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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1977-05-04-HC-min.pdf THE LEXINGTON HISTORICAL COMMISSION Lexington, Massachusetts 02173 MEETING Room G 5 730 PM Lexington Town Office Building May 4, 1977 Voting Members Present : Chair, Anne Grady, Sara Chase, Richard Morehouse , Elizabeth Reinhardt Guests : None The meeting was called to order at 7 :45 by Anne Grady. The meeting began with discussion of possible candidates New Member to replace Donna Brown who has requested not to be re- Appointment appointed. The Commission will submit the names of Norma Bogen and Rosemary Booth for consideration. Ms . Bogen is director of planning projects with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council , and has twenty years of experience as a planner. Ms . Booth is on the staff of the Minute Man in Burlington and has recently been admitted to the Boston University doctoral program in American and New England Studies . Ms . Reinhardt discussed the proposal to be submitted to the Education Massachusetts Historical Commission for an educational Grant enrichment program for the Lexington Schools based on infor- Proposal mation gathered from the inventory. She suggested that the Commission apply for an MHC Survey and Planning grant . Such a grant would provide 50% matching funds , with a possibility of a 70% match. The total proposed budget for the program would be $20 , 000 half of which would be met by the grant if the application is successful . The Commission will seek cooperation with the Historical Society in its search for the balance of the necessary funding. The program would offer to train volunteers to give walking tours , slide shows , or talks to social studies classes in the High School or elementary schools . Information on local history and appreciation of the built environment would be used to augment specific social studies units , as determined by the needs of the individual teacher. Chase, Grady and Reinhardt approved of the grant proposal, Morehouse abstaining. 2 Sara Chase reported on the discussions of the Committee Released on Alternate Uses for Released School Buildings and School Sites on the Hancock School . The Committee meets at Buildings : 4: 30 on alternate Thursdays . The charge to the committee Hancock School is , at present , limited to consideration of the future of the Hancock School, rather than to explorations of general policy applicable to all future school closings . Ms . Chase has reported on the implications of Hancock School ' s National Register status as it affects the possibility of funding, Federal restrictions or demolition. The committee has information on guidelines for preservation restrictions . The consensus of the committee is that it is important to get both neighborhood and townwide opinion on possible uses . Ms . Chase has offered to talk to Architectural Heritage and Architectural Conservation Trust, to find out what projects they have undertaken besides Old City Hall, and to ask Architectural Heritage to submit a feasibility study. Ms . Grady questioned what the effect of Article Effect of 23 of the Mass . Building Code if passed, would be on Article 23 the reuse of Hancock School . Under this Article, compliance with the code would be geared proportionately to cost of rehabilitation, for National Register buildings . If rehab is 50% or more of assessed value , full compliance with the code would be expected. The Commission agreed to meet Thursday, May 12 at Site Visit the school in order to go through the building and compile to Hancock a list for preservation restrictions . Ms . Chase also School advised establishing a salvage depot if possible. The Commission discussed the possibility of extend- Inclusion in ing the present Battle Green Historic District to include Historic the Hancock School . Ms . Grady will talk to John Packard District new chair of the Historic Districts Commission, Ms . Grady described the project of Deborah Winston, Lexing- Videotape of ton resident and student at Hampshire College , to make a Lexington videotape of Lexington as a class exercise . Ms . Grady and Ms . Reinahrdt will be interviewed by Ms . Winston for the project . Voted unanimously to invite Ms . Winston to show her tape at the Commission' s June meeting and to publicize it in an effort to acquaint townspeople with the showing. Ms . Grady read a letter from Mr. Jaquith of the Historic Mass . Ave/ Districts Commission on the DPW' s proposal to install a Pleasant St . traffic light at the intersection of Mass . Ave . and Pleasant Traffic St . Mr. Jaquith' s letter mentioned the great significance Light of the area, and questioned the necessith for sweeping change . Ms . Grady next read a letter from the Mass . Historical Commission in which it was recommended that the traffic light be moved sixty feet from its present location in front of the Stone Building, that it be ground mounted without an extended arm, and that it be of a dark unobtrusive color. The local Commission felt that discussion was unnecessary since the same suggestions had been made by the Historic District Commission at the public hearing last year . 3 Ms . Grady read a memorandum from Prescott D. and Charlotte Mt . Independenc L. Crout, 5 Pinewood Road, recommending town acquistion of Park Proposal the Wilson farmland and the Johnson property in order to preserve an historic recreational site . The Crout' s memo described Eli Robbins ' observatory and carriage roads on Mt . Independence in this approximate area in the 1830s . Ms . Reinhardt suggested contacting the Conservation Commission which may have considered acquistion of some of this land under Article 45 at the recent Town Meeting. Ms . Grady noted that Smith College has established a resources Smith College program. She suggested that the Commission may want to Resource work with an intern from the program during the College' s Program January intersession. The Commission voted unanimously to order a number of books Preservation on preservation from the National Trust for Historic Week Gift Preservation. The books will be given to Cary Memorial Library as the Commission' s observance of National Preservation Week. It was voted unanimously to invite Phebe Ham and Lewis June Meeting Hills of Concord to come to the June meeting, to discuss Guests the Concord Historical Commission' s experience with revolving funds in the purchase of an eighteenth century farmhouse . It was also voted unanimously to invite Julianna Boyd of The Brookline Planning Board to talk about Brookline' s experience with design review as part of the planning code . The Meeting was adjourned at 9 : 30 . Elizabeth W. Reinhardt