Historic Preservation Committee

Meeting Minutes – September 8, 2011

A meeting of the Mountain Lakes Historic Preservation Committee (“HPC”) was held on September 8, 2011 in the meeting room at the Mountain Lakes Borough Hall.  In attendance were Co-Chairs Tom Dagger and John Grossmann, Pat Rusak, Roberta Matalon, Peggy Bulfer, John Lester, Bridgid Walsh and Borough Council Liaison, Blair Bravo.  Jess Mahony, Beth Mauro and Beth Suereth were absent.

Approval of Prior Meeting’s Minutes

The Committee approved the minutes of the July 14, 2011 meeting in the form distributed to the Committee in advance of the meeting. 

Treasurer’s Report

John Grossmann read the Treasurer’s report prepared by Chris Sheasby.

Opening Balance as of July 12, 2011:  $17,833.62

Debits:

$  69.58           Peggy Bulfer for Postage

    40.05           Pat Rusak for Memorial Day Signs and Balloons

Total Debits:  $109.63

Credits:

$1,589.00        Centennial Books

       45.00        Note Cards

       20.00        Walking Tour

       29.00        Historic Photos

           .41        Canadian Check Conversion Rate (Centennial Book purchase)

Total Credits:       $1,683.41

Closing Balance as of September 7, 2011:  $19,407.40

Archivist’s Report

Pat Rusak reported Greenwood Cemetery is being well tended but there were some gravestones that need repair including Belle DeRivera’s.  Pat reported that several historic family names can be seen there such as the Luellen and Colby family names.  Pat also reported that the Archive Room is presently dry and this past month has been a good test due to the heavy rains from Hurricane Irene.

Centennial Report

Pat Rusak reported that the “Taste of Mountain Lakes” event is scheduled for September 9th but the venue has changed to St. Catherine’s.  Pat reported that the current pre-paid head count is 250 people thus far. 

Public Comments

None.

Old Business

Centennial Book Sales – Sales continue while the supply of books dwindles.  John Grossmann reported that about eight boxes of books remain, but many of the books are not in great condition.  Some have slight flaws, a rippling of pages near the back of the books that should not prevent them from being sold to late buyers.  Other more damaged books may need to be sold at a still-to-be-determined discounted price. 

John Grossmann reported that he had requested and received a pdf file of the book from the Rutgers Press editor.  He gave the memory stick to Archivist Pat Rusak who said she would like the photos from the book to be kept on a CD.  John Lester suggested the pdf be kept someplace secure in addition to the archives.  Lester suggested possibly creating multiple copies; one for each member of the committee.  Lester recalled a situation elsewhere whereby digital photos were not available and the negatives that were available were useless for viewing and storage.  Blair Bravo questioned if an intranet set-up would be beneficial. 

Membership – Tom Dagger reported that with the addition of new member John Lester, the committee was up to 10 members, which is one more (including alternates) than is permitted under the Committee’s ordinance.  It was suggested that Beth Suereth be removed from the active members list to make room to add John as an alternate in her place.  That was agreed upon and John said he would notify Beth of the decision.

Historic Preservation Ordinance – Tom Dagger reported that progress is steadily being made on the ordinance.  Tom reported about the most recent meeting of the Ad Hoc HP Ordinance Committee held on July 20, and obtained input from the HPC members on various proposals being considered by the Ad Hoc Committee. 

Blair Bravo reported the Borough Council would like to be updated on the progress of the Ad Hoc Committee at an upcoming Borough Council meeting. 

Pat Rusak provided the results of her research to date on the rate of demolition of historic homes over time, and the methodology used in her research, which was very labor-intensive.  Her preliminary findings are as follows:

· There were initially 471 Hapgood and 66 Belhall homes constructed, for a total of 531 original historic homes.

· During the first 80 years of the Borough’s history, from 1911 through 1990, 14 of the Hapgoods and none of the Belhalls (less than 3% of the original stock of historic homes) were destroyed, either through intentional demolition or by fire.

· During the last 20 years of the Borough’s history, from 1991 through 2011, 24 of the Hapgoods and 3 of the Belhalls (more than 5% of the original stock of historic homes) were destroyed, either through intentional demolition or by fire. 

· The bottom line is that there has been a significant increase in the rate of loss of the original stock of historic homes over the last 20 years, and no reason to believe this accelerated rate of destruction will slow down in the future if steps aren’t taken.

Oral Histories – John reported no change in status. 

5K Race and HPC Participation – John reported that the HPC will have Audio Walking Tour CDs for sale at a table at the start of the race, which will be on Sunday, October 23.  Pat said she’s working on having signs made for all of the stops on the walking tour--as the route will be run as part of the 5K race.  

Salvage Trailer – John and Tom reported that the idea of involving the Boy Scouts in bringing order to the salvage trailer is on track. Tom’s son, John, has taken on the task as an Eagle Scout project and will supervise a crew of scouts that will:  empty the trailer and provide the manpower to dispose of damaged or unlikely to be used items like energy inefficient single pane windows, measure and number and photograph items to be saved, clean the trailer, and return the items worth saving in a systematic fashion.  The intention is to display and describe the contents of the trailer on an HPC webpage, to make the trailer’s inventory known and more easily viewed.  John will meet with Tom’s son to decide upon a work date in October.  Brigid Walsh offered that her daughter Keara, a high school junior and a Girl Scout, might be interested in providing assistance on the tech end of the project.  She said she would explore that possibility with Keara. 

John said that he’d spoken with builder Gary Goldsmith, who has previously said that he would send a crew to repair the leaky roof.  

Little Theater House – Peggy reported that photos of the Kelleher house, 171 Boulevard, are now on a CD that the family will make available to the HPC. 

Dinner for Library Employees--Status of check to Mtn. Lakes Market for Library employees dinner – The owner of the Market has not sent a bill as of today so John Grossmann will contact Mike Schmidt and ask Chris Sheasby to write a check for whatever the total was, less the tip already provided by Peggy on the date of the affair.

New Business

None

Date for Next Meeting

The next meeting will be on Wednesday, October 12, 2011, at 7:30 PM downstairs at the Mountain Lakes Borough Hall.

Minutes prepared by Roberta Matalon and other HPC member contributors.