Russellville Historic District Commission

RUSSELLVILLE HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION MINUTES Special Called Meeting – Wednesday, February 24, 2016 City Hall – Conference Room 4:00PM Commissioners Present Greg Barborek – Chair Suzanne Alford-Hodges – Vice Chair Judy Galloway – Secretary Linda Carnahan Gerald Hook Kathy Keenan-Price Steve Newby Staff Present Kurt Jones, City Engineer / HPO Advisors Present Betsy McGuire – Director Main Street Russellville; Brian Holstein – Director of Development Others Present Mayor – Randall Horton; Mark Tripp - Alderman Advisors Absent John Cochran – Fire Chief; Robert Wiley – City Council Liaison Call to Order & Welcome @ 4:00PM: Acting Chair, Greg Barborek, called the February 24, 2016 special meeting of the Russellville Historic District Commission to order at 4:00PM and a quorum was established. Staff Report: HPO Jones reported that he had received an e-mail from the CLG Director, Catherine Barrier, containing an application for this year’s CLG Grant. He was unfamiliar with the sorts of things that the RHDC could request. Suggestions from commissioners were training for commissioners, architectural surveys of historic areas, educational materials for property owners, brick and mortar restoration on historic properties and interpretive signage for the district. Ms. Galloway asked about using the “Authorized Agent Form” discussed at the last meeting. HPO Jones explained the form would be included in the COA packet. “Technical Review” meeting prior to the regular meeting was discussed. This meeting will be held seven (7) days prior to the regular RHDC meeting to head off problems associated with the COA application and help the property owner have a complete and acceptable COA. RUSSELLVILLE HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION Special Meeting of February 24, 2016 Page 2 The special called meeting for Monday, February 29th, 2016 agenda items were noted. The commission will review a COA for Van Christensen’s façade rehab at 301 W. Main Street and a retroactive COA on the tax credit project at 110-114 S. Commerce Ave. by TMA Holdings, LLC. Agenda This special meeting was called to discuss issues and concerns of the commissioners related to revisions by the city of Ordinance 2023 that created the Russellville Historic District Commission. Each paragraph of the revision was reviewed and discussed by the commissioners. Page 1: Replace the word “should” in the 1st line of the second “WHEREAS” with the word “shall”. The second and third “WHEREAS” were revised to clarify and mitigate the language. (A copy of Mr. Barborek’ revision is included with these minutes.) Subparagraph (b)(3) is taken directly and verbatim from the Arkansas Historic Districts Act. Page 2: Section 6 and subparagraphs (i) and (ii) were approved as written. Section 2, (h) 1 – Remove the last part of the sentence about “void and voidable”. Section 2, (h) 2 – Remove the first part of the sentence before the comma and the word “may” before the word “shall”. Page 3: Section 2, (h) 4 – Remove “and void the Certificate of Appropriateness”. Section 2, (h) 5 – OK Section 2, (h) 6 – Remove “and void the Certificate of Appropriateness”. Section 3, (i) - OK Section 4, (i) - Remove “by whole number”. Section 5, Section 18 – OK Page 4: Section 6, Section 22 – Move the first sentence of the paragraph to the end of the paragraph to remove negativity. Section 7 – Add the word “of” between “consist” and “nine” Section 8, 9, and 10 – OK Page 5: OK Ms. Galloway made the motion to approve the revisions recommended to Mr. Smith, City Attorney, by the commissioners. Ms. Alford-Hodges seconded the motion and it passed by a voice vote. Mr. Barborek will draft the revisions for presentation to Mr. Smith. The revised ordinance will be presented to the City Council at the next regular meeting in March for the second reading. The “Emergency Clause” was discussed and explained to the commission by Mr. Tripp and the Mayor and we were appreciative of the clarification. Ms. Alford-Hodges pointed out to the RHDC and all present that there has not been a lawsuit against an Arkansas Historic District commission since 1987 and the commission’s ruling was upheld by the circuit court. Additional Business or Items for Discussion: RUSSELLVILLE HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION Special Called Meeting – February 24, 2016 In other business, the Mayor and the commission discussed the Bylaws and revision of the Bylaws. The Mayor suggested that after the revision of the Bylaws is complete, as a matter of procedure the commission present the Bylaws to the City Council for their approval. Ms. Galloway asked the mayor about appointments and appointment terms for commissioners. In March all terms of all commissioners will have expired and all need to be reappointed with staggered terms of three (3) years each. The Mayor plans to appoint two additional commissioners called for in the revised Ordinance 2023 and at that point there will be three commissioners whose terms expire in March 2019, 2020 and 2021. The Mayor asked Ms. Galloway to send him the list of commissioners with term expiration dates for his review. Ms. Alford-Hodges passed out copies of questions she had for the CLG Coordinator, Catherine Barrier, and her answers. She also had copies of Historic District Ordinances and Bylaws from other Arkansas cities for commissioners who were interested in reading them. Mr. Newby made the motion to adjourn. Ms. Price seconded the motion and the meeting was adjourned at 5:20PM. Greg Barborek, RHDC Chair Date