9.17.2024 Historical Commission

good evening everyone uh thank you for joining us uh tonight's uh meeting of the Fall River historical commission it is Tuesday September 17th 2024 it is 6:01 p.m. uh 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 may I get a roll call joce Rodrick present Elizabeth d block present Jason bushard nocki present Jonathan Leva present Connie Soul present uh Rick Mancini is absent um as well as Ashley Duna we do not have any open seats um before we move into the meeting itself um I would like to take a moment to remember Jim Su who was a

great friend to our commission and to the community and who champ and the causes that we advocate for um Jim had an effortless ability to connect with people he United people for causes that mattered to him and his wife Connie our fellow board member and friend and causes that were important to the city of Fall River uh in fact he gathered friends to resurrect the defunct Fall River preservation Society in 2005 uh

the society has worked closely with the historical Commission on numerous issues and projects um it was actually over 10 years ago that his advocacy led to the establishment of the study committee which eventually created the Highland's local historic district uh it's the city's first protected historic district um he aided the city in adopting the community preservation committee U act

in 2012 which has yielded over $13 million since that time in Grants that are worthy to causes in the city uh his contributions to the city um to be simply put uh our legendary and he was a great friend to us and he will be missed thank you you're welcome um item number one on our agenda is to review and approve the minutes from August 20th 2024 that Liz sent out

I'll make a motion to approve second and John thank you all right I have a motion by Connie seconded by John uh may get a roll call vote Joyce uh to approve the minutes get a second on that okay I approve approval yes okay Elizabeth yes uh John yes Connie yes and Jason bardi yes thank you um are there any citizens input for tonight okay thank you um we did uh not

receive any notices of intent to demolish um so item number two on the agenda under correspondences I did receive um an email from Carrie aash regarding uh stucko repair at 732 bed for Street uh the owners were inquiring whether or not the building had any design regulations which it did not um item three we had a uh an email from Jen dhy with the Massachusetts historical commission uh from August 30th 2024

regarding upcoming um fall virtual workshops from the MHC which I did forward that to everyone and actually Joyce you took one of those sessions so um I'll send the um the material that you've downloaded I'll send that out to everyone thank you you're welcome there's a few yeah there's a few other all of them are available quite frankly they're all available yeah I we've taken I've taken a few in the past and they're

they are excellent and they're very informative um the next one is coming up on the 18th of October and that's the basics of online research for historic buildings um so but they are free I just wish they weren't during the day I know but they uh they do record them so there's uh you can download the material afterwards okay m um item four under new business uh we have uh Fall River Community utilities

uh requesting a letter of support uh for Community preservation act grant funding this is for repairs to the Narrows Gate House of the Waterworks complex do we have yes hi Michael hi hello good evening good evening Michael boss here I work at 2929 Blossom Road I'm the city's wupa reservation of Forester um thank you for uh entertaining our request um I think the um the North wupa Pond Gate House which

sits theide route uh westbound Route 195 is kind of an iconic uh structure it's a part of the uh what's called the the Waterworks complex which includes the stand pipe on Bedford Street the uh the old pump house the intake uh building some some permanent uh non-contributory structures and the gate house which was uh rebuilt in 1908 it was or just shortly after that it burnt in 1908 and

um it needs a lot of exterior uh uh architectural work it needs copper gutters it needs some some roof work some uh uh some some other things that um uh that are long overdue and um I we're talking um strictly the exterior historic elements so so we have an application uh before the CPC we actually we were there last night and to get and they they voted to uh consider it eligible for funding

correct and that's for 250,000 um and this is the so I I found it very fascinating it still contains the mechanisms to release the water from North wapa to the South wapa which is that's fascinating it's a vital part of the system um so the north wupa is is seg segre ated of course from the Southwoods uper ponds um and um there's a half a dozen or so tributaries there's spring spring fed underneath the pond

Springfed from the land um some of the some of the dirty water goes through the uh the Interceptor to South wppa but that regulates the the uh it regulates the the height right of the pond and also prevents um the southw tuer from backwashing in MH okay so it's a functional building as well M yeah um and so this uh property or the structures within the Waterworks uh National register complex um there any

questions on on that at all okay um and I believe the application packets are due I think they said in December which I'll send it out before then anyways that letter but early December yeah early December um any questions for Mike on this topic um if there's no questions um there a motion to approve a letter of support I'll make a motion to approve a letter of support thank you I'll second the

motion Elizabeth all right motion by Connie SEC seconded by Elizabeth to support uh uh for the letter of support uh roll call votes Joyce yes Elizabeth yes John yes uh Connie yes and Jason bishard and rocki yes thank you all right thank you thank you we'll see you in a bit um all right uh item number five um is uh request of letter support from Tetro real estate regarding regarding um

letter of support uh for zoning board of appeals for 72 Belmont Street good evening evening Brian Corley Tetro real estate and uh the address for Tetro real estate is I'm sorry the subject address here are uh or your registered address I guess 161 Wilber have Somerset Mass thank you um and can you uh describe the project at hand regarding 72 balmont Street yep so there's a idated Barn

there um that we would like to tear down and turn into a multi family Residential Building okay um probably three units um and try to keep the footprint the same as is currently there and the outside aesthetic the same to fit in with the neighborhood okay um the so the barn that property is in the National register District not the not the 40c um and I what is what are they zoning four

currently is it three just three units right now I think I think we we still have to get a barrance for it which we'll be going for but um I think it should be able to get approved for three there what we're thinking yeah I think it's already zone for I think it's zone for three there's a there's a border that goes up to I think General residential which is no that's three

also but there's an area where I think it's up to five but that might be further down the street yeah yeah not our intent any um and so have you uh do you have any plans yet for the I only have some interior plans with just basic spec layouts of Apartments we don't have anything for the exterior yet okay uh and I don't have the site plan yet okay we wouldn't be reviewing exterior

anyways but um because it's not in that protected um in the highlands 40c at least um so right behind actually is it right behind yeah right behind that property on High Street that whole neighborhood behind the um 72 B Belmont that area is the um the highlands Local District which or local historic district which has designed regulations on the exterior um so the barn even though it's in the National register

district there would be um once I receive a notice of intent to demolish the barn there's a six-month demolition delay um so which we have we have reviewed those in the past if there's a request to wave it um and but um in terms of putting um does anyone have any questions regarding the creation of a 3unit building on the property behind the house this is the um the large red uh Victorian next to the Art

Association so with the zoning oh sorry go ahead no um is there a design that you're looking at for this three family I I don't have one yet no um like I said we try to use the same footprint and even still the same slab if it's still good we won't know until we demo it um but keep it in the same area and try to have it fit in as with the neighborhood as much as

possible I think there there should be there has to be a height requirement too over there um so I can't imagine it would have to be I mean it would be terribly tall I mean if it's going if they're with the existing height and scale of the building um for zoning but is there a reason they going with a three and not a two family um I don't know specifically uh I

we're thinking two stories not three stories oh I see like yeah the plan we've been looking at is two one bedrooms on the first floor and then a two-bedroom above on the second floor so it wouldn't be going up to three story okay all right so two one and then one two okay sorry I'm just making notes um I and then in terms of like um I guess will they will they require um for zoning

they'll probably require some parking I would imagine there should there's pretty ample space there for that so I don't imagine that's going to be an issue okay so it'll be parking on property is that yeah that I'm assuming they're going to require but yeah it's pretty there that's a very big lot U when all the the Shrubbery came down I surprised how that was um and all right I don't really have any

other questions but um so when so the thing with the with the planning board though or not the planning the zoning board um they will likely require the demolition of the barn but even though if they approve the demolition of the barn It ultimately still has to come before the historical commission if there's a waiver to the six-month delay um yeah um that has that line got blurred at one point um with another

property can't remember which but um so um I don't have any other questions for them um what's the time frame for having design submitted to the zoning board and I think it's supposed to be on the October meeting so we should probably have something for that perfect okay so that's coming right up all right so um and your role is your Ro a property manager um I'm not particularly in the design vent um okay need a

representative here tonight and okay the only one that was a the the so far the work that's been done on the house is is excellent the the porch railing for example the bast dve that's all in wood that's I mean it's it'd be cool if they designed it in a carriage style type you know something that kind of like mimics the style of the carriage house that's there kind of

Blends in just put a bug in your ear just there's that one that's on is it Lincoln um carage house that was the white one yeah it's near the corner of um what is it Lincoln I think in Lincoln and High Street there's a carriage house right up against the street that was rehabed and it's uh I think it's a single family but they retain the they retain the um the the

whole profile of the building and I mean it and that's not in the protected area either but it lands in so well it's really nice it's not intrusive to the neighborhood and stuff yeah all right um any other questions for Mr uh Corley all right um so this is for a letter of support for the zoning board uh may I get a motion if there's no questions on

it okay yes motion we got to make a I'll make a motion to I'll second Elizabeth thank you and John seconded by John so motion by Elizabeth seconded by John for letter support uh for item number five uh roll call Joyce yes Elizabeth yes John yes Connie yes and Jason brard and Rocky yes right I will have that prepared for you and send that right over thank you very much thank

you um let's see item six um 1620 Bedford Street um this is a letter support for Community preserv preservation act funding for welcome back welcome back the Waterworks repair shed number 12 hello again yes Mike loss here water department um so this is a another another building um that's a uh a little more modest it's a it's a it was on the um on our uh uh document for the National Historic register it was

called a repair shed uh We've replaced uh the function of that with the new Maintenance building however you can never have enough storage and so as a result we've we now use it for storage in fact I personally use it for a lot of our off seon Equipment tractors and such uh on Bedford Street so it's within the 22 acre the original 22 acre Waterworks sort of area parel and um it's a it's

just a modest uh structure we plan to repair it um in exactly the same manner that you see it just needs a roof it needs uh sofits and things like that so um that's we're hoping to get uh a letter seeing it's part of that historic area and um CPC again last night um approved it for eligibility um so on the national register um uh area form for the district um so this building is listed

as non-contributing however it is on the city's register of significant structures um so hence why it was one of the reasons why it made its way through the um through elig the eligibility round for CPC um and and I don't think I have any questions on that well and also plus too if it was 1930s when the survey for that property was done in the 80s it probably had not

even hit 50 years old at that time so which yeah um there's a unofficial rule of buildings for National register have to um be at least 50 years old um and when the property was surveyed in the 80s it was likely not quite 50 years old at the time an adolescent M yeah um so and it's just things like that it's just a matter of um you we've

seen uh and we've done it um as a board we've had U the inventory forms for historic resources in the city updated um you know usually involves hiring a consultant that will um uh do the survey reassess it and the forms are dramatically different from the 80s versus now from the mass historical commission um so if that's something of consideration in the future but I think most of the proper buildings over there

are listed as contributing um with the exception of this one I believe um yeah that's that's exactly right yeah um so I don't have well there's the Ice House the ice house yeah well actually but the ice house has it's probably the oldest of them all it's 1864 I think I think that is listed as part of the inventory already I think you're right it is yeah um any questions for robier no

um all right may I get a so there's no questions for Mr laasia this is for letter of support if someone make a motion to provide a letter support John I'll second the motion Connie all right I have a motion by John seconded by Connie for letter support for item six uh roll call vote Joyce Joyce yes uh Elizabeth yes John yes Connie yes and Jason Bard and Rocky yes thank you you're welcome I'll have L

sent over to you sure thanks very much you're welcome good evening um were you here for Citizens input earlier okay um we had already passed through citizens input but if we I'll make a motion that we um go back to Citizens input all right I'll second that keep it in the same spot the minutes or um you can add a line oh um so we have a motion by Connie seconded by John to Revis is it

citizens input uh may I get a roll call vote please Joyce yes uh Elizabeth yes John yes Connie yes and Jason bushard and Rocky yes all right so we are moving so you could just add a line in between and that we voted to reopen citizens input or move back into place okay okay should I list it separately though like after item six yeah um yeah because they didn't have a

number on there anyway thank you very much everyone um if you can state your name and your address please yes my name is Alicia Mitchell and my address is 275 Indiantown Road here in Fall River and this is my sister sorry Monique Mitchell satisfield address 275 Indian toown Road Val River I'm sorry your first name again is Monique m o n i q u e and Alicia is spelled a l i c i a thank you

I just prepared a quick statement so good evening commissioner members uh we are here this evening after receiving information about last month's hearing in which our Homestead was recommended to be listed as a historical home by Miss corer Pierce we are both the great great great grandchildren of Dr William Pat Panka Perry he was a well-known menaced man here in the area who healed many of the

original English settlers including the bostom family my sister and I are the 13th generation of the Perry descendants and our family has had uninterrupted occupancy of the wapa reservation since the 17th century I am the current stewardess of the Perry Homestead which is located at 275 Indian toown Road and Fall River on the wapa reservation while we understand the importance and the historical

significance of our Homestead we are requesting that the house be named the Perry Family Homestead as Fanny Perry was a Parry through marriage her maiden name was Jackson and she relocated from uh mashby from the mashby reservation toal River to marry our great great great grandfather as the original Homestead was taken under emo domain by the city of h River in 1907 our home and the

remaining reservation reservation which is approximately 100 acres was gifted to the Perry Family on September 11th 1911 we have continued to preserve and protect these sacred lands with honor and peace and while we appreciate Miss Pearson's effort we do believe that it is with ill intention that she made this request as we have been in dispute with her and other members of the Picassa wak

tribe who are trying to claim the land and her Homestead as their own our family is the only family to have never left the reservation which is why we were the only family to receive a home and the land from the city of full River back in 1911 we are asking today that you honor our family and name the home the Perry Family Homestead thank you for your time thank you thank you

thank you thank you thank you very much um do we have any questions for Miss MIT at all um one thing so one thing that I know actually we are in the process of doing uh we have the form BS the surveys for the for the bio Reserve so are you technically in the bio Reserve area or okay this is good okay so we are um actually in the process of working with

um a preservation consultant um that will be doing a survey of historic resources and sites within the bio Reserve um and I believe we just hired a firm um so this will be it'll be something that's be carried on for the next few months at least okay um and so uh part of that will be updating and creating um we call them form BS they're inventory forms for historic buildings

and sites and um so those items will be uh uh researched right down to they go through deed records they go through land evidence and and that sort so um and there's a lot of public input that's involved in that okay um so and that's the type of uh like a a primary research that um is usually required for that sort of a thing and so because you're already in that area I'll check with

Rick um our vice chair he's not in he's not here today but um I know he's working with that that consultant um so that's kind of more of like his project I guess um so because that will be once those form BS are updated then that's what's given over to the Massachusetts historical commission okay making it that's that solidifies it okay um and so we would love this input as well um and

because as we've found to the historic resources that were available when a lot of these surveys were done in the 80s some of the resources were it was very quick how a lot of this information was compiled um so we found houses that don't have the correct name for example so um and now that the forms have changed and there's um a greater level of um access to research or access to

material and archives um a lot of that information is getting corrected um so that's something we would love we keep communication going with with that AB absolutely so thank you very much for thank you very much to leave email contact information I just something um I I have your have yours yes um so I will absolutely pleas thank you so much thank thank you bye um all right may I get a motion to go back in

order um so this will be so we move citizens input out um so I just need a motion to go back in order to revisit item number this will be under register significant structures number seven I'll make a motion to return to item number seven okay I have a motion by Elizabeth I'll second second by John all right I have um to go back in order um Joyce yes Elizabeth yes John yes and Connie yes

and Jason Bard and Rocky yes okay thank you um so item number seven uh is a nomination property nomination property owner nomination for 256 258 Maple Street I actually need to recuse myself on this and we'll step out but I do notice it says 256 258 it's 256 it's 256 yes not 2 all right yes so I'll step out all right little edit to that all right let me go find this wait

what was the this is item 7 um but what was the discrepancy about the address oh I have it listed in the um agenda 25628 yes it's 256 yep sorry that was my mistake so correction on the agenda is 256 maple not 26258 all right um so this is a property owner nomination um to the Fall River register significant structures um uh this is the Martha and Margaret Peters house built in

1905 and the material has been provided um by Jim Su um so and there's some before and after photos that were included um to show the current exterior of the house that's cool to see I've only ever seen the after yeah I know a lot of work went into into uh rehabbing rehabbing the house um and I did look on the through the libraries website to see if I could find at least an architect and I

couldn't find an architect but I was able to confirm the year 1905 um so I don't think we have anything on that branch of Maple Street uh westall school is listed on the register Bel we don't have anything beyond that um it is on the corner of School Street and we actually do have um there's a few houses on School Street that are on the city's register but um

so this will be good to extend it down a bit um are there any questions regarding the nomination it's always been historically and in present use as a three family um and the style it's shingle style would you say shingle style Queen an shingle style yeah I mean I would say I would just categorize it as a Triple Decker Triple Decker they typically don't they might have elements of a

style um but it's more just like a vernacular building form mhm okay um and on the form uh for designation the criteria uh we have 9A regarding significant character interest or value as part of the development Heritage cultural characteristics of the city um and then item um 9 C reflects the environment in an era characterized by a distinctive architectural style um which is important to know to a lot of these a

lot of the triple Deckers that were constructed were shingle clad some with mostly shingle um some clappers but um you'll have the details like there's this arched uh recess porch on the second floor and um there's classical details as well with the porch columns and um but this is it is indicative of the style that was prominent in the early 1900s um any other questions to accept

it no okay um all right I get a motion to accept 256 Maple Street onto the register I'll make a motion all right also get that Elizabeth and John just need a roll call vote to accept uh 256 Maple Street um Joyce Bank stre Arm right no no uh 256 Maple Street um for the register yeah 256 Maple Street we're voting to accept it into the register okay okay do you vote what

what's your vote Yes yes thank you uh Elizabeth yes John yes and Jason bushard and Iraqi yes right thank you you um should we get Connie Connie thank you thank you um all right so under old business item 8 an update on the bank Street Armory um so uh Rick and I met with Alex uh Silva from the preservation society and we did present um a uh a path to um needed to rehabilitate the building

um so that was provided to the mayor and um to mer hugan and uh to city council as well since we will be ultimately it's under the care of City Council um so um regarding that though there's some other pieces moving right now so that uh we're we're working alongside the city but we're waiting for there's some moving pieces that we have to wait for from them um so um item nine um we have a demolition

delay ordinance Amendment update which I did include um so the there was an amendment to the de I ordinance so this is now um ordinance 2 uh 2024-25 uh which will be inserted at the end of section 38-13 um which relates to restrictions on the issuance of demolition permits um it is quoted um for the city-owned properties the building inspector shall not approve any application for a permit

to demolish prior to the expiration of 12 months from the St uh from the date that chairperson of the historical commission received the written notice of intent under uh required under um 38-11 um and this was uh approved by city council September 10th and approved by mayor Coogan on September 11th of 20124 um so this is for city-owned properties now um have if there's an intent to demolish city-owned

properties it is now 12 months good news that is very good news yes that's very good news who whoever that was the Pres that was the preservation Society uh Alex and Jim pushed through that so and they're from my understanding there were no questions on that so um which is good um because we have there's there's a few that might be coming up so um so no that's good um so that is that um item

10 an amendment to the historical preservation ordinance regarding membership um so Connie this you were out but that came up because of the CLG the certified local government application um so it was an oversight by the Massachusetts historical commission when we submitted all of our material they signed off everything was signed and sent off to Washington um the uh National Park Service came back there's a conflict

with the membership of the historical commission um part of I believe three members were appointed by the mayor four members appointed by by city council they have to all be confirmed or appointed by the mayor um which went under the radar by mass historical um so that was presented to um the ordinance committee and city council had no objections to it so ultimately they will be um the mayor will appoint all members

of the historical commission um and then confirmed by uh approved by City Council confirmed by city council so at least then there's some um uh so do we have to get reappointed we will have to get reappointed so it did pass the first reading I believe at the last city council meeting um so they have a meeting coming up on the 24th a week from today um so I'm not sure if

it's going to be on that agenda but once that goes through and uh put into the ordinance um then we will have to get reappointed um or Yeah reappointed by uh or sworn in Sorry by the mayor um and interestingly enough we were also that setup that we had where it was part mayl appointment and Part City Council appointment uh was also in conflict with the state chapter uh chapter 40 okay yep interesting

yep we're an anomaly they' never seen that before right so um in most cases it to I think it was not I I don't think it was requirement per se but um for CLG it's a requirement um so once that happens then we will be resubmitting all of our paperwork back to for CLG which shouldn't I can't imagine it's going to be drawn out like it happen but um so so

that's that regarding that so once I have the updated Amendment um I will pass that around to everyone um and then item 11 Highland's local historic district expansion update um so a few things um last night the community preservation committee met to review um applicants for the next round for grant funding the preservation Society uh submitted an application we will be working with them um an

application for um funds that will go towards um the hiring of a preservation consultant uh that will do the form BS that will be needed uh for the 40c expansion um so that did pass the first round or at least pass the eligibility hearing um uh I believe they requested $50,000 uh we had um I know I think Alex had a quote I had a quote we were just getting numbers from various you know um

uh organizations in the area and just in general I know um there was a consultant that was working on downtown's nrhp expansion so it varies between anywhere from 200 50 to $500 per property or per re well property resource um so for the creation of the form bees and then also the um they would they will work with us whoever the consultant may be uh would submit the um the study findings to the

state because ultimately once we get approval from the state then we go through SBA adopted by city council so that entire packet has to go to City Council um at our last meeting we did uh vote to to send out another a second set of surveys um so I'm still updating the addresses um or those that um had already received a survey um so the letter will have um basically it'll it'll address those who have already

completed their survey and then those who may not have submitted um I the holdup on my end is because it we're trying to do it on um a web survey um which I have not done before so um I have um I contacted um Sarah page about how they did do their they had a web survey for for the Flint uh Village so I think they use Survey Monkey but I could

also possibly use Google form I just had to uh chat with it to see how we can do that um so it'll have a QR code or a website listed probably QR code so they can just link right over to that um because I don't want that to go around outside of the those who have received a survey mhm um um but did you see the surveys that I sent out to everyone the

completed ones I didn't I'll resend them out um in general they were pretty positive we had a few um a few uh property owners that um wanted some additional info and then a few couple had said no they don't want to be they don't think that the district should be expanded but the majority of them wanted the district to be expanded we only received maybe 32 32 I think you said

out of 49 technically 147 two of the properties are uh South Coast Health which will be they they've already contacted me about that um but they were pretty positive which is good um that's awesome yeah um none of the any of the nonprofit the only nonprofit that since that we sent out that that sent their survey back oh there too it was uh the Art Association and cry Rock Church I received that but nothing from the

Historical Society or school department uh Fire Barn or Little Theater and I think there's one other and I can't remember the name but um they didn't uh send theirs back so yeah um but still uh CPC last night they were pretty impressed with the scope of how large the area or at least the target area that we want to expand to so that was good um yeah so once I

have that I'll send it out to Carrie I'll give it to Carrie and have it sent out I'm trying to have it not be as thick of a packet as it was before um because there was a lot of material that went out um so I hope to have that done before our October meeting and then then we can start once we have those back then we'll have um we'll start scheduling public meetings on that um

so um I don't think I have anything else nope that's it for old business um so we are scheduled next to meet on let me just look at my calendar October Tuesday October 15th we are scheduled to meet um is there anything else anyone has no okay um may I get a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:41 p.m. we'll make a motion to adjourn thank you I'll second John thank you um motion

by Elizabeth seconded by John to adjourn Joyce yes Elizabeth yes John yes Tomy yes and Jason buard yes thank you very much everyone thank you thank you