Historic Preservation Committee

Meeting Minutes – December 8, 2010

 

A meeting of the Mountain Lakes Historic Preservation Committee (“HPC”) was held on December 8, 2010 in the meeting room at the Mountain Lakes Borough Hall.  In attendance were Co-Chairs Tom Dagger and John Grossmann.  Also in attendance were Peggy Bulfer, Pat Rusak, Jess Nasta, Beth Mauro and Borough Council Liaison Doug McWilliams.  Absent:  Roberta Matalon.

Opening Items

Minutes of November Meeting – The minutes of the November 11, 2010 meeting of the Committee were approved.

Treasurer's Report – John Grossmann reported on behalf of Treasurer Chris Sheasby the following financial information.  Expenses since the last meeting were $459.69 to Erie Landmark for plaques.  Revenue was $2,173.00 from Centennial Book sales. 

   Opening balance   

$25,138.72

   Revenue

$2,173.00

   Expenses

$459.69

   Closing balance   

$26,852.03

 

2. Archivist’s Report

Pat Rusak provided a report summarizing demolitions of historic homes over the period 2004-2010.  A prior report in 2003 indicated there were 453 Hapgood homes and 56 Belhall homes remaining at that time.  Since then, 10 Hapgoods and 2 Belhalls have been destroyed.  {Pat changed the number to 10 a few minutes later.}

3. Centennial Report

Pat Rusak explained that everything is ready for Centennial opening day activities on January 9th.  She also noted that there was a lot of activity in the schools, with virtually every teacher including the Centennial in some way in their curriculum.

4. Public Comments

None.

5. Old Business:

Historic Preservation Ordinance – Tom Dagger led a brief discussion of the current status of the Historic Preservation Ordinance project.  It is hoped that an initial draft ordinance could be developed for review within the Committee in early 2011.

Centennial History Book - The history books have arrived.  They will be distributed on December 11 at the Library from 1-5:00, where Patty Herold will be signing them.  Mail deliveries have already been sent out.  So far, 424 copies have been sold, plus 20 copies for the House Tour.  The final payment to Rutgers should be due shortly, as soon as the final number of books that were shipped is determined and the invoice is received. 

 

Historic Walking Tour – John Grossmann reported that Andy Bulfer is working on a website download of an MP3 file with the Walking Tour, as well as a DVD and CD.  The Committee also approved the purchase of 2 iPods that would be loaded with the Walking Tour for people to borrow and use and, if appropriate, also buy small portable speakers so more than one person could easily listen to one iPod.

Oral Histories – There have been few developments in this area given the other Committee activities that are ongoing. 

HPC Open House – The Open House has not yet been put on the Centennial Calendar for April.  There was a request from the Centennial Committee for the HPC to consider moving the Open House from April to December to coincide with the House Tour.  After discussion, the Committee decided to leave the date for the Open House at April 1-2, 2011, as originally scheduled.  

New Business

New Members – There was discussion of potential new members.  Beth Sureth has indicated she would like to join the Committee.  The Committee should have 7 members plus alternates, although the difference between full members and alternates is not that significant.  Beth would be the first alternate. 

Date for Next Meeting

The next meeting will be on Thursday, January 13, 2010 at 7:30 PM in the meeting room at the Mountain Lakes Borough Hall.

Minutes prepared by Tom Dagger and other HPC member contributors.