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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHeritage Preservation - 03/17/2003 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2003 7:00 P.M. Prairie Rooms A & B 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Lori Peterson-Benike, Chairperson; Betsy Adams,Jennie Brown, Elsie Kist, Kati Simons COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: Deborah Barkley STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: John Buteyn, Mackenzie Epping, Ross Viland COMMITTEE STAFF PRESENT: John Gertz, Historic Preservation Specialist Carol Pelzel, Recorder GUEST: Kathie Case, Vice President of the Historical Society I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order by Chair Peterson-Benike at 7:05 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion: Kist moved, seconded by Brown, to approve the agenda as presented. The motion carried, 5-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES —FEBRUARY 24,2003 Kist asked that the second paragraph under Item 2 on Page 2 be changed to read: "The pathway would be four feet wide ........rather than pavers would be four feet wide. Peterson-Benike asked that the second paragraph under IV. A. be changed to read: "..... the City would probably be forced to look at other ways to obtain other funding sources." rather than obtain CLG grants. Motion: Brown moved, Simons seconded, to approve the February 24, 2003, minutes as corrected. The motion carried 4-0. IV. REPORTS OF COMMISSION AND STAFF A. Historical Society Update Kathie Case, Vice President of the Historical Society, explained that she was at this meeting to provide the Commission with an update on research that she has recently been conducting. She commended the Commission for the wonderful job they did in working with Dunn HERITGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION March 17, 2003 Page 2 Brothers to use the Smith-Douglas House as a coffeehouse. Case explained that she has been researching the history of the Smith-Douglas House and found that Smith originally built the house in 1877. The information she has been reviewing goes back to 1870. In 1857 Mary and Sheldon Smith came from New York and settled in Eden Prairie. Smith was a railroad agent and in 1877 built the red brick house. The Smith's had two daughters, the second daughter Ettie died at the age of 16 and is buried in the Eden Prairie cemetery. David Frank Douglas was a border at the Smith house and the Smith's oldest daughter, Amy, married Douglas and after Douglas' death at the age of 28, Amy and her son Sheldon moved back to Eden Prairie from Montana. Amy never remarried and lived to be 88. Sheldon went out east to school and traveled extensively. He settled back in Eden Prairie and at the age of 24 became the Superintendent of Eden Prairie Schools and left the house in 1942. Case stated that she is in the process of reviewing over 400 letters and other pieces of paper. Information shows that two men, Monroe Barker and Old Joe, were freed as slaves and moved to Eden Prairie in the 1860's. Joe lived in the hired man's attic of the house that Case now lives in and drove a wagon from the depot to the Goodrich Hotel. Joe is buried in the Eden Prairie cemetery with no marker or name on the gravesite. Case said after searching records they did discover that Joseph Ram died at the age of 60 in 1900. She is attempting to do a joint effort with Huber Funeral Home to have an old fashioned stone engraved and installed near the Ram grave. The cost is approximately $600 and Case said she is talking to Huber to see if they would be willing to pick up the cost. Case explained that she is still working at the Smith-Douglas house hanging pictures and plaques explaining what the pictures are. The upstairs of the building will soon be open to the public and pictures have also been hung there. Adams commented that it would be nice to have all of the information Case has written down so that it is available in the future. She asked if there is any space on the City's web site where these stories could be told. Gertz responded that the first step would be to get this information written. Case said she is not a writer. Adams said she would be happy to edit any information written and that they are wonderful stories that should be shared. Simons suggested that they have story telling at the Dunn Brother's coffeehouse, similar to the guitar player on Saturday nights. Gertz asked Case if she would be comfortable doing this and she responded that she would. Peterson- Benike said they could also develop a brochure telling the people some of the stories of the Smith-Douglas House. On behalf of the Commission, Peterson-Benike expressed her appreciation to Case for all of the work she has done on this project. B. March 18 City Council Workshop on Historic Preservation Gertz distributed an agenda for the City Council workshop scheduled for March 18 in the Heritage Room beginning at 5:00 p.m. Gertz suggested that the Commission members review the agenda and familiarize themselves with the information to be discussed. For the most part, the City Council is looking at future plans. He assumed they would be looking at the level of participation involved with funding for historic preservation. A survey of primary HERITGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION March 17, 2003 Page 3 suburban cities similar to Eden Prairie was conducted asking what their level of funding is to provide for historic preservation. The response was that most other cities do not provide any funding. Gertz said the Council may discuss the possible acquisition of future sites and whether or not they want the City to be involved in that. They may also discuss what to do with the properties that the City currently owns. Gertz said he did prepare a memorandum for the City Council providing them with the number of properties designated. Peterson-Benike pointed out that people have been very pleased with what has happened with the Smith-Douglas House and feel that similar options for the Cummins Grill House should be considered. She said it is important that this Commission remembers that their charge is to preserve the buildings. They now have experience in preserving the building with an adaptive reuse. Although the Historical Society can't take full partnership, it still involves this Commission's input. It really isn't the Commission's property to use any more. Hopefully, if they partner with someone else for the Cummins Grill House they will be as good to work with as Dunn Brothers has been. Because of the economic pressures on municipalities, it is a good idea to partner with others in using these historic sites. This does allow them to turn back the facility as it originally was if they chose to do so in 20 years. Gertz said when the whole process is done,he hopes they will have a good match with the Riley Jacques property and the Cummins Grill House. Funding these properties is up in the air at this point with all of the things the Council is considering. Adams asked if the Commission's budget will be discussed at the Council meeting. Gertz said he is not aware that it will be,however, there may be discussion about where to spend the money. The Council has approved the budget but they can certainly change that. They did approve funding for this year's projects. Gertz explained that the Council may want to discuss the Cummins Grill House and possibly doing something similar to what was done at the Smith Douglas House; a combination of public and private use. One consideration might be the rental of the facility to be used for various events. Adams asked if anyone has thought about a farmers market at this location. Gertz said staff has thought about that. The space is adequate,however, the location does not draw the necessary traffic for a successful farmers market. Adams pointed out that the Riley Jacques Farm sits next to a park and it should be part of the Parks and Recreation Department. This could be their partnership. Adams said she feels they would have more luck developing this site as a cultural site. Kist asked if anyone from Parks and Recreation would be at this Council meeting. Gertz responded that there would be representatives from that Department at that meeting. Tria Mann will be there to talk about future programming at the Cummins House. There may be some discussion about how to use the Riley Jacques Farm. The idea of a heritage park at this location may come up. The farm offers more potential for this type of use. It could be attached to cultural and historic events. Peterson-Benike said another responsibility of this Commission is an educational responsibility. That would be another opportunity for that site and they would be able to keep the integrity of the property. An educational component is very important and worth looking into. Kist asked if one property has priority over another. Gertz said it would probably HERITGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION March 17, 2003 Page 4 depend on the direction they go. Doing a private/public partnership would determine the priority of the properties. It is a matter of finding someone to partner with the City and to invest in the Cummins Grill House. Peterson-Benike pointed out that they do have money in this year's budget for the Riley Farm and the Cummins Grill house. If they did something like a partnership, the City would not have to spend this money. Gertz said they may have to redirect their priorities. Peterson-Benike explained that this meeting will give them an opportunity to sit down with the City Council and discuss these properties. Hopefully they will get some kind of direction from the Council. Their projects are getting a lot of attention and they need to take advantage of that. V. OLD BUSINESS A. Dorenkemper House Progress Update Gertz reviewed with the Commission the work that has been done on the Dorenkemper house. Laminated panels have been installed along with sheet rock and plaster on the interior walls. This week they will continue scrapping in the kitchen and finish re-establishing where the door openings were. New windows and doors will be ordered. When the kitchen is completed they will concentrate on installing new frames and openings. Once that is completed they will work on the exterior of the building to make it weather tight. They are currently working on attaching the kitchen to the log home. Peterson-Benike said it would be worthwhile for members of the Commission to go and take a look at the house as it is. B. Program Planning for the Riley-Jacques Farm and J.R. Cummins Homestead Gertz said this item is back on the agenda because he thought it would be a good idea to discuss prior to tomorrow night's Council meeting. Gertz said staff was waiting until after the meeting with the City Council to prepare additional information on these properties. Depending on the results of that meeting, staff's goal is to have a detailed program and use ideas ready for review in April. Gertz explained that one of the things they need to consider for the Cummins House is if the City Council thinks they should consider a private/public partnership. He asked how the Commission would feel about this. The integrity of this property may be in jeopardy. In order to bring this house up to commercial use, they would have to add on kitchen space and he cannot see this Commission recommending removal of the existing brick kitchen on the back. Adams said a restaurant upsets the integrity of the buildings more than any other use. This does not mean that they have to have a partnership that would require a restaurant. They could look at something that would require fewer changes to the house and site. Gertz said there was an article in the local paper regarding using the Cummins Grill House as a tea room. The proponent said they would pay for the upgrades. Gertz said at this point and time, they are not planning to have that type of use in this house. However, after the Council HERITGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION March 17, 2003 Page 5 workshop, this may change. They did suggest using the facility as a teahouse on a limited basis. City Code would require that the building be accessible and the existing kitchen would have to be upgraded. Kist said she feels the Cummins Grill House would be a great house to use for receptions. She said she would prefer to see the house used for something on a part- time basis rather than a full-time use. This would allow them to use the building for other things like murder mystery dinners. Gertz said it his guess that the City Council will want to explore this further and they may assign this project to this Commission and staff. Gertz said he has a strong feeling that the Council would like to use the Riley-Jacques Farm for the City's historic interpretation cultural events such as Sun Bonnet Days. Peterson- Benike said this Commission will have to address other issues once these sites are up and running. They need to determine what needs to be done when they are asked to do additional things at these sites. Adams said one of the first issues she sees for the Riley-Jacques Farm is the need for additional parking. Adams asked how long the City would continue to rent the farm house out given the fact that people are walking all around this site. Gertz responded that he is not aware of any plan to change the rental of this house. However, that might change when this Commission makes a recommendation for the use of this house. They may want to rent out the upstairs apartment to a caretaker and use the lower level for programming. This may be the best use of the building. Gertz said he would like to get some ideas from the Commission about the use of the Riley- Jacques Farm. He said he sees it as being developed along the lines of a heritage park. The City will be increasing the parking at this site. The City's Director of Parks and Recreation would like to see an additional 100 parking spaces added. At this time they are not sure where they would be added without having a big impact on the site. Should this site be turned into a park, the City will have to deal with several issues including accessibility, the amount of open space to be preserved, storage and if the school is moved to this location they will need to determine where. Adams asked if it would be possible to expand the existing parking without having to remove any of the fields. Gertz said any additional parking added to the existing park would not be available to those using the historic program. Any spaces added will be taken up by people using the beach. Gertz pointed out that the Commission should be prepared to open this site up for more use. Peterson-Benike said it may be helpful to hold their April meeting at the Riley-Jacques Farm. By that time they may have additional information. Gertz said he doubted they would have any additional information at that time but it would be helpful to take a look at the site. The Commission agreed to meet at the Riley-Jacques Farm for their April 21 meeting. Brown asked if it would be possible to have a bed and breakfast at the Cummins-Grill House. Gertz responded that that would be a possibility,however, that house is listed on the national register which would require approval from the State Historical Preservation Office. They do not approve the uses but do have to approve any changes to the building. Gertz suggested that the Commission members review the Adaptive Reuse Proposal which lists the concept goals, objectives and uses for each piece of property. HERITGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION March 17, 2003 Page 6 V. NEW BUSINESS Gertz reported that the Minneapolis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects is presenting a merit award to MacDonald and Mack Architects for the Smith Douglas Dunn Brothers House on Thursday, March 20. Simons asked if there is any information on new Commission members. Gertz stated that Molly Gilbertson has been appointed to the Commission and her orientation will take place next month. Gertz indicated that he received a schedule from Bob Lambert, Director of Parks and Recreation, for the Miller Spring project. This schedule includes the work to be completed and who is doing it. V. ADJOURNMENT Motion: Brown moved, Kist seconded, to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.