Historic Preservation Commission

IDAHO FALLS HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION Regular Meeting Thursday, March 3, 2016 Noon, Annex Conference Room Minutes Attending: Rox Mitro, Hersh Mynarcik, Tom Nance, Kim Smith, Graham Whipple, and Julie Williams. Staff Brad Cramer, Director, Brent McLane, Current Planner, and Debra Petty, Recording Secretary. Call to Order at 12:00 p.m. Minutes: February 4, 2016 Moved by Mitro to approve the minutes of February 4, 2016, as presented. Seconded by Mynarcik and passed. Election of Officers: Whipple nominated Williams for Chair. Williams nominated Magee for Chair. Magee was unanimously accepted as Chair. Mitro nominated Mynarcik for Vice-Chair. Williams nominated Smith for Vice-Chair. Smith was unanimously accepted as Vice-Chair. Mitro nominated Magee for Secretary/Treasurer. Williams nominated Mitro for Secretary/Treasurer. Mitro declined. Williams nominated Whipple for Secretary/Treasurer. Mitro nominated Nance for Secretary/Treasurer. Nance declined. Whipple was unanimously accepted as Secretary/Treasurer. Keefer Addition and Hughes Imperial Estates Nomination Forms: Magee provided some examples of the Idaho Historic Sites Inventory Forms for informational purposes. McLane said he, Magee, and Williams will revisit the area on Friday, March 11th to match photos to addresses and take new photos if needed. Williams noted Magee checked criteria A (events) and C (architecture). Magee will be contacted for clarification. Commercial Mid-Century Windshield Survey: It was determined of the 50 identified properties most were not associated with the transportation corridor. Williams said more survey needs to be done. McLane said there are three motels on First Street between Northgate and Holmes worthy of consideration. Mitro questioned the location of the grey cabins off Cleveland. Whipple said they are located south of Stan’s Paint and Art’s Muffler. Whipple said the goal of the tour was to locate stopping points centered on the automobile. Williams said she will send out three dates to determine the best day and time for additional survey of the transportation corridor. Whipple asked if the survey is part of the work program. Williams said that would be decided by further survey. She said there were few sites that retained integrity. Tour of the Civic Auditorium: Members will meet on the steps in the front of the building today at 4:00 p.m. The purpose of the tour is to identify historic features. Williams provided copies of a letter she drafted to SHPO. Additional information will be added after the tour. Williams said the Civic Auditorium is eligible under A (events) and C (architecture) because of its association with the growth of Idaho Falls due to National Reactor Test Station and agriculture. Mitro will locate information on the designer of the building and who constructed it. She has a copy of the site plan of the Idaho Falls High School that includes a sketch of the Civic Auditorium. Williams said they are asking SHPO for a preliminary determination of eligibility. Adequate information needs to be provided for them to make a determination. Mitro will talk to Brad Jordan, Building Maintenance Supervisor, to see plans for the building are available. Williams said if the city is going to modify the building the Commission quickly needs to determine what historic elements should be preserved. Whipple asked if it is known what changes are being proposed. Cramer said Pam Alexander, Municipal Services Director, wants to know what structural renovations are needed to determine if the Auditorium is worth keeping. Reggie Fuller, Building Official, toured the building and said it is not in a critical state. Cramer said a structural assessment concluded the balcony will not support certain types of events, specifically rock concerts, it is closed to the public. Mitro said the INL has some structural engineers that would make an assessment because as a community service. Williams said the program is Technical Services Outreach. Cramer asked if they do accessibility assessments. Mitro said the INL has little to do with ADA assessments. Tour of City Hall: Cramer said the tour of City Hall is scheduled for Friday, March 11th at noon. Members are to meet in the lobby. Pam Alexander, Municipal Services Director, and Chandra Witt, General Services Manager, will participate in the tour. Cramer said the City Hall Reuse Committee is evaluating the actual needs for the space and Document1 Page 1 of 3 what departments would be best suited for the space. For now, the work of the Committee is not related to historic preservation. He will let them know when that will be addressed and include a couple of members at that time. Preservation of historic elements is an important part of the process. Reggie Fuller, Building Official, has requested an accessibility assessment. There is potential for construction of an elevator in one of the bays for more accessibility to the public. Cramer will take the recommendations back to the Committee so they will be educated on the importance of preserving each element. Mitro said she is aware an RFP is being drafted by the Reuse Committee. She said as architects, she and Whipple need to be cautious if they want to be considered for the job. June Walking Tour of the 11th Street Historic District: Mynarcik said he needs help finishing arrangements for the tour. Petty contacted the representative for the Farmers Market and suggested a couple of weekends in May. The consensus of the Commission is to have a booth the weekends of June 4th and June 18th. Petty will make the necessary arrangements. Mynarcik spoke with PJ from the Parks Department. He gave them two options: a 10’ x 10’ tent or a portion of the pavilion at Kate Curley Park. Williams confirmed the tour would be self-guided. Mynarcik said it hasn’t been tried before, but was effective with the tour in Boise. The tour is from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and will start at Kate Curley Park. Mynarcik said he has lined up the Brady house, the Tom Nance house, and will contact Stephanie Rose to see if she would open her home to the public. He has approval for the 13th Street Church from Mr. Price and is waiting to hear from John Salisbury on the Catholic Church. Mitro said she will contact Mr. Salisbury for Mynarcik. However, they are in the process of installing new pews beginning in May and it could take two months before the work is completed. Mynarcik said he needs approximately 30 volunteers for the event. He would be able to station 2-3 docents at each location for 2 hours each. Mynarcik has reached out to the Museum of Idaho, Judy Sydell from the Japanese Garden and the Garden Club for volunteers. Mynarcik said Staten suggested finding volunteers through www.justserve.org. He went to the site and found the City’s site seeking board/commission volunteers. He needs help setting up a site for Historic Preservation but wants to use the Commission’s logo instead of the City logo. McLane said he would follow up with Kerry McCullough, Public Information Officer, concerning www.justserve.org. Cramer said using the Commission’s logo makes sense because it identifies the Commission, but he may be required to use the new citywide logo. Williams has reservations about accepting volunteers “off the street” to protect the properties open to the public. She is concerned about the liability. Mitro concurs with Williams. Williams asked the role of the Commission during the event. Mynarcik said members could help, but he will need some to man the sign in table. Mitro said volunteers need to be stationed where they have a good line of sight. Many homeowners have valuable items. After discussion it was decided to forego www.justserve.org. SHPO Training: McLane has made some arrangements regarding SHPO training. The dates for the event are Thursday, May 5th and Friday, May 6th. Pete L’Orange will provide Commission training during the regular Commission meeting on Thursday, May 5th at noon. Topics for the Commission training are roles of the commission, what can be done by the Commission to improve activity, and some about SHPO. McLane will contact Mortimer because of her interest. At 4:00 p.m. at the ARTI Theater there will be a presentation for IFDDC, downtown property owners, and the general public having an interest in historic preservation. On Friday, May 6th, 12:00 p.m. at the ARTI Theater, L’Orange will make a presentation called, “Wait, that’s historic”. Each session is limited to one hour. McLane said the event will be advertised and he will contact PJ, Parks Superintendent, about additional advertisement. Roundtable Discussion:  Nance contacted Kristin Bolluck, Post Register, to see if she would actively participate in the walking tour and do another article similar to the one she did on his home last year. She will attend the April meeting.  Nance presented the plaques he had made for his historic home which he will have mounted before the tour. One is specific to his home and the other is a general description of the 11th Street Historic District. He will have them on display at the Farmers Market. He said a homeowner that doesn’t have the specifics of their home, but knows it is a contributing property and have their certificate, can easily have a plaque made. Whipple said if the owner doesn’t have the original certificate the Commission can assist them. Document1 Page 2 of 3   Cramer said as of last Thursday, the Commission became an administrative review board for signs on Broadway. When portions of the sign code were rewritten, a number of interested parties expressed LED signs are not appropriate for the downtown. Council did not accept this by a unanimous vote. Council views Broadway as a major commercial corridor and believes LED signage it is what businesses want and a way to liven up the downtown. Cramer said the code is written to eliminate pole signs. LED’s must be mounted on the wall of the building 8 feet above ground, limited to a maximum of 40 square feet, cannot project above the top of the building, and cannot cover a contributing feature. As will other LED’s the sign must be static and dimmed at night. Whipple requested the verbiage be emailed to the Commission. Williams said many historic signs have been lost and believes LED’s are detrimental to the remaining signs. Cramer said some of the historic signs have never been maintained because if the sign is taken down it is no longer a permitted sign. He said they should be allowed to take them down, repaired, and replaced in its original location. Whipple said for effective coverage most LED signs would be located in the corners. Cramer said sign applications will be reviewed by the Commission and if it is determined architectural features are being disturbed it will be denied. The applicant still has the right to appeal to City Council.  Williams brought up the controversy in Pocatello over a mural painted on the side of the old fire station. The mural is called, “Wild Horses”. The mural is beautiful, but is not appropriate for the location. The owner said he did it to preserve the brick or he would have had to stucco. Pocatello has an ordinance and he did not go through the process for approval. He has been told it must be removed. Williams said removing the mural will damage the brick. She wondered how the Commission would handle such a dilemma. Nance said the brick could have been repointed or replaced. Williams said that may have been cheaper than paining the mural. It is unknown if the mural covered any historic signs.  Mitro noted Dave Pennock, Museum of Idaho, is now employed by the City of Idaho Falls as the Tautphaus Park Zoo Executive Director. The meeting adjourned at 12:50 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Debra Petty, Recording Secretary Document1 Page 3 of 3