Minutes 11-08-10
MINUTES OF THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION AD HOC COMMITTEE MEETING
HELD ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8,2010 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
John McGovern (arrived 5:19 p.rn.)
Linda Stabile
Ed Breese, Principal Planner
1. Call to Order
Chair Adams called the meeting to order at 5:07 p.m. A quorum was present.
2. Approval of Minutes
Three changes were made to the minutes as follows:
Page 2, last paragraph, delete, "The members discussed no m::ltter ho'^, the position
'Nas funded, the position should be its own department."
Page 3, Item 5, add the underlined, "While all the Historic Preservation Ad Hoc
Committee meetings are open to the public, not many residents attended and the public
was, in general, not well educated about this endeavor."
Page 4, third paragraph, add the underlined, "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."
Page 4, third paragraph, add the underlined, "lf 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."
It was also noted a member of the Women's Club and the past president of the
Women's Club were present. Their names were Kay Baker and Lynn Gentithes.
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Meeting Minutes
Historic Preservation Ad Hoc Committee
Boynton Beach, FL
November 8, 2010
Motion
Vice Chair Ready moved to approve the minutes as amended. Mr. Hendricks seconded
the motion that unanimously passed.
3. Subcommittee update on education information
The Public Service Announcement (PSA) was ready and nicely done. It was about 45
seconds long. It was suggested other individuals view the video and report on their
initial reaction.
Mr. McGovern arrived at 5:19 p.m.
The video would be shown to the City Commission meeting on November 16, 2010
when the Committee's recommendations are presented. Mr. Breese provided a draft
agenda request for the item. Instead of putting the regulations in Ordinance form, staff
merged them into the Land Development Regulations (LDR.) The City Commission
would determine when the PSA would be aired. The second reading of the Land
Development Regulations would be held on December 7,2010.
Mr. Breese would give a short overview on November 16, 2010 and he suggested
individuals come to the podium and speak in favor of the effort. The Committee advised
they would return to the Commission to present their recommendations on December 7,
2010 and the recommendations would be about how to make the program work. The
public will have the opportunity to voice their support or opposition before the
Commission votes on it. Staff was asking, on a separate agenda item, the City
Commission approve the regulations that are being rolled into the Land Development
Code.
Discussion followed each slide of the PowerPoint presentation should represent a
concept. Concepts discussed were:
~ Full-time Planner
~ Advisory Board
~ Creating a Historic Preservation Board
~ Pursue Certified Local Government status for the City and the reasons why
~ Create a grant fund for Certified Local Government status.
~ Establish historic districts - which would be placed on slide one with the planner
position
~ Educate the public
Mr. Breese suggested there was some thought the Planning and Zoning Board should
sit as the Historic Preservation Board. If the Committee wanted a separate Board, he
suggested it be placed on the slide.
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Meeting Minutes
Historic Preservation Ad Hoc Committee
Boynton Beach, FL
November 8, 2010
There was agreement the recommendations would be the main slides and the
Committee would approach the issue by portraying the benefits of a Historic
Preservation Program.
Chair Adams agreed to write the copy for the presentation as he had an entire page of
items that needed to be addressed and Mr. Hendricks would create the PowerPoint. It
was also agreed the names of the Committee members would be added to a slide
thanking the City Commission for the opportunity to serve.
4. Discussion of National Trust Grant
The funding letter was received from Voncile Smith, President of the Boynton Beach
Historical Society reflecting their $1,500 donation to match the $1,100 the Committee
received from the National Trust for creation and mailing of educational materials. Mr.
Breese notified the National Trust about the change in the budget and was advised the
change was acceptable. Mr. Breese did not have to do anything further except to
modify the grant application and include the change in the final report. Mr. Breese
agreed to contact the National Trust if any other changes were made.
Discussion focused on the educational mailing information. A two-sided colored
document had been prepared and Mr. Breese suggested the committee members
review it further at the next meeting and decide where to place the information. There
were City facilities where they could place the information. A tri-fold and post-card styled
mailer had also been discussed. One side could be the eye catcher and the other side
could have questions. Mr. Breese will put this on the agenda for the next meeting. It
was thought it would be prudent to wait until after approval of the Ordinance before they
mailed the information.
The grant allows the Committee to format the information any way they wanted. Some
could be in poster form as opposed to separate sheets. Mr. Hendricks explained
Photoshop could help design the information and he could help print the mailers where
he works. Members should contemplate what they would like to see. Once the mailers
were designed, other groups could include the information in their community
newsletters. A thank you letter was drafted and forwarded to the public information
contact at the City. Mr. Breese explained it was important to ensure anything printed
met the National Trust standards.
5. Preparation for Commission meeting
This item was discussed earlier in the meeting. In summary, Mr. Breese would give a
brief overview of the program and the committee members and the public would have
the opportunity to speak on it. It is a good idea for each member to have a talking point
to avoid repetition of facts. It was suggested the Committee invite the Historical Society
and friends to support the program.
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Meeting Minutes
Historic Preservation Ad Hoc Committee
Boynton Beach, FL
November 8, 2010
6. Summarize tasks of accomplishments for next meeting
The members agreed to work on the following items as noted below:
~ Grants - Mr. McGovern
~ Revitilization - Mr. Hendricks
~ Tourism - Vice Chair Ready
~ Education - Mr. McGovern
~ Property Values - The University of FI study was distributed. - Mr. Jones
~ Image/recognition - examples of success stories, i.e. Flamingo Park. The City is
a bedroom community - beautification - Ms. Stabile
It was recommended the Committee members keep their comments as brief as
possible. The members were urged to commit to attend the next two City Commission
meetings to be held on November 16th and December 7th.
Chair Adams advised he contacted the Department of State to let them know of the
Committee's activities and they provided contact information in the event they needed
support from the State or had questions about how to step up the Certified Local
Governments process.
Chair Adams also emailed Chris Davenport, Archeologist with the County, and provided
him with an update of where the Committee was with their program. Mr. Davenport
applauded the effort and hoped the County would start designating districts. He
seemed interested and hoped the City and County could potentially join districts, but
there could be issues with it regarding which entity's ordinance to follow.
Chair Adams also met with the Community Redevelopment Agency, (CRA). Initially, the
CRA was concerned that the Ordinance would be restrictive to new businesses, but he
assured Ms. Brooks it would not. They discussed the location of buildings and moving
them. While buildings could be individually designated, it could cause problems with
districts because there would be nothing to tie the districts together. It was discussed, if
there was a historic home that would be demolished and could be given away, there
was always the possibility of moving it. He discussed potential funding for a planner
position with Ms. Brooks. The first reaction was they did not have the funds because of
the trolley, but then the trolley was not approved. It was thought if the historic
preservation position did not come with benefits, they might be able to contribute
something and maybe the City Commission could partly fund a position.
Chair Adams felt they had a concern because the mission of the CRA is to encourage
businesses. Any districts designated could potentially cover a significant part of the
redevelopment area and the CRA staff did not want to dissuade people from locating in
the area. Chair Adams explained theoretically, a Preservation Planner could handle
their projects when having to relocate homes. The CRA has an architect on Board, and
they traditionally do design work but do not oversee a project as a whole. There could
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Meeting Minutes
Historic Preservation Ad Hoc Committee
Boynton Beach, FL
November 8,2010
be a benefit for all parties if they had a full-time planner, although there could be some
overlap.
Mr. Hendricks did not anticipate they would move many old buildings, but it was
recognized someone could leave a historic home to the City. The CRA would like to see
something occur and seemed to be onboard. There had been discussion it would be
helpful for the Historic Preservation Planner to work towards attracting business. There
was opportunity there. It was suggested Harvey Oyer be invited to the next meeting.
Ms. DeVries left the meeting at 6:10 p.m.
7. Staff comments
None.
8. Public Comments
Kay Baker, Past President of the Boynton Woman's Club, explained she needed more
information in reference to the Historic Preservation Committee holding a meeting at the
Club. Vice Chair Ready explained there are five or six potential historic districts and the
Committee cannot designate any district as historic unless 51 % of the residents from
that district approved it. The Historic Preservation Committee would need a location to
explain the program and its benefits to the residents. The subject meeting was a
potential meeting that would be held far into the future. All that remained to be done
was to invite the community to it at a later date. Ms. Baker did not think it would be a
problem to hold the meeting there when the time arose.
The Woman's Club discussed the Historic Preservation Committee with their Grants
and Donations Committee. Chair Adams commented if the Woman's Club wanted to
apply for any grants, the Historic Preservation Committee would be happy to write a
letter of support. It was important to the Woman's Club that the City's Historic
Preservation Committee not be operating in conflict with their Committee. Chair Adams
anticipated it would be a while before they applied for grants and before Certified Local
Government status was gained.
Vice Chair Ready invited members of the Woman's Club to speak in support of the
proposed Ordinance and she commented if a new Board was established, members
would be needed. It was noted the Woman's Club was on the National Register;
however, there was no local register of historic properties. It would be beneficial to start
a local register that included a structure already recognized as an anchor.
9. Announce date of next meeting
Two dates were suggested for the next meeting, which were December 6 or December
13. December 6 was selected.
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Meeting Minutes
Historic Preservation Ad Hoc Committee
Boynton Beach, FL
November 8,2010
10. Adjournment
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting properly adjourned at 6:19 p.m.
(~.aj-ltA)/lLC QiLVLLI____
Catherine Cherry 6
Recording Secretary
122810
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