Minutes of CPR Meetings

Jan. 10, 2012 • Mitzi Rossillon's house

Minutes: not read.

Board Election: The members present elected the following to one-year terms on the CPR Board of Directors: Larry Smith, Mitzi Rossillon, Carrie Kiely, Robert Edwards, Mike Hogan, Robert Renouard, Julie Crowley, and Brian McGregor. This means there are 8 Board members, so 5 constitutes a majority, and 5 is a quorum for meetings in person.

Officer Election: The offices of President and Vice President were vacated by resignation, so the Board elected Theresa Doty President and Carrie Kiely Vice President. Julie Crowley and Dick Gibson continue in their roles as Tresurer and Secretary, respectively.

Treasurer's report: no report

Education:

• Film Series: no report.
• Traveling Trunks: No report
• Window Decorations: Theresa reports she met with the Art Dept at Butte Central and there is a lot of interest. Robert Renourard's Tait Hotel is the likely first example. They are seeking financial support from owners for supplies and a pizza party for the kids. [Secretary moved this from New Business to Reports for consistency with previous minutes]
• Dust to Dazzle Tour: Mitzi indicated that the first planning meeting will be February 2. Volunteers are needed. Likely places lined up at present: Quarry Brewing and John Jacupcak's house on N. Main. Brian discussed several properties he owns that could be possible venues.

OLD BUSINESS

Greek Cafe: no report

CCSP grant ideas:Dick reported the phone call he received Jan. 10 from Tom Keohan (NPS). They were wondering what's up since they have not heard from us. They do not want to review our "possibles" list; they want us to decide on all of the projects that would be involved, determine the budget and timeline, and submit that to them for review and to create new contract(s). They will also want to review plans and specs and the completed projects. Larry was named chair of the CCSP Grant Committee and will call a meeting among the point people who have been dealing with this (Larry, Robert E, Robert R, Julie, Mike, Brian). That meeting will be within a week and we need to decide right away what is viable and what is not. We will need to have firm commitments to cost-sharing from the owners so that can be included in the budget submitted to the Park Service.

Historic Preservation Ordinance revisions: Dick attended the meetign of the ad hoc review committee just before this CPR meeting. He reported that Courtney Kramer, Bozeman HPO, was present to report and discuss Bozeman's experience with a zoning overlay approach to preservation there.

Infill housing, NAHN location at 623 W. Granite: Mitzi and Robert R have the information and need to put it in the form of a letter. Still in progress. This location has not yet reached the top of the list for BSB's environmental assessments, so it is not imminent in terms of any construction. Carpenters Union Hall: The law suit among the parties appears to still be pending. Brian reported that he went to the meeting of the local union and tenants. They had requested a list of assets from the Regional Union (the entity that wants to evict tenants and possibly demolish) -- the asset list did not include the building. Looks like a case of some individual acting beyond his authority. No worries about the building, for the moment anyway.

Letter to Park Service regarding BSB's suitability as a CLG: No report; Carrie continuing to consider.

NEW BUSINESS

Annual Report: the plan is to have a printed, mailed report as in the recent past. Dick will do it. Per previous e-mails, he needs any input from others such as the Financial Report from Julie by January 20 in order to finish it, and get it printed and mailed in January.

National Trust Preservation 10X: This is a new initiative by the trust that would, among other things, designate the 100 National Treasures worthy of preservation. We felt that Butte deserves such designation. We initiated a conversation with Trust folks; as it happened, they were in Butte today (Jan. 10) to discuss it. See Dick's report below.

Request made to invite Matt Vincent, candidate for Chief Executive, to the next CPR meeting, to express his views and positions on issues of interest to CPR. Theresa to handle. Suggested to subsequently invite Paul Babb for a similar meeting.

Theresa passed around a draft vision statement with bullet lists of ideas for promotion, a 5-year plan, and educational outreach.

OTHER REPORTS

No action items. HPC is notified of a possible upcoming demolition request for 1124 W. Mercury.

Staff Report:

Site-specific environmental assessments for the 17 NAHN locations are delayed into January.

Original Hoist Engine Room west deck rebuild: will not fill vault with concrete; will rebuild the wood retaining walls; contract approval to go to Council tomorrow. Brinks/Deluxe: Deluxe is now owned by bank; Markovich is stabilizing the wall that collapsed/is collapsing. BSB is working with bank on ideas for marketing the two together. Ernie asked about tax abatements in general, since this is outside the URA. Jim J referenced Bisbee AZ, where (AZ-wide) there is a 50% tax rebate for maintaining NR properties.

Mark Reavis presentation on Original Compressor Building reuse. Reported on survey results, showed ideas for inside development. Hope to have basic shelter and rest rooms by Folk Festival. Somehow this devolved into the tangent of who is to manage this and other cultural resources and how to pay for it.

Jim J brought up the idea of design standards, to be developed by the HPC to “mesh” with the revised ordinance. I do not have whatever he sent out; it was countered by a 31-page draft by Jim Shive. Jim J outlined what he is suggesting as follows:

• Simple, graphically rich, straightforward
• Reflect community values
• Encourage open discussions of challenges and opportunities
• For lay reader
• Less than 20 pages
• Relevant local architectural styles
• Prescribe preferred materials
• Reference professional publications

I waited patiently until the end then gave a public comment, to the effect that I did not understand why they were spending and planned to expend so much energy on these design standards when under the new revised ordinance the standards would be irrelevant, moot, and unenforceable; no applicant who underwent design review would have to do anything “mandated” by anyone. Among other things Steve Hess indicated that it was a good idea to provide education and proper information. My counter to that was, yes, it is, but is that something you codify into law?

HPC Members present: Ernie Richards, Jim Shive, Steve Hinick, Tina West. Staff: Jim Jarvis, Steve Hess, Lori Casey, Julia Crain (Planning Dept Intern) Contractor: Mark Reavis Public: Gibson, Paula Canfield, Julie Tranmer, Jonathan Pytka

URA Design review re sign and mural on East facade and an upper small facade for the Butte Public Library. Big. HPC approved concept; has yet to go to Zoning board.

Staff report: The Ranchland Packing Plant slaughter house, west Centennial/Santa Claus road, HPO authorized demolition as highly compromises concrete block additions.

Open Space Zoning: discussion of implementation of plan authorized by Council Jan. 2011. Two categories, Developable Open Space (OS-D) allows for public use things like museums, park facilities, other improvements; more restrictive Conservation (OS-C) preserves pretty much as is. Discussion focused on Mineyards, which they have tentatively categorized as follows:

• Granite Mountain-Pilot Butte-Bell Diamond area: OS-C
• Mountain Con: OS-D [Jim Shive wants all area with structures to be OS-C]
• Steward: OS-C [at end I asked if this would allow the Steward to be used as suggested for staging etc by the Butte Events Team. Jarvis said yes, Shive said no.]
• Original: OS-D
• Anselmo; OS-C
• Travona: OS-C [Mark R. suggests that the western part of the parcel, west of the headframe to Excel, could be OS-D]

Old Business: Report on plans for Original Compressor Room Visitor Center (or whatever): Mark reported on planning for bathrooms. That construction will take up most of the budget.

Present: Barb Pahl and Jenny Bruddenbrod, National Trust (Denver), Chere Juisto and Patty Dean (MPA, Helena), and Dick Gibson.

I was expecting them to tell me what they plan to do, but it was much more of a listening session for them to ask me questions about what should be done. It was a good, wide-ranging conversation, about Butte's economy, my cynical opinions about Butte government (elected and non-elected), the ordinance review, the RHPP review, etc. They asked which I thought would be more effective, National Treasures designation (positive) or Most Endangered designation (negative) - while acknowledging the utility of both, I came down on the side of National Treasures in part because it would be less confrontational.

My main message was that CPR would like to be involved, that we are ready to help once they figure out "what to do". I said I could not speak for the organization financially, but that there might be possible (small) financial help, depending on its nature, that CPR could contribute.

They were having several additional "listening sessions" here in Butte today.

Committee members present: Dave Stratton, Steve Hinick, Robert Edwards, Karen Byrnes, Jim Jarvis. Public: Gibson, Jim Shive, Noorjahan Parwana, Julie Tranmer, Larry Meidinger, Ernie Richards, Allison LaFever (student/friend of Jim Jarvis). Guest: Courtney Kramer, Bozeman HPO

The only new material was Courtney Kramer's presentation. She is the HPO and a Planner in Bozeman, and she shared Bozeman's experience with a zoning overlay approach to preservation. Following are some of the facts and points she made.

• Bozeman has 9 National Register historic districts and about 50 individually listed NR properties outside those districts
• About 1990 they defined a Neighborhood Conservation Overlay Zoning District, which is the core of Bozeman and includes the NR entities above and some more, but it is not anything like all of Bozeman. It includes about 4000 properties all of which are subject to the zoning rules and review, and of those about 1500 are historic contributing properties.
• Within that district, all building permits require a HP Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) before the permit can be issued, and they actually double check because sometimes the building permit application is not the same as the COA approved.
• This is an "incubator" for historic properties; has stimulated some investments; property in the district has held value better.
• A problem is that they use 1983 survey data, but Courtney re-evaluates the historic status of things that come up.
• A problem is that it is limited in its geographic scope; she has no say about historic properties that are outside the zone.
• The zoning review for HP is based on specific design guidelines that are intended to maintain the context of neighborhoods; they do not demand absolute in-kind infill; they prefer good new architecture to "fake old".
• The design guidelines (91 pages) are based on the Sec of the Interior's standards but are more or less in a pictoral Do/Don't format.
• They do make compromises, in terms of things like setbacks etc. Window replacements, electrical, plumbing, new siding, new front door, do require the COA; they require understandable drawings and materials samples.
• They do not recommend contractors, but they do a 4-hour historic preservation seminar for contractors and they can point to the list of contractors who have participated in that.
• For demolition (only within the zoning overlay district), they have interactions with applicants but every single demolition request must go to their council of commissioners, and must be accompanied by a 15-45 day posted notice and a public hearing.
• They only process 2-3 demolitions a year. She processes around 260 total COA's a year, but that includes signs etc., and of that total around 80 are "real" historic preservation projects. They di not review repair and maintenance, and have stopped reviewing demolition or modification of fences, sheds, etc.
• For demolition requests they often require mitigation (may be HABS/HAER documentation, may be payment into their fund that is designed to support a full re-inventory [est. cost $200,000], etc. The mitigation demands are not mandatory until the council of commissioners approves them along with the demolition, but then they are mandatory.

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Next Meeting: Tuesday Feb. 14, 7:00 pm, at Silver Dollar Bar, Main St. at Mercury.