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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-09-10 CC & HPC Special Joint MIN tat, ii(Water 216 4th Street N, Stillwater, MN 55082 651-430-8800 The Birthplace of Minnesota J www.ci.stillwater.mn.us CITY COUNCIL&HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION SPECIAL JOINT MEETING MINUTES September 10, 2019 REGULAR MEETING 7:00 P.M. Mayor Kozlowski called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Present: Councilmembers Collins, Junker,Weidner, Polehna and Mayor Kozlowski, HPC Members: Chairman Mino, Commissioners Finwall, Larson, Walls, Steinwall, Thueson Absent: None Staff present: City Planner Wittman, City Attorney Land INTRODUCTIONS City Planner Wittman asked those present to introduce themselves and describe what preservation in Stillwater means to them. MEETING PURPOSE City Planner Wittman stated the meeting is for discussion purposes. No action will be taken. HISTORY OF STILLWATER HPC City Planner Wittman stated the HPC started in 1973, out of the Washington County Historical Society and Rivertown Restoration,a nonprofit.The first structures to be listed in Stillwater were the Point Douglas Bridge (old Stonebridge) and Nelson School. The HPC created the Downtown Design Manual in the late 1980s. Other design elements began to be incorporated into the HPC's purview, such as the West Stillwater Business Park Plan in 1989. In addition to preservation, new design review became a part of the HPC's responsibilities. In the mid-1990s the HPC began reviewing demolition applications. Design Guidelines were updated in the 2000s and the Neighborhood Conservation District was created, with guidelines for the review of new homes in this district. The Heirloom Homes and Landmarks program was also initiated. In the 2010s, amendments were made to the ordinances. In the recently updated Comprehensive Plan chapter,the number one thing that was recommended was to update the ordinance. Five demolition requests were considered this year, an increase over the previous few years. HPC RESPONSIBILITIES City Planner Wittman stated that three sections of City code contain HPC responsibilities. The purpose of the HPC has not changed since the original enabling ordinance. The goal is to preserve historic resources and to do public education. Staff recognizes the need to clean up the code, eliminate inconsistencies, and assign certain responsibilities. City Council & Heritage Preservation Commission Special Joint Meeting September 10, 2019 DESIGNATION CRITERIA AND NOMINATIONS City Planner Wittman reviewed the four national designation criteria for structures that are 50 years old or older. Stillwater's criteria incorporates a number of the national standards into the City code. She has investigated what other communities do and found that leaning on the national standards may pigeonhole communities because some of the things that a community values may not fit the national model. Councilmember Junker stated that is one of the issues. Lately it seems like every designation study being done finds that the structure does not meet any of the criteria for whatever reason. He feels that is pigeonholing the City into a situation where staff and Council feel there is something there and yet the study is showing nothing. Councilmember Weidner remarked that is where the balance comes in between property rights and community rights. Just because it is old does not mean it is significant. Commissioner Larson commented that if we want to protect something then we have to find historic guidelines to help us do that. There are conservation districts that are historic- based and conservation districts that are planning-based. Rather than a very strict set of rules, if a neighborhood or a block wants to create a conversation district and say"we want to keep this the same," can that be done?What if it is not historic,what if it is relatively new but people want to keep it the way it is. Is it only through historic designation that we can preserve? Can we do an overlay district with zoning tools that says we are going to keep these characteristics in this area? Then we step outside of the discussion of whether something is historic or not. Councilmember Weidner agreed. He commented that what we have does not protect historic buildings, it protects old buildings. If we change that distinction, then people purchasing property would know they cannot do certain things, it would be"buyer beware" -the limitations would be on the books so they would know when they purchase a property there are things they could not do. Mayor Kozlowski mentioned that Breckenridge, Colorado, for example, has a time period defining the structures they wish to preserve. Commissioner Larson stated, for example, in the case of a very run down home that is vernacular,not historically significant,the only tool we have to keep it from being torn down is to go through the procedure of trying to designate it as historically significant. It does not seem like the right tool. If there is a whole intact block of vernacular houses, there is value in keeping them. If the vernacular house were in Croixwood, for example, it would be different.There are certain things we can use historic tools for. Mr. Larson added that there are other things we want to keep, and we need something else to work with. Councilmember Weidner emphasized that we need to give people who buy properties fair warning that their house is being controlled to some degree by the group that sits around this table,according to what we think is valuable or old. Mr.Weidner asked if we are talking about a certain era being of value, and how does this group define what is important to Stillwater; and Commissioner Larson responded that it can be a lot of things. For example, in a downtown district that also has a mix of residential homes, it may be desirable to preserve that mix of uses. Page 2 of 8 City Council & Heritage Preservation Commission Special Joint Meeting September 10, 2019 Councilmember Junker added, for example the Broadway Street house that was discussed for six months - every house in that row was built in the 1880s and represented the lumbering era of Stillwater. He asked if it is a question of it being significant because it is old,or because the neighborhood all ties in together. Mr.Junker added that we struggle with character versus old, versus neighborhood, versus significance. Presently we do not have the teeth to stop demolition of structures like this. Commissioner Walls remarked that where we got caught is we had no historical significance there, no teeth. Councilmember Weidner commented that the broad description of things built during a certain era would probably be easier to apply to structures we want to save. Commissioner Steinwall added, or just say it was built before 1946, period. Commissioner Larson responded that would be too broad. Chairwoman Mino acknowledged that sometimes it is clearly a safety issue dictating that a structure should be torn down. City Planner Wittman added that there have been some demolition applications the Council has not seen. The ones the Council sees are the ones we think could be significant to the development and characteristics of the City. Councilmember Weidner asked if that statement can be challenged. How does a home buyer know that their house adds to the development characteristics of the City?We need to give fair warning and say if it falls into a certain time period, it is of value to the City. Mayor Kozlowski asked how zoning assists in preservation; and Commissioner Larson replied that he feels zoning is the direction we should look at. For example, an area along Broadway could be a mini district or overlay - then everyone who wanted to buy there would know the house is in that district. Retaining affordable housing could be one of the goals. Certain areas could be chosen to apply some sort of zoning rules if we get the neighborhood to agree. Commissioner Finwall remarked that you cannot get to the demolition piece in a zoning code.You can have design standards governing what could be altered,but demolition would have to be in a separate code. Mayor Kozlowski read from the Breckenridge, Colorado zoning code. Councilmember Weidner responded that in Breckenridge, the buildings that are standing and are not being used look awful.All we are doing is inflating the value of homes by being very limited in allowing them to be torn down. If negligent homeowners do not repair their properties,they should not benefit from the inflated value to someone who has the funds to renovate. Mayor Kozlowski reminded that variances cannot be for economic reasons. The same should apply to demolitions. City Attorney Land stated that we have discussed starting an economic development authority,which would give the City the ability to provide economic incentives for property owners, giving them a lot more options. The Economic Development Authority could have Page 3 of 8 City Council & Heritage Preservation Commission Special Joint Meeting September 10, 2019 the powers of an Housing& Redevelopment Authority. It would have to be funded through taxes or seed money. Councilmember Weidner asked if it could it be done through Convention & Visitor Bureau funds or tourism dollars. He added that people visit Stillwater because of the historic appeal. There needs to be a broader funding tool than taxation for everyone. Mayor Kozlowski asked if is there a TIF-like funding tool; and City Attorney Land replied that you could establish TIF districts. An EDA or HRA is one way to do that. A very strict analysis would have to be done to ensure an area qualifies as a TIF district. City Planner Wittman added that we could keep the designation criteria as they are but perhaps they should be added to, or tweaked, maybe removing the word significant. Maybe the nomination itself is the issue. The standards may not be the problem. Chairwoman Mino noted that the challenge with the studies is that national criteria were used. If we had set local criteria, the structures may have been saved. Commissioner Larson remarked that somehow we need to locally draw a line.We need lots of little sub-areas - areas that are pretty intact, where we may be able to get neighborhood buy-in. Councilmember Weidner stated it would be great to just add "old" and add an era and require that the consultants use our criteria. City Planner Wittman noted that is the first litmus test, is it an historic resource? We need to determine whether we need an outside consultant. City Attorney Land stated she likes the idea of zoning districts because it is clear and buyers would know what they are getting themselves into. She is not sure yet where to put the demolition process.You need to have criteria for when demolition can happen, for instance if it is falling apart, it cannot be moved, etc. There could be guidelines and standards in the zoning ordinance - then you would not have to be involved in designating it historically significant.Trying to designate an entire ward would be difficult.There is danger in drawing the district too large. Smaller areas probably could get a percentage of property owners to agree, 80, 90 or 100% to consent.You could do a zoning overlay that is specific to homes of a certain era. Mayor Kozlowski asked where did 1946 come from; and City Planner Wittman replied that 1946 has to do with the end of Stillwater town planning and development.Stillwater has ten historically significant periods. Mayor Kozlowski asked do we want to talk about accessory buildings as part of this conversation; and Ms. Wittman replied nationally if it is 50 years old or older, it is eligible to be listed if it fits the criteria. Commissioner Finwall stated that the downtown district and neighborhood conservation district could be converted to an overlay district- now they are a conservation district, but not a zoning district. If they were zoning districts, it would be more difficult to challenge some of the guidelines because they would be rules. Page 4 of 8 City Council & Heritage Preservation Commission Special Joint Meeting September 10, 2019 City Attorney Land agreed. A constant complaint is that we have these guidelines, but we can not make anyone adhere to them because it is just policy. So put it in your code so it is a rule. City Planner Wittman asked City Attorney Land if it is allowed to simply deny demolition if a structure is not listed; and City Attorney Land replied that if you set out your criteria in your ordinance that says in this zoning district, you cannot demolish unless you meet the following criteria, and let staff determine whether they meet the criteria.There is an appeal right for due process. We can figure out who that goes to - but as long as you apply your criteria,give them due process,the appeal body can apply the same criteria to either uphold it or overturn it. Then they have district court to go to if they choose to take it that far, if they do not like the decision. Commissioner Steinwall stated that maybe it would make sense to de-couple demolition from the HPC and rather say, if a structure was built before 1946, go with the Breckenridge approach. Not designating historic districts,but rather saying,this is the criteria that applies to the whole City. Commissioner Larson asked if that would be too broad. It would literally mean if a structure was built before 1946, it could never be torn down. Chairwoman Mino commented that the conservation district talks about promoting and sustaining a diverse and affordable range of homes. That is already in place. That was our approach in some of the cases we were looking at. It is not really a historic preservation approach. If some of those guidelines can be codified it would really help maintain the traditional nature and affordability of the City's housing. Councilmember Weidner stated that he likes the objective nature of establishing a certain date that would inform buyers,you would not be able to tear something down if it was built before a certain date. He asked where does the City come in with enforcement of maintenance of homes in the overlay district; and what role can we take. Mayor Kozlowski suggested that we could tag something that appears to be demolition by neglect; and City Attorney Land replied that is already in statute. It is the responsibility of the City to be watching hazardous buildings. City Planner Wittman added that if staff were charged with monitoring demolition by neglect, then we would need more resources, specifically inspectors. City Attorney Land stated that she is not sure that it has to be an overlay district. Put the rules in place, they are not guidelines, they are design standards, performance standards - maybe maintenance is one of those rules. Then if someone wants to demolish, they have to meet the criteria- hazardous, falling down, something.What if it is not in that district,if it is an old house somewhere else. Ms. Land questioned do we still want to apply those specific rules outside of that district? Those people may not know they bought a house that had special rules with it. If you are in the district, then you know. City Planner Wittman noted,if it is outside of the district,the HPC should be looking at those true heritage preservation sites and whether they should be listed, like Boutwell House for example. Ms.Wittman has enough direction right now in terms of large scale neighborhood preservation, community character preservation as a tool that these two bodies would like to explore. Page 5 of 8 City Council & Heritage Preservation Commission Special Joint Meeting September 10, 2019 City Attorney Land remarked that she still questions what to do with these old houses outside the district. She pointed out that state law has the 60-day rule when dealing with people's property. It has been broadened by case law to go outside of just a zoning regulation.Anything dealing with a land use application permit is subject to the 60 day rule. We have to be very mindful of that. Councilmember Weidner commented that he wants people to have fair warning, and added what if we say any house in the City that was built before a certain time is subject to the rules. We have made it available to them, it is clear, concise. If it is necessary to get designation on specific houses around the community that the City would like to preserve, he would like to have discussion at least before they are torn down. Commissioner Steinwall noted there are other reasons to preserve housing- it is affordable, green, etc. City Planner Wittman moved to the topic of designation; and indicated that Stillwater does not designate sites. However, there may be some circumstances where the City would want to designate something. She posed the question, who can make the nomination? Right now the HPC can request that the City Council order a designation study, but it does not say that Council, staff, or property owner can make the nomination.Who should be allowed to make a nomination?Are we going to require property owner approval? Commissioner Larson stated he feels it should be kept open as far as nomination. There is no harm in any groups being able to nominate a particular structure. Councilmember Weidner countered that he is not sure if it would be good for a neighbor to say they wish to designate their neighbor's home because it adds value to their house. He has a hard time with other people regulating someone else's property - someone arguing they have an equitable interest because they walk past it. City Planner Wittman turned to the subject of nomination preparation and pointed out that the City has 6-8 qualified consultants. Again, she posed the question, do we need to have a pre-approved qualified consultant? Looking at other communities in the State, many allow staff to do designation studies. The other question that has been brought up recently is whether or not the City would ever want their own subject matter expert, a historian on a retainer for some cases from time to time.Who should be the reviewing parties? Right now we do not send it for review to the Washington County Historical Society.The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has to review our nominations and they can take up to 60 days. Our Council is the only body that can authorize a designation study. Councilmember Weidner noted that it comes down to spending the money. If we are conducting the reviews internally, no longer sending them out for $5-10,000 each, he does not care whether staff or someone more versed in the area does it. City Attorney Land stated that regarding demolition,we should determine either they meet the criteria to demolish, or they do not, to eliminate having to go through this "we're going to have to designate it as an historic resource in order to save the house." DEMOLITION REVIEW City Planner Wittman stated that it sounds like demolition review would go away.Currently, demolition review allows for us to determine the historical significance. Some communities Page 6 of 8 City Council & Heritage Preservation Commission Special Joint Meeting September 10, 2019 use interim protection - if a structure is in the process of being nominated, the property owner cannot do certain things in the interim. City Attorney Land added that the City could have an interim protection ordinance on the zoning districts you are talking about, which would allow nothing that would alter the exterior of a site. DESIGN PERMITTING City Planner Wittman noted there have not been challenges with design permitting, but murmuring about it taking time. This is the HPC's biggest interaction with the public. The HPC reviews site alteration permits, sign permits in the downtown design review district and multi-tenant signs in the west business park district. City Attorney Land suggested that maybe it should be the Planning Commission that reviews signs in the west business park district. Maybe we should move this off the HPC's plate. Commissioner Larson commented that he thinks it could work either way, the Planning Commission or the HPC. City Planner Wittman added that the Comprehensive Plan states the City should consider reassignment of the west Stillwater business park district to staff for zoning decisions. Councilmember Weidner stated that he feels the quality of the work done by the HPC, with regard to design, is more consistent than you would get on the Planning Commission. He added that it is more thoughtful given the makeup of the HPC compared to the Planning Commission. Commissioner Larson stated the downtown has sign criteria and the business park has a sentence. Maybe there should be more criteria for signs in the west business park district. City Planner Wittman acknowledged that the sign code is being amended right now. Staff administers the zoning of signs, but it is the design of signs that is reviewed by the HPC. It is a waste of resources to do staff reports for signs as it takes a lot of time to do sign permits. The west business park has no guidelines, it is virtually up to the HPC's whim. So having better codified standards would be good. Her recommendation is that signs not go before the HPC, and that there be standards codified so staff could review the sign plan at the time of the building permit. Commissioner Finwall noted that planning commissions usually look at the big picture, the zoning. It might be difficult to drill down to these small details. She agreed with reassigning sign review to staff. NEXT STEPS City Planner Wittman reported staff is finalizing a request for proposals to hire a consultant with State and Federal money to update this ordinance. The contract would probably run from November to June. It will be a two part process incorporating some help from citizens, and talking to a few property owners who have gone through the process recently to ask what is working and what is not. The consultant will take the lead on HPC enabling ordinance clean-up. There will be future meetings. She asked if the Council would be favorable to an interim moratorium; and the Council consensus was affirmative. Page 7 of 8 City Council &Heritage Preservation Commission Special joint Meeting September 10, 2019 ADJOURNMENT There was no motion for adjournment. The meeting ended at 9:07 p.m. Ted Kozlowski, Mayor ATTEST: Abbi Jo Wittman, City Planner Page 8 of 8