Lincoln Historical Commission
Historic District Commission
Meeting Minutes
August 14, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
Board Members: Ruth Wales, HDC Chair, LHC/HDC; Lucretia Giese, LHC Chair, LHC/HDC, Ephraim Flint, HDC; Kerry Glass, LHC/HDC; Kenneth Hurd, HDC; Andrew Ory, LHC/HDC; Colin Smith, LHC/HDC
Alternate: Jack MacLean, HDC
Secretary: Elaine Carroll
NEXT ANTICIPATED MEETINGS: Sept. 11 and Oct. 2, 2007, 7:30 p.m., Town Offices
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. and the minutes of the July 10 meeting were approved with corrections, which will be made.
Certificates of Appropriateness:
19 Trapelo Road – Thomas Bray and Linda Micu, owners of 19 Trapelo Road, came before the members with a revised plan showing the modification to the south elevation, which was requested at the July 10, 2007 meeting. This modification shows that 2 picture windows will be replaced by 2 bay windows, which will break up the look of massing on that elevation. After a brief discussion, Colin Smith made a motion to approve the plan dated August 7, 2007 as modified and grant a Certificate of Appropriateness. The motion was seconded by Andrew Ory and unanimously approved
1 Old Lexington Road – The owners, Craig and Jennifer Donaldson, came before the members with a plan showing a proposed deck on the rear of the house and changes to doors and windows.
Dr. Donaldson said that the south and east elevation windows need to be replaced because they are mostly dysfunctional. These windows will be replaced with windows that will match the existing windows from the older section of the house. They are also proposing to add a door to the east elevation. The original house was built in 1893 with addition to south elevation built in 1956. Jack MacLean said that the original owner was Susan Sawin with the Chapin family being a subsequent owner. Ken Hurd mentioned that the plan shows no door going out to the deck. After a brief discussion, Ken Hurd made a motion to approve the issuance of a Certificate of Appropriateness for the plans dated July 28, 2007, with the condition that the Historic District Commission receives a revised plan showing the east
elevation with a door to the new deck. The motion was seconded by Colin Smith and unanimously approved.
26 Lincoln Road – The owners, Richard and Janice McQuaid, came before the members with a plan showing a proposed extension of the kitchen and small room off the kitchen on the first floor and master bedroom on the second floor at the rear of the structure, the addition of a deck and side entrance. Mr. McQuaid said that they are trying to create an open dining room off the kitchen. The front is almost unchanged except for the side entrance. They would be removing an existing back porch. The new rear deck would have a set of stairs to the garden and French doors going out to the garden. After a brief discussion regarding the roof line, which Ken Hurd said is pretty straight forward. The larger plan showed the roof line better, which is a small L shape. The house was
built in 1925 and is a good example of houses built in that time period. Mr. McQuaid said that they have created a nice outside environment but the kitchen isn’t what they want. They would like to improve the natural flow of the house and open the house to the back, which is where they spend most of their time. In a letter dated August 1, 2007 addressed to the Conservation Commission with a copy to the HDC, John Caswell of 2 Beaver Pond Road stated that he and his wife have no objections to the proposed changes and support the applicant in this matter and wanted their letter entered into the record. Ken Hurd made a motion to approve the changes requested and shown on the plan submitted to the Commission at the August 14, 2007 meeting and to issue a Certificate of Appropriateness. The motion was seconded by Andrew Ory and was unanimously approved. Mr. McQuaid said that he still has to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals at the end of
September.
At this point in the meeting, the Historic District Commission has completed its business and Ruth Wales turned the meeting over to Lucretia Giese, Chair of the Lincoln Historical Commission for the rest of the meeting.
9 Baker Farm Road – Jane Langton came before the Commission in response to a letter sent in July by the LHC asking her if she would be interested in having her house protected by a Preservation Restriction Agreement or other form of protection. Ms. Langton came prepared to speak to the Lincoln Historical Society to talk about James Lorin Chapin. After the initial confusion, Ms. Langton voiced her approval of preserving her house in some form. The Commission told her that there were 3 ways to protect her house. The first would be having the area placed in a Historic District, which would involve getting the neighbors to agree and then going to Town Meeting but some neighbors in the area are not interested in this. The second option would be to have it placed on the National
Register, which has no teeth and takes more time. The third option would be to place a Preservation Restriction Agreement on the property, which is a more significant way to protect the interior and exterior of the house. The restrictions are up to the owner and would not prevent it from being put in a Historic District or the National Register at some future time. Ms. Langton wanted to know what she would need to do to get this process started. She was told that Jack MacLean could update the documentation, floor plans would need to be made and photographs taken. Jack MacLean could go through the house with her to decide which interior features she and he felt are worth preserving. Sometimes he can point out things the owners didn’t know about. Ms. Langton said that her sons put green insulation foam all over the attic. Lucretia Giese said that the Commission has some funds, which are available for this project. Ms. Langton
will get together with Jack MacLean to go over what needs to be done.
Informal Discussions:
Preservation Restriction Agreements – The members were asked by Paul Marsh to approve a request by him to receive $1,000 in CPA grant money for the creation of a brief (5-10 pages) guide explaining particulars of a model PRA in order to simplify and expedite its use by both the LHC members and prospective applicants. After a brief discussion, the members, although they greatly appreciated the contribution Mr. Marsh made to the town by establishing a PRA on his property, they did not want to impose any additional burden on him. The members also felt that the 2 existing Agreements could provide the most useful guidance to others wishing to place preservation restrictions on their property. A motion was made and seconded that the Commission would not approve the request of a grant for $1,000
from CPA funds for the creation of a Preservation Restriction Agreement guide and inform Mr. Marsh of that decision. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved. Lucretia Giese will write a letter to Mr. Marsh informing him of the Commission’s decision.
Ruth Wales showed the members a copy of the Town of Concord’s Historic District pamphlet and said that Concord lists houses that should not be torn down even though they are not in a Historic District. She also said that Lexington has been listing modern houses on its inventory for 25 years, which have architectural significance. Lexington has a 9 volume set that they have in their town offices showing the inventory of historic houses. Concord has the same but does not show modern houses. She felt that Lincoln also needed something in the town offices by copying what is in the Library. Ken Hurd asked if CPA funds could be made available to copy the inventory. Ruth said that every time a house is updated the inventory should also be updated. Ken wanted to see something on line
of historic benefit, which could come under CPA funding. Ruth also wanted to see if microfilm of old Fence Viewer issues could be put on line. There are 22 rolls of Fence Viewers could cost a couple of thousand dollars. Chuck Miller felt that we didn’t have the capacity to do this online. Ken said that the technology is out there and they should find out what it would take and apply for CPA funds. Lucretia said that she would make up a preliminary request for the funds. Ruth also felt that the Certificate of Appropriateness application form needs to be revised using the applications of surrounding towns as a guideline.
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There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Elaine Carroll
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