Mount Vernon Historic Preservation Commission discussed if the demolition ordinance protected outbuildings.
The discussion was sparked by a request from Leigh Bradbury for the 213 First Avenue S.W. home. Commission president Sue Astley discovered the wrong address was listed for the property, and the commission will review the addresses.
Commission member Guy Booth, who helped write the ordinance, said that it was established for any structure that was historic.
The commission did an inventory for all buildings in the community in the 1980s, and Barbara Long took photos of all of the homes in the communities.
The issue for some commissioners is that there aren’t definitions from the secretary of the interior for items like barns, due to architecture varying across the country.
“We don’t have as much control over what people do with outbuildings on their properties,” Duane Eash said. “What if an outbuilding was modified and is no longer conforming to the historic property it sits next to? It’s easier to demolish something that is not conforming.”
Commission member Wade Squiers said preserving historic outbuildings may impact very few properties in Mount Vernon.
When it came to historical significance, some of the buildings are historic because of who owned the property previously and their importance to Mount Vernon, not necessarily the structure itself architecturally.
Commission member Randy Brown is going to review the list of historic properties from the 1980s evaluation and a list the commission had previously finished to doublecheck that addresses are correct.
Another topic of discussion was possibly including one of the old brick homes from Mount Vernon’s history that was not on the demolition list. Commission member Mary Evans said the property should be included because of it’s historic nature. No action was taken.
Commission meets with JMT
MVHPC had their first meeting with JMT for design review guidelines March 26.
Design guidelines are to be finished between now and December. Samantha Smith and Angela Jimenez were representing JMT at the meeting.
Smith and Jimenez provided good insight as to what information they will have in the guideline booklet, but more importantly, continue to ask questions of the commission as to what we would like to see in the booklet.
Smith and Jimenez spent March 26 in Mount Vernon touring the town, gathering information and taking pictures of structures in the historic districts.
They will use the current book that was prepared by Ed Sauter and Dick Thomas as a reference and can incorporate some of the original drawings prepared by Ed Sauter into the new guideline book.
Commission member Mary Evans made sure they have some of those drawings by Ed Sauter were preserved in future updates, sending them some of those original documents.
One of the discussions that had come up at the meeting was if the commission wanted to have guidelines for art in historic districts. Commission members said the guidance they would have was on how items of art are attached to buildings, not the artwork itself.