Historical Commission Meeting Minutes - March 17, 2021

Historical Commission Member Attendees: (7– Quorum)

• Dawn Coughlan – Chair
• Lorraine Tindaro – Vice Chair
• Mark Evans – Secretary
• Paul Stephens

• Tony Wagner
• Catherine Callahan
• Leah Jennings

Historical Commission Members Absent (1):

• Patti DeFroscia (Excused)

Historical Commission Guests (3):

• Mike Bedrick
• Tony DiSario
• Jane Kennedy

 
OPENING:
The meeting was called to order by Chair Coughlan at 7:06 PM. Secretary Evans announced that the meeting was being recorded to expedite transcription of minutes, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Secretary Evans continued with Members Roll Call and Introduction of Guests.
 
Chair Coughlan asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the January 20th Meeting
Moved by Paul S
Second by Mark E
Vote called by Dawn C
Motion passed 7-0
 
Chair Coughlan asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the February 17th Meeting
Cathy C asked for clarification to be noted that she was stating that it was the Hx Com’s responsibility to work on moving it to the Register. Mark E responded that he understands there are times that our verbiage doesn’t match our meaning, and that these things can be tweaked in advance of the meeting by sending an email. Paul S added that he understands her passion about Edge’s Mill.
Tony W asked for clarification on Page 4 letter D if it was meant to be his statement or Tony S? Mark said it should be Tony W, and that he will make that change and tweak the wording on Cathy’s comment.
Moved by Tony W
Second by Paul S
Vote called by Dawn C
Motion passed 7-0
 
OLD BUSINESS:

1. EDGE’S MILL HISTORIC DISTRICT
   1. Paul S stated that he had presented the proposal to the BOC for consideration. There were some reservations about the cost, and a comment from the general public that we had spent a lot of money on the School and Barn Roof and given the circumstances might not be the right time. Paul appreciated the comment. He reported that a take away from the BOC was that we would explore other ways of completing the project and/or raising funds for it.
   2. Cathy C mentioned the email she had received from Corey at the National Register suggesting we only need the DOE at this stage. It’s still a lot of money but even Karen Marshall didn’t believe it could be done without a professional, it’s too many properties. 
   3. Commissioner Jane Kennedy arrived as a guest to share some of the issues she faced with Carver Court, how it was done as a local group effort without Township money, so that maybe we could find ways to economize. Asked if we had considered a 501C? An oral history on disc as a fundraising appeal? She asked if Mark had the docs she had sent. Mark said they did not come through.
      1. Jane shared that Elizabeth R is aware of the project, that it is viable, and with more photos and oral history how they are all connected – a common thread that makes it a district. A nice story that ties all of the properties together. She believes we can move forward on our own.
         1. Cathy shared that Elizabeth had told her a paragraph on each would be sufficient, and that otherwise it was a go.
      2. At this point there were technical issues that prevented Jane from sharing her screen, and apparently the survey form she was trying to show was too large to go by email.
         1. Jane to get the forms to Mark, and he will get it distributed.
         2. Jane asked if there is a map of the district, that it will have to be included. Cathy said submitted it with her submission, and has a copy. 
            1. Mark asked Jane if it was her understanding that we should be able to get it done, and if she expected we will get help from Elizabeth, et al. Jane said we won’t know until we get there.
            2. Mike B suggested that we give it 30-days to ID roadblocks and determine if we could do it. Cathy C repeated that Karen Marshall told her we couldn’t do it on our own.
            3. Dawn C suggested we table it until we see the forms.
               1. Paul S said photos were easy to get. He would take some himself. Asked Cathy C to notify the residents that he may be out there taking photos
               2. Dawn C added that all the histories of the homes are on the Historical Society website, the info is available
               3. Mark E said he would pull down the histories, and see what he can do. Agrees with Mike B on 30-days, though might be actually 60-90 days.
               4. Paul S said that the more we provide RGA the less it may cost
               5. Mike B added that if we come close but can’t accomplish it, we can go the BOC and say “this is as far as we could get, can you help us?”
               6. Paul S suggested that each document how much time we out into this so that we have numbers to point to
            4. Everyone thanked Jane for her help

               

1. GARDNER-BEALE HOUSE / CASD PROGRAM
   1. Paul S reported they had the first classroom exercised with the students doing sketched and elevations. A lot of the original trim is still there. House has a confused Hx as far as building changes that have occurred, Have more questions than answers, are at the beginning. About 15 students per class, 2 classes. Mix of interest levels, but a lot of fun.
   2. Mike B asked about legendary tunnel that goes up the hill.
      1. Leah said the tunnel is there but boarded or cemented over. Last seen by historian Ross Kershey. Paul S said that he didn’t see any evidence of that. There is only a basement in the front 1811 structure, only a crawl space in the back section. Paul S said it would be nice to have the historian show us where it was. It’s a long way to the hill.
      2. Leah added that the original owners of the house are buried in an unmarked grave along Lincoln Highway, just past Enterprise Car Rental, back in the woods.
   3. Paul S will try to set up an Hx Com site visit for us.
2. INVENTORY OF HX RESOURCES
   1. Mark reported that he has delivered the package to Abbey, and that Abbey and Denise will get it scanned and provide a master copy for us.
3. VA DEMO PERMITS
   1. Paul S thinks we should get a letter out. Will draft a letter this week.
4. BAKER-SMITH PROPERTY
   1. Mark said the Hx Com will have to draft a formal request asking that the Township reach out to the owner regarding historic Spring House on property.
   2. Dawn offered to draft a letter asking the BOC to contact the property owner if he is still interested in donating the property, and if he can be swayed by the historical significance of the spring house.
   3. Dawn asked Paul S if he’d checked out the integrity of the spring house. He said he hadn’t from up close due to it being private property.

 

1. SUB COMMITTEE REPORTS
   1. SPACKMAN FARM – Paul S
      1. Mark reported that Monday at 1:30 will be the Pre-Construction meeting with Kupex.

 

1. MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA – Tony W

1. Tony W had to leave the meeting early so no report.
2. Dawn asked if Lorraine or Mike had anything to share.
   1.  Lorraine said they were in the process of contacting Katie Muth, Dan Williams, and Mike McGann from the paper. Will get contact info to Tony.
   2. Leah said she “Neighborhood.com” is a great resource for marketing.
   3. Paul S suggested that if we send the Chester County Ledger “ready to publish” articles about we’re doing, they would probably run with it.
   4. Mark said he’d also reach out to Dan Williams via FB messenger.
3. Dawn mentioned the article Abbey had done in the Caln Newsletter, and that she was working on the next month’s article already. When Spackman Farm is completed, we’ll have another great story to tell.
4. Mark said that he had reached out to Catherine Quillman, that she now writes for Today Media. Hopefully she’ll respond.

 

1. HISTORICAL PRESERVATION – Cathy C
   1. Very concerned about signage and upset about trees being removed, the sort of things we need to protect against in the new ordinance.
      1. Leah said that she spoke with the owner about the trees and he didn’t like what she had to say, and added that he might be considering a sign along the highway. Said he was planning for new plantings.
      2. Dawn clarified that there are no protections against him removing trees, and that the signs are creating light pollution.
      3. Paul S said that there is a legitimate concern about preserving trees in an historical area, and maybe that should be considered by the Zoning Taskforce. “If a tree is over a certain height or size, or is a particular species, you need a permit”.
      4. Cathy said she was told by Ray S that you need a permit to take down a number of trees, and that they are in a flood plain, Dawn added there will be runoff issues due to the trees having been removed.
      5. Paul suggested that we approach the owner with a list of plantings that will focus the view on his building and enhance the appearance.
      6. Dawn expressed concern about the possibility of a large lighted sign. Paul S said we need to make sure Ray S won’t just give them a permit without clearing through us. Mark stated that Ray is very busy, and it wouldn’t hurt for us to make sure we’re concerned with what “could” happen. Paul S said that if not handled properly it could lose it’s integrity and be considered Industrial.
   2. Dawn specified that going forward it was important to build these protections into the ordinance, Cathy asked if there were any other suggestions for the ordinance.
      1. Mark asked if Cathy and Leah have found any language that protects trees, etc. Cathy said Chadds Ford is very strict. Mark suggested that they grab that language.
         1. Cathy stated that our overlay has language. Paul S felt the language in our overlay spoke in vague terms, that we need specific language. We need to look at other places to make ours up-to-date and enforceable.
         2. Leah added that as long as there is no DOE, there are no protections for the south side of the street.
         3. Paul said that it’s in the local ordinances that we control these things, why we need the strongest ordinance we can.
         4. Dawn asked what the timeline was with the Taskforce, what is our deadline? Mark said within 90 days we should have something ready to present.
            1. Mark stated that if we want to end up with what East Brandywine has, that we need to start by asking for what Chadds Ford has, it will get whittled down.
            2. Paul S said we could do a “buffet” menu, different pieces from multiple Townships.

NEW BUSINESS:

1. MARK E brought up PSATS’s monthly publication, and that Caln is one of the few Townships in the County that does not have information on the Historical Commission
   1. Dawn was concerned that other Caln Commissions are listed but not ours.
   2. Mike B added that Lorraine had tried to get that added a few years back with no success. Mark said we will get it done this time.

Dawn thanked everyone for their contributions, that it was a really good meeting of the minds and we had built lots of momentum.
 
Dawn asked if there was any other business. There was none.
 
Dawn asked for a motion to adjourn.
Moved by Lorraine T
Second by Mark E
Dawn called the vote.
Motion passed 7-0.
 
Meeting adjourned at 8:15 PM. 
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