HPC Minutes 082218 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Attachment 1 1 Orange County HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION Meeting Summary August 22nd, 2018 Old Orange County Courthouse 106 W. King Street, Hillsborough ___________________________________________________________________________________ MEMBERS PRESENT: Todd Dickinson, Tom Loter, Art Menius, MEMBERS ABSENT: Bob Ireland, Steve Peck STAFF PRESENT: Peter Sandbeck GUESTS: Paul Noe and Becky Paxton t ITEM #1: CALL TO ORDER Chair Dickinson called the meeting to order at 6:33 pm. He recognized our prospective new members Paul Noe and Becky Paxton. ITEM #2: CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO AGENDA: None ITEM #3: APPROVAL OF MINUTES for June 27, 2018 (Attachment 1): Menius moved to approve the minutes, seconded by Loter; motion approved. ITEM #4: ITEMS FOR DECISION: None ITEM #5: DISCUSSION ITEMS a. Property Evaluation Exercise: Harvey’s Chapel and Old Site and Cemetery: Chair Dickinson provided an overview of the evaluation process and how this relates to the HPC’s efforts to designate properties as local landmarks. Staff presented an overview of the present-day Harvey’s Chapel, along with the historic cemetery and old church site of Harvey’s Chapel, located above Crabtree Creek, adjacent to the boundaries of the County’s Seven Mile Creek Preserve. This church was featured in the links from UNC student Rachel Cotterman that were shared. The congregation purchased the land in the 1890s, then established a cemetery and built a small frame church there. The County ceased maintaining the small dirt road leading there, forcing the congregation to abandon this site and move to Dimmock’s Mill Road, where they built their present church in 1940. There are perhaps 8-10 elderly members, so they are looking for a way to preserve their history. They wish to deed the old site and cemetery to the county, and those parcels can be added to the existing Seven Mile Creek Preserve property. At the old site there is the outline of the old church foundation (28’ long by 16’ wide, with the foundation of some sort of small front entry porch. There was evidence of perhaps 150 burials in the cemetery, most without markers. Staff reviewed various old maps showing the church site and old road network starting around 1906 and moving forward in time. Members and guests then proceeded with the evaluation process for the three resources: the old church site, the old cemetery, and the “new” church and cemetery. After much discussion, members provided their scores, which averaged 59.3. By tradition, prospective landmarks must score at least 50 in the evaluation process to be considered eligible to participate in the program. Staff noted that the county has obtained a bid from a local surveyor to perform the necessary work to will proceed to have a landmark application prepared.