1/8/24 Historic Preservation Commission Meeting

Tybee Island HISTORIC PESERVATION COMMISSON Meeting Minutes Date & Time: January 8, 2024, 6:00 pm Present: Holly Grell-Lawe (Chair), Marna Lewin, Mary Anne Butler, Cara Cole, Mike Goldberg, Cassidi Kendrick Absent: Observers: , Pat Leiby (Tybee/MLK), Dawn Shay (Forever Tybee) Location: Burke Day Public Safety Building, Conference Building, 78 Van Horne Ave Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:01pm. A quorum was present. With the intent to increase community and local government awareness of HPC and its roles and responsibilities, Holly Grell-Lawe welcomed new HPC member, Marna Lewin, and opened the meeting by providing a brief overview of HPC. Recognizing that the historical and cultural heritage of Tybee Island is among its most valued and important assets and that preservation of this heritage is essential, the City of Tybee Island established the City’s Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) to provide for the designation, protection, preservation and rehabilitation of historic properties and historic districts and to participate in federal and state programs to do the same. Under the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance, the HPC is part of the planning functions of the city. The responsibilities of HPC include, in part, to prepare and maintain an inventory of properties with the potential to be designated as historic, make recommendations to City Council on historic designations and guidelines, conduct educational programs, make investigations and studies, seek federal, state and private funds for historic preservation, initiate historic markers, review and comment on nominations to the National Register of Historic Places, and review and make recommendations on building permit applications for structures 50 years and older. HPC partners with the Tybee Island Historical Society and Sara Jones, its Executive Director, is an Advisor to HPC. HPC also partners with Tybee/MLK and the Lazaretto Creek Coalition. Approval of Minutes Mary Anne Butler pointed out a correction needed in the minutes of the December 11, 2023 meeting in the second sentence on page 2. With this correction, the minutes were unanimously approved upon motion by Cara Cole and seconded by Mary Anne Butler. Announcements Tybee/MLK The 11th Annual MLK Celebration honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be held on January 13, 2024 starting at 3:00pm at the Post Theater. Rachel Perkins will emcee the event. The Performing Art Collective of Savannah will be performing with Sankosa dancers. Prior to the program, there will be a “Parade in Place” at 2:00pm in front of the Post Theater. Tybean will be offering coffee. Everyone is invited. The event is free but please register through the Post Theater ahead of the event. Pat Leiby reported that there was a good turnout in December for the Quanza celebration. Lazaretto Coalition No update was available. Holly Grell-Lawe will email Jim Hilary a reminder invitation about the HPC Annual Planning Meeting on February 3, 2024. HPC Chair -Holly Grell-Lawe reminded the members to “reply all” on meeting attendance emails. -Cassidi Kendrick emailed her contact at the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation but has not received any legislative updates on any efforts to repeal the sunsetting of State historic preservation tax incentives. -With regard to provision of city hall renovation documentation (plans, blueprints, change orders, bills of materials, etc.) to the Tybee Island Historical Society for their archives, Lisa Schaaf in the Planning and Zoning Office has copies of plans and will provide copies to Cassidi Kendrick. It’s not clear that this includes all of the requested documentation, so Cassidi Kendrick will follow up with the City Engineer. -It’s been over 2 years since HPC had an update on maintenance needs related to city-owned historic buildings. The City Engineer will be invited to the March HPC meeting to provide a maintenance update. Holly Grell-Lawe will send out a list of the city-owned historic buildings to HPC members and suggested that the list also be sent to the City Engineer for a reality check on whether it is a complete list. -HPC has time on the City Council Meeting Agenda for 1/11/2024 to update Council on three topics: the submission to the State Historic Preservation Office of the application for the Strand Summer Cottages/Central Tybee Island Residential National Historic District; the DCA/HPF/ CLG grant proposal that HPC is preparing, including the financial requirements and need for a City Council resolution; and, to extend an invitation to Council members and the community to participate in HPC’s Annual Planning Meeting on 2/3/2024. -Holly Grell-Lawe suggested that having a City Council Liaison to HPC has been useful, particularly for budgetary purposes. Although under the former Mayor there were concerns about the use of City Council Liaisons, if HPC members concur, Holly Grell-Lawe would like to provide input Council that HPC would welcome a liaison. Ongoing Business Central Island Historic District Update Holly Grell-Lawe reported that Bob Ciucevich expects to submit the Strand Summer Cottage/Central Island Residential National Historic District application to the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) this week. SHPO has a 60 day review period. A letter of support from the city/HPC is needed as part of the package. Holly Grell-Lawe will draft a letter of 2 support. Bob Ciucevich included maps as attachments to his January update on the Central Island District. One of the maps includes a dotted line which indicates a potential expansion of the proposed district. Apparently, this was something that SHPO had inquired about (in the first round SHPO review which occurred pre-COVID). Holly Grell-Lawe stressed to the members the importance of reading all the documents related to the proposed district that Bob Ciucevich has sent since October (2023). All HPC members will need to be conversant in the application as representatives of HPC in the community. It was noted that the current HPC FY budget included funds for completion of this round of the application for the Central Island District. Holly Grell- Lawe suggested that HPC use Bob to help with public outreach. Cassidi Kendrick will reach out to Bob about funds needed next FY for a potential additional round of revisions to the application based on SHPO feedback and costs associated with his assistance for public outreach. 2024 CLG Grant Application Holly Grell-Lawe reported that development of HPC’s grant proposal is coming along. Holly Grell-Lawe has weekly calls scheduled with HPC Advisor, Sarah Jones, who has been helpful with the Fort Screven data and with soliciting letters of support for HPC’s proposal. Informal proposals for the project were solicited from three preservation consulting firms: Ethos Preservation (Rebecca Fenwick), Ward +Architecture (Sara Ward) and Quatrefoil (Bob Ciucevich) to help HPC estimate potential costs of the project. Responses have been received and are being reviewed to help develop HPC’s grant proposal. Cassidi Kendrick located a copy of a city council resolution that was submitted with a CLG grant proposal by HPC in 2015. She has used that as a model for drafting the resolution that will be needed for the current HPC grant proposal. Annual Planning Meeting HPC members are encourage to outreach to their neighbors and community the HPC’s Annual Planning Meeting, February 3rd at the Guardhouse from 10am-2:15pm. Holly Grell-Lawe will be inviting the Mayor, City Council members and the community in her presentation to City Council on Thursday, January 11, 2024. Logistics for the meeting were discussed. A SWOT worksheet was handed out for those who want to give some thought ahead of time to the strengths/weakness/opportunities/threats analysis exercise that will be part of the Annual Planning Meeting. Members agreed to each provide a historic preservation trivia question for the icebreaker at the Annual Planning Meeting. New Business Community Outreach on Central Island Residential National Historic District The first outreach will be the presentation to City Council on January 11, 2024. Ideas include public meetings, media articles, open house, walking tour, social media and website postings. To prepare for outreach activities and fully understand the National Register nomination process, Holly Grell-Lawe requested that all members Google “National Register Nomination Process in Georgia” which will take them to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs Historic Preservation Division (HPD) website and to read the six steps of the process for National Register nominations. She noted it is likely that HPC will receive another round of 3 questions or comments from SHPO on the Central Island application. If that is the case, then HPC will work with Bob Ciucevich to provide any additional information requested by SHPO. Permit Reviews 6 12th Terrace – 1929 building, Survey Field ID #333 in the Tybee Island Historic Resources Survey Phase I (2016). Permit application indicates that the work is within the existing footprint of the building. Converting the south patio below the second story porch into a kitchen/breakfast area. Cara Cole commented that a prior permit application was for brick repair on this property. She commented that the current work will change two facades of the building and a window or door has been filled in with brick already. The “open façade” of the porch will be lost. It is believed the building is within the Strand National Historic District, although it was noted that the Resource Survey is somewhat confusing on this point. Holly Grell-Lawe will confirm if within the Strand National District. Cara Cole opined that this building is being stripped of its historic features. It was noted that open porches and breezeways were typical of Tybee Island houses and this will be lost for this building. The HPC voted 3-2 to not recommend approval of the building permit application. Mike Goldberg, Cara Cole and Marna Lewin voted to not recommend approval. Mary Anne Butler and Holly Grell-Lawe voted to recommend approval. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 7:20pm with unanimous approval upon motion by Cara Cole and seconded by Mary Anne Butler. 4