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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Historic Preservation Commission - 11/1/2010 11/01/2010 Minutes, Historic Preservation Commission MINUTES ORO VALLEY HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION REGULAR SESSION November 1, 2010 HOPI CONFERENCE ROOM DEVELOPMENT SERVICES BUILDING 11000 N. LA CANADA DRIVE CALL TO ORDER: 5:01 p.m. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Daniel Zwiener, Chair Lois Nagy, Vice-Chair Bob Baughman, Commissioner Ed Hannon, Commissioner Sam McClung, Commissioner Valerie Pullara, Commissioner Ellen Guyer, Commissioner ALSO PRESENT: Ainsley Legner, Parks Recreation Library & Cultural Resources Director Steve Solomon, Town Councilmember CALL TO AUDIENCE No speakers. 1. REVIEW AND/OR APPROVAL OF THE OCTOBER 11, 2010 REGULAR SESSION MINUTES MOTION: A motion was made by Commissioner Hannon and seconded by Commissioner Guyer to approve the minutes as corrected. MOTION carried, 7-0 2. HONEY BEE VILLAGE ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE - DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION a. SITE MONITORING John Scheuring stated that he is on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and is involved in activities such as land restoration and archeological site monitoring. The Arizona Archeological Site Stewardship Program monitors the Tucson region and he looks after the Northwest sector. The Arizona Archeological Site Steward Program is administered by the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) under the State Parks division. - Volunteers are trained and given monitor permits for public lands. 1 11/01/2010 Minutes, Historic Preservation Commission - They are given confidential information from the Arizona State Historic Museum and at the end of their volunteer work, they return the information. -Volunteers monitor sites on public lands for vandalism and reptile poaching. - Volunteers escalate vandalism reports to appropriate authorities. Volunteers monitor the following public lands: national and state parks, national forest lands, BLM lands, state trust lands, county and city parks and archaeological lands. Tucson Region of the Arizona Archaeological Site Steward Program: - Program in Tucson has 165 trained volunteers (about 80 active). - Regularly monitor 85 archeological and historic sites. - Report approximately 12 minor and 2 major vandalisms per year. Mr. Scheuring showed a map of Honey Bee Village. He stated that the land was originally going to be developed as a community. Pima County bought this 13 acre piece of land which is surrounded by land owned by Fidelity National Title and Washington Federal Savings. He showed photos taken today from the four corners of the land which illustrated that this is not publicly accessible land. He stated that we do not know who is on the property and what they may be doing on the land. He pointed out the entrances. Councilmember Solomon explained that he put up one of the fences around the area and it is taken down often. He has also attempted to keep walkers and vehicles out of the area. Pima County was supposed to post signs along the preserve wall years ago. Mr. Scheuring stated that in order for a site to be accepted into the Arizona Site Steward Program, a land owner would need to approach the program operators expressing that they are interested in participating. Also, there has to be clear legal access to the land and in this case there needs to be a conversation with the bank owners and the police. Mr. Scheuring proposed that the Historic Preservation Commission clarify with staff and the Town Council about the current legal access to Honey Bee. Councilmember Solomon stated that the Moore Road extension has been dedicated to the Town and the preserve adjoins that and it is the official legal public access. He stated that the Town did an easement and that once a person goes through the Moore road extension gate which is locked, the right of way has been dedicated to the Town and there should be an entrance along the right of way into the preserve. There is a Town easement heading along the preserve going south to the main "pedestrian entrance". Mr. Scheuring commented that if the commission agrees to the site monitoring by the archeological site stewards, then the commission can request that Pima County and the Tucson Chapter of Site Stewards designate Honey Bee Village for regular monitoring. Councilmember Solomon asked how often the monitors would monitor the site. Mr. Scheuring stated that this would be determined by the Town and should be clarified in the request. Commissioner Baughman asked how County archeological sites get designated as such. Mr. Scheuring stated that it may be by the Pima County Cultural Resources office but he 2 11/01/2010 Minutes, Historic Preservation Commission does not know for certain. He stated that once they are designated, they are to be protected in perpetuity and not developed. Ms. Legner stated that Linda Mayro has indicated that the funding issue would have to be mitigated before any ownership changes are made. The property was donated and the money that would have been spent to buy the land was used for the mitigation and the cost of that exceeded what the County had expected so they were hoping that the amount over and above ($600,000 - $700,000) would be split between the County and the Town. Ms. Mayro feels that this is a real stumbling block because the Town has never paid the $350,000. Commissioner Baughman explained that his question at the last meeting was prompted by a rumor that the Town had resolved the $350,000 issue. Ms. Legner explained that the whole $700,000 has been paid from left over money from a Marana project but the County would still like the Town to pay the $350,000. Councilmember Solomon explained how Pima County had handled the agreement and the issue of the County requesting payment from the Town. He discussed the requirement of the IGA and the Town Council's decision at that time to pay the County and visit the issue in the future. Councilmember Solomon indicated that the agreement is a public document approved by the County board of supervisors regarding the donation and mitigation of the property. He stated that the document states that Pima County will do an IGA and the other issue was the recording of the final plat. Councilmember Solomon and Commissioner Baughman both expressed support for the commission monitoring the site. Chair Zwiener asked about tours. Ms. Legner stated that there have not been any tours recently. Commissioner Baughman stated that the commission adopted a tour protocol for Steam Pump Ranch to be recommended to the Town Council and he asked about this being done for Honey Bee Village, limiting the access as much as possible. Chair Zwiener pointed out that the Town owns Steam Pump Ranch. Councilmember Solomon stated that the only tour he is aware of was with Henry Wallace from Desert Archeology for an archeological group to see the site once a year. Commissioner Baughman stated that Scott Nelson has also taken people to the site but not for formal tours. The commission discussed the following: - Commissioner Hannon stated that based on discussion, it seems that the permission should be requested from Pima County to begin site monitoring. - Commissioner Baughman urged that the commission take control of the situation and go to Linda Mayro who may sign off on it. - Ms. Legner stated that she spoke with Ms. Mayro about the concept of a stewardship and her perspective was that the site monitoring people should contact her because they own the land. - Mr. Scheuring indicated that the problem is information about legal access. - Ms. Legner stated that staff can provide the information regarding access. 3 11/01/2010 Minutes, Historic Preservation Commission MOTION: A motion was made by Commissioner Baughman and seconded by Vice-Chair Nagy to direct staff to proceed with the process of developing site stewardship monitoring of Honey Bee Village and if possible, that this be structured so that the responsible agency is the Historic Preservation Commission who would secure from Pima County sufficient documentation to provide access and the Town to provide permission to access to the Pima County site through Town easement and for monitoring the Arizona Site Stewardship program to be done by the Historic Preservation Commission rather than any other office. Discussion followed regarding: - Commissioner Baughman explained that he recommends that the commission take the lead and direct staff to pursue contact with the County to arrange for access to the County's portion of the picture and follow legal requirements to guarantee access to the Town's part of the picture and that the commission through staff monitors the monitoring process. - Commissioner McClung indicated that the motion is language dense and confusing. - Commissioner Pullara agreed about moving forward but stated the motion can be stated in a simpler way. - Commissioner Baughman stated that the motion is detailed so that it sets up how this should be done so that the commission can be responsible for the site. He believes that Honey Bee Village will eventually be owned by the Town and the plan is how that will be operated. It needs to be specific so it will not be left with Pima County. Commissioner Guyer called the question. MOTION carried, 4-3 with Commissioner McClung, Commissioner Pullara, and Commissioner Guyer opposed Further discussion followed regarding: - Commissioner Baughman requested that staff keep the commission informed. - Vice-Chair Nagy stated that she feels that this is one of the most important motions that has been made since she has been on the commission. - Chair Zwiener encouraged Mr. Scheuring to return to the commission next month granted that we have the agreement to get the monitoring program underway to discuss the details of the plan. He also stated that this is an important program and hopefully will lead to the protection of Honey Bee Village. b. OWNERSHIP Item B was accomplished during Item A. 3. ENVIRONMENTALY SENSITIVE LAND - DISCUSSION Ms. Legner announced that there is an open house this evening on the environmentally sensitive lands issue. 4. WORK PLAN AND PROGRESS - DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION Commissioner Pullara stated that the work plan subcommittee met and is reviewing the work plan one more time. They solicited comments from the subcommittee to be sure that 4 11/01/2010 Minutes, Historic Preservation Commission they covered all of their tasks and they received those comments back. They plan to bring that information forth at the next meeting. Commissioner Hannon requested that the rest of the commission receive the draft. Commissioner Pullara stated that it can be added to the next agenda packet. 5. CULTURAL RESOURCES INVENTORY PHASE II: PRESERVATION PLAN - DISCUSSION Ms. Legner stated that she received the updated phase II proposal from Dr. Ravesloot today but has not read it yet. She will e-mail it out to the commissioners. The allotted limit was $15,000 per vendor per contract. He is working in the $11,500 range and the scope is priced appropriately. The project must be completed by September 2011. If it is not done by July 1, 2011, it will be suggested that the remaining $4,000 be rolled over to next fiscal year. 6. STEAM PUMP RANCH - DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION A. PROJECT UPDATE Chair Zwiener stated that an original staircase was discovered. There should be another meeting with the task force soon. Vice-Chair Nagy stated that it is hard to decipher from the photographs how many steps there are and if they continue below the ground. Chair Zwiener circulated additional photographs for the commission to review. He stated that it appears that the wooden cover has not been removed yet. There are also rock features which need exploring. Poster Frost Mirto recommended saving the staircase, interpreting it and not using the one in the living room. Vice-Chair Nagy asked what material the newly found steps are made of because if they are wood, the rest may have deteriorated but if they are stone, there may be more. She suggested that the commission explore this topic further. Chair Zwiener stated that he assumes that the team is working around the new discovery at this point. There has to be a balance between going forward with the site work and preserving this item and the task force may be very helpful with this item. Ms. Legner added that the contractor was asked to work around the area while the task force determines the next step. Chair Zwiener pointed out that he met with the contractor two weeks ago and the contractor was relieved that there were not a lot of people on the site but he is agreeable to having meetings and tours at the site. Commissioner Pullara indicated that it is difficult to make a decision regarding the stairs prior to having more information. She asked if more work is done on the stairs, would that warrant a change order on the contract. Chair Zwiener responded that it would represent a change order and the exploratory removal has shown more things that may cause additional change orders. He stated that he would like to first have the commission on site to see the discovery and Project Manager Jose Rodriguez would handle the change order. Ms. Legner added that a recommendation would be taken through the commission's representatives on the project team. 5 11/01/2010 Minutes, Historic Preservation Commission Chair Zwiener commented that he would be comfortable if the commission made a recommendation to himself and Commissioner Baughman to take back to the task force. Commissioner Hannon stated that it warrants more investigation and a preservation consideration. Vice-Chair Nagy stated that she would at least like to see the steps uncovered now. She told a story about how the cellar was used and was a part of the family. She stated that the two steps found should be preserved. Chair Zwiener recommended that Dave Concord with Concord General Contracting be the tour guide. He stated that the adobe expert has indicated that the land around Steam Pump is some of the best adobe soils. Commissioner McClung pointed out that the members will not be able to have discussions or make decisions until the next meeting. Chair Zwiener stated that this would be an information gathering tour. Commissioner Baughman suggested scheduling a public meeting immediately after the tour. Chair Zwiener suggested scheduling an emergency meeting should they need to get their recommendation to the project team prior to the next regular meeting. Chair Zwiener will work with staff to set up a tour of the site as soon as possible. He suggested that the archeologist, Homer, be present. B. BUDGET UPDATE Chair Zwiener stated that the bid came in under the allotted amount so there is room for change orders. C. GRANT APPLICATION UPDATE No report. D. DOCUMENT SCANNING Vice-Chair Nagy stated that the documents at the Lieber house occupied five large plastic bins and over the last several weeks, she and Intern Monique Shephard have been reviewing the documents. Sorting has been in preliminary categories: very dirty, needs a lot of work, clean/almost clean, to scan or not to scan, Lieber papers, items from the Pioneer Hotel and documents from an employee who worked and lived at the hotel. They still need to clean some ledger books, sort one box and organize one large container which should take 2-3 sorting days. They found minimal items to scan and most of the Lieber items were medical bills and bank statements. They have not found anything from the Pusch era. The items to be scanned relate to the early stories of the Lieber's. Some items will be sorted into folders but not scanned because they are too personal and too recent. The commission and staff recognized Vice-Chair Nagy and Ms. Shephard for their hard work and dedication. Chair Zwiener stated that it is helpful if the commission is updated on when these work sessions are in case any members are interested in joining. 6 11/01/2010 Minutes, Historic Preservation Commission E. EVENT PROTOCOL Ms. Legner stated that Chair Zwiener requested that she work on this item at the September 2010 meeting and it is on her work list. Chair Zwiener added that it is a matter of altering the visitation protocol so that it is a request for event and changing the time parameters for the submittal dates. Commissioner McClung asked how it may affect the 2012 Centennial Celebration. Chair Zwiener stated that there is no sense of urgency now because there are no upcoming events. Commissioner Baughman stated that he was appointed as the commission's liaison on the Centennial Celebration Committee and he will be appointed to the committee independently when he is no longer on the commission. Commissioner Hannon will then be the commission's representative. Jim Skalicky was introduced as the new president of the Historical Society. 7. HPC SHIRTS - DISCUSSION Ms. Legner stated that the shirts will have the Town seal embroidered on them and will read "Historic Preservation Commission". The order will take approximately one week of turnaround time. 8. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS - DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION No items. ANNOUNCEMENTS No announcements. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: A motion was made by Commissioner Baughman and seconded by Commissioner Hannon to adjourn the meeting at 6:45 p.m. MOTION carried, 7-0 Prepared by: Danielle Tanner Senior Office Specialist 7