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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Historic Preservation Commission Minutes 03/09/2020 MINUTES CITY OF AMES HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION Date: March 09, 2020 Peter Hallock, Chairperson 2021 Ted Grevstad-Nordbrock, Vice-Chair 2022 Call to Order: 6:00PM Lisa Hovis 2021 Place: Ames City Hall Council Chambers Edith Hunter 2020 *Barry Snell 2020 Adjournment: 6:41PM. Susan Minks 2021 [*Absent] CALL TO ORDER: Peter Hallock, Chairperson, called the meeting to order at 6:00PM. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: MOTION: (Minks/Hunter) to approve the Agenda for the meeting of March 09, 2020. MOTION PASSED: (5-0) APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF January 13, 2020: MOTION: (Grevstad-Nordbrock/Hovis) to approve the Minutes of the meeting of January 13, 2020. MOTION PASSED: (5-0) ____________________________________________________________________________ PUBLIC FORUM: There were no public comments. ____________________________________________________________________________ SELECT AWARDEES FOR THE 2020 HISTORIC PRESERVATION AWARDS Peter Hallock, Chairperson, began by saying they had two nominations this year for the awards. Ray Anderson, Planner, said the two nominations are both located in downtown Ames. The one at 131 Main Street is AVEC Architecture. The description of the project, as provided by AVEC, is included in agenda materials. AVEC is applying under the category of Historical Rehabilitation and have a long list of things done to the exterior, as well as the interior. Mr. Anderson noted that they kept many of the features of the inside and on the outside, the brick has been maintained as part of the rehabilitation. Mr. Hallock discussed the history of the building at 131 Main Street, and Mr. Anderson displayed a picture of the building on the projector. Ted Grevstad-Nordbrock, Commission Member, discussed different aspects of the pictures of the interior of the building. He noted the location of the building is next door to the restaurant Great Plains. Mr. Anderson discussed that the purpose of the Historical Preservation Award is to recognize preservation work going on the community. Mr. Hallock said the members would vote on the first nominee, which was AVEC Architecture, located at 131 Main Street. MOTION: (Grevstad-Nordbrock/Minks) to approve award for Avec Design MOTION PASSED: (5-0) Mr. Anderson said the second nominee is Cornbred Restaurant, which is in the depot area in downtown Ames. The nomination was submitted by one of the architects who worked on the project. Adaptive Reuse is the category for this nomination. Mr. Anderson said other than the sign and the exterior patio there were no changes to the exterior of the building. He noted that the building is not designated as a historic structure but was constructed in 1900. Changes were made to the interior to convert the space to a restaurant and utilize features inside that were already there. A mezzanine level was added on the interior for more seating. A photograph of the interior mezzanine was displayed for the Commission. Mr. Grevstad-Nordbrock asked if there was anything contentious about the Cornbred sign. Mr. Hallock replied that the sign is slightly larger than what the City allowed, so they had to get a variance to allow it. He said it was about 18 inches taller than the ordinance would allow. He noted that it fits the scale of the building and they had architects testify to that effect. He asked if there were any comments and if there was a motion to approve the nomination. MOTION: (Hovis/ Grevstad-Nordbrock) to approve the award for Cornbred Restaurant MOTION PASSED: (5-0) ____________________________________________________________________________ DISCUSS INFORMATION TO INCLUDE IN THE 2019 CERTIFIED LOCAL GOVERNMENT ANNUAL REPORT Mr. Anderson began by asking which of the Commission Members went to the conference, since he had to report who attended. He said last year the report summarized the accomplishments of the previous year, and that the Commission needs to summarize accomplishments for 2019 and do a work plan for 2020. Mr. Hallock commented that he did draw up a list of things to include in the work plan. 1. Greatly improved the Historic Preservation website. 2. Reviewed Chapter 31 and implemented staff report on activities to the commission. Part of what happened in the revision five years ago was to allow staff to review several applications that were not as major, but no provision was in place to keep the Commission aware of what was being approved by staff. He said they procedurally implemented that the staff would report any activities that had gone on since last meeting. He noted that a weakness of the code was there was no tracking to make sure that projects that were approved were completed. 3. Reviewed Comprehensive Historic Preservation plan and updated it. 4. Began work on signage to highlight the designation of Downtown Ames as a Historic District. 5. Proclamation by City Council on Historic Preservation month to be the month of May. 6. Historic Preservation Awards 7. Attended Preserve Iowa Conference. Mr. Grevstad-Nordbrock asked Mr. Anderson if he would elaborate on why the commission needs to compile a list of accomplishments for each year. Mr. Anderson stated that to be designated as a CLG, the city must meet certain criteria and must be approved by National Park Service. Every year the City of Ames must submit a report to show they are doing continuing to meet the minimum standards for designation as a Certified Local Government. As a CLG, we are eligible to receive grants for preservation, all of which are competitive. He mentioned that a new requirement this year that they must submit the report to the Council, which will occur at the last meeting in March 2020. Mr. Hallock said he knew the Commission came up with a Work Plan and was working on finishing the Comprehensive Plan review. He asked if they had decided that Chapter 31 did not need action by City Council? Mr. Anderson replied they did not decide, so that could be an item for next year. Mr. Hallock said the ongoing work with the 2040 planning effort would be good to continue. Lisa Hovis, Commission Member said continuing to work on the sign for Downtown would be appropriate and she had a quote available for review. Mr. Hallock asked if the Commission thought what was mentioned adequately addressed everything. Mr. Anderson replied that he thought they could update several of the things from last year. Mr. Hallock said he would propose that lack of continuity from meeting to meeting has been a challenge, and that it should be addressed. ____________________________________________________________________________ REVIEW OF THE AMES COMPREHENSIVE HISTORIC PRESERVATION PLAN Mr. Hallock commented that he received a marked-up copy of goals and action steps with comments on each step. He said the document pulled out notes from the past meetings, but they need to come up with different language for some items marked as “rework”. He asked if they should work on that tonight or wait for another meeting. He suggested they read through and come up with possible language for next time. Mr. Anderson said if the members can do that and send their notes to him via email, he would then distribute the notes to the entire Commission. Mr. Anderson went on to explain to the audience what the Comprehensive Historic Preservation Plan is and why they are updating it. Mr. Hallock noted this was a document adopted by City Council and the Commission had to come up with a proposed addition for City Council to act on. Susan Minks, Commission Member, asked if 2009 was the first year there was a Comprehensive Historic Preservation Plan. Mr. Anderson replied that it correct. Mr. Hallock said the discussion would resume at the next meeting on the topic and asked the Commission Members to have a few ideas in mind. ____________________________________________________________________________ COMMISSION COMMENTS: Ms. Hovis said the quote on the Downtown sign went up by $200 and the cost was now $1142. She said that includes a stand for each Downtown sign which will show what is old verses what is new for each end of Main Street. Mr. Hallock said they did mention to council and that they should put together a summary and a proposal to send to Council with a description of the proposed project. Mr. Grevstad-Nordbrock inquired as to how the Comprehensive Plan was coming along. Mr. Anderson replied that the plan was generally on schedule. STAFF COMMENTS: Mr. Anderson said no applications came in since the end of the year. He mentioned the Preserve Iowa Conference is in Dubuque this year in the first part of June. He said the Historic Preservation Awards would be presented at the last council meeting in April 2020. MOTION TO ADJOURN: MOTION: (Grevstad-Nordbrock /Hovis) to adjourn the meeting at 6:41 PM. MOTION PASSED: (5-0) The meeting adjourned at 6:41 PM. _________________________________ ____________________________________ Peter Hallock, Chairperson Laura Colebrooke, Recording Secretary Historic Preservation Commission Department of Planning & Housing