Historic Preservation Committee
Meeting Minutes – July 23, 2015
A meeting of the Mountain Lakes Historic Preservation Committee (“HPC” or the “Committee”) was held on July 23, 2015, in the basement meeting room of the Mountain Lakes Library. In attendance were Chairman John Grossmann and Vice Chair Tom Dagger, Pat Rusak, Mike DeWitt, Lesley Karczewski, Alex Gotthelf, and Borough Council Liaison Dan Happer. Absent were Ginny Cassidy, Margaret DeWitt, and Katy Roberts.
Approval of Prior Meeting’s Minutes
The minutes of the June 11, 2015 meeting were approved in the form in which they were distributed to the Committee.
Treasurer’s Report
John Grossmann presented the report prepared by Chris Sheasby:
Opening Balance as of 6/9/15
Debits:
$201.20 Erie
561.00 Erie Landmark
235.00 Boonton Photo
201.20 Erie Landmark
43.75 Pat Rusak for historic photos and parking
$1,242.15 Total
Credits:
$464.00 Historic Photos
214.00 Belhall Plaque
$678.00 Total
Closing Balance as of 7/22/15: $29,463.76
Archivist’s Report
Pat Rusak displayed a 1927 Belhall map that showed an unidentified building on Borough property on Tower Hill Road that appears to correspond to the Borough-owned building now being considered as an HPC salvage storage building. Should the Committee decide to seek a grant application to help pay for any upcoming necessary repairs or work on the building, that provenance might prove helpful. With the help of her now college-aged assistant, Pat said that a search of Hapgood work orders unfortunately turned up no mention of “a dynamite shed,” so as yet there remains no confirmation of this purported use of the building.
Pat said she would check with the Library on availability of the downstairs room for Friday, October 16th and Saturday, October 17th for a reprise of a “Research Your House” HPC Open House. She said she’d try to come up with a different name to be used in announcing the event on the Borough’s home page and in an email blast from Michele Reilly.
Borough Liaison Report
Dan Happer provided updates from the Borough and Council on several ongoing HPC projects and concerns. He said that after emptying the “dynamite shed” this summer DPW would make an assessment of the work necessary to repurpose the building to storage of materials salvaged from Hapgood and Belhall homes. Dan also shared that the Borough had authorized payment—half from general funds and half from the dedicated Centennial surplus account—to pay for the Stage II work on the HPC web content to be done by an outside contractor.
Old Business
HPC Website Redesign Problems
Mike DeWitt said that he was still awaiting word from Clive Knowles regarding the copies of the incentives ordinance house scripts and database from the Borough's website that would facilitate the posting of the newly merged streetscape views of qualifying Hapgoods and Belhalls.
Hapgood’s Dynamite Shed
John Grossmann reported that Borough Manager Rich Sheola had told him that DPW manager Mark Prusina hadn’t yet gotten to clearing out the “dynamite shed,” but expected that work to be done in August.
Application for Certified Local Government Status
Alex Gotthelf reported that Barton Ross had begun work on pulling together a Borough application for certified local government status and that Ross had asked the Committee to provide information necessary for that submission. Among the necessary information: copies of the last year’s meeting minutes; resumes of all Committee members; Committee bylaws. Tom Dagger volunteered to help with the latter and Alex was charged with asking Ross if members should adhere to any form of resume template in drafting their CV and sending it to him.
Preservation Ordinance Photo Merging
Tom Dagger briefed the Committee on the recent weekend work session that he, Mike DeWitt and John Grossmann recently had to merge the two sets of photos — summer 2012 and winter 2013 — that captured the street views of all qualifying Hapgoods and Belhalls. The winter shots were retakes to better display house views obscured by seasonal foliage. A program written by Mike greatly facilitated the photo merging. The now much more complete and helpful house views await transfer to the Ordinance section of the HPC webpages.
HPC Long Range Goals
Lesley Karczewski presented a draft Goals & Objectives document for discussion. Several additions and deletions were made with Tom Dagger indicating he would add a section regarding monitoring and implementing the historic preservation ordinance. The final document will be presented to the Committee for approval at the Sept. meeting.
New Business
Plaque request from owner of Little Theater
John Grossmann told all that he’d received an email from Walter Aertker, owner of the Hapgood at 171 Boulevard, which includes The Little Theater. Aertker expressed his interest in having a plaque on the building to commemorate its historic significance. The Committee discussed this request, agreeing that such a plaque might be a good idea and then quickly put that request in the context of other historic structures such as The Midvale Stores (site of the first school in town) and Lake Drive School, where plaques might also serve as educational markers and, possibly, with the addition of a QR code, directing smart phone holding bystanders to the corresponding Audio Walking Tour recording. It was agreed that John would convey to Aertker the Committee’s general support for a plaque on The Little Theater, explaining the need to first arrive at a workable plaque policy for standards, design, and funding.
Point View Place House Watercolor
John Grossmann reported that he’d been contacted by Carolyn Shultzaberger, the grand daughter of Warren P Edris Jr., the original owner of the Point View Place house on the entrance to the Cove. She wanted to donate a watercolor of the house from the 1940s to the town. John said he found Librarian Peggy Bulfer interested in displaying the painting at the library and would connect the two
Date for Next Meeting
September 2 or 3, depending on availability of the downstairs meeting room at the Library.
Minutes prepared by John Grossmann, Tom Dagger, and Lesley Karczewski.