HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC minutes 062619 Attachment 1
Orange County
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Meeting Summary
June 261h, 2019
Old Orange County Courthouse
106 W. King Street, Hillsborough
MEMBERS PRESENT: Todd Dickinson, Tom Loter, Art Menius, Paul Noe, Steve Peck
MEMBERS ABSENT: Susan Ballard, Becky Paxton (both excused)
STAFF PRESENT: Peter Sandbeck GUESTS: None
ITEM #1: CALL TO ORDER
Chair Dickinson called the meeting to order at 6:41 pm.
ITEM #2: CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO AGENDA: Staff will give an update about Stillhouse
Creek wood artifacts next to Post Office
ITEM #3: APPROVAL OF MINUTES for April 24th, 2019 (Attachment 1): Menius moved to
approve the minutes as corrected; seconded by Loter; motion approved.
ITEM #4: ITEMS FOR DECISION: None
ITEM #5: DISCUSSION ITEMS
a. Bingham School (landmark) developments following HPC visit:
Staff presented an overview of our HPC site visit, then discussed the information sharing
meeting held the following day at the school with Mountains To Sea Trail staff and
volunteers, the owner of Bingham School, the owner of the Steel String Brewery and
DEAPR staff. Issues discussed included: the extent and scope of the Brewery events; well
water usage; truck traffic; DOT requirements for turn lanes; and possible adjustments to
boundaries of parcel proposed to be acquired by the County to create larger buffers to
better protect the setting of the Bingham School property. This area called The Oaks
community was placed on the state Study List for the National Register back in the 1990s
as a rural historic district but was never defined with a detailed map. Staff the provided an
overview of the history of the community and showed photos of the historic properties
there. Discussion followed about the proposed land acquisition by the county and the
potential for a future rural National Register Historic District there.
b. Landmarks in ETJs: report back from meeting with Chapel Hill: Staff reported on a
recent meeting with a Town of Chapel Hill planning staff member to discuss landmark
issues for both jurisdictions. Chapel Hill is actually investigating the idea of expanding the
local Historic District Commission's role to include designating local landmarks within their
municipal boundaries. They are open to working collaboratively with the County.
Dickinson reviewed the history of the ETJ issue, where we have large swaths of land
around the municipalities where nobody has jurisdiction over historic preservation in those
ETJ zones. Staff will pursue getting more movement on this effort.
1
ITEM #6: UPDATES AND INFORMATION ITEMS
a. Brickwork Restoration Workshop at Burwell School re-scheduled: Our instructor,
Wayne Thompson, agreed to a new date of June 29 for the workshop, to be held from 9
am to 4 pm. We have 14 people registered so far and more calling to inquire. Dickinson
will be on hand all day to help out with various logistics. Peck and Barto Culp from Burwell
School will also be assisting. Burwell and can provide tables, chairs and a bathroom.
Visitors to Burwell may drop in on the workshop if they are touring the property.
b. Report back from CLG Training Workshop in Wake Forest:
Dickinson reported on this, which had a strong focus on cemetery preservation, including
some very informative case studies about how to protect rural cemeteries as development
moves into those areas. Some sessions also covered gravestone repair and conservation.
Staff will work to implement some of the Wake Forest processes into our planning process
to ensure that cemeteries are better identified and protected. Noe reiterated the concept
that often the best preservation is to do as little as possible and not draw attention to
these rural cemeteries.
c. Piper-Cox House update: Dickinson reported on progress on his work with getting
bricks cleaned and counted so that the future contractor can order the correct sizes and
numbers of bricks. Staff and several volunteers assisted, as did Wayne Thompson. The
state has awarded the project to Clark Poe Construction in Chapel Hill. Poe has done a
number of preservation projects, including the restoration of the Blackwood Farm barn
and outbuildings. This is a great outcome for the house. Work should begin in late
summer.
d. Eno Quaker Cemetery Update: The property owners who have been allowing access
are expressing concerns about the number of visitors to the site. John Bell and Larry
Barker are working hard to see if there are ways to obtain legal access via another route,
maybe by working with the homeowners association for the adjacent large lot subdivision.
Terri Buckner is still working on the draft landmark application.
e. Book project status/update: Menius reported that the committee met last Friday.
Editor/author Laura Phillips is continuing her work on writing the property entries. We are
reaching the point where we will need to start our fundraising in earnest, for the final
pieces of the project, like layout, design and printing.
f. Wood artifacts on Still House Creek: The Office of State Archaeology has
determined that we need to take this matter to the appropriate federal agency as this is
located on the Post Office property. They can't even enter the federal property without first
having consulted with the federal agency in accordance with the terms of Section 106 of
the National Historic Preservation Act. Staff will follow up with Renee Gledhill-Earley with
the SHPO to determine the appropriate federal contact, presumably the GSA. Ultimately
the federal agency will have to deal with this and figure out a way to mitigate the erosion
damage to protect the resources. Noe explained how archaeologists would approach an
investigation of this resource, in multiple phases depending on its significance.
g. Open airtime: None
ITEM #7: ADJOURNMENT: Menius moved to adjourn, seconded by Peck; meeting adjourned at
8:18.
Meeting summary by Peter Sandbeck, DEAPR staff
2