Historic Preservation Commission

Historic Preservation Commission Meeting Minutes August 10, 2023 This meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission was held at the Parks, Recreation & Tourism (PRT) Office at 1224 Progressive Drive on July 13, 2023. Vice Chairperson Wallace called the meeting to order at 5:04 PM. ANNOUNCEMENTS Richard Fisher, a docent at the Great Bridge Battlefield & Waterways Museum, announces an upcoming meeting on September 10, 2023, for people interested in volunteering for the Museum. Members Present: Ms. Amelia Wallace; Dr. George Reed; Mr. Ernest Lowery; Mr. James Ervin Young; Mr. Gerald Martin; Mr. Kyle Taduran Members Absent: Ms. Jennifer Knight Staff Present: Planner II Kevin Finn; Community Design Manager Nat McCormick; Plans Examiner I Joe Gardner; Historical Services Manager Jessica Cosmas; Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Director Mike Barber. Consultant Commonwealth Preservation Group (CPG), Founder/ Principal Paige Pollard; CPG associate Katrina Smith. Ms. Cosmas called the roll. Attendance reflected a quorum with 5 voting members present, and 1 voting member absent. MINUTES: Approval of Meeting Minutes: Vice Chairperson Wallace asked if there were any corrections to the July minutes as presented. There were no corrections. The minutes stand approved. HEARING OF CITIZENS: None. REPORTS: Consultant Commonwealth Preservation Group prepared a special report on the review of the South Norfolk Historic District Design Guidelines: Nat McCormick provided an overview of the project thus far describing what internal meetings had taken place with various City departments including staff from Planning, Developments and Permits, Land Bank Authority, and Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. Mr. McCormick said the HPC has been identified as 1 of 4 key stakeholder groups to meet with the consultant group tasked with conducting the review of the guidelines. The other stakeholder groups are the South Norfolk Civic League, the South Norfolk Revitalization Commission, and the Historic and Architectural Review Board. Mr. McCormick introduced Paige Pollard the Founder/ Principal of Commonwealth Preservation Group.  Paige Pollard described the team who will be working on the review. CPG has also partnered with Work Program Architects (WPA) for this project. Besides meetings with the above stakeholder groups, public meetings will be held, and surveys will be distributed, so other community members may provide feedback on the guidelines. The goal of this project is to produce updated guidelines that still meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and reflect community feedback without compromising the historic character of the district. The project team’s desire for the updated guidelines is to create an effective tool that will help manage change in the district. Ms. Pollard then shared the consultant team’s initial thoughts on the current state of the district. The district is characterized by a variety of architectural styles, which are highly intact. It is uniquely positioned to address financial hardship via the South Norfolk Residential Rehabilitation Grant Program administered by the Chesapeake Land Bank Authority. Further, the City Council has expressed support for this project. Following this, Dr. Reed asked how South Norfolk compares to other neighboring Historic Districts. Ms. Pollard replied that South Norfolk seems to have a greater amount of integrity. Many alterations have been applied over original materials, for example, vinyl siding over original wood clapboard siding. She also pointed out that the district benefits from a higher percentage of home ownership and that often translates to a greater level of care. She said that the topic of new construction could be more sensitively handled by the guidelines. She noted that the guidelines could better describe or identify character-defining architectural features and then prioritize the preservation of such features. Ms. Pollard described two similar projects CPG has worked on and the final work product. She provided copies of the Virginia Beach Historic & Cultural Design Guidelines and the Cape Charles Historic District Overlay Design Guidelines for the group to consider. The discussion turned to how these example guidelines could be applied to Chesapeake. Commissioner Taduran asked how the quantity of structures in Virginia Beach compared to that in South Norfolk. Ms. Pollard answered that the number of individual districts throughout Virginia Beach is greater, however these districts often cover one property as opposed to South Norfolk which has many properties within a single district. Furthermore, the variety of architectural styles within South Norfolk is much greater than what is found within the Virginia Beach districts. Mike Barber suggested that the Virginia Beach approach may be worth considering for historic properties in rural Southern Chesapeake, rather than being applied to South Norfolk. Commissioner Martin inquired about the guidelines’ ability to strike a balance between maintaining the historic character and property owners’ desire to utilize technology like solar panels. He believes this topic has not been adequately addressed given the visibility of old antennas, satellite dishes, and other evidence of quickly evolving technologies that can be seen in the district. This led to a discussion on alternative materials and how they may be approached. Ms. Pollard suggested that a flowchart be used to inform decision-making rather than a list of what is allowable. Given that new materials are constantly emerging and changing a list could quickly become outdated. Joe Gardner added that from a code enforcement perspective, new materials are challenging. He continued that new materials are often marketed as more affordable and easier to maintain than what the original or historic material would have been. The conversation turned to maintenance. Ms. Pollard believes that the guidelines should incentivize proper and regular maintenance of character-defining features. Ms. Pollard thinks that can be achieved with guidelines that are consistent and provide clarity on the decision-making process. Vice Chair Wallace noted that more robust citations and definitions within the guidelines could make them more understandable. The conversation concluded that the consultants would not only review the guidelines themselves, but the policies and procedures related to administering the guidelines. This comprehensive review should result in a defensible and more readily accepted set of guidelines. 2 UNFINISHED BUSINESS: None. HEARING OF BOARD MEMBERS: None. NEW BUSINESS: None. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 6:33 PM. NEXT MEETING: The next meeting will be on Thursday, September 14, 2023, at 5:00 PM at the PRT Office at 1224 Progressive Drive. Minutes submitted by Jessica Cosmas, PRT Staff Liaison. 3