Sharon Historical Commission

And

Sharon Historic District Commission

90 South Main Street

Sharon, MA  02067

 

Minutes for the meeting held on April 11, 2007

 

Present:        Robert Young, David Martin, Shirley Schofield, Gordon Hughes,

Brent Gundlah, Susan Rich and W. Reese Schroder

 

  1. Commissioners met with Town Clerk, Marlene Chused to discuss the need to preserve historical town documents.  We had an opportunity to review several books and records and to see their state of disrepair.  Ms. Chused was able to show us what a preserved document would look like from a program that was available several years ago.  She got an estimate from Brown’s River of Vermont that it would take just over $140,000 to protect the remaining documents in the Clerk’s office.  It was also suggested that a new, environmentally sensitive storage safe would also be needed at additional costs.

 

We suggested that this would be a suitable proposal to bring before the Community Preservation Committee and that we would look into state and private foundation grants that might be available.  It may be possible to complete this work in time for the next round of CPC considerations.

 

  1. Joseph Timilty, the winning bidder for the Wilber School project, representing Frontier Enterprises, introduced us to Frontier’s newest partner in this endeavor, The Beacon Companies.  Jason Korb will be a contact person with the town on the project and Leslie Donovan will be the historic consultant.  We discussed the need for assistance from the Commission with the state agencies that are responsible for approving the tax credits for this historic preservation project.  The project has also changed in its scope.  It will no longer be an independent living community, but rather will be non-restricted apartments (mostly one bedroom) with 20% earmarked as “affordable” units.  There will be a 4 story addition in the back that will be distinct from the Georgian Revival original building.  The Selectmen negotiated a 75 year lease.

They plan to include abutters (13) into a new septic system.  They plan to preserve the auditorium; however this may be only a temporary situation if the project needs more units for financial viability.  They hope to have one stop financing with the state in place by 9/7/2007.  Mr. Timilty reminded us again that the project needs the ongoing help of the Commission and to thank us again for our foresight in creating an historic district because the available tax credits is what made this project so attractive to his and other firms.

 

-2-

 

  1. The January and March meeting minutes were reviewed (The February meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather).  David Martin moved to accept both month’s minutes and Shirley Schofield seconded.  They were accepted unanimously.

 

  1. The Goodband property on Edgehill Road will not be demolished by the developers of Avalon Sharon.  They needed to purchase another property that was further away from the highway.

 

  1. Shirley Schofield and David Martin discussed their walk of the proposed Sharon Commons development with members of the Mass. Archaeology Association.  They were able to use maps and documents to locate the site of Wainman’s Ordinary and were told that the Mass. Historical Comission should weigh in on the significance fo this site.  Robert Young was to send a letter to the State Archaeologist with the information provided.

 

  1. An application process for work done to properties located within and Historic District was discussed.  Brent Gundlah had worked on details two years ago and we should put up what we have on the town’s website.  The issues regarding the construction at 38 North Main Street were discussed and it was decided that we should ask Town Administrator Ben Puritz to work with us in our relationship with the Building Inspector, Joe Kent.

 

  1. Other business:  Susan Rich and Robert Young are scheduled to attend a planning meeting of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council at the end of the month.  We made plans for who would speak on which issues at the upcoming Town Meeting.  Robert Young is to meet with the Finance Committee to discuss our positions, particularly to inform FinCom on the issue of the Community Center naming – that we voted to send the issue to Town Meeting for debate and vote but that the Commission was not in favor of naming the structure for anyone.

 

Meeting was adjourned at 10:00 pm