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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHeritage Preservation - 01/12/2015 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION MONDAY,JANUARY 12, 2015 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 7:01 p.m. Vogel, Commissioners Cofer Evert and Paulson, and Student Representative Modeas were absent. Spera arrived at 7:04 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Freiberg moved, seconded by Olson, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 4-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Spera arrived at 7:04 p.m. Spera requested the last sentence of the second paragraph on page 4 be changed as it gave the impression she was well-versed in the area of architecture which was not her intent. MOTION: McGuire moved, seconded by Olson, to approve the December 15, 2014 minutes as amended. Motion carried 5-0. IV. REPORTS OF STUDENT COMMISSION MEMBERS Sweeney reported on a Rotary ethics workshop she and Modeas attended. Participants were split into teams and given ethical situations to address in mock workplace settings. Sweeney also gave a status report on the presentation she is preparing for her school's marketing club. HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES January 12, 2015 Page 2 Hussen talked about her performance in a recent speech tournament and the challenges she faced. V. REPORTS OF COMMISSION AND STAFF - Creamer A. COMMUNITY GARDENS AT RILEY-JACOUES FARMSTEAD (RJ) Jay Lotthammer has indicated the City is considering community gardens at another location for 2015, so any decisions in regards to pursuing gardens at RJ are on hold for now. B. CAMP EDENWOOD UPDATE The City has received a$40,000 grant from Hennepin County for adaptive playground equipment at Camp Edenwood. There is a private donation of $40,000, as well. A site plan is expected to come before the HPC for review in February or March. C. CLG GRANT UPDATE There are plans to apply for a $20,000 CLG grant for the additional proposed signs at RJ. Parks and Rec has agreed to help with the project by providing the matching funds for the grant. The current grant timeline is too aggressive to finish the project in time for Heritage Fest in October which is what was originally hoped,but the City will do what it can this year. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be planned upon project completion. Creamer reviewed the timeline from the grant pre-application deadline of January 23 to announcement of who the project is awarded to in mid-June. Submitting the pre-application to the Minnesota Historical Society for feedback will help give us a stronger proposal. The grant covers the time period of July 2015 through June 2016. Olson asked if the amount would cover the cost of all 13 signs. Creamer said Nancy O'Brien Wagner indicated she was comfortable the grant plus its match would pay for research, design, fabrication, and framing. Nice signs are estimated at$3,000-4,000 each. Installation would be done by City staff via in-kind service as part of the match. Another option is to split the signs into a couple of smaller grants. Muehlberg said it makes the most fiscal sense to ask for the highest amount possible to minimize set—up costs. McGuire asked who will be preparing the grant. Creamer said the City will retain a grant writer to help with this project. VI. OLD BUSINESS A. 2015 WORK PLAN REVIEW/COUNCIL WORKSHOP Creamer thanked those who provided feedback on the 2015 work plan prior to the meeting. McGuire asked that the names of the months be added to further clarify the work plan is based on the calendar year. HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES January 12, 2015 Page 3 Olson sought clarification about the need for a grant to declare a property a local heritage site. Creamer confirmed that Vogel does not recommend applying for CLG grant funds to prepare the Dorenkemper House (DK) nomination. Commissioners decided to amend the work plan to remove "local" from DK site nomination. Olson said"review and organize heritage resource inventory files" should be a first quarter item. Creamer said originally she had it listed under first quarter but moved it because it is an ongoing item. It is her impression it will not realistically get finished in three months but it can be a first quarter focus. Olson said everything else dependent on it will be compromised if we don't make it a priority, so we should keep it in first quarter. With the understanding it may not get completely done in that time period, file maintenance can be added as an ongoing item. Olson noted the overlap in ongoing GIS mapping with second quarter development and expansion of GIS maps for heritage resources management. There should be some coordination between the two. Expansion should not happen until we have the information we need from the inventory. McGuire said she conveyed to the executive director of the Eden Prairie Community Foundation (EPCF) we would be interested in pursuing a $3500- $6000 grant for signage. The grant deadline is February 20, 2015 and we can use the Minnesota Common Grant Application. The director recommended we apply under the environment/recreation category. Muehlberg suggested we take advantage of this to dovetail off the CLG signage grant. McGuire said she will forward grant information to Creamer. It is helpful to note in the grant how many people will be impacted. McGuire asked about the possibility of placing the proposed kiosk signs in the pavilion rather than on a separate structure. Muehlberg said the pavilion serves a separate function and its flexibility would be limited if the signs were there. He also expressed concern the signs would become"lost" if not displayed as a stand- alone feature. Olson said viewing of signs by the public may intrude on private events booked at the pavilion. Muehlberg said he prefers the plan be condensed to three pages. McGuire requested the mission statement be added and each item start with a verb for consistency. A significant amount of additional meeting time was devoted to commissioners and student representatives suggesting multiple minor wording and formatting changes. Creamer said she will email the revised version to the Commission. HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES January 12, 2015 Page 4 MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by McGuire, to adopt the 2015 HPC work plan as revised during the meeting for presentation at the City Council workshop on January 20, 2015. Motion carried 5-0. B. CONSULTANT WORK PLAN PROGRESS Creamer relayed a recent progress report from Vogel indicates he has spent the last couple of months doing research on original nomination documents for properties which the City has designated heritage preservation sites, reviewing HPC records used to assemble past CLG annual reports, and setting up files. The bulk of time has been used for research for DK site designation. The commissioners expressed concern about the lack of specificity in Vogel's progress report. The status of the electronic records, DK site nomination, and heritage resources inventory is unclear, and they questioned when they could expect these things to be done. Creamer said Vogel requested certain electronic documents from the City; however, all the records previously kept in boxes in the vacant office were scanned into the City's electronic system. It would be nearly impossible to send them all via email. The suggestion is to view what is available on-site. The plan is to meet with Vogel and get a clearer picture of the status of work completed and review electronic files. There are certain tasks required of someone with specialized training, and the City intends to use Vogel's contracted hours for those tasks. He will attend meetings only as needed. If commissioners have questions for Vogel, they can send them to Creamer and she will forward them on to him. Spera said part of the problem is the vagueness in the wording of the tasks. Some lack definition. VII. NEW BUSINESS None. VIII. FYI ITEMS A. CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP TUESDAY,JANUARY 20, 2015 Creamer gave a quick overview of the upcoming presentation to Council which includes a list of work plan items completed in 2014 and the goals set by the Commission for 2015. Items may be added, changed or deleted from the work plan after Council feedback is received. Commissioners should let Creamer know if they wish to attend the workshop. It begins at 5:00 p.m. Dinner is provided. Muehlberg and Creamer will do the presentation. IX. FUTURE MEETINGS/EVENTS The next HPC meeting will be Monday, February 23, 2015, 7 p.m. at City Center, Prairie Rooms A & B. HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES January 12, 2015 Page 5 X. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: McGuire moved, seconded by Freiberg, to adjourn. Motion carried 5-0. Chair Muehlberg adjourned the meeting at 9:03 p.m.