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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.hpc.19740222RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves Regular Meeting Historic Preservation Committee February 22~ 1974 The meeting was called to order by Acting Vice-Chairman Judy Ferrenberg at 3:15 P.M. with Lary Groen, Mona Frost, John Stanford, Councilwoman Ramona Markalunas, and Mall Coordinator Michael Kinsley. As only three members were present, the assembly did not constitute a quorum. Welcome to New Members Ferrenberg welcomed the new members, Lary Groen and Mona Frost, and voiced the hope that the new members would maintain an active interest in the Historic Preservation Committee. She emphasized that attendance was very important. She mentioned, concerning attendance, that H.P.C. member Don Westerlind was again not present. She asked if anyone had had any feedback concerning his interest in the Committee. Frost noted that she had not seen him lately, and Ferrenberg stated that she must assume he has many commitments. As Westerlind had had more than three unexcused absences, which was forbidden by the H.P.C. by- laws, Ferrenberg moved to ask Council to contact Westerlind, and if he was unable to attend the meetings of the H.P.C., ask him if it was possible to have his resignation. Frost seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried. Councilwoman Markalunas stated that rather than go through formal channels, she would ask him personally. Old Business; Designa- tion of City Hall and Lift #1 as Historic Structures Judy Ferrenberg explained to the new members that it had been suggested that City Hall and Lift #1 be designated as historic structures. Lift #1 had been in front of the Committee since it had been formed. Somehow it had gotten lost in the shuffle, and now a legal technicality was involved. She then mentioned the letter City Attorney Sandra Stuller had written to contact Mr. Awrey. Markalunas explained that the deed is an easement running with the land for skiing, which in effect gave the use of the surface of the land to the Ski Corp., and they, in turn had given the land to the City. She stated that she felt Sandra Stuller, City Attorney, should be asked to attend the next meeting to explain the circumstances, and to ask her advice. Ferrenberg then ~.sked Ms. Markalunas to join the meeting. Ms. Markalunas, as well as being a member of City Council was also President of the Historical Society. Markalunas suggested the City Attorney would be able to give suggestions on contacting Mr. Awrey. Ferrenberg then stated that a motion for a resolution to City Council should be made, asking them to designate City Hall a historic structure. Frost made the motion. Lary Groen seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves Regular Meeting Historic Preservation Committee February 22, 1974 Designation of City Hall and Lift #1 as His- toric Structures, cont. Aspen Community Church Elizabeth Callahan Property Silver Queen John Stanford asked if all the necessary research and documentation had been completed on this. Ferrenberg stated that she had done much of this work herself. She felt, however, that the fact that City Hall had once been a Fraternal Hall, a full corpora- tion, needed to be researched more fully, and should be included in the resolution presented to Council. The City has some stock certificates for the cor- poration and some abstracts in the City Clerk's office, which should help bring some of the history together. Markalunas informed the H.P.C. that Heather Hopton, rather than Marlene Maddalone, would be the research consultant for them. She should be able to attend the next meetings. She also mentioned that a list of buildings in the commercial core was compiled which had been designated for consideration for historic standing. Heather has this and will be starting to work on it. She is going to start going through the Aspen Times, through the period of 1889-1893, when a lot of the building went on. Ferrenberg stated she had been through many of these, and she suggested Heather, Ms. Markalunas, and herself meet together to discuss this. Stanford stated that, in addition to the two items on the agenda, Aspen Community Church had also requested that they be considered for historic designation. A public hearing was needed for this, as well as for the City Hall designation. Ferrenberg mentioned that another place she would like to see designated was the Elizabeth Callahan property, who had previously requested this designation. The process implied was that she be given a copy of the letter that she must sign to request designation, and a copy of the ordinance. Ferrenberg then suggested that they designate the whole setting, rather than just the house. Stanford stated that sufficient research and documentation would have to be done and a resolution must be submitted to City Council. Markalunas then presented a photograph and suggested that the view called Silver Queen on West Aspen Mountain be designated as a historic site. She said she had found other photos of the view, and felt that these would be the primary documentation for the historic designation. She further mentioned that if the outline were preserved, it would help~ith the entire preservation of West Aspen. Ferrenberg asked who they would need to contact as private owners of this property. Markalunas replied that it would be mostly mining claims. They would need to be contacted, and for this reason, they would need a legal description of the area, and would need a map. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves Regular Meeting Historic Preservation Committee February 22, 1974 Silver Queen, cont. National Trust News- paper Historic District Plan Ferrenberg stated that the members of the Historic Preservation Committee needed to orient their efforts to the history of Aspen, and make all efforts to preserve the historic heritage. The downtown area was putting the most pressure on the Committee to preserve what was historic. Ferrenberg then suggested that at the next meeting, a map of the site be obtained, and that then they could start pursuing the designation of this site. Stanford noted that the area was in the County. Ferrenberg explained to the new members that the H.P.C. had subscribed to the National Trust Newspaper, and Stanford mentioned that he had checked, and that payment had been received by them, but that it took a long time to receive the newspaper. Ferrenberg explained that the newspaper is one concerned with historic preservation groups such as themselves and told them how to proceed and what was going on else- where in this area of historic preservation. She asked that someone check to see how many sub- scriptions were ordered, so that the new members would be sure to receive a copy. Since Michael Kinsley, Mall Coordinator, was present, Ferrenberg decided to jump to the subject of the Historic District Plan further down on the agenda. Ferrenberg wanted to emphasize to Kinsley the importance of coordinating the Mall and the main buildings in the commercial core which are his- torical. The historical district buildings of historical include the Mall. will include all the key interest, and also will Kinsley asked that if the designated district includes the Mall, does this imply that the H.P.C. would have review over any major level decision concerning the Mall. Ferrenberg stated that it did imply this. Kinsley asked if they had any ideas on design of the Mall. Ferrenberg stated that the H.P.C. was not to say what the Mall's final looks are, but they want to coordinate the looks of the mall with what the buildings look like. Kinsley gave an example, the type of materials used in the Mall. Ferrenberg then stated that they were just completing preliminary studies of the Historic Overlay District, and were designating boundaries. The main purpose of this was to correlate building sites to the main historical buildings in the core area. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves Regular Meeting Historic Preservation Committee February 22, 1974 Historic District cont. PlaB~ Kinsley agreed that the design of the Mall should coordinate with the H.P.C.'s criteria, and was happy to hear that it was going to be handled in this way. Ferrenberg mentioned that in the Planning Office was a map which located the historic buildings. The present boundaries were Monarch Street to Hunter. She then answered Kinsley's question by stating that the plan should be completed by May or early Spring. Stanford stated that research consultant Heather Hopton should establish criteria and work on the east and west boundaries, and discover what is in the area that should and should not be considered historic. Markalunas remarked that the area may not have straight line boundaries, since the criteria for the area is that it contain most of the historical structures in the commercial core area. Ferrenberg suggested that the boundary be changed to go to Aspen Street instead of Monarch, and to leave off Spring since this street contained no historical buildings to mention. She then suggested that the Committee should look themselves to see what's on these streets that is historical, and then decide boundaries. Then they could incorporate the boundaries in the motion to establish the district. Stanford stated that this boundary should be incorporated in the motion to establish the Historic Overlay District. Groen asked the future perimeter of the mails. Kinsley stated that there was no final Mall plan. Ferrenberg stated that a primary consideration of the present design of the Mall was that Galena and Mill Streets were natural for mountain water drain- age. Kinsley mentioned that the general indications for the Mall were that Galena was used as the focal point, down to past the Courthouse, and is to connect up with the Rio Grande property. This, however, was purely conjecture. Ferrenberg stated that as the Mall grows, she would like to see the keeping in mind of the historic buildings in the core area. Markalunas stated that for any final Mall plan, historic feelings should be incorporated. Kinsley agreed that natural materials be used to keep the Mai1 in feeling with the period and the times. He also suggested that there be actual museum dis- plays, and actual structures built in the Mai1. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves Regular Meeting Historic Preservation Committee February 22, 1974 Historic District Plan, cont. New Business Stanford then presented a series of slides of the Savannah Historic Preservation Plan, from the late 1960's, which won an award from HUD. Ferrenberg brought up the antique lights. She felt the H.P.C. should recommend to City Council where they should be placed. It was emphasized during the slide show that criteria was needed for the Committee. Personal opinions could only be secondary for these decisions. Frost asked if the H.P.C. could only suggest, or was it mandatory for people to follow their recommenda~ tions. Markalunas stated that once criteria is known, people will be able to comply with them, with0ut',which Council would not allow them to build. This criteria should be mailed to interested people around town when established. Frost asked if anything of this type had been done in the past. Ferrenberg responded that the Woods Building, Aspen Drug, when it remodeled had asked for recommendations from the Committee. They had asked him to come back when he had final plans to get their approval on color, texture, materials, etc. Stanford asked the Committee if they felt research along these lines, setting up criteria was justified. These criteria would be submitted with the plan of the area and be a part of the plan. The first item of new business was that they had a new research consultant, Heather Hopton. Ferrenberg then discussed her trip to Denver to the Bicentennial Committee, presenting a request for money for the restoration of the Wheeler Opera House. She made a recommendation to the Committee that the City of Aspen be granted this two thousand dollars, and she felt her request had been well accepted. This committee only made a recommendation to a Commission who made the choice. Stanford stated that the $2,000 requested here was in addition to $30,000 of city funds, and Markalunas noted that an application for matching funds had been made to the federal government. Groen asked for the plans for restoration. Ferrenberg stated that the current plan for the Wheeler was the restoration of the north and west sides of the building. C.T. Collins has the work outlined, and really is the only one who knows exactly what's going on. Markalunas suggested that £or a detailed presentation of what and when scheduled for the restoration, C.T. Collins be asked to the meeting next time. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves Regular Meeting Historic Preservation Committee February 22, 1974 New Business Groen asked if Parks and Recreation was redoing an entrance to the Wheeler. Ferrenberg stated she would like to see them doing the whole front, rather than just doing the doorway, and wondered if they would consider using some of their funds to do this. She then suggested that each member of the Committee be familiar with the Opera House at the time of the next meeting. Groen suggested that they should establish a schedule when things can and should be done. Financial planning and phasing should be done to allow as much to get done as fast as possible. The Brand and Aspen Supply Historic Stgns should be restored. However there was a sign ordinance in town, and the signs were too large. It was decided that they should go in front of the Board of Adjustments to ask for a variance. However, since these signs are privately owned, the owners them- selves must ask for a variance; the City cannot do this for them. Ferrenberg then asked why they were not notified of the building going on where the old lumber yard was. Was anything being done to the exteriors. If they were issued a building permit, why was not the H.P.C. notified. An inquiry should be made of Clayton Meyring. Ferrenberg also stated she had talked to Hal Clark as to why the H.P.C. had not been notified of the temporary structures put up outside the courthouse. The Lady of Justice was then discussed. A recom- mendation should be made to the County to improve the appearance of the statue. In regard to the Photographic Inventory for the files, Stanford said he could take the pictures. He felt that it would be much cheaper this way then if they were to hire a professional photographer. He then stated that when they start the book of the history of Aspen, they could hire a professional photographer. Ferrenberg then read a letter from Marlene Maddalone who had originally been asked to be the research consultant, and who was resigning the position. Ferrenberg then stated that the next meeting was scheduled for March 8. Mona Frost stated that she would be unable to attend at that time so the meeting date was tentatively changed to March 1. Ferrenberg made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Lary Groen. Meeting adjourned at 5:10. Bobbie Ross, Recording Secretary