3.18.2025 Historical Commission

all right good evening everyone uh I'd like to call tonight's meeting of the Fall River historical commission to order um it is 6:m uh this meeting is being uh held in person at Government Center as well as uh virtually via Zoom um it is Tuesday March 18th 2025 at is 6: PM 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 I got a roll call um starting over to the right Ashley Duna present Jonathan Lima present Connie Soul present Jason bardar rocki present Rick man present Joyce Rodrick

present Elizabeth d block present viom ni elizeth all right and uh we do not have any open seats um all right so items uh one into on the agenda is review the minutes uh from January 28th 2025 and March 5th 2025 I realized that I did not include that in the packet so we will if we can have this tabled to our April meeting I'll make a motion I'll make a

motion to review and approve the minutes on on next meeting the minutes are for January 28th and March 5th okay I'll second that motion recommen sen thank you all right so I have a motion by Connie second and by Rick to uh table the uh review of the minutes January 28th and March 5th uh to be reviewed at our April uh 15th meeting uh roll call Ashley yes John yes Connie Yes Rick yes Joyce yes Elizabeth

Elizabeth yes okay thank you and Jason bushard Andi yes yes okay thank you all right thank you um is there any citizens input for tonight no um under under uh notice of intent to demolish uh item three I received a notice regarding 20 Laurel Street of multif family house uh for demolition it is not listed on the register of significant structures um um under correspondences item number four 386 High Street I

received an inquiry uh on February 26 2025 regarding replacement windows and any possible design regulations um if you're not familiar that is the Jefferson board in house number one um which is on the corner of High Street and Walnut Street it's a large Greek Revival house with a temple front um and I believe it was actually moved to that location um there are no design restrictions aside from I did inform

Carrie that there are no design restrictions aside from there being a demolition delay on any part of the building um in whole or part there or in whole or a part thereof um but I believe the building is being um rehabilitated into a multi multif family um so regarding that um it is in the highlands um National register district and then I received for item 5 um a inquiry on March 4th 2025 regarding 146 Franklin

Street um the historic significance of the property um and so I did give Carrie the um the file from that's available online on Maas uh with a mass historical commission um and just indicated that it is part of the lower Highlands National register District um so there is the the demolition delay I believe the property is for sale um so she was forwarding that over to whomever had inquired I

believe it was a probably a prospective buyer um okay so under new business item six uh we have masan Capital uh regarding a continued letter of support for historic tax credit application regarding the globe Mills at 460 uh Globe Street and I believe we have uh representation from masan uh good evening um if you can state your name and your uh position please good evening everybody edamon principal at mascan

Capital how are you tonight pretty good how are you good thank you um this is a continued letter of support um so have there been um any updates to the project since the last time that we met that is correct this is a request for continu to support and we have not done any work on the project on the building okay and we expect not to work for the next 8 to 10 months our

construction has start is Q2 q1 Q2 next year we are in the engineering design process between now and then you're doing the uh design process you said yes we are in the design process as we speak okay all right um any questions I I was just going to mention you're going to be back to us again in 3 months looking for another uh letter of intent U could you supply us with maybe an update on the

that point like a month before next meeting that would be great thank you so much excellent yes that's that's wonderful um because I know we will have um uh other attendees at our April meeting because I believe the filing deadline is April 30th for this current round um and then the next one you're right is August um July or August I'm not I think it's August but um so that

we'll we'll see you then for for the uh the next for the next round um so this is essentially they need to in order to stay in basically a queue to receive uh to be eligible for tax credits um they have to have continued support from the local uh historical commission that is a requirement um so sometimes especially during the design process there's literally no work that's going on um um

so I'll make a motion for a continued letter of support I'll second that motion thank you all right I have a motion by Ashley seconded by Connie uh for a letter of support um roll call Ashley yes John yes Connie Yes Rick yes Joyce Joyce yes uh Elizabeth yes and Jason bushard and Iraqi yes um anded I will have that sent over to you before the uh application deadline I appreciate that thank you and

have a good evening you too thank you thank you um thank you everyone uh for item seven um this was tabled on January 28th um it's a review of a annual letter template that would be mailed out to Property Owners within the highlands 40c uh local historic district um this is something that we have talked about um many years ago with the former historic district commission um so I had put this

together we didn't have enough time to review it at our January meeting um but it's this will be mailed out every year um every January February whichever um we'll have a updated list of uh mailing addresses um just so there's a uh if there's any changing of residents if properties have sold um sometimes it's hard to keep track of what properties are are changing hands I guess um so this just to kind of reaffirm

um that they're in a historic dist a local historic district and there's uh access to um design guidelines and if there's any questions they that we are a resource um so you need a motion to approve it yes was was there any are there any questions any corrections that have to be made little look good okay perfect thank you mhm all right yeah no no no questions looks good I'll send this um

in pending its approval I will send it over to uh Corporation councel for their review just so they are aware and then also the mayor just to keep it keep uh Communications open with that what we're doing as a board I'll make a motion to approve the letter for the um uh property owners in the historic district I'll second that all right thank you I have a motion by Connie reced by John to approve the

letter template for owners in the 40c uh Ro call Ashley yes John yes Connie Yes Rick yes Joyce yes uh Elizabeth yes and Jason Bard and Rocky yes all right thank you everyone um all right um item eight um this is a little lengthy it's the to review the draft of the 2024 annual report this also was tabled January 28th 2025 um so it's no different than last year's um I did add in

um information regarding the Form B project in steep Rook because that is ongoing um as well as any initiatives that we were involved in or will be involv in um uh under Outreach page seven and 8 in particular there's one regarding um the uh uh uh talk or seminar with real estate uh with Realtors local Realtors which will be coming up I believe in April I have a date for that um or proposed dates um

and then also uh regarding the uh 4dc expansion um and then under workshops I did include um the presentation by the students at Roger Williams uh that was done last April um with a little background information on that um and then on page nine and 10 um the addition of the certified local government because that was a rather significant uh achievement at least for the board um so I did include that as

well um and then everything else after that is um basically just updates of of all the the properties that were nominated to the city register um uh let's see those that were removed from the register uh any properties that were demolished that were not on the register um so everything is here along with letters of support that were issued a lot of them are uh are repetitive because of the um tax credits um and I

didn't really change anything to the inclusion from last year because it pretty much still stands um so that is it and I um yeah great job are there any questions on it any grammatical errors spelling issues you you were correct it is a lengthy report it is a lengthy report but the uh the discussion should be short it was it's a good job very good job very complete so if there there are no comments I'd be

glad to u to accept the report is that a motion that would be at a motion I'll second that motion all right I have a motion by Rick seconded by Connie to approve the 2024 annual report um roll call votes Ashley yes John yes Connie Yes Rick yes Joyce yes Elizabeth yes and Jason bushard nqi yes right thank you everyone um very much appreciated on that um nothing for register significant

structures um under old uh well uh we will have probably in our April meeting um this is uh regarding the fire that occurred yesterday at 386 Locust Street um I don't want really want to talk about it today it's not on the agenda it's also fresh um but I will just as to make everyone where we'll likely once more information comes out we'll discuss it at our April meeting um potentially

if there's any news if the building has to come down but um unfortunately um under old business um Bank Street Armory update so Alex Silva and I Alex Silva with the preservation Society he and I met with the mayor and um uh Jasmine Pereira who's the grant writer um we met early ear this was it earlier this month or late late at the end of February um regarding the Massachusetts preservation

projects fund we had the special meeting for um so we did Supply or uh produce the um Grant application at at the at the wire at the 11th Hour um after some delay but it was mailed out it was received uh yesterday today's Tuesday it was received yesterday but it was postmarked on the date that it was due um but so that is that is in the hands of the mass historical commission so we

will not know until July um regarding that project um but that is more of a plan B uh if anything I don't believe there's still any word on the museum organization that's looking to acquire the building um but uh so that a very large binder was sent over to the state uh for the Grant application um so that that is the update that I have on Armory um the Steep Rook bioreserve Form B update um

the um the um steep Brook area is completed um and that's that's part of or the smaller part of the bio Reserve uh the understanding at this point is probably 98% of the re of the uh uh field work has been completed uh they're in the process now of just digging into some of the historical background uh to just to add you know more more significance to the sites that were discovered and and digging deeper into

the history and U the last that I heard were probably looking at a June probably July uh presentation to us here right so it I would assume proba probably July we'll have a presentation what a completion of the project excellent all right thank you that's good um I received an email from uh Sandy Dennis with uh the CPC um regarding uh updates because the grant was initially approved in

2022 fcal year 2022 and um so they needed a letter updated in approved in 24 and will terminate September of 25 so I did Pro uh produce uh uh provide a letter to her with an update based on the information that you've given me um and then I think I do need to I think I just need to change one thing and it she sent it back but um that's going to be

reviewed I believe she said in their April meeting but still if it's September 25 we're within the time period for that approval oh yes yes um so and that was a $70,000 Grant from the CPC 70,000 correct okay um and so that and it might it it should be all completed by that point but it should stay open for just for payment any update regarding um presentation from um Dr Styles's uh she's still on sabatical

to the best of my knowledge so are we looking at maybe like from the students perspective for on their end like a fall when they come back CU we're yeah okay that's F that's okay I really don't know she's like I say she's on sabatical but that's okay I mean we've already met with the students once before um and if there's more information for them to give and you know I don't they're

running right into finals Seasons so it's a new group that did the last 12 buildings seven buildings okay yeah seven buildings um great um any other any questions on that no um um so then regarding um item number 11 the highlands local historic district expansion so a few things we did receive a few extra surveys back from that most recent round um I will scan those and I will send those to you um they were

positive um and then we've had a few pieces of mail that came back um so not sure about that um the preservation Society uh had submitted an application for a CPA CPC or CPA Grant uh for Form B um in the amount of uh it's very specific $ 69,6 um and that was the quote given to the preservation Society from the only quote that they got back they I think

they sent out for three or three or four quotes and they only got one back um so this is coming from palal pal which is doing the Steep Brook project um so the I believe the um the Grant application was approved approved by city council uh Alex had sent out uh today the go-ahead to proceed work um and that will um produce roughly 50 um surveys as well as updating or creating a uh study report

that will go to the state for the expansion um if there are additional properties that go into a more finalized Target area for the expansion um then if this project has to get extended ever so slightly that's something that we can uh certainly apply uh for a study Grant from the state for or additional potentially additional monies from CPC if necessary or the preservation Society could do

that yes and that I believe would be open also to an emergency okay if we needed a slight extension to complete the project even though it was for the quote was for 50 and if we have say like 75 houses instead of 50 then we could go for an emergency uh requisition okay through the CPC because of the extension the added work involved okay um so I mean it remains to be seen what ends up

happening and two uh with the surveys um especially if it's something that's a little bit more heavily documented like some of the houses on Highland Avenue for example um like I'm you I told Alex that we can I'm sure that us collectively as a board can throw throw together some of the surveys or at least uh get some of the background work done um and the um consultant that will be

working with um Alex or the preservation society and then collaborating with us uh is Elizabeth War Burton um with pal she is formerly from the Rhode Island uh historic preservation and Heritage commission uh so that's the state commission and she was also with uh Epsilon Associates in L um so the this is her area of expertise and she uh incidentally also has ties to Fall River so this is this will be a good project

for her um so that so that is underway um as I said Alex gave the go-ahead for them to start work I believe she will be coming to our April meeting um to meet with us ask any or answer any questions that we may have or she may pose questions from us um but um yeah so that's good that's excellent actually um so then regarding the second survey that we discussed sending out with a Google

form um so that is item 11c I just copied and pasted some segments of the original letter um I did add in the addition of um the additional group of houses or properties that we approved in October um and included the QR code which I've never done this before but I had my uh I had uh my uh partner help make sure it was working so it is working um so

but it's all in Google form which will uh do a ma uh an automatic update to an Excel sheet uh for how people answer um so if um uh and I meant to print out the um the actual report but if you have the time um and maybe we approve this maybe tentatively approve it um if there's no questions but if you're able to go onto the QR code not tonight but like at at

the meeting by a different time and just to see how it works because it does collect email addresses which I think would be uh crucial to providing any updates of the project um it does have a drop- down list with all the addresses in the Target area um so if we need to change that so it's more Anonymous I suppose or they just manually out their addresses we can do that too um but it's

just a drop- down list of of the addresses um the questions are the same and I also included Links at the end uh for fre frequently asked questions uh that was provided from the state um a link to that pamphlet um there's a difference it goes over between the differences of national and local um as well as a link to the register of significant structures and the um Mass historical commissions

database on macas so all of that is built into the into the Google form but it's you can do it right on your phone and once you hit submit it autop populates into an Excel form and we will have the result of it in like live um which is good um so I just wanted to make sure that um because it's uh tied we have the um historical commission email

address the far frhc but that is just a filtered email address so with Google uh with the Google formats coming from my my Gmail I just wanted to make sure that that's not showing on there um but so it's not which is good um but um if there's any questions on this if you can take a look at the survey online if you want to answer some of the questions

I'll see them and I can just go ahead and clear them out I'll give everyone access to it so they have that too so um so it's transparent um but just if there's any questions on it things that need to get edited um and then we can go from there and then once that's approved finalized then I will work with Carrie and send that out it should not this will be easy we just

just one piece of okay good job right yeah okay so um so any questions on this no Elizabeth any questions on do you need a motion um do you want to should we approve it approve it as is and just provide any comments if necessary anything that needs to get edited okay okay so I'll make a motion to approve the letter as it is and if we need any changes they'd be forthcoming

before is good and I'll second that motion all right thank you I have a motion by Connie seconded by Rick to approve the letter uh as is with Commons forthcoming um for the district expansion survey roll call Ashley yes John yes Connie Yes Rick yes yes and uh Elizabeth yes okay thank you and Jason bushard and icki yes all right perfect um and then we are scheduled uh to meet

next on Tuesday April 15th at 6: p.m. um and I already have emails from uh uh attendees uh or those seeking letters support uh that they want to come on to our meeting in April so this it will be we'll have a a pack schedule I believe um plus if Elizabeth is coming from or Liz War Burton is coming from pal so we'll have a a very we'll have a a

robust agenda for April um any questions at all okay um may I get a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting at 627 p.m. I will make a motion I will second 627 all right um Mo uh motion made by Ashley seconded by Rick to adjourn Ashley yes John yes Connie Yes Rick yes Joyce yes uh Jas uh Elizabeth yes and Jason gushard and rocki yes all right thank you very much everyone for tonight