[0:00] would take frch well it's 6 o' so time to work are

[0:05] we exp not live yet we are

[0:09] expec

[0:15] okay I think the only question I had on his was where exactly on that property

[0:19] because we all sat in on approving him moving that property remember

[0:25] that he changed the orientation of it it's down over Hill from the nursing

[0:31] home I remember where it is we did that we we voted to change the orientation as

[0:36] part of that building long time ago still isn't finished no it's not yeah I

[0:42] pretty much drive by there quite often

[0:52] so I was saying ear when I do that train Ambassador job we take up right by

[0:59] inform so we do like four trips probably so I see it you see it a lot four times

[1:04] every time I do this

[1:09] are all right I guess six o'clock should we go ahead and get started then even

[1:17] though Sten is not

[1:22] here we might well we could jump ahead to the staff approvals all right so then

[1:30] all right why don't we do that okay so I'm going to call to order the historic

[1:35] district commission meeting for Monday May 13

[1:39] 2024 um please rise for the Pledge of

[1:44] Allegiance I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to

[1:50] the Republic for which it stands one nation under God

[1:55] indivisible and thank you

[2:01] the Maryland land use article empowers frostburg's historic district commission

[2:06] to implement the city's historic preservation overlay District according

[2:11] to the regulations set forth in the Frostburg zoning ordinance all meetings

[2:16] of this commission are open to the public and conducted in compliance with

[2:21] Maryland's open meetings act the Frostburg historic district

[2:26] commission is charged with the preservation of historic structure

[2:30] and the surroundings within the designated District in order to

[2:34] safeguard the heritage of the city stabilize and improve property values

[2:39] strengthen the local economy and Foster Civic

[2:44] Beauty all right let's do the roll call um I'm the chair Don

[2:49] Hine uh Vice chair Joseph Hoffman present Bill Denman is not with us this

[2:56] evening Rob rayan present Morin Brewer um is not with us this

[3:03] evening um and our alternate Dan Daniel filer is not with us this evening so

[3:10] Commissioners if you would please review the current agenda and when you are

[3:15] ready if I could have a motion would you appear approve the

[3:20] agenda a second

[3:25] um all in favor please say I iing oppose the agenda is

[3:32] approved um next Commissioners if you would review the minutes and when you

[3:37] are ready if I could have a motion and that would be the minutes

[3:42] from our last meeting um December 11th 2023 to approve the minutes second all

[3:52] right um all in favor of approving the minutes please say I I hearing none OS

[4:00] the minutes are approved okay so um our first project

[4:07] presentation um is 46 Depot Road um Steve Bennett has um not yet arrived so

[4:15] we'll give him a few minutes um and move to um let's move to Old business which

[4:23] would be next in line do we have any old business to

[4:29] discuss

[4:32] all right so then let's move to new business and it looks like we have some

[4:38] administrative approvals um that have happened since

[4:42] our last meeting yes we had uh three staff approvals U one was at 21 Frost

[4:52] Avenue for West C his uh new place of business

[4:59] house for C Chiropractic uh he was installing a small commercial sign um

[5:06] and that received staff approval um then there was 273 East Main

[5:13] Street it was just exterior painting it was going to be from a historic

[5:19] pet so that was staff approved and also 4 Bells Lane uh they were doing an in

[5:27] house and um so no change of materals for

[5:35] that Jamie did uh was there any indication of when the 40 Bells Lane

[5:40] project would be initiated no I'm I don't know when that's starting or or

[5:48] when it will be completed um it was uh Bethy had brought that to me she had

[5:53] spoke to the gentleman and got the information and just said would

[5:59] did you know just a staff approval for that one but she didn't say when it

[6:05] was where do you where on where is 21 Frost

[6:09] Avenue uh it is so if you're on Water Street uh the Corner House another house

[6:21] and then it'll be 21 so it's a third house on the right as you go up on the

[6:25] right side I think it's it's Alley Cuts through yes it's right there's an alley

[6:32] on the other side of it okay yeah we had seen his

[6:37] property back in the fall yes for new doors and I believe the back by the

[6:43] garage and that back door okay yeah and yeah the little small deck not hardly

[6:50] called the deck like a little tiny porch but steps there yes was he previously in

[6:56] the building on Main Street where I believe was yeah yeah right out Corner

[7:08] okay all right

[7:12] um well do you feel comfortable presenting the

[7:17] project or I can give are very rough details of what I

[7:24] know okay do you have any of

[7:30] was he going to bring cut sheets or other items to show or

[8:05] is the proposed so

[8:09] there's one of these in there with the pictures yeah and then with the

[8:21] pictures could you Orient us with respect to that to the pictures yeah

[8:26] with respect to the pictures if you're looking at the of the house the way you

[8:31] would Orient it would be looking at it with the hole on the left so it would be

[8:38] like you're on Water Street looking straight at the house sitting back

[8:43] towards the back of the property fence would go this way yeah it

[8:47] would go off kind of towards you if you're at Water Street and then straight

[8:54] ACR down so

[8:59] yeah I

[9:02] know so it would come off this

[9:07] corner and then come out a little bit if you look at that yeah and this on this

[9:13] picture leading from the corner of the house yeah like that it would be coming

[9:19] towards that corner is this corner and then off a little bit come out a little

[9:24] bit and then go that direction yeah kind of so it'll jut out a bit

[9:29] um and then and then the the left side of the

[9:36] house there is a small portion that comes straight off the edge of the house

[9:42] that would be like straight out here and then back which is kind of hard thre

[9:49] dimensionally to think but that that leads back behind the house and then so

[9:54] that that red it comes off and then follows the street all the way back and

[9:59] would does it tie up with that it would connect with that fence back there so it

[10:04] would come off and then all the way that is a long piece of fence then yeah yeah

[10:09] along the along the road so it comes down this way it would come over short

[10:14] way and then come back to that fence so you can see on here we're

[10:21] talking about this corner now is this so it would come over just a short distance

[10:27] and then there would be space yeah it would run parall coming

[10:32] out towards the to that yeah it comes off

[10:37] of this right here it doesn't

[10:43] say so oh that's a gate I see so there's a

[10:49] couple of gates gates yeah it looks like probably like a doorway and then a

[10:54] larger gate to allow um whatever maybe a vehicle or lawn

[11:00] equipment to get through um it does not say from what I can see he has like the

[11:10] size of the gates but he doesn't have the size of or the

[11:15] length of the fence that it comes out yeah that's because that would be a

[11:20] question that I would have is like what happens here how does it terminate at

[11:28] this corner there is there is fence also there which I don't it's hard to see but

[11:36] there is fencing that runs this is I believe the same fence that's behind the

[11:41] house over here that comes so I believe it would terminate and connect with that

[11:48] fence just can't see it in these pictures where it comes back this

[11:52] direction it right there is there is a fence so you can see it like a little

[11:58] bit here and a little a little bit here I don't know specifically on here where

[12:02] it's going to connect but after it comes out and comes back down it looks to be

[12:09] that it will connect with that fencing so is that um in this picture I

[12:16] believe actually is that um maybe shed is that theirs or is that the

[12:23] neighbors no it's going to connect the fence you'd think it would be no

[12:27] actually it I don't think it will connect to that portion of fence because

[12:31] that fence though because it looks like that fence runs back here so it won't

[12:36] actually connect it will be out so I don't see it well that's what that's

[12:39] what I'm wondering how does that terminate it

[12:42] doesn't I mean that's the dotted line the the dark the black you know with the

[12:49] dashes that's the property line yeah that's property

[12:53] line and it it wouldn't just end in a property

[12:57] line it's got to well I have a fence it'll fall down yeah yeah unless the

[13:03] only thing I can think of is it just isn't shown on here which without him

[13:08] saying you know being here to say that there might be a portion of fence that

[13:14] that goes back and does connect to what straight back so kind of similar to what

[13:21] happens on this side yeah that's that's what I'm thinking because I can't

[13:27] imagine you would just have like a portion of that justes the gate would

[13:31] pull it down the weight of the gate yeah it wouldn't make sense to do that

[13:39] um yeah that's the only thing I can think of well

[13:44] um and he did plan to be here he did yeah I spoke to him this morning and let

[13:49] him know that it was downstairs here uh 6 6 p.m.

[13:55] okay um well I feel like we don't have enough

[14:00] information to move forward with a vote um however we can talk

[14:10] about what the proposed look of the fence and if the fence

[14:16] is we can talk about those aspects and then say we need some

[14:23] further information makes sense and then we can um

[14:29] put it on the calendar for next month yeah um

[14:37] okay well there's a fence on the other side of the street different kind of

[14:42] fence but it's a white fence very different yeah and how and I don't know

[14:47] that that is where is the line for the historic district come it may be this

[14:55] road that's the boundary I know close

[15:03] um it looks like the picket fence would be similar in in general style to what

[15:11] their uh porch railing is almost except except there

[15:20] is a top to

[15:26] yes but it's interesting to think how how would all of this fencing tie in

[15:32] together and

[15:36] where's is is that is all that fencing that's existing his

[15:42] fencing I would I don't know do do you know um is the fence that it the natural

[15:51] wood fence that's in the back I is that on their property is that their fence I

[15:57] believe that is his

[16:01] mentioned of his okay it would be problematic if it weren't his and he

[16:08] TI yes um yeah so on the screen um it's his property is right here so it is on

[16:19] the boundary yes so what's on the other side of the road here not in the

[16:24] historic district and it looks like he this side

[16:27] is and this side is not it looks like there's a little bit a red

[16:31] line that goes to his property line and I'll bet that fence is on the other

[16:35] property that wood one so it's going to go up

[16:39] against I would think somehow up against that wooden

[16:49] fence which is probably a six foot fence and these are better only I think it

[16:55] says 4 foot in the application 3x four by five oh it doesn't say it

[17:02] just says addition of fence along the road and then you've got three four and

[17:07] five foot heights yeah and I I don't think we can really act on this right

[17:11] now just too much too many questions that are unanswered that we don't

[17:17] know um you think that would be appropriate otherwise though

[17:37] looks like the difference is maybe that's flat across the top where this

[17:40] one has a little bit of a a point to it which one is

[17:47] that Province Town yeah and well the Chelsea looks

[17:53] similar too doesn't it it does just looks like maybe the cross part at the

[17:58] top is is yeah a little lowerer lower the other than that looks the same

[18:05] that's the back side of it too

[18:09] so I think it looks like the Province Town has

[18:15] um higher uh posts that divide the

[18:23] sections where in the other ones it's kind of even with the pickets and town

[18:29] the post is a little higher so I think that's the difference

[18:35] with that

[18:38] one he didn't say on this how the dimensions of the I mean physical

[18:44] dimensions of the high fence no I looked I I thought it did say but I

[18:49] don't I don't see an indication on the application of how high def fence is

[19:04] yeah unfortunately we can't really guess the

[19:08] way things now are right where it connects is going to look different but

[19:13] whether that's an issue or not I don't I think that's the one of the big

[19:17] questions how does all this TI together and I'll bet that's a six foot high

[19:21] fence this one here that that would be my

[19:25] guess and I don't know that he's going to want a six foot high V offense well

[19:30] the one he circled goes three four or

[19:35] five um

[19:41] yeah so I guess yeah a lot of those questions we just kind of need some

[19:47] answers too um so I guess I would like to push it back to the next meeting I

[19:55] don't really feel like we can um vote currently based on the information we

[20:06] have do we want make a motion and vote on that to table it yes I think we

[20:12] should have a motion to table motion to table it until we can talk to the

[20:17] property owner more next meeting I second

[20:22] that all right all in favor please say I I all right hearing none opposed um we

[20:30] will table this proposal until we can get some further

[20:39] information all right um Commissioners does anyone else have anything they'd

[20:46] like to questions or things to discuss

[20:52] remember last time we met which was some time ago yes there was some discussion

[20:57] about are alternate yes Daniel fer yeah and I

[21:05] think what's the status of that Bethany was going to try and contact him I

[21:10] believe to see if he could at least come to a a meeting um just so we could all

[21:19] catch up because it had been a while since um we had all only seen him once I

[21:26] think yeah and it may be that he no longer wishes to

[21:31] continue as alternate don't have any idea possible I don't know she hasn't

[21:36] mentioned it so I don't know if she has or hasn't sure so if you would just

[21:41] check in on that I think would be would be

[21:47] great I had a a question that I brought up earlier not to you guys but down the

[21:53] street for me at two it's either 287 or 297 they preparing to put a vinyl fence

[22:00] in front of their house and that house it's it's three houses up from where

[22:05] San's alley is so it's in historic district commission there aren't any

[22:08] fences on that whole stretch of Main Street so there are 4x4 vinyl fences not

[22:16] complet permanently fixed in there but they've been working on that for a week

[22:20] or so and that hasn't been I would think that that would have to be approved and

[22:27] I'm not sure whether that would be appropriate that's that's my two

[22:31] questions whether you know it has to come to it has and I think maybe if if

[22:37] you guys could maybe check that out if that's something that we could nip in

[22:42] the butt because if that's not something that is appropriate I would rather have

[22:48] us tell them now and put a fence up and then have to take it down Jamie you know

[22:52] where the this proper is yeah he was talking to me before so I actually yeah

[22:59] it's it's on the screen up here it's right about here is that correct yep y

[23:07] okay uh yeah I don't recall issuing a permit for that nor have they checked

[23:16] into anything and I don't believe I've seen even a missutility ticket like the

[23:21] call 4 dig which is also a very big deal in case they would

[23:30] post um so yeah tomorrow morning that will be talk my list to look into

[23:37] because if it's not appropriate I would rather not have them keep keep going on

[23:41] that would not be there various issues with that yeah they followed no

[23:47] procedure so um yeah I I will be definitely checking into that and

[23:54] um going over that with Bethy provided she's

[23:59] fact I think the only place there have been fences ever on that whole stretch

[24:03] are up past Cemetery if that you know because they

[24:08] used to have a little curb about that high and they had rod iron fences along

[24:12] a lot of parts of Main Street there might have been one on that section of a

[24:16] block between there and whatever that next street down by the ryal is but on

[24:20] my end there's never there have never been fences there and that one that

[24:25] house sits pretty close to the street anyway so it's not much of a fence yeah

[24:31] it's kind of like the situation we had on Water

[24:34] Street applying for a fence when there was only like maybe 10 feet between the

[24:39] sidewalk and the house I know what you're talking

[24:42] so so anyway I just thought I'd bring that up since every day I go to work I

[24:48] drive by that think I apprciate we should check on

[24:52] that we were not aware of that but uh yeah that will defin be top of my list

[24:57] tomorrow morning look into Jamie I have a question for you I I have heard that

[25:03] there might be some motion to do renovation of the

[25:09] pitri building is that something you've heard yes uh Bethany would be able to

[25:16] speak much more on that she's been dealing with with

[25:20] them whoever is working on that but yes I know that that as far as I'm aware is

[25:26] moving forward and maybe same same thing I thought I

[25:32] saw something on the city council agenda for the um what was it called the nickel

[25:37] building where otit was do you remember when I couldn't find it in any of the

[25:42] minutes do you know when that came up or what came up on that uh we have plans

[25:50] for that oh yeah we we've received you know the the renovation plans for it uh

[25:57] I know there was a lot of hold up with funding and also

[26:02] structural making sure that it was structurally safe which is while the

[26:07] cones are out there to prevent you know if anything would fall off um but I know

[26:14] that it is it is moving forward um yeah there's three big Renovations going on

[26:21] up town that's theard building the nickel building and the diamond building

[26:26] where elelo like they're they're doing interior Renovations on that as well so

[26:33] um but as far as when they're going to start on it that I'm not sure I I just

[26:40] remembered I didn't take the time to look at it when I was looking back

[26:43] through the the city's website but I thought that building came up in the

[26:48] last six months something about it but I don't know what I just thought maybe

[26:52] whether they' applied for more funding or a continuation of because I don't

[26:58] know whe they even had a length of time that they were supposed to have had that

[27:02] finished by because it's been like five years I think there was

[27:05] concern between L and the city about the status of the buckling of the

[27:16] front wall and whose responsibility so you think that's what

[27:21] came up in the city council maybe it was certainly discussions

[27:29] okay there's been a lot of discussion between like

[27:34] Bey Hayden and Public Works uh and then funding with the county as well there's

[27:40] been a lot of moving pieces with that but

[27:47] umans seems everything Ming forward okay yeah two that two buildings on Main

[27:54] Street are so important to Main stre Community to uh have renovated or of

[28:01] course the off Petit and the priter building and uh happy to see that the

[28:06] Pritchard building might be potentially yeah yeah for all I know that that's

[28:13] moving I know Beth spoke about her excitement with finally having all of

[28:19] these buildings getting renovated that's big news it is it'll really make an

[28:25] impact on Main Street for visitors especially yeah and creating more

[28:31] housing units which are in great need right and well since we're talking

[28:39] about big projects that we hope are going to be happening

[28:45] soon uh the old city building is on Main Street that is going to be

[28:54] eventually uh a Frostburg State facility yes any plans on that that I'm not aware

[29:04] of Beth May no more but I'm not certain I just know that it's kind of something

[29:11] that's been in the works for a while um but I'm uncertain whenever

[29:16] they're going to getting started on that yeah you're right that's another piece

[29:21] of the puzzle that would be nice to when that Challenger project is is complete

[29:25] that that'll be a big addition to absolutely

[29:28] absolutely very

[29:32] exciting all right well um if there's nothing else do I hear a motion to

[29:37] adjourn motion to adjourn I second all in favor please say I I all right we are

[29:45] adjourned at 629

[29:49] okay well thank you all thank you thank you thank

[29:55] you I just want

Historic District Commission - 13 May 2024

Transcript