Minutes 10-03-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 Commissioner Jacobs said next Monday there will be a meeting in response to a petition from Commissioner Marcoplos about the JPA anniversary, and staff invited planners from Chapel Hill and Carrboro to attend. Chair Dorosin had no comments. 4. Proclamations/ Resolutions/ Special Presentations a. Endorsement of Proposed National Register of Historic Places Nomination for the Efland Home (NC Industrial Home for Colored Girls) The Board considered the Historic Preservation Commission's recommendation that the historic property known as the Efland Home be submitted for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and to authorize the Chair to sign the attached Elected Official Comment Letter. Peter Sandbeck, Cultural Resources Coordinator, made a PowerPoint presentation of photographs, and reviewed the following information: BACKGROUND: The process for listing a property in the National Register of Historic Places includes a provision allowing the BOCC to offer an opinion for or against the listing of a particular historic property within its jurisdiction. The owners of the Efland Home initiated the National Register Nomination process for their property as part of their long-term effort to protect the property and ensure that its important history is documented and shared. The Historic Preservation Commission undertook this project to prepare the National Register Nomination as one of its program goals for 2017. Funding was provided through the County's Lands Legacy Program, which includes as one of its priorities the protection of"lands of historic, cultural, or archaeological significance". The Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) fully supports the nomination of this property to the National Register. The Commission held an informational meeting and received public comment about this National Register Nomination at its regular meeting on September 27, 2017. A letter from the HPC Chair in follow-up to that meeting is provided at Attachment 3. The National Register is an honorary designation that carries no local regulatory burden but does provide a federal and state process for protection in the case of projects receiving federal or state funding, or projects that require some form of federal or state permit or license. Examples include highways, pipelines, wetland disturbance and cell towers. The attached excerpt of the National Register Nomination document provides a detailed discussion of the history of the Efland Home. The information details its statewide significance as North Carolina's first reform institution for African American girls when it opened in 1925. The project was spearheaded by Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown, a nationally recognized black educator and social reformer. Funds to build and operate the Efland Home were raised by black women across the state under the auspices of the NC Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. Commissioner Jacobs said he thought the significance of the home was known at the time that the solar installation was put in next door. Peter Sandbeck said the home was known of, but it was not on the historical register. He said federal law only protects a property once it is on the register.