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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-23-12 Historic Preservation Advisory Board MinutesBOZEMAN HISTORIC PRESERVATION ADVISORY BOARD Minutes of the August 23, 2012 meeting Members present: Steve Keuch, Jen Britton, Lesslei Nunn, Angela Keesee, Jillian bower, Courtney Kramer, Paul Reichert, MarK Hufsetler, Lisa Verurys, Lora Dalton, and Tim McHarg, City Planning Director Guests: None Public comment: No public comment was made. There was some brief conversation about the pending sale of the Armory Building. Committee Updates: Mark said he believes that our current committees and their meetings should be put on hold for the fall while we reassess our work plan with the City. Jen said that she would lead the effort to hold a cemetery tour again this October, and there was conversation about a speaker from the Rural Cemetery Monument Society For a guest speaker. Policy; has not been able to meet due to summer NE Neighborhood Assoc. is holding a weekend Wall party Dale Martin will be a tour guide at the event Education; has been working on a smartphone walking tour app for Bozeman’s Main Street historic district. The goal is to have a beta test by this fall. Save Americas Treasures Grants $150K is available for projects in the downtown area. Four proposals were submitted and the City in consultation with the State Historic Pres. Office and the National Park Service screened them. The proposals: Caird historic lighting, Rialto building renovations, Emerson Center windows, and the building at Wild Joes Coffee. The top selections were the historic lighting project and the Rialto Building because they were located in the core of downtown and had the strongest historic preservation elements. Bozeman School Board The school board is seeking proposals to reuse the old east Willson School. The proposals are meant to be open ended and creative ideas to use the building so the board can weigh some private sector options. Sept. 17th Meeting with the City Commission Background; City is questioning the role and focus of all the public boards, over 40 currently. They would like to know more about the tasks and goals of the BHPAB. We would like to have a clear sense of purpose and results oriented goals – that are well aligned with the City Commission needs. There is also a need to educate and inform the commission on the value to the city and community of preservation, and strengthen the support of city staff – so the efforts of staff, board and city are well aligned. The HPB program is over 25 years old and its worth re-evaluating. There was discussion that the city would like to have our assistance in reevaluating and revising the overlay district that protects historic character of Bozeman. Commissioner Cyndy Andrus also has posed a few questions we will address on the 17th. Questions related to the value of tax abatements. The discussion was about options for recognizing (incentives) for preservation like conservation easements, a local city tax abatement, or broader recognition along the lines of the preservation awards that can be flexible in nature. Motion: A motion was made to recommend to the City Commission that they suspend the Tax Abatement ordinance or its implementation. The motion was approved unanimously. There was discussion about how we move forward and were we need two standing committees. There is recognition that the city needs from us a clear sense of our responsibilities and our action plan (or tasks) that we are committing to and it’s our job to be very focused on those things. And we should structure our workings (committees) around those commitments. Each person had a chance to speak about the topics, goals they feel are important – and the methods we might use to achieve them. Some topics raised were: the Depot, the Caird Lighting restoration, Awards, public events, the E. Willson School, being advocates, an MSU historic district, the overlay zone. A criteria filter could help weigh priorities like; can we make an impact and is the timing right, do we know who the decision makers are, do we have resources or funds to do it, what are the assets to affect change, is there an opportunity – We should not take on tasks or projects were we do not have the alignment to make a positive impact. Funds; the HPC account has about $2,500 available.