Historic Preservation Committee

Meeting Minutes – December 13, 2012

A meeting of the Mountain Lakes Historic Preservation Committee (“HPC” or the “Committee”) was held on December 13, 2012, in the meeting room at the Mountain Lakes Borough Hall.  In attendance were Co-Chairs Tom Dagger and John Grossmann, John Lester and Pat Rusak.  Absent were Brigid Walsh, Chris Smith, Roberta Matalon, Beth Mauro and Borough Council Liaison Peter Holmberg.

Approval of Prior Meeting’s Minutes

The Committee approved the minutes of the October meeting in the form distributed to the Committee in advance of the meeting.  The November meeting was cancelled because of Hurricane Sandy.

Public Comments

As Brian and Susan Marshall (220 Morris Avenue) attended the meeting to speak with the Committee, the Committee moved the public comments portion of the meeting up to the beginning of the meeting to accommodate them.  The Marshalls, owners of a historic Hapgood home, made a presentation to the Committee about their preliminary plans to rebuild their detached garage, which was destroyed by a large tree toppled by the hurricane.  The Marshalls were seeking input from the Committee, and potential Committee support, for their plans, which would almost certainly require a zoning variance.  In order not to risk disqualifying herself from taking part in the review of the Marshalls’ application if and when it came before the Zoning Board of Adjustment, Pat Rusak left the meeting room and did not participate in this part of the meeting.  After some discussion with the Committee about their potential plans, the Committee invited the Marshalls to return when their plans were in more definitive form for the ZBA to see if the Committee would be willing to take a position in support of the Marshalls’ application.

Treasurer’s Report

            John Grossmann read the monthly accounting provided by Chris Sheasby:

 

Opening Balance as of 10/10/12: $28,590.31

 

            Debits:

            $128.00           Pat Rusak for historic photos

              300.00           Returned check (ML resident) for 4 Centennial books

                12.00           Bank fee for returned check

            $440.00

 

            Credits:

            $2,095.00        Open house sales, including plaques books, centennial posters, notecards

 

Closing Balance as of 12/11/12: $30,245.31

 

Archivist’s Report

Pat Rusak told the Committee about possible problems with the air exchange unit that services the archive room.  Although she often wears a mask when working in the room to help protect her from pathogens on the old paper she handles, she blames respiratory problems on her time in the room and said that Centennial book author Patty Herold suffered similar problems during her research time on the book. She wanted to alert the Committee to the possibility that repair work or possibly new equipment might be necessary.

Old Business

Historic Preservation Incentive Ordinance

Tom Dagger led a discussion of the status of implementation of the new Historic Preservation Incentives Ordinance (Ordinance 08-12).  A letter to all residents of contributing dwellings had been prepared and previously circulated by email for review and comment by members of the Committee, and was printed and ready to be mailed out the next day (December 14).  The Ordinance website, which had previously been in a nonpublic “beta” version during the development and review process, was in final form ready to “go live” the same day.  The Committee was waiting on the Webmaster to clean up some of the comments associated with the descriptions of individual contributing dwellings on the website, but this could be done after the website went live.  After discussion and on motion duly seconded, the members of the Committee present voted unanimously in favor of a motion:

·                     approving the list of 489 contributing dwellings pursuant to the Ordinance for publication on the Committee’s website, as required pursuant to the definition of “contributing dwellings” added to Chapter 40, Land Use Administration, Section 40-3, pursuant to Section 2 of the Ordinance;

·                     approving the form of guidelines established by the Committee for documentation of contributing dwellings to be provided to the Committee by prospective applicants for demolition permits who do not wish to provide access to the Committee to the interior and exterior areas of the contributing dwelling proposed for demolition, as required pursuant to § 40-50A(1)(c)[2] of the Ordinance;

·                     approving the form of letter to be mailed by the Committee to residents of contributing dwellings on or about December 14, 2012; and

·                     approving the website in its then-current beta form for public release on or about December 14, 2012.

Tom noted that there remained considerable work to be done updating the photographs on the website to resolve issues with foliage and accessibility when the initial photographs were taken in the summer of 2012, and there were some improvements to the Ordinance (based on experience during the implementation process) that the Committee might recommend to the Borough Council in 2013.

Fall Open House at Library & Centennial Merchandise Sale

John Grossmann and Pat Rusak reported that the October Open House was a great success.  Centennial and HPC merchandise was sold.  Several dozen residents attended and plaque orders were taken from a handful.  Others took great pleasure in researching their houses and looking at the early map of the town that was on display. 

New Members

The need for new members to replace departing members was again stressed.  John Grossmann said that he would ask Michael and Margaret DeWitt if they would be interested in serving. Both, he said, had already done volunteer work for the Committee, writing several of the audio walking tour stops, helping produce HPC notecards, and even assisting with salvage trailer work. 

Salvage Trailer

Tom Dagger said he would e-mail Tom Menard to try to set a winter date for the promised shelf construction work.  John Grossmann reported that Keara Walsh had again reached out to the Webmaster about going live with the trailer inventory web pages she has created.

New Business

Pat Rusak mentioned that she’d heard that the stone entry pillar on Crane Road might be in need of repair and would run that by DPW.

Pat also mentioned that the owners of 98 Lookout (known as “Green Gables”) had reached out to her, hoping the HPC would want an elaborate model of their home.  With no room in the archives, nor apparently upstairs in the Library, other options were discussed.  With no municipal options apparent, John Lester volunteered his home for safekeeping. That way the model could be on display for HPC functions such as Wildwood School events.

Date for Next Meeting

Thursday, January 10th, at the Mountain Lakes Borough Hall.

Minutes prepared by John Grossmann and Tom Dagger.