[Christopher Bader]: Anyway, let's get going. We have, is Brad on the line?
[SPEAKER_04]: Hey Chris, how are you? Hey Brad. How are you doing? Doing well.
[Christopher Bader]: So let's just, let's just, let's just rush through the minutes and then we'll get to you. How about that?
[SPEAKER_04]: Sounds fine.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. So last time Tony and Snow requested a new city defense, which was granted unanimously. I reported on the results to that date of the Forest Street survey. And with about 60 votes counted, that is 60 people who had taken the online survey, about 40 of them were against the historic district with those boundaries and about 20 were in favor. So that's a problem obviously, but Fred has a proposal we're gonna talk about this evening. Then I wasn't able to introduce Chris Donovan or Joyce Paul because neither of them was there. I noted that Mary Ann Aduchi was interested in a local house historic district for 78 Conning. However, I suggested at that time proposing the discussion because the owners I hadn't notified the owners, and I have notified the owners in the meantime, and they are here tonight. I noted that Sharon Guzdik had requested that her property at 10 Manning become a new, as she proposed, single house local historic district. And Fred suggested that maybe we want a bigger historic district around South Street. I suggested bringing on Chris Skelly, who was formerly the coordinator for local historic districts for all of Massachusetts. He used to work for the Massachusetts Historic District Commission, and I think he's a good choice. No one seemed to have a problem with that. And I'd like to take a vote on it this evening. I've gotten a proposal from him and we adjourned about 7 p.m. Okay, does that sound good, Fred?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, Chris, good job. I make a motion to approve the minutes.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, Chris, this is your first vote. So Chris, do you second?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: I second the motion.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, so I vote for the motion too. So assuming we have a quorum, that's carried. Now let's move on to Brad's deck. So Brad, why don't you tell us what you wanna do?
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so I guess it's pretty simple. I had to finish up the barn renovations, came out absolutely fantastic. I think I can give you a quick video tour if you guys wanna take a look at it. All I really want to do is I figured it'd be super cool to have a little kind of farmer's deck that goes around the side of the back, the east side of the barn, and then just kind of wraps around very gradually to about halfway to the back, proposing it to be very low to the ground, so low that there's no railings needed to it, and kind of build the elevation into the back part of it right there, so you can just kind of walk about the deck and around the barn as itself. I don't plan on putting any railings up. I want to keep it a nice clean look, very subtle, but yet also very functional and usable for myself and other people at the house as well. So.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, Fred, I think you've, I think you've, what do you think?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Brad, just one question. Do you know what the deck material is proposed for that?
[SPEAKER_04]: No, not yet. I was kind of waiting on the go no go before I had my contractor kind of price out whatever the material is. I guess I'm still torn between do I want to paint it red to match the house or do I want it to be like more stain would look I I'm kind of up in the air between what I want to do with that if I do do this. So obviously, if it's painted red, it can probably be whatever material and just run with that. Or if it's more of a stained wood, that would be a wood or some modern composite to give the look as well.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: All right. So I guess that's my question, whether it would be real wood. Is that your intention or would it be composite potential?
[SPEAKER_04]: Probably composite. I just know those are lower maintenance, kind of easier to work with.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: All right, yeah, I mean, I prefer to see wood, but I wouldn't hold you to that. I built a similar deck on my house with a trex, I guess, or whatever, something like that. And it looks pretty good. And since it's not really out at the front of the street, I mean, I thought if it was a front entry or something really visible from high street, you know, we might make a requirement that it be natural materials, but I think it's a nice design. I like the idea of, keeping it low to the ground with no railings, I don't think it's going to be intrusive or really all that noticeable from high street, certainly.
[Christopher Bader]: So it looked good to me and I don't have- Is that, Fred, is that in keeping with the building code to have no railing?
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, if it's below 30 inches off the ground, you don't need a railing there. Ah, okay.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: So it should meet the code and I'm assuming engineer the Joyce and that's not part of our purview. So I it's okay with me. So I'll let I don't know if Chris wants to.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah, Chris. Any thoughts on Brad's deck? You did you have a look at it?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Um, I didn't have a chance to look at it and it's a little new to me to kind of go through the process of asking them to all details and I know it's probably about purview. But looking at some of the requirements of being able to see it from the street, you know, making it something that's that's. able to be seen. I think this isn't one of those requirements. So I just wonder if we've passed all the basics on what needs to be done for that. But it looks like you're doing a nice job of kind of keeping it tight and in period piece. So I'm pretty happy with just the overall look of it, but the details may be a little beyond me.
[Christopher Bader]: Well, basically the procedure is this. Brad or any other applicant submits an application for a certificate of appropriateness. They have to describe both the design and the materials. We need to approve both the design and the materials. That's our only portfolio. And we take a vote on it at the next meeting usually. And if it's approved, which it almost always is, I sign off on the certificate of appropriateness. I send it to the building department and the owner is off to the races.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So that sounds like it's gone through its due diligence. Brad, is there anything that we could have provided you for more information so you could have found some better, easier decisions to follow through, follow this through? How'd you feel the process worked for you?
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, pretty well. I mean, I also am familiar with it as I just got the approval to do the modernization or I guess renovation of the barn on the back of the property. So it's not something I would say. It wasn't a new thing for me. I just needed also the link for the certificate of appropriateness, it came up as a dead link on the website when I clicked it. So I would hope to access that. So I guess that is the main thing. And also if it was available as a Word document, it would be much easier for me to edit than a PDF. Oh, okay. Sure. Yeah. Cause I have to go in there and use a PDF editor to get it, which is not the end of the world, but it's just a word document. Yeah.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah. Okay. Good. Good. Thank you. Good suggestion. Uh, any other questions, Chris?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Uh, no, it looks great. Thank you.
[Christopher Bader]: Um, yeah, as for myself, um, I would have preferred wood as a material, but I can certainly understand why you wouldn't want it to go that way. As long as it looks like wood, it's wood in my book. So yeah, I'll go for that. So can I have a motion to approve?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: I make a motion to approve the application as submitted.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, Chris? And I second the motion. Okay, I vote yes as well. Passed unanimously. Okay, Brad, thank you.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: The addition looks great, by the way, so nice job.
[Christopher Bader]: Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed.
[SPEAKER_04]: I guess I don't know how to turn the blurring is this thing off. This might be dumb, freaking millennial doesn't know how to work Zoom over here, but.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Let's face now then.
[SPEAKER_04]: I know. I'm sorry, hold on. Video filter, I don't want that, none. How do I turn the blurriness off here, Mel? I have no clue how to do it, hold on, give me one second. Oh, there we go. No blur. Okay. Yeah. Here, if you guys want to take a quick peek of it here.
[Christopher Bader]: Oh, you're in the, you're in the, in the office, in the loft upstairs.
[SPEAKER_04]: So actually the contractor was great. Great guy to work with. Actually, all of the wood that we have here is all salvaged from the actual barn. And like, you see like the posts and stuff, their new mahogany, but like, this is all stuff that they took milled down, cut to spec and actually salvaged it. across the look down there. Sorry, I just had a baby. So, I'm a little messy in there. So, all that stuff around the Wayne's coating baseboard is all wood that was original to this barn. So, we even were able to save like a couple features like the leaning corner up there. We got the the main ridge beam and the main post of this loft, the beam going across is the original beam that was in the exact location before we took it apart. So it's, I think a pretty swell job and it does the structure justice to the historical and kind of how old it was. Absolutely. Yeah.
[Christopher Bader]: Very cool.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Very nice. Yeah. Thank you.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah. Okay, so let's move on. Let's see, let me, I wanna open up my agenda here, hold on. Okay, so, right, I discussed the results of the forest breed survey already. And I guess at this point, Well, let's actually, let's go with introduction of new members first. So Chris, why don't you tell us something about yourself?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: My name's Chris Donovan. My monitor's over here. My camera's over here. But I was born in Medford. I was born on George Street. I'm about 60 years old. Went to St. Joseph's School. Pope John. Went to music. Learned how to program telephones. Was computer operations for a long time. I'm a media director right now. I create video content. And so I love, love history, I fell in love with it probably about 10 years ago, with D. Morris going down to Riverside Ave. And she started talking about the shipping, you know, ship street and And I just couldn't believe it. And then we started to talk about behind St. Joseph's and the Ford in the Meadow. And I'd walked those streets every day. I lived on George Street, went down Winthrop Street. So I just couldn't believe all the things I'd never heard before. So I just started to become more fascinated, dug a little bit deeper. All the books were there. I just never read them. So as I read them, it became more interesting. I've always loved architecture, being from sort of Chowstown and around Boston. All the brownstones, always loved Back Bay. Always found myself in Montreal or down in Florida looking at architecture and combining them all together is kind of where I got to today. I started a little venture historic Medford, a little trolley tour that we got kind of going on right now. including recently the Jenks district, which Jenks, Judkin Square, excuse me, Judkin Square, which just is not even the terminology I'd used a year or two ago. And now I just can't believe how important it is. So Brad, really interested in seeing your place, circling back on that another time. But I think the idea is for me to be on this committee is to try and help create you know, some awareness of some of these places and then to record them and have people notice them and appreciate them. And sometimes if the architecture is there, it may give it that little extra, you know, push. I'm not here to restrict anybody, but want to enhance things. I want to bring things to some of these homes, some of these families, some of these residences, so that's why I'm here to help. And if we can raise a flag and do some good things to help Medford preserve some of the stuff, great. Free homeowners from some of the problems of this, but enhance what they can, I think is where I wanna be able to help.
[Christopher Bader]: Great, okay, well, welcome to the commission.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, actually, welcome.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, let's go back to Forest Street. Fred, do you wanna show us your proposal on Forest Street?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Let me see if I can share my screen here. I do have... Dennis, maybe you could let me share the screen and then I can, I have it on, hopefully I can get it up here.
[Denis MacDougall]: So... You're all set to share now, Fred.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: All right, thank you, Dennis. All right. See if this one comes up. I apologize. I thought I had it all set to go and ready, but I guess not.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Okay, well- Chris, I'm sorry, could you just give a little background on this before we get started?
[Christopher Bader]: Is there- Yes, indeed. Okay, so the Forest Street Historic District was proposed actually probably about three years ago. And we've been moving very slowly on it, I think quite to the annoyance of the mayor.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Chris, I'm sorry for interrupting. Can I ask why this wasn't done, you know, 50 years ago, or, you know, it seems like a new, you know, district, but, you know, these houses have been there for a long time, and I'm just trying to get maybe a little of the history of when or why this would have kind of come up as either a zoning thing to restrict, you know, future development or to really encapsulate historic, you know, properties.
[Christopher Bader]: Well, the Medford Historic District Commission has only existed since 1985. So it couldn't have been done 50 years ago.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Well, was there any other way to sort of preserve that area? Not really, no.
[Christopher Bader]: I mean, it could be zoned residential, which I'm not sure what exactly what the fine points of that are because there are some residential houses that have been converted to commercial use. There's the high school that has been converted to condos. There's the Chevrolet theater, which is now city property, but no, no, I don't.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: So why wouldn't like to say the Jonathan Wade house be in that?
[Christopher Bader]: I know it's a different street, but- That is part of the proposed Medford Square historic district. And so that is another thing we will be dealing with this year. We have two proposed historic districts, one for South Street, including Grandfather's House 21 Turo and Sharon Guzik's House 10 Manning. And there's also a proposed, there has been for several years, a, a proposed Medford Square historic district, which is part of the Medford Square master plan, which was proposed under Mayor McGlynn. I don't know how much of the master plan as a whole has been implemented, but the historic district certainly has not. And so the Jonathan White House would be part of that. as would, as I hope will be the David Osgood House. The Andrew House. There are many historic buildings in Medford Square. Some of them quite beautiful. And for example, the building that the Bank of America is in, I don't recall its name, but If you look above the, you know, the plate glass storefronts and look at the top of the building, it's just a gorgeous piece of Victorian architecture.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: The old opera house.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah. Yeah. I think that's it. Yes. So we want to do a historic district from Everett Square. This is not what this is. This is a, historic district of Forest Street. Do you know the whole background of Forest Street, Chris? I do. Okay. I mean, I know bunches of it, but- Yeah, basically Forest Street was like the Sunset Boulevard of Medford in 1900. And it was lined with beautiful mansions, all built around those times, mainly built around that time, but some going maybe early Victorian. And most of those buildings are gone. There are probably 10 of them left. And then there are other houses that after they were turned down were built. And those are houses mainly built after the sort of golden age of forestry. So it's actually kind of an iffy proposition because a lot of the houses are new and a lot of the residents don't wanna be in historic district, as I mentioned earlier.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Chris, is that survey, was that done with linkage to who they were, or was it kind of anonymous meeting?
[Christopher Bader]: No, no, it was linkage to, you have to give your name and address.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: And only say that from the perspective of who may be in that net that may not be applicable, and yet because- I went through that data last week, and I tallied up the,
[Christopher Bader]: the people who are on the street who are for it and for the historic matrix and I tallied up the ones who are on the street but who are against it.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: And- And my question would be, do the ones who have the most noted historic homes, are they the ones that are interested, or is it a little bit of everything? I'm just wondering about the house that's highlighted here, notable, and one of the ones that we concentrate on, and I understand the district idea.
[Christopher Bader]: Most of the people who own, with one exception, that's 33 Forest, Most of the people who own historic houses are not against the historic district. Now, I wouldn't say, I wouldn't go, I wouldn't state it in terms of the converse. I'm not sure, we don't know. Most of the, a lot of the owners of historic houses didn't respond. So we don't know what they think, but at least they had a chance to respond and they were not against it. So, I sent, did I send you that list of my breakdown of the houses by address?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: You may have, Chris, I'm sorry. I'm looking at the one that's on the screen right now. Is it somewhat related to what's on the screen right now?
[Christopher Bader]: Yes, yes, this is, Fred has it entirely. Yes, beautiful. This is, Fred did this before I sent out the detailed breakdown.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: It's funny, I'm starting to fall in love with Water Street, Ashland Place, Chestnut, some beautiful properties in there as well.
[Christopher Bader]: Sure, but we need to stay focused on that.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Understood, understood.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. Basically, all the takeaway, my takeaway from my specific analysis was that everyone who lives in a house that has Form B, There's no one who lives in a house that has a form B that is against it. And there is no one who's against it that lives in a house with a form B. So maybe we can use form B as kind of decision or anyway. So Fred has a quite independent proposal. He proposed just paring down for us the forestry district to, to a smaller district. It was previously to extend all the way to Valley Street. Now Fred proposes cutting it down to stopping just short of Water Street. Anyway, I don't want to, we have other business this evening and I don't want to belabor this because I want our consultant to weigh in on the question of how to proceed in difficult situations like this. Um, so, uh, is it okay to move on? Cause we have a lot to cover tonight. Yes. Okay. Um, let's see.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Uh, let me Chris, uh, can I, just to follow up, I was going to, I didn't have a chance to crunch your addresses and things. that you sent the night before or whatever. So what I'd like to do is process that information to see what it tells us, if anything, about this proposed map and whether we should move it up or move it down or gerrymander it or whatever we think we do. So I would like to say for our next meeting, I will submit a revision of this. The real intent of trying to get something we think we can get both approved by the city council hopefully the residents of the district as well. So that's the goal.
[Christopher Bader]: I mean, one of the things I mentioned in my email, which I apologize for sending out on late just recently is, of the houses that are in Fred's new district, six people voted no. And they're all in houses without form Bs, except 33. So I think if we,
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: If I could take it, if I ask maybe again, a rudimentary kind of question, as I'm reading this sort of the statutes, it doesn't seem like people are really being tied down with a lot of restrictive actions.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, well, yes, amen.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: I was, I was really kind of shocked when there was a lot of, you know, first floor exceptions, a lot of, you know, you know, unless it's seen from the public, which Brad's, you know, I heard that term, you know, we can't really see it and it replicates something not to, you know, to allow a lot of that, but there's a lot of, you know, exceptions for that, which I thought didn't really hamstring a homeowner in a district that may not think their house is really representative of that. So I was originally thinking to limit it more because, you know, that's a lot of restrictions, but I didn't see a whole lot of restrictions and I may be wrong.
[Christopher Bader]: So- No, you're right. You're absolutely right.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: And- So what do we say to those, as an elevator talk to those families saying, you know, that it's too restrictive?
[Christopher Bader]: You know, this is something we're going to learn from our consultants. And from you, we have welcome ideas from anybody's ideas on this, but I didn't think we had really massive opposition to the old boundaries. And we're just trying to salvage something at this point, which I'd like to consider in more detail at our next meeting.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: And I don't want to bring up anything wider, Fred, because I know there's probably a ton of work done on every one of those districts. But as I've just found out through the years, there was more and more to the stories that I was always fascinated by. There was always another building, another, you know, say the Jonathan Wade House. It just never made sense to me. So as I look at these districts and I understand the traffic lane, the signage maybe for what the district is, but Like I say, looking around Ashland place and a couple of them as I dig in deeper into inventory, one of those districts a little bit more dynamic to create some sort of tone of what Medford Common was. Medford Common, I didn't remember we heard that term.
[Christopher Bader]: So- Chris, we need to move on.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Okay, sorry.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah, quite all right. Now, let's go back to our, so we will talk about this in more detail at our next meeting, and hopefully our consultant will have been weighed in on some strategic questions on how to propose this. Let's go on to our next agenda item, which is possible local historic district for 78 Cotting Street. Now, let me, we have the owners here and we have a resident here who is interested in creating a single local house historic district for 78 Cotting. But let me just start out by saying, this is a, this is a historic house, it's pre-civil war, is in good shape. And so therefore a good candidate for a single house district, you know, all the things being equal. And it is currently under a demolition delay because the owners have proposed a major change to the roofline and the historic, they are working, the owners are working with the historical commission to, you know, to come up with a design that is appropriate for that house. So that's the background of 78 Cotting. So Marianne, why don't you tell us, okay, so let's hear from the owners first. Like given, for example, what Chris Donovan just said that the restrictions are not particularly onerous Are you still, you still don't want the local historic district? Is that right?
[Sophie Ricks]: Well, we prepared a statement that we'd like to read if we may. Oh, sure.
[Christopher Bader]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I don't love public speaking, so I'm going to read it and probably read it poorly. I apologize for that.
[Christopher Bader]: No, no, no.
[SPEAKER_03]: Go ahead. We want to thank you for inviting us to join you tonight and participate in this process. We care about Medford and its history. We spend time at the Brooks Estate and the Oak Grove Cemetery. We're active in local politics. We donate to the public library and other local causes. And we care about preserving our home's connection to the city and its history. And that's why we hired an architect who has extensive experience working with historic homes. That's why we've worked with him to develop a plan that respects the design and the history of our home. His name is David Whitney. He's here tonight and he'll be happy to talk about the ways. Okay. does that. And that's why we've met with the subcommittee of the Metro Historical Commission multiple times, incorporated their feedback iteratively as we've received from them on our plans. We are supportive of their proposal to create a plaque near our home describing its history. We've followed the city's process for renovation for the last five months. We've made changes, the Historical Commission has requested. We've been open about what we're doing. We've spoken directly to our neighbors about our plans and offered to share them with them and answer any questions they have. We share our plans with the public. We're at this meeting tonight to hear your concerns. We want to do the right things the right way. We didn't plan to renovate this home when we bought it.
[Sophie Ricks]: Is there something you need to interject, Chris?
[Christopher Bader]: No, not at all. I think that sounds great.
[SPEAKER_03]: But that was before we had a second child. That was before the pandemic forced us both to work from home full time. We intend for this to be our forever home, to be here for the next however many decades. And we need our home to evolve, to meet our needs, because it is a home, not a museum. And we come here tonight to say that we are entirely opposed to any efforts to turn our home into a historical district.
[Sophie Ricks]: And we would prefer to see the historical district commission focus your limited resources on the kinds of changes that are really harming Medford's character like big developers that are turning things into 12 condos with 15 parking spaces like that's not us that's not what we want to do. I'm sure David can speak more to how our plan, even though we do change the roof line in our plan, it is very respectful of how the home is. The color is staying the same. I know to Brad, we've been listening, obviously, talking about whether we're using wood or composite. We're planning to use wood for the slight porch expansion that we're doing. I don't think that this is gonna be like a horrific thing for our neighbors to see.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. Yes. So that sounds good. Certainly homeowner opposition is a major impediment to creating any local shortage. We of course prefer to have owner approval. So why are you opposed to creating a single house as a local historic district?
[Sophie Ricks]: Well, what you have shared on your website, I mean, I have to say that the Medford Historical Commission website includes agendas, minutes, the Zoom link, the past videos from other meetings are all accessible. We can't even find any of that information on the Medford Historic District Commission website. But what is on the Medford District Commission website does not make it sound like it's a very low bar, it makes it very explicit that any changes to the roofline are rarely approved. I think it, I don't have the exact language in front of me, but I could look up at the website. So right now we're, we're sitting on our bed. This is the mini dormer right behind us. So we have to sit scrunched together in bed so that our heads aren't hitting the ceiling. So this is one of the places where we're hoping to slightly change the roof line so we can sit up in bed and not be touching. Um, this is, we, we would like to be able to put our kids in bed into their crib at night without hitting our head on the ceiling.
[SPEAKER_03]: And our plan to change the roof line does so in a way that respects the design of the house and the three members of the subcommittee of the Historical Commission have all approved it. It actually comes from their suggestion of final design. It's accommodated what they want us to do.
[Sophie Ricks]: I want to just add one more thing, which I know another thing that is on the website is about things like fences. We have chain link fence all around our property, and we are hoping to take that chain link fence out and replace it with a wooden fence, both because it looks nicer and because black swallowwort, which is an invasive weed I'm sure you're all familiar with in Medford, is everywhere. So we want to make a lot of these changes voluntarily, but we don't want to be forced into doing them and be restricted from any small change.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, so can I just say, address a couple of your concerns? First of all, we have not, in the time that I have been chairman, which is about 10 years, we have not said no to anyone. We have, in some cases, worked with people to come up with mutually acceptable solutions, but we have not actually turned down a single application in the 10 years that I've been chairman. I do apologize for the state of the website. We just put it up about six months ago and it's still a work in progress. And as far as, what was your other concern? I'm sorry. Right, yes, that is, we are not interested in any way in turning Medford into a museum. We just, we want to, And neither would the builders of your house want that. We just want to preserve the historic character of Medford. And that involves just paying some attention to design and materials and making sure that they're appropriate to the house.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think we've done that, and we are doing that with the Historical Commission, and we would welcome any feedback you have on the plans that we have developed with them, and would be happy to take that into account. But I guess I would flip the question back to you. Like, what is the benefit to being part of a historical district? Why would we want that?
[Christopher Bader]: Well, you may, well, It's just basically an affirmation of your commitment to maintain the historic character of your house. That's what I- And we have that commitment.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think we're showing that commitment through our actions.
[Christopher Bader]: Oh, absolutely.
[Sophie Ricks]: I know David is also, I think you were sort of putting up your hand. David is- Oh, sure.
[Christopher Bader]: Go ahead.
[Sophie Ricks]: And I'll let, I mean, he's an actual architect, so he understands about- Yes, okay. David?
[MCM00001096_SPEAKER_02]: Hi, I'm David Whitney. I'm the architect working with Sophie and Dan on the project. You've asked them why they oppose creating a single house historic district of them. As they suggested, let me turn to you and ask, why has the idea of creating it been proposed? Frankly, given all the hard work we've done, trying to do the right thing, it sure feels like the only reason this is a photo is to try and stop us.
[Christopher Bader]: No, no, not at all. But, you know, I, no, no, that's not the case at all. This just seemed, I have to say, I was unaware of the existence of this house before the Bedford, you approached the, Um, Medford is wrong commission. And, um, you know, it's a beautiful, uh, pre-civil war house that isn't, that is in great condition. I'm sure when it comes out of your current, uh, modifications, it will still be in great condition.
[MCM00001096_SPEAKER_02]: And, uh, um, have, have, have the homeowner has done anything to suggest that they are anything less than proud of the history of their home and sympathetic and try.
[Unidentified]: But, um,
[Christopher Bader]: I mean, I live in a historic district myself. I've never had a problem. I put in a new, I converted a bathroom, sorry, my house was built before a bathrooms, indoor bathrooms existed. And, I changed, we converted one of the bedrooms to two bathrooms. Well, I had to put in some new windows for that. There was absolutely no problem with the historic district commission approving that. You just saw Brad's house. Brad put a major addition onto his house. The materials, that's something that the original builders of the house would have applauded. And... you know, the design and materials are... I think Chris is frozen.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Chris, I think you lost your connection. Well, I'm... We'll chime in in Chris's absence here.
[Christopher Bader]: You know, we obviously have to take that into account.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Sorry, Chris, you were blanked out there for a few minutes.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Oh, dear.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: That's all right.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Last two minutes.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Oh, I'm sorry. How could that happen? So the fact that you're working with the the Historical Commission and probably, I don't know, Ryan and Doug and things, we're we're well familiar with their work. And that is the process that you're doing with them is very similar to what you would do with us. So I think you're going to think that would cover. Yeah. So I think So this wouldn't be necessary. All of us would be concerned of just trying to get the right thing and not do something that is inconvenient or ugly or whatever terms you want to use for it. So the fact that you've gone through all that and have goodwill and good faith, I think that's all right with me. Part of the reason why you're here before us was that I think the people on the historical commission sort of forwarded you over to us and said, this would be a good opportunity for a single house historic district. I don't agree with that.
[MCM00001096_SPEAKER_02]: No, no, I assure you that's not the case.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: That's not the case. So I don't know how it came to be in front of us here. I don't know the background of that.
[Sophie Ricks]: I can just interject. If you watch the historical commission meeting from last month, you will see that that was not at all the case. I believe our neighbor, Marianne is on the call and I'll be happy to turn it over to her to share more about why she was proposing this. Okay, Marianne?
[Christopher Bader]: Marianne, are you there?
[Maryanne Adduci]: Can you hear me?
[Christopher Bader]: Yes, indeed.
[Maryanne Adduci]: Oh, okay. Well, you know, this property has been here for a long time, but this whole area, as you know from the Farm B report, uh... went back to abigail adams and it's been uh... the city of method should be proud of this whole area and there's been no public recognition of the fact that this was part of abigail and family uh... property here i mean it is they were in the family for over over seventy five years from the time her father inherited to the time she inherited till time she passed it on to her children and and it we don't want to let uh... uh... anymore time pass without without uh... recognizing this house is a historical nature i mean method have a lot of historical properties but uh... but this is really significant i mean i mean uh... the historic commission has been with us to rule the significant and uh... you know the city method makes a big hoopla that paul revere wrote along patriot state well here we got something that's more important and paul revere writing through it we have abigail adam family owning property here you know i think So I think it's important that we recognize that. You know, I mean, although it was 86 acres, it was spread over a very large area. The seat of the farm was at 78 Carding Street. So that's the logical place to have to set up the single home historical district. So I don't really think we should, you should pass on this at this point in time. I think it's about time that we should do something to recognize this. though uh... and i'm not all night now you know when when people uh... uh... learn about that they fell while we didn't know that we we we want to make this uh... uh... well known around the city of medford so everybody knows this and recognizes this uh... sophie and her family should be proud of the fact that she lives in the property that was on owned by abigail adams and it should she and i would i would like it and if i was there i'd like it to be known
[Sophie Ricks]: Yeah, I don't I don't think we ever said that we're not proud of it or happy about it. One of the things that we liked about our house when we came to look at it was a historical aspect of it. And we are fully supportive of adding a plaque. And again, I'm unclear, since Chris seems to be saying, even if you become a historic district, you can make changes. What is the benefit Marianne in your view for us becoming a historic district? Do you believe that if that happens, there will be zero changes to the roofline? Cause maybe that would be helpful to hear what you're hoping would happen.
[Maryanne Adduci]: Well, even, even after the point in time, when, when some point in time you, you may leave and the next owner that will come in may not want to keep the house the way it is. They may want to just tear it down, you know? And so establishing a historic district. But it protects the house. I mean, after you do all your renovations, it's probably going to be the way you want it to be for all the time that you're going to live there. So it kind of protects it for the future.
[Sophie Ricks]: I mean, as Dan shared, we are hoping for this to be our forever home. So Dan is 50. I'm 39. We're planning to be here for a long time. It's true that after we die, we can't tell our kids what they're going to do with our home. If we ever sell our home, we are not planning to sell it to a developer or someone else. I did read your three and a half pages single-spaced and your four and a half pages single-spaced letter about our home, so I'm well aware of your concerns about how if we renovate, you believe that no family would be interested in buying it and that only a developer would be interested in buying it. But I don't know how much research you've done about the current real estate market. And it's it's pretty hot right now. I'm pretty sure that there are people other than developers who would be interested in buying our home.
[Maryanne Adduci]: What happens middle people come in private people come in buy it, and then they turn it into a development.
[Unidentified]: So
[Maryanne Adduci]: You know, a person may sell their home to what they think is a private person and that person turns around and sells it to a developer.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, you're planning on staying here for 30 or 40 years so there will be other opportunities to protect it if we're leaving the house is under the historic commission that's already been shot. Right, and you don't need to protect it before we do these planned renovations. And I also want to point out that this is not the house it was 200 years ago. A lot has changed, and it will continue to change.
[Sophie Ricks]: Including the pantry that is off our kitchen that is not original.
[SPEAKER_03]: The enclosed porch, the new bulkhead.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, so we need to, we have other business this evening. Hello, can I come in? Yes, of course, Marianne.
[Angela Murphy]: Yes, go ahead. My name is Angela Murphy, and I also live on Conning Street. And I want to chime in because I live in a historic house. It's not known to be, but I know it's over 300 years old, and I'm trying to find out exactly. And it's on Conning Street. And I'm just saying any changes inside can be reversed. But once you change the outside, and if the house is intact, as it is or was when it was built, then that's undoable. Again, you can't reverse that after. It's taking away the integrity of how the house looked when it was originally built in the 1700s and owned by Abigail Adams. That's what we're concerned about because Method is proud of its history, and why I didn't know about this, lived in my house for 66 years. And why I didn't know about this house, it's like Method forgot its history. And this is important. This is John Adams, John Quincy Adams, two presidents of the United States, owned that property, paid taxes on that property. And I think it's a disrespect to our history and our knowledge that Method was part of their Um, land and their, their legacy. I mean, if this was Quincy, they'd be all over this, but it's not. And Method seems to not care because they've already torn down two houses on Cotting Street that were, should have been historic. We were all historic in this neighborhood. And my house has original historic features in it still that we chose to preserve. And I know we did remodel because we bought it in 1956. But I wish I could put it back to what it was in 1956, but I can't. And once you do the outside and change it, it's going to be like that. And that's what we're concerned. If you do something on the inside, fine. You can always put it back and get the blueprints and do that. But if you change the roof line and the outside, I think it's a disrespect for the history. And I think Method is doing a disservice to let this original house changed. That's my comments.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, thank you.
[Sophie Ricks]: Okay, so I think we've heard from- I think David has more to share too. Oh, sure.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, David.
[MCM00001096_SPEAKER_02]: Two points. Number one, what we're proposing to do is add some dormers to this house. We're not gonna tear it down. We're not gonna wrap it in vinyl siding. We're not gonna convert it to a CVS. We're proposing adding some dormers. We love this house. Number two, gosh, whatever else has been said earlier on, this sure sounds like opposition to doing anything. This does not sound like a low hurdle to clear. This sounds like strident opposition to doing anything, which is a shame.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: If I could interject for one second. I love the passion of the two women who love their community and telling me something new about Abigail Adams and I am right with you and the reason why I'm here today. is to try and bring some of this history back. I don't know it necessarily is going to impede putting a pair of dormers on a roof. And as much as I study architecture, I'm still trying to figure out what makes a community, you know, piece of architecture sing for me. But I want to let you know the people here that I want to try and bring some of that passion back to Medford to bring some of that historical imagery back, but it doesn't necessarily have to impede a homeowner's chance to improve their house, but we do need to bring back that legacy. And I think we can do both at the same time. We'll see how that approaches, but there's some very intelligent people in this room. It looks like an organized plan, passionate people. And I think there's win, win, win in all of this.
[Sophie Ricks]: Okay, so I think we've heard- I would like to just ask who on this call has looked at the plans? Has everybody who's on the historic district commission actually looked at the latest round of the plans and have any of our neighbors, I hope our neighbors who are also living in very old homes, I would assume then they would also like to be in a historic district of one. I can't understand why they wouldn't if they're so passionate about this.
[Christopher Bader]: I personally have not looked at the plans, and I'm very confident in Doug's, especially Doug Carr's ability to make a good judgment on this, and I trust him implicitly. So this really has nothing to do with your plans in my mind. This really has nothing to do with your current plans.
[Maryanne Adduci]: Well, that's what I was going to say. I was going to say there's two issues here. There's the renovation is one thing, but creating the historic district is another. Yes. So there's two separate things here. So do you have to have both together, or can you have one without the other, or does it have to be both?
[Christopher Bader]: It doesn't have to be both at all.
[Maryanne Adduci]: So is the district commission open to the idea of creating a hysteric district here?
[Christopher Bader]: We have resident interest in that. an appropriate house to put in a local house. I mean, we don't have too many pre-Civil War houses in Medford, especially, and if we do have them, they're usually not in good shape.
[Maryanne Adduci]: Right, in fact, John Clemson said in his report that he thinks that this is the oldest surviving house on the hillside.
[Christopher Bader]: I don't know if that's true or not, but it could be.
[Maryanne Adduci]: Yeah, I think it's in the Farm B somewhere.
[Christopher Bader]: No, the question is not the existing, the proposed work, but rather whether we want to, you know, just keep a watchful eye on this property going forward. And as I say, we have never, in my tenure, we have never rejected anyone's applications. We just look for appropriate design and material. So we're not at all against change.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: But let me say- Can I just chime in because I think there's a very specific set of pathways that we'd have to perform to get it recognized as a historic district. And it ultimately has to be voted on by the city council. It's basically a political organization. And there's a series of steps laid out by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, not by the city of Medford, of public hearings and then votes and more more paperwork and then ultimately has to be going in front of the city council and the city council has to vote. And it's not just a majority. I think it's a, what are they? Two thirds. So it's a high.
[Maryanne Adduci]: I'm reading from a document. This is Mary Ann. I'm reading from a document that was actually prepared when they were evaluating 21 Toro Ave back in 2014. That's exactly when the Farm B report was done for 78 Cotting Street. And at that time, I guess there was a lot of discussion about inventorying the historic properties around the city. And I'm gonna read from a paragraph here. It says, the Revitalized District Commission began planning to expand the protection offered to the city's significant sites in two existing LHD, that's historic districts, by adding a series of single building districts across the city. initially focusing on the National Register listed properties. And the City Council has encouraged them in this endeavor. On August 12, 2014, the City Council passed a motion requesting that the Historic District Commission forward to the City Council a list of properties that should be eligible for single house historic districts and begin the process of establishing such districts. Now, I don't know if that ever happened. So the 78 Carding Street was inventoried at the same time, August, 2014. So I would assume that that would be one of the properties that would have been forwarded to the city council to be evaluated for a single house historic district. Now, obviously it didn't happen and I don't know why, but the city council has in the past has already agreed to do these things.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Only in theory. But you're right. But the truth is the city council, those properties would only be approved with the support of the homeowner. And I think that we've the city councils of members have come to this commission. And that's one of the bars that they whether they will fulfill that during their vote. But that's one of the criteria they use and why we've had such struggles establishing districts because The people who oppose these things tend to be very vocal, very passionate, and that doesn't really get you the two-thirds vote with the committee. If they hear any sort of whiff of controversy, they tend to stay away from it for obvious reasons, because they're elected officials. So these things tend to be very slow. We have to follow a very specific set of guidelines, as I mentioned, set up by the state. which takes time and effort on our part. So I think you've done the right thing at this house. I love to see it a historic district, but that's gonna be months to now to do all this, all the steps. So if the historical commission has weighed in on their design criteria and you're making effort to meet those criteria, I think that's great. if we can include it in a future historic district because it's in a neighborhood of South Street or wherever we're trying to establish, that's the time we should be pursuing these things. So I appreciate all the passion and all the love for this home on both sides. So we try to do our best, but we just have a handful of houses under protection in our districts right now. We're trying to expand that but it takes time and it takes a lot of effort to make that stuff happen. So Fred- And then Miguel and Angela, please consider joining our commission. We'd love to have your passion.
[Christopher Bader]: Yes, indeed.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: And same for Dan, you guys are welcome to be a member of this commission and help us move this forward. Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, in case we haven't said it clearly enough, we really do want all of you to look at the plans and give us whatever feedback you have. We would love to hear your feedback.
[Sophie Ricks]: And I would also like to make the point that, again, we are wanting to make changes that actually looks nice around the house and things like that. In some ways, going above and beyond. And I'm sorry that our neighbors feel like this is a disrespect to Medford. Again, we're involved with the history. We respect it.
[Christopher Bader]: OK, so I think the thing to do here is to leave this in the hands of the historical commission for the time being.
[Maryanne Adduci]: And- Well, how does it stack? Does it stack with them or does it stack with you?
[Christopher Bader]: Well, I wanna consult with the historical commission as far as what they want us to do. And I think consulting with the mayor would probably be a good idea as well. Um, but, um, uh, you know, we are, we are here to do the will of the people. Um, so, um, and obviously owner of opposition is a huge obstacle to, to creating any kind of historic districts. We want people to be happy and we want, you know, uh, right.
[Maryanne Adduci]: But I mean, as long as the owners know that it doesn't prevent them from doing their renovation, you know, that's that, I think that was their primary concern.
[Christopher Bader]: Oh yeah, no, no, no. We have no problem with appropriate renovation of any kind.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: And we would do a very similar process to what the historical commission is doing. Meet with you, review the plans, talk with your architect, raise concerns, get it out there in front of the public and try to modify. What we do is try to have things, respect the historical integrity of both the neighborhood and the home. But we know that these are modern times Houses get old and they need renovations on a regular basis, we know that. So that's part of our job is to be a design review board, but our jurisdiction is only in properties that are in historic districts. And that's when we have basically authority to have these hearings and do that. So if it's not in a historic district, it's in the historical commission because it's buildings, properties older than 50 years, they have a demo delay ordinance that they can employ pause things and to take a step back. And that's what they're doing here. So I think that the city is already implementing the tools it has at its disposal to, you know, to help get this project done in a way that's helpful to your owners and to the city itself.
[Maryanne Adduci]: And hopefully- Does the commission know whether the 78 Carting Street was ever looked at before?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: If it's gonna form D that we would have, and the historical commission have, have tried to survey as many properties in the city as possible.
[Maryanne Adduci]: Yeah, but has this property ever been looked at to be considered for a historic district before?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Not to my knowledge, I don't know, Christine. Not to my knowledge either.
[Unidentified]: Okay, so.
[Angela Murphy]: I think, excuse me, this is Angela. I think it's about time that they do investigate this house because I think this is one of the more important houses to protect. because of its provenance with the two presidents and Abigail Adams. It's just too fragile to lose. I think it's our urgency that we protect this house because, as I said, they've already taken down two houses on Corning Street that were, in my knowledge, older houses, over 200 years old, and just let them be demolished, and it's sad. And they were all in the Smith Farm, and they were all part of that, you know, time period, 1800s, 1700s, as my house is that I live on 16. And I know my house is either late 1700s or early 1800s. I would love my house to be find out exactly how old it is, and be put on a historical commission to save it.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Well, maybe that but and I know the Historical Commission has been very diligent. I don't know when these houses were taken down. But our friends over the Historical Commission don't take these things lightly. They try to preserve two car garages and things like that. So they, I don't think if things were taken down there, it wouldn't have been without earlier.
[Maryanne Adduci]: So- The house Angela was talking about.
[Angela Murphy]: Yeah, the house Angela- The street for me is 15 Carding Street. I believe that what it was. And it was taken down and it was under consideration by the historical commissioner or whatever. And before they could even decide what to do with that house, it was a beautiful house and everything, and you knew it was old. It got taken down before, and I'm sorry to say, before it was even allowed to be taken down. The owner of the house did that, and it was sad. And to see that house go, because we fought for that. I was right across the street from it, and we fought to have that house saved. And nobody did a thing to even save and look at it.
[Maryanne Adduci]: I had gone to the Historical Commission meetings when they were evaluating that house. First of all, they put a six-month delay on it, and they asked the owner if he could fix it up rather than tear it down. So he had to go away and come back in six months. Then he came back in six months and said, no, he got opinions that it needed to be torn down. So they put another six-month delay on it. and if i i think they put a third six-month delay on it and that that just just before the end of that i think is when he took matters in his own hands and tore it down okay well uh... i mean obviously that's not the situation we're dealing with no no no i understand i understand but but but you know uh... it into a fed you know this area is is old there's a lot of old houses here and we wanna and i'll make sure that they last for many more years to come so that's why we're not going to put
[Angela Murphy]: They're all in good shape. I mean, the houses may not be exactly intact as the house across the street from me. It even had the gingerbread out front. It had all its features, everything. Nothing was touched on that house, and they tore it down. The other houses may not look as old as the house at 78, but they are as old. And we need to look into these houses. This was part of the Smith Farm. The Felt Farm owned it. I went way back to 1700s looking for deeds for my house.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. I think the appropriate thing, okay, we're way over time at this point. I think the appropriate thing to do, no, it's quite all right. I think the appropriate thing to do at this point, I think we've heard from everybody, is for us to consult.
[Sophie Ricks]: Can I just quickly ask about, I know you had mentioned that the website is under construction still. Yes. Is there a way to access all of these recorded videos? Because there's nothing on the city website since January. So all of these meetings that are being recorded, I don't know if they're like going into the ether.
[Christopher Bader]: I haven't looked at them personally. You would have to, Dennis, do you have an answer for that?
[SPEAKER_03]: We want to participate, but we're not sure how.
[Denis MacDougall]: Sorry. Yeah, my connection has been very bad tonight, so I apologize. Yeah, there's Medford Public Access. It's on their website, all the meetings.
[Sophie Ricks]: This one isn't. I mean, all the other ones are, but none of them.
[Denis MacDougall]: I'm going to go to it now. Give me like a minute, and I'm going to go to the site and get the link, and I'll get it to you. OK, thank you.
[Maryanne Adduci]: By the way, this meeting is not being televised. And I agree with Sophie. The phone reception is very, very poor.
[Sophie Ricks]: I mean, I think Marianne and I agree that we care about Medford's history. And if I had been living on the street when 15 Cotting Street was being torn down, I would have absolutely written into the commission about that. But we are not that, so.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. As I say, I think the appropriate thing to do here is consult with the historical commission and to ask for their guidance as to whether it's, you know, creating a local historic district is appropriate or simply to leave it in their hands. I certainly trust Doug Carr to do the right thing. It sounds like you guys are doing the right thing. So, you know, perhaps that's the best way to go. Is that an acceptable to you guys that we will consult with the historical commission?
[Sophie Ricks]: Yes, absolutely. And our understanding from meeting with the subcommittee, they said that they were going to email you the plan specifically so that you would, to make sure that you had them. So I don't think I have them, but if they didn't do that, that was, that was the plan at the time to make sure absolutely that everybody on this commission had a chance to look at them and see, I mean, exactly what the changes would be.
[Christopher Bader]: Does that sound like a reasonable plan, Fred and Chris?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: It sounds fine to me, yes. I'd like to talk. And if the plans were available, maybe Doug didn't forward them yet, or for whatever reasons, we haven't seen them. So happy to look them up and give our advice.
[Christopher Bader]: All right, so we will consult with the Historical Commission and discuss this at our next meeting. But as I say, What I'd ask you guys that is the owners to think about is, you know, going forward, you know, assuming that the, I mean, we have never turned down any historically appropriate change to a house. So it sounds like, and I think, and as I say, I trust Doug Carr to do the right thing there. So I don't think we have any disagreement on what needs to happen in the near future. But let's consult the historical commission and we'll talk about this at our next meeting.
[Angela Murphy]: Can I say one thing?
[Christopher Bader]: Sure.
[Angela Murphy]: Angela, I'm sorry. Sophie, I don't have any objections to you making your house more livable. I understand you having space issues with two children. I myself lived in a small place. I would approve anything you do as long as the house is protected from future people who might do even more of a disservice to the house. That's all. So it should be in my opinion deemed historic because of its providence and that's my opinion. And like I said you know it's not objection to you personally or anything it's just the fact that it's sad to lose all these houses that we have already lost.
[Sophie Ricks]: Thank you, and I appreciate you saying that. I mean, we don't want to have animosity with our neighbors. We love our street. Say hello if you're walking by and you see us in the yard.
[Angela Murphy]: The first time I met you was unexpected, and I was very happy to meet you.
[Sophie Ricks]: I think that was when my groceries were accidentally delivered to you.
[Angela Murphy]: And I'm just very sorry that I come across a little strong if I do.
[Sophie Ricks]: Not at all.
[Angela Murphy]: I always like to be a good neighbor.
[Sophie Ricks]: Not at all. Thank you for participating.
[Christopher Bader]: I, uh, can we. All right. Is that acceptable to you guys? We'll consult with his strong commission and then talk to you guys. Sounds good. Okay. Um, let's see. I don't think we have time to do anything. Uh, more, uh, Dennis, are we out of time? Okay, I don't know where Dennis is, but okay. One final thing I want to approve is approving the consultant for a strategy on creating local historic districts, including obviously what to do in situations like this. And as I say, I have talked to Chris Skelly, who was formerly the head of the person at the Massachusetts Historical Commission who handled local historic districts, and he's agreed to consult for us. This is a fairly big job. He estimates it at about 30 hours, and he charges $100 an hour, which is very reasonable for a freelance consultant. Um, and, uh, I'd like to have, uh, I'd like commission approval to, to, to go ahead with that. So that would probably be, there'll be a fixed cost of $3,000. Does that sound reasonable, Fred and Chris?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Well, Chris, um, do we have that in the budget and can this yes, we do.
[Christopher Bader]: It's been approved by the city.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: It has been great.
[Christopher Bader]: Yes.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Okay. And how do you expect we'll interact with Mr. Skelly?
[Christopher Bader]: Well, that is up to us, but basically I'd like to prepare a report and a PowerPoint presentation and basically how to improve our operations vis-a-vis city support. For example, the city of Arlington, the town of Arlington has, is it, is comparable in every way to Medford, at least as far as historic districts are concerned. They have a historic district or at least one. They have approximately the same budget as we do. They have approximately the same number of people as we do. And they have an executive secretary at city hall for the historical commissions. So I think it would be, but I want Chris to investigate this on a more, Chris Skelly to investigate this on a more global scale and to make a recommendation as whether Medford should provide us with an executive secretary, because I think that would improve, for example, our website, for instance. But more generally, I'd like him to propose a strategy for going forward in creating new historic districts. Compared to the number of houses in Medford, we have just an incredibly small number of historic districts. And in those houses, those historic districts are both small. We want to expand that. especially in the short term to Medford Square and to South Street. And we're gonna encounter oppositions in both areas. And we wanna know how to proceed. For example, do we just try to push through the whole district and ask city council to bite the bullet or do we allow people to opt out? Do we have single building historic districts or what? I think none of us have any experience, at least I don't, outside Medford. And Chris has experience over the entire state of Massachusetts. So I think he can give us some guidance in that respect.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Okay, that's great. And if we can continue to expand our membership here in the commission, you know, with some new energy and some new enthusiasm, I hope Chris and Joyce will be part of that new commission membership here. So great, I'm all for it. So I would make a motion to approve it, especially if the budget has been approved by City Hall.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, Chris Donovan.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: You're muted, Chris.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Those are a lot of the questions I wanted asked, and it sounds like Chris, the consultant, will take care of a lot of those introductory questions that I wanted to uncover. So maybe we'll wait for that round of it, and I'd be more than happy to help be on a committee to try and spread the message about what a historic district is and how it helps our city. So I second that.
[Christopher Bader]: Specifically, we're already engaging Chris as a consultant. Do you agree with that? Okay, terrific. So we have two votes in favor. I vote in favor. Motion passed. I think nobody's, I'm gonna work very closely with Chris. I will ask him to reach out to Fred and to you, Chris. And we want to make this a good use of our money. Okay, let me, do we have anything else on the agenda? Oh, right, possible South Street. I think we need to postpone this until our next meeting and we will actually have a recommendation from Chris by that time on whether to proceed with sort of a scattershot approach of single house historic districts or a discontinuous historic district or what. So I think postponing that to the next meeting is... is appropriate here.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Chris and Fred, if I could ask something on that last note, if there's any PDFs, any links, any woodshedding, any links you could send my way, happy to sort of do some due diligence in that, but maybe Chris is gonna be producing some of those.
[Christopher Bader]: I think Chris Kelly is exactly gonna be producing that. I will send him your email address and I will ask him to copy. I will copy you on all my correspondence with him and I will ask him to do the same. Thank you. Okay, can I have a motion?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: I'll send you the link. There's a bulletin from the state of Massachusetts on how to establish districts that we follow. If you're not familiar with that, I'll send that to you because it lays out all the steps and all the hoops we have to come through.
[Christopher Bader]: Yeah, thank you. Okay, we are way out, wow, we're 20 minutes over time. Can I have a motion to adjourn?
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Motion to adjourn.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay, Fred?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I second. The only thing I would say, Chris, is if we have other people who want to make comments, we should just... Oh, yes. Yes. Right.
[Christopher Bader]: So anyone else have comments on engaging Chris Kelly?
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: All right. So this is the opportunity to speak. So that's good. Thank you.
[Christopher Bader]: Okay. Yes, good point, Fred. Thank you. Okay, yes, so meeting is adjourned and we will meet next month. On the second, let's see, what day is that? Hold on. That is going to be... June 9th? Looks like, yes, June 9th. So I will see everybody on June 9th. We will consult with the stroke commission on 78 cutting, and I will engage Chris Skelly. And we will talk more on most of these topics next month. And thank you all for your input and your concern for the community.
[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_22]: Fred, thank you, Chris.
[Christopher Bader]: Thank you.
[MCM00001302_SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.