Historical Commission, Feb 7, 2011 Minutes
Present
Member: Jim Collins, Wendy H. Goldberg, Janet Jones, Jane Loos, Donna Lubell,
Geraldine Millham,
Alternate: Norma Judson, Sean Leach, Christine Vezetinski
Absent
Member: Sharon Connors
Alternate: Anne (Pete) Baker
Jim Collins (JC) opened the meeting at 7pm in the basement meeting area at Town Hall. In the absence of one member, JC named Alternate Sean Leach (SL) as voting member, bringing the total number of votes to seven.
Others in attendance included:
Stanley H. Cornwall 126 Cornell Road, Westport
Tim Gillespie Designer for Westport Disability Commission
Jeanne & William Kendall 205 Brayton Point Road, Westport
Gregory Nowell 1907 Drift Road, WPT
Jenny O’Neill Westport Historical Society
Elaine Ostroff Chair, Westport Disability Commission
Betty Slade 2037 Main Road, WPT
Peter Streng 1818 Main Road, WPT
Judith Turner representing owner of 434 Hix Bridge Road
A. General Business
1. Minutes of Previous Meetings. Jane Loos (JL) explained that the draft minutes of all three January 2011 meetings had been circulated electronically to all members.
(a) January 3 Executive Session. The meeting noted typos to be corrected. Wendy Goldberg (WG) moved and Donna Lubell (DL) seconded a motion to approve the draft as amended. The vote in favor was unanimous, with Sean Leach (SL) abstaining because he had not attended that meeting.
(b) January 3 Regular Meeting. Geraldine Millham (GM) and Betty Slade suggested some corrections/clarifications. Janet Jones (JJ) moved and GM seconded a motion to approve the draft as amended. The vote in favor was unanimous, with SL abstaining because he had not attended that meeting.
(c) January 11, 2011 Special Meeting. JL noted one typo for correction. WG moved and GM seconded a motion to approve the draft as amended. The vote in favor was unanimous, with Sean Leach (SL) abstaining because he had not attended that meeting.
2. Treasurer’s Report. GM presented the report as of December 1, 2010 (Attachment 1):
(a) WHC expense account had a balance of $372.50. Revenue to date is $400.
(b) WHC Trust Account balance is $12,389.87. The Wolf Pit School Trust balance is
$6,417.29.
(c) The Town Farm expense account is $1,222.35. The Town Farm Trust balance is
$11,223.57
3. Administrative Matters
(a) JC read to the meeting the contents of the Building Inspector’s January 7, 2011 report to the Board of Selectmen concerning the status of work on 1813-15 Main Road (Attachment 2).
(b) JL informed that she could not find the signed Certificate of Appropriateness for 1892 Main Road that had been approved at the January 3, 2011 meeting. She asked the Chair and the Acting Secretary for the public hearing to resign a duplicate.
(c) JC informed that the Planning Board would hold a public hearing on March 2, 2011 to reviews several proposed changes to Town Zoning Regulations.
(d) Norma Judson (NKJ) inquired if there was anything WHC could do to improve clearing of sidewalks in the historic district. The sense of the meeting was that this issue was outside of WHC mandate.
B. Public Hearing for amendments to the Certificate of Appropriateness for 1985D Main Road - 7:30 PM
1. Greg Nowell represented the owners Dr. Peter Kelsy. Mr. Nowell demonstrated the proposed changes to the Certificate of Appropriateness issued on October 5, 2010, via a scale model, as well as updated drawings.
2. The votes on the proposed changes were taken separately for each façade, based on drawing dated January 15, 2011:
(a) East - change of shed roof material from membrane to raised metal tern, and change door on main house east side next to the shed to a window in the same location, matching the existing window. GM moved and JJ seconded a motion to approved the proposed changes. The vote in favor was unanimous.
(b) North – add a door to the shed; join the two dormers into one and add a window towards the middle of the new dormer. GM moved and WG seconded a motion to approve the proposed changes. The vote in favor was unanimous.
(d) South – second floor –lower the placement and height and change the proportions of the south facing gable, which would also affect the profile of the gable rooflines when seen from the East and West; and add a second floor window to the left of the gable, matching the one to the gable’s right. WG moved and GM seconded a motion to approve the proposed changes. The vote in favor was unanimous.
– first floor – lift the placement of the 4 approved, double-hung windows and remove the scuppers from the lower edge of the balcony wall. GM moved and WG seconded a motion to approve the proposed changes. The motion was approved, with the vote as follows: In favor: 6 WG, JJ, SL, JL, DL, and GM
Against: 1 JC
Abstain: 0
A. General Business, continued
5. The sense of the meeting was that it was regrettable to lose a charming small barn like this. The meeting noted that WHC should consider ways in which it could act in the future to reduce the incentives and incidence of demolition by neglect.
6. WHC authority can delay demolition to provide time to identify and pursue possible alternatives to demolition. In this case, however, the prospects of developing an alternative solution – either the owner finding another course of action or someone else moving the barn—were very slim. Therefore, the meeting concluded that, without a prospect for a happier outcome, it would be an unnecessary hardship on the owner to act to delay the demolition of a building that the BI considered a hazard.
7. JL moved and WG seconded a motion to determine that the barn at 434 Hix Bridge Road was not a preferably preserved building. The vote in favor was unanimous. GM undertook to inform the BI and the owner.
8. Proposed Changes to WHC Definition of Abutter for Notification Purposes. Betty Slade reported that the current definition of abutter for notification purposes is any property within 300 feet of the applicant’s property. She recommended reducing the distance to 50 feet, plus properties across the road from the one in question. Even this reduced scope far exceeds the notification requirements in Chapter 40c, which call for notifications to immediate abutters only. It was noted that WHC’s current definition results in some hearing notifications going out to 26 abutters. Betty Slade also explained that the new on-line GIS system used by the Planning Board and the Board of Assessors makes it very easy to identify the abutters as well as to print out mailing labels. In practice, the WHC Clerk uses this system, and does not rely on the list of abutters submitted by the applicant, which would have to be double-checked against the GIS system anyway.
8. The meeting discussed the notification practices of other town departments, and considered how alternative notification definitions would work in the particular circumstances of the historic district.
9. Betty Slade and JL also suggested that WHC begin to notify all other property owners in the historic district by email. They explained that many of the email addresses were already known to the Westport Point Neighborhood Association and/or other organizations, and JL has agreed to assemble the database. They also explained that WHC would continue to post public hearing notices at the Westport Point Post Office and Town Hall.
10. JL moved and JJ seconded a motion (a) to approve a 50 foot scope for notification of abutters (up to 55-60 feet at the discretion of the Clerk) plus those across the road, and email notifications for all others for a trial period through June, 2011; and (b) to amend the application form to remove the requirement that the applicant submit the list of abutters and replace it with “the Commission shall identify and notify all those requiring notice for a public hearing.” The vote in favor was unanimous.
11. Handy House Preservation Restriction Agreement (PRA). Jennifer O’Neill and Betty Slade (Westport Historical Society (WHS) Director and Vice Chair) requested WHC feedback about how it intends to handle its oversight duties under the Handy House Preservation Restriction Agreement. JC suggested that a subcommittee of three WHC members be named to interface with WHS on this matter, with final decisions being taken by WHC as a whole. JL moved and JJ seconded a motion to appoint Anne (Pete) Baker, GM, and WG to this subcommittee. The vote in favor was unanimous.
12. The WHS officials presented their preliminary thinking about immediate and longer-term steps to bring the property up to the standards needed for public access, museum and WHS headquarters functions, and requested WHC guidance. They presented sketches for handicapped parking and 20 space paved parking lot within the PRA area, and a second driveway farther away from the intersection on Drift Road (See Attachment 4). They also discussed possibly adding another building and removing the existing garage.
13. After a lively discussion, JC summarized WHC guidance as follows:
(a) WHC fully supports creating amenities at the Handy House so that the citizens and visitors can see the house and participate in its activities.
(b) The parking proposal is of concern, with the proposed paved lot being most worrisome, and unnecessarily large if pasture areas were used on those occasions that brought large numbers of people to the site.
(c) The existing PRA allows for the existing garage to be eliminated, but limits the scale of any potential additional building to 400 square feet in addition to that of the (eliminated) garage. Therefore, WHC has no objection in principle to adding another building, but could not give any further guidance without first seeing the specific proposals.
(d) Establishing two handicapped parking spaces in front of the garage appears to be no different than how parking is done now.
(e) WHC has no objections to WHS pursuing the stabilization part of the work list prepared in August 5, 2010 (See Attachment 5); anything beyond that first phase would need to be discussed first with the WHC sub-committee and presented to WHC with full documentation of how the proposed work would be done (e.g., electrical installations, exits, HVAC, new restroom facilities, etc.)
14. Handicapped Ramps at Town Hall Annex. Elaine Ostroff and Stanley Cornwall (Westport Disability Commission Chair and Vice Chair) presented a proposal to replace the Town Hall Annex ramp, front stairs and railings, using funds being sought from CPC. Ms. Ostroff explained that the lack of an appropriate handrail is a building code violation, and the ramp and stair surfaces have deteriorated badly and need replacement. Tim Gillespie presented schematics of the proposed new ramp and railing sytems; this would involve removing the existing decking and railing, continuing to use the existing vertical elements, and installing commercially available handicapped-appropriate railings and new ridged face decking (See Attachment 6).
15. Sean Leach (SL) moved and WG seconded a motion to recommend the proposed improvements to replace the ramp deck and railing system and the front stairs treads and railing at the Town Hall Annex along the lines of the proposal. The vote in favor was unanimous.
16. Executive Session (see separate minutes). JL moved and DL seconded a motion to adjourn the regular meeting at 9:50pm and move to executive session to discuss pending litigation. The vote in favor was unanimous. The regular meeting resumed at 10:05pm.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 10:10pm. The next regular WHC meeting will be March 7, 2011 at 7pm.
draft prepared by JL, approved March 7, 2011
Attachments:
1. Treasurer’s Report as of 2/7/11
2. Building Inspector’s report as of 1/7/11
3. 434 Hix Bridge Road: 1/17/11 Rebecca Turner letter, 12/23/10 BI memo
4. Handy House Parking and Plan of Land
5. August 5, 2020 Scope of Work for Handy House from Architectural Preservation Group
6. Westport Town Hall Annex ramp renovation
Member: Jim Collins, Wendy H. Goldberg, Janet Jones, Jane Loos, Donna Lubell,
Geraldine Millham,
Alternate: Norma Judson, Sean Leach, Christine Vezetinski
Absent
Member: Sharon Connors
Alternate: Anne (Pete) Baker
Jim Collins (JC) opened the meeting at 7pm in the basement meeting area at Town Hall. In the absence of one member, JC named Alternate Sean Leach (SL) as voting member, bringing the total number of votes to seven.
Others in attendance included:
Stanley H. Cornwall 126 Cornell Road, Westport
Tim Gillespie Designer for Westport Disability Commission
Jeanne & William Kendall 205 Brayton Point Road, Westport
Gregory Nowell 1907 Drift Road, WPT
Jenny O’Neill Westport Historical Society
Elaine Ostroff Chair, Westport Disability Commission
Betty Slade 2037 Main Road, WPT
Peter Streng 1818 Main Road, WPT
Judith Turner representing owner of 434 Hix Bridge Road
A. General Business
1. Minutes of Previous Meetings. Jane Loos (JL) explained that the draft minutes of all three January 2011 meetings had been circulated electronically to all members.
(a) January 3 Executive Session. The meeting noted typos to be corrected. Wendy Goldberg (WG) moved and Donna Lubell (DL) seconded a motion to approve the draft as amended. The vote in favor was unanimous, with Sean Leach (SL) abstaining because he had not attended that meeting.
(b) January 3 Regular Meeting. Geraldine Millham (GM) and Betty Slade suggested some corrections/clarifications. Janet Jones (JJ) moved and GM seconded a motion to approve the draft as amended. The vote in favor was unanimous, with SL abstaining because he had not attended that meeting.
(c) January 11, 2011 Special Meeting. JL noted one typo for correction. WG moved and GM seconded a motion to approve the draft as amended. The vote in favor was unanimous, with Sean Leach (SL) abstaining because he had not attended that meeting.
2. Treasurer’s Report. GM presented the report as of December 1, 2010 (Attachment 1):
(a) WHC expense account had a balance of $372.50. Revenue to date is $400.
(b) WHC Trust Account balance is $12,389.87. The Wolf Pit School Trust balance is
$6,417.29.
(c) The Town Farm expense account is $1,222.35. The Town Farm Trust balance is
$11,223.57
3. Administrative Matters
(a) JC read to the meeting the contents of the Building Inspector’s January 7, 2011 report to the Board of Selectmen concerning the status of work on 1813-15 Main Road (Attachment 2).
(b) JL informed that she could not find the signed Certificate of Appropriateness for 1892 Main Road that had been approved at the January 3, 2011 meeting. She asked the Chair and the Acting Secretary for the public hearing to resign a duplicate.
(c) JC informed that the Planning Board would hold a public hearing on March 2, 2011 to reviews several proposed changes to Town Zoning Regulations.
(d) Norma Judson (NKJ) inquired if there was anything WHC could do to improve clearing of sidewalks in the historic district. The sense of the meeting was that this issue was outside of WHC mandate.
B. Public Hearing for amendments to the Certificate of Appropriateness for 1985D Main Road - 7:30 PM
1. Greg Nowell represented the owners Dr. Peter Kelsy. Mr. Nowell demonstrated the proposed changes to the Certificate of Appropriateness issued on October 5, 2010, via a scale model, as well as updated drawings.
2. The votes on the proposed changes were taken separately for each façade, based on drawing dated January 15, 2011:
(a) East - change of shed roof material from membrane to raised metal tern, and change door on main house east side next to the shed to a window in the same location, matching the existing window. GM moved and JJ seconded a motion to approved the proposed changes. The vote in favor was unanimous.
(b) North – add a door to the shed; join the two dormers into one and add a window towards the middle of the new dormer. GM moved and WG seconded a motion to approve the proposed changes. The vote in favor was unanimous.
(d) South – second floor –lower the placement and height and change the proportions of the south facing gable, which would also affect the profile of the gable rooflines when seen from the East and West; and add a second floor window to the left of the gable, matching the one to the gable’s right. WG moved and GM seconded a motion to approve the proposed changes. The vote in favor was unanimous.
– first floor – lift the placement of the 4 approved, double-hung windows and remove the scuppers from the lower edge of the balcony wall. GM moved and WG seconded a motion to approve the proposed changes. The motion was approved, with the vote as follows: In favor: 6 WG, JJ, SL, JL, DL, and GM
Against: 1 JC
Abstain: 0
A. General Business, continued
4. Proposed Demolition of Barn at 434 Hix Bridge Road. Judith Turner represented the owner of this property, her daughter Rebecca Turner. GM reviewed the steps taken by WHC after the Building Inspector (BI) had informed that he had received an inquiry from the owner about demolition of this barn, which is on the Westport Historic Inventory. GM advised that the BI concluded that the front plate had rotted through, causing the front rafters to sink, the back rafters to slip off the back plate, and the back wall to pull away; she also informed that the BI had fallen through the floor when he inspected the barn. GM read to the meeting the contents of the BI’s memorandum dated December 23, 2010 and the January 17, 2011 letter from the owner (Attachment 3).
5. The sense of the meeting was that it was regrettable to lose a charming small barn like this. The meeting noted that WHC should consider ways in which it could act in the future to reduce the incentives and incidence of demolition by neglect.
6. WHC authority can delay demolition to provide time to identify and pursue possible alternatives to demolition. In this case, however, the prospects of developing an alternative solution – either the owner finding another course of action or someone else moving the barn—were very slim. Therefore, the meeting concluded that, without a prospect for a happier outcome, it would be an unnecessary hardship on the owner to act to delay the demolition of a building that the BI considered a hazard.
7. JL moved and WG seconded a motion to determine that the barn at 434 Hix Bridge Road was not a preferably preserved building. The vote in favor was unanimous. GM undertook to inform the BI and the owner.
8. Proposed Changes to WHC Definition of Abutter for Notification Purposes. Betty Slade reported that the current definition of abutter for notification purposes is any property within 300 feet of the applicant’s property. She recommended reducing the distance to 50 feet, plus properties across the road from the one in question. Even this reduced scope far exceeds the notification requirements in Chapter 40c, which call for notifications to immediate abutters only. It was noted that WHC’s current definition results in some hearing notifications going out to 26 abutters. Betty Slade also explained that the new on-line GIS system used by the Planning Board and the Board of Assessors makes it very easy to identify the abutters as well as to print out mailing labels. In practice, the WHC Clerk uses this system, and does not rely on the list of abutters submitted by the applicant, which would have to be double-checked against the GIS system anyway.
8. The meeting discussed the notification practices of other town departments, and considered how alternative notification definitions would work in the particular circumstances of the historic district.
9. Betty Slade and JL also suggested that WHC begin to notify all other property owners in the historic district by email. They explained that many of the email addresses were already known to the Westport Point Neighborhood Association and/or other organizations, and JL has agreed to assemble the database. They also explained that WHC would continue to post public hearing notices at the Westport Point Post Office and Town Hall.
10. JL moved and JJ seconded a motion (a) to approve a 50 foot scope for notification of abutters (up to 55-60 feet at the discretion of the Clerk) plus those across the road, and email notifications for all others for a trial period through June, 2011; and (b) to amend the application form to remove the requirement that the applicant submit the list of abutters and replace it with “the Commission shall identify and notify all those requiring notice for a public hearing.” The vote in favor was unanimous.
11. Handy House Preservation Restriction Agreement (PRA). Jennifer O’Neill and Betty Slade (Westport Historical Society (WHS) Director and Vice Chair) requested WHC feedback about how it intends to handle its oversight duties under the Handy House Preservation Restriction Agreement. JC suggested that a subcommittee of three WHC members be named to interface with WHS on this matter, with final decisions being taken by WHC as a whole. JL moved and JJ seconded a motion to appoint Anne (Pete) Baker, GM, and WG to this subcommittee. The vote in favor was unanimous.
12. The WHS officials presented their preliminary thinking about immediate and longer-term steps to bring the property up to the standards needed for public access, museum and WHS headquarters functions, and requested WHC guidance. They presented sketches for handicapped parking and 20 space paved parking lot within the PRA area, and a second driveway farther away from the intersection on Drift Road (See Attachment 4). They also discussed possibly adding another building and removing the existing garage.
13. After a lively discussion, JC summarized WHC guidance as follows:
(a) WHC fully supports creating amenities at the Handy House so that the citizens and visitors can see the house and participate in its activities.
(b) The parking proposal is of concern, with the proposed paved lot being most worrisome, and unnecessarily large if pasture areas were used on those occasions that brought large numbers of people to the site.
(c) The existing PRA allows for the existing garage to be eliminated, but limits the scale of any potential additional building to 400 square feet in addition to that of the (eliminated) garage. Therefore, WHC has no objection in principle to adding another building, but could not give any further guidance without first seeing the specific proposals.
(d) Establishing two handicapped parking spaces in front of the garage appears to be no different than how parking is done now.
(e) WHC has no objections to WHS pursuing the stabilization part of the work list prepared in August 5, 2010 (See Attachment 5); anything beyond that first phase would need to be discussed first with the WHC sub-committee and presented to WHC with full documentation of how the proposed work would be done (e.g., electrical installations, exits, HVAC, new restroom facilities, etc.)
14. Handicapped Ramps at Town Hall Annex. Elaine Ostroff and Stanley Cornwall (Westport Disability Commission Chair and Vice Chair) presented a proposal to replace the Town Hall Annex ramp, front stairs and railings, using funds being sought from CPC. Ms. Ostroff explained that the lack of an appropriate handrail is a building code violation, and the ramp and stair surfaces have deteriorated badly and need replacement. Tim Gillespie presented schematics of the proposed new ramp and railing sytems; this would involve removing the existing decking and railing, continuing to use the existing vertical elements, and installing commercially available handicapped-appropriate railings and new ridged face decking (See Attachment 6).
15. Sean Leach (SL) moved and WG seconded a motion to recommend the proposed improvements to replace the ramp deck and railing system and the front stairs treads and railing at the Town Hall Annex along the lines of the proposal. The vote in favor was unanimous.
16. Executive Session (see separate minutes). JL moved and DL seconded a motion to adjourn the regular meeting at 9:50pm and move to executive session to discuss pending litigation. The vote in favor was unanimous. The regular meeting resumed at 10:05pm.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 10:10pm. The next regular WHC meeting will be March 7, 2011 at 7pm.
draft prepared by JL, approved March 7, 2011
Attachments:
1. Treasurer’s Report as of 2/7/11
2. Building Inspector’s report as of 1/7/11
3. 434 Hix Bridge Road: 1/17/11 Rebecca Turner letter, 12/23/10 BI memo
4. Handy House Parking and Plan of Land
5. August 5, 2020 Scope of Work for Handy House from Architectural Preservation Group
6. Westport Town Hall Annex ramp renovation
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