Historic District Commission

MANISTEE CITY HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION Meeting of Thursday, July 11, 2013 3:00 p.m. - Council Chambers, City Hall, 70 Maple Street, Manistee, Michigan AGENDA I Call to Order II Roll Call III Approval of Agenda At this time the Historic District Commission can take action to approve the July 11, 2013 Agenda. IV Approval of Minutes At this time Historic District Commission can take action to approve the June 6, 2013 meeting Minutes. V New Business Projects and Changes Members of the Historic District Commission will discuss potential projects and staff changes VI Old Business VII Public Comments and Communications concerning Items not on the Agenda At this time the Chair will ask if there are any public comments. VIII Correspondence At this time the Chair will ask if any correspondence has been received to be read into the record. IX Reports Main Street/DDA Director Museum Curator Museum Director Community Development Director 1 X Members Discussion At this time the Chair will ask members of the Historic District Commission if they have any items they want to discuss. XI Worksession XII Adjournment 2  HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION Council Chambers, City Hall 70 Maple Street Manistee, MI 49660 MEETING MINUTES June 6, 2013 A Meeting of the Manistee City Historic District Commission was held on Thursday, June 6, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, City Hall, 70 Maple Street, Manistee, Michigan. Meeting was called to order at 3:14 p.m. by Chair Kracht. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Dave Carlson, Maria DeRee, T. Teena Kracht, John Perschbacher, Members Absent: T. Eftaxiadis (excused), Jeremy Loveless, Mary Russell (excused) Others: Mike Cnudde (335 River Street), Travis Alden (Main Street/DDA Director), Mark Fedder (Manistee County Historical Museum) and Denise Blakeslee (Planning & Zoning) APPROVAL OF AGENDA: MOTION by John Perschbacher, seconded by Maria DeRee that the Agenda be approved as prepared. With a voice vote this MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: MOTION by John Perschbacher, seconded by Maria DeRee that the Minutes of the May 2, 2013 Meeting be approved With a voice vote this MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. NEW BUSINESS: None City of Manistee Historic District Commission Meeting Minutes June 6, 2013 Page 1 OLD BUSINESS HDC-2012-07 Mike Cnudde, 335 River Street Mike Cnudde has spoken with Travis Alden, Main Street/DDA Director about a release of funds for his project at 335 River Street. The Commissioners were sent excerpts from the January 3, 2013 and March 7, 2103 Meetings to assist in their review. Mike Cnudde brought in photos that showed how the inside ceiling matches the height of the ceiling over the entrance door. Mr. Cnudde spoke about the attempt to remove the adhesive behind the paint and that the removal was damaging the brick and mortar and that he spoke with Travis Alden and Jon Rose about the situation. Travis Alden said that Kelly Larsen was in town during this time and looked at the issue. He recalled that Kelly felt it would do more harm than good to remove the adhesive and that they should focus on the rest of the improvements. The Commission discussed the project and photos were reviewed against the plan that was designed by Kelly Larsen. MOTION by John Perschbacher, seconded by Maria DeRee that the Historic District Commission determined that the following items be addressed as follows for a Certificate of Compliance to be issued for the project.  The applicant demonstrated that that the new interior tin ceiling was the same height as the exterior ceiling over the entrance door. The applicant will not need to raise the exterior ceiling over the entrance door.  Travis Alden will contact Kelly Larsen and request a recommendation on how the Commission needs to address the adhesive. The Commission will abide by Ms. Larsen’s recommendation.  The Applicant is to add trim on the building that matches the design on the Revised Façade Improvement plan dated 10/4/12. The trim needs to visually look like the plan which mimics the trim on the building at 333 River Street. The Commission will allow the purple paint to remain on the brick at the base of the building. City of Manistee Historic District Commission Meeting Minutes June 6, 2013 Page 2  A B C D E F G Remove trim piece to match Design A B C D E Example of trim placement Discussed with the applicant F G With a roll call vote this motion passed 4 to 0. Yes: Perschbacher, DeRee, Carlson, Loveless, Kracht City of Manistee Historic District Commission Meeting Minutes June 6, 2013 Page 3  No: None Travis Alden noted that while a Certificate of Appropriateness is required to apply for a Façade Grant, there is nothing that requires a Certificate of Compliance be issued for the release of grant funds. They will be reviewing the requirements over in the next few months. HDC-2013-02 Joe Mathewson, 339 River Street Joe Mathewson ran into a problem with his project at 339 River Street. Mr. Mathewson wanted to remove the paint from the three brick columns on the front of the building exposing the brick. Upon cleaning of the brick it was discovered that a silver roofing compound had been applied behind the paint on these columns. Mr. Mathewson does not want the brick to be painted and indicated he would leave the project unfinished instead of painting these three columns. He has proposed to build a wooden “enclosure” that would cover the brick which would be stained to match the work he has been doing to restore the front of the building. Jon Rose sent an email to SHPO asking if they could offer any assistance, guidance or suggestions. Mr. McKay responded to the email as follows: While Mr. Mathewson may well be “adamantly opposed to re-painting” the first floor brick, his proposed solution (boxing in the piers) is entirely inappropriate in its own right. Concealing the historic brick behind paneling, regardless of whether it can be removed in the future or not, will substantially alter the historic character of the building and is inconsistent with the character of the Manistee historic district. The proposal is not consistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and would not be approves as part of a Section 106 or Tax Credit project review. There really are only three possibilities that are appropriate in this instance. Option 1 is to leave the existing paint alone and allow it to remove itself “naturally.” This may be a slow process but it will eventually happen. Given the nature and extent of the other working being undertaken at the property I would suggest that this is the least desirable solution. Option 2 is to continue to seek to identify a chemical paint stripper that will remove the existing paint layers without damaging the brick. It is possible that the removal process may involve two different stripping systems, one for the traditional paint itself and one for the silver roofing material (this is most likely aluminum rich roof paint). It may be helpful to have a sample of the silver “paint” tested to determine its base chemical composition. By knowing its true chemistry it will be easier to identify the most productive stripping agent(s). This approach while the most historically appropriate is likely to be the most expensive, has the highest potential to do serious and irreparable damage to the brick and in the end may be only moderately successful. Option 3, which is quite frankly the least problematic solution, would be to simply repaint the existing painted areas. While I do in general agree that painting masonry is the least preferable option, it doesn’t sound as if in this case the new paint has even the slightest potential to do additional damage to the brick. Had the existing paint come off of the brick willingly, stripping would clearly be the preferred solution. In this case the bond between the roof paint and the brick seems to be suggesting the use of a different approach. In a City of Manistee Historic District Commission Meeting Minutes June 6, 2013 Page 4 very real sense rehabilitation is about adapting to the conditions we encounter along the way and creating an acceptable all be it imperfect solution. The Commission discussed Mr. McKay’s email and the project. MOTION by John Perschbacher, seconded by Maria DeRee that the applicant can do any of the three options recommended by Rob McKay, State Historic Architect for the project, the applicant will not be allowed to box the brick with a wood enclosure under any circumstance. With a roll call vote this motion passed 4 to 0. Yes: Perschbacher, DeRee, Carlson, Kracht No: None PUBLIC COMMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS CONCERNING ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA None CORRESPONDENCE Commissioner Eftaxiadis sent an email relating to the discussion at the May 2, 2103 Historic District Commission Meeting. A copy of the email is attached. STAFF REPORTS Travis Alden, DDA/Main Street Director – updated the Commission Main Street Quarterly Meeting/Historic District presentation by Robb McKay; Rozmarek building; Winkler Block; Boathouse Grill; H&K Electric is for sale. Mark Fedder, Museum Director - Issued Permits for: Zoelle Consignment & Boutique, 431 River Street – Projecting Sign and Window Signs Issued Permit PHDC13-011 Maria DeRee, 389 River Street – Paint Colors for both transom and front entrance to upper floor (beige) Issued Permit PHDC13-012 Margaret Diebel, 342 River Street – Awning and Signage Issued Permit PHDC13-013 City of Manistee Historic District Commission Meeting Minutes June 6, 2013 Page 5 MEMBERS DISCUSSION Commissioner Carlson spoke of the increase in interest in properties after the current improvements to properties in the district. The Next meeting of the Historic District Commission will be on Thursday, July 11, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, City Hall, 70 Maple Street. ADJOURNMENT: MOTION by Maria DeRee, seconded by Dave Carlson that the meeting be adjourned. Motion passed unanimously. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 4:23 P.M. MANISTEE HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION __________________________________________ Denise J. Blakeslee, Recording Secretary City of Manistee Historic District Commission Meeting Minutes June 6, 2013 Page 6 City of Manistee Historic District Commission Meeting Minutes June 6, 2013 Page 7