[Christopher Bader]: So let's see, Miles Wheeler.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Miles Wheeler is from the grandfather's house on South Street.
[Christopher Bader]: Oh, nice. OK, good, good. OK, I think Fred plans to attend. So he might be running a little late. Why don't we wait a couple of minutes for Fred? He's been doing stuff that we want to hear about.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Chris Bader, there is a Historical Society meeting tonight at seven o'clock at the public library. Will Tenney is going to do some informational session about different houses in Medford, so that's going to be interesting. So when we're finished, I'm going to buzz in.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah, well, we'll wrap up by then, I'm sure. I'm quite sure.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Yeah.
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: Chris, how did you find out about it? I didn't see it anywhere.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: You know, some Facebook stuff, but seven o'clock. If you're interested, I'll come get you. But I'm going to buzz over there. It's about different historical homes in Medford, kind of like just a little bit of research, because he does the markers on the houses. That was Will Tenney's kind of job to put his markers on. So I'm not sure if it's something specific or just what he's learned from that program.
[Christopher Bader]: Let's give Fred another couple of minutes.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'll give him a little text.
[O1CMBj7JDes_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, good idea.
[Unidentified]: Hi, Joe.
[SPEAKER_11]: I'm doing well. How you doing?
[Unidentified]: Who's on the phone? Hi, is someone on the phone? Medford number. Yeah.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, well, we're five minutes in, so let's get going. Chris, I heard from Sharon that you've been having some thoughts about community outreach. Oh, no, wait, wait, sorry, sorry. First order of business, the minutes. Do you have minutes from last month, honey? Honey, listen to me. Do you have minutes from last month?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: I sent them to you via email, but I'm happy to reproduce them. Do you want me to send them over again?
[Christopher Bader]: No, no. The usual, oh, there's Fred. The usual routine is to read them aloud and ask if any members have corrections. Sorry, I should have given you a heads up on those.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: I can read them and I can send them to you again, Chris.
[Christopher Bader]: Hi, Fred. No, no. You just need to read them aloud. Hey, Fred.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Hello, everyone. Sorry I'm late. No problem. Thank you.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Hi, Fred, how are you? Hi, Chris, I'm well, thanks. Fred was gracious enough to send me a PDF on how to do the notes in a very specific format. I didn't get to that. We'll do that from now on. But I did have the notes from last week. I'm happy to read them, Chris Bader, if you'd like. Yeah. So it was December 8th was our last meeting. We had a quorum and we had an election of offices. Fred motioned to nominate Chris Donovan for secretary, Chris Bader for president, Charlotte Scuderi vice president, and Chris Donovan recording secretary. We were talking about the status of Joyce Paul. We're gonna contact the mayor's office about appointed members, their terms, potential new additions. The new additions are being welcomed. The City Hall portal is the first step to notifying the city about interest in the Medford Historical District Commission. Interested applicants need to start there. We have seven members right now. Chris Bader and Fred Soule will be appointed. A note of appreciation to Sharon Guzik for her great work organizing the South Street Historic District plan. Review the historic district timeline. 15 days by mails at each address every homeowner within 300 feet from the district boundaries Dennis at city hall will coordinate the mailer text to be sent for a postcard size mailer motion for Melanie to accept the South Street district proposal. unanimous vote. Preliminary study report and form Bs need to be completed. Chris Bader is going to reach out to Claire Dempsey, John Clemson for the expertise in filling out this paperwork, money to be appropriated from these tasks. A tentative public hearing, May 11th, tentative. All paperwork must be finished by dot, dot, dot. Budget requested from Chris Bader, 8,000 for special projects, $1,500 for admin support, $500 for the website, $500 for signage, presentation materials, motion to accept the Medford Historic District annual budget, $10,500, motion passed, motion to adjourn.
[O1CMBj7JDes_SPEAKER_03]: Okay, oh, there's Melanie. Hey, Melanie.
[Unidentified]: Got a letter in.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, so, One small revision to the minutes. At least going forward, we need an exact list of the members that were present, not just the fact that it was a forum.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Not a big deal. I didn't write that down.
[O1CMBj7JDes_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[Christopher Bader]: OK, so was everyone present last time? Melanie, were you present last time?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Fred, Melanie, Melanie made the motion. Yes, I was there. She made the South Street District, Joe was the out front, myself, Chris, Charlotte.
[Christopher Bader]: So just list the six members. Just for the reference copy, just list the six members. And so do I have a motion with that addition to approve the minutes?
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: I make a motion to approve the minutes.
[Christopher Bader]: OK, second?
[O1CMBj7JDes_SPEAKER_03]: I second it.
[Christopher Bader]: OK. All in favor, I have to call the roll. Charlotte?
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: Present.
[Christopher Bader]: No, no, you need to approve the minutes, Charlotte. I need what? You need to say yes or no to approve the minutes.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, Fred? Yes. Okay, Melanie?
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[Christopher Bader]: Joe?
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, Chris? Yes. Okay, good. Minutes approved.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: And thank Fred. Fred sent me a PDF on how to format this. So the next time, it will all be formatted in a very procedural manner, and we'll get them out in that order.
[Christopher Bader]: Thank you for volunteering to take on this role, Chris. You're welcome. OK, so as I was saying, Chris, can you fill us in? I believe you've been talking to residents. Can you fill us in on whatever comes under the heading of community outreach?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So we had the Victorian stroll, which is a trolley tour, but it was a chance to engage some of the people on South Street, but not necessarily for the historic district, but we did meet a few people. We're lucky enough to have one here tonight with us, but I wasn't sure of the active campaign to do it formally. So it was kind of an informal way of meeting some of the people down there and gathering some names. So I do have about a dozen names. Sharon Guzik has a bunch as well. Maybe if I could make a motion to form an outreach committee and to create an actual document or talking points. I'd like to do that, but I wanted the group's approval before I said anything specific to anyone. But it was just an awareness campaign as much as giving them definitive timelines and what it entails.
[Christopher Bader]: I, we, we don't have a city solicitor so I don't know what the exact status of us of what the legal status of a subcommittee would be. So why don't we just stick with the whole with using the having the whole commission be the be the subcommittee for the time being.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Okay, so when I was committee everyone's everyone's on everyone's got volunteer.
[Christopher Bader]: we don't want any open meeting issues.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Yeah. So I would like to speak to Chris Kiley. I just went over reviewing his presentation that he did. And for people who aren't aware of this, not only Chris Kiley, Chris, Chris's last name. Kelly, Chris Kelly, Chris Kelly, his presentation is on a few weeks ago, a few months ago for our historic district commission, but he gave us some sort of pathways to do that. So, if anyone wants to look at that, that's a great presentation as well as Sharon's presentation on the actual South street historic district. entity and how the details of that. So there are two great ways to go back and look at some of that. But for the Outreach Committee, is there a chance, Chris, that I could talk to Chris Skelly? Or is he on retainer right now? Or is he done?
[Christopher Bader]: We haven't, that's one of the things we have to vote on this evening. But yes, he will be on retainer as soon as we vote on that.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So, if we've only I'd like to reach out to him and find out what what terminology, and either paperwork to create or talking points that we all can can share to spread out to the neighborhood, happy to do a Facebook messaging happy to work with Dennis or someone from the city to try and get any kind of paperwork to. It's informational because I know we have to do a public outreach and that's very specific, right, Chris Bader? We have to do something specific, 300 feet from every area of the district boundaries.
[Christopher Bader]: That should probably be our goal, yes.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Are you considering that?
[Christopher Bader]: Those are the people we need to notify before the public hearing, but our public outreach is by no means restricted to them.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Okay.
[Christopher Bader]: Although it should include them.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So I'm happy to, I'd like to make a motion to have an outreach committee involving all the members on the historic committee. I'm happy to chair it. And I'd like to make a motion for an outreach committee.
[Christopher Bader]: Why don't, why don't we, I mean, I think delegation of roles doesn't require us to create a separate subcommittee.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I agree. We just said with the whole, by the bylaws of how to establish historic districts that the historic district commission is basically the study committee. So we're all, we're all on the committee anyway. Okay.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So, so how do we reach out to Chris? How do we authorize? Cause I'd like to work with him.
[Christopher Bader]: I will right after. Let me, let me give me 24 hours to notify him and give him a heads up that he's going to be hearing from you. And you can talk to them all you want.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: In Chris Kelly's presentation, they had signs that you put in the ground, those kind of lawn signs that we're talking about. Is that too advanced for us right now to get that those something like that and to let people know this? Some talking point like Charlotte didn't know about the Historical Society meeting. We need to get the information out and it may be in multiple formats.
[Christopher Bader]: Well, we can talk about that.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: I mean- With Chris, if Chris thinks that that's a way to get outreach to people driving by. So when we had the Victorian stroll, the grandfather's house owners were sweet enough to do a presentation outside, we got a lot of eyeballs. So I think those lawn signs would be a really great way, people driving down to see that something's happening.
[Christopher Bader]: Well, what I would propose is talk to Chris Kelly. Then, you know, it's gonna be, we're gonna have snow on the ground pretty soon, So talk to Chris Skelly and in our next meeting, we will vote on the lawn signs. How about that? That's great.
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: Can I make a suggestion that we hold off putting the signs until spring so we're not covered with snow and ice?
[Christopher Bader]: I think I think that's probably a good idea. But in any case, we can't. I want to vote on it at a separate meeting before we go.
[Unidentified]: OK.
[Christopher Bader]: That's good. Yes, by all means, talk to Chris Skelly. Give me 24 hours to let him know he's gonna be hearing from you.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: I have a question for you, Chris Donovan. Like for the graphics and things, what to say and any logos or pictures or whatever, is that something within your ability to do or have you done things like that before?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: I can, and I'm happy to run it by Chris Bader to approve it. So I'll create some rough drafts and run it through the chairman.
[Christopher Bader]: I want the whole commission to approve any communication we send out.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So we'll have it ready by next week. So some outreach literature.
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: OK. Chris, do you know that we're on TV?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Yes. I knew that, yes. I didn't know that, but I don't know how many people get get a chance to dial into the historic district commission hearings.
[Christopher Bader]: How many people want to, they have to get exactly because you know, that's actually the term outreach right.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: And that's why I think there's an island of white lotus. There's an island at the end of South Street in Winthrop on the corner of Winthrop and South Street, the beginning of South Street. I think that's a perfect place for the lawn sign because I just think that will get tremendous amount of eyes on it, but happy to wait for for the season.
[Christopher Bader]: Let's talk about that at the next meeting and see what Chris Kelly thinks of it. Okay, any other. So do you want to share the substance of your conversation with any conversations with Sharon or it's not at that point yet?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Not at that point. We were just kind of discussing who to reach out to people that are interested in it. And there's a lot of people that may not know about it, but we probably have about a dozen people that know about it and are interested in hearing more about it, but give them more details. So that's what we just kind of accumulating kind of a little database of names.
[Christopher Bader]: That sounds good. Sounds excellent.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: I'm happy to run that by the commission committee later at the next meeting with those names are. Yeah. Yeah.
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: Is there anything online with the information that we could give out so that we were all giving the same information.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: That would be a very good idea. And I don't think we need to recreate the wheel. Chris Skelly's presentation had a bunch of those kind of pieces of literature. So we'll just rebrand them, Fred, right? We'll just rebrand them with our logo and our stuff.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and I don't know, some pictures of some houses or something, you know, whatever, you know, to make it look good and, you know, make it look appealing to people.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Absolutely. And reference that you can see these meetings online because you can't go back and reference old meetings to kind of get up to speed on it as well. I don't think people know that as well that the Medford Community Media, that's our cable TV station. There's a way to go in there and look at all of our backlog of meeting as well as the other meetings around the city.
[Christopher Bader]: Sure, absolutely. And, you know, all this should we should probably have a special. Are you a web? Do you know how to work? WordPress, Chris?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: No, I mean, I know how to, I'm a media producer. I can create some graphics and things, but WordPress, not particularly, no.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, so maybe, Dennis, is there somebody at City Hall who can turn Chris's graphics into a webpage for the- Not me, but I can ask around.
[Denis MacDougall]: I have no- Yeah, could you do that?
[Christopher Bader]: That would be very helpful. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So we'll get it up. It's all there should be up on the website. Cause that's the, that's the, that's sort of maximal transparency and yeah. So yeah. Any graphics. Okay. So the procedure should be, in my opinion, it should be, you know, Chris would come up with some graphics, the, and any texts you want to put on there. The commission would approve it and then somebody at City Hall would put it up, throw it up on the website. Does that sound like a plan? Sounds like a plan. Okay, excellent. Okay, so we have the owner of 114 South Spade here, right? Grandfather's house?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Yes, Miles Wheeler. I don't know if he wants to talk. I just let him know what's going on today.
[Christopher Bader]: Do you have any ideas you want to share, Mr. Wheeler?
[SPEAKER_01]: Just listening, and thanks for letting me join. I know Chris reached out. I'm very excited to hear what's happening, but nothing to share.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: OK, great. Miles, would you mind if I just tell him what a great time we had the other night, the other last month with the Victorian stroll?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So we had a chance to take a trolley ride around the city and talk a little about Jingle Bells because of Victorian stroll and as well as over the river and through the wood with Lydia Mariah Child and I happened to meet Miles. We had a great relationship. He's excited. They're great stewards of that property. They have some new lighting outside to reinforce how beautiful that structure is. And Miles and his wife are wonderful stewards who invited the community in to meet them. So a lot of people did from the community go in and say hello to them. They're very gracious. That's what people got a chance to look inside the house. I think there may be some future of doing that. I want to speak for miles. But it was really sweet. It was really wonderful. And it's the beginning of South Street. It really kind of starts the fire for people seeing how beautiful that is. There's a lot of construction still on the opposite side. Alicia Hunt from the city was there as well. And we were talking about maybe in the future kind of cleaning that up a little bit too. And that's what the South Street Historic District, I think, is really all about is trying to showcase that. So if we can get some reinforcement that this is an important area and get some city services in there, that would really be the ultimate goal to show some of those houses and families in there that this is why it's important to be a historic district. It's going to get some value to the neighborhood. So that's kind of was the talk, but it was a great introduction to the area. So a lot of people saw the signs outside, saw some of the different pieces that we had put out there, and they may not have known exactly what was going on. It was very colorful, but they may not know what the with what the goal of it was, but it's a good starting point and we're really excited that the Wheelers are in the Medford family and want to continue to do a little bit more.
[Christopher Bader]: That's great. That's great. Well, we welcome your input going forward, Mr. Wheeler.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Miles and Kelsey Wheeler.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much. Very excited to be involved.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, great. So Fred, do you have any changes to the proposed boundaries that since our last meeting?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Well, I don't know if everyone is aware, but we get some pushback a little bit from Claire Dempsey, that's right, saying the district looked a little sort of gerrymandered, and she thought it needed to be more encompassing. I don't necessarily Okay. I agree with that, but that's certainly valid criticism, I think, on her part. So I redrew the map just to include a few more houses along South street there. most of the homes, but they do, they sort of just fill in some of the gaps in there. I could share that with you. Let me see if I can get that.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: I think some of them might've been on the Victorian stroll, and some of them were kind of excited to, not to be included in it, but want at least to be aware that they're excited to showcase that area, but we weren't talking historic districts. So there's some names that might relate to what you're talking about, Fred.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: All right, well, let me see if I can just, just for the sake of, see if I can share my screen here. I know I've done it before, hold on.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Do you have to do that, Chris Bader, or can Fred do that?
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah, good question. Can Fred just share his screen, Dennis? Yep, he's a co-host, so he'll be able to do so.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: All right, excuse me, I've done this before, but I'm not seeing exactly how to do that.
[Christopher Bader]: At the bottom of the screen it says share screen.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Share screen, there it is, thank you. All right, so can people see, am I coming up here?
[O1CMBj7JDes_SPEAKER_03]: Oh yeah.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Maybe I'm sharing the wrong screen, so hold on. Okay.
[Christopher Bader]: I don't know.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't look like. I have it here.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: You can just close up. They can just close that window. Fred. Yeah, they go. Yeah. That's the district. Yep.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: All right. You're seeing that one. Okay. Sorry. Yeah, so what I did just, we have this little gap at Maple Street and in order to sort of make it more continuous, I included, these are all two family homes as far as I know, including this one. So I just took the boundary out to include those in the South Street District, just to make it a little more, you know, You know, less, less, a little pinch point at that place. There's here at 76 South Street, that's a possibility but I also don't want to. I think our narrative of keeping this in sort of a Civil War era properties is the best part of the narrative. But this is an option to do that. I know these houses on the mystic Riverside, there's particularly one that's under a demo, demo delay by the historical commission I saw, but I didn't, I haven't included those in this.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: It's on a demo delay, but I think it's on its final days.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: But obviously it's under, it's under threat for renovation or whatever, as opposed to historic. Restoration. So one option for us, Chris, Chris Bader is to revote that this is the map we want to go to. I'm not advocating strongly one way or the other, but it's worth a discussion here with our members about whether we think making this district a little more cohesive is in the merits. And I will say, The mom Simon's district up here is one of the ones we have. And it also has a lot of boundary lines that follow sidewalks and sort of bob in and out. So there is a precedent already in Medford for a map sort of similar to this. but I'd like to hear other people's opinions on.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Well, Fred, Chris Skelly said in his presentation, there's no reason why you can't be augmented, you know, later on. And I thought Sharon did a pretty good job of vetting, you know, every, every building in there, um, and to get something on the books and get, get rolling on it. So I think that's, we kind of liked that idea of it being tight, but doesn't mean it can't be augmented or added on later on.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: I agree.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Yeah. Unless, unless people, people want to be included in that and asking for, you know, like the single house district. We incorporating them into this, this. So I like, I like what we have here on the table, unless someone's come to the committee commission to ask for, to be included in it as well.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. Charlotte, Charlotte, what do you think?
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: Do we want to agree with Chris?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Okay.
[Christopher Bader]: Good. Good.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I'm sorry, do you know the house numbers on those multifamily so I could just pull them up my phone and take a look at them like a street view.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: I do not. I don't know if I added, I don't think I added them to the to my list here because I just redid the boundaries I didn't do the whole. It's available on. On the macros database for some of them, but I'm sorry, Joe. No, I don't have it.
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: On the top of the ones that are outlined. We talked about those three houses.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: These here. These four houses. Between 84 and one. South street. Little grouping here. They're all 1920s. I believe there are two families. They're not necessarily historic. They don't fit into our narrative, but they do fill out our boundaries if we were to select this. So just if I can bring up, do you have access to the second map here? I can go to,
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah, we saw the second map.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, this is like a map. So you can see the boundary does not include those two family homes. It just goes right through Maple Street, Maple Ave. I think it's 26 Maple Ave. It's the only house. It's a beautiful ship builder, ship captain's house. And it's all been filled in with multi-families over the years. So I don't know, Chris Bader, if when you talk to Chris Skelly and he was making a proposal to do the report for this, the preliminary report, whether he accepted it or raised any of these questions, because you can see here that there's a gap right here at South Street. That's not part of our district.
[Christopher Bader]: He did not review your plan in detail. So no, he hasn't made any comments on this. And I think we should probably, Before we vote on a revision to the plan, we should probably talk to Chris Skelly. That's my idea. Melody, do you have any thoughts?
[SPEAKER_04]: No, I agree with what everyone's saying.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Tie in tight. So can I clarify, Chris Donovan, are you saying to keep with our original map and not make changes?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: That's- Unless someone comes to the commission looking to join in and then we vet what the history is of those houses. I think Sharon did a good job of going in detail, looking at the opportunities to see who was interested, what houses had great history. So this is a pretty tight one. And when I saw Chris Skelly talk about, you can always add them on you know, later on, it's not a big deal to add them on. I think we got something on the books right now that's pretty strong. It's a pretty good, pretty good strong narrative.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah. Do, okay, do we want to, I don't think technically we need to vote on retaining the old boundaries, but- No, we already voted on that.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: So if that's our story, we can stick with it.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Correct. We passed the motion to accept those, those boundaries.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah, we did. Okay. By the way, I did. Um, uh, there is a, um, um, 31 South street is under, um, is now under demo delay as of the last meeting of the, uh, historical commission.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Okay. Yeah.
[Christopher Bader]: Um, so, uh, I went and looked at it, uh, What was it? Yeah, earlier this week, and boy, it's in pretty rough shape.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: That's the house right in here we're talking about.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: 31, yeah.
[Christopher Bader]: There's the nastiest imaginable siding situation. Is that the pink one? I don't remember the color, but yeah. It has this siding that I've never seen before. It's not regular vinyl siding. It's like a plastic. And the foundation has the same type of material, but posing as brick. So basically from roof to ground, it's covered in plastic.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: And it actually looks okay from a distance, but boy, you would really want- Chris Bader, is there a difference between the actual building and the location of the building? Because that family, the Turners, with the shipyards in there, that's kind of the story. I know the building is gonna change, but the location is still the location of Medford's historic shipyards.
[Christopher Bader]: No, I was just I'm not suggesting we should remove it from the from the proposed boundaries. I'm just saying that, you know, we get if we do want to protect this house. We have, we now have, you know, an 18 month runway. because that's when the demo delay will expire. And I just was giving my own personal thoughts on the condition of the house.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: And I got the impression that demo delay was a chance to re-engage the owners to maybe find some alternative or to showcase how important it is. But I think these developers already have a plan in mind.
[Christopher Bader]: I think they do. And I welcome the the historical commission engaging with them. And if you want to get involved in that, Chris, I think that'd be great.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: At least telling them the history and making it known to that history, even if it is going to be demoed, there's quite a history at that location.
[Christopher Bader]: Oh, I think they, I mean, there's a form B for it. So I think they know all about that.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. And they don't, you know, the way the Historical Commission proceeds is they make a determination of historical significance before they vote on a demo delay. So I think they know, I think they know the whole story of 31 South Street, but I'm not sure. I just was sharing my impressions of visiting the house, visiting a site. And yeah, so just wanted to let everyone know there is a demo delay on 31 South Street. And we should, I'm not proposing to revise the boundaries in any way, but that does give a certain urgency to our work.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: If I could ask Fred that thing about Claire Dempsey, I'm not sure who that is, but do we kind of have a place for people to go and talk about their homes either to be included in it or not? Do we have some kind of form or way for them to contact us about that versus talking to us personally? Is there an official way that they could engage?
[Christopher Bader]: They can send us email at info.medfordhdc.com. or info at medfordhistoricdistrictcommission.org.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Tell me that name again, Chris, please.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, they can either send an email to info at, there are two names which are, I believe, equivalent. If they're not, I should fix that. One is medfordhdc.org, and the other is medfordhistoricdistrictcommission.org. historicdistrictcommission.org.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah, so we welcome comments from anybody. And I sometimes get comments from that, especially from, you know, developers who want to know, you know, is that such a house in a historic district about things like that. Let me just also update about 54. They, I talked to the architect of that that works for the developer. They're experiencing a certain amount of frustration. The zoning board told them they can't do what they wanna do. So I wouldn't be surprised. Well, I don't know what they're gonna do, but I wouldn't be surprised if it involves demolishing 54 South Street, which we absolutely want to prevent because that is a gem. The siding is, everything about it goes back at least a century. The siding, the windows, everything. I looked at it pretty carefully a couple of weeks ago.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: It is a gem.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah, this is just a gorgeous house. I mean, you know, this green porch is obviously not something that we have any particular value, but if you look at the windows, you look at the siding, it's all very appropriate, historically appropriate. It would be that, you know, this, we should fight tooth and nail for this house. I'm not saying it's a danger, but the developer is frustrated at this point.
[Adam Hurtubise]: What are they looking to do to the property?
[Christopher Bader]: Well, they wanted to build a three-unit set of townhouses on the lawn, but the zoning board said no. So now they're They don't know what they're going to do. I talked to the. And I really don't have any idea, you know, but we should, we should really stay on top of this because this house is. You know, we would not be.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Chris, I think they took out their request for change. Did I hear that correctly, that they pulled back their plans?
[Christopher Bader]: I don't know what the exact status of their application for zoning variances, but the zoning board denied their request The in effect design voted down their approval, their request for a variance. You should probably look at the minutes if you want to know the exact legal ins and outs of this, but basically they made a decision that made it impossible for the developer to go forward with the plans that they had. I, I, I, it's, it's legally very complicated and I, I don't want us misrepresented.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So, so that wasn't the historical commission.
[Christopher Bader]: You should look at the minutes of the zoning board. Okay. Um, anyhow, um, let's see. So, uh, Anyway, as Fred mentioned, we got some pushback from Claire. Claire Dempsey, by the way, is an architectural historian that has taken a lot of interest in Medford. She wrote the Area A form for, and probably some of the Area B forms for the Touro-Manning Street area. Okay, there's actually a form A on MACRIS. Does everyone know what MACRIS is?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: MACRIS, but a form A, Chris, is what? It's a region, it's an area.
[Christopher Bader]: A form A is an area, yeah. And there's an area that does not exactly coincide with our proposed district, but there's a lot of overlap. So I thought, you know, just not wanting to reinvent the wheel, that we should approach Claire first. And she gave a very ambiguous response, but I think the answer was basically no. Do you agree with that, Fred?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: I think certainly with the timeline was gonna be tough and she pushed back that she would prefer the boundaries to be changed. I don't get the impression that she would not do it if we asked you to do it with the bond. The timeline was tough for her.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah. Anyway, this is the, you know, a writing, doing this kind of stuff is a side gig for her. She teaches at BU. She teaches architectural history at BU and I don't think she has a lot of, I'm just guessing, but I don't think she has, she probably doesn't personally have time for this.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. You studied the area as well, Chris, and, you know, develop some maps for, for areas. So I mean, I could, I could show you, let me see if I share this.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: What was their concern, Fred? What was their concern? There should be more included in it?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that is more. This is this is, for instance, you know, the whole whole blocks, including multiple homes, something like that, I think is more The idea that she has in mind.
[Christopher Bader]: So this is the area that I was referring to.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[Christopher Bader]: There's a. Right, right, right. Fred has it right there. You can download this from macros.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: And that's called the Toro Toro Manning area as well as two or three other areas in their correct size.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Yes, but it's mostly this neighborhood around the two remaining streets.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So Chris Bader, I thought there was an issue that we were trying to stay away from, which was the Forest Street situation where there's so many homeowners involved that there was pushback. So I thought we were kind of keeping it really tight to try and keep it something where we could get some success creating that.
[Christopher Bader]: Yes, I think we want to learn from our mistakes. And yes, yes, absolutely.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So it's called South Street. It's a South Street historic district. And that map, if you can bring up the other one, Fred, the actual one we approved, that's South Street. That's South Street. That's tight. That's pretty tight for South Street. Yeah.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: And it fits there. They're all historic properties. So I think it's, in terms of our narrative, it's a much better, I mean, it's the approach we've taken not just Circling giant areas as we attempted at Forest Street without without much success.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So it's an easier sell.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. I hope.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So I'd be happy when I talk to Chris Kelly about the outreach paperwork to see if I can engage him on that and maybe reach out to her as well and get something succinct about either her jumping in on this or and what those specific concerns were. So to have specific house numbers or we move on.
[Christopher Bader]: Well, in the interest of time, I mean, not this evening, but going, you know, for the whole creation of the historic district, I'd like to give the job to Chris rather than to Claire, but I'd like to hear people's opinions on that.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: This is what Chris does, right? Chris Skelly, he's experienced in this.
[Christopher Bader]: He's a full-time architectural, He's a full-time preservation consultant. So he has time to do this. He's willing to do it for a reasonable fee. He asked for $2,200.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: To do what specifically, Chris Bader?
[Christopher Bader]: To write a preliminary report. He would probably want additional funding for doing support for community outreach. Um, but we can go on that at our next meeting.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So I'd like to make a motion to, um, uh, to get Chris Kelly to, uh, put together the proposed proposal for this cell street district at $2,500. Um, 22, but we can, we're going to need them for a little bit of the outreach too. So that's what I was thinking. Put a little extra pad in there if that's okay. Motion for $25 for Chris Kelly to write the proposal for the cell street district. 2200. Do I hear a second?
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah. Can I second? I second that. Before we vote on that, let's discuss it.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: All right.
[Christopher Bader]: Does anyone have any reservations about just giving the job to Chris, or should we continue trying to get Claire on board?
[Adam Hurtubise]: If he, you're saying that he's doing it as a full-time gig, I mean, I'm sure they're both excellent, but I mean, I think going forward, it's gonna look a lot better. It's the person doing it, it's their full-time job, and I'll go either way, but I think, you know, just for the discussion part here, that I think it'd be smart to go with him doing it as a full-time, you know, because it's his full-time gig having him do it.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. Melanie, any thoughts?
[Unidentified]: No, I don't have any additional thoughts.
[O1CMBj7JDes_SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: Charlotte? I think I agree with Joe. Since it is his full-time endeavor, I would like to see him continue doing it.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. What about you, Fred?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Okay with me. I don't have any issues at all whatsoever with it.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, so yes, so Chris Donovan has put a motion to accept Chris's bid to do the preliminary report for 2200. And I will ask him for an additional bid on working with Chris Donovan and residents such as Sharon Guzik to create a proposed community outreach plan. Of course, anything he comes up with, it wouldn't need to be voted on the wouldn't need to be voted on. Okay, let's let's sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. First of all, let's let's approve the 2200 for creating preliminary report.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: And shift Charlotte, you seconded it, correct?
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. Let's see. Yes. Okay, Melanie?
[SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
[Christopher Bader]: Joe?
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, and I vote yes. So we have unanimous approval for this. And so that is purely for doing the preliminary report, which is required under the statute for creating historic districts.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Chris, did we say last time a couple of form Bs had to be filled out till we got, we couldn't do that till we got.
[Christopher Bader]: And I will ask him for, so I will let him know this evening or tomorrow morning that his bid has been approved by the commission and that we are interested in additional bids for writing form Bs. if necessary, and as necessary. They may or may not be necessary. And also for the more nebulous task of working with, of providing expert guidance on community outreach.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So last week, Chris, we talked about getting the Form Bs done. You were reaching out to them, but we didn't really approve any money for any. We got a budget for the-
[Christopher Bader]: Hold on a minute. Let me just check my email with Chris.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: I think you said you're going to reach out to them, but I don't think we approved any money for it.
[Christopher Bader]: Just a minute. Chris Skelly. Okay. Just a minute here. Sorry. I should have reviewed this before the meeting. Let's see, no, there's nothing in there about form B. So he would probably want some additional resources for creating additional form Bs.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So I don't know about that. What do you think is fair, Chris? Do you want to make a motion for a price point for that? Do you have any idea?
[Christopher Bader]: No, no, I want to quote, I think the proper procedure budget wise is to ask him what he wants and then for us to approve it. Okay.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Afterwards, we have to make a motion to reach out to him.
[Christopher Bader]: Is that just something you just do as we don't need much for that. Okay. Okay. So, so basically, let me share my own screen. If I can get my, I get my, I started, I should have sent this out.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: And Chris, did we approve anything for the outreach plan? You said $2,200 for the preliminary report.
[Christopher Bader]: No, we have not approved anything for the outreach plan yet. I want a bid from Chris before we do that, because we have to be... City Hall is very fussy about how money is spent and how it's approved. Okay, so let me just share my screen for a second here. Okay, can everyone share my screen or see my screen? Yes. Okay. So this is the, these are the items I asked for to visit the proposed district and meet with members of the commission. Um, I just listed Fred and me, but obviously anybody who, who on the commission who wants to be there can be to review the map, proposing changes as needed, uh, to write the four, the, this is the main part of it, right? The 40 seat preliminary report, including historical or architectural justification. And finally, to create a PowerPoint based on the report, present it at the public hearing, and also possibly, if we vote on that as appropriate, at City Council, because City Council is, after all, the people who have to approve this in the end. So that's what he sent us the 2200 bid on. Let me see. Yeah, 2200 is what he bid, and that was what we just accepted.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Anyway, so I will approach him for additional, if he wants additional funds and how much for creating any additional Form Bs and- So he said the $22 was for the 40C, which is the preliminary report and maybe visiting the site and showing up for city council. Correct.
[Christopher Bader]: And showing up at least virtually at the 40C public hearing.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: The 40C public hearing. Awesome. Thank you.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah. Well, I'll send this email to you.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So that gives us a lot of oversight expertise in each one of those situations from preliminary report.
[Christopher Bader]: I think Chris Kelly has, I was impressed with the job he did on the presentations that we saw a few months ago. And I think going forward with him is a, I'm comfortable with that. Sounds great. And that's what we just approved. That is exactly what we just approved and I will, Chris, I will also approach him on working with us on community outreach and additional Form Bs.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Thank you. Okay. So you're going to ask him for a bid for that?
[Christopher Bader]: Yes, I am.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Thank you.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. So let's see. Does anybody else have further? We're out of time. PB, David Ensign — He-Him, He-Him. PB, David Ensign — He-Him.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Um, Instead of guidelines for what, you know, what, if your house is in a historic district, what, what happens to it? And I think that might be something, uh, and I can work on a little bit with help from others, but I think we, we sort of have to get our ducks in a row as to if, if we put these homes and these properties under, uh, a local historic district, what a homeowner can expect to have happen, or at least, um, you know, the historic districts take on. improvements, renovations, additions, all that sort of thing. And so that might be something. I know Chris mentioned some other cities and towns adjacent to us have those sorts of things. And I'd like to take some time on myself to maybe look over what Arlington or Cambridge, for instance, has. And we probably should start doing that amongst ourselves as well to figure out what happens when these businesses get-
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Can you give that a title for advantages and disadvantages, advantages and restrictions or whatever?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: I think he called it a set of architectural guidelines for if your property is in a historic district.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Perfect. Thank you. Yeah, I agree. That's going to be very important.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah, no, I agree as well. Melanie, do you have any thoughts?
[SPEAKER_04]: Sorry, no. I'm listening, but no, I don't have any additional thoughts.
[Christopher Bader]: So, yes, so I'll ask Chris for that as well. Chris Skelly.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Architectural guidelines.
[Christopher Bader]: Yes, yes.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Fred's going to head that up.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think that's something, you know, maybe we could start a draft of it as well and sort of talk about it amongst ourselves and then have somebody I don't know. Maybe either make it a more formal report or review it with some professional input. I don't know.
[Christopher Bader]: Sounds good. Sounds good. Yes. So I will, I will ask Chris Kelly for that as well. We're working on the budget for next year, but I requested, well, as you know, I requested $8,000 for professional services and special projects. And, you know, we can basically go to town with Chris Skelly on creating documents of that kind.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: just to maybe set the table for some future work for us, is there possibilities to start looking at some other parts of the town to start to put them in? Absolutely. I've got a couple of ideas, but I'll wait for the next meeting to present. Yeah.
[Christopher Bader]: Sounds good. I'll ask Chris about that. Yes. Thank you, Fred.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Could I make a motion to adjourn?
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: We have the date of our next meeting.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. The date of our next meeting is. The usual. February.
[O1CMBj7JDes_SPEAKER_03]: February 9th. 6 PM.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[O1CMBj7JDes_SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Can I make one request, Chris? When you send out the agenda. I have to open it up in Word document, cut and paste it out into my browser.
[Christopher Bader]: I know I had to do the same thing. Yeah, I'll work on that.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: If I could say, for me learning a little bit of Zoom as well, I go to my join meeting and it has those numbers. We're using the same number each time, Chris, the same Zoom ID number?
[Christopher Bader]: Dennis, can you answer that?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: That's what I did tonight. I went to the old link and it was there. So it's in your history on your Zoom. When you join a meeting, it will come up and have a list.
[Christopher Bader]: That makes sense.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: It's a little quicker. Yeah. Yeah.
[Denis MacDougall]: Going forward, as long as we're using the same account, which we have been using so far. So right now, the only time it might arise if we have more than multiple meetings scheduled for the same night, more than two or three, then we get That might have a new code, but we'll know that beforehand.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. So we have a motion to adjourn. Do I have a second?
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: You have a second.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. All in favor, Charlotte? Aye. Yes. Aye. Fred? Aye. Okay. Joe?
[SPEAKER_11]: Aye.
[Christopher Bader]: Chris?
[SPEAKER_11]: Aye.
[Christopher Bader]: And I vote aye. So I will see you all. I will reach out to Chris Kelly on those three items. And I will talk to everybody. I will talk to everybody. Oh, one more thing. Everybody should go down to City Hall and get sworn in. A lot of developers, it's not just a formality since we're gonna be going, we may be going against developers who have lawyers.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: And Dennis, can you just tell us those qualifications to get sworn in? Because I think I went and tried to go on the other day, but I don't know what paperwork I needed to. We're supposed to look at the open meeting law.
[Christopher Bader]: You need to bring the letter from the mayor appointing you to the commission.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: That's the only thing we need to bring down to the city clerk.
[Denis MacDougall]: Yep, your appointment letter, bring it down to the city clerk's office, tell them you need to get sworn in, and they'll do it right then and there.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah, thank you. But basically, everybody should do this.
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: Do I have to call the mayor and request a letter?
[Christopher Bader]: I think it's to get on that chart.
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: I said, I need to request that letter that I could bring to the mayor. Who would I request it from? I will.
[Christopher Bader]: I will contact the mayor's office and ask them to send you a letter.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Okay. Joe, Joe, do you have 1 as well? Joe Fred, you need 1 or you already sworn in.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: I'm officially sworn in recently. I went down there. maybe November and had my letter, gave it to the clerk, got sworn in with the hand in the air and all that. So I think I'm current.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Joe, are you okay? Joe, do you have yours?
[Adam Hurtubise]: I was sworn in recently, right after I received a letter from them that I got accepted.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, Melody, are you, do you- No, I'll have to go get sworn in. Okay, great, thank you. Do you still have the letter from the mayor?
[SPEAKER_04]: I think I have it here somewhere.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Okay. Chris, if you could say get one for me and Melanie as well, I think it'd just be easy to ask.
[SPEAKER_04]: I have it right here in front of me.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Okay. So Chris, Chris, you need a copy of the letter from the mayor? It's probably around here, but it'd be easy if you could ask at the same time. It'd be great. I can do that.
[MCM00001798_SPEAKER_03]: Okay. So once I get the letter, I'll just go down to City Hall and get sworn in.
[Christopher Bader]: I'm sure they can do it by Zoom, but I went down in person. Yeah, because this is for legal, just to make our status unshakable, which is, I think, important when we're going up against people with lawyers. Yeah, OK. All right, well, we'll return, and I'll see all you guys next month. Thank you. I'll be in touch with you, Chris, in the next day or so. Thank you. Good night. Good night.
[SPEAKER_04]: Good night, everyone.
[Christopher Bader]: Good night. See ya.