Historical Commission Meeting Minutes
January 15, 2025 @ 7pm
A hybrid meeting was held both via Zoom and in person at the Township building.
Call to Order – 7:05 PM
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call of Members:
Commission Members Present: Cathy Callahan, Patty DeFroscia, Tom Parr, Donna DiPrinzio, Mark Evans, Lorraine Tindaro, Leah Jennings, Jamie Evans
Commission Members Absent: Dawn Coughlan
Staff Members Present: Don Vymazal and Abbey Swan
Guests Present: Mike Bedrick
The Historical Commission January 15, 2025 agenda was posted on the Township website and at the township building on January 14, 2025. Agendas were made available to the public at the meeting. The 2025 Historical Commission meeting schedule was published in the Daily Local News on December 18, 2024.
Public Comment – None

1. New Business:
   1. Historic Preservation Ordinance – Historic Resources List
      
      1. Mark presented a draft resource list for review. Patty made some corrections which Mark will update. Mark assigned categories of historical significance (agriculture, education, spirituality, taverns and inns, etc.) based on the America250 categories. The group reviewed each property, checking for accuracy and making sure everyone knew which properties were included.
         
   2. 2025 Event PlanningSpackman-Davis Farm Picnic – The group agreed to schedule this year’s event for June 28th. Moved by Tom Parr, seconded by Jaime Evans, passed unanimously. The group will look into available dates for a fall event as well.
2. Old Business:
   1. Lincoln Highway Historic Marker Project (Tabled)
   2. Review Letter for Endangered Resources (Tabled)
   3. 2025 Hybrid Meeting Requirements (Tabled)
3. Sub-Committee Reports:
   1. Membership – Currently at 9 members (pending BoC acceptance of Dawn Coughlan’s resignation)
   2. Events – Previously discussed
   3. Spackman Farm – The roof is on but we’re awaiting arrival of new snow guards and installation of the porch railings. The holiday decorations were removed earlier this week.
   4. Marketing And Social Media – We’ll work on ads and press releases to advertise the picnic.
   5. Historical Preservation – Previously discussed
   6. Caln At Risk – Nothing new to report, except that Tom may be working with the Downingtown Historical Society on the Lloyd Ave. pumphouse. We’ll keep an eye on the Orangery as well.
   7. OCHS Liaison Report – Patty was appointed OCHS Liaison – she reported that OCHS has a program on February 16th on historic mills at the Thorndale Fire House.
   8. Finance Update – No updates
4. Additional Business:

Cathy expressed concerns about the restrictions that the proposed Historic Preservation Ordinance would place on her property and others. Mark suggested that the group spend the next few months communicating with the public about the ordinance. Don pointed out that the ordinance cannot advance until the list of impacted properties is adopted by the Historic Commission.
 

• Meeting adjourned at 9:20 PM

Historical Commission Special Meeting Minutes
January 7, 2025 @ 7pm
A hybrid meeting was held both via Zoom and in person at the Township building.
Call to Order – 7:06 PM
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call of Members:
Commission Members Present: Cathy Callahan, Patty DeFroscia, Tom Parr, Donna DiPrinzio, Mark Evans, Lorraine Tindaro
Commission Members Absent: Dawn Coughlan, Leah Jennings, and Jamie Evans
Staff Members Present: Don Vymazal and Abbey Swan
Guests Present: Mike Bedrick
The Historical Commission January 7, 2025 agenda was posted on the Township website and at the township building on January 6, 2025. Agendas were made available to the public at the meeting. The 2025 Historical Commission meeting schedule was published in the Daily Local News on December 18, 2024.
Public Comment – None
1. New Business:
1.1 Annual Reorganization
            Chair – Mark Evans was nominated and confirmed by a vote of 6-0
            Vice Chair – Tom Parr was nominated and confirmed by a vote of 6-0
            Treasurer – Donna DiPrinzio was nominated and confirmed by a vote of 6-0
            Recording Secretary – Abbey Swan was appointed by a vote of 6-0
1.2 Approval of 12/18/2024 Minutes – Approved by a vote of 6-0
1.3 Historic Preservation Ordinance Discussion
Mark presented information about the Historic Preservation Ordinance Resource List under consideration. He addressed questions from members:
Dawn asked about the ordinance text - “density bonuses and automatic conditional approvals” and whether or not historic property owners on the Commission would need to abstain from votes regarding the formation of the resource list or any exceptions. Mark and Cathy suggested that property owners on the Commission would recuse themselves from votes concerning their own properties. Language about density bonuses and conditional approvals was drawn from the East Brandywine ordinance and was meant to make being added to the Historic Resources list more palatable to property owners. Mark elaborated – as long as property owners follow the state guidelines for historic resources, they could be granted automatic conditional use and allowance for density beyond what the zoning allows. Don mentioned that the Zoning Task Force discussed allowing developers to increase the allowable density on their site if they maintain additional open space and commit to preservation of existing structure.
Dawn asked about bandwidth of the Commission to take on the additional responsibilities related to adopting the proposed ordinance. Mark noted that the Township will need additional Codes staffing and contract with a Historic Preservation engineer and that the Preservation Sub Committee could do an initial review. He doesn’t anticipate a huge number of applications and thinks that the group has the bandwidth to handle it. Don explained how the process works currently with the Planning Commission. Flagged permits would be reviewed by a professional consultant who would issue a report to the Historic Commission to facilitate their decision making. He pointed out that staff would need guidance from the Historical Commission about where the line is between items that need to go before the Commission versus items that can be decided by staff.
The group then discussed how the ordinance might impact public buildings like the Spackman-Davis Farmhouse which have ADA and other requirements. There was also a discussion specifically about signs on or near historic properties, which would be subject to the ordinance as well. They reviewed procedures and fees related to the ordinance including the timing of reviews.
Don commented on the ways that the ordinance language can be advertised and affected property owners can be notified.
Lively debate continued regarding the scope and application of the ordinance. Mark pointed out that the ordinance language was drafted based on similar ordinances in other municipalities and with input by the township solicitor, Board of Commissioners members, State and County historic preservation experts.  Don described possible next steps for the ordinance including review by the Caln and Chester County Planning Commissions and eventual consideration by the Board of Commissioners. He also pointed out that there will be some ramping up time required on the staff level should it be adopted.
Mark asked for a motion to approve the draft ordinance language – it was moved by Tom and seconded by Lorraine – the motion passed unanimously.
The group agreed to meet at their regular time on January 15th to review the list of Historic Resources to accompany the preservation ordinance.
2. Old Business
2.1 Hybrid Meeting Requirements – Tabled
2.2. Lincoln Highway Marker Project – Tabled
2.3 Review Letter for Endangered Resources – Tabled
3. Sub-Committee Reports – Tabled until January 15th
Additional Business
Tom commented on updates to the Hexagonal Schoolhouse – new candles, door latch, shutter dogs, window sills, front door threshold, and questionable glass panes will all be addressed in the spring. Tom will work on creating some magnets to give away during tours. Mark suggested representing the schoolhouse, meetinghouse, and farmhouse on the magnets. Tom will work with Abbey to price them out.
Mark noted that he received an email from the “fourth great granddaughter of Dr. Thomas Eschleman,” owner of Glen Isle. Mark will contact them to see if they’d like to come in and meet with the group.
Adjournment – Meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM