HomeMy WebLinkAboutclarification of Historic Preservation minutes.docxFrom: Courtney Kramer
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2010 10:50 AM
To: Carson Taylor; Chris Mehl; Sean Becker; Jeff Krauss; Cyndy Andrus
Cc: Tom Stonecipher; Aimee Kissel; Chris Saunders; Chris Kukulski; Stacy Ulmen; pitamakan; Allyson Bristor
Subject: Preservation Board Minutes Clarification
Importance: High
Dear Commissioners,
As I was the person who did a poor job recording the minutes for the Bozeman Historic Preservation Advisory Board’s June 24, 2010 meeting, please allow me to clarify a point of confusion.
The minutes reflect the Preservation Board’s motion and vote to recommend that the commission require the property owners of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity house at 410 West Garfield
to contribute $5,000 to mitigate the loss of a mid-20th century historic structure. In the immediately preceding discussion, the BHPAB concluded that although HABS/ HAER documentation
of historic structures has become a standard mitigation for demolition of a historic structure in Bozeman, the community could benefit more from the loss of the Phi Sigma Kappa house
(which the BHPAB did not oppose) if the demolition aided in understanding more of Bozeman’s mid-20th century architecture.
The intent of HABS/HAER is to create the tools necessary to reconstruct the to-be-demolished historic property. This has been a crucial mitigation tool used to document buildings previously
demolished or extensively altered in Bozeman for which the original drawings cannot be located. Holy Rosary, the Osborn Building, and First Security Bank, to name a few, are properties
for which HABS was the appropriate mitigation tool. As the original blueprints for the Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity House are on file in Special Collections at Montana State University,
and Planning Staff has already completed a Site Form for the property, additional HABS documentation might be superfluous in this case. Really, all that remains to be completed is the
high-quality photographs that the building deserves before demolition.
The Phi Sigma Kappa demolition again brings to light the deficiencies in the City of Bozeman’s Inventory of Historic Architecture; a 1984 document which finds most mid-century architecture
either “neutral”, “non-contributing” or “intrusive”. Many of these properties now meet the Secretary of the Interior’s standards for eligibility to the National Register of Historic
Places, yet the identification of historic mid-century properties worthy of protection in Bozeman has not been pursued. The BHPAB felt that, rather than require the property owner to
spend resources on superfluous documentation, the community and the preservation program as a whole would benefit more from an investigation of Bozeman’s historic mid-century architecture.
In summation, the Preservation Board’s recommendation to the commission is essentially as follows, in order of preference:
Option 1: that the property owner contribute $5,000 in mitigation to be used in identifying historic mid-century architecture in Bozeman as well as complete HABS photography prior to
demolition of the Phi Sigma Kappa house
Option 2: that the property owner contribute $5,000 in mitigation to be used in identifying historic mid-century architecture in Bozeman
Option 3: that the property owner complete HABS photography prior to demolition of the Phi Sigma Kappa house
The intent of my email is not to advocate for one option or the other, but rather to elucidate the discussion that lead to the motion and vote you see reflected in the BHPAB minutes.
Please include this email as a matter of public record in the file, and consider the information as part of this evening’s commission discussion. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
Thank you for your time,
Courtney Kramer
Historic Preservation Officer
City of Bozeman
406-582-2260
www.preservebozeman.org