ENFIELD HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION
MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING
JULY 12, 2006
A Special Meeting with Public Hearings of the Enfield Historic District Commission was held on Wednesday, July 12, 2006 in the Thompsonville Room, 820 Enfield Street, Enfield, Connecticut. Chairman Richard Tatoian called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m.
PRESENT: Richard Tatoian, Chairman
Russell Meyer
Roman Polaski
Lillian Troiano, Acting Clerk, Voting Alternate
Sonja Dean, Voting Alternate
ALSO PRESENT: Roger Alsbaugh, Assistant Town Planner
HDC#319 – Application of Edward Ingraham, Jr. has been withdrawn. Mr. Alsbaugh confirmed this hearing was advertised for the previous meeting. As the application was withdrawn and closed, the meeting was cancelled.
HDC#320 – Application of Richard M. Tatoian, 1106 Enfield Street, to install stone planting bed walls on the east and south sides of the property. Alternates Troiano and Dean were both seated as regular voting members.
Mr. Meyer requested that Mr. Tatoian describe what he plans to do. Mr. Tatoian stated his proposal is to build a stone wall on the east side of the property facing Enfield Street along flower beds that are on the east side of the house facing the street. This stone wall would be a wall made out of red field stone, a small example of which is on the table before the Commission today. It would be about a foot high in front of the flowers and plantings that are to the east of the line of hemlock trees along Enfield Street. There would be no mortar used. It would be just a freestanding dry wall. The wall would be along Enfield Street and then there would be a smaller wall at the entrance to the driveway to the house on Frew Terrace. There is a large pine tree there and at the entrance to the driveway, there’s a flower bed next to the pine trees. A stone wall would be built around the existing flowers. That wall would be of the same material and the same height and would be circled around the plantings. It would probably be a wall twenty feet in a horseshoe shape. Mr. Tatoian presented a drawing showing the location of the wall.
Mr. Meyer asked if the flower bed would be enclosed. Mr. Tatoian stated the flower bed would be in one location and the wall would be on the outside of the bed. The flowers would be about the same as they are now or perennials with some annuals.
Mr. Meyer stated there are two or three stacks of stone on the north side of the property line. Mr. Tatoian stated he had started the wall and then he realized that a wall is a permanent structure.
No one spoke in favor or against this application. Mr. Meyer closed this public hearing.
Mr. Polaski made a motion, seconded by Ms. Lillian Troiano, to approve the request for a Certificate of Appropriateness to install stone planting bed walls on the east and south sides of the property as shown on the ortho-photograph submitted by the applicant with this application.
Said plant bed walls are as detailed by the applicant and are to be installed as described and as discussed in the public hearing under HDC #320.
The motion was approved by a 4 – 0 – 0 vote with Alternates Dean and Troiano voting.
HDC#321 – Eleanor Schneider and Walter Gagne, 1336 Enfield Street, replace wood shingle roofing with thirty/fifty year architectural asphalt shingles.
Eleanor Schneider appeared before the Commission regarding this application. They propose to remove the present wood shingle roofing that is deteriorating and replace it with thirty/fifty year architectural asphalt shingles. The appearance would be very close to what exists.
Mr. Tatoian asked about the carriage house. Ms. Schneider stated the carriage house/garage has architectural shingles similar to what will be installed on the house.
Mr. Tatoian asked if those are the only buildings on the property. Ms. Schneider stated there is also an old garage that has old black shingles on it.
Mr. Meyer asked about the present roof. Ms. Schneider stated it is wood and is over twenty years old. They did look into wood roofing but the better choice was the asphalt roofing material.
Ms. Dean asked if photographs are available of the present roof. Mr. Alsbaugh provided them to the Commission showing what the roof looked like in 2000.
Chairman Tatoian opened this hearing to the audience. No one spoke in favor or against this application. Chairman Tatoian closed this public hearing.
Mr. Meyer made a motion, seconded by Ms. Dean, to approve the request for a Certificate of Appropriateness to replace the wood shingle roofing with 30/50 year architectural asphalt shingles on the main house, 1336 Enfield Street.
Such product(s) to be installed, and the areas and manner in which they will be installed or used, shall be as described and as discussed in the public hearing under HDC #321, and as shown on any site plans, in any product sheets or sight photographs, and per any samples as displayed during the above mentioned public hearing.
Mr. Tatoian felt the proposed roof is in conformity with the house and the surrounding homes. Mr. Meyer added the roof would not be very visible from the street.
Ms. Dean stated she normally would be wary about a change from wood to asphalt but the appearance will be almost identical to what exists.
The motion was approved by a 5 – 0 – 0 vote with Alternates Dean and Troiano voting.
Other Business
Mr. Alsbaugh asked if the Commission should be researching the use of wood shingles. Some members noted that the quality of the wood shingles now available does not reach the level of hardiness and longevity of the old-time shingles. The consensus of the Commission was that Mr. Alsbaugh should research the use and quality of wood shingles for the Commission’s future information. Members felt they should be able to offer well founded alternatives when requests of this type arise in the future. Further discussion followed.
Review Files and Determine Need for Certificate
Mr. Alsbaugh stated review file HDCR2006-004 is Chamberlain, re-roof the front porch. This was the standard of an as good or better product that the Commission has been allowing them to go ahead and do with a motion scheduled for the Commission’s following meeting to verify that the work was approved accurately.
Ms. Troiano made a motion, seconded by Mr. Meyer, to approve HDCR2006-004, Chamberlain, for re-roofing of the front porch as presented. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote with Alternates Dean and Troiano voting.
Mr. Alsbaugh presented review file HDCR2006-005 of Tina Troiano. The only thing Mr. Alsbaugh approved was the interior work on the barn because it does not show from the street. The old in-ground pool that had been filled in many years ago still had a cement walkway around it and that was removed. The rest of the items require Commission approval and Ms. Troiano will be before the Commission in the near future. Regarding the windows of this home, Mr. Alsbaugh stated it appears there are multi-paned, 6 over 6 windows. The commission asked staff to verify the present window pane configurations.
HDCR2006-006 on the barns was to bring the Commission up to date on the destruction by fire of two of the Cimino barns. The cause of the fire is still under investigation at this time; staff will report to the commission once a report is issued on the cause of the fire.
MINUTES
Mr. Meyer made a motion, seconded by Ms. Troiano, to approve the Minutes of April 26, 2006. The motion was approved by a 5 – 0 – 0 vote with Alternates Dean and Troiano voting.
Mr. Alsbaugh updated the Commission on the Thompson House. CHR is planning to re-roof the house using fake slate, thirty-year shingles. Mr. Alsbaugh has recently also discussed this house with CIL regarding the pendant on the south end gable that seems to be falling down. The roofing contractor, Dennis Anderson, called Mr. Alsbaugh; Mr. Alsbaugh stressed the importance of this building and that the contractor should have all the pertinent information on this building. The contractor informed him that part of the proposed CHR project involved taking down one of the chimneys on the roof. Mr. Alsbaugh asked the contractor if the owner (CIL) was aware and approved of these proposals. CIL still owns the building even though CHR has a lease to buy the property. Mr. Alsbaugh predicted a resolution of this matter prior to this Friday.
Mr. Alsbaugh reported the Commission has received a new membership list. Mr. Alsbaugh stated Eileen lost her position due to the expiration of her term. He checked with the Mayor and, unfortunately, there is nothing in the Charter that will allow the Council to reverse the appointment. The upshot is that Commissions and Boards now have to be extremely careful about making sure if a member wants to be reappointed. The problem is that the Council goes by a very narrow set of processes and if they don’t have an application for someone to re-up prior to their term expiration (submitted to the Town Manager’s Office 60 days before the member’s term expires), then they do not assume this person is still interested. Further discussion followed. Mr. Alsbaugh noted that one of the criteria was that not less than three of the regular members reside in the District and if Eileen moved out of the District, she would not have qualified as a regular member. Had the issue been dealt with differently through the Town Manager’s Office, it is Mr. Alsbaugh’s opinion that either Lillian Troiano or Sonja Dean could have been asked if they wanted the regular position and Eileen could have been offered an alternate position. At this point, Mr. Alsbaugh stated Commission members have to be very careful about maintaining their term applications. He discussed ways to address this so that the Commission is constantly informed of their terms. Staff recommended an additional permanent reminder on the ‘Staff General Comments’ page in the meeting packets (currently a permanent reminder is on the bottom of the attendance sheet), as well as pre-formatting discussion items on future agendas 90, 60, and 30 days out from expiring terms so members will have plenty of time to submit their new membership application to the Town Manager. This will also allow the commission to discuss anyone leaving a regular member position and which alternate they feel is entitled to move up. It will be up to the Commission to make sure that applications are submitted at the appropriate time.
Mr. Meyer had a concern about the alternates not being considered for any vacancy. Mr. Alsbaugh agreed and elaborated on the present Town Council policy. Mr. Alsbaugh will provide the Commission with copies of the Commission Members Handbook. He will also make a point of reviewing the expiration dates of terms on a regular basis and informing the person their term is expiring.
Mr. Alsbaugh stated the Commission received copies of the three documents for the Montessori School. They have appealed. Mr. Tatoian stated they went to Superior Court and they appealed the decision there. The judge in the Superior Court upheld the decision of this Commission. They filed a motion with that judge in that same court to reconsider and the judge denied that motion. They have now appealed to the Appellate Court. Some discussion followed.
Mr. Alsbaugh stated the Commission received all the follow-up letters for the reviews and regular applications along with copies of the Forum Journal, the Connecticut Preservation News and Forum News and the July/August 2006 issue of the Forum News.
Mr. Alsbaugh discussed the National Trust membership which he will have adjusted to reflect the new makeup of the Commission.
Mr. Alsbaugh reviewed some magazine items of interest to the Commission.
Mr. Alsbaugh informed the Commission that Roger Ingraham has not been doing anything to comply with the mandates of this Commission (under HDC #309). He suggested adding something to the September meeting agenda about how the Commission should proceed in this matter.
Mr. Alsbaugh reported the Pearl Street Library renovation / restoration project has progressed substantially. All the lead paint removal work has been completed and the trim is being prepared for priming and painting. Colleen Brand of Public Works is in charge of the project and contractors, with aesthetic and design recommendations coming from HDC member Sonja Dean.
Mr. Meyer requested an update on the historic sign previously located on the south end of the District which has been removed. Mr. Alsbaugh stated they are pursuing this with the insurance company.
Regarding adopt-a-sign spot signs, Ms. Dean asked how this fits in with the signage for the District overall. There’s an adopt-a-spot location at the corner of Fairview and Enfield Street. She asked how that fits in with the signage that is clearly not appropriate for the Historic District. She questioned if the District has any jurisdiction over this spot. Mr. Alsbaugh stated there was something at this location previously. He asked when the adopt-a-sign at the highway exit on Pearl Street coming east came into being. Mr. Tatoian stated that has been there for some time or prior to 2001. Commission members could not recall these spots coming before the Commission. Mr. Alsbaugh stated he will look into this to see if an application is needed before this Commission.
Ms. Dean brought up the issue of the parking of residential commercial vehicles. There are some locations where people park a commercial van with a logo for a company right by the road. Her concern is if the District is not enforcing any of it, it will encourage more of this. She also doesn’t know how much the right of way issue will address this because there are some vans that are not located right against the road. Mr. Meyer saw this being addressed once the Commission’s ordinances are revised. Mr. Alsbaugh stated these all could be considered under the sign issue.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Polaski made a motion, seconded by Mr. Meyer, to adjourn. Following a unanimous vote, the Commission adjourned at 3:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
________________________
Nancy Smyth, Clerk
Enfield Historic District Commission
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