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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHeritage Preservation - 11/17/2014APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2014 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Prairie Rooms A & B 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Ed Muehlberg (Chair), Cindy Cofer Evert (Vice Chair), Steve Olson, JoAnn McGuire, Pamela Spera, Mark Freiberg, Deb Paulson STAFF: Robert Vogel, Pathfinder CRM, LLC Lori Creamer, Staff Liaison Heidi Wojahn, Recording Secretary STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Zeinab Hussen, Alexander Modeas, Courtney Sweeney I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Muehlberg called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. Commissioners Cofer Evert and Paulson were absent. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by Freiberg, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 5-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by Freiberg, to approve the October 20, 2014 minutes. Motion carried 4-0-1 with Spera abstaining. IV. REPORTS OF STUDENT COMMISSION MEMBERS Hussen reported the high school football team is going to state and the Quiz Bowl team qualified for nationals. V. REPORTS OF COMMISSION AND STAFF A. A LOOK AT MN HISTORY - Olson Olson shared a brief presentation on the history behind the Arthur and Edith Lee House in South Minneapolis which he learned about via his role on the Minnesota Historical Society’s (MHS) State Review Board. He walked through the steps taken to get it listed on the National Register of Historic Places explaining that HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES November 17, 2014 Page 2 while the architecture itself was not significant, the events that took place there were. Arthur Lee was a World War I veteran and a United States Postal Service worker. The Lees were a black family struggling to establish home ownership in the 1930s in a white neighborhood where the association had asked homeowners to sign a contract stating they would sell their properties only to Caucasians. The community was not very welcoming and tried to force the Lees from their home. They family endured intimidation and threatening mobs over a period of time, but other World War I veterans and postal workers encircled the home to protect them. These events marked a turning point in the civil rights movement in Minneapolis. Olson said his point in sharing this was to relay there are good stories to tell. History matters and is the reason some things are worth preserving. It is important to keep that in mind rather than being overly focused on form, inventory, and whether or not we are doing the right work plan. B. COMMUNITY GARDENS AT RILEY-JACQUES FARMSTEAD – Creamer The plan for the proposed community gardens at Riley-Jacques Farmstead has not yet been revised. Jay Lotthammer and Stu Fox have indicated they still have questions. Creamer met with them recently to review the interpretive plan from Bluestem Heritage Group (BHG). They are meeting again this week with BHG to discuss further. An updated plan based on HPC comments, BHG’s feedback, and Park and Rec’s input is forthcoming, but an implementation timeframe is unclear at this point. Creamer received an update from Paul Sticha in Facilities about the railing at the Cummins Grill (CG) House which was installed on the wrong side. It is too late to fix it now, but it will be corrected in the spring. Freiberg asked about the rental fee for the community garden plots. Creamer said she would find out and report back. The gardens will not have barrels of water like the ones at Super America. Water will be run underground from the farmstead out towards the garden area. Another idea being considered is installation of a split rail fence to match the one currently at the Dorenkemper House. Freiberg announced Santa and his reindeer will be at CG November 28-December 24. The Eden Prairie Optimist Club is selling fresh-cut Christmas trees on site this year. The focus has shifted away from raising money via rental fees to making the house more accessible. VI. OLD BUSINESS A. WORK PLAN REVIEW - Vogel Vogel addressed guidelines for developing a work plan. He discussed format, availability of funds and time, and prioritization. The plan needs to be flexible and HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES November 17, 2014 Page 3 realistic, and it should reflect basic performance standards as well as legally- mandated tasks. He reviewed his list of ten recommendations for the work plan, and noted additional projects will crop up. The State Historic Preservation Office’s (SHPO) historic resources inventory needs review and organization. The list hasn’t been updated in approximately 20 years, so work accumulated in the meantime needs to be added. Several existing items are also lacking information. We do not have access to electronic records, but the City needs to get a paper version of everything on file at the state and national levels as a starting point. Creamer asked about the scope of the project. Vogel responded it is something an intern could do and would entail making copies at the MHS and bringing them here. The existing records here also need to be gone through and organized. Creamer stated many of those have already been scanned. Vogel estimated ten hours of consulting time would be sufficient to query and create a spreadsheet database of projects and their locations from MnDOT Cultural Resources Unit, the Corps of Engineers, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Discussion ensued about making information publicly accessible in terms of sites the City has zoned for historic preservation. Creamer mentioned some of this was done when the HPC launched its website last year. Vogel said register- eligible properties should also be added. Exposure will increase very quickly once this is done, and it has educational and practical value. Creamer suggested meeting with the City’s GIS expert in the future to discuss needs and capabilities. Vogel said it is a simple task with a sizable impact. He will take charge of obtaining and organizing all the information the HPC needs in order to start making decisions about preservation. Creamer asked Vogel to expand upon his recommendation of providing city officials with historic preservation education and training. Vogel explained part of it falls under the commission’s annual meeting with Council. Additional education of city staff and elected or appointed people is another consultant task. It requires extra thought but should be done annually or bi-annually. Creamer said it is not feasible to do so in the time allotted at the January Council workshop, but there are other ways to accomplish this. Vogel said essentially we need to develop contacts with others in the City to see how we can work together. Vogel suggested development and implementation of a preservation awards program. Every year during May, the mayor could present an award to an individual for his/her work in historic preservation with an Eden Prairie connection. It should be simple but meaningful and only one should be awarded. It is an easy, cost-efficient, effective means of outreach. Olson asked if the City has records for all the properties previously determined as designation-eligible. Vogel said yes, but the raw data alone is not an indicator of readiness. Some findings were formal; others were not. A list of properties needs to be created, reviewed, and prioritized. It is important to look at what we already know and how we got that information, and to apply the criteria for determining HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES November 17, 2014 Page 4 significance and integrity. These are critical decisions we must make because nobody else will. Muehlberg said it also gets us back to our core function. Freiberg asked about the 19 hangars at Flying Cloud Airport. Vogel said President Bush learned to fly there. The field has been studied for its historic preservation value only from the perspective of aviation history in the State of Minnesota. Nobody has considered its importance to Eden Prairie. It is up to us to decide its value. Nothing in the City ordinance indicates age restrictions. The 50-year rule is arbitrary and irrelevant to Eden Prairie history. We need to take a broader perspective on what to preserve and protect. Creamer solicited feedback. Muehlberg asked how long the process would be for assembly, evaluation, and education. Vogel said all ten work plan recommendations can be done within the existing consultant budget. If not completed in their entirety, significant progress will have been made within 12-18 months. We cannot consider additional resources until we know how many properties will be deemed worthy of preservation. Muehlberg suggested using a triage system. Vogel said we may need to come up with alternatives if it becomes extensive, but we should expect to have findings ready for Council within a year or two. McGuire departed at 8:31 p.m. Olson suggested assigning two or three people to each of the top four or five items from Vogel’s list of recommendations. Muehlberg said the first and biggest step is getting the initial list assembled. Creamer said it might be more useful to do as Olson recommended after we have the list. Vogel said our priority list will be very subjective. Perceptions can and do differ and change, but ultimately the HPC will determine what items the City spends money on protecting. If something is not significant, it is not worth preserving. Those that are significant are all worthy of preservation. Freiberg asked why CG is on the list three times. Vogel said for unknown reasons, separate inventory forms and file numbers were created for outbuildings (as is the case with CG). Others are redundant as they are corrections from previous entries, and some no longer exist. The list needs to be cleaned up. Once completed, commission members can visit the sites believed to still be in existence. Vogel will take care of archaeology sites, as those have been disguised and commissioners will not be able to locate them. Spera suggested looking at properties via an aerial view. Vogel said they never use Google Earth – it is unreliable and contains technical errors. It is necessary to physically visit the site and look. Hidden gems can be discovered during this interesting process. He talked about the unique features of the Hennepin Canal Site as an example. Creamer asked commissioners to send comments or additional feedback on Vogel’s recommendations and the overall work plan. Next meeting we will discuss as a group. Many items intertwine and it will be a process rather than HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES November 17, 2014 Page 5 individual steps. Vogel said we could reasonably expect to devote one-fourth of each meeting to administrative tasks, and to review six projects in a calendar year. Spera asked why Highway 494 was on the list multiple times. Vogel explained there are different segments over 50 years old related to transportation. They could be bridges, overpasses, or culverts, for example. The inventory is just a list of titles on the paper files. VII. NEW BUSINESS None. VIII. FYI ITEMS A. ALTERNATE MEETING DATES FOR JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 2015 Creamer offered different options for the January and February meetings due to conflicts with Martin Luther King Jr. Day and President’s Day. Upon discussion, January 12 and February 23 were selected as alternate meeting dates. IX. FUTURE MEETINGS/EVENTS The next HPC meeting will be Monday, December 15, 2014, 7 p.m. at City Center, Prairie Rooms A & B. The RJF kiosk subcommittee will meet November 23rd on site. X. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by Freiberg, to adjourn. Motion carried 4-0. Chair Muehlberg adjourned the meeting at 8:55 p.m.