Heritage Preservation Commission Meetings and Work Sessions

City of Excelsior Hennepin County, Minnesota Minutes Heritage Preservation Commission Special Meeting Tuesday, December 7, 2021 1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Interim Chair Salita called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Commissioners Present: Salita, Bolles, Caron, Hartwich, Tyler, Brattland (see below) Commissioners Absent: Brabec Also Present: Community Development Director Mullin Dan Brattland took Oath of Office and joined HPC as a Commissioner. 2. AGENDA APPROVAL Caron moved to approve Agenda. Tyler seconded. Motion carried 6/0. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) November 3, 2021 Special HPC Meeting Minutes Caron requested the following corrections: p. 5, third paragraph, “there are lots of different window openings in the house”; p. 6, fifth paragraph, add list of activities stated at meeting that may not be done at this time due to stop work order (Caron will send the list to staff and minutes will be corrected) Tyler requested the following corrections: add spaces between paragraphs; identify speakers Minutes Heritage Preservation Commission December 7, 2021 Page 2 of 9 Caron made motion to approve the minutes as corrected; Bolles seconded. Motion carried 6/0. b) November 16, 2021 HPC Meeting Minutes Caron requested the following corrections: p. 2 first paragraph, add “based on his recollection of the approved comprehensive sign plan for the building”; p. 3, third paragraph, replace “batten” with “7 inch reveal on horizontal lap siding”; replace 5” batten with 5” reveal; paragraph 4 add “the whole original house”; paragraph 6 add “note: these are not the original windows” Item c. first paragraph: add “Mullin said that the Applicant stated…”; delete “removed”; third paragraph, add “footings to meet SAP condition.”; p. 4 second paragraph: add “HPC and the subcommittee”; item d) “comprehensive sign plan”; bottom of p. 5: add “characteristics of this historic home”; p. 6 correction to “windows”; p. 6 add: “Updated application did not include all elevations of the home; applicant submitted renderings of the front elevation only; there is no indication of what is proposed for the other three sides of the house; the application is incomplete.” Salita: we stated that the application was incomplete; needs to be reflected in minutes Caron: requirement of our application form: all elevations must be submitted; needs to be reflected in minutes Bolles: p. 4, line 2: “HPC and the subcommittee” Hartwich: p. 7: wished he had validated that navigating website can be difficult; no change to minutes Caron moved to adopt minutes. Bolles seconded. Approved 6-0. 4. CITIZEN REPORTS OR COMMENTS Minutes Heritage Preservation Commission December 7, 2021 Page 3 of 9 5. DISCUSSION ITEMS a) Resolution # 21-24 to approve 6 3rd Street Site Alteration Permit Amendment - continued Mullin presented the report. Resolution was in draft form at last meeting; Caron made some changes; voted to continue the Resolution to the next meeting so that applicant could review. Hartwich: commented on HPC guidelines; liked that building is repaired and not replaced, and liked attention to detail Hartwich moved to approve Resolution. Bolles seconded. Approved 5-0 (Brattland abstained.) b) Resolution #21-11 to deny 173 2nd Street Site Alteration Permit Mullin presented draft Resolution for approval by the HPC. Caron: p. 2 “proposed front elevations only” in place of “plans”; replace “mullions” with “sashes”; continuation of Application to the “next” HPC meeting; replace “plans” with “their application”; p. 3 add City Council date; #8. Submitted “an incomplete” SAP; p. 4 omit discussion of Guideline RW5 – this guideline is about creating new openings – HPC doesn’t know if applicant proposes to do this; applicant did not show what they intend to do on secondary facades Salita: guideline intent appears to include new windows in existing openings as well Caron: p. 5 original windows are “character-defining features of the home and are white…” Minutes Heritage Preservation Commission December 7, 2021 Page 4 of 9 Tyler: Caron referred to SHPO designation letter at meeting; should we cite it in Resolution?; suggested he revise Resolution to make connections between findings and conclusions Hartwich: documenting meeting accurately is important; wants minutes to reflect that HPC attempted to partner with applicant, and believes they do Caron: emphasize that HPC offered options and applicant rejected those options; the Resolution will reflect how and why HPC acted; it will be used if there is an appeal process; applicant did not appear open options short of wholesale replacement Bolles: we requested that applicant bring a plan; they did not do that Caron: original SAP was for window replacement; must focus on that; add a Finding Staff offered a draft finding to add: HPC offered a variety of recommendations for how to move forward with out wholesale replacement of the windows and the Applicant did not want to pursue these recommendations and did not want to continue to work with HPC on a solution that meets the Guidelines Tyler: there was no spirit of compromise Tyler: wants to spend more time fleshing out the Resolution; wants to connect the Guidelines to the Facts to the Conclusions Staff: if HPC continues the Resolution to next meeting so that it can be reworked, the application will need to be extended an additional 60 days Tyler: wants to rework Resolution; make it as good as it can be Caron made motion to continue the Resolution to the December HPC meeting. Bolles seconded. Motion approved 5/0. (Salita abstained.) Minutes Heritage Preservation Commission December 7, 2021 Page 5 of 9 c) Resolution #21-10 to approve 366 Water Street Site Alteration Permit Mullin presented update. Developed Resolution to approve. There were conditions and clarifications with that approval. Received new survey and plans. Issue on survey has been corrected. Resolution documents this. Corrections: sideyard footings are moved from 14’ to 10’; staff asked surveyor to add that the footings will be removed; that has been added; city engineer indicated that Salita: was there a meeting on site to look at footings? Caron: occurred today; conditions in Resolution for HPC inspection of footings removal is appropriate Caron: building official not willing to check for footings today; when stair footings are put in, they will be inspected and at that time the building inspector will inspect to confirm the other footings have been removed; HPC subcommittee will be there on site to view inspection of footing removal Staff: building official has inspected site and one of his inspectors has inspected site; did not do it again today Tyler: builder confirmed to building official that footings have been removed Bolles: work has been done that is not in accordance with city regulations; building officials have not been following the work closely enough Salita: has city been in touch with applicant’s counsel? Staff: no, not since HPC approval of SAP in October; had requested permission to go on property today but did not get a response Caron: subcommittee needs to review survey and plans; then will confirm with staff that plans can be attached to Resolution, then revise Resolution again Minutes Heritage Preservation Commission December 7, 2021 Page 6 of 9 Bolles: where is the Site Copy of the building permit plans? Need to see these plans; there doesn’t appear to be an approved set of plans for this project Tyler: building official said he’s seen signed stamped plans Caron: former staff issued a building permit so there must be plans Staff: building official said there were no building plans for the addition that began to be built in backyard; applicant approached building official with addition marked on the survey and said city approved it; city hall was closed, pandemic, took applicant at his word, and work began Salita: subcommittee will meet, review new survey, make sure plans meet what was approved Caron: resolution will be finalized and refer to approved plans and survey Salita: interior work that appears to be occurring must be checked out by building official and halted if not approved work Staff: we made clear to the building official that no exterior work can be happening yet because the approval is not finalized Caron made motion to continue Resolution to December meeting so that subcommittee can meet. Brattland seconded. Approved 6/0. d) Update on 366 Water Street from subcommittee Covered during Item C. Staff indicated that Encroachment Agreement is being developed by staff. Minutes Heritage Preservation Commission December 7, 2021 Page 7 of 9 e) 170 Lake Street SAP for exterior siding replacement (HPC No. 21-34) - update Mullin presented staff report; received updates from applicant today. Caron: need a submittal to reflect these changes; this is movement in the right direction. Caron made motion to continue the application to the December meeting. Bolles seconded. Approved 6/0. f) 31 Water Street Site Alteration Permit (HPC No. 21-22) - update Coming up on 120 day application review limit. Deny permit. Communicate to applicant that they can reapply. Bolles: applicant has not submitted revised plans. Caron made motion to deny site alteration permit for 31 Water St. because 120 day limit is upon us. Invite applicant to reapply once they are ready to proceed. Bolles seconded. Approved 5/0. (Salita abstained.) Staff: applicant has been out of town; aware of timeline; most likely needs more time. g) HPC Goals Prioritization Exercise Mullin presented results of prioritization activity. Four goals were selected by three of the Commissioners and two goals were selected by two of the commissioners; these goals rose to the top. Commissioners indicated which goals they want to work on: Minutes Heritage Preservation Commission December 7, 2021 Page 8 of 9 1. Review thoughts about the Port of Excelsior future that may be anticipated by C4C in their plan sometime in the future. (Bolles, Hartwich) 2. Discuss enforcement and ways to bring non-compliant properties in line with the preservation design Manual standards (Caron) 3. Identify and seek designation for historic city-owned buildings, sites and objects. Suggest an annual review of city buildings similar to Blue Line Ticket Booth Office. 4. Review status of HPC Recognition Awards. If necessary, formalize process to set yearly date to review potential awards. 5. Request the Council set aside $10,000 for improvement grants for Landmark properties. (Salita) 6. Send out Preservation Design Manual to all owners/tenants of historically designated buildings. (Send physical copy or provide link to on-line version?) (Tyler) Salita: wants to add a goal about updating website so that it is clear Staff: we can review the HPC section of city website and make clarifications so that information is thorough and correct; staff can make these kinds of changes Salita: should this be a goal? How do we change the website? Brattland: site needs a HPC mission statement, statement of purpose Brattland and Salita offered to work on this; make website user-friendly; if changes are policy-oriented, will need more review before staff can make the changes Caron: these are 2021 goals; early in the year HPC does goal-setting exercise with City Council and at that time we could bring forward 2022 goals; need to hash out where we want to spend our time and effort Caron: Demolition by neglect is important goal. Brattland: let’s get together and review these goals as a group so we can discuss Minutes Heritage Preservation Commission December 7, 2021 Page 9 of 9 Salita: we’ve been discussing Demolition by neglect for a long time; let’s combine with Goal #2 (Enforcement); we could identify a few properties and figure out how to move forward with them Add Demolition by Neglect: Caron, Salita, and Brattland will work on this Goal. Proposals to do a second meeting a month or a quarterly meeting to discuss topics like Goals. 6. COMMUNICATIONS and REPORTS a) City Council Meeting – Monday, December 20, 2021 b) Next HPC Meeting – Tuesday, December 21, 2021 c) Administrative Site Alteration Approvals d) Recent City Council Actions e) Community for the Commons Updates f) Other Updates 7. ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn made by Hartwich. Seconded by Bolles. Motion carried 6/0. Respectfully submitted, Julia Mullin Community Development Director