Historical Commission Meeting Minutes - October 20, 2021

Historical Commission Member Attendees: (5– Quorum)

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

• Catherine Callahan

Historical Commission Members Absent (2):

• Patti DeFroscia (Excused)
•  Leah Jennings (Excused)

Historical Commission Guests (2):

• Mike Bedrick
• Ashlee Dadd

 
OPENING:
The meeting was called to order by Chair Coughlan at 7:07 PM, who announced that the meeting was being recorded to expedite transcription of minutes, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Dawn C announced that Tony Wagner resigned from the Historical Commission and thanked him for all of his service.
Secretary Evans continued with Members Roll Call. Chair Coughlan introduced guests.
Chair Coughlan asked if there were any comments/corrections on the minutes of the April minutes. There were none.
Chair Coughlan asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the May 19th Meeting
Moved by Paul S
Second by Lorraine T
Vote called by Dawn C
Motion passed 5-0
 
OLD BUSINESS:

1. SUB-COMMITTEE REPORTS
2. SPACKMAN FARM 
   1. Mark reported that the roof is on the barn. Waiting for delivery of the flashing, gutters and snow guards. Dawn wondered if there were photos and said she’d reach out to Abbey. Paul S was impressed with how fast it went on once work started.
   2. Dawn asked if there was anything else to report, Mark said that Paul Mullin had spoken to someone from the Mill and that the best thing to do is to start a 501C-3. It was being discussed when the floods came. With the $12-15mm in infrastructure damage, we were lucky to get the roof on when we did.
3. MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA
   1. Lorraine had nothing new to report. Dawn asked if Lorraine and Mike could write something up to go with Abbey’s photos. Mike agreed to write a paragraph on the barn roof. Dawn said we could get it out to Town Lively, Daily Local, FB, Website. Mark mentioned that Tony W had made contact with those publications and they said they would print something as long as it was already written for them.
4. HISTORICAL PRESERVATION ORDINANCE
   1. Cathy C reported that she and Leah had compiled numerous suggestions and sent them to the group
   2. Mark E reported that shortly after the Hx Com 5/19 meeting, the Zoning Update Taskforce (ZUTF) added Hx Preservation to their June agenda. Mark, Paul S and Dawn C drafted a Historic Preservation Ordinance based heavily on East Brandywine’s, Cathy and Leah’s suggestions, and other ideas gleaned from the CCHPN luncheon. Dawn C sent the draft doc to Ray Ott and Kristen Denny in advance of the meeting, who basically rejected the idea at the meeting.      
   3. Mike B asked if there was any specific objections. Mark said the doc had one mention of possibly creating a HARB, and the entire doc was rejected as a whole due to the HARB language.
   4. Mike B asked if there is a way to reintroduce it to the ZUTF? Mark said that at the June meeting, Commissioner Mullin suggested that the document be sent to all members of the Taskforce for review before revisiting the matter. Mark said he would share the Dropbox link to the draft for all Hx Com members to review and comment before attempting to resubmit.
   5. Cathy C asked if we were losing the Overlay. Mark said no, but that there was nothing to lose. The language in the Overlay is so flimsy (“if possible, if feasible”). Paul S said that the way it’s currently written, it’s all up to the township and the developers whether they accept our suggestions. Mike B agreed there is no power in the overlay as written.
   6. Mike B asked if there was a “back-door” to explore, Mark answered that he had started there. Mark also stated concern that the township did not appear to be in favor of the adoption of any strong Historical Ordinance, Cathy was surprised to learn that the township might not be on our side.
   7. Ashlee Dadd agreed that it’s been her experience that township and developers have their own agenda, and that while they may seem very nice,  they will tell you what they think you want to hear and then do what they want. She used the example of a BOC member assuring her and her husband (when he was on his death bed) that there was nothing being done, no high-density housing behind their home.
   8. Dawn C turned focus back to the ordinance and the ZUTF, asked if it is something we can get back on the agenda with. Mark shared his screen to show the draft Caln Township Historical Preservation Ordinance, a 30-page document. Mark said that something like this could have forced Auger to build something that looks like the houses on the street. Cathy C asked if that wasn’t already in the overlay, as the previous owner of the flex space agreed to all of their requests. Paul S stated the language reads “if feasible’ and that right now the Auger plan is for a massive metal building.
   9. Dawn C  stopped the discussion so that we could stay on agenda, and will return to Auger in a minute, asked Mark for next steps on ordinance. Mark said our next steps are for everyone to review the draft in dropbox and make note of any changes, additions, and corrections. Added that all the pushback started with “no HARB” and ended with “this is not part of the Update”. Mark added that he has emails that specifically state that it is to be a part of the Update.
   10. Paul S confirmed that it was important that we remove any mention of HARB from the ordinance. It could be something for down the line, but not now.
   11. Mark added that at the October meeting of the ZUTF, another area the taskforce had targeted as potential residential-historical near Edge’s Mill was met with strong disagreement from the Township Manager who said she has a business that wants to possibly relocate there and she couldn’t turn them away. 
   12. Dawn asked when the next meeting is. Mark said the 1st Tuesday in November and December. Mike B reminded all that the first Tuesday in November is election day and there would be no meeting. Dawn asked if we would be ready for ZUTF December meeting. Mark said no, the January meeting is the safer bet, and that he would sent an email to ZUTF and Ray Ott requesting we get back on the agenda.
   13. Mark alerted all that the Township has scheduled a budget meeting for the same day as our November meeting, Dawn recommended we find another date in November. The group settled on Tuesday November 9th. Mark said he would notify the township. Possibility of meeting in person was discussed and not realistic for rest of year due to installation of equipment. Dawn and Paul felt it was appropriate to include Ashlee, Micki, and Tom Parr in our ordinance review and include their suggestions as members of the public. Mike B suggested that we not share the ordinance with the general public until we are ready for prime time at which point it will be a part of the minutes. ​
5. EDGES’ MILL HISTORIC DISTRICT UPDATE
   1. Cathy C said she was going to hound the state to get the approval. Mark said that with PA Share we can digitally upload everything and that should expedite things. Cathy said that Micki M had typed up all of the docs on her house . Mark asked if we could get a copy of it so we could use it as a guide for the other houses. Cathy said she’d sent it to Dawn. Dawn added that Paul S had been taking photos, Paul said we’ll need more and interior photos. Dawn added we were waiting on forms from Jane K, Mark said they were too big to send via email. Mark said that if we have PA Share we don’t need forms. Dawn said this was a great segue to New Business/Organizations to Consider Joining.

 
 
NEW BUSINESS:

1. ORGANIZATIONS TO CONSIDER JOINING
   1. Mark Evans thought we should table this until a later date. All but PA Share - that we should get our budget request out to ask for an increase now, and PA Share would be the first to join. Paul S added some of the other groups. Paul and Dawn noticed that they hadn’t received CCHPN newsletters.  
2. MOTION TO REQUEST BUDGET INCREASE TO $1200.00
   1. Chair Coughlin asked for a motion to request that the Township increase the Historical Commission annual budget for the year 2022. Imperative that we get our request in ASAP as the Township and the BOC are currently working on the budget and it must be finalized by the end of the year. The total request will be for $1200, and that will allow us to purchase an annual license for PA Share, memberships in various Historical Organizations TBD.

Chair Coughlan asked for a motion to put in a formal request for our 2022 budget to be $1200
Moved by Paul S
Second by Mark E
Vote called by Dawn C
Motion passed 5-0
 

1. 4060 EDGE'S MILL ROAD SKETCH PLAN
   1. Dawn asked Mark to share his screen with the sketch plan. Mark pointed it out that we should be careful not to say “we want it to look like a barn”, because it currently does. Paul S concurred “a modern, steel barn”. Mark stated that at the PC meeting they said this 41K sq. ft building (replacing what was to be a 17.5K sq. ft building) doesn’t have to look like this or be this big, but we all have concerns. Mark compared what they currently have and what they propose, including moving the driveway further west, closer to Leah’s house. Mark shared the letter that said HX Com should have a chance to comment on it. The developer plans to run public water and sewer. Dawn said the earlier cost for water was $500K.
   2. Dawn highlighted Cathy’s notes from Oct 2018, and added that Ashlee’s husband had contributed heavily to the notes, especially the sections requiring them to “maintain the buffer”, and leaving the trees and plantings in place where possible. We know they already reneged on. Quite a bit of the buffer along Edge’s Mill Road has been removed, and down the driveway they cleared everything when they put in stormwater management, we tried to protest the clearing and were told we don’t have a say in it. At the PC Meeting 10/19/21, the status of the wetlands was discussed -it is a functioning wetlands, Bill Scheu suggested a study of the wetlands be done. Mike be added that Bill added that we should restore the wetlands to being fully functioning. Dawn added that building on wetlands is one of the reasons the township’s flooding issues are out of control. The notes also include protection of western and northern natural buffers. Cathy said she has many pictures of the tree buffers before and after, and hoped that they weren’t going to take down the trees along Edge’s Mill.
   3. Dawn turned to the slide showing the sketch plan. Cathy said that the wording is hx com “shall be heard”. Mark asked if we have a copy of the agreement signed by Antonini. Cathy said taking down the trees is out of vanity – they don’t have any drive by customers. Dawn added that Auger had told Leah that they do believe visibility from the road will lead to new customers. Mark said he would send a request to obtain the fully executed complete conditional use granted to Antonini.
   4. Paul S asked about the new owners and if they are bound by the old agreement, and if so, how ca they do what they’re now talking about. Dawn replied that Ray had said those specifics are not part of it. Mark added that Ray said Antonini was to rent the interior out to other businesses, and Auger plans to use it for their own business, and that’s the difference. Paul S said that if it’s zoned for Commercial/Flex Space, there should be no difference. Paul said we have an agreement with requirements agreed to by the previous owner, and what we need to do is make the township to start enforcing that agreement. Paul asked if the size of the building is allowed on this lot, and what the conditional use will be. Mark replied that they claimed they weren’t asking for anything at this point, but that once they begin their land development plan we will “have input”. Lorraine agreed. Paul suggested we come up with some recommendations, which is all we can do:
      1. Two masses with a slight indent defining them, look at more than one indent, and maybe even one of them exaggerated to try to break up the mass of the building.
   5. Dawn stated that we have Cathy’s notes, but if there was a proceeding recorded by the township, we need to see what is in it. Before we do anything we need to see if that conditional use is still in effect. Cathy said they need a variance for water suppression before they could build. Paul S said they couldn’t do something the size they want, but could do something half that size. Cathy stayed positive and said there’s no reason for Auger not to work with us. Paul S suggested there is one reason and that is money, and if it costs them money, they’re not interested. Dawn added that she would love to know why Antonini pulled out. Paul said we need to know what the legally enforceable rules are right now for this piece of property.     
   6. Mark reiterated that he will request a copy of the fully executed Antonini conditional use from the township, and from there we can start to draft a response to the Auger sketch plan. Dawn said that sounded great. Cathy said we need to meet with them and get them to not take down those trees. Paul S pointed out that the conditional use should have been included with the sketch plan when it was sent around.
2. STATE OF SCHOOLHOUSE
   1. Dawn inquired as to condition of schoolhouse, there was mold that needed to be remediated. We lost our entire season of tours due to that issue
   2. Will the township be doing a Holiday tree lighting this year? Mark said yes, December 5th. Dawn asked if we would be allowed to do our traditional open house at the schoolhouse in conjunction with the tree lighting. Is it safe? Mark and Lorraine said it possibly would not be safe, that there wasn’t even going to be the kids party, but not for certain.

 
ADDITIONAL BUSINESS:

1. Dawn shared that 10/21 at 5pm the CCHPN TOWNTALKS will be on Bondsville, and suggested we all try to attend. 
2. Ashlee said she was looking through some of her husband’s notes and was hoping they might be helpful. Ashlee said she’ll scan the notes and send them to us. Dawn and Mark said how much we’d like her to join us.

ADJOURNMENT
Chair Coughlan asked for a motion to adjourn
Moved by Mark E
Second by Lorraine T
Vote called by Dawn C
Motion passed 5-0