Russellville Historic District Commission

RUSSELLVILLE HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION MINUTES Regular Meeting – Thursday, September 28, 2017 City Hall – Council Chamber Commissioners Present Suzanne Alford-Hodges – Vice Chair Judy Galloway – Secretary Steve Newby Kathy Keenan Price Linda Carnahan Polly Hardin Beverly Hooten Commissioners Absent Greg Barborek – Chair Staff Present Kurt Jones - City Engineer / HPO Advisors Present Betsy McGuire, MSR Director Advisors Absent Brian Holstein - Director City Development, Kirk Sloan – Fire Chief, Trey Smith – City Attorney Call to Order & Welcome @ 5:00PM: Vice Chair Alford-Hodges called the September 28, 2017 meeting of the Russellville Historic District Commission to order at 5:03PM and a quorum was established. Approval of Minutes: Ms. Alford-Hodges asked if everyone had read the minutes of the May 25, 2017 meeting. Motion was made by Ms. Price to accept the minutes as written. Mr. Newby made the second and the minutes were approved unanimously by voice vote. Staff Report: Mr. Jones said that Mayor Horton has asked him to ask the commission to come up with a name or names of a person qualified to replace Mr. Hubbard, who has been appointed to the planning commission. Name suggestions with qualifications are to be e-mailed to Mr. Jones before the next meeting. There was a short report to make sure all commissioners were aware of the loss of two contributing buildings, 116-118 N. Commerce, in the historic district. After the wall collapse and loss of these buildings, the city is hoping to bring all buildings in the downtown up to code with rear walls and alleys a particular point of review. Agenda: The first item on the agenda was review of a COA for the barbershop at 306 W. Main Street owned by Luke RUSSELLVILLE HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION Meeting of September 28, 2017 Page 2 Duffield and presented by his authorized agent, Kent McCoy. The COA was for exposing the original transom windows, repair them and replace the broken glass, remove the existing awning that extended across the entire storefront and replace with a smaller, different style awning over the door and for a blade sign to replace the existing sign. Exhibits presented were: (a) several photographs of the existing building front, (b)a photo example of the awning type not in context with the building being reviewed and no attachment details, (c)a copy of the sign contents with no hardware or details of attachment to the building, (d)the transom windows were still covered with plywood and not viewable to the commission, (e) an inside photo was included but did not have enough detail to show the condition of the windows and frame. In Mr. McCoy’s presentation, he said that after looking at the transom windows and frames with their carpenter, they decided to tear out all of the old frames and replace with new material. Ms. Galloway explained to Mr. McCoy that the existing windows and frames looked good and should be repairable. The Secretary of the Interior’s Guidelines for rehab of historic buildings calls for repair rather than replace. Mr. McCoy also said that the owner could not afford to hire an architect to make the drawings that the commission requires. Architectural services are free from the State Historic Preservation Office architect to anyone in Russellville Downtown Historic District. After quite a bit of discussion by commissioners, Ms. Galloway made the motion to deny the application for too little information to make a decision. Ms. Carnahan made the second. The motion passed. Mr. McCoy and Mr. Jones will get together on Friday and gather the required information. Old Business:  The updated list of downtown property owners was discussed. Ms. Price brought the list with addresses in PDF format. Mr. Newby volunteered to enter the data in Excel format so that it is editable when property owners change. A few addresses are incorrect and will need revision when the correct information is obtained.  Mr. Barborek was absent and the revised COA was not discussed.  The third item discussed was window signs in the historic district. One business has submitted a COA for a sign and the commission was waiting for more information. The applicant never returned to the commission and the COA has now expired. This business owner has now installed a sign. There are other businesses that put up their signs without a COA. The commission discussed how we can find out in advance about new business owners and give them design guidelines and procedures before their signs are installed. Ms. Alford-Hodges, Ms. Carnahan and Ms. Hooten will work on a short informative letter about signs in the historic district that we can mail out to businesses for their information and to try for compliance. Ms. Alford-Hodges will have Mr. Jones notify the public when the committee meeting is scheduled.  The last old business item was discussion of timely submission and accurate documentation needed for commissioners to be able to rule on a COA most efficiently. Mr. Jones had to leave the meeting early and was not able to discuss his check list of items to include for a complete COA and deadline for submission so we don’t get last minute changes right before a commission meeting. RUSSELLVILLE HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION Meeting of September 28, 2017 Page 3 New Business:  Ms. Alford-Hodges suggested that the commission schedule a walk-a-bout of the historic district so that commissioners can view first-hand the district that we review. She suggested we ask Brian Holstein to accompany us on the walk. The date decided on was Thursday, October 12th at noon. We will meet at city hall and go from there. Ms. Alford-Hodges will contact Mr. Jones so that he can put a notice in the newspaper.  Commissioners who attended the recent Commission Assistance and Mentoring Programs in Eureka Springs and Conway shared some of the most important things they learned at these meetings.  Ms Galloway brought up the installation of solar panels, satellite dishes, cooling equipment, etc. on the roofs of downtown buildings. Solar panels are being installed by some building owners and we have not received a COA and most owners are not aware that this is something they need to do. The question came up that “If the panels or other rooftop devices are not viewable from the roof, do we need a COA?” and if so, how do we make sure those business owners are aware of the requirement. Ms. Galloway will check with Catherine Barrier to see if we need to receive a COA if rooftop installations are not visible from the street. Adjournment: Ms. Hardin made the motion to adjourn at 6:20PM. Ms. Hooten made the second. Motion approved by a voice vote. Suzanne Alford-Hodges, RHDC Vice Chair Date