Lincoln Historical Commission
Historic District Commission
Meeting Minutes
April 3, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
Board Members: Colin Smith, LHC/HDC Chair, Ephraim Flint, HDC; Lucretia Giese, LHC/HDC; Kerry Glass, LHC/HDC; Ken Hurd, HDC; Ruth Wales, LHC/HDC
Alternate: Jack MacLean, HDC
Secretary: Elaine Carroll
NEXT ANTICIPATED MEETINGS: Tuesday, May 1, 2007, 7:30 p.m., Town Offices
The minutes of the meetings on March 6 and March 20 were approved as written.
Demolition Delay Reviews:
Christopher Knollmeyer, 44 Page Road Mr. Knollmeyer came before the LHC members to seek permission to demolish the building at 44 Page Road. He said that the building is a typical stock of 1950s houses. The architect is unknown. Mr. Knollmeyer lives next door and bought the property with the intention of renting the property to the previous owner, who died shortly after that and his widow moved out. The house has been vacant since then. The house has an illegal 2-bedroom apartment. He tried to renovate it to make it into a single-family house but there is mold growing in the addition. All the windows need to be replaced. Part of the building is built across the 50-foot setback and he would like to pull the house forward, which would bring it away from the
abutter s house. He would like to build a house 200 sq. ft. larger than what exists. Charles Staples of 51 Page Road said that he thinks that a new building would be an improvement. The LHC determined that the building was not historically or architecturally significant. The vote was unanimous.
New England Deaconess Association 9, 11, 15 and 17 Cambridge Turnpike:
Walter Bartkus came before the members to request permission to demolish the school and house at 17 Cambridge Turnpike, the house, garage and barn at 9 Cambridge Turnpike, the house and garage at
11 Cambridge Turnpike and the house at 15 Cambridge Turnpike in order to construct an Abundant Life Community. The properties are under a purchase and sale agreement with letters from the owners giving their approval for the teardowns. Deborah Kanzer, owner for 9 Cambridge Turnpike, Patricia Niu of 11 Cambridge Turnpike and David Reece of 15 Cambridge Turnpike were present and said that they have no problem with the demolition request of their properties. They were only concerned with the timing of the project. Mr. Bartkus said that the owners for $1.00 have the right to move the properties to a new site. After a brief discussion, the LHC determined that the buildings were not historically or architecturally significant. The vote was unanimous.
Other Business:
Library Windows Colin Smith said that the Library needs to replace the windows in the addition and plan to match the existing windows but are waiting for estimates from Marvin Windows and Pella before they can make a decision on the windows to be used. The windows used on the addition were made by Marvin and were installed with a preservative on them. The windows started to rot and Marvin offered to replace them but the Library didn t contact them in time to take advantage of this offer.
1 Woods End Road Angela Seaborg gave the HDC a final plan of the plantings done at 1 Woods End Road. The members reviewed the plan and it will be put in Ms. Soulette s file.
Historic District Additions Colin said that the HDC needs to put together a letter to send to owners of historic houses to see if they would be willing to be part of the Historic District. Ken Hurd felt that the HDC should focus on historic areas and not single out individual houses. Lucretia Giese said that the HC should make sure up an inventory of historically significant houses and make that available to the public. Ruth Wales said that the Library has records of houses listed in the state inventory of historic places that anyone can look at but that there are additional houses that should be listed. She felt that there was a need to try to protect houses built before 1800 not in the District and that primarily those owners should get letters for inclusion in the
Historic District. After a brief discussion, it was decided that Ruth Wales and Jack MacLean would make up a list by address of historically significant houses to be made available to the public and an announcement of this list could be made at the State of the Town meeting. FoMA has finished their inventory of modern houses and this could also be integrated into the list of historically significant houses. Elaine Carroll will check with Dana Robbat to see if she can come to the May 1 meeting to discuss this recently completed inventory.
Teardown Application LHC members discussed making changes to the existing application so that it would include the necessary information for the new by-law. It was decided that Elaine Carroll would revise the application and submit the revisions to the members for approval.
Annual Elections Colin Smith made a motion to elect Lucretia Giese as Chairman of the LHC. Lucretia Giese nominated Ruth Wales as Vice-Chairman. The vote was unanimous. Ephraim Flint made a motion to elect Ruth Wales as Chairman of the HDC with Lucretia Giese as Vice-Chairman. The motion passed unanimously. Elaine Carroll was unanimously elected Secretary. These changes will be effective after the April 3, 2007 meeting. Jack MacLean noted that Colin has been Chairman since 1991. Ken Hurd commented that he has done a great job for many years.
Paul Marsh, 61 Bedford Road Paul Marsh dropped off 4 copies of the final version of his Preservation Restriction Agreement for the LHC to review. After a brief discussion at which time the LHC acknowledged a few discrepancies in the materials submitted but felt that they were minor in nature and the members did not want to block this project. A motion was made and seconded to approve Paul Marsh s Preservation Restriction Agreement. The vote was unanimous. Colin Smith signed the 4 copies, which will then need to be signed by Sarah Cannon Holden and Mass. Historical Commission.
Long Range Planning Committee Jack MacLean will replace Colin Smith as the LHC/HDC representative on this committee as well as serving on one of the subcommittees.
23 Bedford Road A builder came in for a demolition permit for the left side of 23 Bedford Road, which had been approved by the HDC in June of 2006. Elaine Carroll will call Karen Clarke to be sure that we get historic photographs of the house for the files.
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There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Elaine Carroll
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