Carbondale Reporter

City of Carbondale Preservation Commission met April 17.

Here is the minutes as provided by the commission:

1. Roll Call: Mr. Sigler called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.

Members Present: Wren, Clark, Doherty, Ittner, Sigler, Van Awken, Benedict, and

Zurlinden

Members Absent: Comparato

Staff Present: Lawrence

Guests: Bruce Ashby, Gabe Summers, Robbie Martin, Brian Simelton, Bob Martin, and

Monica Summers

2. Approval of Minutes: Ms. Ittner moved to, and was seconded by Mr. Clark, approve the

minutes of February 13, 2017.

The motion to approve the minutes passed with a unanimous voice vote.

Mr. Clark moved to, and was seconded by Ms. Ittner, approve the minutes of March 20,

2017.

The motion to approve the minutes passed with a unanimous voice vote.

3. Communication and Reports:

a) Educational and Technical Assistance Committee

Ms. Ittner spoke about the Oral History of Marion Mitchell and stated that she wanted to

continue to recognize the contributors to the Oral History project. Ms. Ittner also spoke

about a woman at Morris Library that is in line to handle transcriptions of the interviews.

The North Star interviews that were taking place at the City were then discussed and it

was asked and if there were any other people that should be contacted for the interviews.

b) Nomination and Hardship Committee

Nothing to report.

c) Work Plan Committee

Nothing to report.

d) Certificate of Appropriateness Committee

Nothing to report.

e) Founder’s Park Subcommittee

Mr. Sigler stated that the Founder’s Park might need to be put on hold temporarily due to

the changes to City Council and until a new chair is put into place for the subcommittee.

Mr. Van Awken raised the possibility of asking Lee Fronabarger to still serve on the

subcommittee and continue to move forward with the Founder’s Park process. Mr. Van

Awken also stated that he had spoken to Tom Grant about the possibility of helping with

the Advisory Committee or possibly chairing the committee but having Mr. Fronabarger

involved would be a great benefit. Mr. Sigler agreed that having Mr. Fronabarger

involved would be a great idea moving forward because of everything that he has done

for the Founder’s Park Subcommittee so far. Ms. Ittner brought up the idea of asking Mr.

Fronabarger to serve as an associate member of the Preservation Commission and the

process of asking him to do so was then discussed with the suggestion of drafting a letter

of invitation to Mr. Fronabarger.

Mr. Van Awken moved to, and was seconded by Mr. Clark, for the drafting of a letter of

invitation to Mr. Fronabarger.

The motion to draft a letter passed with a unanimous voice vote.

Mr. Sigler stated that a letter would be drafted for the Commission to approve at the next

meeting in May.

f) Founders’ Day Subcommittee

Nothing to report.

4. Old Business:

a) Ms. Lawrence stated that she supplied the Commission members with a list of

potential properties for historic designation to be looked over for possible addresses

to be removed that have been demolished. Ms. Lawrence had also received

information on her trip to Springfield last month about the historic register and the

possibility of applying for a grant. She had been asked to supply the Commission

with the previous cost of the inventory of properties, which she included in the

packets for the Commission with additional information that she had received in an

email from an architectural historian. Ms. Lawrence also supplied the Commission

with a grant application to look over and be familiar with for the next fiscal year. The

information that was given about the grants that they City might be able to apply for

in the future fiscal year and that it is a reimbursement grant was then discussed. Mr.

Zurlinden asked about the possibility of tying together the downtown master plan and

the grant, if that might possibly be an option to look into. Ms. Lawrence spoke about

the City Council meeting in which the new downtown guidelines were discussed and

that it is going to be taken back to the City Council in the future. Ms. Lawrence stated

that Mr. Zurlinden had a great idea of tying the things together and that the different

incentives would be something to look at. It was then discussed what locations the

guidelines applied to within the BPR district and what that means for the downtown

area.

Mr. Sigler then explained the difference between historic buildings and a preservation

district and what this might mean for different locations in the downtown area and

having a voice in protecting different locations in the future. Mr. Van Awken then

questioned what the inflation rate might be for a new survey of potentially historic

properties since it has been sometime since it has been done. Ms. Lawrence stated

that she was unsure of the inflation rate but it was discussed with her on the phone

about the possibility of a grant to help update the list of potentially historic buildings.

Mr. Sigler asked if the Commission would need a motion for moving forward in 2018

fiscal year, and if the Commission should do the research themselves or pay someone

else to do the inventory. Mr. Van Awken stated that he would like to see more statues

and other landmarks go into the historic and preservation areas. Mr. Sigler stated that

might be something different than the inventory list and that the Commission needs to

figure out what to do with the historic properties. Ms. Lawrence restated what the

grant could actually be used for and what options are out there for the grant funding.

Mr. Clark questioned if the Preservation Commission were to do the research would

that hurt anything on the state or national level of the historic properties and he felt it

would be more beneficial for the Preservation Commission’s understanding of the

process. Ms. Lawrence stated that she is unaware of the process and how time

consuming it might be. Ms. Ittner was concerned about the time and man power it

would take for the Preservation Commission to do the research themselves. It was

then discussed the other possible grant options might be out there and how to go

about researching them. Ms. Sigler stated that this might be something that the

Commission puts on the work plan for 2018 fiscal year.

b) The potential placard for the new development east of the Carbondale Public Library

was then discussed. Mr. Sigler stated that he has tried to contact the doctor at that

location and did not have any luck contacting them possibly due to the fact that they

have not broken ground at that location or submitted plans to the City.

c) Mr. Zurlinden stated that there is very little information that is available on the

Commissioner applications and that at this point there is no form that they would

need to fill out for the bios. Mr. Zurlinden stated that it would be great to show that

the Preservation Commission exists and be it might be difficult providing a letter so it

might be better to look at a different form of communication. Ms. Ittner stated the

possibility of putting it in the Carbondale Communique. Mr. Sigler mentioned the

possibility of correlating the bios with the survey of the historical properties if the

Commission does decide to take it on themselves.

d) Mr. Wren stated that he has currently selected four pictures for the Historic Property

Poster Project for the solar eclipse and was wondering about the possibility of using

then and now pictures of the properties for the posters. Mr. Wren also stated that

including pictures of the locations that the eclipse activities are taking place would be

nice for the tourists to see where things are happening. Mr. Sigler asked if the

Preservation Commission had a budget for printing the posters and how to go about

finding out how much was in the budget.

e) Ms. Lawrence stated that there were no nominations for the Annual Historic Award

this year and next year the Commission will try to be more proactive to make sure

there are nominations received. It was also discussed about putting the applications in

the Communique in the fall so it is out in the community longer.

5. New Business:

a) Ms. Lawrence stated that she was asked to supply a copy of the Carbondale Revised

Code for the Commission, so the Commissioner could see how it relates to the

Preservation Commission.

b) Ms. Lawrence stated that the state requires an annual report for any government

related group also she was suppling the Commission with a previous report from

2016 fiscal year and a draft of the 2017 fiscal year report that can be edited/revised as

needed before it is submitted to the state. Mr. Sigler asked for edits and revisions to

be sent to Ms. Lawrence by April 28th for a final draft to be ready for the May

meeting.

c) Mr. Sigler asked for volunteers for a nomination committee for election of officers at

the next meeting in May. It was then discussed about moving the May meeting from

the 15th to the 22nd of May.

Mr. Wren moved to, and was seconded by Ms. Ittner, change the May Preservation

Commission meeting from May 15th to May 22nd.

The motion to change the meeting date passed with a unanimous voice vote.

Mr. Wren, Mr. Van Awken and Mr. Zurlinden were placed on the nomination

committee for the election of officers for the new fiscal year.

Ms. Lawrence stated that she had included a copy of the annual work plan for the

previous year and a copy of the master work plan that was made in 2002. Ms.

Lawrence stated that the Work Plan Committee needed to get together to review the

annual work plan and Mr. Wren and Mr. Van Awken volunteered to help the

Committee review the plans.

Mr. Clark questioned if Kirchner and Associates is still operating and what the cost

for their services might be to work on the report. Mr. Sigler stated that he would look

into that process.

6. Comments by the Public, Commission Members or Staff:

Ms. Lawrence stated that May is National Preservation Month and discussed the

possibility of having the Mayor make a proclamation at the May City Council meeting.

Ms. Lawrence stated that she had a previous copy but was looking for suggestions for

reworking the proclamation. Ms. Ittner mentioned finding out what the theme for the

Preservation month was this year and working that into the proclamation. Ms. Lawrence

also mentioned adding something into the proclamation about the Commission’s work on

the Founder’s Park.

7. Adjournment:

Mr. Sigler adjourned the meeting at 8:30 p.m.

http://explorecarbondale.com/sites/default/files/Board%20and%20Commissions%20Minutes.pdf