HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC Meeting Summary 08232023 Orange County
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Approved Meeting Summary
August 23rd, 2023
Bonnie Davis Center, 1020 US 70 West, Hillsborough
MEMBERS PRESENT: Tom Loter, Art Menius, Cecelia Moore, Paul Noe, Steve Peck, Todd Dickinson,
Anne Whisnant
MEMBERS ABSENT: None
STAFF PRESENT: Peter Sandbeck GUESTS: Abby Mattingly
ITEM #1: CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 6:34 pm.
ITEM #2: CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO AGENDA: Staff introduced new DEAPR staff member
Abby Mattingly, who handles our general administrative operations.
ITEM #3: APPROVAL OF MINUTES for April 26th, 2023:
Whisnant noted that she was present in April so asked that the minutes be revised to
reflect that. Peck moved to approve as corrected; seconded by Noe, motion approved.
ITEM #4: ITEMS FOR DECISION: None
ITEM #5: DISCUSSION ITEMS
a. Planning for Ridge Road School public hearing, moved to Sept. 27t" regular
meeting: Staff noted that due to schedule conflicts, the hearing date will be moved to our
next regular meeting on Sept. 27th. We need to have a quorum in order to hold this public
hearing. This is a routine hearing with no opposition, so it will not take very long to hold
this event. Most members indicated they'd be able to be present.
b. Evaluating prospective new candidates for future landmark and National Register
designation projects, and review of past evaluations: Staff discussed the evaluation
form that was developed by this group back around 2010 to provide a relatively objective
process for evaluating prospective landmark candidates. This is our equivalent of what the
SHPO does to evaluate candidates for the National Register. Initially the HPC used the
National Register as a possible evaluation tool to help identify future landmarks. Staff
walked members through the roster of past evaluations. Over the past 10 years, members
have raised questions about some criteria used in our scoring process. It seems to be
overly weighted toward older properties and those listed on the National Register or Study
List. We are not bound by the past evaluation scores in the event that an owner wishes to
reopen the process for a landmark that didn't get a high score years ago. HPC established
that properties needed to achieve a score of at least 50 points to be considered to be
potentially eligible for landmark status. Staff noted that our task tonight is to look at the
evaluation criteria and offer suggestions/recommendations to refine/improve the criteria.
Are some of our criteria weighted in favor of"traditional" historic landmarks—bringing the
unintended consequence of skewing our evaluations away from what might be considered
non-traditional candidates? This might apply to more recent Modernist properties or
properties associated with underrepresented communities that might not score well for
integrity. Is there a way to imagine a scoring system that allows us to add points for
1
resources that clearly fill in some of the gaps in our program? Discussion followed. The
"environmental significance" category seems to be more broadly applicable because it
incorporates useful explanations from the National Park Service. Integrity has been an
ongoing issue in past evaluations. Another idea is to shift age down to a "mitigating
circumstances" category. All agreed it will be challenging to recalibrate the age criteria to
make it fair. Staff explained a parallel process that the SHPO and National Register
programs had to undertake to rethink their old criteria in order to allow deteriorated or
altered Rosenwald Schools to become eligible—that process took a few years.
Risk/endangered status is also a challenge. Staff showed photos and discussed past
candidates that the HPC has evaluated. More discussion followed. There was consensus
that staff should proceed to take this input and develop a revised evaluation form that
incorporates this discussion, to present back to the HPC at a future meeting.
c. Scheduling for holding Davis Cotton Gin landmark joint public hearing with BOCC:
It's time to hold the required joint public hearing for this landmark application. Staff will
coordinate with the BOCC meeting schedulers to determine a date, perhaps in October or
November. Also we will be presenting the Ridge Road School National Register
nomination to the BOCC on Oct. 3; we need to have some members present for that.
d. Training opportunities for members to allow HPC to comply with state requirements
to maintain Certified Local Government status: The SHPO requires the HPC to
demonstrate that at least two members have attended/taken approved training programs
or courses each Federal fiscal year. We are nearing the end of the window for training this
year. One way to accomplish this is for two members to volunteer to view three of the
SHPO's approved videos and fill out a simple form for each one. Staff will email the link to
the SHPO's YouTube channel. Noe, Moore and Whisnant volunteered. Preservation NC is
holding its annual meeting in Durham this year, from Oct. 4-6. The HPC budget can pay
for the registration for a member to attend. Please let staff know if you're interested.
e. Proposed field trip to tour Old Orange County Courthouse including clock tower:
Staff suggested this might be a worthy tour candidate given the fact that there is funding
for a future major preservation project now in the county budget; unfortunately this funding
was shifted back to around 2027 or later due to budget constraints during Covid. Staff will
consult with court staff to determine some dates.
ITEM #6: UPDATES AND INFORMATION ITEMS
a. Moorefields public archaeology day: Noe reported that this has now been scheduled
for Sept. 23, from 10-2. They will have board members and the archaeology consultants
handle the tours outdoors and share the information. He will let us know if there are any
particular events happening at specific times that we need to be aware of.
b. Oaks community rural National Register historic district: The community group is
dealing with several different issues right now, primarily the matter of preserving a key
farm from development. They may come to us later to apply for a CLG grant for this.
c. Troy and Roberta Andrews House National Register Nomination Project: The family
is still considering options: to nominate the house only, or the entire farmstead with the
early 191" century log house and the late 19t" century farmhouse and related outbuildings.
d. Book Project: We've been able to fund a new contract with the book design firm to start
the editing process. This has helped defray the printing cost so we are gaining on the
funding goal. They had to review the word count which was 50% too high, so staff has had
to do serious editing and is now reviewing these adjustments with our author. Staff will
share the historical and architectural essay texts with the book committee and HPC.
e. Open airtime: None.
ITEM #7: ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 8:10 pm.
2
Meeting summary by Peter Sandbeck, DEAPR staff
3