MINUTES FEBRUARY 25, 2008
BUSINESS
1. Reviewed and accepted the minutes of January 28
2. Bills: Reimbursement of mileage to Past Perfect workshop in Farmington, Ct, $29.10.
3. 20 Depot Street: The Commission met with Mr. Levesque. He presented current plans, which show the changes made because of the topographic limitations to the placement of units depicted on the previous plans. The placement of the entrance road off Depot Street has changed because of the topography consideration affecting the plans. Now, besides the original request to move the studio, Mr. Levesque would like to move the carriage shed and the milk house. The Commission requested that other alternatives be investigated that would not necessitate the movement of the carriage shed and the milk house. Mr. Levesque's client has not begun work on the Conservation/Preservation Restriction agreement. A draft was to be presented to the Commission at this meeting. The Commission told Mr. Levesque that a
discussion of what can and cannot be altered could not begin until a complete assessment of the historic attributes of the structures and grounds is made. A copy of the MHC Preservation restriction regulations was presented to Mr. Levesque. Mr. Levesque will relay this information to the client and get back to the Commission at a future meeting.
4. Budget Hearing: Karen and Barbara attended the budget hearing on February 16. The Commission budget is level funded. A strong argument was presented by the Commission for a part time secretary. The map file cabinet that the Commission requested came under discussion. The Commission stated that if the Old Library were renovated so that the basement area is used for storage that this file cabinet would be part of that process; however, if that does not happen the Commission would need the cabinet for the proper storage of their historic maps.
5. Inventory of Historic Sites: Steve Bedford has submitted a draft copy of the inventory form. Having fulfilled the requirements of Phase II of the contract the Commission released the bill to the Selectmen for the second of the quarterly payments. The Commission requested a meeting with Mr. Bedford in the near future. MHC has also requested a date to meet with both Mr. Bedford and the Commission regarding the review of the documents generated in Phase II of the contract.
6. Concept Plans for renovation of the Old Library: Christian Carey, historic architect, will meet with Mr. Westcott. Michelle Hill, Mr. Boissonnault, Karen Brzezinski, and Barbara MacEwan at 10am on Friday
Feb. 29 to tour the Old Library. At that time, input will be given as to the needs for a Ch 15 Studio and
storage space for the Town.
7. Town Hall Windows: At this evening's Selectmen's meeting, the Commission will present for the Selectmen to consider, as they select the firm to install the windows in the Town Hall façade, information about vinyl versus wood in another community. The Peabody, MA Town Hall windows were replaced in the 1970s with aluminum replacement windows. Now 30+ years later they are failing so badly that Peabody is going back to wood windows, built at a cost of $10,800 each, that includes some extensive woodwork repairs since the 1970s renovation ripped out the original jambs and sills along with the original windows. If the original wood windows were in place, installing weather stripping, replacing broken sash cords and panes would cost around $250 each.
8. Mass History Conference at Holy Cross in Worcester on June 9: Commission members will make a decision as to attending later.
9. 10 South Longyard Road: There was a request for information about the property. Joe Ketchenel has found through deed research that the Fletcher family (Fletcher Grist Mill) owned the property at one time. The Commission decided to place it on the list of properties to be researched for the historic inventory list.
10. Amasa Holcomb: Asked by the Commission to do some research regarding Amasa Holcomb, Norm Storey conveyed that his elderly aunt, a descendant of Amasa Holcomb, did not have any documents related to Amasa. She suggested doing some research into the Methodist Church records, as he was one of the early ministers of the church. The other repositories of Amasa items his aunt mentioned, the Commission was aware of.
11. There will be a work session this evening. Robin and Rebecca will continue to work on scanning in the postcard collection to the Past Perfect program.
12. Request for photos of Southwick: Stephen Grimaldi would like photocopies of Southwick sites in the past to hang in the renovated Summer House. Mr. Grimaldi was told that the Summer House was originally a Friendly's Drive Up - the only one in the chain of Friendly Restaurants. When the Friendly Restaurants were sold to Hershey, they did not want the Drive Up so it was sold separately and became the Summer House.
MAIL
1. From Northeast Document Conservation Center a notice of the Spring 2008 workshop series
2. From the Planning Board a notice of a Public Hearing for an Estate Lot for 264 South Longyard Road to be held March 4 at 7:15pm
3. From the American Association for state and local History the newsletter "Dispatch" for February 2008
4. From the Selectmen the Jan 24 Town Hall Windows bid opening minutes
5. Open Space Min 1/9 Agenda 2/13, 2/25
6. E-Mail from Preservation Massachusetts - an announcement of the preservation workshops for 2008
7. E-Mail from Alison Hardy Window Woman of New England a report on the Peabody Town Hall Window Replacement problem
8. From the Selectmen a notice that the deadline for articles for the March 15 Special Town Meeting is February 15
9. E-Mail - An announcement of a Massachusetts History Conference a Holy Cross in Worcester on June 9 Theme: Sustaining the Future of Massachusetts History
10. From the National Trust for Historic Preservation the announcement of the National Preservation Conference to take place in Tulsa on October 21-25
11. From the Southwick Land Use Boards a notice about the Planning and Recreational Survey
12. Conservation Commission Agenda 2/4
13. From the Planning Board a notice of a hearing regarding the Scenic Road Tree removal on Honey Pot Road to be held on March 4 at 8:15pm
14. From the Massachusetts Historical Commission an announcement of the 2008 Preservation Award Program
15. Planning Board 2/5(meeting cancelled) Agenda 2/12, 2/19, 2/26
16. Board of Health Min 12/06/07, 12/20/07, 1/15/08, 1/24/08
17. From Cindy Pendleton a memo regarding the booking of rooms for meetings
18. From the National trust for Historic Preservation a notice of a National Main Street Conference to be held on March 30- April 2 in Philadelphia, PA
19. From Past Perfect the newsletter for January/February 2008
20. From the Trustees of Reservations an announcement of a Land Conservation Conference to be held on March 29 at Worcester Technical High School
21. From Bacon/Wilson, Kenneth Albano, a copy of correspondence with Ross &Ross, Richard Sypek, regarding the proposed Preservation Easement on the Laflin/Phelps Homestead at 20 Depot Street
22. From the Planning Board a notice of Public Hearings for Zone changes on College Highway on March 11 to be conducted at 7:15, 7:45 and 8:15 respectfully
Barbara MacEwan
Chair, Historical Commission
Karen Brzezinski
Todd Shiveley
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