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Attachment 1 <br /> <br /> 1 <br />Orange County <br />HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION <br /> <br />Approved Meeting Summary <br /> <br />January 25th, 2017 <br />Old Orange County Courthouse <br />106 East King Street, Hillsborough <br /> <br />___________________________________________________________________________________ <br /> <br />MEMBERS PRESENT: Bob Ireland (Vice-Chair), Allie Mead, Art Menius, Tom Loter and Grace White <br /> <br />MEMBERS ABSENT: Jaime Grant <br /> <br />STAFF PRESENT: Peter Sandbeck GUESTS: None <br /> <br />ITEM #1: CALL TO ORDER <br />Vice-Chair Ireland called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm. <br /> <br />ITEM #2: CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO AGENDA: Menius wished to speak about NC DOT as <br />an informational item. <br /> <br />ITEM #3: APPROVAL OF MINUTES for December 14th, 2016 (Attachment 1): Menius moved to <br />approve the minutes, seconded by Loter; motion approved. <br /> <br />ITEM #4: ITEMS FOR DECISION: <br />a. Election of Chair: Staff reviewed county policy regarding the requirement to <br />have a chair and vice chair. This will be an election for just this meeting . Our <br />official procedures call for an annual election each March. Menius nominated <br />Ireland as interim chair, seconded by White; motion passed. <br /> <br />ITEM #5: DISCUSSION ITEMS <br /> <br />a. Historic Resources Evaluation Execise (Attachment 2): <br />Staff reviewed the handouts for evaluating the Mebane-Currie-Brown House (OR 1143-- <br />located in Cheeks Township on Efland-Cedar Grove Rd.) and explained how the HPC has <br />handled the evaluation process over the years. The existing evaluation form has some <br />issues that are due to be corrected. For example, this form gives extremely heavy <br />weighting for age and makes it harder for properties like the Gosling Log house to be <br />ranked higher due to rarity and other more nuanced qualities. Discussion followed about <br />how significance can be ranked/evaluated. Issues include how to address additions and <br />alterations, and how to actually assign a date to a building that was built in many stages <br />and some of the periods were more significant than others, but not necessarily the first <br />period. Staff gave a PowerPoint presentation showing current and historic photos of the <br />property and its outbuildings. Members discussed the scoring system and filled out their <br />evaluation forms. Scores ranged from 40 to 56.6, with most in the mid-50s, giving an <br />average score of 52. There was general agreement it is challenging to reduce a historic <br />building evaluation to a simple numerical value—there are so many variables to consider. <br /> <br />b. Historic Preservation Month: <br />Staff reviewed the general history of how the HPC has observed Historic Preservation <br />Month in the past. Recent discussions with the Alliance produced the idea of a program or