Historic Commission

Tuesday, February 15, 2022 I. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 7:07 p.m. Present in person: Nancy Flannery (Chair), Joe Szczepaniak (Vice Chair), Bob Purdy, Lisa Buchanan Present virtual: Steph McGrath (Secretary), Emelie Engling, Linda Moran Public Comments: none II. Approval of Minutes Minutes of the January 18, 2022 meeting approved as amended on a motion by Joe, seconded by Bob, and passed unanimously. III. Old Business A. Landmark properties: Nancy heard back about two of the three properties whose previous owners did not display Pride in Preservation signs. Homeowners at 321 E. Union and 1001 Webster responded that they would like to display signs. B. Lectures: The Wheaton Public Library will be allowing in person attendance, so the Fires of Wheaton will be presented May 17 and will be videotaped. As this is the same night as our scheduled Commission meeting it was decided to not hold a May meeting. The Chicago Aurora & Elgin lecture may be scheduled in June, at the Wheaton Public Library, to tie in with the dedication of the CA&E marker downtown. Discussed having Steve Hyett present a talk at the dedication. C. GIS map project: Lisa reported regarding last meeting’s question as to how searchable it will be for researchers, the search function is limited to addresses. A visitor counter can’t be visible, but can collect site visit statistics. Discussed format of information shown for each property. Any replacement or new photos will be taken in spring. Emelie has materials from past Wheaton Historic Preservation Council house walks that may have information about landmarked properties. D. Attorney General’s case: Scheduled for March 23 at 9am in Courtroom 2007. Nancy said there would be a transcript made of the proceedings and she thought the Historic Commission should purchase one. E. Historic Commission update: Nancy received some information from city staff, such as the  timing of the annual report and whether goals were met. The proposed changes to the mission statement needs to be submitted to the City Council. Followed up on discussion about term limits. Worried about loss of expertise and knowledge of duties gained in position over time. Wondered what rationale was behind the suggestion. Need clarification from the City regarding what is meant by “conducting a survey of historically and architecturally significant properties, structures and areas.” We do not do any comprehensive or systematic surveying–it is owner initiated recognition only. IV. New Business A. Pride in Preservation signs: May 14 to 22. Assignment maps available in April. B. 916 E. Evergreen: Losing another architecturally significant property. Not landmarked but Nancy wondered if the Commission should be recording these “lost” structures somehow. C. Identifying architectural styles: Joe contacted the College of DuPage to see if there was someone who could identify architectural styles for the GIS project, but was told there was no one with that expertise. Steph suggested Keith Letsche of West Chicago and reviewed some of his many credentials. V. Commissioner Comments Bob: Last Sunday’s Chicago Tribune had an article about the Hobbs building in Aurora being added to the National Register. Nancy wished the Chicago Golf Club would be interested in becoming a Wheaton landmark. Steph wondered if there could be a category of National Register sites on the GIS map and then it could be included there, along with denoting the others in Wheaton. Lisa: Getting close to having finished her home history research. Emelie: Toms-Price is finally leaving their Wheaton building. Steph: Wheaton Public Library staff is being very responsive in incorporating suggested clarifications and additions to the local history and database pages on their new website. VI. Adjournment Bob moved to adjourn, Lisa seconded, the motion passed unanimously; the meeting concluded at 8:27 p.m.