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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutesCITY OF OSHKOSH LANDMARKS COMMISSION Minutes August 121h, 2020 PRESENT: Shirley Brabender Mattox, Paul Arnold, Nikki Stoll Olthoff, Steve Cummings, Andrew Smith, Kristopher Ulrich, Deb Allison-Aasby (Attended via Webex) EXCUSED: Gerald Jacklin ABSENT: Elizabeth Hintz STAFF AND OTHERS: Steven Wiley, Mark Lyons (Planning Services Manager - Attended via Webex) 1. Call to Order Ms. Brabender Mattox called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. and a quorum was declared present. 2. Approval of July 81h, 2020 Meeting Minutes Ms. Brabender Mattox asked the Commission if there were any revisions for the July meeting minutes. No Commissioners had any changes so the Commission approved the minutes as written 7-0 (Ulrich/Cummings). 3. Annual Election of Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons - Action Mr. Lyons and Mr. Wiley informed the Commission that the Commission needed to conduct elections of the Chair and Vice Chair. The meeting was turned over to staff to run the election of Chair. Mr. Wiley stated that he would call for nominations three times and that the Commission would then have a motion to close nominations and vote. Mr. Wiley made an initial call for nominations. Mr. Arnold nominated Shirley Brabender Mattox for Chair. Mr. Wiley then made second and third calls for nominations for Chair. No commissioners had any additional nominations so Mr. Wiley asked for a motion to close nomination and elect the only candidate nominated. The Commission voted 6-0-1 to close nominations and elect Ms. Brabender Mattox as Chair. (Cummings/Arnold, abstain Brabender Mattox). Mr. Wiley then called for nominations for Vice Chair. Ms. Brabender nominated Paul Arnold for Vice Chair. Mr. Wiley then made second and third calls for nominations for Vice Chair. No commissioners had any additional nominations so Mr. Wiley asked for a motion to close nominations and elect Paul Arnold as Vice Chair. The Commission voted 6-0-1 to close nominations and elect Paul Arnold as Vice Chair (Stoll Olthoff/Cummings, abstain Arnold). Mr. Arnold stated that he would serve as Vice Chair with the understanding that he could likely step down as a commissioner at the end of his current term. 4. 1523 North Main Street - Potential Historic Plaque - Discussion/Action Ms. Brabender Mattox asked if any commissioners did any site visits. She stated that she and Mr. Jacklin had done site visits. Mr. Cummings stated that he had not visited the site recently. Mr. Wiley explained the plaque process to the new Commissioners and that property owners would approach the Commission regarding historic plaques for their homes. Landmarks would examine the property and any information presented and take action to determine whether to approve moving forward with the plaque project and potentially assisting with historic research. Ms. Brabender Mattox stated that she had images of the house in question and that new windows were installed at some point. Mr. Lyons asked the commissioners to get documents to Mr. Wiley ahead of time so staff could share the documents with people and anyone attending virtually ahead of time. Mr. Ulrich stated that he wanted to see interior images and asked if this was unheard of. Mr. Arnold stated that it was not typical for Commissioners to see interior images ahead of time. Ms. Brabender Mattox stated that usually the Commission went off of exterior images. Ms. Stoll Olthoff asked if the new windows would disqualify the home from tax credits, the plaque program, etc. Mr. Wiley stated that he did not want to say for sure because the State Historic Preservation Office would have to weigh in. Mr. Arnold was disappointed in the replacement windows and asked if the roof dormer was an addition. Ms. Brabender Mattox stated that other owners have done new windows and siding in the area. Ms. Stoll Olthoff asked if the house siding was original. Mr. Wiley stated that it appeared that the house siding was original. Ms. Brabender Mattox believed the garage siding might have been replacement siding. Mr. Ulrich stated that part of him wanted to reward the owner of the property if the owner wanted to do the right thing despite the previous owner(s) doing the wrong thing. Mr. Cummings stated that the Commission had previously had some flexibility since the property owners paid for the plaques. Mr. Arnold stated that on the one hand the owner was paying for the plaque but on the other the Landmarks name was on it. Ms. Stoll Olthoff stated that she would like some written standards to determine plaque eligibility. Mr. Cummings asked if the Commission wanted to create a list of written standards before moving forward on new plaque requests. Mr. Ulrich stated that he could create a preliminary list of eligibility criteria but would want the more experienced commissioners to review it. Ms. Brabender Mattox asked Mr. Wiley to contact the property owner of 1523 N Main Street about the layover pending the eligibility criteria. The Commission voted to determine eligibility for plaques and to lay over this decision 7-0 (Stoll Olthoff/Cummings). 5. Building Permit Review The Commission discussed the list of historic building permits from March through July. Ms. Brabender Mattox stated that she knew the owner of 616 Franklin Street and believed that he could have applied for historic tax credits. She stated that perhaps the owner was not aware of the tax credit programs and emphasized that tax credits were important. Mr. Ulrich mentioned the permit for 1021 Washington Avenue. Mr. Arnold asked Mr. Wiley if for the "Owner Name" column on the building permit list whether the permits listed the property owner rather than the contractor. Mr. Wiley answered that this was correct. Ms. Brabender Mattox stated that she was amazed by the number of projects on Washington Avenue and the dollar amounts for the projects. Ms. Stoll Olthoff asked what the status was of 1013 Washington Avenue. Mr. Wiley stated that generally staff would have updates upon the scheduling and completion of final inspections. Mr. Arnold stated he did not know whether the owners were replacing the original windows or replacement windows on the property. Ms. Stoll Olthoff stated that the windows at 1013 Washington looked original. Ms. Brabender Mattox stated that the property owners were spending around $2,000 per window. She stated that with tax credits they could get around $20,000 to do the work right. She stated that it would be a question for SHPO to ask whether owners could get tax credits for windows. 6. Historic Preservation Plan — Steven Wiley — Update Mr. Wiley provided an update on the preservation plan. He stated that he had been working on it as he was able. Ms. Brabender Mattox mentioned a 1994 APA document that was a guide to creating historic preservation plans. She stated that the cities of Racine and Madison had historic preservation plans. She stated that Racine had paid around $65,000 and Madison had paid around $120,000 for their plans. She explained that she was working on an article on the importance of preservation plans. Mr. Wiley stated that earlier in the process, staff and the Commission had created an outline to divide up the work of drafting the plan between the Commissioners. He stated that a similar program was used with the SAB during the rewrite of the Sustainability Plan and that it had worked. Mr. Wiley stated that at this point, it would be beneficial to revisit the outline with the new commissioners, divide up the work at a workshop, and have everyone commit to certain sections of the plan. Mr. Wiley stated that the more the Commission could divide and approach the sections of the plan, the more quickly and effectively it could get done. Ms. Stoll Olthoff asked if there were any grants available to get help on the plan to move it forward. Mr. Cummings asked if it would make sense to put something in the budget to have a consultant help. Ms. Allison-Aasby answered that making a request was possible but that this year the City was dealing with a revenue loss. Mr. Cummings asked when the Racine Plan was started. Ms. Brabender Mattox stated that the Racine and Madison plans were started in 2019. Ms. Brabender Mattox asked Mr. Wiley to set up a workshop to discuss the plan and send a poll out to gauge commissioner availability. 7. Social Media — Discussion/Action Mr. Wiley stated that staff was following pertinent organizations and pages on the Landmarks Facebook page. He stated that he would share relevant material from other organizations. Ms. Stoll Olthoff asked if sending Facebook material to Mr. Wiley was easier via email rather than Facebook Messenger. Mr. Wiley replied affirmatively. Ms. Allison-Aasby stated that due to open records laws material would have to come to Mr. Wiley via City email. Mr. Lyons followed up and reiterated this point. Ms. Brabender Mattox stated that she had material on Auler, Jensen, and Brown that she wanted to get out on the page. She explained that Mr. Wiley was the point person for social media. S. Commissioner Statements Ms. Brabender Mattox stated that she had a statement on Merrill School. She explained that the last time the item was on the agenda the referendum language was changed concerning Merrill School. She stated that it was difficult to do research when people did not have access to the library. Mr. Cummings asked if it was a worthwhile goal to save buildings like Webster Stanley School. Ms. Stoll Olthoff stated that she would not say that the period of Webster Stanley's construction was a bad period in architectural history and that it could still be worth it to support saving of these structures when possible. Ms. Brabender Mattox stated that she believed in sustainability and that saving existing buildings was more sustainable than demolishing them and constructing new ones. 9. Agenda Items for Next Meeting (September 91h, 2020: 3 PM in City Hall Room 203) Ms. Brabender Mattox explained that the Wisconsin Historical Society conference would be virtual and last for three days. She stated that as more information became available on the conference, she would have an update on it. Mr. Wiley stated that he had received the Smith School nomination from Gail Klein at UWM Cultural Management and that he would place on the agenda. Mr. Ulrich stated that he would have the criteria checklist for historic plaques for the next meeting. 10. Outstanding Issues Mr. Wiley stated that staff had discussed the Landmarks agendas and decided to implement an "Outstanding Items" list much like the Common Council did. Items that were ongoing but where staff or the commissioners had no updates would be placed on this list to avoid lengthening the agendas. Upon staff or commissioners having updates staff would place the items back on the agenda as updates. Ms. Stoll Olthoff supported this idea. Ms. Brabender Mattox went down the list of items. She asked Mr. Cummings if he anticipated having an update for the Chief Oshkosh signage. Mr. Cummings stated that the project would remain on hold for the time being. For the Grand Opera House signage Mr. Wiley stated that upon having an update he would place the item back on the agenda. Mr. Cummings made a motion to adjourn and Ms. Stoll Olthoff seconded. Meeting adjourned at 3:13 pm (7-0). Recorded by: Steven Wiley, Associate Planner