City of Grand Forks, North Dakota

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	Grand Forks Historic Preservation Commission 1405 First Avenue North P. O. Box 13876 Grand Forks, ND 58208-3876 701-772-8756 Meeting Minutes September 25, 2007 7:00 p.m. City Hall Present: Marsha Gunderson, Chair, Caprice Benoit, Chuck Flemmer, Gordon Iseminger, Ted Jelliff, Melinda Leach, Dale Sickels, Sandy Slater, Dave Vorland Others: Michelle Dennis, M.L. Dennis Consulting; Peg O’Leary The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m.; a quorum was present. Motion: to approve the minutes of the Sept. 11, 2007 meeting as presented. (Leach, Slater) Motion carries. University of North Dakota Nomination O’Leary provided a brief background of the project and introduced the contractor, Michelle Dennis, who provided a report on her findings so far. She has reviewed the survey, which she feels is well done and full of information. The campus clearly meets Criterion A (associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history – specifically the development of higher education in the state of North Dakota) and Criterion C (embodying the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction – specifically the cohesive architectural styles of the historic campus). Dennis said she has been considering alternative boundaries based upon two possible periods of significance. a) 1883-1958 Period – Assumes that the district would be listed in 2008 and considers buildings/structures that are at least 50 years old. It is an arbitrary cutoff that does not take campus time-lines and development into account. b) 1883-1965 Period – Considers a variety of rationale including: 1965 signified end of the third and last set of campus plans developed by Morrell and Nichols for the campus (1922, 1949, and 1958). The campus plan implemented in 1965 is by a different consultant. 1965 signifies a change from Collegiate Gothic style architecture to other types of architecture. By 1965, the core campus east of the coulee is developed as fully as it would be for many years. Between 1958 and 1965, many building projects that had started in the mid-1950s were completed (Johnstone-Smith-Fulton and Hancock-Squires-Walsh are examples). Members agreed that it makes sense to keep the residence halls as sets. A question was raised about why Abbot and McCannell halls are not eligible; Dennis said both have been too severely altered. Slater noted that the Memorial Sphere could be included under the 1965 time line. Dennis said the green spaces are also significant and have shifted only slightly from the early days of the University. Vorland noted that he believed the central quad area is part of the land paid for by Merrifield. Chuck Flemmer arrived at this time. General discussion ensued regarding inclusion of the eligible fraternity and sorority houses. Many houses are eligible and the organizations have contributed to the history of UND but it can be difficult to obtain consent for nomination from individual owners. There are often misconceptions about what it means to be on the Register and the time required to get out the appropriate information and obtain consent could put the project out beyond the funding time line. Dennis noted that it is important to keep the boundaries as clean as possible; if consent from the houses is not forthcoming, they could be nominated later as a separate district, a Multiple Resource Listing, or possibly as an amendment to the UND nomination. Iseminger asked for her recommendation regarding a period of significance; Dennis recommended 1965 as the end date for the period, stating that she has done a lot of nominations and not one has been kicked back for reaching into the 50 year period if it was well justified. Consensus: to use 1965 as the closing date for the period of significance for the UND nomination. It was also determined that the Commission will make contact with the fraternity and sorority houses to see how they respond to the possibility of nominating their houses to the Register. Election of Officers Motion: to nominate Marsha Gunderson to Chair and Sandy Slater to Vice-chair. (Iseminger, Jelliff and Leach) The chair called for further nominations; none were offered. Nominations closed. The nominees agreed to serve. Motion carries unanimously. Chair Report – Marsha Gunderson Annual CLG Meeting – The meeting was held Saturday, Sept. 22, 2007 in Edinburg, ND. Gunderson, Iseminger, Slater, Vorland, and O’Leary attended. Most of the day was spent on a training session about heritage tourism. Participants traveled to a segment of the Ridge Trail Historic District where they walked the trail and met up with a real ox and cart! They also toured the sod house built by Edinburg citizens to celebrate the recent 125th anniversary of the town. Gunderson noted that the food was excellent (buffalo stew and juneberry pie!) and it was evident that Edinburg is well cared for by its residents. Coordinator Report – Peg O’Leary Web Site Contract – O’Leary requested that the final $1,000 payment for the web site construction be authorized. Motion: to authorize payment of $1,000 to JBA Web Design. (Jelliff, Slater) Motion carries unanimously. NDDOT Project #SU-6-986(073)077, DeMers and 42nd Street Grade Raise Project – O’Leary has asked the SHPO for more time to review the history of Ray Richards Golf Course. It was noted that this project is many years in the future on the MPO plan that was recently published in the Herald. Riverside Nomination Revisions – Steve Martens has provided the final draft of the nomination; O’Leary is completing the last map. NTHP National Conference – St. Paul, MN, Oct. 2-6, 2007 Regrant Status – Dinnie Apartments – Work is in progress at 102-108 4th Avenue S. All work should be completed by the funding deadline. Preserve America Presidential Awards Nomination – The criteria have changed for this award. Publicly funded projects are now eligible, which makes the St. Michael’s Hospital and Nurses’ Residence flood wall project a likely nominee. O’Leary noted the deadline is Nov. 1, 2007; she will not have time to complete it alone but could pull background material and provide assistance if someone else would like to work on it. Other Business Belmont Road Infill – Gunderson said RFPs are due this week at Urban Development. The review board will meet on Monday, Oct. 1. Meeting adjourned. 8:15 p.m. The next regular meeting will be at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007, room A101, City Hall. Respectfully submitted, Peg O’Leary Coordinator