Agendas and Minutes

Historic Preservation Advisory Committee (View All)

Historic Commission Meeting

Agenda
Wednesday, October 05, 2016

Ashland Historic Commission
Meeting Minutes
 
October 5, 2016
 
Community Development/Engineering Services Building – 51 Winburn Way – Siskiyou Room
 
CALL TO ORDER:
Commission Chair, Shostrom called the meeting to order at 6:01pm in the Siskiyou Room at the Community Development and Engineering Offices located at 51 Winburn Way, Ashland OR 97520.
                       
Commissioners Present: Council Liaison:
Giordano Carol Voisin
Skibby  
Von Chamier Staff Present:
Whitford Mark Schexnayder; Staff Liaison
Emery Regan Trapp; Secretary - Absent
Swink  
   
   
Commissioners Absent: Shostrom, Leonard
 
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Von Chamier introduced herself as the newest member of the Commission. 
 
Whitford motioned to approve minutes from September 7, 2016.  Swink seconded.  No one opposed. 
 
PUBLIC FORUM:   
There was no one in the audience wishing to speak.
 
COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT: 
Voisin was not present to give the Council Liaison report. 

DISCUSSION ITEMS:
  • Pioneer Hall Courtyard was discussed and Schexnayder gave the background on the project.  Schexnayder went on to say that Ms. Kathol from Public Works is in charge of the project which includes tree cleanup and putting in a new courtyard at Pioneer Hall.  Ms. Kathol went to Historic Review board a few weeks ago and ran some ideas by some of the Commissioners.  Natural brick was chosen by the review board as the best replacement for surface material in the courtyard and comments were submitted to Public Works by Shostrom.  Schexnayder stated that he is still waiting to hear back from Ms. Kathol in regards to the types of the brick or pavers that they decide to go with.  According to Ms. Kathol, she made some calls and there is not enough brick and she is having difficulty finding the quantity that is needed for the project.   Schexnayder stated that pavers (red, classic was commission’s second choice) are less slippery and provide a better walking surface.  The Commission agreed to continue this until review board, where materials will be presented by Ms. Kathol. 
 
  • Proposed changes to AMC
Ms. Harris, Planning Manager for the City of Ashland, addressed the Commission regarding the proposed changes to the Ashland Municipal Code in regards to public art on historic contributing structures.  The idea is to take the review process out of site design review and move the review process out of the land use ordinance to each individual Commission.  Harris gave a background as to why the proposed changes are coming about and stated that the City Council was concerned that it’s a fairly complex process and wants to look at the process as a whole. Harris would like the Historic Commission to put forth some type of motion or recommendation to the City Council so they can move forward with discussion on the ordinance change at the October 18th meeting.  Skibby asked if the decision by the City Council could be appealed once the decision is made and Harris stated that it’s possible that one could file at the State level to LUBA.  Emery stated that the new “streamlined” process would go from 120 days, to 30 days with no appeal or public input.  Skibby stressed that taking this out of the Land Use Code would weaken the process and he wouldn’t support it.  After much discussion, the Commission came up with some viable concerns regarding the proposed changes to the Ashland Municipal Code.
 
Whitford motioned to approve staff sending a statement to City Council in regards to changes to the process for reviewing public art within the Historic District in the Ashland Municipal Code, Chapter 18. Swink seconded.  Voice vote; All AYES.  Motion passed
 
Below is an excerpt taken from the memo drafted by Ms. Harris on October 12, 2016 to the Ashland Mayor and City Council:
 
The Historic Commission’s preferred solution is to maintain the review of changes to the exterior of historic contributing or individually listed buildings involving public art installations in the land use process.  The Commission believes that the structure of the land use process works well to protect Ashland’s inventoried historic resources in large part because of the opportunities for public input and application of approval criteria. 
 
The Historic Commission’s second choice would be to create a new review process for public art installations on historic contributing or individually listed buildings.  The Commission suggests the inclusion of revised approval criteria so that the impact to historic buildings are systematically evaluated and the City’s responsibility to protect historic resources of statewide significance are fulfilled. While the existing process for acquiring public art in AMC 2.29.100 does not currently include a public notice or explicitly require a public hearing, it does appear the intent of the proposed amendments is to include a noticing and hearing process similar to a Type 1 land use application review process.
 
The Historic Commission identified several concerns with the draft amendments included the references to the land use ordinance in AMC 2.24.060.A and C, the role of the Historic Commission comments in the decision making process, and the effect of the compression of the decision making process to 30 days.
 
If a new review process is created outside of the land use ordinance, the Commission suggests locating the revised evaluation criteria and public involvement process within the new process, rather than referencing the building design and Type 1 noticing sections of the land use ordinance. This would make the process more understandable and eliminate any question of whether referencing sections of the land use ordinance would trigger the land use process.
 
The Historic Commission is accustomed to advising the decision maker, such as the Staff Advisor, Planning Commission or City Council, in regards to buildings in the historic districts.  The Commission suggests fashioning the new process so that advisory commissions (i.e., Historic Commission, Public Arts Commission) make recommendations directly to the City Council.
 
Finally, the Commission expressed concern about reducing the time frame from a maximum of 120 days under the land use process to 30 days under the new process. Specifically, the concern was the effect on public involvement and ability of the average person to learn about and participate in the process in this time frame. The applications for the murals on the historic contributing buildings located at 27 Second St. and 5 N. Main St. were processed and approved within the 45-day time period required for Type 1 planning applications.
 
End of excerpt
          
NEW ITEMS:
  • Review board schedule
  • Project assignments for planning actions
         
OLD BUSINESS:
 
 
COMMISSION ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA:
 
Review Board Schedule
Oct 6th Terry, Keith, Bill
Oct 13th Terry, Tom, Bill
Oct 20th Terry, Piper, Dale
Oct 27th Terry, Sam, Taylor
Nov 3rd Terry, Keith, Bill
 
Project Assignments for Planning Actions
PA-2014-01956 Lithia & First All
PA-2014-00710/711 143/135 Nutley Swink & Whitford
PA-2014-01283 172 Skidmore Shostrom
PA-2014-02206 485 A Street NEED ASSIGNED
PA-2015-00178 156 Van Ness Ave Shostrom
PA -2015-00374 160 Lithia Way Emery
PA-2015-00878 35 S. Pioneer NEED ASSIGNED
PA-2015-01496 35 S. Second-Winchester Inn Shostrom
PA-2015-01695  399 Beach Skibby
PA-2015-01769  860 C NEED ASSIGNED
PA-2015-01517 209 Oak Shostrom
PA-2015-02203 868 A Street Whitford
PA-2016-00073 151 Pioneer Swink
PA-2016-00275 574 Allison Emery
PA-2016-00387 95 N. Main Shostrom
PA-2016-00763 5 N. Main Swink
PA-2016-00209 25 N. Main NEED ASSIGNED
PA-2016-00818 175 Pioneer Shostrom & Skibby
PA-2016-00847 252 B Street Whitford
PA-2016-00587 872 Siskiyou Blvd Skibby
PA-2016-01027 276 B Street Shostrom & Leonard
PA-2016-01641   221 Oak Street Shostrom
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS & INFORMATIONAL ITEMS:
Next meeting is scheduled November 2, 2016 at 6:00 pm
There being no other items to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 7:26pm
Respectfully submitted by Regan Trapp

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