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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CITY OF OSHKOSH LANDMARKS COMMISSION Minutes January 91h,2019 PRESENT: Shirley Brabender Mattox, Steve Cummings, Paul Arnold, Harold Buchholz,Jeremy Galica EXCUSED: Jake Krause, Elizabeth Hintz, Nikki Stoll Olthoff ABSENT: None STAFF AND OTHERS: Steven Wiley,Jim Hoffman (President of the Museum Board), Tom Ekvall (Oshkosh Herald), David Lange,Joe Ferlo, Rob Chartier, Christ Featherston, Lisa Morris 1. Call to Order Chair Brabender Mattox called the meeting to order at 3:21 p.m. and a quorum was declared present. 2. Approval of December 121h,2018 Meeting Minutes Ms. Brabender Mattox asked the Commission if there were any revisions for the December meeting minutes. For item 3 the minutes currently state, "For 647 Jackson Street,Ms. Brabender Mattox noted that the property was significant and was designed by William Waters." Ms. Brabender Mattox asked that Mr. Wiley add to the minutes that the house was constructed for Frederick Burgess, the Sheriff. His son Charles Burgess was a noted scientist, professor of chemical engineering, inventor, and industrialist who lived there early in the house's existence. Commissioners did not have any additional changes to the minutes so the Commission voted to approve the minutes 4-0-1 (Arnold/Cummings, Mr. Buchholz voted present). 3. Grand Opera House Signage-Joe Ferlo and Rob Chartier-Update/Discussion Mr. Ferlo and Mr. Chartier presented revised images of their sign proposals for the Grand. The images included day and night appearances. Mr. Ferlo wanted to tie the signage in more with the historic architecture. Mr. Ferlo and Mr. Lange explained that the balcony on the front facade has an existing uplight. Mr. Ferlo presented day and night images of the EMC proposed for the side of the building. He asked the Commission for input. Mr. Chartier explained that the building had a previous horizontally- oriented blade sign. Mr. Arnold and Mr. Buchholz supported the revised sign proposal. Mr. Ferlo explained that the text proposed for the marquee reflected a rebranding of the Grand organization and that community pride and marketing were goals of the signage. Mr. Buchholz asked how the sign proposal arrived at gold and black colors since the Commission had earlier supported muted colors. Mr. Ferlo explained that the sign company had not yet finalized the color scheme. Mr. Buchholz asked if the design of the top of the proposed signage reflected the architectural treatment at the top of the building's windows. Mr. Ferlo stated that this part of the signage could improve. The Commission asked for the design team to consider the font and potential alternative options but noted that the proposed font was clear. Mr. Ferlo asked if the Commission wanted the organization's brand to be the building's brand. Ms. Brabender Mattox noted that brands are often short lived. Mr. Arnold supported the representation of the marqueeiblade signage over that of the EMC. Mr. Galica stated that people might associate the gold and black sign colors with that of the University. He supported looking at other color options. Mr. Cummings stated that observers will not see the signage from a great distance. Mr. Chartier asked the Commission to consider whether the proposed sign concept was acceptable and explained that he was not expecting final approval. Mr. Buchholz stated that the blade sign can give identity to the building and he respected the organizations right for branding. Mr. Arnold noted the vertical nature of the building's windows and contrasted this with the horizontal nature of the EMC proposed. Ms. Brabender Mattox thanked Mr. Ferlo, Mr. Chartier and Mr. Lange for coming and welcomed them to attend further Landmarks meetings. Mr. Ferlo asked if the Commission wished to discuss cost. Mr. Cummings and Mr. Buchholz asked for a discussion on cost. Mr. Chartier stated that for all three proposed signs, the estimate was$66,896. Mr. Buchholz asked if this included design work. Mr. Chartier stated that design was included. Mr. Chartier explained that the estimates were$12,710 for the marquee, $16,249 for the blade, $37,727 for the EMC and $210 for permits. The primary electrical connections were not included. Mr. Cummings asked if the signs required permits with the property being city-owned. Mr. Wiley answered affirmatively. Mr. Cummings believed that the west side of the building was the most important to address quickly and proposed the idea of doing the signage in two or three phases. He asked what the warranty was for the signage. Mr. Chartier replied that a one-year warranty was standard. Mr. Cummings asked what the turnaround time was for the project. Mr. Chartier stated that the turnaround could be 8-12 weeks. The Commission thanked Mr. Ferlo, Mr. Chartier and Mr. Lange for coming in and they left at this point. 4. 217 High Avenue-Rehabilitation Work-Discussion/Action Mr. Wiley explained the historical significance of the property as perhaps the most intact example of Greek Revival architecture in Oshkosh. Ms. Brabender Mattox explained that she has visited the property with Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer Daina Penkiunas on December 181h, 2018. Mr. Featherston had purchased the property a few years back. Ms. Brabender Mattox stated that the builder of the house was a lumberman and that the house had many original elements. She mentioned that she had seen someone scraping and painting. Mr. Featherston replied that this work occurred before he purchased the house. Mr. Arnold mentioned that he had seen someone replace some previous features with wood. Mr. Featherston wished to make the house maintenance free and use vinyl siding. He stated that he could potentially do the project in a historically-sensitive manner but that this would take time and money. He stated that he obtained quotes to have the house resided and new windows put in the same size openings. Ms. Brabender Mattox mentioned Historic Tax Credits as potential funding sources. She explained that if the home was resided in vinyl or the original windows replaced,the house would lose its eligibility for tax credits. Mr. Featherston noted that the house would require much work on the overhangs. He believed that it would help him if he did not have to reside the house. Ms. Brabender Mattox explained that the original siding should generally last over time. Ms. Morris mentioned that the windows would have to be replaced from an energy standpoint. She was supportive of replacing the existing shutters with matching ones. Mr. Buchholz asked if the owner would cover up the dentils. Mr. Featherston originally proposed to do this but mentioned that this could change based on the information he received at Landmarks. Mr. Featherston explained that he did want to maintain the front door of the house. Mr. Featherston mentioned the lead paint at the property and that the house had much of its original interior trim. Mr. Cummings stated that he had obtained tax credits and his painting cost less than$20,000. He mentioned that there are modern paint products that can replicate old paint. Mr. Arnold emphasized that maintenance-free does not exist. He recommended that the owner/property manager do some calculations to determine the cost of keeping the historic features versus replacing/covering them. Ms. Brabender Mattox explained that Mr. Featherston and Ms.Morris could also phase work with tax credits. Mr. Buchholz suggested that Mr. Featherston and Ms. Morris take the information provided at Landmarks,make an informed decision and come to a future meeting. Mr. Featherston asked how much of his proposed work a licensed contractor would have to perform. Mr. Wiley mentioned that he would follow up. 5. 434 Church Avenue-Rehabilitation Work-Discussion/Action Mr. Wiley updated the Commission on the 434 Church Avenue property. Mr. Arnold believed that with all of the modifications made to the house to date, the house was likely lost. Mr. Buchholz asked Mr. Wiley to continue communicating with the property owner but to take the item off of future Landmarks agendas unless the owner decided to come to a Landmarks meeting. Ms. Brabender Mattox stated that the house was originally mentioned in the nomination for the Irving-Church District. 6. Building Permit Review No items for discussion came up on the building permit review. 7. 913 S. Main Street-Adaptive Reuse Project-Update Mr. Wiley showed the Commission the letter he had worked on with Ms. Brabender Mattox. Mr. Cummings asked for Mr. Wiley to add a line mentioning the historic Fox River. He also asked that the letter mention the Plan Commission and Common Council review of this project. Mr. Buchholz asked for "reviewing bodies' to be changed to "reviewing entities." Mr. Wiley agreed to follow up and send the final letter out to the property owner and architect for the project. 8. Historic Preservation Plan-Jeremy Galica and Steven Wiley-Update/Timeline/Process Mr. Wiley provided an update and explained that staff had posted examples of many other plans on the City website and sent these in a link to the Commission. Mr. Wiley showed examples of plans from Washington DC, Cedar Rapids and Fredericksburg. He explained that Commissioners had agreed to work on various elements of the plan to move it forward. Mr. Buchholz stated that he was planning to work on the Strategic Plan section. Mr. Galica stated that he could help with the Strategic Plan and Historic Resources and Ordinance sections. Ms. Brabender Mattox was continuing to work on the downtown commercial structures section. Mr. Galica asked who would compile the plan and proposed that Commissioners send him drafts in Word. Mr. Wiley stated that he had used InDesign to format recent plan documents. Mr. Galica mentioned that he could compile everything in Word and then have Mr. Wiley compile it in InDesign. Mr. Arnold explained that he had done research on the houses along Boyd Street and that many of the houses had cross-gable roofs, with every third house having a gambrel roof. Mr. Arnold stated that cross-gable is not an individual style and that often such houses contain elements of other styles (bungalow, four-square, colonial revival). 9. Historic Preservation Ordinance Revisions (Recent Demolition and Other Issues),Permitting Process for Historic Properties -Update/Discussion/Action Mr. Wiley provided an overview of the ordinance discussion to date. He stated that Allen Davis and Darryn Burich wanted him to hold a public input session to gauge community support before changing the ordinance or permit review processes. He explained that the public input could be coordinated with a public input portion of the historic preservation plan process. Ms. Brabender Mattox wanted to postpone approaching the public until the Commission was ready. She stated that the Commission needed to be prepared before conducting a public input session. Mr. Cummings stated that some discussions had occurred regarding raising the amount of grant money for property owners who reduce the number of living units in a structure. 10. Lakeshore Site-Update Mr. Cummings stated that he had toured the new Oshkosh Corporation Headquarters. He stated that Oshkosh Corporation was sensitive to many of the original trees on site. He, Allen Davis and Kelly Nieforth had talked to the project manager on signage. Mr. Cummings proposed doing historical signs on the lumber industry and Millworkers' Strike for Rainbow Park. He explained that the WCHAS wanted to be involved and that the major question to consider was the funding source for the signs. He also explained that determining the subject matter for the signs was also a next step. 11. Commissioner Statements a. 404 W. New York Avenue: Local Landmarking-Shirley Brabender Mattox/Rich Green Ms. Brabender Mattox mentioned that Mr. Green was working on this for his property. b. 2019 WAHPC Conference-Shirley Brabender Mattox Ms. Brabender Mattox explained that the State Historical Society was planning to coordinate the activities for April 12th. She proposed a bus tour/welcome event and sought to look into renting a City bus for the WAHPC conference set to occur around the same time in conjunction with the WHS activities. c. Mark Buechel: Seminar on State Tax Credits-Steve Cummings Mr. Cummings did not have any new material on this item. d. Feedback on Landmarks Website Stats-Harold Buchholz Mr. Buchholz stated that there was low output for the month of December and was not sure if perhaps something was wrong with the data. He stated that the data showed approximately 25 hits. e. Feedback on Landmarks Facebook Page-Steven Wiley Mr. Wiley stated that he had scheduled some weekly posts and that Ms. Stoll Olthoff was planning to assist with the page. f. 2018 Annual Report-Steven Wiley Mr. Wiley stated that he had taken a new picture of the historic firehouse on 61h Avenue and he showed the image to the Commission. He explained that he would finish up the report and submit it to the Wisconsin Historical Society. 15. Agenda Items for Next Meeting/Statements Ongoing items such as the Historic Preservation Ordinance, the Historic Preservation Plan, the website and Facebook stats and revised west wall Grand Opera House signage. Any ongoing items that might come up before the next meeting also would be included on the agenda. 12. Adjournment Mr. Arnold made a motion to adjourn and Mr. Cummings seconded. Meeting adjourned at 5:25 pm (5- 0). Recorded by: Steven Wiley,Assistant Planner