5/7/2008 HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION Minutes

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Town of Mashpee Historic District Commission Minutes of Meeting May 7,2008 Present: Lee Gurney, Earl Mills,Mike Robbins,Wayne Picard Absent: Joe Mullen Also present: Town Planner Tom Fudala,Gail Slattery of Historic District Study Committee, Virginia Adams of PAL First official meeting of the Historic District Commission called to order at 4:50 p.m. by Earl Mills, Chairman of the Historic Study Committee New Business: Historic Study Committee members will meet with the Commission until July. Once the regulations are finalized,a public hearing must be held on the proposed regulation,with notice to District residents. Residents within the District will need to be educated on the new regulations in advance so they are not faced with making changes after work has been done, i.e. removing an unapproved stockade fence, b ft. is allowed by the town but the Historic District now allows 42 inches. Although this Historic District Commission is still in the planning stages,once the Commission records the district map with the Registry of Deeds,it will become a regulatory body. The Commission will invite the head of the Building Dept. and Town Clerk to the next meeting to discuss the application process. The Historic District Commission and Building Dept. will need to work cooperatively to identify applicants requiring Commission review. The Building Inspector does not want to be involved with enforcement beyond the building permit process. It was suggested that Building Dept. Assistants may be able to flag applications based on the listed address. Additionally, a computer program is available that could identify and flag any application requiring review by the Historic District Commission. The applications will be filed with the Town Clerk,who will be responsible for forwarding the application to the Commission. The Commission Chairman or designee must determine if the application proceeds to the Historic District Commission for a Certificate. The process must be refined to ensure that the building permit is not issued without approval from the Commission. It was suggested that the Board Secretary be involved with the process but Mr. Fudala indicated it should be a full time Town Hall employee or official, or member of the Commission. Additional discussion is needed to determine the filtering process once an application is submitted and makes its way to the Commission. The Commission does not expect a big rush of applications and predicts that the majority of applications will be homeowners working on small projects. Space must be located in order to maintain Historic District Commission files and materials. It was suggested that the Archives would be an appropriate location and Ms. Gurney agreed to locate a file cabinet. The Historic District Commission needs to elect officers, such as the Chair, Vice Chair and Clerk,to call meetings and prepare paperwork once the Commission completes the planning stage and officially becomes a regulatory commission. Ms. Gurney requested that the Commission hold off on electing officers until all members are in place on the Commission. Mr. Fudala recommends electing a Chair on an interim basis,until July 1, in order to post meetings and officially lead meetings.