HPC Meeting Summary 01292025 - Laserfiche WebLink

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arranged by a descendant of family members buried there. There is one carved gravestone for Hester Iveson (born 1847-died 1934) along with numerous field stone grave markers. At least 11 rows with approximately 15 burials in each row were visible. It shares similarities with our own Strayhorn-Blackwood burial ground; both of these remained in active use well into the 20th century. Staff at the Office of State Archaeology encouraged us to apply for a federal grant to undertake a survey of these sites and map them. This should include the stone mounds associated with local Indian tribes. The county's Human Relations Commission met with staff at Blackwood to initiate a project with the HPC to install a stone marker there as a memorial. This joint effort could provide markers for other such burial grounds. Members agreed that staff should move forward in the process to seek grant funding for this effort. d. County Justice Facility expansion planning: The county and the courts launched a project to develop long-range plans for the expansion of the Justice Facility, looking the various buildings and sites along Margaret Lane near the courthouse. Staff showed preliminary scenarios presented by the planning firm; these will be revised and shared with the Town and other stakeholders. Discussion followed, with members expressing concerns about the scale of the buildings and the future of the old jail. The Norwood- Jones office will stay in its current position. The HPC will be involved, especially regarding impacts on the old courthouse and square. The future use of the Old Courthouse is uncertain due to modern court security and accessibility requirements. e. Historical Marker project: next steps: This is something that we've discussed in the past. In the past, several members volunteered to form a committee but some of those volunteers have rotated off now, so now is a good time to re-activate this effort. This has been a topic of interest among some of the BOCC. Several members volunteered to serve on this subcommittee: Deetz, Menius, Moore and Whisnant. Staff will schedule a meeting. ITEM #6: UPDATES AND INFORMATION ITEMS a. Old Courthouse Preservation Project architect selection: The committee selected Joe Oppermann to be the project architect. The next step will be to develop a scope of work for the first phase, which will be the full assessment of the building in order to develop an accurate working budget. We should get the cost for that within a couple of weeks. Of course, one key issue will be whether the building will end up being an active court facility or some community use such as a museum or cultural center. b. Lynching Memorial marker on Courthouse Square: Members have seen the flyer for the event, coming up soon on February 16t" at 1 pm. The program includes some excellent speakers along with the choir of the Jones Grove Baptist Church, which is the church that owns the Ridge Road School that we recently placed on the National Register. c. Andrews House National Register Nomination: Staff obtained on bid from our former consultant who did our countywide historic resources survey, but it greatly exceeds the available budget. Staff will ask for additional pricing from other qualified consultants. Funding will be provided by the Lands Legacy program budget as the owners have place about 150 acres of their property in a conservation easement. d. Book Project update: Dan Pezzoni continues to make refinements and edits to reduce the length of the text. Staff showed an example of how photos are being organized, with work now underway on the last chapter. Captions are the next step. Photography will continue up into the spring. Moore will help with getting photo permissions from UNC. e. America's 250 initiative: The January organizational meeting was cancelled due to the snowstorm that came the day before. It will be rescheduled for a later date. f. Membership update: The first terms of current members Menius, Dickinson and Whisnant will expire on March 31 st. All agreed to serve second terms. g. Open air time: No topics were presented. ITEM #7: ADJOURNMENT: Golan moved to adjourn; meeting adjourned at 8:03 pm. Meeting summary by Peter Sandbeck, DEAPR staff 2