Town of East Windsor
East Windsor Historical Commission
11 Rye Street
Broad Brook, CT 06016
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Minutes – April 13, 2006
A regular meeting of the East Windsor Historical Commission was held on Thursday, April 13, 2006 at the East Windsor Town Hall.
The meeting was called to order at 6:45 P.M.
A quorum was established. All members were present.
There were no minutes to approve.
Correspondence included: A bill from John Curtis, historical architectural consultant for work at 225 Melrose Road and 93 Depot Street, as well as provided list of individuals who can assist with saving 93 Depot Street, Membership ID card for CT Preservation Trust, CT Preservation News, and Bill for dues from the National Preservation Trust.
Added Agenda Items:
Old Business:
Scenic Road Ordinance was discussed. A time still needs to be set up to talk with Linda Roberts. Discussion of North Road as a potential Scenic Road for the Planning and Zoning and how this might be affected by the sewer project for development. Discussion followed as to how the Statues establish scenic roads and the present politics surrounding scenic road in East Windsor and development. Potential scenic roadways are rapidly being lost.
East Road seems to be presently the best option left. There was discussion of need for more citizen involvement; petitioning the Select Board for scenic roads. The scenic road ordinance has been two (2) years in limbo. Something needs to be done. There was also discussion around contacting a private attorney to assist with the process. It was reiterated again that we need to comment on what the Select board has reviewed to date about our proposal, but there was continued consensus that the Select Board does not respect our Commission’s work.
District 12 Schoolhouse was discussed. The road crew continues to have no time for clean-up at this site. There was discussion of need to estimate cost to close the roof, as well as other aspects of repairs. Paul Cigal, who was an option to assist with this in the past, is no longer available. Cheney Tech’s involvement was also discussed, but it was noted that the structural repairs are not something they can do. We will need a licensed insured contractor. Clean up and painting and small structural repairs could be done by volunteers, even prisoners, explorers or scouts. More people are needed to organize the effort. When the Melrose Schoolhouse repairs were done, there was a nucleus of 4-5 people who organized the project and fund raisers.
With regard to the estimate with an eye toward obtaining grants, Mr. Gould, one of the people contacted regarding saving 93 Depot Street, is a consultant and evaluates and writes specs to apply for grants. One thousand dollars covers the first cut of such a project, He will do grant narratives. The CT Preservation Trust has grants up to $25,000 available, for example.
Paul Scannell made a motion to contract/hire a consultant like Mr. Gould to estimate the work to be done at the District 12 Schoolhouse and to prepare paperwork for grant application as appropriate. The motion was seconded by Marilyn Butenkoff. Motion passed unanimously.
Town Plan Update: This commission’s information on preservation regulations will be submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Any commission members who are able are requested to be present. As soon as the date is set the commission members will be informed.
Letter to the Legislators: Nothing to report.
East Windsor Schools link: Community Day Application is done.
Web Site: No information at this time except that there were 10 hits.
Calendar of Speakers: Hazardville Institute will present at our May meeting at 7:30 P.M. The Presentation will include the chair of their group and the engineer/architect who is part of the group. They will talk about the organizational process and how the project is progressing. It was a long process. Other schoolhouse groups are being contacted for June and/or the fall meetings.
Articles on Schoolhouses: Discussion of what to include continues. The deadline for the articles was this meeting. The articles are needed for Community Day.
Charter Revision: Marilyn Butenkoff will write a letter to the committee, as their meeting was cancelled. The letter will inform them to include the East Windsor Historical Commission in the charter with the other commissions listed. Also the letter will explain the Commission’s desire to change its name to the East Windsor Historic Preservation Commission to avoid confusion with the East Windsor Historical Society. Also, the letter will include a mission statement for our commission.
East Windsor Historical Commission Trust Fund: Nothing to report.
South Water Street Apartments: There will be no apartments at this time. An archeological dig is planned at the site in the back.
CT Preservation Trust Barn Survey: It was the consensus of the Commission that we should try to get copies of the photos done by the CT Trust. There is also a CT Trust Barn Talk Saturday, May 6, 2006, 10-2 in Northford. The Talk is free to Trust members.
Historic Districts: Nothing to Report.
Windsor Locks Historical Commission Joint Meeting: The Windsor Locks Historical Commission can come in May. They can come to sit in on our regular meeting and then stay for the Hazardville Institute talk.
Demolition Delay: The demolition permits were released for 94 South Man Street and 225 Melrose Road.
93 Depot Street: The property was viewed by Mr. Gould, a historic building salvager for marketing and reconstruction. Unfortunately the developer has begun gutting the interior. We presently have no way to prevent or penalize developers for such activity during the 90 day period. We can put wording within the ordinance so that a developer could not conduct demolition prep during the 90 day period.
The developer has requested a permit to demolish the tobacco barns on the site. He claimed a salvager by the name of Shannahan of Waterbury, with no phone number, was paying to take the barns. We are unable to contact Mr. Shannahan to verify this. Without verification it was decided to not release the permit; keep the 90 days in force and perhaps try to contact a local farmer to take the barns.
A motion was made by Marilyn Butenkoff to place a 90 day delay on the tobacco barns. Seconded by Germaine Hoffman. Motion passed unanimously.
It is evident to the Commission that to save/salvage our historic buildings the commission needs to be involved in the planning process sooner. More lag time is needed to market these properties. The letter to the Select Board was reviewed.
New Business:
Community Day: Help is needed. Photos of Schoolhouses for our display can be taken from East Windsor: Through The Years. Members should bring materials for the display to the May 9th meeting.
Secretary: Linda Roberts provided prices for secretaries: $75/hr to $150/hr. For conceptual project type secretaries like for our Commission, the fee usually is $75/hr. For technical secretaries for commissions like the Planning and Zoning, which have to have legal minutes, the fee is usually $125-$150/hr. Our Commission has a limited budget. We could afford $75/hr; 1 hour for ten meetings. Meetings are on tape so they could be redacted in summary form and the commission could pay just for the typing of the long-hand transcription. It was again agreed to contact Christine Burkert about continuing as secretary in this fashion.
Schoolhouse Tour: Feasibility of a subcommittee was discussed. It was concluded probably a schoolhouse tour was not possible this year.
It was noted that an article appeared in the Journal Inquirer about 93 Depot Street.
A motion to adjourn was made by Paul Scannell and seconded by Marilyn Butenkoff. The motion passed unanimously.
Adjourned at 8:15 P.M.
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