***AS THE RESULT OF A CONVERSION OF PDF FILE TO WORD, THE ATTACHED MINUTES WILL REFLECT GRAMMATICAL ERRORS. A CLEAN COPY HAS BEEN FILED WITH THE TOWN CLERK .
MINUTES REGULAR MEETING
Thursday, February 19, 2015 a t 7:00p.m.
Town Hall, 2"'1 Floor Conference Room- 302 l\1Iain Street
I. CALL TO ORDER
Chair, Diane Aldi DePaola called the meeting
to order at 7:00pm II. ROLL CALL
Members Present: Diane Aldi DePaola, Mary Kennedy, Jeff Meotti and William Childress
Members Absent: Rich Peters, Eugene Creighton, Donald Brigham
Staff Present: Stella Beaudoin, Recording Clerk
II. REGULAR BUSINESS
A. Minutes
The Commission reviewed the January 15, 2015 meeting Minutes and motioned to
approve wit h one amendment.
MOTION: To approve the Minutes of November 20, 2014 with the following amendment; “W Childress abstained from the vote on the approval of the Minutes; MADE: W. Childress; SECONDED: M. Kennedy; IN FAVOR: D. DePaola, M. Kennedy, W. Childress; OPPOSED:None; ABSTAINED: J. Meotti; APPROVED: 3-0-1.
B. Correspondence
Members were provided with a copy of the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for
Rehabilitating Historic Buildings.
C. Committee, Reps and Staff ports
D DePaola stated that she has been asked to write a brief article for Old Sa y brook Events explaining the Commission's mission statement and activities
over the past year.
III. OLD BUSINESS
a. Historic Structures Inventory
Old Saybrook Historic District Commission Minutes .February 19, 2015
Due to inclement weather, David Ta ylor was not available to present the status update at this evening's meeting on the preliminary report of the Historic Resource Inventory. D. Taylor will
present at the March 19, 2015 regularly scheduled meeting.
b. Review of By-Laws
At the January 2015 meeting members discussed the
requirement s ta ted in the Commission's bylaws which mandates that an annual meeting is to be conducted in the month of
December.
W. Childress sta ted that although the CT General State Statute would allow a more flexible time table for the date of annual meeting, the Town ordinance s ta tes that the annual meeting will be conducted within 30 days after the flrst of December.
W. Childress suggested the following amendments to the Commission's by-laws:
• Article VI - Meetings, Section 1, first sentence; remove the comma at the end of the sentence and replace with a period.
• Article VIII - Hearings, Section 3, last word in the first sentence; change from "officers" to "officer".
• Article IX-
Amendments; Remove "Section 1". Change the paragraph to include the colon at the end of the sentence and the following verbiage noted in italics: "The By-Laws of the Commission ma y be amended by a majority vote of the Commission me11:1bers present, provided a copy of the proposed amendment shall have been furnished with a notice of such meeting: The
Commission mqy hold public hearings, in addition to required hearings,
when it decides that such hearings will be in the public interest."
Review of Criteria
B Childress stated that at the last meeting there was a question as to what the criteria were for t he design guidelines and if it was different than that of the Department of the Interior. The Department of Interior standards were adopted by North Cove Historic District Commission (NCI-IDC) at their meeting conducted on
October 15, 1985. However, it is not clear how they were derived.
At the July 9, 1985 NCHDC meeting, copies of the Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings were distributed to the members. The head of the Fenwick Historic District was a guest at an organizational meeting, and it is specula ted that he may have had input in to the guidelines. The
standards were adopted at the October 15, 1985 NCHDC meeting.
In 2003, R. Bradbury, former NCHDC Chair forwarded the North Cove Historic District
Commissions draft design guidelines to the State Historical Commission. J. Pal Loether,
Government Coordinator at t he CT Historical Commission responded stating that the NCHDC draft
design guidelines were fully consistent with the Secretary of the Interior's Sta ndards and Guidelines for Rehabilitation, on which they are based.
W. Childress suggested that the Con1.n.ussion make changes to the current guidelines and to place them on the Town's website. Also, to obtain the most recent Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines and place the m on the Town 's website.
D. DePaola suggested that a statement be added to the JCHDC application directing the applicant to review the Commission’s guidelines which is located on the Tow n's website, and to state on the application how their proposal does or does not conform to those guidelines.
W. Childress referenced a 2005 document entitled "Identifying Historic Properties Land Records Notice." This document was
designed to address a way in which to notify the public and other agents on how to identify the boundaries of the NCHD and the individual property contained therein. This letter suggested that i n order to facilitate compliance by the Town Clerk with the CT General State Sta tutes, the Town Clerk is to be provided with a current list of the names and addresses of the owners of record of properties within the boundaries of the NCHD to ensure that the proper notice on the Grantor Index has been recorded.
MOTION: To amend the criteria of the North Cove Historic District Commission Guidelines by incorporating the suggestions contained in tl1e letter to R. Bradbury dated .April 14, 2003 from J. Paul Loetl1er, Local Goverru11ent Coordinator, State of CT Historical Commission, and to change the name from North Cove Historic District Commission to Old Say brook Historical District Commission; MADE: D. DePaola; SECONDED: J. Meotti; IN FAVOR: D. DePaola, M. Kenned y, W. Childress, J. Meotti; OPPOSED: None; ABSTAINED: None; APPROVED: 4-0-0.
W. Childress .reported that per the (CGS) Connecticut General State Sta tu te Section 8-1c, "Fees for municipal land use applications", which states that "Any municipality may, by ordinance, establish a schedule of reasonable fees for the processing of
applications by a municipal z011ing commission, planning commission, combined plan and zoning commission, zoning board of appeals or inland wetlands commission."
W. Childress stated that the CGS allows land use to hire an expert to advise tl1e va rious boards and commission on matters related to the land and to construction. The fees for the service are
to be paid by the a pplicant. The experts that the commissions retain will provide an estimate of cost, and the formula for pa yment is the cost which is multiplied by 1 ½ times. And the bond is then posted on that amount. W. Childress stated that statewide, the Historic District Commissions were omitted from the Statute
MOTION: For D. DePaola to approach the local representative concerning an amendment to the CT General State Statute to include Historic District Commissions in tl1e provision allowing boards and commissions to require the retention of an expert whose services will be paid for by the applicant; MADE: W. Childress; SECONDED: J. Meotti; IN FAVOR: D. DePaola, M. Kennedy, J. Meotti, W. Childress; OPPOSED: None; ABSTAINED: None; APPROVED: 4-0-0.
VI. ADJOURNMENT
MOTION to adjourn the meeting at 7:50 p.m. until the next regular meeting on March 19, 2015 at 7:00 P.M., Town Hall, 2"u Floor Conference Room, 302 Main Street:; MADE by J. Meotti SECONDED by M Kenned y; IN FAVOR: D. DePaola, M. Kennedy, J. Meotti, W. Childress.
OPPOSED: None; ABSTAINED: one; APPROVED: 4-0-0
Respectfully Submitted,
Stella Beaudoin, Recording Clerk
STATE OF CONNECTICUT
CONNECTICUT HISTORICAL COMMISSION
Ms. Randi Bradbury
Chair
North Cove Historic District Commission
Old Saybrook Town Hall
Box 618- 302 Main Street
Old Saybrook, CT 06475
Subject:
Dear Ms. Bradbury:
April 14, 2003
Thank you for forwar:ding a copy of the North Cove Historic District Commission's draft design guidelines. They appear to me to be qmte good, as well as fully consistent with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Rehabilitation on which they are based. Having finally had a chance to review them in detail, I offer up several modest, but hopefully useful, suggestions::
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a) For the sake of overall clarity of intent, you may want to consider inserting an additional introductory paragraph which describes in general terms the authority and purview of your Commission with respect to the North Cove District- e.g., that "the North Cove Historic District Commission in accordance with a town ordinance enacted pursuant to C.G.S., Sec. 7-147a through C.G.S., Section 7-147m, regulates any changes
(other than routine maintenance) made to the exterior of buildings and structures which are located withinthe
_ - ho!.mlhries.of.the-ilistrict; which.a.r,e..a:ffixed to-the--·h!nd; and which are·visible :frvm-:a-public-S"'"ueet; way·ol- place." You may also want to indicate that specific guidelines/recommendations which fall outside the scope
of your Commission's regulatory purview (if any) are included for
educational/advisory purposes only.
b)I would also recommend that in final form, the document include either a table of contents or an index which locates the various types of treatments discussed (i.e., masonry, new additions, etc.) by page number ·within the document as a whole. This will make the piece much more effective and useful (especially for the previously uninitiated) on a day-to-day basis.
c) You might also consider specifically indicating that it is your Commission's intent that the guidelines be "consistenf ' with the Secretary' of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Rehabilitation, and incorporate these Standards and Guidelines in their entirety into the document by reference. That way, if any "gray areas" arise in the North Cove guidelines regarding design issues which fall under the North Cove Commission's purview, the SOl Standards and Guidelines can be utilized to support a Commission decision. Incorporating the SOl Standards in this way my also serve well ifwith respect to planning and zoning issues which may relate to the district or adjacent areas.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment. apologize for having
taken sol long to accomplish this review.but as
rm sure you are aware, our declining staff and budget situations here in Hartford are taking their toll.
Ifyou have aizy questions regarding my comments, please feel free to contact me at 860-566-3005, ext. 326 or at paul.loether@.po.state.ct.us.
.: .- ":i •.. 
Certified Local Government Coordinator
TEL: (860) 566-3005 e-mail: cthist@neca.com FAX: (860) 566-5078
59 SOUTH PROSPECT ST. - HARTFORD, CONN 06106 -1901
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