February 18, 2021 ~ Historic District Commission Meeting

2021-02-18 · Historic District Commission · 45:12 · watch on YouTube →

A short remote meeting of the Historic District Commission, chaired by Candace deCsipkes, given over almost entirely to the commission's items in the town's comprehensive plan. Members reported that the structure survey is being entered into a database, that town planner George Sabarge (?) will research and report back on how the commission, planning board and codes officer should coordinate on permit review, and that the Union Church committee has yet to be formed. The longest discussion was on the comprehensive plan item asking the commission to advise and assist property owners on tax credits, which members concluded is beyond their expertise: the state itself advises anyone pursuing National Register listing to hire a consultant. They agreed instead to put a page on the town website linking to the state webinar, brochure, list of consultants and state contact, and not to write to the selectmen about progress since the annual town report and posted minutes already record it. Members also discussed producing a verified list of historically significant houses, noting the list currently in the comprehensive plan is a hand-me-down nobody has checked.

What was discussed

1. 0:04
   Minutes

   The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and the minutes of the previous meeting were moved, seconded and accepted.

2. 0:04
   Structure survey database

   Candace deCsipkes reported she is working with Tammy to get the structure survey information into a database, with a meeting postponed by snow to the following week. She said the survey covered every structure built in 1920 or earlier, and that at some point the commission will want to work through that long list and pull out what is genuinely historically significant.

3. 0:04
   Union Church committee and the town manager interview

   There is no action yet on the Union Church committee. On the town manager review, deCsipkes asked Ruth about a commission member joining and was told Kevin Nadeau had to decide; he has not returned her calls. Another member has submitted paperwork for the citizens' portion of the review and has had no answer despite expecting one. If none of them is on the panel, the commission may instead draft questions about the town's history for the interview.

4. 0:04
   Coordination with the planning board and codes officer

   deCsipkes said she had a helpful conversation with town planner George Sabarge (?) about how the commission, the planning board and the codes officer should work together on permit review. He is researching what other towns do and what the state says, will write a report, and after that the three can meet.

5. 5:16
   What the comprehensive plan lists as historically significant

   The planner told her the places identified in the comprehensive plan are the Eureka Grange, the Friends Meeting House, the old Chandler Mill, the Cattle Pound, Dyer's Ferry at the end of Ferry Road, Gerrish Mill and the Samuel Robinson House. Members were unsure what the old Chandler Mill is and could not say why some of these were singled out; one thought the Samuel Robinson house is the cape across from the Union Church.

6. 5:16
   Archaeological resources

   Two possible sources were tried. The Greater Portland Council of Governments, which wrote part of the town's comprehensive plan, has not been helpful. A contact at the Department of Transportation, which records finds made when roads go in, said he would look into it and has not come back. A state contact for archaeological resources has been identified but not yet approached.

7. 5:16
   National Register tax credits

   Two members watched a Maine Historic Preservation Commission webinar covering the National Register, how it works and what eligibility involves. A state contact, thought to be Mike Johnson (?), sent a state brochure on the register and a list of consultants, because the state advises that anyone pursuing listing needs a professional and that it is too complicated for a body like this commission to handle.

8. 5:16
   Remaining comprehensive plan items

   The mid-term items are long range plans for the Union Church and the Methodist Church, which await a committee being formed, and contacting owners of National Register properties and those eligible about preservation projects.

9. 10:50
   Putting information on the town website

   Rather than advising homeowners, deCsipkes proposed assembling material for the town website: a link to the webinar if permission can be obtained, the state brochure, the list of consultants and funding sources. Members agreed that advising and assisting homeowners is well beyond the commission's scope but that pointing people to tools and resources is a reasonable attempt at the same aim.

10. 10:50
    Writing to owners of significant houses

    A member suggested that alongside a general notice on the website, the commission could write to owners of houses it identifies, telling them their house has been recognised as having potential historical significance and repeating the resources. That would first require the commission to define what it means by historically significant and produce a list meeting that definition.

11. 10:50
    Doubts about identifying significance

    deCsipkes said she would not want the commission looking at every old house and deciding whether it is eligible for the National Register, though local knowledge could help on significance to the town's own history. A member raised a house on Route 125 said to have been part of the Underground Railroad and asked how far such stories should be corroborated, and noted that a house antique on the outside may have had everything of the period stripped out inside.

12. 16:12
    What to do with such a list

    Members weighed the risk of telling an owner their house is significant only for them to pursue it and hit a dead end. One said the list handed in for the comprehensive plan was a hand-me-down that has been resubmitted with every plan without ever being verified, and that producing a checked list, with photographs, would leave the next comprehensive plan committee something real to work from.

13. 16:12
    Dating houses from the tax records

    Using tax records to date buildings runs into two problems: Durham changed counties around 1850 and some records were mis-transcribed, producing clusters of properties dated 1860 or 1870 with nothing in between. Grouping by decade was suggested as a way round it. The survey already breaks properties down using tax roll information plus what families could add, including one house that appears on the Durham roll long after it was actually built elsewhere and moved.

14. 21:28
    Historically versus structurally significant

    deCsipkes suggested two separate categories, historically significant and structurally significant, the latter being something the state looks at. She said this is better done once everything is in the database, which members agreed would make the job easier.

15. 21:28
    Who oversees the comprehensive plan

    Asked who checks whether committees are carrying out their comprehensive plan items, members concluded nobody does: the plan functions as a vision statement, the historical items came from the commission itself, and the selectmen are not monitoring it.

16. 21:28
    Whether to record why an item cannot be delivered

    One member wanted a written rationale explaining why the advise-and-assist item cannot be carried out as written, so a future commission is not set the same impossible task in the next plan. Another (?) said nobody would read it and it would be a waste of time. It was agreed that the minutes, if posted and archived, provide the record without a separate document.

17. 26:44
    Asking the planner what he meant

    Members suggested asking George Sabarge (?), who did the technical writing for that section, what the advise-and-assist wording was meant to require, since it may have meant nothing more than putting links on the website. It was noted that the tax credit idea originated with the commission rather than the planner, but that the state has since made clear the commission does not have the expertise to answer such questions.

18. 31:47
    Agreeing the website approach

    Members agreed that posting the links, the webinar, the brochure, the list of consultants and the state contact discharges the item, and that nobody would expect the commission to advise anyone on their tax affairs. Lois Kilby-Chesley offered to work with deCsipkes on it, checking first with the planner. The word advise was described as the one that should not have gone into the plan.

19. 31:47
    No letter to the selectmen

    The agenda item on writing to the selectmen was dropped. The idea had been to tell them the commission is working on its items but not as fast as the plan's dates suggest; members concluded that since nobody is checking, and the commission's annual entry in the town report already sets out what it has done, a letter would only add to the board's reading.

20. 31:47
    Contacting eligible property owners

    deCsipkes said she does not want to go around town deciding who might be eligible for the National Register, and another member agreed it is well outside the commission's expertise and questioned how it got into the plan.

21. 36:49
    Membership

    Anita remains on the commission but had a furnace repair that evening and has no computer of her own, so arrangements were made for her to join from another member's house. Paula Perie (?) was unwell and Linda Lichfield (?) had said she was coming but did not appear. Two more members can be added after town meeting.

22. 36:49
    A tiny house in the historic district

    Following up a question from another member, it was reported that a small building behind a house is being converted into a tiny house so that grandparents can stay separately when a baby arrives during the pandemic. Because it cannot be seen from the road it falls outside what the commission reviews. A shed across the street turned out to have been newly built rather than moved, and paperwork is being prepared to bring it before the commission.

23. 41:51
    Next steps and next meeting

    The only action arising is for Lois Kilby-Chesley and Candace deCsipkes to meet and start assembling the website material on tax credits and the National Register, while waiting for the planner's report. The next meeting was set for March 18, the third Thursday in March.

What was decided

• 0:04
  Accept the minutes of the previous meeting. Moved and seconded.passed
• 0:04
  Candace deCsipkes will keep trying to reach Kevin Nadeau about a commission member joining the town manager interview panel. If nobody from the commission is on it, the commission may instead draft questions about the town's history for the panel to ask.passed
• 0:04
  Wait for the town planner's report on how the commission, planning board and codes officer should coordinate on permit review before arranging a joint meeting.passed
• 21:28
  Hold off on defining historical significance and producing a verified list of significant houses until the structure survey is in the database.passed
• 31:47
  Put material on the town website rather than attempting to advise homeowners: a link to the Maine Historic Preservation Commission webinar, the state brochure on the National Register, the list of consultants and the state contact. Lois Kilby-Chesley will work on it with Candace deCsipkes, checking first with the town planner about what the comprehensive plan item was meant to require.passed
• 31:47
  Do not write the letter to the selectmen about the commission's progress on its comprehensive plan items. The commission's annual entry in the town report and its posted minutes already record what it has done.passed
• 36:49
  No action required on the outbuilding being converted into a tiny house, since it is behind the house and cannot be seen from the road and so falls outside what the commission reviews.passed
• 41:51
  Hold the next meeting on March 18, the third Thursday in March.passed
• 41:51
  A motion to adjourn was called for. The recording ends before any motion or result is audible.outcome unclear

An outcome reads "unclear" where the recording does not state it plainly. The recogniser drops short words, and "the motion does not carry" is one missing word from its opposite.

Worth knowing

• 5:16
  The comprehensive plan identifies seven places of historic significance in Durham: the Eureka Grange, the Friends Meeting House, the old Chandler Mill, the Cattle Pound, Dyer's Ferry at the end of Ferry Road, Gerrish Mill and the Samuel Robinson House. Members said they did not know what the old Chandler Mill is or why some of the seven were chosen.
• 5:16
  The state's own guidance is that anyone pursuing a National Register listing needs a consultant or professional, and that a body like this commission is not equipped to advise on it. The commission will post the state's brochure and its list of consultants on the town website instead of trying to advise homeowners itself.
• 16:12
  The list of historic sites in the comprehensive plan was described as a hand-me-down that has been resubmitted with every plan without being verified, with identification numbers that have lost their meaning and sites that were hard to locate. Dating houses from tax records is also unreliable, because Durham changed counties around 1850 and records were mis-transcribed, leaving clusters at 1860 and 1870 with gaps.
• 36:49
  A structure that cannot be seen from the road is not treated as part of the historic district for review purposes. The case in point was a small outbuilding behind a house being converted into a tiny house so grandparents could stay separately when a baby arrives.

Motion language found in the transcript

Located by pattern matching, with no model involved: "I move that", "I'll second", "all those in favour". This is an independent check on the summary above: 1 passage of motion language, against 9 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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