Historic District Commission

CITY OF LACONIA HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION 6:30 PM City Hall - Armand A. Bolduc City Council Chamber Draft Minutes 12/29/2020 - Minutes 1. Call to order T. Shore called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM T 2. Roll call Kalena Graham called the roll with the following members present: Charlie St. Clair, Hillary Martin, Sonya Misiaszek, Tara Shore, Laurel Briere, Mark Haynes, Karl Reitz F 3. Recording secretary Kalena Graham A 4. Staff in attendance Planning Director Dean Trefethen 5. Acceptance of Minutes from previous meeting R 5.I. Acceptance of Minutes from November 24 Motion to accept the minutes made by C. St. Clair, M. Haynes seconded. All voted in favor. D 6. Public comment 7. New business 7.I. Rules and procedures Planning Director D. Trefethen noted not much more progress has been done on the rules and procedures and is still looking for input from the Commission. S. Misiaszek liked the renewal of officers for January and suggested keeping that. Planning Director D. Trefethen noted that he would like all suggestions for any more review by January 19 so they can be finalized for the January 26 meeting. Staff will send out a reminder of the deadline with the draft rules and procedures. 7.II. Review map of draft extension of district The Commission is all in agreement of last month’s discussion of the expansion of the historical overlay district. C. St. Clair is concerned about having the former Holy Trinity school in the district. He can see complaints coming up from some Councilors. He suggested the Commission make clear what the mission is and that it is not to tell people what they can or can’t do with their property. M. Haynes agreed. S. Misiaszek agreed and stated that it is also the future development and to keep the buildings or modify to keep the character of the overall area. Planning Director D. Trefethen noted that the Dollar Store area was kept not necessarily because of the current building, but future development. The expansion map follows Mae Williams’ report for the Heritage Commission. Motion to recommend the expansion to the Planning Board for their recommendation to the February 2 meeting made by T. Shore, C. St. Clair seconded. S. Misiaszek will help with preparations for the presentation and T. Shore will present, as Chair. 7.III. Update on education plan  Motion to recommend the expansion to the Planning Board for their recommendation to the February 2 meeting made by T. Shore, C. St. Clair seconded. S. Misiaszek will help with preparations for the presentation and T. Shore will present, as Chair. 7.III. Update on education plan H. Martin explained her thoughts. She can see where the Historical Society might be able to help. She would like to reach out to them with a list and figured she’d ask the commission prior to doing so. H. Martin would like to make the website more user friendly. She would like it a place to get information about the district and the Commission like what they do and why the district is important as well as agendas, minutes, maps and pictures. She suggested a social media presence as well and having T historical stories for Laconia history. She would like to reach out to the schools for a talk or lessons, involve local business and how they can tie in, be involved in any annual celebrations, reach out to local artist to see if they could make a hand out, and her big dream, down the road, would be to get placards made and do scavenger hunts or other things to get people engaged in active ways. F Chair T. Shore noted that the Historical Society is looking at their 2021 schedule and are looking at doing a short video. There is a walking tour scheduled with the Eagle Scouts over the summer. She noted that social media and web presence is a good place to start and they could put focus on current photos and information. S. Misiaszek likes the idea of artist rendering for the map. L. Briere noted that photos are what draws people in more than words. Chair T. Shore thinks maybe that will help answer the question on what changing a structure will do. K. Reitz suggested starting the conversation prior to A presenting to boards to get folks aware of the proposal and kind of work it as a sales pitch to get public backup. L. Briere stated it will help appeal to public opinion and that the Commission is serious and actively trying to do something. Chair T. Shore agreed and noted that community support is important. Planning Director D. Trefethen noted that the subcommittee should get together then share at the R January meeting. H. Martin will work on the website and get to staff in a week. K. Reitz gave some suggestions on architects to help with the map. 8. Other business 9. Adjournment D Motion to adjourn made by K. Reitz, H. Martin seconded. The meeting adjourned at 7:20 PM Respectfully, K. Graham