Lincoln Historical Commission
Historic District Commission
Meeting Minutes
September 12, 2006, 7:30 p.m.
Board: Colin Smith, Chair, Ephraim Flint, Lucretia Giese, Kerry Glass, Ruth Wales
Town: Elaine Carroll
NEXT MEETING: October 3, 2006, 7:30 p.m., Town Offices
The minutes from the August 29, 2006 meeting were approved as written. After the Sept. 12 meeting it was learned that the Flint documents referred to in the minutes are still in the possession of Henry Flint and have not been given to Paul Marsh s son.
Demolition Delay Review:
Forrest St. Clair and Kathryn Anagnostakis, 111 Tower Road The owners came before the LHC members to request demolition of an existing dwelling. Mr. St. Clair said that the house is a 1936 cottage style home with no insulation and inadequate wiring. They bought the house in 2002 and put in a new furnace and septic system. It was sold as a 3 bedroom but really is only a one and a half bedroom with a small bathroom and is inadequate for their growing family. It may also contain lead paint, which has been painted over. The living space is much smaller than it appears from the outside roughly 1,300 sq. ft. of living space. They will be rebuilding basically on the same footprint and will be building a roughly 4,000 sq. ft. house. Clair Mount, an abutter, phoned a
couple of members to say that she had no objection. Margaret Ramsey of 103 Tower Road asked about the distance between the new house and her house and was told by the owners that it will not be any closer than now. A motion was made and seconded to approve the demolition request. The motion passed 4-0. The Commission wanted it noted in the minutes that they expressed their concerns about the dwindling supply of modest houses in Lincoln, which are being replaced by much larger dwellings.
Certificate of Appropriateness:
Old Town Hall Corporation, 25 Lincoln Road Members of the Old Town Hall Corporation Committee came before the Commission for approval of 4 granite steps to be placed in front of the Old Town Hall. Lee Harrison showed the members pictures of the Old Town Hall with the 4 granite steps. Colin Smith asked how the grading would be handled so that the granite steps would fit properly. Mrs. Harrison said that Bruce MacDowell would be in charge of installation of the granite steps and low ground cover and will re-grade the area. Colin was concerned that the pitch is not too steep or a railing would be necessary. They did not have a plan showing how this would be done and insisted that anything at grade was not within the HDC s jurisdiction. Stacy Osur asked that a paragraph from Colin
Smith s 9/6/06 letter to the Old Town Hall Corporation be written into the minutes. “Speaking of details, of course, we do have a couple of other concerns that we would ask your Board to think about, even though, technically speaking, they are outside of our jurisdiction, since they are at grade.” It will be graded so that water will not collect and hopefully keep it out of the basement. They will be removing the brick and curb stop and replacing it with granite pavers. The entire parking lot will be regarded. The members were concerned that there would be no curb stop. Mrs. Harrison did not feel that this would be an issue but that if it was a problem, they could deal with it at a later time. She said that they would be putting in blue lines for the parking spaces. Stacy Osur said that the Post Office wants to leave but they want them to stay as a convenience for the Town even though their rent is low. The
applicant also agreed to stagger the joints in the proposed granite pavers as the Commission suggested. A motion was made and seconded to approve the 4 granite steps with the hope that the grade will be done properly. The motion passed 5-0.
Informal Discussions:
Nancy Soulette, 1 Woods End Road Angela Seaborg, Landscape Architect for 1 Woods End Road came before the members to discuss a discrepancy in the location of the fence approved previously by the Commission. Although Walpole Fence was given strict instructions to remain at least 3 feet away from the abutter s property, the last 3 panels were to close. The neighbor wrote a letter to the Commission complaining about the location of the fence. Angela told the members that the offending fence panels had been moved and one panel at the back of the property was removed completely. She said that the final planting had been completed and asked the members to make a site visit. In a letter to the Commission dated 8/31/06, Ms. Soulette also asked permission to place pickets from the removed
fence panel into the gaps in the fence to make it continuous because the fence is not effective with these gaps. Three members agreed on a site visit on 9/16 and one member will go on 9/18. After the site visit the members will have a better idea of what the fence looks like now and what they want to do to fill the gaps. A decision will be made after the site visit.
Demolition Delay By-Law Changes The members went over a copy of proposed changes, written by Jack MacLean, to the Demolition Delay By-Law and made several small changes. Section 3.3, line 4 “may” was changed to “shall”. Section 3.4, line 6 will read “A determination by the LHC shall remain valid for a period of two (2) years from the date of the decision or until the sale of the property”. Section 3.4 will have a period after the word “permit” with the additional proposed wording being removed. There will be further informal discussions at future meetings. The members felt that the alternate members of the HDC should also be alternates for the LHC to avoid a quorum problem.
Library Archives Ruth Wales said that the archives identified 21 folders of HDC material including additional documents. She said that the State has original inventory from 1950s and 1970s. The material in the HDC boxes is research notes and forms. She would like to see additional material in the HDC files in the Town Offices.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Elaine Carroll
|