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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Historic Preservation Commission - 10/10/2005 MINUTES HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION OCTOBER 10, 2005 TOWN OF ORO VALLEY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT— HOPI ROOM 11000 NORTH LA CANADA DRIVE CALL TO ORDER: 6:03 PM PRESENT: CHAIR PAMELA SARPALIUS VICE CHAIR ROBERT BAUGHMAN COMMISSIONER PAIGE CHRISTIANSEN COMMISSIONER JIM KRIEGH COMMISSIONER NANCY MAGER COMMISSIONER SYBIL NEEDHAM STUDENT LIAISON, EMILY GRAVES ALSO PRESENT: PAUL LOOMIS, MAYOR BRENT SINCLAIR, AICP, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR NANCY ELLIS, BICYCLE/PEDESTRIAN/TRAILS COORDINATOR MARK ARNISON, PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD LIAISON JENNIFER JONES, RECORDING SECRETARY ABSENT: COMMISSIONER AL KUNISCH CONNY CULVER, TOWN COUNCIL LIAISON CALL TO AUDIENCE Opened and closed with no comment. I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 12, 2005 MEETING MOTION: Vice Chair Baughman MOVED to approve the minutes as submitted. Commissioner Christiansen SECONDED the motion. Motion carried (6-0). II. HISTORY READING BY JIM KRIEGH Commissioner Kriegh read an article from the Tucson Daily Citizen, dated August 30 1975, "In Oro No Forms, No Tickets". "Rural Metro Fire Protection company has made a lot of friends in its role with the Oro Valley Police force, especially those 93 persons who could have received traffic tickets in the past month but didn't. Lieutenant Fred Roof of Rural Metro, one of Oro Valley's six policemen says that the lucky 93 didn't get tickets because the officers didn't have any to give to them, State approved citation forms were ordered a month ago but they hadn't been received from the printer and doesn't expect them for another 10 days". III. REPORT FROM THE ORO VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Commissioner Kriegh stated that the Oro Valley Historical Society has a website, www.ovhistory.org. Commissioner Kriegh stated that an individual who attended the Historical Society's first meeting volunteered to put up the website and also gave them a donation and a matching donation from Mobile Oil. Mr. Kriegh stated that part of the donation is to buy a computer program. 2 Mr. Kriegh also stated that he received a,deed of gift that has been signed and everything that he has received from Henry Zipf is now in the Oro Valley Historical Society's material. Mr. Kriegh informed the Commission that the next meeting will be on October 18, 2005 at 6:30 p.m. at the Sunshine School. IV. REPORT FROM THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION ORDINANCE TASK FORCE Vice Chair Baughman stated that since the ordinance is drafted, he and Mr. Sinclair will be getting together. Mr. Baughman stated that this Commission needs to look at the ordinance and play with it and do what they feel is necessary to do with it. Mr. Baughman also stated that the Town Attorney also has to review it, but feels that the Commission should be the first to review the ordinance and decide if they would like to make any changes, even if the changes are not approved by the Town Attorney at least the Commission can decide what they would like to do. Mr. Baughman stated that the Task Force will bring the ordinance back to the Commission as soon as possible and will provide everyone a copy to review. Mr. Baughman informed the Commission that due to the open meeting laws, the Commissioners may not discuss the draft with members of the Task Force other than in meetings of the Commission. Chair Sarpalius reiterated that the Task Force will provide the Commission with a hard copy of the ordinance and the Commission will have the opportunity to review it before it is sent on to the Town Attorney. Ms. Sarpalius requested that the Commission receive the ordinance a few days prior to the meeting so that there is time to review it. Mr. Baughman replied that the Commission will receive it 7 to 10 days prior to the next meeting. Mr. Baughman stated that the draft will be emailed to everyone. V. REPORTS FROM STUDENT LIAISON Emily Graves, Student Liaison stated that she recently presented the Steam Pump Ranch presentation to the Optimist Club where she was honored as their first Student of the Month. Miss Graves also stated that she met with the principal of Harleson Elementary School and she will be presenting her presentation next month to the students in the art class. Miss Graves also stated that she may be visiting Painted Sky Elementary. Miss Graves presented her Steam Pump Ranch PowerPoint presentation to the Commission. Miss Graves also informed the Commission that she is thinking of showing a short video and they will build a mosaic with the students and that will be a traveling art exhibit that she will put throughout all of the schools. Chair Sarpalius stated that Emily is a great asset to the Commission and is the greatest Public Relation asset at this time. VI. REPORTS FROM THE PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD Mark Arnison, representative from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board stated that there was no report for this meeting. VII. APPOINTMENT OF LIAISON TO THE SANTA CRUZ NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA ALLIANCE Mr. Sinclair reminded the Commission of the presentation that he made two months ago regarding the Santa Cruz National Heritage Area. Mr. Sinclair stated that this group started out as small and it has grown to include all sorts of individuals, organizations, partnerships, local government, county government, business groups, chambers of commerce, land owners and everyone wants to see what's happened. Mr. Sinclair stated that a heritage area, is designated by Congress through an act of the Department of Interior, they do not cost a region anything, what they can do is attract money and by being apart of a heritage area you can apply for grants through the Department of Interior that go to projects that preserve the heritage of that area. Mr. Sinclair stated that the purpose of the heritage area in general is to really create a mosaic of different pieces of history in a region. Mr. Sinclair stated that the group has been able to put together a feasibility study and get it to the Department of Interior through the first or second round of applications and what they are waiting on now is for October 10, 2005 DRAFT MINUTES, HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION 3 Congress to by a Congressional Act designate this area as a heritage area and once that is achieved then it becomes a heritage area. Mr. Sinclair stated that until that time the working group which is the Alliance meets on a regular basis, at least once a month on the first Friday of the month. Mr. Sinclair stated that what they have been doing is putting together the plans of how to proceed forward once the area is designated a heritage area. Vice Chair Baughman asked if the Chair should be the one to represent the Town. Chair Sarpalius informed the Commission that due to the time that the Alliance meets, she is unable to attend. Mr. Sinclair stated that he feels that the representative should be someone that is very interested in this and can attend the meetings and help promote this area, once designated this heritage area will help facilitate some of the projects that we are trying to get across and draw attention to them and may help with getting some grants. Mr. Sinclair informed the Commission that the meetings are held from 9am to 12pm in Green Valley. Mr. Sinclair stated that he was willing to go the meetings once in a while, but he is unable to commit the time. Mr. Sinclair reiterated that he would like someone that is interested in the Alliance and can help promote this throughout our community. Commissioner Mager stated that it sounds there is more promotional/advocating involved and asked what the Town's expectations were for the representative. Mr. Sinclair stated that there was minimal expectations, to brief the Historic Preservation Commission and stated that there may be an expectation to brief the Town Council, but he would help out with that. Commissioner Mager asked how the Santa Cruz National Heritage Area Alliance is funded. Mr. Sinclair replied that the Alliance is funded through donations from organizations and individuals. Mr. Sinclair also informed the Commission that the Town of Oro Valley donated $5000 last year and that the town may donate another$5000 this year. Commissioner Mager stated that she would consider being the representative. MOTION: Vice Chair Baughman MOVED to appoint Commission Mager to be the Liaison to the Santa Cruz National Heritage Area Alliance. Commissioner Kriegh SECONDED the motion. Motion carried (6-0). VIII. STATUS OF BOND ISSUE PROJECTS Honey Bee Village Mr. Sinclair reminded the Commission of the joint meeting with the Development Review Board and Town Council on Wednesday, October 12, 2005. Mr. Sinclair stated that the purpose of this meeting is primarily to introduce everyone to the Honey Bee Village area. Mr. Sinclair stated that the reason that the Development Review Board needs to be introduced to this is because there is a new property owner, Steve Solomon who bought the property from the Rancho Vistoso Partners. Mr. Sinclair stated that the whole property is 75 acres in the Rancho Vistoso planned area development. Mr. Sinclair stated that what Mr. Solomon is willing to do is to donate the core area, which is comprised of about 13 acres,which is the bulk of the Honey Bee Village is located, in exchange for that, Pima County Bond funds will be used to help survey and mitigate the other area around it so that he can do his development proposal. Mr. Solomon will unveil that development proposal for the area around the Honey Bee Village at the Wednesday night meeting. Vice Chair Baughman asked if other ruins are identified on the remaining acres would Mr. Solomon be free to tear those down. If there is any evidence of remains or bodies or artifacts they will find those areas and survey and categorize them. Once the area is surveyed and a final report is presented to the Arizona State Museum, Pima County Cultural Resources, the Town of Oro Valley they will relay on those expertise for those entities to determine October 10, 2005 DRAFT MINUTES, HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION 4 what is significant and what isn't. Mr. Sinclair stated that if there are human remains, a report will go to the respective Indian tribe, which is the Tohono O'odham Nation. Mr. Sinclair stated that in the event that human remains are found one of two things will happen, either the remains will remain where they are and it will be a no touch zone, which means nothing will be developed on the site or they will dig up the human remains and artifacts and dispose of them properly. Mr. Sinclair stated that what everyone is concerned about is preserving the main core site. Mr. Sinclair stated that hopefully this project will be under public ownership before the end of the year. Mr. Sinclair also informed the Commission on the status of the grant. Mr. Sinclair stated that we will be receiving the funds for the grant, the paperwork between the Town and the Tohono O'odham Nation is complete. Steam Pump Ranch Mr. Sinclair stated that the Town Council made a motion last month to have staff proceed with trying to buy the property and to proceed with condemnation if the negotiations fell through. Mr. Sinclair stated that this matter is still in negotiations. Mr. Sinclair informed the Commission that the Town Council has requested that the Pima County Board of Supervisors move the 3 million dollars from the Naranja Park acquisition project to the Steam Pump Ranch project. The County has indicated that they will approve that request. Mr. Sinclair stated that we are looking at 4.23 acres but when the negotiations are done we may be getting more than that. Mr. Sinclair stated that the Commission will be involved in some aspect with these properties. Chair Sarpalius stated that as these projects are proceeding and with the meetings that the Commissioners are attending, she wanted to remind the Commissioners, since she feels that the press may come into play soon, to be extremely cautious in identifying themselves as a Commission Members. Ms. Sarpalius asked that they keep in mind whether they are speaking for themselves or as a Commission Member. Mr. Baughman asked that"Dealing with Press"be put on next months agenda. Mr. Baughman also stated that if a Commissioner is approached by a member of the press to refer that person to Chair Sarpalius. Mr. Baughman requested that Bob Kovitz, Government and Community Relations Administrator be invited to speak at the next meeting. IX. DISCUSSION CONCERNING THE SCOPE OF THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION AND THE SCOPE OF THE HISTORIC SOCIETY Mr. Sinclair stated that the Historic Preservation Commission and the Historical Society are two different entities and as time goes on it would be better to define the role of each because both entities are new. Mr. Sinclair stated that the purpose of the discussion tonight is to talk about some of the areas that they see may overlap and some of the areas that they don't. Chair Sarpalius stated that Commissioner Kriegh stated tonight that a lot of the documents are now the sole possession of the Historical Society, keep that in mind that the documents are not the Commissions and if the Historic Preservation Commission wanted to use any of the documents they must get permission from the Historical Society to Commission Kriegh replied that the way the Deed of Gift is written and signed by Hank Zipf, it states that the Historical Society may assign or put on permit loan with the Town of Oro Valley. Mr. Kreigh stated that will remain to be seen, he will have to see what legal documents there are, because he does not want the Historical Society to give the Town things that a new council could potentially come in and discard. Chair Sarpalius asked if any of the documents that are being signed mention the Town, if the Commission could get copies of the documents, in case they ever have to go back to them. Ms. Sarpalius pointed out that these are two groups that work together, but are separate. October 10, 2005 DRAFT MINUTES, HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION 5 Mr. Baughman stated that there is a potential third entity, a museum, which is possible it could be either a Town entity or a private entity most likely run by the Historical Society. Commissioner Kreigh stated that some of the documents can be turned over to the Town. Mr. Kreigh stated that the State Historical Society has already asked for documents and he has told them no. Chair Sarpalius stated that the purpose of the discussion is not to drive a wedge between the two groups; it is to work together and to lay some ground rules down. Ms. Sarpalius also pointed out the reason for the agenda item for the Historical Society is due to Commissioner Kriegh being the president of the Historical Society and if there was anything needing to be relayed from the Historical Society to the Commission and she feels there would not be anyone better to relay information than Mr. Kreigh. Commissioner Mager stated that she feels that the bullet point on the agenda for the Historical Society makes it very clear that it is the Historical Society moment to show what they are doing and will curb some confusion between the two entities. X. ADJOURN MOTION: Vice Chair Baughman MOVED to adjourn the Historic Preservation Commission at 7:12 p.m. Commissioner Christiansen SECONDED the motion. Motion carried 6 yes, 0 no. Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Jones, Recording Secretary October 10, 2005 DRAFT MINUTES, HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION