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HRAB 03-17-92 Meeting AgendaCOUNTY of FREDERICK Department of Planning and Development 703/665-5651 FAX 7031678-0682 M E M O R A N D U M TO: Historic Resources Board Members FROM: Kris C. Tierney, Deputy Planning Directozr�� DATE: March 11, 1992 RE: Meeting Notice and Agenda There will be a meeting of the Historic Resources Board at 7:30 p.m. on March 17, 1992 in the conference room in the Old County Court House. Please let me know if you are unable to attend. AGENDA 1. Discussion of outline for proposed Frederick County Historic Plaque Program. 2. Review and discussion of criteria for evaluating eligibility of structures. 3. Discussion of issues remaining to be addressed. THE COURTHOUSE COMMONS 9 N. Loudoun Street - P.O. Box 601 - Winchester, Virginia - 22601 March 17, 1992 HRAB Agenda Items 1. Staff has prepared an outline for a proposed plaque program. The HRAB will need to refine the procedures proposed. 2. The criteria developed by the HRAB, some time ago, for the evaluation of the significance of a site are included in your package. We will need to review this to see if there are any changes desired. 3. The staff has developed a list of what we feel are the issues remaining to be addressed. Board members may feel that there are others which need to be discussed. 2 OUTLINE: PROPOSED MSTORIC STRUCTURE PLAQUE PROGRAM Purpose of the Plaque Program The purpose of the program will be to recognize and hopefully encourage the preservation of architectural styles and historically significant structures. The recognition of locally significant sites through designation will help heighten awareness and aid in the education of the citizens of Frederick County. The program will also assist visitors in understanding the history of the area, the impacts of events or persons on the area and will point out examples of architectural styles of various periods that can be found locally. To Qualify for a Plaque the Applicant must do the following_ 1. Pick up an application form from the Department of Planning and Development 2. Complete the application form - including current photographs of the entry - documentation of age of the structure or its historically significance 3. Submit the completed application package and a processing fee to the Department of Planning and Development The application will be included as an item on the next HRAB agenda. The HRAB will review the application and approve or disapprove the request based on the established criteria. The process should require no more than 60 days. Applicant responsibilities: Display the plaque in location designated (Needs to be determined) Agree that plaque will remain until the HRAB deems it inappropriate (This raises a significant question of how and when a site is determined no longer eligible?) 11 HRAB responsibilities: Review all applications within specified time period. (60 days?) Notify applicants within designated time (90 days?) as to the status of the application, approval or disapproval Issue plaques to those applicants that are approved Maintain file of documentation Make determination on structures. (This raises the method and purpose designated.) 4 continued eligibility of a number of issues concerning of tracking a structure once Criteria for Evaluation of Eligibility; Frederick County Plaque Program General Guide 1. The building will be judged as a whole, parts of structures will not be considered separately. (If there has been a recent addition or alteration not in keeping with the historical context of the original structure, should the structure be denied?). 2. The building must be at least 50 years of age. Criteria• A. Structure must be a good example of its type, period or method of construction; or represent the work of a master craftsman or possess high artistic value; OR B. Structure must be associated with a historic event or person significant to Frederick County; AND C. Building must possess physical and historical integrity. The Building must be A or B and must meet C. Criterion A: Structures may be eligible for a plaque of recognition if they possess the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, method of construction, represent the work of a master craftsman or possess high artistic values. Guideline 1. A property must clearly represent the type, period or method of construction and enhance our understanding of the class of resources of which it is a part. The structure should illustrate a pattern of what was common to the class of resources; the individuality or variation that occurred within the class; the evolution of that class over a period of time; or the transition between that class and others. 2. High artistic values may be expressed in areas diverse as community design or planning, engineering and sculpture. 3. A master is a figure of generally recognized greatness in a field or an anonymous craftsman whose 5 work is distinguishable from others by its characteristic style or quality. 4. A structure can be significant for the way it was originally constructed or crafted, of for the way it was adapted at a later point in time or for the way it illustrates changing tastes attitudes and uses over a period of time in the past. 5. A structure may be significant because it represents either an unusual or widely practiced type or method of construction. Criterion B: A structure may be eligible for recognition if it was associated with an event that has made a significant contribution to the county or associated with a person significant to the county's past. Guideline 1. A property may be associated with one or both types of events; a specific event marking an important moment in history; or a series of events that make a significant contribution to the development of the county. 2. The significant contribution of any event must be demonstrated and must be a good representative of the event or events and of the larger theme of which they are a part. 3. 4. 5. 6. Criterion C: Persons "significant in our past" means individuals whose activities have been important within our local history. The individual must be specifically identified. The property's association with an individual should be documented by accepted methods of historical research. The length of association should be identified. A structure must possess physical and historical integrity. Integrity being the authenticity of a structures historic identity, evidenced by the survival of the physical characteristics. Guideline 1. Integrity applies in five ways: Location is where the structure was placed. The location many times indicates a function in the development relationships. Design is the composition of elements that comprise the form, plan, space, structure and style of a property. Materials are the physical elements that were combined in a particular pattern. The integrity of materials determines whether or not an authentic historic resource still exists. Workmanship is the physical evident of the craftsmen's labor and skill in constructing, altering, adapting or embellishing a building. Aesthetics/ feeling is the ability of the building to evoke the historic sense of a past period of time. 2. A building should exist today essentially as it did during its period of significance. The majority of the building must be intact or undisturbed; recent alterations must have been done according to professional standards to ensure preservation. 7 CONCERNS THAT NEED TO BE ADDRESSED: 1. What additional information should be required from the applicant? What information should be required on the application form? 2. How should the HRAB start the program, i.e. designate County owned buildings first or those listed on the National Register? 3. Is 60 days enough time, too much time, to review applications? Is 90 days enough time to distribute the plaque to a recipient? 4. Where should the plaque be located? Should we state that if the house is visible from the road that the plaque be placed to the left side of the door or if the house is not visible from the road, that the plaque be placed at the driveway? 5. Design of the Plaque, should we have a contest? 6. If the program is completely voluntary, should we mandate that the plaque stay on the structure until the HRAB says it is inappropriate to have the plaque? What are the implications? What would cause a structure to be determined ineligible? What would the procedures be? 7. Will a fee of $50.00 be appropriate? 8. What amount of alterations to the building will be acceptable to still receive a plaque or retain a plaque? 9. Once the program is underway, do we want to investigate the possibility of a joint venture with the Chamber of Commerce to put the structures on a map so that people will know where the sites are located? What are the implications of this? 10. Should we encourage plaque recipients to form a historic district?