Local Historic Preservation Commission outlines future plans

[February 19, 2015]  LINCOLN - On Tuesday evening, the city of Lincoln Historic Preservation Commission met for the first time in 2015. The evening began with three members present, Chairman April Doolin, Julie Cooper and Brian Mesner. Also on hand, two new members that will be officially sworn into service at the March meeting. Kay Dobson and Karen Sager will be appointed to the commission to fill two empty positions.

There were no voting items on the agenda, so the meeting was conducted in a workshop format with members discussing future activities of the Commission. Because there were no votes, Dobson and Sager did participate in those discussions.

Doolin began by asking if the Commission would be interested in holding another public workshop like had been done in the fall of last year. That workshop was held at the Lincoln Public Library in October and featured guest speakers Richard Sumrall and Diane Osborn. The topic of discussion was “If these walls could talk,” and included information about how to research the history of a home.

Doolin suggested that a new topic could be on how to read an abstract. The discussion that followed included suggestions and ideas of who would make a good guest speaker for the event. It was suggested that the speaker be someone who would be willing to give a talk, but also perhaps stay after to meet one-on-one with homeowners and look at their abstracts with them. A tentative date for the workshop is Saturday, April 25th at 10 a.m. at the Lincoln Public Library. An official announcement for the workshop will come at a later date.

A discussion also took place on how to promote the local historic home registry. Dobson suggested the HPC pamphlets could be given out to local realtors. She noted the realtors would have to be committed to helping by making sure any time a historical home sold in Lincoln, the new owners would be given a pamphlet.

Julie Cooper also commented that pamphlets could be included in the welcome packages given out by the Lincoln/Logan Chamber of Commerce.

There was also talk about developing a website that would equate to a digital scrapbook of Lincoln Homes. Dobson thought it would be especially interesting to have photos of restoration and improvement projects on the website. She noted it would offer examples of what can be done to improve historic homes without compromising their historic designation.

The commission talked about having a plaque that could be placed at registered homes. Doolin explained that the commission does not have a budget, so the homeowner would have to purchase the plaque. However, the HPC could design it.

It was noted that work had started on this idea but had gone to the wayside when Commission member Mike Fak died last fall. Fak had done some preliminary work on the idea, but that work was now lost, so the commission might need to start over.

The members agreed the Commission should design the plaque, so the style would be consistent and recognizable around town.

The Commission discussed and decided on a meeting schedule for 2015. According to the ordinance passed by the city of Lincoln, the commission is required to meet four times per calendar year.

Doolin said the commission could stay with that, but could also meet more often if they wanted. She said if the Commission does want to be active in getting homes registered, then more frequent meetings might be necessary.

Mesner asked about what quarterly meetings would mean for those who are seeking permission to make modifications to their properties. He noted last year there were applications for changes to some downtown business structures. The process took quite a bit of time. He wondered if the commission would make applicants wait for quarterly meetings, or could special meetings be called as the need arose.

Doolin said she felt that special meetings could be called for that purpose and agreed that those wishing to make changes to the properties should not have to wait that long for approval.

The group also discussed continuing with a monthly meeting schedule. Doolin said she was okay with that, but she hesitated to have meetings when there were no actions to be taken.

Mesner said he would rather see a monthly meeting scheduled, and then if there was nothing to be discussed it could be canceled. It was decided that the commission will go forward in that manner.

Monthly meetings will take place on the third Tuesday of the month and will be held on March 17, April 21, May 19, June 16, July 21, August 18, September 15, October 20, November 17 and December 15th.

[Nila Smith]