Committee Minutes

Grand Forks Historic Preservation Commission
1405 First Avenue North
Grand Forks, ND 58203
701-772-8756

Minutes
7:00 p.m.
April 13, 2004
Grand Forks City Hall


Present: Marsha Gunderson (Chair), Dave Beach, Chuck Flemmer, Gordon Iseminger, Ted Jelliff, Melinda Leach, Randy Lee, Ken Polovitz, Dale Sickels, Sandy Slater
Others: Linda Adams, Easter Seals/Goodwill ND; Al Franks, John Riske, Kevin Severson, Red River Valley Community Action; Mike Yavarow, GF Engineering Dept.; Peg O’Leary

Motion: to approve the minutes of March 23, 2004, as distributed (Lee, Polovitz)
Motion carries.

Red River Valley Community Action – Al Franks
§ 1331 Cottonwood, built 1928 – RRVCA proposes to reshingle the entire roof; replace all windows; replace two exterior doors; replace front storm door; install new rain gutters and downspouts; scrape and paint exterior soffit and fascia areas; and other interior repairs. Franks passed around photos of the house and said they would use wooden double-hung windows but would not purchase the divided light windows like the ones being replaced. Window sizes will remain the same as originals. The exterior doors will be steel, raised panel doors with a glass insert.
Motion: to concur that there will be no adverse effect on this historic property from the described work. (Flemmer, Jelliff)
Motion carries.
§ 513 N. 7th St., built 1904 – RRVCA proposes to install 3” vinyl siding; replace seven windows to match existing windows that have already been replaced; replace back door; install rain gutters and downspouts; and other interior repairs. Franks said that many of the windows are inoperable and they think moisture in the insulation is causing the paint to fail. Flemmer asked about replacing wood siding as needed with new wood material; Franks said it is too expensive. They plan to strip off all the wood siding, put in new insulation and install vinyl siding. Gunderson said the property is probably individually eligible as it stands and this work would destroy that eligibility.
Motion: to concur with no adverse effect on the condition that vinyl siding not be used on the house. (Lee, Flemmer)
Motion carries.
§ 1005 S. 9th St., built 1946 – RRVCA proposes to scrape and paint exterior of house; install new gutters and downspouts; install nine vinyl windows (inserts only); scrape and paint existing window trim; and other interior repairs. Sickels pointed out that the picture window is a distinctive style and asked if the same window would be put back in; Franks said no, they would replace with a center fixed window with one-over-one double-hungs on either side. Sickels said that changing the front windows would change the whole look of the house. Gunderson said the house currently has integrity of design and material.
Motion: window replacement on the house will result in adverse effect; the other projects will not result in adverse effect. (Sickels, Leach)
Motion carries.
Franks said they would probably try to adjust their plans to meet the concerns laid out at the meeting. He asked if they would need to come back to HPC with revised plans and was told that revised plans would require another review by HPC.

1610 Lewis Boulevard – Linda Adams
Easter Seals/Goodwill ND is rehabbing this 1910 bungalow and wants to move a window on the rear of the house. The window is in the kitchen behind the door and faces the dike. Adams said she would center the window on the rear wall between the corner of the house and the back door. The reason for moving the window is to get it out from behind the door and to create a workable arrangement for the kitchen remodel. The original window will be reused and original siding also will be reused to the fullest extent possible. Beach questioned whether the window might have originally been centered in the wall and suggested a permit search to see if evidence of a previous move would show up there. General discussion indicated that the style of the house supports the symmetry of a centered window, and the reuse of the materials and the inability to see the window from any public street or sidewalk would allow the move.
Motion: to approve moving the small rear window at 1610 Lewis Boulevard in the manner described. (Polovitz, Sickels)
Motion carries.
Members requested that Adams report back to HPC if evidence is found that the window had been previously moved.

Early Grand Forks Postmark – Dave Beach
A rare first day cover of a mailing from Grand Forks was passed around for viewing.

Sub-committee Report
§ Griggs Award – The sub-committee of Slater and Lee presented two names for consideration and suggested that both be given the Griggs Award in 2004. It was noted that no Griggs Award was given in 2003 and that there is precedent for giving out more than one in a given year. Members concurred with having two honorees this year and with the names nominated by the sub-committee. The names will be made public at the presentation of the awards, which usually takes place at City Council during Preservation Week in May.

Chair Report – Marsha Gunderson
§ Annual CLG Meeting – the following members are able to attend the workshop on May 1: Beach, Flemmer, Gunderson, Iseminger, Jelliff, Lee, Polovitz, Sickels, and Slater. O’Leary will also attend. Gunderson said that, as in years past, the office would file registrations for everyone.
§ Downtown Design and Review Board – Gunderson pointed out that Beach is back and will be resuming his seat on DDRB. Gunderson would attend the meeting the following day since the material is carried over from earlier meetings. She noted that the County Correctional Facility is being expanded by one garage bay on S. 5th Street and this would be a topic of discussion at the meeting.
§ Long Term Plan – Gunderson suggested it is time to review the HPC long term plan. The existing plan will be included with the mailing of the minutes and a date will be set to devote a meeting to planning.

Coordinator Report – Peg O’Leary
§ Campbell House Update – State Review Board will meet on April 30 to act on forwarding the request to keep the house on the Register during and after the move. O’Leary will participate from Grand Forks by conference call.
§ 112-120 N. 3rd St. Nomination Update – Waiting for large black and white pictures and we’ll be ready to submit to the Keeper.
§ 1508 Lewis Boulevard Update – Committee of the Whole (COW) discussed the disposition of the purchase proposals at the 4/12/04 meeting. There were questions about why the highest bid was not chosen. O’Leary felt the questions had been well addressed by Greg Hoover and others.
§ SHSND/Beautification Grants – Historic District plaque funding requests to both organizations were submitted on time. Polovitz confirmed that the request for Beautification funds remained in the running after the first cuts. No information is yet available on the SHSND grant.
§ Donor Forms – Jelliff filled out his form and these will all be filed with the reimbursement request.
§ CLG Annual Meeting – The Finance Office needs confirmation of the $500 expenditure to rent the Masonic Center for the meeting.
Motion: to authorize the office to pay a total of $500 to the Masonic Center for the use of the building for CLG/PND meetings April 30 and May 1, 2004. (Lee, Leach)
Motion carries.
§ Birkholz Farm, 3617 17th Ave. S., built pre-1900 – This is an historic homestead that often served as a layover for Norwegian immigrants coming to the state to homestead.The Birkholz family is selling the land the farm buildings are on and would like to see the buildings relocated for the use of the community. John Staley, Park District Director, would like to see the barn relocated to Park District property south of SuperTarget, but is unable to fund such a move. Members were asked to consider possibilities for accomplishing relocation. Polovitz volunteered to visit with the developer about plans and time lines for the property.
§ M&H House – The house just south of the M&H Gas Station on N. 5th St. has been moved to 317 N. 3rd St. to make room for the M&H expansion.
§ FY05 City Budget – The GFHPC must submit its budget request for 2005 to the City Finance Office on April 30. O’Leary will draft a budget for review at the April 27 HPC meeting.
§ Library Additions – Several new publications have been added to the HPC office library. A list is attached.
§ Preserve Minnesota – Their “25th Annual Statewide Historic Preservation Conference” will be held Sept. 23-24, 2004 at the Paramount Theatre in St. Cloud. Invitations are extended to bordering states.
§ Save America’s Treasures – Funding is available, on a competitive basis, for preservation of properties having national significance. It was suggested that HPC investigate this funding source for Babcock Hall. The tie-in to Cable Pottery and lignite research should make the building suitable. O’Leary will check into the grant; Slater, Leach and others agreed to assist with the research and writing needed if the Commission decides to pursue the grant.

Other Business
§ Wells Denbrook Architectural Records – Slater announced that the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections in the UND Chester Fritz Library is finalizing an agreement to receive and archive about 65% of the firm’s historical architectural drawings. These encompass work from 1924 to about the mid 1970s. Members thanked Slater for her efforts to preserve these important Grand Forks records.

Meeting adjourned. 9:00 p.m.
The next regular meeting will be at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 27 in room A101, City Hall.


Respectfully submitted,



Peg O’Leary
Coordinator