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Minutes 11-10-14 TUTS OF THE HISTORIC RESOURCES PRESERVATION BOARD MEETING HELD IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, 100 E. BOYNTON BEACH BLVD., BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA N MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014, AT 6:30 P.M. Present: Michelle Dion, Vice Chair Warren Adams, Historic Preservation Planner Susan Oyer Dr. Ginger Pedersen Barbara Ready Eric Salomonsson (arrived 6:36 p.m.) Jason Shaffer (arrived 6:38 p.m.) Absent: Roger Cope, Chair 1. Pledge of Allegiance Vice Chair Dion called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m. The members recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. 2. Agenda Approval Warren Adams, Historic Preservation Planner, added Ethics Training and email responses to the agenda as Item 7.A. Other. Motion Ms. Ready so moved. Ms. Oyer seconded the motion that unanimously passed. 3. Approval of Minutes Mr. Adams made one change to the minutes which were Debbie McHenry was not on the Board. Motion Ms. Ready moved to approve with the change. Ms. Oyer seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Meeting Minutes Historic Resources Preservation Board Boynton Beach, Florida November 10, 2014 4. Communications and Announcements Mr. Adams announced Chair Cope had called to advise he would not be present at the meeting. 5. Old Business: A. Boynton Woman's Club Special Category Grant application Mr. Adams announced the Woman's Club Grant application was submitted requesting $140,000. A $75,000 match would be provided by a combination of CRA funding and donated services. The City donated Mr. Adams' time to assist with the project and grant management. The value could be used to claim extra grant funds. They will also use time donated by the Woman's Club. If the grant is received, the funding should complete the repairs to the wood frame doors and windows in the building. The Woman's Club just finished repairs to the three most seriously damaged doors at a cost of about $10,000 a door. Based on the remaining amount of doors and windows, it may be possible to make all of the reparations. The Woman's Club was following the Secretary of the Interior's Standards to rehabilitate the building and was only replacing items when necessary. B. Wells Avenue Research Mr. Adams had met with Bernard Wright and Victor Norfus and they viewed a 1953 aerial of the Wells Avenue area. They were able to identify what each building was and who was in every building between the 50s and the 70s. Mr. Adams cross checked all the information he had received and will research the matter further. The online information he had only went back to the 1980s, but building information went back further. Mr. Adams also overlaid the 1953 aerial with the original lot plan. This was helpful in identifying what were shotgun houses, rooming houses, bars, nightclubs barbershops, and others. Mr. Adams thought there would be some recognition of the Wells Family and recognition that this was the original African-American downtown area. The issue was Mr. Adams only identified three buildings that may be eligible for designation. When the research is concluded, the City would have to determine how to recognize what was there and who established it. He had some photographs of shotgun homes and was requesting records because many homes were demolished due to Code violations. It was noted the CRA may have purchased some too. Dr. Pederson suggested using a GIS map, and Mr. Adams explained he would like to add the information to the Smart Phone application. He was planning on developing a strong application and applying for the 2016/2017 grant cycle. If the members thought of anything for which funding could be be applied for, they should let him know. 2 Meeting Minutes Historic Resources Preservation Board Boynton Beach, Florida November 10, 2014 Certified Local Government (CLG) Education grants do not require a match and he recommended pursuing that option. One option would be a street marker from the start of the Wells area by Seacrest to the railroad tracks. Discussion followed whether the community may be interested in renaming the street to its original name. Mr. Adams pointed out the street had already been renamed several times, but he thought a talking sign may be beneficial. The area had a lot of significance, but there were not many original sites left. Only the small church at the east end of the road by the railroad tracks which used to be a bar, and two houses behind it remained. The area also had many blues artists perform on their way from West Palm to Miami and back. Performers such as Tina Turner and B. B. King played at clubs along the street such as the Club Continental, the Bahamas Bar and the Bucket of Bloods. The Silas Green Show, a traveling African American Circus, was in Boynton Beach regularly; however, Mr. Adams could not verify this and would research it further. Mr. Adams gave Bernard Wright a letter requesting information from the community, which was posted in the area churches and information was starting to be provided. He hoped this project could tie preservation and history into future plans for the area. At one time, the area was segregated. Dr. Pedersen also commented the area may have had a different name. C. Conrad Pickel Trail brochures Mr. Adams distributed the Conrad Pickel brochures to the members and the State and advised they have 15,000 brochures to be used along with other historic preservation brochures. They will add a PDF to the Heritage Education Website and a layer on the map to show where the buildings were located. The majority of the buildings could be seen from the street, but there were a few churches that were obscured. Dr. Pedersen commented the Seventh Day Adventist Church on 2727 Georgia Avenue, near Southern Boulevard, has a stained glass window housing the largest of Mr. Pickel's stained glass windows. It is 75 -feet long and 25 -feet high. She commented the window was stunning and the church was very amenable to allowing visitors to see his work. D. Downtown and Cemetery Heritage Trails Mr. Adams announced the QR Codes were put on the signs. They found a product on which to print the code and affix to the signs. He will check every five to six weeks to ensure the information remained. The material is weather proof and lasts for three years. He commented he had enough of the product to last well into the future. He also emailed a Social Studies teacher Ms. Oyer referred him to see if she was interested in sharing the website and brochures with her students, but had not yet received a response. A suggestion was made to email teachers to promote the website and brochures. 3 Meeting Minutes Historic Resources Preservation Board Boynton Beach, Florida November 10, 2014 6. New Business: A. Cultural Resources Smart Phone Application update The Grant Award Agreement was approved by the City Commission and sent to the State. They have GPS points for about 15 new sites. Mr. Adams pointed out he had advised the State they would have 30 downtown sites and an additional 20, but it appeared they will have many more. Mr. Adams explained they will select a point on the sidewalk which will advise individuals they are passing a site of interest. A corner site would have two GPS points. Because there will be so many sites, Mr. Adams did not think people would spend a lot of time reading the information. He proposed to keep the application simple. A page would pop up with bulleted information showing a photograph of the structure, the address, year of construction, architectural style, historical significance or information on an individual of historical significance. The larger and more significant sites would have audio in at least two languages. Mr. Adams anticipated there would be 70 to 80 sites including the Downtown Trail. B. Boynton Beach Redevelopment Master Plan Mr. Adams sent the members a PDF of the Plan. He provided a list of every site within the boundary listed on the Florida Master Site File 1996 survey. He also provided another list of properties that were not on the 1996 Master Site File, which should be recognized that may merit historic designation. There were wood frame structures along 10 11 th and 12 that were not included in the survey. As his survey was ongoing, he would provide updates as he progressed. The Planner in charge may come to a meeting and explain more about the overall Plan. There is a significant historic preservation element included in it as well as details of all the Local Register properties within those boundaries. C. Cultural Resources Disaster Management Mobile Application Mr. Adams was considering applying for a grant from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. Last year, only four or five grants of $40,000 each were awarded. Mr. Adams spoke to a specialist and it was decided they would seek legislative funding in the amount of $100,000 instead. The lobbyist liked the idea and may prepare a white paper for distribution in Tallahassee. Mr. Adams will learn in January whether this effort will move forward. Robert Bendus, Director of the Division of Historical Resources, supports the effort and Mr. Adams hoped the State would back the request for funding. Chris Davenport, Palm Beach County's Historic Preservation Officer and Archaeologist and the Boynton Beach Library also support the effort. The application has pages for sites, landscapes, collections, archaeologies and cemeteries. In the event of disasters, members could photograph the damage, log the 4 Meeting Minutes Historic Resources Preservation Board Boynton Beach, Florida November 10, 2014 details and enter it into a central data base. Mr. Adams hoped Boynton Beach would be the lead in this application which could be used nationally or globally. He spoke with the ITS Department about it and learned it was a doable application. Mr. Adams also received support from the COMOS ICORP Scientific Committee (International Council on Monuments and Sites and International Committee on Risk Preparedness). The support of the Division of Historical Resources was significant. If funding was not received, Mr. Adams would continue with the application on a smaller scale for the City. They would also review how to move forward if other municipalities wanted to use the application, which would be free. They would also try to encourage the State to fund it. The tax base and the entire State could benefit from the application. Further discussion followed about applying for the grant as a backup plan; however, it was a competitive national grant. Mr. Adams thought the time would be better spent on lobbying for State funding. The goal was to be the first in and gain the recognition for it. The ITS Department was reviewing the licensing. The only question was how to make sure the users get the updated version when updates are made. D. Potential historic site designations Dr. Pedersen advised the tour of the Murray House by descendants of Horace Murray went well. It was very interesting and many of the original elements remained. The owners may be interested in designation, so Mr. Adams emailed them to discuss the pros and cons. The Murray's were the first family to purchase land in Boynton Beach and although the home was altered, it was still eligible for designation. He commented the Murray home was the third oldest home in the downtown, preceded by the Anders and Magnuson homes. Mr. Adams met with owners of the home located at 115 S. Seacrest Avenue and advised the home has many original features such as the floors, small columns, lighted glass in the cabinets and a coquina stone fireplace. The home still had the original doors and hardware. The only rooms that were altered were the kitchen and bathroom and they created a master suite upstairs. They have a carport on the back at least 50 years old, and they are looking to do minor work around the house, but nothing that would diminish the character of the property. The main thing they discussed was replacing the front porch windows with hurricane impact windows, but the windows in place were already metal frame windows. Additionally, a photograph taken in 1926 showed the porch was enclosed and the home was constructed in 1925. The original owner, James Perry Bowen, owned an insurance company, a lumber yard, and sat on the Town Council in the 20s and 30s. The home was significant for its architecture. He suggested if the owner decided to seek the designation this week, he could have the request ready for the December meeting. He pointed out he needed 10 days to notify the neighbors. There was brief discussion that it was believed the original owner also constructed the home next to it, and they had similar characteristics. 5 Meeting Minutes Historic Resources Preservation Board Boynton Beach, Florida November 10, 2014 7. Other A. Ethics Training Ethics training will take place immediately after the meeting adjourned; however, all of the members indicated they wanted to take the training at home. Mr. Adams advised the training must be taken between November 1S and December 19 The County website has the acknowledgement form which must be completed and returned to the City. Mr. Adams reminded the members that when responding to emails, the members should not "Reply All ". Mr. Adams also thought Historic Preservation would start to move quickly. With the Smart Phone application and Cultural Resource Disaster application, there would be more items to review. He thanked the members for coming to the meetings and opined they will start having items that members would have more input with. The members will be reviewing the Woman's Club Certificate of Appropriateness, and the application for 115 S. Seacrest, and more applications were forthcoming. Mr. Adams advised they have to have a certain number of meetings each year and requested if members have conflicting plans, they should let him know. . Comments by members None. 9. Public comments None. 10. Announce date of next meeting — December 8, 2014 11. Adjournment There being no further business to discuss, Vice Chair Dion adjourned the meeting at 7:21 p.m. Catherine Cherry Minutes Specialist 912994 6