee update on education information Vice Chair Ready reviewed the costs matrix which was put together by Chair Adams. It contained the various tasks a full-time Historic Preservation Planner could undertake as opposed to having individual task costs. It would be more cost effective, to have a full time planner. The first page of the handout reflected a Historic Preservation program would cost $100,OOOK if an outside entity was used. Assuming there were four districts and four national register properties were included. Chair Adams' initial research of potential historic properties being 50 years old from the junction of Boynton Beach Boulevard and Seacrest and the quadrants in that area, yielded over 600 potential properties were located between 1-95, the Intracoastal, NW 9th and SW 5th area. Some of the properties were altered. Between West Boynton Beach Boulevard and NW 9th there was an interesting street pattern. All the streets were named after universities. There were a significant number of historic shops. The Community Redevelopment 1 Meeting Minutes Historic Preservation Committee Boynton Beach, FL October 11,2010 Agency (CRA) owned a block of land, suggesting that they may have input as to the future development of many of these properties, prior to historic preservation being in place. The recommendation was to get someone in a full-time capacity before other potential historic structures were lost. Another question raised was whether a preservation planner could be partly funded by the CRA. Chair Adams suggested speaking with the CRA to see if they would be interested in partnering with the Committee in this regard. The bulk of the properties were constructed in the1950s. They were not necessarily the most interesting properties, but it was a good start and it provided a glimpse of their current progress and the enormity of the task. Most of the homes constructed in the 50s and 60s were cement block construction. It was recommended a full-time position be used to survey these properties. It was important to have someone who was qualified and had the credentials that could say they were an expert. Using a consultant without having a full-time person would not be cost effective. Vice Chair Ready updated the Board on the Public Service Announcement. She met with Mr. Leal earlier in the day. They selected pictures and the phrases to be used in the announcement. They would be meeting again next week. The mission statement and contact information would be given. There was consensus to move forward with their recommendation to retain a full-time planner. Vice Chair Ready explained the CRA was moving forward with the Magnuson House. The Gables, formerly located behind the Magnuson House, was demolished. There was discussion it would be made clear the program was an opt-in program. The Committee should consider endangered structures, which was another reason why they needed a full time planner. It would help educate the public. There was discussion some buildings have Code violations on the property and it may be more cost effective to demolish the structure as opposed to rehabilitate it. The budget was recently approved and more positions had been cut. New positions were not addressed, although it was thought it would be in the City's best interest to fund a position. It was suggested the CRA should pay part of the salary of the position because much of the property lies within the district. There was discussion if another entity funded or partially funded the position, would they have the authority to review reports going to the Board. The members discussed no m3tter how the position '.vas funded, the position should be its own dep3rtment. Mr. Breese commented there should be enough work to keep the planner busy all the time and if the work was slow it would be beneficial for the planner to work in other areas. It was always good to have people cross-trained. It may be more sellable to have five or six districts and have the Historic Preservation Planner a permanent position in the Planning Department in order to perform other planning tasks if things were slow. 2 Meeting Minutes Historic Preservation Committee Boynton Beach, FL October 11, 2010 4. Discussion of National Trust Grant Vice Chair Ready went to the Historical Society Board Meeting and she expressed the Board's gratitude for their commitment of $2,000 towards the matching grant the Historic Preservation Committee was applying for. The Historical Society approved $1,100 of the $2,000. She requested an additional $400 to implement one of educational outreach tasks they had, which was to mail out flyers to the residents. The Historical Society approved the additional $400 for a total of $1,500. They understood the approval process for the Ordinance requires public notification, and they were worried if they notified the public too much, there would be backlash and the ordinance would not pass. She explained the grant process was such that if they needed all of the funds at one time to implement some of the goals they were working towards, they were not opposed to it. Vice Chair Ready felt the Committee could move forward with their additional $400. Mr. Breese requested receiving confirmation in writing from Voncile Smith so they could issue a press release for them because the commitment was firm. He could also re-approach the National Trust to discuss what the dollar amount was and how the Committee would expend it to ensure there would be no issues. 5. Schedule of Tasks discussion Mr. Breese provided a outline of recommendation topics and asked if there was anything further to discuss as the committee had prioritized them in the past. It was noted the Committee did not know how the Preservation Board would be set up. Mr. Breese explained that was outlined in the ordinance. The purpose of the outline was to decide how and when the Committee would approach the City Commission on the issues. The recommendation of the Committee was to have a full-time position. Discussion followed the Committee could make a presentation the second meeting in November; however, Mr. Breese recommended the Commission should receive the materials in advance. The Commission would have questions and should have time to contemplate the issues in order to make a decision. The draft Ordinance could be forwarded. While all the meetings (Historic Preservation Ad Hoc Committee meetinQs) are open to the public, not many residents attended and the public was, in general, not well educated about this endeavor. Chair Adams inquired if it would be beneficial to appear before the Commission to indicate what progress the committee has made to- date. Mr. Breese commented it could be an agenda item providing an update of the Committee's progress. At this juncture, the committee did not have anything other than the educational flyer. The presentation could include a PowerPoint presentation with the Public Service Announcement and the flyer. After discussion, it was thought the Committee could appear the first meeting in December. The update could be made in December and a presentation could be made in January. If the update was given through an agenda item, the public could comment on it. It was important the Committee heard the comments. Although the Committee has a list of frequently asked questions, there could be other questions. It also could answer questions the Commission had. There was discussion the overview should detail what the program is and what it is not. The frequently asked questions could be included. Janet DeVries left the meeting at 6:04 p.m. 3 Meeting Minutes Historic Preservation Committee Boynton Beach, FL October 11, 2010 6. Frequently Asked questions (FAQ) handout Once the questions are finalized, the questions, along with the flyers could be sent to City facilities for the public to take and promote the effort. Mr. Breese requested the members review the questions and make comments. Dialogue turned to question number one pertaining to the designation negatively impacting property values. Mr. Breese explained the University of Florida conducted a study and the committee based their information on the study. The study showed homes in historic designations fared better. Regarding the question if the designation would increase property taxes, the study showed it did not increase the taxes. It was suggested the study information should be shared with the public. One duty of the Preservation Planner could be to update the website with questions and answers. By doing so, the Committee could say to the City Commission, here is our website, our flyer and our Public Service Announcement. The minutes of the meeting could be included on the website; however, it may be presumptuous to have the website before the Ordinance was approved. It may also be presumptuous to have the flyers and others materials. A question was posed whether there was a cost for the Certificate of Appropriateness. Mr. Breese explained there was and it would be adopted by resolution, not in the Ordinance. The fee would be nominal. The members discussed the question if the homeowner had any say with whether the neighborhood was designated as a historic district. While everyone had a say and there would be a vote, there was agreement to keep the answer the way it was on the handout. Mr. Breese inquired if the Committee Historic Preservation Advisory Board would wait until the historic surveys were done with recommendations where the districts would be. He expressed if that methodology is used, it was likely they would try to work around areas with high concentrations of condominiums because they were not contributing to the district. If the Committee would try to move forward and setup districts without having studies done, they would work around that as well. He suggested indicating in the beginning, they would only address the owners who step forward before they create any districts. Mr. Breese strongly recommended starting out in an area with a concentration of the older housing stock of mostly owner-occupied properties and working within a two or three block area. If items would be voted on, this was the best way to start and he suggested if the community members had questions, they should forward them to the Committee. 7. Summarize tasks of accomplishments for next meeting There was agreement Vice Chair Ready would obtain a letter of commitment from the Historical Society to be used to match the grant funds. The Committee was planning on meeting with the City Commission the first week in December and having a follow up meeting in January/February for the entire presentation. Mr. Breese inquired if the Committee would have everything completed for the Commission presentation in December. The Committee would have the Ordinance, Frequently Asked Questions, and justification for why they need a full-time position, an executive summary and a matrix by the next meeting. The members could add more layers of detail then. The 4 Meeting Minutes Historic Preservation Committee Boynton Beach, FL October 11, 2010 Committee could come back in a month or two with the entire package. The first meeting would be to test the water, bring them up to speed and to receive feedback. The second meeting could be tailored to the reaction received from the first meeting. One page on each topic should be prepared. Even alternatives should be prepared. Suggestions on how to fund the request should be available. They were trying to sell them on having a legitimate, sincere program. The Committee would meet on January 10, 2010 and February 7, 2010. There was consensus the first presentation would be held on December 7, 2010 and would be developed as an introduction. The second presentation would be held on February 15, 2010 and would be complete. 8. Staff comments None. 9. Public Comments An unidentified woman was present who had questions but decided to defer them. It was explained the Committee has a draft ordinance. The woman was working on grants and donations to keep them afloat and was investigating what was occurring in the community. Since the Committee was ongoing, she attended the meeting. Her research was ongoing. The economy was not good. Chair Adams explained the Committee's undertaking. 10. Announce date of next meeting The next meeting was November 8,2010. 11. Adjournment. There being no further business to discuss, the meeting properly adjourned at 7:03 p.m. ~u/}u( Ql~ttw Catherine Cherry 0 Recording Secretary (Transcribed from one recording) 11 021 0 5