[Unidentified]: I'm going to hit record. Recording in progress. All right.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Hey, everybody. Yep. All right, so we got to the agenda today is to discuss 44 Bradley Road. We want to continue forward with accepting that as a potential single property historic district. Review the drafted legislative letter in opposition of, yeah, you have the copy on the back side there. And then discuss the logistics of the meeting in the South Street District to talk about the signage, which would be on the 16th, which is coming up. And then to get the meeting minutes adopted or voted on. Accepted. Accepted. Yeah. All right.
[SPEAKER_04]: So we'll zoom back up here.
[Theresa Dupont]: For the folks on Zoom, you'll have to forgive me. It's like using a giant 56-inch second monitor. So sometimes it gets a little clunky. So I appreciate your patience here. So now we can see everybody.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: So do we have a representative from the 44 Bradley Road property with us?
[Theresa Dupont]: Yes, we are joined by the property owner, Kit Nichols. Kit, why don't you introduce yourselves?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Hi, everyone. My name is Kit Nichols, and my husband Duncan and I live at 37 Governors Avenue, and we also own 44 Bradley Road, which is diagonally in back of our home. And first of all, thank you so much for considering our application to make 44 Bradley a single family historic district. It's a pretty special house and I can get pretty passionate about the history of it. So if I go too far, if it's too much information, somebody should sort of cut me off. It is 44 Bradley Road, is the Henry, Bradley, and Hefsa Hall House. And let's see, that is how it looked in 1948, but it was built between 1845 and 1850. Hefsa Hall was one of the three children of Dudley Hall, and 44 Bradley is one of the three Hall homes that were built by the three children. So there's only one other that still exists, and that's the sort of gingerbread house that's on Governor's Avenue. That was one of the other brothers. The house was lived in by the Hall-Bradley family until the early 1900s when it was sold to Charles Buss, who was the treasurer of the Medford Savings Bank. His brother, whose first name I can't remember, was an alderman in Medford. And he, the Buss family lived in the house until 1943, including their daughter Kate Buss, who was a author and a journalist, who was also a close friend of Gertrude Stein's. and was involved in getting Gertrude Stein's first publication actually published. And there are letters from Kate Buss to Gertrude Stein at the Beinecke Library at Yale, and Kate Buss's letters are actually, all of her correspondence actually is at Temple University Library. So it, and she lived in the house I guess after her parents died until the early 1940s when she died. The house was then empty for several years and then it was bought by Alberto Simonetti who was an immigrant from Italy and who was and it was unfortunately during the seminary reign of this house that the aluminum siding went on but we'll get to that. Alberto Simonetti was a food importer. He had a salt cod business and he moved here, actually moved to Medford and lived in a variety of places before they bought the Bradley Road house. Before the war, I mean, he actually brought his two war-aged or draft-aged sons from Italy to the United States because he felt that if his sons were going to have to fight in a war, he wanted them to fight on the side of the Americans, and both of them did. Both of them came home, and the house was lived in by the Simonettis, including Adriana Simonetti, who was the littlest sister. She was quite a bit younger than her older brothers. And Adriana lived in the house from the time they moved in in 1948 until she went into assisted living in 2021 and Adriana was a dear friend as well as our neighbor and she loved this house. The house was incredibly important to her. She understood the history of it. And she did everything that she could to preserve it the best way she could. So very little actually has been changed on the inside. It's spectacular on the inside. And I'm happy to take anybody who wants to take a tour through. Be careful. Someone's going to take you up on that. I would be happy to. It's quite an extraordinary place. So when Adriana told us that she was going into assisted living and she and I had had multiple conversations about what was gonna happen to the house because she was really afraid of what development in Medford could do to it. And when she said she was going into assisted living, I looked at my husband and I said, we're gonna have to watch whatever happens there. And it's also, it happens to be on almost a 14,000 square foot lot. So. And so actually, can you advance, Teresa, to the next slide? I would love to. Thank you. So this is how it looked when we bought it. And sometime probably in the 50s or 60s, one of Adriana's older brothers decided that aluminum siding was probably cheaper to heat, so they clad the whole thing in aluminum siding. And it didn't look so great from the outside, which is why I didn't want to lead with these photographs, because I thought you all would be like, why in God's name would we want to preserve it? But so we bought it and the first thing that we did was we decided that we wanted to restore the outside. So this is what it looks like now. We had 3,000 pounds of aluminum siding stripped off. And we had all of the architectural details that had been removed, put back. So I can tell you that there are 163 corbels on this house. And they were all, it's actually kind of neat because now there's a sort of another part of local history, which is all of the millwork was milled in Somerville. Yeah, by John Moriarty. is an incredible millworks there. And we also had both of the porches replaced. So the porches, the front porch originally wrapped around on the side, this porch originally wrapped around on the side, and we didn't do that. We didn't replace it, restore it to exactly the way it had looked because the neighbor's fence is so close and the driveway goes there. And one of the things that we're hoping that we can also do is replace There was a carriage house in the back that also came down after the Simonettis bought the house. And what we're hoping to do is replace the carriage house as best we can in the back. And there just wasn't quite room enough. So the porch isn't an exact restoration, although we tried really hard. And we are using as many of the original windows as we can. Unfortunately, a number of them have been replaced. But what we're planning on doing is putting all of the whatever originals we can at the front of the house. So when you actually look at the house, it will look as much as we can make it look as it did when, well, It was actually renovated in 1875 so it's probably it will probably be closer to an 1875 restoration. And our thought was if people could see what an incredibly beautiful house it was underneath all of that aluminum siding and the way it was supposed to look, then they would want to come in and see how spectacular it was inside. So our plan, it's a 5,800 square foot house. We have never thought we would live there. So here is the renderings of that actually Ryan Hayward did of how it will look when it's totally, the exterior will look when it's totally finished. So that's the front. That's actually the side looking up Bradley Road. And yes. Yeah, so the porch that you see there on the left was not original. So we decided in the end, we were gonna stick with what was as original as possible. So the porch on the right, we've replaced the porch on the left. Well, if I'd won the lottery last week, it would have been different, but that one at the moment, it's not going back on. Or actually it was never there to start with. And then if you keep going, Yeah, that's the side. Sorry, one of the others was the back. And the next one should probably be... I'm missing one.
[Theresa Dupont]: I've got right, left, front, and back.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and you should also have one that is the rendering of the carriage house. Okay. Okay. Well, it's it. I'll double check and make sure I sent that to Teresa, maybe.
[Theresa Dupont]: Yeah. And if you keep talking, I could probably pull it up on another screen. So let me, let me set that up over here. And then is there a better landing page to have as a talking point here that you'd prefer while I'm doing that?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: No, I don't think so. I mean, is there any members of the committee who'd like to have a closer look at any of these images? Some questions?
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Well, to look at the architectural drawings? No, I can see them fine.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: or anything. I mean, there, there, Teresa has them also in a folder. So you can look at them at your leisure. Yes, really, that's, that's really the end of what we were end of the images.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I think we could probably just so we're so it's under construction now. So where I didn't, I actually put it in my GPS to drive by, but it kept sending me to Arlington. And I was running late anyways. So where are you at with the construction as it relates to the outside front facade, the outside facades that are visible from the street? Where are you at with that?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: So it's scheduled to be probably finished next spring. The builder really didn't want to do the windows until we had a good sense of what was going to happen to the interior. And our thought with the interior was, you know, again, if I won the lottery, we would restore it to a single family. But the fact of the matter is, there are very few families these days who need 5,800 square foot homes. And so- I don't know anyone that needs that square foot. It is enormous, I have to say. And so our thought was to do a sensitive project in which there would be two condos in the house and then a separate unit in the ADU.
[Theresa Dupont]: Yeah are you now seeing the carriage house restoration or is it still?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: No so oh there it is. So unfortunately actually the Alberto Simonetti had wanted to move into it himself, but the city of Medford wouldn't let him. So this was way back in probably the early 50s. And so eventually it just fell into disrepair and had to be taken down. So that building is not in existence, but we have a good enough sense from photographs of what actually was there that I think what Ryan has put together is a pretty good approximation of the carriage house that was originally there. So this is a very long-winded answer to your question, but essentially, the exterior, the builder wanted to wait on finishing off the exterior renovation because until he had a sense of window placement, I don't actually think that, well, the windows in the front wouldn't change at all. I mean, the front will be exactly as you see it. It may be that some of the windows in the back get moved around a little bit. But frankly, you know, we're financing it ourselves. It is a labor of love. And I think, you know, what we would love to do is find somebody who would actually finish off the project in a sensitive way. But if not, then it might take us a year or two, but we would go ahead with the two units in the house. Unfortunately, right now it's a zoned single-family residential, although you could put most of Medford on that lot.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so that's a very big lot, so that means like That means like a double lot. That should, you know, not, you know, just saying I would definitely go for that because it has the criteria where I would be very surprised if they didn't allow you to do it. Is the front of the house that was stripped? So all those sidings is removed from the front of the house right now. Is that true?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. So really, I mean, what will happen to the front of the house is we'll move the, what original windows we can, we'll replace the vinyl ones that we can't, you know, that are not original with either wood windows or, you know, as close approximation as we can get. And then we'll finish off all of the architectural details in the front and then it will be painted. And we will do a, probably the yellow that you see is actually the original color that was under there.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: The color's not a problem. We don't have jurisdiction over the pink color. So do you have a permit for the carriage house as well? Not yet. No, not yet, okay. The permit that was granted from the city for this work through the other board, does that stipulate which windows are going to go where? Is it as strict as what we do?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: This was strictly an exterior renovation. Okay, so yeah, they were there has been no, you know, really no stipulations about what what we do with it.
[Theresa Dupont]: So the historical commission since you're not really changing the roof line or anything, the historical commission didn't weigh in on on that. Okay.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: We bought it so somebody wouldn't tear it down.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: This is great. I'm very interested in this. I'm just trying to look at the logistics of it. I want to hear everyone else's and the board's opinion, but I think the front the front facades that are visible from the street would have to be complete before we would move forward with it as a historic because otherwise, if we were to accept it now, we would have to then meet and tell you and tell you how to do what your renovation, which I'm fine with that too and I'm very interested in helping you give them whatever it is, I'm just looking at the logistics for you and the project and all that and how you like to go about it as well and like the carriage house. So when this just just you know it's like when this. If everyone in the board decides to proceed further with this and all that, putting the carriage house in and everything that would be done with that would then come through this board to then determine what's going to happen with that. For anything that's viewed from the street. So that being said, I think it's great. I think all the ideas and everything that you're saying are great, but I think we'd have to discuss the timing on this and when to do it, because I'd like to see all that stuff in place. you know if we get started with it like and i know that you have good intentions but it might be you know you could very well vinyl side it we could be very we could be far i know you're not going to i'm just looking at it like objectively yeah objectively like i think that we we want to be part of this but we need to have the front we need to have the parts that are that we would be in charge of done or we would need to then stop the project at this point and then start being part of deciding it. So whichever way we would want to proceed from there.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: I mean, and that was actually going to be one of my questions. I mean, we've known right from the beginning that we wanted it to be, because frankly, it's the only way I can think of to protect it.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Oh, I think it's great. I mean, we haven't discussed as a group, but I'm definitely excited about it and want to protect it with you. I'm just thinking of at what point we jump in and do that. Sure, absolutely.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, and we, and you know, our thought all along has been, you know, we want it to be, we want it to be a single family or a single building historic district. And we just weren't sure, like, at what point you know, and is it, frankly, as the project has sort of dragged on with this, the whole, it's been zoning, it's, it's just, it's, as all projects, construction projects do, it's taken a lot longer than we thought. But it never happens. I know, it never happens. And so, you know, we've sort of been like, okay, well, what comes first, the chicken or the egg? And I thought, well, you know, the first thing is I'll have a conversation with the Historic District Commission and find out if it is of interest. And, and, you know, and figure out with you all, like, what makes sense? I mean, assuming it's something that it's a project that you would ultimately want to proceed with, you know, what makes sense, what makes sense to you all, and actually, frankly, get some guidance from you on that.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: All right, well, maybe we should, let's get everyone's opinion, I would say, on this to see when they would think would be a good point to get started with this.
[SPEAKER_06]: When they should, on their plans?
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: So when should, so first of all, does this look, I guess, first of all, we have to all talk and decide, are we interested in this house and making this a historic district, a single, single, is it a single unit? Because it's a single building historic district. So I guess we all have to go around and talk about that first. And then after that, discuss at what point we jump in and do this.
[SPEAKER_06]: The houses on that street were built around 1920. Am I right? There's no other way.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: I mean, originally it was it was it was gifted as a 10 acre lot. And at the end of the 1800s, I think actually after Henry Bradley died, it seems like maybe the family fell on some more difficult times and they started splitting up the land. And that's actually when they sold the parcel that became the old Medford High School. Oh, OK. And at that point, it was all subdivided. There's actually a really interesting map on the Form B that shows the three hall houses sort of set with nothing around them.
[Unidentified]: OK.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I mean, from a zoning standpoint, I think there was no zoning.
[Theresa Dupont]: I'm sorry to scroll, but I just wanted to pull that up there, what you were just talking about.
[SPEAKER_06]: I'm trying to place where that is. It's off of Governor's Ave?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it runs parallel. It runs between Forest Street and Governor's Ave.
[SPEAKER_06]: Forest Street and Governor's Ave. Okay, well, you know, I'm looking at it. I think my sister lived in that house when she first got married. Yeah, I remember the house.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Is there a little apartment upstairs?
[SPEAKER_06]: No, I believe it was on the first floor. So hopefully folks can see us. I don't remember exactly, you know.
[Theresa Dupont]: So here's the Chevalier Theater. Yeah. And Bradley runs behind it. And then there's the property there. And here's the governor's border.
[SPEAKER_06]: That's not the house she lived in.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Teresa, if you scroll one more page on the Form B, and you can see the, it's actually a drawing. Right there, yep.
[Theresa Dupont]: That's more visual.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so the one, obviously the one with the red arrow is the Bradley, our Bradley house. The one in the middle isn't there anymore, as far as I know. And the one sort of up on the right hand side is the one on Governor's Avenue. And I can't remember what number it is, but it is the other hall house.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: So do you think we should proceed with Are you open to adopting this as a single property historic district?
[SPEAKER_06]: I don't know. Explain to me.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Does this house... That's a good point. I don't think there's a criteria that we have to meet. There's not like a checklist. miss Nichols, you know, she gave the presentation of the historical significance of it to do we do we feel I feel that it warrants.
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay, so that's what they're calling it is deceiving to me, you know, a single historic district is that.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: I know it's the wording, there's nothing we can do about that.
[Theresa Dupont]: It's just used, I mean we call them local historic districts, right, so you can technically if we were to go forward with 44.
[SPEAKER_06]: I don't think there's any of the old houses on that street, is there?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: The one next to it is no, I mean the one next to it what, number 38 was built around 1890, I think. And that has been, within the last couple of years, it was bought and completely gutted. There's nothing, there's nothing original left in that house.
[SPEAKER_06]: Just curious, what's the interior of the house like? What of that house? What is it?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Of Bradley? Yeah. It is, the first floor is actually, you know, a beautiful, elegant Italianate. The ceilings are probably 12 feet. The rooms are enormous. Beautiful marble fireplaces, parquet floor with an arch in the front hall. and a really amazing stained glass window at the top of the stairs. So it's, you know, the inside and it's, you know, I want to do whatever we can to preserve those rooms and not see them cut up. So, which is another reason we don't want to put six units in this, keep it as intact as we possibly can.
[Theresa Dupont]: And I would also just like to share, because I know we have some newer members. Medford, I believe, has four other local historic districts that are single properties as well. Like Grandfather's House is a perfect example of it, you know, over the river and through the woods to Grandfather's House we go. That is its own single family district.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: And a lot of other towns have have tremendous amounts of them. Islington is pretty well all. Is South Street a historic district?
[Theresa Dupont]: It is, but Grandfather's House isn't part of the South Street district. And I think it was put into a district in like the 80s or something like that. So there is precedent for it here in Medford, and there's certainly precedent for it, you know, across the Commonwealth. It's a great way to protect individual properties, especially, you know, we tried and perhaps we should try to pick it back up again, but we tried to establish a district on Forest Street because of all those old, beautiful homes over there. It wasn't well received and it didn't move forward at that time. But this is like a great example of like- This is a great example.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: We have a homeowner that's, the homeowner with a, A, with a beautiful house, which is what our job is, and then B, is generous enough to, generous isn't the word, with, yeah, it's generous. It's generous enough to, you know, protect this the future going forward, which is excellent. Okay, so would you be on board with moving forward? Does this meet the criteria of becoming one of those homes, one of those? Okay, perfect. I believe so. All right, Charlotte, what's your opinion?
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, you're muted, Charlotte. I'm going to hit the ask to unmute button, and I might pop up a notification on your screen to unmute.
[SPEAKER_02]: Or if you heartily support the idea, we'll take an enthusiastic thumbs up. All right. We'll go with that.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: We'll go with that. OK. So that gets us past that part. And we have enough for our viewers, right? OK. So do we take a vote now? How does that?
[Theresa Dupont]: I would say that we should take a motion from a member on accepting this as, let me think of the wordsmithing here, because it's not a formal application here, right? You know, it's just that, hey, is this something the commission would be interested in partnering with the homeowner on? So maybe a motion to accept this as a potential historic district and to start the process.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Could you make a motion for that? Yeah. Okay, so let's take a vote. And you vote yes, correct? And Charlotte, do you vote yes on that?
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, I can lip read.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: All right, so we'll go with the yes on that. I'll vote yes on that. So that moves forward. So then let's discuss the time period on that. Do we discuss that at this meeting or do we... So in the paperwork, does it have... A timeline or anything? No, it's... I'm trying to think how this would work. Yeah. I think in your best interest, because you've already gone through with the other board and everything, and you're in process, that it would be once those facades are finished, then we'd move forward. I think that that would make the most sense to me. Are you comfortable with that? Is there a reason why you'd want us to start earlier? What are your thoughts?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm perfectly comfortable with that. Well, I guess I have a question. I mean, I know it's the front facade, but if it's anything that you can see from the street, is that the sides as well? Because you can see the sides from the street, depending on where you're standing.
[Theresa Dupont]: Yes, it's anything that's visible from the public way.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: But not including, so the landscaping is encouraged to be period, but I'm terrible at words. I'm going to apologize.
[Theresa Dupont]: Period specific.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Period specific, but it's just encouraged, but it's not required. So I mean, it would basically just be like, if you get the siding on, the windows in place, the siding windows trim, that type of stuff. It doesn't have to be painted because that You can do whatever you want with that. You know, a chimney, even though the chimney, if it came on the other side of the roof, if it comes up and it's viewable from the street, that's still covered.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, unfortunately, they took the chimneys down to the roof line.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: I know, it's sad.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: We looked into having them replaced and decided we'd send our child to college instead.
[Theresa Dupont]: Oh, it's exceptionally expensive. I was going to say this bottom right rendering here, that is essentially from the street. So this is the, there's a fence line here. That's the driveway. So that'll be the ADU back there. So this is the view from the street here.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: And your intent, your intention with the, with the carriage house ADU just So I get this straight. You don't have a permit for it now. You're not intending to do it right this minute? Or when's your thought on when you want to do that?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Well, as a matter of fact, we're having conversations with the lawyer about this, even as we speak, because we were doing sort of a hurry up and wait until Medford figured out zoning. And at this point, you think what we're likely to do is, because it is right now, It, I mean, right now it is a single, so what is it? SR1, single family residence. SF1, yeah, single family. And so, I mean, we'd need to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals and get a variance. Okay. I think, though, that we can, the ADU, we can do by right at this point. Correct, correct.
[Theresa Dupont]: As long as it has to meet the setback requirements, but if you can make that, I mean, you have a huge lot. I'm sure you can.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: The setbacks and stuff. That's not us. It's just whatever, whatever, whatever siding and the finish. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So So when you finish the front facade, if you're not continuing with the carriage house right away with that, then we'll start at that point. But if you're going to continue with the carriage house, I'd also want that to be underway, started, have the facades that would be us, that would be under our jurisdiction, so we can look at it, make sure that it's okay. I'm sure it's going to be okay, I just... Yeah, no, I mean, you're doing exactly what you should be doing. just on the siding. So are you going to be doing wood clad wood siding?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: It is. Actually, what's up there is in great shape.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Those are the original clad woods?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Uh-huh.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: No way. The house was... Oh my gosh. Oh, wait a second. I thought that was the board sheet. I'm sorry.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: No, so it had originally the back and one side was clabbered and the other side... I'm going to just walk up close to that, I'm sorry.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: That looked to me like, it looked like it was all stripped down to the board.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: So originally when the house was built, it probably was more Georgian than Italianate. And so it was all flatboard. It wasn't clabboard, except on one side in the back. And that was always clabboarded, one side in the back. But the front and that side that you see that's yellow were always flatboard. And essentially, it was because it looked more like marble. OK.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: So this is finished siding material. You're just going to be painting this at some point.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Right. So we'll go all over it and they'll work their magic on it and make sure it's sealed and so forth and so on. But it's actually in really great shape.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: OK. So your scope of work for the facades that we're looking at then would just be changing some of the window sash
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: And rebuilding the window sashes because when they put on the aluminum siding, they stripped off everything. I mean, like of all the times you wanted somebody not to be really thorough, but there was nothing left. So the next thing, depending on what the windows are, is to actually finish all the window frames as well on the outside. The front bay was actually put on in 1875. Okay, so they they and I'm not quite sure. I think they added a back addition to put in a different kitchen stove, which is actually still in there and dated 1875. And I think probably the first indoor plumbing to that point.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Do you still have the original stove you're saying? Wow, that's beautiful. That's awesome. I love that.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, Adriana and her family really didn't touch anything. So even, you know, there's a, they made two little apartments upstairs and there's a fireplace that's been, that's covered up that I know is still in there because Adriana wouldn't have taken anything out. So, you know, it just, it was always owned by people who really cared about the history of it. So inside, it's amazingly intact.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: it's all pretty well there. So this isn't, this isn't got, this isn't stripped down. It was just the vinyl, the aluminum siding was stripped off, all the original stuff there. So this is essentially what you plan to look at. So, okay.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: So do you- The flat board the way, I mean, the front had clapboards on at one point, but what's there now is the original board that was underneath. That's original also on that yellow side with the porch.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: And your intention is to leave that and someone's evaluated that and said that that can stay and that it's, It's okay. All right. So this is, this is really actually ready to go then the way it is. Okay. Do you, would you be looking for us to get started in the process now then? Or do you want to wait to finish or what do you want to, what do you want us to do?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Well, how long is the process, I guess?
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it can probably six months.
[Theresa Dupont]: Yeah. I would say six to six to eight months.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: It's good. It should be pretty, it should be pretty smooth because you're, Are you how many owners are there? Are you just my my husband and myself? Is he on board with this?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Yes, he's I mean, I have to ask. Yeah, he actually he's he had to take somebody to talk soccer practice or else he'd be on the he'd be on the call too.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Okay, that's no problem. I just I have to ask something like that.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Also, if you were kind of crazy, but yes, he is on board.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Do you do you have a mortgage on the property? You do? have you spoke with your mortgage provider to make sure that they're on board with this as well?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: No, that I have not done. I will do that.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Okay. So that would be, that would be the only other hurdle I'd see. And then, I mean, it's still probably going to be six months. I mean, just by the way things are, but, um, I mean, the only, I mean, a neighbor, I would be shocked if a neighbor is going to come in and say, no, that would just seem bizarre. But, um, Yes, we could start now, but then, like I said, once it's accepted, then you'd be coming to us with any changes or anything you were going to do. So you may want to wait, or you may want us to start now.
[Theresa Dupont]: Can I ask a question? I'm sorry if you had questions there, but if we were just a thought exercise, if we were to go through the motions, accept it now, it gets designated in six months, great. And then in six months, maybe that's next spring, Kit, you're at the point where you're looking at an ADU. All that they would need to do then at that point is come back to the commission, because now they're in a district, and say, hey, I want to make this alteration. We can grant that.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: That's correct. Yeah. The only concern that I have is that we would be taking the house as it is. As you're going through construction, I mean, you know how it is too, like something happens with that window, whatever it is. Now your contractor can't just do whatever they need to do to that window. And it's probably, I mean, it looks like 90% of the house is original in the front there. So no matter what it is, we're probably going to accept it in the end anyways, because the society is still getting a tremendous product here. It just complicates it, makes it harder for you to do. That's the only concern I have for you. Yeah. And it's not, we're going to work at an expedient rate, but you have to remember that, like, if you're, if your contract is like, oh, I've got to do whatever, you know, and then you're like, oh, that's the front of the side. We've got to go to the historic district commission. We would love to just move as fast as we can, but we're still constrained by, we have to send out one of these to everybody. And then some, you know, we have to, so you're, you put you a month and a half out. So just think of that before you proceed for, you know, further. you know, before you proceed with it. Yeah.
[Theresa Dupont]: And to that end as well, just so that you're aware, um, you know, for that ADU, but again, say we've accepted it, boom, boom, boom. Now you're, you're ready for the ADU. It would be another public notice of public hearing where folks can come and speak. So hopefully you've got great neighbors. I know you yourself are a neighbor. Um, but just having just, I just want to highlight that as like, it's another public notice that's out there to bringing attention to your project, for good or bad.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: We haven't had sort of an explicit conversation with the neighbors about turning it into a historic district, but right after we bought it, I walked through with the immediate abutter and explained that we were trying to preserve it and trying to save it. and that we wanted to do something that the whole neighborhood would be comfortable with. And, you know, he was, I mean, I have to imagine that all of them would much prefer it to be a historic district than, you know, a bunch of townhouses.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: So the one benefit that you have, and I don't know if you've explored this or whatever, so there's a fund for doing the work to the facades that are impacted by the historic district. Do you plan? I did not know that. Okay. So that, that's like, so that's the other thing. Is there any way we, I'm terrible looking stuff up. Is there any way that we could look up whether that could be like a retroactive thing? So if she, so we make it easy for us so that if, if she comes back to us and says, Hey, let's wait until I get substantially done with this. And then you guys start the process that she would still have access to those funds, or is it better for her to do it now? So she has access to those funds and like, and it would go for like both units. It's my understanding.
[Theresa Dupont]: I'm just not sure of what funding program. Um, is it, is it through this? I'm not aware of one through the city.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: It's through the state. Through the state. Okay. Well, the houses that are in historic district. Yes. Okay. Yeah. And it's, I mean, it's not, it's not much money. They haven't update, they haven't kept up with inflation. I think it's like, I don't want to say the word cause I'm going to be wrong, but it, it, you know, don't. Even if it paid for a window. It's. Yeah, well, with nowadays prices, who knows, you know, so that we can probably get back to you on something like that as well.
[Theresa Dupont]: Because you because so how much money is it was a $5,000 tax credit, historic rehabilitation tax credits up to 20% of the costs of rehabilitation. I thought there was also like, I think preservation mass has like preservation Massachusetts is has like intermittent grants that they offer. Technically, CPA, which is my day job hat, we've been exploring opportunities. It's not something that's clearly eligible for CPA funding, but we're trying to find ways of creating a home rehab program funded by CPA that takes care of, it would probably be for lower moderate income eligible folks. So yeah, I can share some of that information.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: In the tax credit, is that just immediate or would that be retroactive? Like we should be able to get that after the fact, after she did the work?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure of that one. Because it has to be in a historic district. Correct.
[Theresa Dupont]: It doesn't immediately say that here. I'll have to really dive into the The tax credit information. I can I can take this one offline and share the information I can pull up with you.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: But thank you for mentioning that complete was like I might reach out to Chris because Chris knew of some other thing with that too. There was some I'll have to get back to you on that. Okay.
[Theresa Dupont]: I will also say as a grant manager, a lot of grant programs are evaporating daily, um, based off of what's going on in the world right now. So it may have existed. I mean, no longer.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: So do you want us to, would you like us to, I'm comfortable with starting now because of how, um, intact it was, how intact it is. Um, Do you, you know, do you want to think about it?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Well, let me, how about this? Let me talk it over with my husband and just make sure he's okay with it. I mean, it has been our intention all along to do this. So it's just a matter of, of when and, you know, starting the conversation with you all. And, and, and again, like Teresa has my contact information, but if you want to take a walk through, I mean, it's just, it's an amazing place.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I know, I'm kind of leaning towards a field trip.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: It's a bit of a mess because we bought it with contents, but that's for those people.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: He got more excited when he saw it. You have to promise that I can't take anything home.
[SPEAKER_06]: Is it all furniture or no furniture?
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: So we did have an estate sale, but actually the house has always been sold furnished. So the Bradleys sold it to the buses and it was furnished. And when the Simonettis bought it, it was furnished. And so in the 90s, Adriana had, she had an estate sale that pretty much funded her retirement. So most of the really fine antiques went then. But some of the things that were left that, well, all of Adriana's family papers. So all of our dads, everything about his import export business and about the family moving from Italy to the United States, all of that was there. So we gave that to the Massachusetts Historical Society. We've given as much as we can, as much as the Medford Historical Society would take to the Medford Historical Society. So they've been through it and taken, you know, anything local that we've just tried to keep here. And Kate Buss actually left some of her paintings and some of her books that I think that eventually will go to the Historical Society too. So it's, you know, it's a, it was kind of a time capsule of Medford history. I mean, if it's, you know, on to, you know, immigrant history. So it's, Very cool. We just want to make Adriana proud because she would come back and haunt me in a heartbeat if we don't do this right.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Well, that's great. All right. So I don't think so. You're going to come back to us to see at what point you want to get started. We're sounds like we're game, but we are game going on it. That's great. Well, thank you. And thank you very much. This is excellent. Beautiful place.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Well, thank you very much. I appreciate the work that you all do because, I mean, I sit on the Medford Historic Commission and it's hard to see these houses go. And they are. So, yeah.
[Theresa Dupont]: It's important work. Let's do what we can to protect them.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Yes, it is.
[Theresa Dupont]: Thank you. Thanks very much.
[MCM00001614_SPEAKER_01]: Teresa, so if I go back to you, I'll just connect with you. Yes.
[Theresa Dupont]: We'll probably just invite you to our next meeting if that timeline works for you, which is next month. But yeah, we'll connect. Talk with your husband and we'll connect. Excellent. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Awesome. That would be exciting stuff.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. That would go pretty slow. I'd be more on my bed.
[Theresa Dupont]: Yeah. The only thing, like, I did want to just flag that, you know, the ADU, the notice that would come from us about an ADU might just prompt some interest from the neighbors. So that was my subtle way of saying, go talk with your neighbors.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Perfect. Okay. So we handled that. So now we got to let's bang through the letter here.
[Theresa Dupont]: Yes. Okay. And I'm going to screen share that. So just as a reminder, at our last meeting, we were discussing um, Discussing bill S 9 9 3, which while well intention has some, some language in, in there that would, uh, kind of deplete our authority for being able to kind of, um, curtail some development projects that would, you know, eliminate some historic buildings here. Again, just as a reminder, the bill language said that local historic districts would not have the authority to weigh in on any project where it creates at least one new unit of housing. So that means somebody can take down a house and put up two new units there. So if it's a single family that's historic, they can take it down, put up two brand new townhouses, and we've lost part of our inventory here. Um, the draft letter here, I can read it aloud. Yeah, I can totally do that. Try to keep it short. So here we go. Dear representative, I'm writing on behalf of the Medford historic district commission to express opposition of S 9 9 3, which is called an act accelerating housing production. This bill as written would make our unique historic culture that makes up the fabric of all neighborhoods across the Commonwealth, all that much more vulnerable to demolition. The intention of the bill. to promote and accelerate the development of housing is valiant and well supported by this commission. I'm going to pause here just because that's a little bit like, um, you know, I don't want to speak on behalf of everybody here. I feel like we're all, we all believe in housing. Everybody should have a house and kind of recognize that we need more housing. So we can come back to that if folks feel like that's a little strong. Um, so on behalf of the board of rural support, we recognize the need to create more thoughtful development that meets today's growing housing demands and fully supports efforts to find creative solutions. However, the bills language pertaining to the reduction in authority of historic district commissions would make it virtually impossible for these statutory boards to continue to protect communities, historic fabric to their intended expense. By the way, I do not speak like this conversationally. This is a very formal letter. Back to it. S-993 would see Historic District Commission strip of their authority. Oh, I need to make a... That's a typo there. Strip of their authority pertaining to construction projects that would create one or more new housing units, up to and including full demolition of the historic property. This would cripple a regulatory process that has been successfully implemented for decades. You know, just in general, historic district commissions have been put there for a reason in Massachusetts. We would further like to bring to your attention the 20 plus alternative housing production bills that were presented. There was a hearing on June 25th hearing of the joint committee on housing that identifies sustainable and alternative solutions to increasing housing production across the Commonwealth. without resorting to depleting local protections. We urge you as representative to recognize the cultural importance of historic buildings to Massachusetts and New England, and to oppose SB 993. Sincerely, Judd. Sure. Is that a little heavy handed? I mean, again, the intention here was, I think we all believe that new housing is a good thing. Whether or not it's at a volume, whatever, but new housing is important. However, this bill, if it were to pass, we would have no authority to be able to stop these type of protests.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Even more beyond that, the people that we represent, so the people who own these old homes, the woman who just presented that, all of that's all gone. Everyone's worked and spent money and resources and effort to preserve this, and then all of a sudden it's just, no, we need another apartment. This doesn't make sense to do it this way.
[Theresa Dupont]: And there were, again, I watched the entire hearing that day. There was 24 additional other bills that talked about how to increase housing production without it on the backs of historic properties here in this country. in the state.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: So my personal opinion, it's very well written. It's great. I don't know how to add anything else.
[Theresa Dupont]: Is there anything there problematic?
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Nothing's problematic. I don't know how to. I'm not good at persuading people, so nothing's problematic. I would be perfectly happy to send that. I don't know what I would add. I don't know how to convince people of anything.
[SPEAKER_06]: So yeah, I think it's to the point.
[Theresa Dupont]: Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. And it looks like I just need to add one letter in here too. But Charlotte, do you have any strong opinions on this?
[SPEAKER_02]: Or how do you feel about the letter, Charlotte?
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Charlotte, are you OK with us sending this letter? Say that again? So this letter, are you okay with us sending this letter to the representatives that would be like- Absolutely. Okay, great.
[Theresa Dupont]: Excellent.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: So should I just sign it or do you think we should all sign it?
[Unidentified]: I think we can sign it on our behalf.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Okay, perfect. Let's do it. So let's make a motion. Do we make a motion to accept it? Yes. All right. Does anyone want to start that motion? All right, perfect. Does anyone want to second that? Charlotte, can you second that?
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll second it.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: All right, let's take a vote. Charlotte? Yes. Okay.
[Theresa Dupont]: Ann?
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Marion? Yes. And I say yes. So we're good to go with it. That's ready to roll. Fantastic. Perfect. All right. So then the next thing we're going to do is the logistics discussion of the meeting on Tuesday.
[Theresa Dupont]: So just wanted to confirm. So we have our meeting. It's at six o'clock. We're going to walk South Street. I am going to bring I'll bring Probably way too much information just to have it there and people that come up and are interested, but I'll bring like the form bees and all of our South Street district material as well as, you know, a map photos of our other signs that we have, because the intention of this is to find out where to put new signs.
[SPEAKER_06]: Now, I want to ask you said it's a non historic district. Yeah. South Street is in the historic district.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: So what we're talking about now is, so we're going to meet in front of your house for the signage. So everyone's still on board with that? You didn't receive any emails of the contrary? No.
[Theresa Dupont]: Actually, you have a neighbor. He's off of South Street. Is it Toro? I think Toro's. Yeah. He's going to join us too. He actually just, he's about to join the historic commission. So I've got to bring- With the other historic commission? Yeah. Okay.
[SPEAKER_06]: So we're going to meet at my house. Yes. Which remind me one more time, just- 48 South.
[Theresa Dupont]: So I'll make sure that the notice says you're going to meet in front of 40. I won't say it's your personal residence. I'll just say we're meeting in front of 48 South Street. And we'll go from there. but I'll bring some waters and stuff like that in case anybody, but otherwise hopefully everybody will be able to join us.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Great.
[Theresa Dupont]: Okay.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: All right. So then the final issue we got to do is the meeting minutes from August.
[Theresa Dupont]: Yes, which I have a copy of them here. They were in the Dropbox too. There you go. Sorry, I only brought one copy, but all you'd be voting on is accepting the minutes, but They are there, and I guess we would welcome a motion to accept them. Do you want me to put them up on the screen or anything? Yeah, go ahead. Share. Just to prove that they do in fact exist. That's the agenda. It's a little bit of a different format. I'm using where it's just kind of like a really high level summary up at the top next steps and then breaking it down by We talked about reservation plan. Oh, that's one quick thing. Um, I did reach out to our friends at the historical commission and see if they could join, because that was something that came out of our last meetings. We invited them to come to this meeting. They just, it wasn't able to, to be together, but I did speak with the chairperson of the historical about the idea of the preservation plan, which was the intention of why we wanted to invite them here to talk about how we can combine our efforts or two boards on preserving that for right. They're very much on board with that.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: It's just, we gotta figure out timing. They have like a, they look at it multiple properties a week of the month. So yeah, it's definitely tough.
[Theresa Dupont]: I actually supported their Monday historical commission meeting and gosh, I think they looked at like five or six properties there and it's, they're very busy over there. So how can we combine our efforts to make it less busy over there.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: As always, your meeting notes look great. Can we get a motion to accept them?
[SPEAKER_02]: Emery?
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Yep, Emery just made a motion. Charlotte, can you second that motion?
[SPEAKER_02]: I second that motion.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: All right, let's take a vote. Charlotte, you vote yes?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Okay, Emery, you vote yes?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: I vote yes, too. It's accepted. That's it, so I think that hit every item, I believe. It is. All right, great. We need a motion to adjourn. Can someone make a motion to adjourn? Anne-Marie made it. Charlotte came second. Charlotte seconded it. Can we have a vote? Anne-Marie, do you vote to adjourn?
[Unidentified]: Yep.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: Yep. Charlotte, do you vote to adjourn? I do. Yes. Perfect. I vote yes as well.
[Theresa Dupont]: Awesome.
[MCM00001828_SPEAKER_03]: All right, we'll see you guys on Tuesday. All right. Have a good one.
[Unidentified]: Take care.