6/26/2006 HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION Minutes

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MEETING MINUTES Mashpee Consulting Services PN 1877 Mashpee Historic District Study Committee June 26, 2006 Attendees: Ginny Adams (PAL); Chris Skelly, (MHC); Tom hudala, Lee Gurney, Gail Slattery; Rosemary Burns (Mashpee) Location: Mashpee Town Hall, Selectmen's Room, 4:00-7:00pm Purpose of Meeting The goal of the meeting was to look with Chris at the two potential local historic districts for which maps had been developed in 2002 by the Study Committee, and to discuss the town's preservation concerns and possible preservation planning approaches that Mashpee might consider. After driving around to look at the Mashpee Center/Upper Main Street and Lower Main Street areas we returned to Town Hall for discussion. Local Historic Districts Chris said that he would be hard pressed to recommend a local historic district, due to the large amount of open space, new construction, and alterations of historic buildings. LHDs are designed for more densely developed groups of structures, and not really suitable for scattered historic buildings with interspersed large scale commercial and subdivision development as present in Mashpee. He stressed that this is simply his/MHC's recommendation, and that the town does not have to abide by it if there is a strong movement to create a local district. He said that the first step should be the property owner opinion survey, which although not in the law, is very important, if there is a high level of opposition, there will not be support at town meeting for passage. Discussion ensued about the possibility of establishing a small district around the town center at the intersection of Route 130/Main Street and Great Neck Road (MHC Area A). This is the core of the area that was recommended for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places in the PAL 2002 town-wide survey. Single property local historic districts are possible. Somerville has about 260 single property LHDs. Chris encouraged Mashpee to think more comprehensively about what resource throughout town are threatened. Tom showed an historic 1910 map that shows clearly that historically, built development was limited to the areas encompassed by the Mashpee Center/Upper Main Street and Lower Main Street areas, and to some scattered buildings in South Mashpee around Poponesset Bay. So in terms of preserving the historic built environment, Mashpee Center and Main Street is the area to concentrate on. Meeting Minutes—Mashpee 6/26/06 1