Lincoln Historical Commission
Historic District Commission
Meeting Minutes
January 7, 2003, 7:30 p.m.
Present: Colin Smith, Chair, Eleanor Fitzgerald, Stefania Jha, Mary Spindler and David Ries
Town: Elaine Carroll
Guests: Jack MacLean, Historian
Henry B. Hoover, Jr., 154 Trapelo Road
Scott Dale, 84 Lexington Road
NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, February 4, 2003, 7:30 p.m., Employees Lounge, Town Offices
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minutes of the November 12, 2002 meeting were approved.
Demolition Delay Review:
Scott and Lori Dale, 84 Lexington Road:
Scott Dale came before the members to discuss the proposed demolition of the existing dwelling at 84 Lexington Road. He said that the dwelling was not easy to convert to a family house. This is a Hoover designed house. After a brief discussion, the members voted unanimously to approve the demolition application.
Other Business:
The members reviewed a letter and Preservation Restriction Agreement sent from J. Edward Foster, Attorney for Edward F. Flint, Jr. and Henry R. Flint, asking the Lincoln Historical Commission to accept their grant of preservation restrictions on the Flint Homestead after listing in the National Registry of Historic Places, which is pending. After a discussion as to the feasibility of this request, including the burden of making the homestead open to the public at least 2 days a year and the obligation of making sure that the restrictions are being maintained on the premises by the present owner or any future owners. This is the kind of work, which is performed by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA) but Edward Flint, for his own reasons, is unwilling to trust SPNEA with this
property and would prefer to have the LHC monitor it. He is unwilling to have the property put into the Historic District, which would provide it with more protection than the Agreement would provide. The earliest documentation on the house is 1712 according to Jack MacLean but Mr. Flint believes the house dates back to 1680. It was always owned by the Flints and is a significant house in Lincoln. Placing property in National Register creates a tax advantage to any owner. Maintenance of the property is done by the owners with the LHC forced to act as policemen of the place. Colin Smith will call Ed Foster to let him know that the LHC would be interested but some questions need to be answered. David Ries felt that there were problems with the wording in the document. Colin Smith will give the document to Town Counsel for his opinion and the members will read over the document and it will be discussed at a future meeting. The
property will not be put on the agenda for the National Registry until June of 2003.
Colin Smith spoke to the members about some loopholes, which Sara Mattes felt were present in the Demolition Delay By-Law. She felt that there should be a time limit placed on the approval of a demolition request if no action is taken. Eleanor Fitzgerald felt that once a house has been deemed not worth of preservation, it should not need to come back because of inaction, but did feels that any alteration to the house should make the demolition approval null and void. It is currently transferable to any new owners, which David Ries said the Planning Board did not think was appropriate. The members felt that more discussion was needed before any changes in the by-law be brought before the Town.
Mary Spindler brought in an article from the Boston Globe about stone walls and feels that more should be done in Lincoln to preserve the stone walls, even the ones not visible from the street. She felt that the Town Officials should be made more aware of the need to be sure that the stone walls are preserved and also more public education is needed. Colin Smith will talk with Chris Skelly regarding the best course of action to accomplish this.
The members continued an informal discussion regarding the identification of houses, which they would like added to the Historic District. Henry Hoover, Jr. brought in a revised list of modernist houses, which he had compiled. Modernist houses have an air of simplicity to them and didn t put something there just to be decorative. Because of the number here, that makes them somewhat unique to Lincoln and, therefore, a part of what Lincoln is and people should be made aware of the importance of this style of house to the Town. The updated list included houses in the Beaver Pond Road area. The discussion continued as to how to prioritize the list and educate the public to increase the awareness of the importance of preserving modernist houses in Lincoln. Mr. Hoover mentioned again the possibility of a
Bemis Lecture Series being set up with Gary Wolf speaking on modernist houses. The members decided to contact any resident on the list that they knew to educate the owners about the value of their property from the beginning and get a sense of how they feel about being added to the Historic District. The members decided that in the next few months they would try to go around to look at the various houses on Mr. Hoover s list. It was felt that there are no architectural jewels but collectively they are an interesting group. Mr. Hoover will talk to Dana Robbat regarding any polls already done and get some input about doing an additional poll. Mary Spindler again brought up the fact that they should look into changing the law at the State level of putting houses in the Historic District even if they cannot be seen from the street. It was felt that this could be a difficult task. The members will continue the discussion at a future meeting.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Elaine Carroll
|