HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC Minutes 102517 Attachment 1
1
Orange County
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Approved Meeting Summary
October 25th, 2017
Old Orange County Courthouse
106 East King Street, Hillsborough
___________________________________________________________________________________
MEMBERS PRESENT: Todd Dickinson, Bob Ireland, Tom Loter, Allie Mead, Art Menius
MEMBERS ABSENT: Jaime Grant
STAFF PRESENT: Peter Sandbeck GUESTS: Kim Livingston, Land Conservation Manager
ITEM #1: CALL TO ORDER
Chair Dickinson called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm.
ITEM #2: CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO AGENDA: None
ITEM #3: APPROVAL OF MINUTES for Sept. 27th, 2017 (Attachment 1): Menius moved to
approve the minutes with correction noted for page 2; seconded by Ireland; motion
approved.
ITEM #4: ITEMS FOR DECISION: None
ITEM #6: DISCUSSION ITEMS
a. Lands Legacy Action Plan update presentation: Kim Livingston, DEAPR Land
Conservation Manager, provided an overview presentation and summary of the Lands
Legacy Program. She is in the process of updating their existing Action Plan, which
covered the period 2014 to 2017. Since the start of the program, the county has
expended $17.5 million on land protection projects, with $8 million leveraged from
partners. Private landowners have contributed property valued at $1.2 million. The
BOCC continues to commit funding to make this an ongoing program. The matter of
ongoing funding for archaeology was discussed. Kim asked members to review their
comments from 2013, to see if they are still valid or if the HPC wants to make
adjustments to add or remove items from the list. One suggestion was to have Kim
share her list of priority properties so that the HPC can determine if any of those have
special cultural resource value that might enhance a land protection project and/or
improve funding prospects. She needs our input soon.
b. Scheduling for joint public hearing with BOCC for landmark designation of Dr.
Arch Jordan House on 12/4 or 12/12:
Staff reviewed the timeline for holding the public hearing for the Dr. Arch Jordan
House. Members agreed that it will be best to hold the hearing on Dec. 4; most can
attend. A quorum will be essential.
c. Interest in combining December meeting with BOCC meeting:
Members discussed this option and agreed to hold our regular meeting on Dec. 4,
right after the joint public hearing, in the small meeting room in the Whitted Building.
2
d. Annual Report and Work Plan for 2017:
Staff marked up last year’s report to provide you with a first pass at revising and
updating. Our past practice has been to add new accomplishments and delete the
oldest ones at the bottom of the list as shown on pages 1 and 2. The funding for the
planned courthouse preservation project is a major accomplishment. The County will
be seeking the best qualified architect/engineering firm we can obtain via our RFQ.
We may seek input from the HPC to help review the proposals. We need to add a
bullet point to describe our successful “Farm to Table” event at Blackwood Farm last
May for Preservation Month. Members discussed the rest of the report. There is
interest in having us reconvene the Preservation Summit that we helped sponsor in
2012, so may need to keep that item on the list. The BOCC expressed interest in
some type of local historical marker program, starting with the Efland Home. Staff
asked members to review the last two pages that cover the goals for 2018 and the last
section covering concerns/issues that we want to bring to the attention of the BOCC.
Our deadline is December 15th.
e. Membership:
Staff reminded members that we were now going to have two vacancies with the
resignations of Jaime Grant and Allie Mead. The letter recommending Mr. Stephen
Peck was sent up to the BOCC for appointment at their Nov. 7th meeting. Discussion
followed about recruitment of new members. Staff needs to work with county PR office
to issue a press release to solicit new members. Do we consider an ordinance tweak
that will allow us to specify that our membership is geographically balanced, ie, limited
to avoid having too many members from the urban areas? The Outboard rules allow
for this. Staff will follow up with the County Attorney to see what is possible.
ITEM #6: UPDATES AND INFORMATION ITEMS
a. Book update: Laura Phillips has started work on her initial review and assessment of
all of our existing book materials, with an expected completion date of early to mid
December. Staff gave her a day-long tour of the rural parts of the county last week.
b. Efland Home National Register Nomination/Highway Marker: This was approved
by the SHPO’s National Register Advisory Committee on Oct. 12 and has been sent
up to the National Park Service for final approval.
c. Cedar Grove School National Register Study List: The SHPO approved this for
placement on the State Study List, so it is now considered to be eligible for the
National Register. Staff will initiate the final phase to get this placed on the Register.
d. Kirkland House landmark and easement progress: Staff met with the owners and
Cathleen Turner from Preservation NC. The owners are very interested in landmark
status and will probably pursue an easement with PNC.
e. Open air time for other new information: Dickinson asked if members would
consider meeting at an earlier time, say 6 or 6:30. Discussion followed. There was a
general sense that 6:30 would be a good time to start. Some other boards meet at 6 or
6:30. We will discuss again at our December meeting. Maybe we could try this for the
January meeting. Staff will discuss with the county attorney to see who needs to
approve the time change.
ITEM #7: ADJOURNMENT: Menius moved to adjourn; meeting adjourned at 8:25 pm
Meeting summary by Peter Sandbeck, DEAPR staff