Historic Preservation Committee

Meeting Minutes – May 9, 2013

A meeting of the Mountain Lakes Historic Preservation Committee (“HPC” or the “Committee”) was held on May 9, 2013, at the Mountain Lakes Borough Hall.  In attendance were Co-Chairs Tom Dagger and John Grossmann, Pat Rusak, Mike DeWitt, Brigid Walsh, Ginny Cassidy, and Chris Smith.  Absent were Margaret DeWitt, Roberta Matalon, and Borough Liaison Jason Bradlee.

Approval of Prior Meeting’s Minutes

The Committee approved the minutes of the April meeting in the form distributed to the Committee in advance of the meeting, with an additional non-substantive change added by Tom Dagger. 

Treasurer’s Report

John Grossmann presented the report prepared by Chris Sheasby:

Opening Balance as of April 10, 2013: $33,392.68

Debits:

$4,025.00        23 plaques to Paul Zimmerman Foundries (Erie Landmark Co.)

     346.00        Bruce Davies for Midvale Stores sidewalk design work

$4,371.00

Credits:

     $0.00

Closing Balance as of May 7, 2013: $29,021.68

Archivist’s Report

Pat Rusak reported on interest in a custom historic plaque at 2 Ball Road, commemorating its status as the first manse for the Community Church.  Discussion turned to other possible appropriate locations for custom historic plaques that the HPC might want to have made and have installed.  Pat said she would draw up a list and provide suggested wording.

Old Business

Historic Preservation Incentive Ordinance

Ginny Cassidy reported there was interest from two local realtor offices that received the Historic Preservation backgrounders to have co-chairs Tom Dagger and John Grossmann attend a weekly meeting for an in-person presentation.  Contact information was provided to Tom to follow up and arrange for presentations to be scheduled.

Tom indicated that the new photos of the contributing dwellings taken in March and April had not been uploaded yet.  This is a project that will take some time (since not all of the original photos are being replaced) and will probably be completed over the summer.

Tom also noted that the proposed ordinance amendments, including the addition of certain historic non-Hapgood and Belhall homes from the period prior to 1931, will probably be done over the summer and into the fall, after we’ve had at least a year of experience working with the original ordinance.  Tom asked for Pat’s help in assembling the list of proposed historic non-Hapgood and Belhall homes to be included under the ordinance.

Historic Photos on Website

Tom Dagger reported on his discussions with intellectual property counsel concerning appropriate copyright notices to be placed on the website for historic photos and the new photos of historic homes.  Tom indicated he would follow through with the webmaster to implement these measures.

Midvale Stores Sidewalk Project

John Grossmann reported that he had met at the site with landscape architect Bruce Davies and his colleague John Stickley of Evergreen Landscaping. Grossmann shared the cost estimate that resulted from that meeting.  Happily, it’s “in the ballpark” with the sidewalk and fence repair estimate provided by Borough Manager Bob Tovo early in the year.  Grossmann said he would seek to meet with Mayor Happer and brief him on this Plan B possibility.

Hapgood and Belhall Plaque Order

It was reported that the 23 Hapgood and Belhall plaques had arrived and Roberta Matalon was set to begin distributing them.

The Committee was informed of new prices from Erie Landmark for plaques as follows:

· 11" x 6" Bronze Plaque (Updated Pricing) = $198.00 (each)

· Shipping & Handling = $23.00 (1 piece)

· Shipping & Handling = $32.00 (2 pieces)

· Shipping & Handling = $9.00 (each for 3 or more pieces)

The Committee voted to no longer build in a small "profit" on plaque orders and instead charge homeowners at cost. Those ordering plaques will be informed of the shipping and handling charges and asked if they want to wait and pay less for S&H or have a single order placed immediately and incur a slightly higher price, say $23 on top of the $198 plaque price instead of $9 on top of $198 by waiting for two additional orders.

Borough Council Communications Committee

Mike DeWitt reported that Borough Councilman John Lester was prepared to propose to council that the ad hoc committee becomes an official Borough committee.

HPC Merchandise Webpage Displays

John Grossmann brought up the previously postponed discussion of an HPC webpage or pages to display the wide array of HPC and leftover Centennial merchandise that it has in inventory and now currently sells only on request or displays at appropriate Borough events.  He and Chris Smith agreed to photograph the merchandise as a first step toward that goal.

New Business 

Arcadia Publishing Interest in Mountain Lakes Book

John Grossmann reported that he had been contacted by an editor for Acadia Publishing, which wants to publish a book on Mountain Lakes in its popular “Images of America” series.  The book would be 128 pages long, measure 6 x 9, and contain 180 to 240 photos, images that would cut off about 1980.   The book would have a cover price of $21.95.  Eight percent of net sales is customarily shared with the cooperating agency that supplies the photos and writer who provides the text.  The latter, he was told, would be an introduction of up to 2,000 words and chapter introductions of up to 150 words.  Photo captions would also be needed.

Committee members unanimously deemed this a good idea to explore. Archivist Pat Rusak said she was up to the task of providing photos—noting that many very good photos were donated to the archives in the Centennial year and thus too late to be included in the Committee’s Centennial history book.  She did not, however, want to send original photos to Arcadia, and wondered what their requirements were for scanned photos and if we would be reimbursed for photos we had scanned ourselves. 

John said he would seek answers to those questions and contact Patty Herold, author of the Centennial book, to see if she would be interested in writing this book and sharing in the royalties.

Briarcliff Photo Spread from 1949 Magazine

Mike DeWitt passed around the well-preserved pages of photos of Briarcliff (at that time the town’s high school) and students from the August, 1949 issue of Seventeen Magazine that he had discovered and bought on E-Bay.  He said he would reach out to Superintendent Anne Mucci about putting up these framed images at the school.

Date for Next Meeting

Thursday, June 13, at 7:30 pm at the Mountain Lakes Borough Hall.

Minutes prepared by John Grossmann and Tom Dagger.