Committee Minutes

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


Meeting Minutes
February 7, 2006
7:00 p.m.
City Hall

Present: Marsha Gunderson, Chair, Chuck Flemmer, Gordon Iseminger, Ted Jelliff, Melinda Leach,
Dale Sickels, Sandy Slater
Others: Peg O’Leary

Motion: to approve the minutes of the January 24, 2006 meeting as presented. (Flemmer, Sickels)
Motion carries.

Grand Forks City Hall Satellite Dish
Gunderson explained that the City proposes placing a satellite dish atop City Hall to broadcast Channel 2. Homeland Security funds are being used for the project. Since these are federal funds and City Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places and within a National Register District, the project is subject to Section 106 review. The State Historical Society also holds two covenants on the property as a result of preservation grants used to restore the historic entrance. Gunderson has been told that the dish is 10’ in diameter and will not have to be anchored to the roof because it has sufficient ballast to withstand a 90 mph wind. Widseth Smith Nolting will conduct a structural review to determine whether the roof can support the weight. Concerns were expressed regarding possible damage to the historic building and damage to the viewscape within the Downtown Historic District. Iseminger questioned whether the dish could be put atop the Central High Gymnasium addition, which is higher and closer to the edge of the district.
Motion: to request that the City explore alternatives to placing the dish on City Hall; if it is shown that placement on City Hall is necessary, the dish should be placed on the new portion of City Hall in such a manner as to prevent it from creating the potential for damage to the historic portion of the building and to minimize its visibility from surrounding streets. (Iseminger, Leach)
Discussion: Since 90 mph winds are not unheard of in the Red River Valley, the dish needs to be far enough away from the historic building to prevent damage to that building in the event that it does topple over.
Motion carries.

Chair Report – Marsha Gunderson
  UND Department of Anthropology – Gunderson and the Commissioners congratulated Dr. Leach and her department for winning the annual Founders’ Day Award for “Departmental Excellence in Service.”

Coordinator Report – Peg O’Leary
  Riverside Nomination RFP – O’Leary reviewed the two proposals that were received. One is from Steve Martens, who recently completed the Riverside Survey; the other is from Ann Emmons, who has written the two recent district nominations for Grand Forks. Both propose to complete the nomination to our specifications, within the prescribed timeframe and for $7,500 (the amount we have budgeted for the project). Members noted that both proposers are familiar with the community and have provided high quality work in the past. It was determined that, other things being equal, Martens’ familiarity with the survey and the hundreds of hours of unpaid time he donated to that project would sway the decision in his favor.

Motion: pending State Historical Society approval, to accept Steve Martens’ proposal to nominate the Riverside neighborhood to the National Register of Historic Places. (Sickels, Slater)
Motion carries.
O’Leary was asked to be sure Emmons understands how highly the Commission values her work and to convey their hope that she will be able to work with us again in the future.
  Granitoid Street Repair – O’Leary has put together a packet for the State and will set up a conference call to discuss the delisting of portions of the Granitoid. O’Leary is also checking to see how Duluth deals with their Granitoid.
  FY06 CLG Budget – O’Leary distributed copies of the budget worksheet. Line items such as office supplies, postage and telephone are similar to previous years. Variables to be discussed include whether to request funding for an architectural survey, a brochure for the Riverside District, construction of a website and/or partial support for health insurance for O’Leary. General support was expressed for a website, noting that information not found by ‘Googling’ is often not found at all. Members decided to wait a year to produce a brochure for Riverside because we don’t have the district yet and we are currently working on two other brochures. The insurance discussion centered on a desire to provide this partial benefit while recognizing that it might not always be possible to do so. Members agreed that they would like to continue surveying the city; areas north of downtown and south of the Near Southside District were considered. Concern was expressed about the adequacy of a $15,000 budget to survey an area of approximately 300 properties (not including garages), given that the total budget for the Riverside Survey (including Martens’ donated time) came to $27,747 for roughly the same number of properties. O’Leary will find out if the SHSND has reviewed its criteria for surveys pursuant to the letter we sent following the Riverside Survey. It was determined to request $15,000 for a survey; if it becomes necessary to revise the proposed area, that can be discussed with SHSND after the RFP responses come in.
Motion: to request $34,946.00 from the State Historical Society of North Dakota to support functions of the Grand Forks Historic Preservation Commission as delineated on the attached budget.
(Sickels, Leach)
Motion carries.

Other Business
  Historic House Repair Brochures – Flemmer said he visited with managers at Lowe’s to determine if they have brochures/handouts that focus on how to appropriately maintain a historic house. They do not but they were supportive of the idea. He said they were open to making that type of brochure available to their customers if it were supplied to them. Flemmer also said Lowe’s has a Q&A board that we could put a contact number on so people could call us with questions.
  DeMers and South Washington Water Tower – Iseminger displayed a recent American Profile article on historic water towers that have become highly visible identifiers for their communities. He questioned what is happening with the “smiley face” tower which is no longer functional. He suggested that the Friends of Preservation might like to adopt the tower as a preservation project. Jelliff will discuss the possibility with that group.
  It was determined that HPC will not have a quorum present for the scheduled Feb. 14 meeting. Therefore, the meeting of Feb. 14, 2006 was cancelled.

Meeting adjourned. 9:15 p.m.

The next meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006, in room A101, City Hall.

Respectfully submitted,



Peg O’Leary
Coordinator