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Minutes
February 8, 2011
6:30 p.m.
City Hall

Present: Marsha Gunderson - Chair, Chuck Flemmer, Gordon Iseminger, Sylvia Kloster, Melinda Leach, Cory Lien, Dale Sickels, Sandy Slater, Judy Swisher
Others: Steven Hoffbeck; Laura Hanson, Becky Hanson, Rick Hanson, Kegs owners; Mike Sullivan, Red River Valley Community Action; Perry Marto, Grand Forks School District; Debra Pflughoeft-Hassett, Grand Forks Energy Alliance; Doug Munski;
Peg O’Leary

Minutes
Motion: to approve the minutes of the January 25, 2010, meeting. (Slater, Leach)
Motion carries.
Sylvia Kloster arrived at this time.
The Kegs, 901 N. 5th Street
Gunderson explained that The Kegs is being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. O’Leary briefly described the NRHP as a list of the nation’s districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture.
Presentation of the nomination: Gunderson introduced Dr. Steven Hoffbeck, history faculty member at the University of Minnesota-Moorhead, who is authoring the nomination. Hoffbeck thanked the Commission for the opportunity to write the nomination. He noted that he has worked with the history of the Barrel restaurants on various projects for twenty years; he did his interviews with the early owners in 1990. The Kegs is a true survivor in the fast food restaurant business, having withstood the hardships of the Depression and the influx of national chains in the 1970s and later. In Grand Forks, The Kegs started out as a single barrel (called the Barrel) in the 1200 block of North 5th Street, which was then Highway 2 and Highway 81 through the city. In 1940, the Barrel was moved to a more spacious corner lot at 901 N. 5th Street, still on the main thoroughfare through Grand Forks and slightly closer to downtown and the high school. The owners, Martha and Harry Muzzy, owned and operated several Barrel restaurants concurrently, gradually turning over management and sometimes ownership to others, including Mrs. Muzzy’s son, Ford Dickerson. Their Barrel restaurant in Wadena, MN, lost the lease to its location in 1946 and the Muzzys decided to move the building to Grand Forks and pair it with the existing barrel here. Locals began to call the restaurant “The Kegs” and the name stuck, soon becoming its official name. When the two barrels were paired, a two story connecting building was erected. This is the existing layout of The Kegs restaurant. In 1957, electronic speaker phones with lighted menus were installed in the parking lot. These allowed customers to order from their cars and have the food delivered by carhops. About this time and into the 1960s, business was so good at The Kegs that police were needed to keep traffic from blocking the streets around the site. Over the years, most of the barrel buildings in other towns were demolished or incorporated into other buildings. Hoffbeck speculated that the Kegs’ buildings were better protected from the elements by the conical roofs that were added in the early 1960s, covering the flat roofs that were prone to leaking and rot. Hoffbeck described the Kegs as being eligible for the Register in the area of Commerce/Trade and he noted that it is an example of roadside architecture at its finest. The free-standing corner sign and the interior of the building are not contributing elements to the nomination.

OPEN PUBLIC HEARING: Gunderson declared the Public Hearing on the National Register nomination of The Kegs, 901 North Fifth Street, to be open. She asked that anyone wishing to comment, please step forward, state name and address, and present any comments or questions.

Laura Hanson: I’m one of the owners of The Kegs and I just want to say what a great honor this is. And we will try to live up to everything we’re supposed to do, and to preserve this is absolutely wonderful. It was so fun for us when we took the bamboo and the stucco and stuff off, to be able to see the white paint, the red trim, the black trim underneath is all there, and I think the one word says “sandwiches” underneath and you can still read it. It was fabulous and it would have been great if we could have saved the exterior of it but you couldn’t, it was falling apart. But when we took the stuff off we saw windows that we didn’t know were there, we saw doorways we didn’t realize were there, so it was a lot of fun. But I appreciate all the work that Steve has done, the work that you people have done. Thank you.
Gunderson: Did you take pictures?
Laura Hanson: Yes, in fact when you were talking about it being down where the Dairy Queen now is, we have a picture of a woman who was an original carhop and you can see Minnesota Dairy’s chimney in the background. We can find that and share it. And I was telling Steve that we have the original blueprints from the Servus-Fone installation and how the stands were built into the ground, and those stands, they go down into the ground shaped as a cone about as far down as they are tall. They go way down. I’ll gather all that stuff together.
Iseminger: You have all this and that’s fine. Are you thinking of giving it to Special Collections at UND?
Laura Hanson: We eventually will. We’d like to see what it would entail getting the Servus-Fones back up and running.
Iseminger: Maybe even copies to Special Collections?
Laura Hanson: Oh, sure. The paper is getting fragile so we would probably give originals to Special Collections and keep copies.
Gunderson: Are there further comments from the public?... Hearing none, the Public Hearing is closed. Thank you all for your comments.
PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED.

Gunderson opened Commission discussion on the nomination.
Iseminger said, while the owners consider it an honor to be placed on the National Register we owe you a thank you for keeping the place open and caring for it. Sickels questioned the material of the roof; Hoffbeck said it is steel. Iseminger questioned why Hoffbeck was not recommending that the Kegs be nominated under Criterion C – architecture? Hoffbeck said he thought it would keep the nomination simpler since there had been superficial changes to the architecture over the years. It was noted that the case has been made for nomination as an example of Colossus style architecture. Slater and Sickels agreed that there is sufficient support within the narrative to nominate under both A and C. CONSENSUS: Submit the nomination under Criteria A and C. Iseminger noted some confusion in the description of North 5th Street as Highway 2 and Highway 81; Hoffbeck and O’Leary will clean that up before submission to the State Review Board. O’Leary questioned the inclusion of the 1962 picture since it represents the building after the period of significance and the bamboo décor may create confusion, especially at the federal review level. The Commission was undecided about its inclusion; O’Leary will seek advice from the SHSND architectural historian and try to arrive at a final decision before the next HPC meeting. One or two minor editorial changes were noted.
Motion: to forward the nomination of The Kegs to the North Dakota State Historic Review Board with a recommendation to pass this on to the Keeper for inclusion in the National Register, with the changes we have discussed. (Flemmer, Slater)
Motion carries unanimously.

Red River Valley Community Action Weatherization Program - Mike Sullivan
1800-1808 Continental Drive, built 1969 – A weatherization grant will be used to install attic insulation, and replace the boiler. The only change to the exterior will be the addition of PVC exhaust pipes. The building is not on the National Register and is not in a historic district.
Motion: to concur with a determination of no historic properties affected by the proposed work at the Continental Apartments, 1800-1808 Continental Drive. (Slater, Leach)
Motion carries.
St. Michael’s Hospital and Nurses’ Residence, 813 Riverside Drive, built 1907 and 1913 – A weatherization grant will be used to install a new boiler system for the complex, now known as Riverside Manor. The external change will be to remove a two-story metal exhaust pipe on the roof of the connecting building on the east side. This will be replaced by three smaller and shorter PVC pipes in the same location. The buildings are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Motion: to concur with a determination of no adverse effect resulting from the work as described at 813 Riverside Drive. (Leach, Sickels)
Discussion: Sullivan was asked if the radiators would be changed inside the building; he said that isn’t happening at this time. Swisher asked if PVC piping has to be used; Sullivan said it’s standard for this type of exhaust. Swisher asked if the PVC could be tinted or painted or a surround could be built to make it less intrusive; Sullivan will check out the possibilities. Some members noted that the smaller pipes will be an improvement over the large one currently in place, which is not part of the historic fabric.
Motion carries.

Central High School – Perry Marto
115 N. 4th Street, built 1917 – The building is listed on the National Register as a contributing element in the Downtown Historic District. A Department of Commerce energy efficiency grant will be used to install a new boiler system. Marto said the current boilers date to 1986 and were repaired and put back into use after the 1997 flood. There will be no changes to the exterior of the building; they’re using existing openings. Four existing boilers will be replaced with five or more high efficiency boilers.
Motion: to concur with a determination of no adverse effect resulting from the work as described for boiler replacement at Central High School. (Flemmer, Slater)
Motion carries.
Central Auditorium Expansion Project – Flemmer asked Marto if the School Board had been able to address the concerns HPC had raised about the changes to the Auditorium façade. Marto said they had received the letter stipulating various concerns and had discussed possible solutions with the architects. He noted that a final design meeting was scheduled for the following day. The expected bid date for the project is March 17, 2011. Gunderson noted that state or federal reviewers may not view the boiler project as separate from the expansion project, which could affect their review procedures. Pflughoeft-Hassett said that the Department of Commerce, the source of the funding, considers the projects to be separate because DOC only funds energy efficiencies.

Chair Report – Marsha Gunderson
No report.

Coordinator Report – Peg O’Leary
Synagogue Nomination – The city has terminated the existing contract, effective Feb. 19, 2011. A new contract can be issued after that date. Since there were two proposals for the original RFP, and the second proposer (Steve Martens) is willing to take on the work, the contract can be made with him without reissuing an RFP. The second proposal was for $4,492. We carry over $1,750 from the original contract and we have paid Martens (as a sub-contractor) $689 to complete a portion of Section VII. That leaves $2,053 to request from the State as an amendment to our FY10 CLG budget.
Motion: to request $2,053 from the state, an amendment to our FY10 CLG budget, to complete the nomination of the B’nai Israel Synagogue and Montefiori Cemetery to the National Register of Historic Places. (Flemmer, Swisher)
Motion carries unanimously.
FY11 CLG Budget – O’Leary presented the attached FY11 CLG budget proposal for a total request of $29,020. Personnel costs are not increased and office costs are maintained or slightly reduced from FY10. Travel costs are increased slightly because the NTHP conference is in Buffalo, NY, and will cost more than the Grand Rapids MI conference. Two nominations and a brochure are budgeted. The quote for the brochure is up about 20% from the quote for the Riverside Brochure. O’Leary said much more research will be necessary to project costs for a virtual tour but that could be a goal for next year; she did discover that UND pays a $2,000 annual hosting fee. Several possible properties were considered for nomination. Members were concerned that the changed out windows on the Brekke/Airport building could pose a problem in a nomination; the Hampton Apartments and the Antenna building might be doable next year. Commissioners decided to pursue the nomination of the Hariman Sanitorium, 2002 University Avenue, as one contract and the second nomination contract would be for the twin apartment buildings, Ambassador and President, at 204 and 210 N. 6th Street respectively. The Hariman Sanitorium nomination would encompass its history and architecture, while the apartments would be nominated just for their architecture unless something unusual surfaced during the research.
Motion: to approve the FY2011 CLG budget proposal as presented. (Slater, Swisher)
Motion carries unanimously.
FM Communiversity – Steve Martens will be presenting his material on the WPA structures in North Dakota on two Sundays in March. O’Leary provided registration information.

Other Business
Central High School – Members requested that O’Leary attend the design meeting scheduled for February 9, to answer any questions the School District may have regarding HPC concerns about the expansion plans.

Motion: to adjourn. (Slater, Lien)
Motion carries. Meeting adjourned. 9:00 p.m.
The next regular meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011, in A101, City Hall.

Respectfully submitted,




Peg O’Leary
Coordinator