Heritage Preservation Commission

AGENDA Heritage Preservation Commission Meeting 4:45 PM - Thursday, February 20, 2025 City Hall Council Chambers Page 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. ELECTION OF OFFICERS 2.1. Election of Officers for 2025 2 - Chair - Vice Chair - Secretary Heritage Preservation Commission Roster 2025 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 3.1. December 16, 2024 Meeting Minutes 3-5 HPC Meeting Minutes 12-16-24 4. DESIGN REVIEW 4.1. Sota Street Studio - Sign - 103 North Minnesota Street 6-9 Sota Street Studio Design Review 5. OLD BUSINESS 5.1. SHPO Fall Conference 2025 discussion 6. REPORTS FROM CITY AND CHAIR 7. ADJOURNMENT Page 1 of 9  Heritage Preservation Commission Section 3.31 Appointed by: Mayor (Five) Approval by City Council: Yes Number of Members: Seven Number of Ex-officio Members: One Length of Term: 3 Years Number of Terms Allowed: 2 Consecutive 3rd Monday – 4:45 p.m. City Meetings Held: Hall Council Chambers Compensation for Service: None st Term Begins: January 1 Term Ends: December 31st Name/Address Phone/Email 1st Appointment Term 01-01-2025 01-01-2022 01-01-2025 / 12-31-2027 Deb Zahn, Chair Cell.507.276.6327 01-01-2020 01-01-2022 / 12-31-2024 2121 Center Street deb.zahn1@gmail.com Appointed to fill the 01-01-2020 / 12-31-2021 New Ulm, MN 56073 unexpired term of Cara Knauf Peg Sundell Cell.507.276.4711 1021 North Garden Street 01-01-2025 01-01-2025 / 12-31-2027 sundell@newulmtel.net New Ulm, MN 56073 Tom Schmitz (City Council) Cell.507.276.3393 44 Cedar Drive 01-01-2025 01-01-2025 / 12-31-2028* toms@newulmmn.gov New Ulm, MN 56073 Al Stabenow Cell.507.217.7681 01-01-2024 01-01-2024 / 12-31-2026 200 South German Street gutentag@newulmtel.net 01-01-2021 01-01-2021 / 12-31-2023 New Ulm, MN 56073 Peter Baganz Cell.507.766.6158 621 Pfaender Drive 01-01-2024 01-01-2024 / 12-31-2026 BaganzPA@mlc-wels.edu New Ulm, MN 56073 Cara Knauf BCHS Representative Cell.612.388.9205 01-01-2023 01-01-2023 / 12-31-2025 401 West Street caraknauf@outlook.com 01-01-2020 01-01-2020 / 12-31-2022 New Ulm, MN 56073 Ron Brutlag Cell.352-446-3561 624 Pfaender Drive 01-01-2023 01-01-2023 / 12-31-2025 ronbrutlag3502@yahoo.com New Ulm, MN 56073 Ex-Officio Members: Ellwood Zabel, Building Official John Knisley, Planner Advisory Members: State Historical Preservation Office Michael Koop Minnesota Historical Society, 345 Kellogg Boulevard West, St. Paul, Minnesota 55402-1906 Ordinance No. 14-115, Fourth Series amends Heritage Preservation Commission members to add City Council member as voting member and remove Planning Commission Rep. (adopted January 7, 2014; published January 10, 2014 - Ordinance effective 30 days from publication date) * The term of the City Council member is to run concurrently with their other term. Updated: 01/08/2025 Page 2 of 9  MINUTES NEW ULM HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION Monday, December 16, 2024 at 4:45 P.M. City Hall Council Chambers Present: Chair Deb Zahn, Councilor David Christian, Al Stabenow, Peter Baganz, Cara Knauf, Jeannie Leighty, Ron Brutlag, and Building Official Ellwood Zabel Absent: None 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chair, Deb Zahn at 4:45 P.M. 2. APPROVE MINUTES 2.1) November 18, 2024 Ms. Leighty made a motion to approve the minutes of the November 18, 2024, meeting. The motion was seconded by Ms. Knauf and all voted aye. The motion passed. 3. OLD BUSINESS 3.1) State Historical Preservation Fall Conference discussion Mr. Zabel stated the following: • Potential venues for the registration, meetings, and meals were viewed by SHPO staff. • John Knisley, City Planner is working on the grant for the conference. This grant will help fund venue rentals, bus rentals, etc. • The preliminary grant application is due mid-January and the final grant application is due in February. Michael Koop from SHPO approached the microphone and stated the following: • The community has an abundance of rich venues and sites to utilize during the conference, so it has become a process of elimination to determine what will be the most accommodating. • Turner Hall and downtown New Ulm are two places that are being looked at for venue spaces. • The goal is to identify three spaces that work for presentations located relatively close together. • One option would be to have these spaces selected in the downtown area, with the alternative option of selecting spaces Page 3 of 9  across Broadway, using Turner Hall and possibly State Street Theater. This is still in the early stages of planning, so there is time to discuss and decide what will work best. • Mr. Koop will be relying on the New Ulm HPC and City Staff to assist with getting rental rates, rates of caterers, etc. • Lillian Egner from SHPO will help identify some of the food and catering options. • One way the HPC members can get involved is helping with the set-up for the opening reception. • The conference is intended to be for everyone, and not necessarily for those with a specific interest in historic preservation. The majority will be fellow commission members, and possibly council members, elected officials, mayors, architects, historians, archeologists and hopefully some consultants. • There are typically about 190 people in attendance. • There are typically 3 concurrent sessions for 90-minute blocks that take place over the course of the conference. • The SHPO office will be sending out a call for session proposals. They will review all the proposals, and they will accept as many as possible, while also recognizing common themes and sessions that will work well together. • An informal gathering downtown is also an option on the evening prior to the conference. The shops downtown could also host a shopping event on the same night. • SHPO will be relying heavily on the HPC for tour suggestions and guides. • The conference dates are September 10, 11 and 12, 2025. Mr. Knisley recommended involving local experts to help with the planning and implementation of the event. 4. NEW BUSINESS 4.1) January/February 2025 HPC Meeting dates Both regular meetings in January and February, 2025 fall on a holiday. Alternative dates for those meetings are January 22 and 23 and February 19 and 20. Mr. Brutlag suggested Thursday, January 23rd and Thursday, February 20th as alternative meeting dates and all agreed. Mr. Zabel also stated that he will be getting some potential dates together for the next SHPO Conference planning meeting. Page 4 of 9 5. REPORTS FROM CITY AND CHAIR 5.1) City Report Mayor Backer recognized and thanked the 92 volunteers who actively serve on the 17 City Boards and Commissions. Mayor Backer then specifically recognized Jeannie Leighty, who has been actively involved in the Heritage Preservation Commission for a number of years, with this being her last official meeting. Mayor Backer then presented Ms. Leighty with a recognition award. Ms. Leighty then stated that she will continue to volunteer with the upcoming conference. 5.2) Chair Report Ms. Zahn had nothing to report. 6. ADJOURN There being no further business to come before the Commission, the meeting was adjourned at 5:45 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Secretary Heritage Preservation Commission Page 5 of 9 Page 6 of 9 Page 7 of 9 Page 8 of 9 Page 9 of 9