Historic Preservation Committee
Meeting Minutes – October 8, 2015
A meeting of the Mountain Lakes Historic Preservation Committee (“HPC” or the “Committee”) was held on October 8, 2015, in the basement meeting room of the Mountain Lakes Library. In attendance were Chair Lesley Karczewski, and Vice Chair Tom Dagger, Pat Rusak, Ginny Cassidy, Mike DeWitt, and Sima Chowdhury. Absent were Margaret DeWitt, Alex Gotthelf, Katy Roberts, and Borough Council Liaison Dan Happer.
The Committee welcomed Sima as the newest addition to the Committee.
Approval of Prior Meeting’s Minutes
The minutes of the September 3, 2015 meeting were approved in the form in which they were distributed to the Committee.
Treasurer’s Report
Lesley Karczewski presented the report prepared by Chris Sheasby.
Opening Balance as of 9/2/15: $29,989.86
Debits: $100.00 Bank Addition Error
Closing Balance as of 7/22/15: $29,889.86.
On motion, duly seconded, the Committee unanimously approved a resolution to have Lesley added as an authorized signatory for the Committee’s account with Bank of America.
Archivist’s Report
The HPC Open House is scheduled for Friday, October 16 and Saturday, October 17 from 9am - 3pm. Ginny submitted an article promoting the event to Mountain Lakes Living magazine; Lesley Karczewski submitted an article for the Town’s website home page, had the event added to the website calendar, and is planning to ask Michele Reilly to include it with her email announcements. Helpers on the Committee are scheduled for Pat throughout both days; they will focus on merchandise sales. Pat purchased table cloths for displays, which can be reused. Alex will be asked if anything might be done to promote the architectural salvage trailer during the event.
Pat reported on the recent flooding of the archives room that occurred during heavy rains. Fortunately, there was no damage to historically significant materials in the archives. The flooding was apparently caused by drainage gutters or leaders that had not been cleared. Unfortunately, the archives room is the point of entry for flooding entering the Library building. There was discussion that in the future, if Michael is not going to be available for any extended period of time, alternates would be added to the alarm notifications (at least for moisture) to ensure that someone could respond quickly.
Pat mentioned that Joan Nix is working on applications for funding for structural repairs to St. Peters Church and the Community Church, and she may need help from the Committee.
Borough Liaison Report
Dan submitted the following updates prior to the meeting:
Nothing new from the Borough. Update on Dynamite Shed and Web Access.
Dynamite Shed. Everything cleared but some aluminum sulfate that needs to be properly disposed. After the complete clearing of the shed the HPC should be able to use it. I don’t have a timeline for the chemical disposal and therefore the Spring 2016 timing in Alex’s report makes sense.
I understand that the Communications Committee is working with Mike to establish access parameters.
Old Business
HPC Website Redesign
Michael said that he has been unable to make progress with the problems the Committee has had with the website redesign. Still no response from Clive Knowles regarding the copies of the incentives ordinance house scripts and database from the Borough's website, and no success getting authorization for Michael to access the website directly, which would greatly facilitate the Committee’s management of the tremendous amount of content that is (or should be, once it is recovered) on the website. A meeting is being scheduled for Lesley, Michael, Bob Karczewski, Miguel Bravo and Clive to discuss these issues.
Application for Certified Local Government Status
As of the time of the meeting, no updates had been received concerning the application.
Tour of Little Theater Building
Lesley, Tom and Ginny described the tour they and Alex took of the Little Theater Building at 171 Boulevard given by the owner, Walter Aertker, on Sept. 19. The Committee members were very impressed with the quality of the renovations that had been done to the building, and respect for maintaining as much of the original architectural features and character of the building as possible, consistent with the new use for the building. Mr. Aertker had also shared with the Committee certain frustrations he experienced in dealing with Borough officials to obtain approval for the building alterations. The Committee discussed a possible learning being the need to take a more prominent role as guide and advocate for owners of historic buildings in navigating the various approval processes with the Borough. This led to discussion of a possible brochure or other document that could be used to educate existing and new homeowners in the Borough on ways the Committee can be of service to them. More on this to come in future meetings.
Update on Dynamite Shed/Architectural Salvage
Alex submitted the following updates prior to the meeting:
1. I met Bob Gibben at storage shed to receive chestnut woodwork from demolition of a dining room interior of a Hapgood. The materials included chestnut high wainscot paneling and chair-rail (plate rail) and some base molding.
2. I moved a door and a newel post that was donated anonymously into the trailer.
3. I received a call from an individual who was looking to purchase door knobs and wanted to go through our collection but his project is out of town. My impression is that the committee does not support selling or donating our collection for home outside of Mountain Lakes.
4. I have a meeting next Monday 10/12/15 at 9:00 AM with Mountain Lakes resident Don Bilby of 30 Howell Road. He wants to look through the trailer. He owns a Hapgood but he is looking for materials for his father’s house down the street which is not a Hapgood. Please discuss this and let me know if these salvaged materials can be used for non-Hapgood homes?
5. What is the status of the “dynamite shed”? Is it cleared out and ready for us to prepare for The Move? If yes, we need to discuss the logistics. As winter is approaching, we may need to plan the space and have the actual move happen in the Spring of 2016. Thoughts?
After discussion and based on the input from Dan Happer in his report and discussions Lesley had had with the Borough Manager, the Committee indicated it would wait until the dynamite shed was completely emptied, and any needed structural work was completed, before moving forward with transfer of materials from the storage trailer. This would be next spring at the very earliest. The Committee would work with Alex to assess what work would be needed.
Morris County Heritage Commission re-grant/CAPES review update
Lesley indicated the application for a grant under the Morris County Heritage Commission’s History Re-Grant Program is due by Nov. 10. Katy has kindly offered to take the lead in working on the application. We will focus on funding for continuing digitization of historic materials.
New Business
None that was not already addressed in prior discussion.
Date for Next Meeting
November 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the basement meeting room of the Mountain Lakes Library.
Minutes prepared by Tom Dagger and Lesley Karczewski.