HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-11-2023 Historic Preservation CommissionIowa Ci Historic preservation CommissiontY
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May 11, 2023
5:30 P.M.
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IOWA CITY HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Thursday, May 11, 2023
City Hall, 410 E. Washington Street
Emma J. Harvat Hall
5:30 p.m.
Agenda
A) Call to Order
B) Roll Call
C) Public discussion of anything not on the agenda
D) Staff presentation on Climate Action Plan progress
E) Report on Certificates issued by Chair and Staff
Minor Review —Staff review
1. HPC23-0017: 325 North Gilbert Street — Northside Historic District (roof shingle replacement)
2. HPC23-0019: 112 South Governor Street — College Hill Conservation District (synthetic siding
removal and wood siding and trim repair)
3. HPC23-0020: 439 Clark Street — Clark Street Conservation District (synthetic siding removal and
wood siding and trim repair, front and rear step reconstruction)
F) Consideration of Minutes for April 13, 2023
G) Commission Discussion
Annual Property owner mailing
H) Adjournment
If you will need disability -related accommodations in order to participate in this meeting, please contact Jessica Bristow,
Urban Planning, at 319-356-5243 or at jessica-bristow@iowa-city.org. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow
sufficient time to meet your access needs.
MINUTES PRELIMINARY
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
APRIL 13, 2023 — 5:30 PM — FORMAL MEETING
E M M A J. HARVAT HALL, CITY HALL
MEMBERS PRESENT: Margaret Beck, Carl Brown, Jordan Sellergren, Deanna Thomann, Nicole
Villanueva, Frank Wagner, Christina Welu-Reynolds
MEMBERS ABSENT: Kevin Boyd, Noah Stork
STAFF PRESENT: Jessica Bristow
OTHERS PRESENT: Councilman, John Thomas
CALL TO ORDER:
Vice Chairperson Sellergren called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANYTHING NOT ON THE AGENDA:
None.
CITY COUNCIL STRATEGIC PLAN PRESENTATION:
City Councilman, John Thomas joined the Commission to talk about the Iowa City Strategic Plan and
how it relates to the Historic Preservation Commission. He acknowledged the Commission has already
come up with some strategies (short and long term) as to how the Strategic Plan fits with their mission
and work plan. He stated the Strategic Plan which was a very long process and took a considerable
amount of time and they tried to incorporate the work of Think Iowa City and other entities for more
coordination and consideration rather than just the viewpoint of City Council.
The Strategic Plan provides a good framework of the values such as racial equity, social justice and
human rights, climate action and partnerships and engagement. Council acknowledged those are
important values that should inform everything they do and the way in which it connects with impact
areas. Thomas stated there are four impact areas, first being the economy (reinforcing Iowa City as a
premier community to locate and grow business), and second updating the Comprehensive Plan and
zoning code (to encourage compact neighborhoods with diverse housing types and land uses), he
noted other cities that have gone down this road of form -based coding noted it's a very challenging
process and the interest in historic preservation or neighborhood preservation will be a critical issue in
how to apply that form -based code with emphasis to create more affordable housing. Thomas noted
with a form -based code it's more about the form of the building and how it relates to the street, but the
beauty of historic preservation is so many of the historic houses really present them well to the street
and the form -based code is much more sensitive to building size or building footprint in relationship to
the street as opposed to the use which can change over time.
Bristow read a paragraph that Commissioner Kevin Boyd wrote in the work plan for the impact area of
housing and neighborhoods. "Many older neighborhoods that are now historic districts were designed
with mobility, neighborhood commercial nodes and a variety of housing types for all income levels in
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
April 13, 2023
Page 2 of 6
one neighborhood. One of the key pieces of our work is protecting healthy neighborhoods, many of the
districts were developed out of a response to unhealthy developments in these areas that motivated the
neighborhoods to take action. We help provide stability and provide a platform for reinvestment. Some
of our ongoing work is the fact that we do have our historic preservation fund that we can use to help
people maintain their houses, especially if they are income qualified. We also have been considering
the interest in doing survey work south of the railroad tracks in the Kirkwood Lucas Farms
neighborhood. We are ready to partner with them if they ever want to do that and then we have our
long-term goal to help the formation of a form -based code, especially for areas that are adjacent to
historic districts."
Thomas noted one of his personal anecdotes coming into Iowa City in late 2009 was that he lives up on
Brown Street and was very impressed with all the historic districts and conservation districts and then
he began to realize the longer he was here why there were so many of them as it was a preservation
effort in part because they were seeing demolitions and whole neighborhoods disappear south of
Burlington Street and so the historic preservation played a significant role in trying to stabilize the
neighborhoods when they were under threat. Thomas also noted in his view the City is still under
threat with ongoing issues that have a potentially destabilizing effect, one most recently was the State
deciding to longer allow occupancy caps. It is important to understand the core neighborhoods were
built for change and they have to do everything they can to direct it in the way that protects the
neighborhoods. Thomas stated he did try to get the form -based code worked into the Strategic Plan,
but it didn't make the cut. He also suggested that when they make improvements on housing in the
legacy neighborhoods can really affect the assessment so they could at least consider some kind of
rebate program where for a period of time after making those kinds of improvements the assessment is
kept at its current rate to incentivize people to make improvements.
The next impact area is mobility as it relates to historic preservation. Sellergren noted she thinks bike
lane access and stuff like that is important. One example would be the buildings between Bowery and
Burlington on Gilbert Street and the general access to those buildings, there's no parking, there's really
not safe bike lanes, so maybe there could be a street diet reducing to three lanes or even two lanes in
that stretch so there could be diagonal parking and a bike lane. Thomas said he doesn't know the
current status but the plan has always been that Gilbert Street would go from four lanes to three to
broaden the downtown pedestrian area and calm traffic because there would no longer be jockeying
between lanes.
Thomas stated some of his initiatives did make it into the Strategic Plan and they tend to focus in the
center of town and this Commission is involved in the center of town with the downtown itself and then
the historic neighborhoods. Some of the projects would be reverting Market Street and Jefferson Street
to two-way traffic instead of one way and reducing the lanes on Burlington Street from five to three and
converting the curb lanes to parking. Thomas cited Jeff Speck who wrote Walkable City and there's a
lot of effort in that book talking on mobility issues like this. Cedar Rapids has done quite a bit of work in
this area promoting walkability and one of the great advantages of living in the core in the historic
districts is the walkability. So if they improve the walkability in terms of neighborhood stabilization and
the desirability of living in the center of town in one of the beautiful historic homes, dealing with the
traffic issues in the core and these initiatives could help over time if implemented. Thomas also
reiterated he is concerned about bike safety and making the bike lanes safer. Also one of the benefits
for two-way traffic on the streets is the appeal of the homes, especially historic homes, on those roads
would increase so much.
Thomas next talked about partnerships and engagement and the Strategic Plan and he is looking for
allies on the form -based code to help ensure they consider these things and this Commission,
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
April 13, 2023
Page 3 of 6
especially Kevin Boyd has been active with things. They now have a Strategic Plan that can be a focal
document to center the Commission activity on.
Also regarding streets, Thomann wanted to acknowledge the restoration work done to the brick streets
in the North Side Neighborhood. It's been beautifully done and part of that project is expanding the
sidewalks again looking at the walkability. Perhaps narrower sidewalks fit the old neighborhood look but
at the same time to be more pedestrian friendly wider sidewalks are better.
The final impact area is safety and well being and Thomas has been personally interested in is the idea
to create community gathering places that are easy to get to and no more than a 15-minute walk or bike
ride from neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods are really well designed for connectivity and lots of
public open space for conversations is a very important piece of the social life of the neighborhoods.
With Covid it was noticeable which neighborhoods in Iowa City did not have any open spaces and now
with the crisis of climate change and social isolation they need those places. Additionally it's an indirect
benefit that would serve the historic communities as well, there's already a lot of sociability built into the
most historic homes, and it's one of the charms of the older neighborhoods, with the porch parties and
people coming out of their houses and socializing. Other neighborhoods need places to go so he has
been trying to push that initiative City-wide and identify where they don't have those things and address
them as best they can.
Bristow noted another way form -based code can help with the historic neighborhoods is they used to
sometimes have local stores, or corner shops, and with the development of a form -based code looking
more at the form instead of the use, suddenly those types of places where people also might gather
could start developing in some of the neighborhoods.
Bristow reiterated the bulk of the work plan actually focused on the values in the beginning section, and
the value with climate action and historic preservation started nationally because of sustainability and
stopping demolitions. The work plan with climate action is ongoing for adaptive reuse and reducing
landfill waste and demolitions. She noted one of the things that they struggled with in historic
preservation circles is embodied energy as something that's been commonly discussed since the 60s
and 70s when preservation originated but a lot of time development is just talking about emissions and
insulation quality and stuff like that. When talking about climate action and the energy used to grow
and truck and create all of those historic elements and all those historic houses and then demolishing
that, putting all of that material in the landfill and then trucking in all of the materials that it takes to
make a new house is a negative impact on the environment. The reason they see a lot of value in the
masonry buildings downtown is in preventing all of that energy waste from creating new buildings when
they can use the existing buildings. So there is a line in the work plan to continue to advocate for the
fact that embodied energy is something that they can calculate and value that embodied energy already
exists in the historic buildings.
Thomas stated there have been a fair number of demolitions in the core neighborhoods recently and he
would prefer trying to come up with a strategy where they can preserve them, especially if they're on
large lots. There was recently a house over on east Davenport Street that was landmarked and when
the homeowner presented to Council she said the reason she was doing it was there are a number of
houses in her neighborhood that are scheduled for demolition. Thomas noted that the preservation
aspect of historic preservation is literally trying to save buildings from being torn down and especially if
it's a large lot with a small home which is a formula for demolition to increase the density there. He
would like to see more of these pocket neighborhoods with smaller homes on lots large enough where
they can create a composition of cottages or arranged around a common space and parking would be
on the alley. The Prairie Hill co -housing is as close as they have to a pocket neighborhood.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
April 13, 2023
Page 4 of 6
Sellergren noted she has always also been fond of the juxtaposition of the modern and historic
neighborhoods, the Cottages (on South Dubuque Street) being one example and while there were a lot
of reasons behind that demolition it would have been cool to find a way to incorporate the new structure
with the old like the Unitarian Church on Iowa and Gilbert or that house on Prentiss across from
Trumpet Blossom between South Dubuque and Gilbert Street that was kept in place and then they just
built a L shaped building around it.
In terms of locally core neighborhoods and preservation Thomas noted the additions to Longfellow and
Horace Mann (schools) are two of his favorite projects, it speaks to the idea of continuity. Dan
Solomon's book Housing and the City: Love vs Hope talks about infill work and of honoring the
character of historic places and he talks about the continuous city which speaks to the mission of
historic preservation by continuity. Solomon talks about continuity and if they can preserve buildings,
they're preserving history and preserving all that memory. A brilliant expression of continuity was in
the school district we're they've preserved the past while at the same time incorporated the educational
needs of the present time. Solomon is also very keen that historic buildings and other non -historic
buildings create a spatial continuity to the public realm and public right-of-way rather than in contrast
the disrupted city with parking lots and auto -centric land use patterns of a building surrounded by
parking lots which loses that spatial continuity. Thomas believes historic preservation is the long
history of preserving the continuous city.
Bristow stated one other note on climate action related to demolitions and another thing that they had
been looking into are a number of communities across the U.S who have been slowly limiting
demolitions. Some make certain areas where the buildings would have to be actually deconstructed
instead. For example, Portland requires deconstruction of anything built before 1920 which not only
saves the better -quality materials for use in new construction or repair and captures those extremely
valuable materials instead of putting them in landfill, but it creates a deconstruction economy because
they need the professionals who can do that work, need a place to store material, and need a way to
disseminate the materials to the public or whoever uses them. Bristow said they have a calculator they
can put real-time information in about a new development construction and demolition of a building and
compare it to rehabilitation of the historic building and come out with actual numbers that say what that
value is based on what the architect's current drawings are and what they know about the existing
building.
Bristow talked about the values of social justice, racial equality and equity and human rights and
historical preservation is trying to tell the whole story of the community and all the different groups of
people who have been there and their impacts. One current thing on the work plan is the Montgomery
Butler house and they've found documentation about the history of the family and how they would
support new black residents to coming to town. Finding a way to make use of the Montgomery Butler
house is an important goal tied to issues with heritage, social and racial equity, as well as preventing
demolition and making use of buildings that the City owns.
Villanueva noted that values of social justice, racial equality and equity and human rights could be
fostering social connections and developing safe accessible public spaces.
Thomas thanked the Commission for developing the work plan and for all they do.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
April 13, 2023
Page 5 of 6
REPORT ON CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY CHAIR AND STAFF
Certificate of No Material Effect -Chair and Staff Review
HPC23-0014: 332 East Davenport Street
This house is have having some brick work done, and it is being assisted by the historic preservation
fund.
HPC23-0016: 518 Ronalds Street
This house originally had a full width porch in the 70s but it was reduced to this entrance and has some
damage to the foundation and at the roof connection with the main roof.
Minor Review -Staff review
HPC23-0010: 109 South Johnson Street
The attic window is on the very back of the house and about four stories above ground level. It is only
accessible when using a very tall cherry picker. Staff did approve it with an alternative material, it will
be a fiberglass material, partly because nobody's going to get up there to keep it painted regularly and
because it's on the back of the house. The window is also an unusual shape and the way these
windows are manufactured they can almost make any shape and so they're able to make the triangular
shapes and then they'll have the operable rectangular section and put it all together in one frame.
HPC23-0001: 603 East College Street
This is a door replacement for this house which is non-contributing to its district because of the age of
the rest of the houses. It's colonial revival 1930s and probably the open porch was enclosed at one
point. They're replacing it with a door appropriate for a colonial revival house and it's salvaged.
HPC23-0005: 410 Church Street
This is a rental house and the front stoop was replaced without a permit and so the railing should
change to one with actual posts. Right now there's a rail and it's just suspended on the posts which are
nailed to the side of the stringer and that's not an approvable condition so it will be replaced.
HPC23-0015: 721 North Linn Street
This is the Phillips house, it's a colonial revival house and a key property in the Brown Street District.
On the south side of the alley and behind the house is a garage owned by the people in this house
and they use it for parking. The project is garage roof shingle replacement.
CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES FOR MARCH 22, 2023:
MOTION: Wagner moved to approve the minutes of the Historic Preservation Commission's March 22,
2023, meeting, as written. Welu-Reynolds seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 7-0
(Boyd and Stork absent).
COMMISSION INFORMATION:
Bristow asked if the Commission would be interested in a presentation on synthetics siding removal for
a future agenda. Members of the Commission were interested in the presentation.
ADJOURNMENT:
Thomann moved to adjourn the meeting. Beck seconded. The motion carried on a vote of 7-0.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:35 pm.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION ATTENDANCE RECORD
2022-2023
TERM
4/14
5/12
6/9
7/14
8/11
9/8
10/13
11/10
1/12
2/9
3/22
4/13
NAME
EXP.
BECK,
6/30/24
O/E
X
O/E
O/E
X
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
MARGARET
BOYD, KEVIN
6/30/23
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
O/E
BROWN,
6/30/23
X
O/E
X
X
O/E
X
X
X
O/E
O/E
X
X
CARL
DEGRAW,
6/30/22
X
X
X
—
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
SHARON
ECKHARDT,
6/30/24
--
--
-
X
X
COLE
KUENZLI,
6/30/22
X
X
X
CECILE
LARSON,
6/30/24
O/E
X
X
X
O/E
O/E
O
-
-
—
KEVIN
SELLERGREN,
6/30/22
X
X
X
O/E
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
O/E
X
JORDAN
STORK, NOAH
6/30/24
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
O/E
THOMANN,
6/30/23
X
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
DEANNA
VILLANUEVA,
6/30/25
--
--
--
X
X
O/E
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
NICOLE
WAGNER,
6/30/23
O/E
X
X
X
X
O/E
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
FRANK
WELU-
6/30/25
--
--
--
X
X
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
REYNOLDS,
CHRISTINA
KEY: X = Present
O = Absent
O/E= Absent/Excused
--- = Not a member
Are you planning
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As a steward of a property within an Iowa City
Historic or Conservation District, you may:
Require project review by the Iowa City
Historic Preservation Commission.
Contact us before you
begin work.
Projects under historic
review are subject to the
guidelines in the Iowa City
Historic Preservation
Handbook.
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Qualify for financial assistance.
Available resources include: State and Federal historic tax credits, the
Iowa City Historic Preservation Fund, and zero -interest loans and/or
grants through the City's Housing Rehabilitation Program.
®Details, eligibility, and online applications can be found by visiting icgovorg/HPResources
and icgovorg/HousingRehab.
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CITY OF IOWA CITY For more information or to set up a pre -application meeting, contact
UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE Jessica Bristow atjbristowCa)iowa-city.org or call 319-356-5243.