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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-03-26 Historic District Board SummaryHISTORIC DISTRICT BOARD MARCH 26, 1996- 7:00 p.m. ***AGENDA*** Kenai Council Chambers Chair Dorothy Gray 1. ROLL CALL: 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: February 27, 1 996 4. PERSONS PRESENT SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD: 5. HISTORIC BOARD REVIEW: 6. NEW BUSINESS: 7. OLD BUSINESS: a. Preservation Plan, Part 2 b. Review of Sign Code c. Shkituk' Village 8. REPORTS: 9. INFORMATION: a. Memo to City Clerk regarding Budget Request b. Alaska Historic Preservation Plan (Comments due 4/12/96) c. Alaska State Historic Preservation Office Annual Report 1995 d. Alaska Assoc. for Historic Preservation Newsletter e. The Alliance Review Newsletter f. Historic District Board Roster 10. BOARD QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS: 11. ADJOURNMENT: HISTORIC DISTRICT BOARD MARCH 26, 1996 MINUTES Chairperson Gray called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. 1. ROLL CALL: Members present: Members absent: Others present: Dorothy Gray, Bill Kluge, Rebecca Gabriel-Godek, Alan Boraas Ethel Clausen, Kim Booth, Michael Huhndorf Councilman Joe Moore, Administrative Assistant Marilyn Kebschull 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Gray asked if there were any additi°ns or corrections to the agenda. None noted. Agenda approved. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: February 27, 1 996 Kluge commented that the minutes were very complete. Gray stated she had a couple questions, one on page 5, middle paragraph. Gray stated she was trying to remember what the Mayor had said about the project. Gray read, "Mayor Williams responded that he had stated the project delay based on the funding being delayed considerably." Kluge noted that Gray was looking at the Work Session minutes. Gray asked if they made corrections to these minutes and Kebschull noted they were for information only. Councilman Moore stated he felt that the Mayor was referring to the removal of the items they had found on the property. Moore stated they were trying to get the FAA to pay for it which may delay any development of the property. Moore added that it had been discussed at the council meeting and that there has been contact with Senator Stevens with respect to getting the FAA to move ahead on the project. Moore stated that depending on who you talk to whether they will commit to cleaning up the property or not cleaning up the property and what is there and what is not there. Moore stated he assumed that is what the Mayor is referring to and not what the TSH Board was trying to do. Moore asked Gray if that is what she was questioning. Moore stated that all the council discussed what who is going to pay for the clean up. Kluge asked if they knew the extent and Moore responded it is unknown. Moore added that mine sweeping has been done with metal detectors and there are a lot of spots that need to be looked at, railroad cars, tanks, etc. Moore commented that until they dig the area up they won't know what they are up against as far as contamination. Kluge commented that once it is exposed, it is clean up time. Moore stated that he understands it is the FAA's responsibility as it is still their land. Kluge commented that the city had cleaned up some last year and Moore noted it was surface cleaning and nothing.that was buried. Kluge stated they had talked about removing the tank. Gray stated that was one of the things they had discovered. Kluge stated he thought that technically once something is exposed, DEC jumps in. Moore added yes, it must be dealt with. Kluge commented that the city may want to tread lightly until they do determine what is at the site. Moore stated that he felt that was what the Mayor meant. Basically to put everything on hold until it is found out who will pay for what. Gray asked Boraas what implications this would have on archeological sites if they are digging up possibly toxic materials. Moore stated that had been a concern. Boraas stated it would depend on the extent of the digging. They could be disturbing what is in place and from an archeological standpoint you must it in place for it to be much good. Boraas noted that they had buried a tank there already and it has probably disturbed the site. In addition, if they start mining for materials, that could be a problem. Moore commented that it could stop everything if they stumble upon a burial site. Boraas stated the best thing to do would be to have someone there when doing the work. Moore asked if the Board had seen the map of the area and what has been found through the use of the metal detectors. The Board responded no. Moore explained there is a color- coded map that shows the whole area. They know there is a buried fuel tank here, barrels here, a railroad car here, etc. Gray asked Moore is he had any information as to when things may happen. Moore explained that at the last council meeting there were letters from a person who works for Senator Stevens through the FAA that was fairly noncommittal about what they were willing to do. Moore added that Mayor Williams had received other information from Senator Stevens that FAA would be responsible for it. Moore commented that he felt it was a department head who didn't want to spend his department's money. Moore added that the city will keep pushing because there is planned development there with the assisted living complex very close to the antenna station. Gray asked if any corrections on the minutes of February 27th' none noted ! · Minutes approved. 4. PERSONS PRESENT SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD' 5. HISTORIC BOARD REVIEW' 6. NEW BUSINESS' 7. OLD BUSINESS' a. Preservation Plan, Part 2 Gray noted that at the last meeting the City Council had reviewed the Mission Statement. Moore stated that there was no comment but they did acknowledge the statement. Gray stated that the Board had wanted to get a description of the historic character of Kenai from the prehistory to the present and a summary of past preservation efforts. Gray noted those were the next two items. Gray. asked if Boraas had a Townsite Historic District board March 26, 1996 Minutes Page 2 piece he was working on. Boraas stated he has a 20 page document and explained he is working with someone putting together a packet for a grade school curriculum on the prehistory of the Kenai Peninsula area so as part of that and the Preservation Plan, he is putting together a summary history of the area with particular emphasis on Kenai. Boraas noted it is about 80 percent done. Boraas stated it was a rough draft and it lacks about 5 pages and the citations. Boraas showed a copy to Gray and she asked if this copy was for the Board. Boraas responded no, it is still a draft form. Boraas stated that maybe it should be reviewed. Boraas stated it was in narrative style and he was not sure what style the group wanted. Boraas stated he didn't want people to use the document until it was done noting that in the past he has had a rough draft appear somewhere under someone else's name. Gray asked if it should be tabled until he was completed? Boraas asked Gray to look over the document and pass it to whoever else wants to look at it as far as the nature of the document and he will try to finalize it. Gray asked if anyone else would like to read it and the others responded affirmatively. Gray commented that the summary of past preservation efforts was to have been done with Roger Meeks and he was no longer on the Board. Gray asked how people felt about contacting him to see if he would still be interested in doing that. Godek stated she didn't know Meeks and questioned if there was a reason he wouldn't want to do it. Gray explained that Meeks had his feelings hurt because he got a letter from the city because he had missed two meetings in a row and the letter told him that he should resign from the commission because of his attendance. Moore stated for clarification it was more than two in a row. Gray stated it was two out of three meetings. Moore stated that Meeks had technically violated the ordinance so it was suggested that he consider resigning and he did. Moore stated he had brought it up at the council meeting stating that the existing Board did not like that and they had not acted on it. Moore stated he didn't feel it was a problem to have people who were knowledgeable help as long as it came through the Board. Boraas stated he. felt that would be the thing to do and in addition the survey had some information in it. Gray asked if anyone had had an opportunity to read the Alaska's Historic Preservation Plan that was included in the packet. Gray noted they had a set of goals and read through some of them. Gray noted they had listed to provide incentives which they didn't have. Gray stated that the survey of historic resources of Kenai is almost at completion, that is Item 4 of the Preservation Plan. Gray asked Boraas if there is something of an archeological survey of Kenai that exists. Boraas stated that whatever information there is is included in the survey. Gray stated that Item 6, Historic Buildings and sites identified, will also be included in the survey. Gray stated there is already a procedure in place for nominating Townsite Historic District board March 26, 1996 Minutes Page 3 historic sites. Gray noted that a lot of the items are already in place. There is a legal ordinance with maps, zoning, and design guidelines, that is//8. Number 9 is the historic preservation and education of the community. Gray noted that Huhndorf and Booth were going to work on that item. The historic board membership information is part of the ordinance. Gray noted that James Malanaphy finished before he left Item 12 a statement of the public sector's responsibilities toward city-owned historic resources. Gray stated the last item was for the agenda for future action projects and five or ten year plan. Gray summarized that Item 2 is not quite complete and she will check with Meeks. Gray noted she has the draft of the survey for Item 3. Everything else is in place or could be in place by the next meeting. Gray stated that would no way mean it is complete, the Preservation Plan is a kind of a living organism that evolves and can be added and subtracted to but this will be a foundation or a basis for it. Gray noted it will be a fairly lengthy document when complete. Gray added she will check with Meeks and check the survey draft and see what they can come up with for that section. b. Review of Sign Code Gray noted that several samples of other historic district sign codes were included in the packet. Gray stated she had highlighted some of the things she thought were important. Gray stated that the Board probably first needed a motion to officially make a statement that the Board feels that the sign code within the TSH zone be modified from the regular city ordinances if that is the way the Board feels. Gray asked for Board comments or thoughts about setting up special guidelines for the TSH area. Godek asked if that was what Bannock had stated they should do at the last meeting. Gray stated yes that it would have to be legal and to set the wheels in motion to have city council modify the ordinance. Kluge asked if that would come from within the administration or if the Board would review the existing ordinance. Moore stated it would go to Planning & Zoning for review. Kluge stated he felt something would come from the administration to P&Z and they would probably take it to us, or it could come to this Board first. Godek stated she understood Bannock to say they should review the sign code for the city as it stands now and if the Board wants to make it more specific, if it has not already been addressed in the code, the Board should write specifics and give that to P&Z and request that it be taken into consideration. Gray read Bannock's comments from the February minutes, page 7. Moore questioned if Bannock was asking the Board to draft an ordinance and Gray stated it was to draft a set of recommendations. Clarification on process and steps was questioned. Kebschull stated that administration would take the information to legal and then it would be taken to P&Z with a resolution and if they passed it would go as a recommendation to council. Moore stated it needs to go to P&Z first. Kebschull stated it needs specific wording as to what they want changed. Townsite Historic District board March 26, 1996 Minutes Page 4 Gray asked what the Board thought about making specific changes? Godek stated that because of the example that was given last time about the sign being 84 square feet and they could put a piece of plywood up. GODEK MOVED TO MAKE A RECOMMENDATION TO THE PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION FOR AMENDMENTS TO THE SIGN CODE SPECIFIC TO THE TOWNSITE HISTORIC DISTRICT. Kluge clarified that the motion was to make recommendations to P&Z pertaining to signs and their character within the Historic Townsite District. Gray stated yes.. KLUGE SECONDED THE MOTION. Kluge stated it would be a good starting point to go through the information in the packet and to highlight items that each member felt would be pertinent. Kluge commented that he had looked at the ascetic and land control information that was provided in the packet noting there was good information included. Kluge commented that they talk about the character of the development within the historic district. Kluge stated Kenai is different because there are not that many historic structures left but one can go back to old pictures of the period and ascertain what the character of the buildings of the time. Kluge stated they had attended to outline the character and scale of the buildings, and materials. Kluge noted that he felt that this was something the Board should do at some point. Kluge stated he felt that if there is going to be a well thought out future development of Old Town, it needs to have a character to it and that character should find it's roots in what was there originally. Kluge stated the only way he would know to do that would be to go to old photos to try to obtain examples of what the original townsite had and then try to do some descriptive photos. Kluge discussed some of the examples in the packet. Kluge continued stating it was difficult to preserve a historic area and not have any specifics for what is acceptable for design requirements for the area. Gray stated she had highlighted a section from Nantucket stating their signs were only for identification and not for any advertising. Kluge stated he felt that was typical of older buildings. For example, general store, post office, etc. Godek stated that when she was in the Netherlands she noted that in Amsterdam she thought it was clever that the Dutch people put above each of their buildings a symbol. Godek stated for example the mid-wife had a stork. Kluge stated that it is a task to come up with a good document and guidelines for signs and building in Old Town that will take some time from the Board and that he doesn't feel it can just be thrown together. Kluge stated he felt that a goal with a time table would be useful. Townsite Historic District board March 26, 1996 Minutes Page 5 Boraas stated that he felt it was a good idea to try to describe the character of Kenai as it emerged through time in words. But in many ways more effective might be a series of sketches based on historic photos some going back to the turn of the century and showing how a modern structure might keep the flavor and still be a modern structure. Boraas added that the other thing that is real important is that when people think of a certain time period such as the 20's or turn of the century, Boraas stated that people want to create it in their minds from something they know about. Many people might see Old Town Kenai as a gas lit district similar to a turn of 'the century east coast area but it never was that. Boraas stated that part of the message is to try to portray it truthfully as it was. It was never a dramatic place architecturally. Boraas noted that doesn't mean it wasn't significant. Boraas stated that he had just come to realize that Kenai was a new place in 1 920. The influenza epidemic of 1 91 8 caused all the small villages on the peninsula to disappear. Basically, the population was cut in half. All those people moved to Kenai and it was a growing place and the population doubled between 1 900 and 1 920. Boraas added that another remarkable thing about Kenai is that looking at early air photos of Kenai virtually all of the dwellings and the few stores were connected by a maze-way of paths. Boraas stated that is symbolic of the Kenaitze. It was a connected place. Kluge stated if you look at a plat that a lot of the pathways are actually property lines. Boraas stated he had reconstructed a lot of it from Peter Kalifornsky's memory. Kluge added that if you look closely, there were community out houses and several dwellings would have paths to them. Discussion about the layout at that time. Boraas reiterated that he felt that sketches would be dramatic as far as portraying the nature of the place. Boraas said that a lot of information will come from the survey. They did a lot of dimensions, size, etc. that could be pulled off the survey. Kluge stated he would be interested to see the sUrvey as a professional group has a lot of information to draw from. Kluge asked when the survey would be completed. Kebschull advised that the final document have been sent to OHA and they would be checking it with the comments that Gray, Boraas, and the city provided. Preservation North will have two months to incorporate all the comments and to complete the final document. Final document due mid-June. Gray stated she would like to set a goal about the sign code with the Vozar cabin rental business there is bound to be a number of signs that may be put up. Kluge asked when the next P&Z meeting and was advised the next night. Kluge stated he felt that Gray had a good point and that perhaps the Board needed to go forward with the motion on the floor to make recommendations to P&Z. Kluge stated he felt time is of the essence because a lot of signs could go in with the new businesses. Gray asked the time line on an ordinance and if it required a public hearing. Moore advised an ordinance does require a public hearing. Gray asked if Townsite Historic District board March 26, 1996 Minutes Page 6 amending an ordinance also required a public hearing. Kebschull advised the policy has been to have a public hearing for anything significant but was unsure of the rule. Moore stated it would have to be two weeks from the day it was on the public hearing and then it could be considered. So, the Board would be looking at two weeks once it gets on the agenda to be heard for a vote. Moore said if the Board could get to P&Z tomorrow that would be good. Kebschull advised the Board they would need specifics to bring to P&Z. Bill Godek asked Kebschull if he had understood that the packet would go first to Jack La Shot who would take it to legal and then it would go to P&Z for their review. Kebschull advised that staff would put it in the P&Z packet based on TSH recommendation but La Shot would look at it and take it to legal before it would be presented to P&Z. When P&Z receive it, they assume staff has taken steps to check all the legalities. Kebschull advised that takes times. Kluge asked if it would be wise to pick out some more significant areas of concern as far as signs go and make those recommendations and that they be incorporated now. And, note that the Board will be giving this further review in conjunction with the historic survey and further development recommendations. Kluge stated for example saying that the signs are not for advertising but to say what is in the building. Kluge noted that one item could go a long way to limit flamboyant advertising. Moore noted the concern about size requirements. Boraas stated he has another concern and that would be that a commercial sign if it included historic information that that information be accurate. And, that the TSH Board be the determining factor. Kluge asked if they could try to create a draft as they discussed the signs. After considerable discussion the group consensus was the following: Rationale: According to the Juneau, Alaska Historic District Sign Standards, "The purpose of the historic district sign standards are to enhance, protect, and preserve the distinctive historical character of the historic district." The Townsite Historic District board would be included in the City of Kenai's permitting process by providing recommendations that would do the following: Signs for use in the Historic Townsite District shall be subject to a design review by the Historic District Board. Signage shall only be applied to building fronts and shall relate only to historic information, name, or principal use within the building. Signs shall express the special character of one's building or business, have a style and form which relates to the place of business, and be of a size which is in Townsite Historic District board March 26, 1996 Minutes Page 7 scale with one's building and the street scape as a whole. The review submitted shall include drawings that depict the size, placement on the building, lettering style(s), colors, materials, and content. The sign shall be reviewed for historic correctness, scale and character in keeping with the historic correctness in keeping with the historic district. Drawings shall be submitted in not less than 1 "-1 '-0" scale. GRAY ASKED THOSE IN FAVOR OF PRESENTING PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATIONS TO PLANNING & ZONING REGARDING THE SIGN CODE TO SAY AYE. UNANIMOUS. c. Shkituk' Village Boraas advised he had visited the area with Rachel Clark, an engineering technician for the city. Boraas stated they had tried to identify the approximate boundaries of where the village was. Boraas stated he worked mostly off the old cannery map. There is a verbal description of it from the second governor of Alaska that identifies about 20 buildings. With the snow on the ground, they could not find any corner posts. Boraas stated he is pretty sure it extends back along the gully. Boraas stated the most logical next step, depending on what they do with the hazardous material survey, would be to go in once it thaws to do some testing to see if they can identify any locations. Boraas commented that with the disturbance it is probably unlikely they would find anything but you never know. Gray stated that the Mayor's recommendation in the packet regarding the sign being included in the city budget. Moore noted the first meeting was tomorrow night and the Board was invited to attend. In addition, the sign was in the budget. Gray commented that even if it was budgeted, it would be July with the new budget. Gray stated that at the last meeting that they had discussed the importance of identifying the site. Kluge stated that he thought the sign may need to be changed so that it doesn't depict an elk in the sign. Gray stated that had been noted earlier to make the change. Kebschull advised they were changing the elk and the hood on the figure. Kluge stated he would also recommend having the artwork reproduced and laminated so that if it is vandalized another copy can be put up. Kluge stated he could provide further information on how to get that done. He explained the process. Gray stated the sign was to be fiberglass embedded panels. 8. REPORTS: 9. INFORMATION: a. Memo to City Clerk regarding Budget Request Townsite Historic District board March 26, 1996 Minutes Page 8 b. Alaska Historic Preservation Plan (Comments due 4/12/96) c. Alaska State Historic Preservation Office Annual Report 1995 d. Alaska Assoc. for Historic Preservation Newsletter e. The Alliance Review Newsletter f. Historic District Board Roster 10. BOARD QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS: 11. ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at approximately 8:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted: Administrative Assistant Townsite Historic District board March 26, 1996 Minutes Page 9