HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-09-14 Minutes (2)MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION A regular meeting of the Fayetteville Historic District Commission was held on September 14, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 111 of the City Administration Building, 113 W. Mountain, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Communication Policy ACTION TAKEN N/A Dickson Street Historic District (Next Steps) Approved Historic District Commission September 14, 2006 Page 2 MEMBERS PRESENT Leslie Belden Tim Cooper Ethel Goodstein-Murphee Cindy Kalke Rob Sharp Tony Wappel STAFF PRESENT Karen Minkel, Long Range Planning David Whitaker, Assistant City Attorney MEMBERS ABSENT Rob Merry -Ship STAFF ABSENT 2 Historic District Commission September 14, 2006 Page 3 CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Chair Goodstein-Murphree at 5:34 p.m. L Announcements A. Karen Minkel, Senior Long Range Planner, mentioned that grant funds were still available if commissioners were interested in attending the National Trust Historic Preservation Conference, October 31 -November 5. IL Approval of the Minutes MOTION to approve the minutes of August 10, 2006: Tony Wappel SECOND: Tim Cooper VOTE: The vote was unanimous to approve the minutes from the August 10, 2006 meeting, 6-0-0. III. Communication Policy Staff Report: Minkel reported that several Commissioners had expressed frustration with HDC's inability to respond quickly to changing circumstances since the Commission only met once a month. Minkel invited David Whitaker, Assistant City Attorney, to provide information on the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act so that Commissioners could ensure that their communications outside of the monthly meetings complied with both the legal intent and spirit of the law. Whitaker stated that under Arkansas law, all business discussions and decisions must be handled in a public meeting. Web forums were not currently covered by state law. Commissioners should always consult staff rather than a fellow commissioner when seeking to obtain updates or additional information on any given subject. Whitaker also discouraged HDC from using email because if the emails result in a decision, the Commission would be in violation of the law. When asked a question about whether to include email correspondence as an attachment to minutes, Whitaker responded that it certainly couldn't hurt and that the Commission should always err on the side of being as transparent as possible. Whitaker suggested the possibility of forming a 3 -member subcommittee for handling business decisions outside of the monthly HDC meetings. He also stated that social gatherings where business was not discussed were permitted under state law. IV. Dickson Street Commercial Historic District 3 Historic District Commission September 14, 2006 Page 4 Staff Report: Minkel reported that Mark Christ from the State Historic Preservation Program (SHPP) had informed City staff that the State would only survey the buildings within the Dickson Street district initially proposed by the state with the exception of a structure on the southwest corner of Dickson and Church. This parcel has already been approved for the development of a hotel and condos. The Historic District Commission was interested in expanding some of the state's proposed boundaries because a local ordinance district would likely overlay onto the National Register district; however, the State seemed unwilling to expand the boundaries to accommodate a local district ordinance. Minkel described two options: 1) Leave the state's boundaries as they've have been proposed; or 2) Coordinate a survey of additional structures and submit the findings for consideration with SHPP's survey. She also stated that the benefit of an overlay local ordinance district was that a formal survey of property owners to gauge support would not be required. If the boundaries of a local ordinance district are different than the National Register boundaries, then 51 percent of the property owners must support the district. Discussion: Chair Goodstein-Murphree acknowledged the shared frustration of the Commission in not being able to find a vehicle for negotiation with SHPP. Goodstein- Murphree said that the State's emphasis is on individual buildings rather than the overall neighborhood. The National Register has the challenge of mitigating architectural purity with a sense of place, but the Commission has the best sense of what is vulnerable in a contemporary Dickson Street. Several ideas and statements were proposed by the Commissioners. Kalke suggested sending the State a DVD copy of HDC's meetings to share their frustrations. Sharp suggested that the Commission leave the Walton Arts Center out of the district as proposed by the State because it was not historically significant. Sharp also suggested that regardless of whether a local historic district was overlaid on the National Register District or had different boundaries, the HDC should formally survey the property owners to ensure that a majority of the owners supported the district. Since the State seems unlikely to change its position on the boundaries, HDC proposed an information gathering session at their October meeting. Commissioners suggested inviting Planning staff and Fayetteville Downtown partners to get a sense of the regulations and initiatives that might affect local ordinance district boundaries. The Commission also asked whether it would be possible to have a local ordinance district policy that allowed the Commission to make a recommendation to the Planning Commission about development that occurred within a certain distance of the local ordinance district boundaries. Staff was directed to find an answer to this question and arrange for the relevant groups to be available at the October 8 HDC meeting. MOTION to hold an information gathering session on the Dickson Street area at the next HDC meeting: Leslie Belden SECOND: Cindy Kalke 11 Historic District Commission September 14, 2006 Page 5 VOTE: The vote was unanimous to hold an information gathering session, 6- 0-0. MEETING ADJOURNED: 6:58 P.M.