Lincoln Historical Commission
Historic District Commission
Meeting Minutes
April 1, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Board Members: Ruth Wales, HDC Chair, LHC/HDC; Lucretia Giese, LHC Chair, LHC/HDC, Kerry Glass, LHC/HDC, Ken Hurd, HDC, Colin Smith, LHC/HDC
Alternate: Jack MacLean
Secretary: Elaine Carroll
NEXT ANTICIPATED MEETINGS: May 6, 2008, 7:30 p.m., Town Offices
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. A motion was made by Ruth Wales to accept the minutes of the March 4, 2008 meeting as written. The motion was seconded by Kerry Glass and passed unanimously.
Certificate of Appropriateness Hearings:
24 Bedford Road – Thomas Blake, the owner of 24 Bedford Road, came before the members for a continuation of the March 4 meeting with a new plan showing a re-configured addition to the one car garage. Mr. Blake said that both garage doors could not be put on the Canaan Drive side because the driveway space was not wide enough or deep enough. Mr. Blake has started renovations of the interior of the house and has gotten rid of some overgrowth outside. He gave the members a new plan showing a new roof design from the plan presented before the meeting. The new portion of the garage is set back 6 inches from the existing garage but is not shown adequately on the plan. The two doors will be the same and the members agreed on the Churchill style on a brochure at the last meeting.
Ken Hurd voiced a concern about the accuracy of the drawings, which he said should be an accurate representation of what will be built. Ruth Wales said that these need to be precise for the HDC records and for the Building Department records. Mr. Blake said that he still needs to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals because the structure is non-conforming due to setbacks. According to Jack MacLean because Canaan Drive is a private way, which is open to the public, Mr. Blake will also need to show the west elevation on the new plan with setbacks shown to the garage from Canaan Drive.
Mr. Hurd was also concerned that the addition to the garage should not look like an add-on shed. After further discussion, it was decided that Mr. Blake would redo the drawings to show more detail and the west elevation to the addition of the garage and deliver them to Elaine Carroll who will send them to the members. The members will meet Mr. Blake at 24 Bedford Road on Saturday, April 12 at 9:00 a.m. to view the site and make a determination at that time. Mr. Blake will also supply the office with copies for the HDC files of the original documentation from 24 Bedford Road with deeds dating back to 1726.
11 Trapelo Road – Lorraine Fiore, owner, came before the members seeking approval to install flashing on the front portion of the roof, to build a stone retaining wall and install a trellis-like section of fencing at the front corners of the garage and house. Mrs. Fiore said that they were getting water in the basement and needed to re-grade the front yard and remove some overgrown foundation shrubs. The front walk also needs to be redone. Because of the re-grading, they will need a stone retaining wall next to the driveway. The retaining wall would be between 2 – 2 ½ feet high using field stones to match the existing wall in the back yard. She would like the trellis on the corner of the house to hide a new electrical box and the bulkhead and a similar one on the garage
to hide an herb garden. The color would be dark green and they would soften them with plantings. Colin Smith said that the flashing should be made of copper or a duronodic finish but not aluminum. After further discussion, the members said that they would need more specifics on the flashing and a good photograph of the front of the house. The members also asked for a picture of the existing stone wall and a more detailed plan showing the retaining wall’s construction and location as well as the location of the fencing. They also needed a more accurate picture of the type of trellis to be used along with the dimensions. Mrs. Fiore will get the necessary documentation and return on May 6.
Other Business:
Lucretia Giese informed the members of the availability of the funds from the Codman Trust and CPA funds. There was a discussion about using $1,000 of these funds to help defray the cost to the Assessor’s Office regarding the project to show the houses on a map for the entire town. Lucretia will check with Colleen Wilkins, Finance Director, to see if any of these funds can be used for that purpose. Ruth Wales made a motion to contribute $1,000 to the project of showing houses on a map of the entire town subject to finding out that this would be a legitimate expenditure of available funds. Kerry Glass seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
The members discussed the fact that there is money and a good historian in Jack MacLean to continue the ongoing inventory work. Jack was asked what the next phase of the inventory would be, a timetable for completing the next phase and an estimate of how much money it would take to complete. Jack suggested that he work on the starred properties on the original map. He said that there are about 12 more houses on the starred list that need to be inventoried. Two of these are done – one new and one updated and 10 not done at all. He said that some of the houses are in areas where you should include other properties, which would mean a lot more than 10 additions. Ruth Wales felt that he should get the most important ones done. She said that Mass. Historical wants as many
individual houses done as possible and that the priority should be on new inventories instead of updating properties already inventoried. The remaining members present (Ruth Wales, Kerry Glass, Colin Smith and Lucretia Giese) voted unanimously to proceed with inventorying properties not previously listed with the MHC by focusing on 10 starred buildings on Jack MacLean’s current list. Jack was asked to come to the May meeting with a contract proposal and a timetable with what can be done. Lucretia and Ruth also showed the members a letter, which will go to the MHC regarding the directions for preparing inventory forms to be placed in the State archives.
Bill Paid – One bill to Jack MacLean in the amount of $2,501.80 was paid for inventory work.
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There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Elaine Carroll
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