Town Of Rochester Historic Preservation Commission Meeting
Monday, December 20th, 2021; 2:30 PM – 4:30PM; Held on Zoom
Attending: Wilton Duckworth (Chair), Joan Ewing, Alice Cross, Gloria Mirsky, Deborah Medenbach, Suzanne Miedema, Natalie Schults
Guests: Mike Baden
Absent: Ryan Fitzgerald, Shirley Avery, Joanne Mariner, Jens Verhaugh
Proposed Agenda:
1. Call the meeting to order.
2. Approve the November 15, 2021 minutes
3. Review and approve the agenda.
4. Preservation
– Status of old listings/any changes
– 1078 Samsonville Road–Report (Deb)
– Palentown Schoolhouse Museum–Visit, Strategies to find new volunteers, work to be done/contacts with the Town, Stone masonry (Valerie), How can we support schoolhouse tours
5. New members–reaching out, suggestions of possible new members
6. Possible change of officers–those interested in stepping down, those interested in assuming roles: Chair and Secretary
7. Barn Tour–discussion, list of barns, planning for this event, people interested in leading it
8. Request from Mike Baden to consider meeting in the evening–discussion and decision
9. Other agenda items, topics, corrections
10. Adjourn the meeting
The meeting was called to order with a motion by Wilton Duckworth at 2:40 PM. Motion Carried.
Minutes:
1. November 15th minutes – Wilton motions to approve the minutes, seconded by Alice.
2. Approving the Agenda – Add report from Natalie & Joanne about the Rutgers Intro to Historic Preservation course. Wilton motions to approve the agenda, seconded by Alice.
3. Intro to Historic Preservation Course – The course has ended, it was all about the foundational history and legal information regarding historic preservation in the US. Wilton suggests a book regarding historic preservation: The American Builder’s Companion by Asher Benjamin.
4. Palentown Schoolhouse Museum Visit
a. Building Upkeep: Regarding the cracking foundation, Natalie’s father is a stone mason and wants to meet with Wilton, Gary Miller, and whoever else to discuss what needs to be done to repair the building. Regarding the squirrels, Mike Baden says that someone has been hired to remove the squirrels. The man spoke with Gary and has the key to the building, but has not yet removed them.
b. Coordinating tours: Joan recalls that Gary Miller said that they were doing tours with the local school kids until covid stopped it. Deb suggests a music event in order to draw people to the schoolhouse. The building could be open to attendees and Gary could give a talk on the history of the building and do a whole presentation.
5. Reaching Out: Who could be additional members of the commission? Wilton asks everyone to reach out and see if they could find additional people; our commission has a 14 member capacity. Mike Baden says that anybody who wants to be a member must drop off a letter to the Town Board.
6. Change of Officers: Deb offers to volunteer to be in a Vice Chair position and Wilton & HPC gladly accept. Mike Baden says that this position is appointed by the Town Board, and to send the board a letter of advisement; They will make the appointment on January 3rd. All other positions remain the same.
7. Barn Tour: Great idea for later this year to bring people directly to historic buildings. Wilton is going to talk to Ryan and Harry Hansen. Suzanne has a barn that we can add to the list.
8. Scheduling HPC Meetings: For the time being HPC should leave the meeting time where it is, as a later time would potentially make some members unable to attend. HPC is going to schedule the next meeting for the 4th Monday of the month, as to avoid the holiday.
9. Other Agenda Items: Gloria asks about updates on the Anderson Mill grant. Mike Baden says that the meeting that was just recently postponed was regarding a request for a zoning designation (not about the grant). They are making some changes to their project, and the HPC will be involved in the process as soon as updates are made.
Motion to adjourn was made by Wilton Duckworth and seconded by Alice Cross. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 4:12PM.