Lincoln Historical Commission
Historic District Commission
Meeting Minutes
March 4, 2003, 7:30 p.m.
Board: Colin Smith, Chair, Eleanor Fitzgerald, Stefania Jha and Mary Spindler
Town: Elaine Carroll
Guests: Jack MacLean, Historian
Henry B. Hoover, Jr., 154 Trapelo Road
Paul Marsh, 61 Bedford Road
Robin Thompson, 34 Bedford Road
NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, April 8, 2003, 7:30 p.m., Employees Lounge, Town Offices
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Minutes of the February 4, 2003 meeting were approved with three corrections, which will be made.
Discussion with Paul Marsh:
Paul Marsh came before the Board to discuss the Historic Districts and ways to add additional properties to the Districts. He informed the Board that the Mass. Historical Society has a multiple resource list, which the Board felt is worth investigating and getting a copy to see if appropriate documents for the State have been done on any properties in Town. Mr. Marsh stated that he is thinking of putting a Preservation Restriction on his house as one of the oldest houses in Lincoln, which requires documentation and reports on the age of the property. Some of this has already been done for the 1976 bicentennial and creation of Historic Districts in 1983. The Federal Government wants good documentation of property, including photographs and measured drawings. A Conservation
Restriction should be put on the land on which the structure sits and then the property should be surveyed. In the past, if the Conservation Commission were interested in seeing a Conservation Restriction on the land, they would pay for the survey. But Mr. Marsh did not know where the money came from. A Conservation Restriction on the land would mean that it could not be subdivided. The Mass. Historical Commission is interested in preserving the setting where the property is located. Because of the restrictions placed on the dwelling, this would reduce the property value at the time of a sale by between 10% and 15%, and the difference between the present value and assessed value becomes a gift from the Federal Government by reducing Federal taxes. The assessed value is reduced, which means a reduction of property taxes. Mr. Marsh felt that several barns in Town should be preserved, including the Flint barns and the stable on Kim Johnson s
property on Red Rail Farm. There was also a discussion regarding the availability of Community Preservation Act Funds for this project. Historic Preservation, Conservation and Housing would get 10% each of the available funds. Then the Community Preservation Committee makes a recommendation to the selectmen about where the additional 70% of the funds should be spent. Colin Smith stated that he did not think that there would be any funds available until after the 2004 Town Meeting because the process has not been completed and would not make it by the 2003 Town Meeting. He said that he would check with Tim Higgins, because he did not attend the last CPC meeting. The funds could be used to fund the gathering of documentation on the various properties, which might be added to the Historic Districts. Mr. Marsh will review Jack MacLean s list and let the Board know which properties he feels should be a high priority.
Other Business:
The members reviewed a letter from Lee Harrison regarding the sign and post at the Old Town Hall Exchange, which states that they will be going before the Planning Board on March 19 to discuss the discrepancies in the sign and post outside the building. The members felt that with the new sign, the post is overwhelming, making the sign incidental to the post. Mr. Thompson felt that Lee Harrison should check with other companies for a post and he said that he would be willing to give her the names of additional companies. Colin Smith said that he would inform Lee Harrison that she would also need to come before the Historic District Commission for approval of the post. The sign isn t big enough to come under the Board s jurisdiction. Stefania Jha, who was present at the Planning Board s
meeting, does not remember any discussion about changing the post, and the drawing presented to the Planning Board shows an entirely different post.
The Board reviewed the Town map after Henry Hoover, Jr. had added his list of modernist houses in purple pencil. Mr. Hoover said that he had contacted Kerry Glass about a talk on modernist houses and said that she was very receptive. He said she would bring it up at the next Lincoln Historical Society meeting on March 15th. He spoke with Paul Marsh and they discussed hooking up with the Assessor s data base program to help organize the list of proposed additions to the Historic Districts. He will follow through on this and get back to the Board. He also said that the Board should have procedures and necessary documents ready before going before any owners. Colin Smith said that the first task is to identify priority properties, then put together a letter to see if people are
interested in participating. It was discussed that the best course of action would be to document the starred properties. Colin Smith will get a copy of the Mass. Historical Society list to all members to review and see if any of the Board s starred properties are already documented. Jack MacLean will make up a high priority list of properties and draft an easily understood document, which could be sent to owners. Mr. MacLean told the Board that he would be speaking on Sunday, March 16 at 2:00 p.m. at Jane Langton s house regarding the possibility of putting the Thoreau Institute property and the neighborhood on Baker Farm Road on the National Register. Being on the National Register would help the Thoreau Institute with fund-raising efforts. Mr. MacLean will come before the Board at the next meeting with a proposal for going before the National Register, regarding the properties on Baker Farm Road. Eleanor Fitzgerald
said that she would be willing to get some publicity out for this project with some help from members as to the wording for the newspaper. Mary Spindler will call Kerry Glass to see if there are any funds for this project from the Historical Society and get back to members. Colin Smith will contact the Codman Trust to see if they would have funds available. Mr. Thompson asked whether any maps were available showing the evolution of how land was used 250 years ago, 200 years ago, 150 years ago, etc. Mr. MacLean said that there is a revolutionary map and he has smaller maps done for his book, which shows you what houses were there at various times. The members agreed that this would make an interesting set of overlays.
Colin Smith said that Edward Flint had contacted him to say that he would be in Massachusetts on
March 12th for a meeting to add his property to the National Register. Mary Spindler asked whether Edward and Henry Flint might like to meet with members of the Board when Edward was in Town to see if they would be willing to work with the Board in preserving their property. She will contact Henry Flint to see how long Edward will be here and whether a meeting will be possible.
Mr. Smith brought in a draft copy of the Preservation Restriction Guidelines, Notes and Commentary. Mr. Hoover brought in copies of a cover letter and Preservation Restriction Agreement from SPNEA s Stewardship Program for the Peavy property on Tabor Hill Road. Elaine Carroll will make copies of documents and mail them to all members. Mr. MacLean gave the members a copy of a working draft for structural survey report for the Higginson House on 44 Baker Farm Road, which he had prepared.
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There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Elaine Carroll
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