HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC minutes 012517 Attachment 1
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Orange County
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Approved Meeting Summary
January 25th, 2017
Old Orange County Courthouse
106 East King Street, Hillsborough
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MEMBERS PRESENT: Bob Ireland (Vice-Chair), Allie Mead, Art Menius, Tom Loter and Grace White
MEMBERS ABSENT: Jaime Grant
STAFF PRESENT: Peter Sandbeck GUESTS: None
ITEM #1: CALL TO ORDER
Vice-Chair Ireland called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm.
ITEM #2: CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO AGENDA: Menius wished to speak about NC DOT as
an informational item.
ITEM #3: APPROVAL OF MINUTES for December 14th, 2016 (Attachment 1): Menius moved to
approve the minutes, seconded by Loter; motion approved.
ITEM #4: ITEMS FOR DECISION:
a. Election of Chair: Staff reviewed county policy regarding the requirement to
have a chair and vice chair. This will be an election for just this meeting . Our
official procedures call for an annual election each March. Menius nominated
Ireland as interim chair, seconded by White; motion passed.
ITEM #5: DISCUSSION ITEMS
a. Historic Resources Evaluation Execise (Attachment 2):
Staff reviewed the handouts for evaluating the Mebane-Currie-Brown House (OR 1143--
located in Cheeks Township on Efland-Cedar Grove Rd.) and explained how the HPC has
handled the evaluation process over the years. The existing evaluation form has some
issues that are due to be corrected. For example, this form gives extremely heavy
weighting for age and makes it harder for properties like the Gosling Log house to be
ranked higher due to rarity and other more nuanced qualities. Discussion followed about
how significance can be ranked/evaluated. Issues include how to address additions and
alterations, and how to actually assign a date to a building that was built in many stages
and some of the periods were more significant than others, but not necessarily the first
period. Staff gave a PowerPoint presentation showing current and historic photos of the
property and its outbuildings. Members discussed the scoring system and filled out their
evaluation forms. Scores ranged from 40 to 56.6, with most in the mid-50s, giving an
average score of 52. There was general agreement it is challenging to reduce a historic
building evaluation to a simple numerical value—there are so many variables to consider.
b. Historic Preservation Month:
Staff reviewed the general history of how the HPC has observed Historic Preservation
Month in the past. Recent discussions with the Alliance produced the idea of a program or
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lecture, to be sponsored jointly, to get a topic with appeal to a wide audience. Members
made a variety of suggestions for ways to observe the month: self-guided driving tour on
one day with maybe 4 or 5 houses that owners are willing to allow to be featured. Or
maybe put out a “mystery photo” of some neat architectural feature from various historic
properties, could be a detail or church tower etc, on regular basis. There was a recent
historic preservation tour of Ayr Mount that partnered with Leland Little that was well
attended. Or plan a dinner that could bring people into properties. Are there ways to get
building owners to open up their properties for a special tour event? Maybe a church, a
country store and a residence? Offer cookies and refreshments? Five or six places would
be ideal. Members felt that Blackwood Farm offered good opportunities to be opened up
for a special tour. The slave cemetery there could be highlighted too. We need to consider
the audience that we hope to reach. Can we include/reach kids? Is there a way to
incorporate the Occaneechi Village if there is progress on that? We should take
advantage of publicly-owned sites. The courthouse might lend itself well to being a focal
point—many have never toured it. There is the Hollow Rock store and even the law office.
Just a tour of all of these places--all are examples of different types of historic resources
of different periods, could do a booklet about these. Also the White Cross School (1930s
landmark) or the Expedition School, in the Eno Mill, or even Bellevue Mill that is underway
now. Hands-on activities will appeal to kids, like coming in to clean artifacts. Do we have
artifacts that could be brought out for a day? There are a lot of artifacts available at
Blackwood Farm. Members should come to the next meeting with their list of possibilities
to share with the group. Staff could compile this into a list and share with members. We
can promote a property every day through the month, and perhaps create events every
week. Let our promotion build up every day, then have experiential events weekly? What
about social media? Do we have a Twitter or Facebook account? The County tourism
folks could tackle this for us. Could the HPC have its own Facebook Account?
c. Member ideas about activities and meeting topics:
Staff raised the question about what sorts of things the HPC would like to do when we
have meetings without much on the agenda. Members will think about this and bring back
ideas to the next meeting.
ITEM #6: UPDATES AND INFORMATION ITEMS
a. Report Back from Book Committee:
Staff provided a brief update on the outline that they are working on.
b. Courthouse Restoration Project:
Funding is being proposed for the county capital budget for a major phased restoration
and preservation program for the Courthouse over the next three or four years.
c. Other updates:
The Hollow Rock store has been moved and is undergoing restoration now. Occaneechi
Village will have a workday on Saturday Feb. 25. Colonial Inn continues to drag on.
d. Open Air Time for members to share information
Menius shared an update about the DOT MPO plan that was presented last week; it
stated that if all the proposals were carried out there would be no traffic problems by 2040!
ITEM #7: ADJOURNMENT: White moved to adjourn, seconded by Loter; meeting adjourned at 9:14
pm
Meeting summary by Peter Sandbeck, DEAPR staff