Minutes: Historical Preservation: February 20, 2008

Evansville Historic Preservation Commission
Minutes
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 7:00 P.M.
3rd Floor, City Hall

Present: Dennis Wessels, Rich Modaff, John Decker, Steve Christens, Steve Culbertson,
Betsy Ahner
Also Present: Jim McGoey

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by chair Rich Modaff. Motion by Dennis Wessels, second by Steve Culbertson to waive the reading of January 16, 2008 minutes and approve them as read. Motion carried.

Applications – Appearances

102 E. Main Street – Motion by Decker, Second by Culbertson to approve the store front signage as presented by Berg Real Estate. Motion carried.

Old Business

Historic Lighting Follow-up – Jim McGoey reported that he had attended a Water and Light meeting and they estimated a cost of $7,000 to $9,000 per light to install new underground wiring. Since wiring must be installed underground it is not possible to just swap the historic style lighting for the current poles. At this point it seems Jim won’t be able to pursue it further. Commission members expressed their appreciation for his efforts.

Administrative

Grove Society – John Decker reported that the Grove Society has received permission to establish a museum display in the Eager Building. He has been working with Sue and Jeff Farnsworth and they have 300 square feet of space that can be used. It may be possible to incorporate a visitor’s center as well. When the Historic Baker Office Building is complete we may then move the visitor’s center there. That will give us two museum locations. Evansville has a new historical society, the Theodore Robinson Society. Rich Krake is one of the organizers. He will be making a presentation at the Evansville Grove Society Old House Group on February 28th. The Prime Timers have recruited a group of mostly retired people who are willing to work on the interior of the Baker Building. Jim McGoey described a display that was used at one time by the Grove Society to promote local history. It went into storage at the Masonic Temple but he didn’t know if it was still there.

Redevelopment Authority – Betsy Ahner reported at its last meeting the RDA discussed possible ways to help the new owners of the Auto Transformers building on E. Main Street. They had hoped to establish an auto body repair shop there but the zoning will not allow it. Thus a new use must be found for the building.

Plaque Program- last Sunday a television program called Powerhouse featured preservationist Bob Yapp talking about fixing historic windows and insulating old homes. There are some new methods available that many people may not be aware of. The DVD of the show is available for $10. Bob also did a series of PBS shows in 1995 & 1996 and has written a book titled, Preservation Doesn’t Cost it Shows.

Motion by Steve Culbertson to purchase three copies of the Powerhouse DVD. Second by Steve Christens. Motion carried.

Management of HPC Documents – the City is still working on this.

Second Historic District – we must send a letter of intent to the State Historical Society that we are interested and that we intend to make an application for grant funding to do a National Historic Register application. Motion by John Decker that we send a letter of intent to apply for a Certified Local Government Grant. Second by Steve Culbertson. Motion carried.

Jim McGoey said that he and Ruth Ann Montgomery have discussed updating the visual record of the current historic district. He asked if the new survey included new photos of all the houses or just the contributing houses in the district. John will follow up with Tim Heggland on this. If photos do need to be taken Jim McGoey volunteered to take more photos.

Historic Landmarks – the new owners of Millie Tait’s house on Garfield are planning to do some restoration work on the home and are interested in applying for historic preservation tax credits. John has referred them to the resurvey document and they may be interested in applying for local landmark status.

There were no comments and concerns.

Motion to adjourn by Culbertson. Second by Wessels. Motion carried.

The minutes of the Evansville Historic Preservation Commission are not official until approved by the Commission.