Historic Preservation Committee

Meeting Minutes – April 2, 2015

A meeting of the Mountain Lakes Historic Preservation Committee (“HPC” or the “Committee”) was held on April 2, 2015, in the basement meeting room of the Mountain Lakes Library. In attendance were Chairman John Grossmann and Vice Chair Tom Dagger, Mike DeWitt, Lesley Karczewski, Katy Roberts, and Alex Gotthelf. Absent were Pat Rusak, Ginny Cassidy, Margaret DeWitt and Borough Council Liaison Dan Happer.

Approval of Prior Meeting’s Minutes

The minutes of the March 12, 2015 meeting were approved in the form in which they were distributed to the Committee, with minor corrections.

Treasurer’s Report

John Grossmann presented the report prepared by Chris Sheasby:


Opening Balance as of 3/9/15: $30,180.40


Debits:

$297.46 Pat Rusak for Mountain Lakes Club photos


Credits:

$0.0


Closing Balance as of 3/31/15: $29,882.95


Archivist’s Report

Pat Rusak was not in attendance and had no update to report via email to the Chair.

Borough Liaison Report

Dan Happer was absent, but had indicated by email there was nothing to report.

Old Business

HPC Website Redesign Problems

Mike DeWitt reported no news from the Borough’s website redesign committee, but Lesley Karczewski, whose husband Bob is on that committee, shared that he indicated that attention should soon be paid to our ongoing concerns about undisplayed HPC content and accessibility difficulties.

203 Boulevard Demolition

Tom Dagger reported that members of the Committee had met that morning with the photographer from the Obeo marketing firm and the homeowner to document 203 Boulevard for the historical record prior to issuance of the demolition permit. The Committee discussed some learnings based on the experience with this home.

302 Boulevard Demolition

Tom Dagger reported no new information from the homeowner or the Borough.

HPC Open House

Lesley Karczewski relayed Pat Rusak’s desire to hold off on another Research Your Hapgood or Belhall Open House until the fall, as the house photos should soon to be on leave from the archives for digitization.

HPC Long Range Goals

The Committee briefly discussed an HPC mission statement. Lesley Karczewski distributed several sample mission statements from other towns and the existing one that the HPC provided to the Borough a year or so ago. With those examples as a starting point, everyone was encouraged to try his or her hand at drafting a succinct mission statement and email it to all for discussion at next month’s meeting.

New Business

HPC “Campus”

Tom Dagger briefed the committee on a Borough Committee consideration of a so-called HPC Campus at the current location of the dynamite shed on Tower Hill Road. Under such a plan, joining the renovated stone building could be the original Hapgood garage, if moved, from a property on the Boulevard for which the owner is seeking approval to subdivide the property, requiring demolition of the garage. While the Committee voiced its appreciation for the idea of dedicated buildings devoted to its mission, the consensus was that the archives would be expensive and difficult to relocate to a new, climate-controlled sanctorum and the Committee would forfeit the current advantage of easily staging HPC Open Houses with displays of old maps and photos and artifacts in the basement meeting room of the Library.

The Committee, noting the size limitations and deteriorating condition of its current salvage trailer, expressed the hope that the dynamite shed might be converted at much less expense than an archive/museum for use a “new and improved” repository of woodwork and items salvaged from Hapgood and Belhall houses. John Grossmann said he would arrange with DPW for an early morning tour of the shed and would alert all of the date and time so those interested could view the building inside and out to better assess its suitability for that purpose.

Date for Next Meeting

Thursday, May 7, 2015, at the downstairs meeting room in the Library at 7:30 p.m.



Minutes prepared by John Grossmann and Tom Dagger.

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