Everett Historical Commission

Everett Historical Commission Meeting Summary February 25, 2020 Commissioners City Staff Steve Fox, Chair Karen Stewart Arnold Morrison Dan Eernissee Dave Ramstad Glenn Hunter Amelia Hieb, Vice Chair Jack O’Donnell Laura Cameron-Behee Andrea Tucker Patrick Hall Neil Anderson Thomas Feeney The meeting convened at approximately 6:30 pm with Chair Fox asking for introductions that were then made around the room. The meeting summary for the prior Historical Commission meeting held on January 26th was reviewed with a spelling correction on page 3 “chaulking” is changed to “caulking”. Under the Citizen Comments section of the meeting summary, the first sentence was modified to delete the words “year old” when describing the 1892 house. Also, a correction was made to the Historical Commissioner Comments section referencing a house on Cleveland at 2328. A motion to approve the meeting summary with the noted corrections was made by Commissioner Tucker, seconded by Commissioner O’Donnell and approved by all the voting Commissioners. Citizen Comments None Community Renewal Area in Downtown Everett The City of Everett Economic Development Director, Dan Eernissee, discussed the City’s new program to help promote community renewal in an area including the downtown by eliminating blight and unsafe environments. He provided a map of the proposed area with one correction for the split parcel showing the Post Office. The Community Renewal Area (CRA) addresses long term vacancies and landlord neglect of buildings. This will supplement the current, complaint-driven code enforcement process. The primary focus is on the building exterior and street appearance. The big idea is to help “Make Everett the best version of itself”. Certified Local Government Grant There was a group discussion about typical grant applications that were successfully funded in the past by this type of grant. Several suggestions were made, but they either involved construction or didn’t 1 meet one of the five FY 2021 program area priorities. It was suggested that the Historical Commission could partner with another organization (i.e., Historic Everett, DEA) to put together a successful grant application and help meet any match requirements. Brainstorming grant application ideas will be the focus of the March Historical Commission meeting. The due date is April 24th. Historical Commissioner Comments Roundtable reports occurred. Chair Fox mentioned that the map indicating the boundaries for the Riverside Neighborhood Historic Overlay Zone should be changed to include homes on the south side of 21st St. He noted that the boundary should follow the alley to the south of the homes. Recently, he has worked with staff to get the Riverside Neighborhood Inventory of historic buildings printed out (approx. 900 pages of inventory information). The inventory is now available at the Planning office and the NW room at the library. Staff reported on an email response from Ryan Sass, Everett Public Works Director regarding the design of sidewalks in the historic overlay zones. Commissioner O’Donnell was going to follow-up with an email of support for Metro Everett sidewalk standards being extended across the historic overlay zones as is already happening in some blocks. Commissioner Tucker had a book that she shared with the group. A motion to adjourn at 8:23 p.m. was made by Commissioner Hall and seconded by Commissioner Tucker, with unanimous agreement. The next meeting of the Everett Historical Commission will be March 24, 2020. 2