6.18.2024 Historical Commission

all right uh good evening everyone and thank you for joining tonight um this is uh the virtual meeting of the Fall River historical commission um we are uh having our meeting entirely virtual via Zoom um which is being recorded uh on full River government TV and will be available on their YouTube page um it is Tuesday June 18th 2024 it is 6: p.m. um pursuant to the open meeting law

any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible um and uh because of the scheduling error between um our commission and the licensing board um we were not able to

meet in person that government center tonight um can I get a roll call uh Joyce pres uh Rick hereby televised by Zoom present Elizabeth pres um Ashley present and John present and Jason bushard and icki present via Zoom um so we have everyone here except for Connie Su she is not able to attend tonight um and did everyone hear Joyce when on the on the the camera okay perfect okay so we have a little

technical issue tonight um so the first item on the agenda is review and approve the minutes from April 30th 2024 that was the special meeting with the presentation from the students Rog Williams um Elizabeth sent those around yesterday motion to approve I'll second second that okay so we have a motion by Rick Rick and a second by Ashley all right uh roll call votes Joyce accept the minutes okay uh Rick

yes Elizabeth yes uh Ashley yes John yes and Jason bashard and Rocky yes thank you um item number two is to review and approve the minutes from May 21st 2024 uh Elizabeth sent those around as well motion to approve okay John and Rick all right motion by John and a second by Rick um roll call vote to approve the minutes uh Joyce approved thank you Rick yes approved Elizabeth yes

Ashley yes John yes and Jason Bard rocki yes thank you everyone um do we have I don't think we have any citizens input for tonight I don't see any anyone here in addition to all right um there's no citizens input all right um so I received um notice of intent to demolish uh item number three um this was a shed de a shed demolition at 420 Valentine Street um I notified Carrie that the property

is not listed on the register of significant structures um uh item number four um the demolition of a burn structure at 350 Mary Marano Bishop Boulevard um I did tell Carrie again that the property is not listed on the register um they did request a certificate of uh non applicabil non applicability uh which I provided since it's not in our purview um item number five uh 649 Alden Street

um this is the storage house number 2 at the Cornell Mills um it is part of the national register district for the Cornell Mills plus uh being listed on the Fall River multiple Resource District um so in chatting with the um the representative from the owners um so this property that particular structure had was not part of the initial rehab of the building um which they have received

tax credits for there is a five-year look back period uh where they cannot do any additional demolition to or any type of demolition or changes to the property once they've received their um their tax credits and that period has already um expired so this that particular structure was not rehabbed it is um in uh a PR it's not in the greatest condition I believe that they also do

have support from the fire department to demolish the building um I did ask if they were seeking a waiver for the demolition they said they were not um that they um that they will let the six months run on the six-month delay run on that particular structure before they can demolish it um so I did uh upon receipt uh gave the um expiration date of that to Carrie which I believe I can look it

up real quick um is for find out um the expiration on that will be I think it's an October November um I can't find it off the top of my head but I can provide that so they will run with the six month demolition um I oh okay I received the notice on May 30th so it'll run six months past that so November 30th um will be the expiration date um are there any questions on that

at all no okay all right so moving on um and item number six um receive a notice to demolish a garage at 33 Woodstock Street and I notified Carrie that it's not on the register um all right so we did receive a correspondence regarding item number seven uh regarding lost restoration and replication at the Fall River main post office um so this will come back to us later um they were

asking if there's any uh restrictions on the property and I said no um it is part of the national register district downtown so they will be working uh because it's federally funded it'll be a section 10 there will be a section 106 review on that particular structure um because it is a federally funded uh rehab of a building in the National register District um so they I believe they are reaching out to members from

the state of Rhode Island their preservation office uh for similar lampost rehab that was done on the Mount Hope Bridge so um it interesting ties in but anyways we'll be hearing more about this later on um but it's for the lamposts on the parking lot side and the Third Street side of the structure um I believe one is remaining and the others were either damaged or stolen um so it's this is been that's on

there are preservation restrictions on that building because of the monies and I don't know if the mass historic commission holds that I I looked on the on the on macas on the mhc's uh uh database and there wasn't any deed restriction showing up on that property not at least attached with um with the historical commission with a mass historical commission um so they would have MHC and they would also have

preservation Massachusetts which is the uh Statewide nonprofit um so but because it's federally funded they will be will we will be involved when that process gets more underway um and then item number eight I did receive an inquiry about the historical status of 251 Cherry Street um if there's any design regulations or things like that it is listed on the lower Highlands National register

districts so there is a demolition delay if that were to occur um but I merely provided the information over to Carrie um and under new business um nine item number nine we have 511 Rock Street um this is the Bardon Remington house I did email everyone the application that came over um they were um requesting to change the rubber roof of their Carriage House um and because the roof is behind a parit and it's a

flat roof and it is not seen from the street um that was automatically out of our purview um I did send over the letter that was sent uh to the homeowner um and I did include Clauses from the city ordinance that shows the um uh basically staying stating that once if it's out of our purview that they receive an immediate uh certificate of non-applicability for this um so I believe they've already

since replaced the rubber roof um are there any questions on that particular item no no that was a good call yeah we are moving right along tonight um and then item number 10 under for 259 Prospect Street this is the George Richards house um application for a certificate of appropriateness to replace the wood shingles um it's in the highlands 4C um and we do have maren filin from

the Deaconess home here to discuss the project hi good evening uh thank you I have um we want to paint the home at 259 Prospect Street and after speaking to um the painting company they said that we had to replace the shingles so we've reached out we had three bids um our board has voted on going with the Roof Doctor we've had an ongoing relationship they've done work at 603 and has have

been very six I'm sorry you should know my numbers 603 Rock Street um they've done a lot of work for us there we're very pleased with the vendor and we were able to receive a quote that match the other so we'd like to move forward all the information is in the packet I just didn't know if anybody had any questions um Moran before I forget just for open meeting law can you state your name and

uh who you're representing please just we have I apologize I'm Moren filbin I'm the executive director and I'm representing Fall River Degan his home thank you um so I'm pulling up the application and so I think initially it was supposed to be just the Dormer but now it's yes and then when the painter came he said that they really want us which actually I think is a good idea to get the whole

do all the work at once MH and this will be all sides not just that one facade no it's the back side oh the back side okay yep in the back side of the door if you see the pictures um you can see the back exit you can see they're really and if you go by you can really see it on the house and just for clarification for everyone um so the backside that I

seeing from the street so the backside is visible from High Street because it's on okay um and it's so you're replacing this the shingles with cedar I believe it was yeah the red cedar MH um will there uh in terms of like any window trim will they need to replace or pull any of that no just for this I have the proposal from them he's just going to do the um wood replacing old siding

with new pre-primed red cedar wood shingle siding for the back side of the house and two Dormers and the I apologize Jason and the celf side so the celf side is what you were talking about on High Street and then the back side and the back it's pre-pre that's not you're not painting what you're doing is you're just pre-priming it no Prime yep with a clear it's a red it says red cedar wood

shingle correct yeah yeah as long as it's as long as the material is wood um we don't we can't approve or deny an application based on paint and I would imagine stain covers that too or that cover stain as well but it's it's just a question because putting sealer on red seedar shingles is a good thing to do extends the life makes the the shingles retain their newness a lot longer so that was my

question right so you're not painting you're just actually putting the stain on there yeah we're putting the shingle yes okay good thank you that you know morine just made clarifying points again thanks I'm so I Rick I have this really for some reason I can't hear you as so I'm like putting my ear to the um but thank you yes you are correct and I made note of that com of your comment and I'm

I will make sure that that's the way they're going but I believe that is the way the clear because we didn't want it we wanted to make it as natural as possible sure sure no that that's a good choice that's excellent yeah I really like the vendor that's good and they did good work over at um 603 rock is it Rock yes the other house that's in the historic yep yeah

they did great work great work with that um I don't have any other questions at all does anyone have any questions for Moren at all no none at all good job Moren thank you thank you all right so may I get a motion if there's no other questions um so we need to approve the application for certificate of appropriateness I'll make a motion to approve thank you okay I'll second that

motion all right so I have a motion by Ashley and a second by Rick um I don't know where Elizabeth went um let me see did she bounce off the meeting real quick let me see oh she's having oh there she is okay her she sent me a text for zum was disconnected hi Elizabeth so we have we have a motion by Ashley and a second by Rick to approve the certificate for item

number 10 um roll call vote Joyce yes all right Rick yes Ashley yes John yes and Elizabeth yes and uh Jason bushard and Rocky yes all right thank you uh Moren I will send that over to you um I will also seec um Carrie aash with the licensing department so the building department will have that ready okay thank you so much have a great night now thank um thank you everyone so item uh

moving on to Old business we have item 11 um so I had sent around um the last meeting for the annual report there were some edits so I did make those edits um I added uh disclaimers where uh um more like an aster with a special note that says that any of the um letters or certificates things like that those are all available at um the uh what is it um the licensing department as well as

emailing the historical commission so since that's all public record um I did also include um I changed some of the wording in the last in the conclusion part um does anyone I think uh John and Ashley I think you were not at the last meeting do you have any questions or okay I looked over it I don't really have any questions okay um so with that said if it if there's no other edits um

can we uh can I get a motion then I guess to approve the um annual report then I'll I will submit it to um Allison and City Clerks and wherever else I need to submit it to um Dan aiar and planning and so forth motion to approve and I'll second that motion joh and Rick okay thank you so I have a motion by John and a second by Rick to approve the annual report um roll call

Joyce accepted Rick thank you Rick yes accept thank you um Ashley yes John yes Elizabeth Elizabeth yes oh thank you and uh Jason bardi yes okay thank you thank you Elizabeth all right and uh that was so that was approved um item number 12 um so Rick and I met with the South and neighborhood association on June 6th um was a larger turnout than we were expecting um but uh there was um some

interesting feedback or uh inquiries about um the historical commission and how that can be uh of a benefit to the reh potential Rehabilitation for the South End um so this is more of the area around Globe uh Globe Corners um and the area that historically known as GL Village um so we did talk about uh one of the tools being the establishing of a historic of a national register District

um and you I think the South End neighborhood association is uh certainly able to they can apply for Grant funds that way um to get a a planner or a consultant that can actually work on um surveying the neighborhood seeing if it's eligible for the national register um and um so that was one of the tools and then Rick talked a little bit about the history of the neighborhood I think they

do want a more involved meetings um soon to talk a little bit more about the history of the neighborhood and the register um so the clar claraa commented how well it was received how many how much how the the positive comebacks and and replies and responses and she I guess she suggested that she'll contact us shortly but looks like maybe August or September okay so maybe September will be wiser yeah I think so

um that way we can we have a little bit more time to do a little research on that and um okay um and I had a few people come up to me asking about the register the register of significant structures and what that meant and um and it we had a really good question um and it's uh just a common Mis misperception or misconception about what what it means to have your house or building on a

register it doesn't mean that there's design regulations um somebody had said oh well that means that you will tell us what color that we can paint our house and we quickly debunked that quickly um and we you know that and that's that's a common uh point of confusion between the different types of historic districts and the different types of historic statuses for buildings um so that's

something I think we can we can work on to educate um the public about what that means I had one person who is very much interested in getting her house on the register and she's on Middle Street and it's a really really fascinating story with that house it's uh one of the newer ones on that part of Middle Street um so she's um she's supposed to be reaching

out um so we can get her house listed on the register which is good um any questions anything else Rick that you want to add to that no no you did a great job they they they want us to hone in on uh this historical nature of that Village Globe Village in our subject matter in September okay so you know I'm sure there'll be all these other questions about uh significant

structures and how do we register but uh they they want some history so we can we can get together and do that great thanks Rick um so item 11 I'm sorry item 13 we have um we this is regarding the um seminar and or meeting with real estate agents um so and this was something that was um requested by Pam La Liberty um so she I had asked for dates she's saying right now September

or October would be the best um and just because the way the summer vacations and um everyone's current workloads so if she has the time to um schedule something out and I said honestly September October is perfect because we want to be able to make sure that we have um you know good quality um presentation with photos and so forth and I know Elizabeth you are dying to do photos or take photos of of houses um

and just buildings what's that yeah okay um so I guess what I guess what we can do um Ashley what is she requesting so she so this it's more of a like a like an overview of one being architectural Styles um and uh and then also uh what things like uh what makes a house historic and then um the different levels of historic districts um and an educational piece s to speak really educational yep um

so and uh that'll be a great opportunity to also talk about our design guidelines and uh yeah um so I think I I think it's fantastic considering that um it's it'll be we we've often had homeowners who purchased in the Highland's local historic district not realizing that they historic districts so um no so I think that's good um so I guess Elizabeth um you and I will talk and get something going and

actually what I'll do for everyone else um I guess we can do like a like a shared because a PowerPoint would that make sense um and go from there and if there's any comments and things like that we can we can work on it yeah perfect okay um item oh sorry okay I was just gonna say that went over so well with the PowerPoint I went out and bought a new camera a PowerPoint

projector so okay available if there's anybody that wants to borrow it let me know just just plug your laptop into it and off it goes great excellent thanks Rick um all right so item 14 uh regarding the bank Street Armory um the it's I believe it's back in the ordinance uh committee um so that they're scheduling that currently in they're looking at July but they don't have any they there's no concrete date

yet because they're trying to figure out people's vacation schedules so once we have an idea when that's happening um then um I will let you know um but I have no other update regarding the armory on that um and that brings us into number 15 the certified local government application there's no update still from Washington um everything is very much delayed in uh in fact um uh regarding

even tax credit applications every just the reviews of those and the acceptances they're they're backed up um so I know we will be reviewing um continued letters of of support for example I believe next month or August I think it's at the end of July um so we'll we'll have that but uh I I guess the National Park Service is just overwhelmed with everything at this point so hopefully we will have we'll

have an answer soon regarding the uh status of our CLG app um and last but not least item 16 um Highland's local historic district expansion um so I reached out once again to Dan agar I um if there's any comments that he had um so Carrie has um I I just um Carrie has the uh uh surveys um I'm just waiting for the goahead to get these out so um it's a little delayed um just

because I know um they just wanted to make sure that there's no comments from any other departments so I haven't heard anything um so I will ask Harry to get those mailed off um hopefully in the next week or two um just so we can get that ball rolling um in terms of a preservation consultant um if we do need if we do do need one down the line um I think Rick did

you um did you do you have quotes I received one quote um or no I was asking I had to asked around just like a ballpark like what other firms charge um and it looks like they go based on structure um uh per property they go anywhere from like 250 up towards like 450 per property um and that's it kind of varies so it's you have your independent contractors

that might do uh um on the lower end but then these larger firms will do will quote higher and but that will be if we need to apply for Grants down the line because we need to figure out like how much what the funding is just just an update on a on an existing condition that we've been talking about it's not listed here but but the the bids that are going out for

the bio reserve and to steep Brook which we've talked about at last three four meetings uh is going to they're going to be opened on June the 20th that's when they're due and uh there were a series of questions that were answered uh there were Mike laria's questions they were more of on the bio Reserve end so uh we got those questions back to the consultant so we will have some really good hard numbers

on Brook so we'll know what residents or single dwellings are really costing yep so that okay so that'll help us out when determining how much it's going to uh roundabout cost for the highights yes so because right now it's looking like um I mean without just looking at the different I was asking basically like what companies charge and not like uh I didn't I didn't get any formal quote or

anything like that just because we're not ready um but you it's somewhere in the neighborhood of between 50 and $775,000 depending on how many properties that's just it um so we won't have that type of information until we get the surveys back um so you I wouldn't want to have 149 properties surveyed when 149 properties aren't going to be part of the the final slate for the expansion um it

would be great but um and in terms of CPC funding um if when is the application is it act um the eligibility uh period is open now it's it's open now uh we would have to have that by uh September 1st oh okay for the for to see if we're El eligible correct oh okay and I've got I've got paperwork here we could sit down uh two of us and and fill

it out and then you can present well so that would be would that I think that would be a board vote to see if we want if we want to proceed with getting um uh to apply for CPC funds which I believe we are yeah we are eligible to do that so we won't we can't do that at this meeting since it's not on the agenda um but let's um let me get the if

it's in September we have a little time so let me get those surveys out and then we will go from there and see what we get back um immediately you know we can kind um okay um is there anything else at all a fairly quick meeting I I I'll just quickly I got an email uh this afternoon actually and I just opened it just before this meeting uh and it's um it's

just conversationally H I just got this I guess there were four Mill large millstones that were discovered by pal p in 20 4 and but they were on all on public land so the Assumption was that they were protected now it appears that with this new division the state division of land with bio reserves and private land and that big exchange that took place there are pieces of that bio Reserve that have

been made uh open to the public and purchased so two of the stones are sub to getting destroyed and in in this quick memo it looks like um we're going to talk to the owners they might donate the stones so they're already on the historic register they're they're charted they're listed so we should have some input but I'll have to give you more data when I yeah and we can I can

add that to the next agenda also so we can formally talk about it um that'll be good um in terms of the next meeting uh while I have everyone here um I am actually away that um the week of our next meeting which is um one two three so it's slated for July 16th um and I'm away that entire week um I will throw some dates around um I know we will be having to review um

we'll have all those continued letters of support and if it's like the last meeting I think that was what like six or seven letters right there um and I do know we have uh at least one possibly two properties uh that want to be nominated on the register um so we'll have we'll have a bit to talk about um do you does anyone prefer inperson virtual for something like this I prefer

inperson okay if we're going to be going through so many items yep okay I will I will reach out to Carrie and see when the room is is available um and then I'll get some dates I'll throw them out and see what works for everyone um so I'd rather not do virtual especially if I'm going to be away I I don't know what the Wi-Fi situation is going to be like

so um uh I will let Carrie know that the room is available on the 18 on the sorry the 16th of of July but we will reschedule um the meeting um we'll reschedule the meeting for July is there any uh adverse reaction to holding a meeting say on a Thursday night rather than a Tuesday if because the latter part of the week seems to be Freer up in the city hall right um there shouldn't

be um as long as there's there are no other committees that are using the space or um yeah there shouldn't be any anything I'll I'll ask harri though just so she can uh actually I'll ask Allison because I think she's the one who controls the uh schedule for the committee room but as far as we're concerned we don't have issue as a committee getting back to the end of the week or

so no okay good then all right so I will um once I have dates once we figure out a date then I will have that posted at least uh sooner than later so that way we can um so it's not our normal uh normal uh meeting date um all right so with that said we will um 6:33 um and we can adjourn um and we will be meeting at a to be determined

date in July uh may get a motion to adjourn the meeting then okay I'll make the motion that we adjourn you Rick um anyone else I'll second it motion all right that was Ashley got Ashley all right so motion by Rick second by Ashley to adjourn um so roll call Joyce Yes Rick yes Ashley yes John yes Elizabeth yes and Jason Bard and Rocky yes all right thank you very much everyone and you

have a good night too thank you guys