Historic District Commission

September 13, 2005

The meeting was opened and called to order at 7:00 p.m.

MINUTES of 09AUG05: There were no changes to the minutes. Sandra Heaney made a motion, seconded by Clay Dingman, to accept the minutes. The motion carried.

DISCUSSION (continuing): The commission continued discussion on the following tasks at hand in preparation of the Historic District Ordinance for the town’s 2006 meeting:

a. mapping the district/inventory of properties;

b. defining regulations;

c. seeking volunteer help: undergraduate/graduate projects; and

d. building town support for the ordinance.

The commission members discussed the August 16 presentation by Jeananne Farrar of the Keene Heritage Commission, in particular the recommendation by Ms. Farrar that the Bristol HDC consider using an existing zone within the town as the area for the proposed historic district, as doing so would make the proposed area seem less arbitrary. Using the Downtown Commercial Zone was discussed, as it contained the Central Business District (the CBD, which is on the National Register of Historic Places) and many of the town’s historic properties, including most of the ones on the Bristol Historic Walking Tour. Some of the buildings on the Walking Tour, though, are outside the Downtown Commercial Zone and are in the Village Commercial Zone – including the entire Village Commercial Zone could be cumbersome, though. Clay Dingman volunteered to create a map, to distribute to the commission members, that would show the relationship of the Central Business District, the Downtown Commercial Zone, the Village Commercial Zone, and the buildings on the current Walking Tour. From this the commission could better determine an area in town to recommend as the historic district.

In the meantime, in order to start the process, Dorcas Gordon and Sandra Heaney would begin inventorying properties in the CBD, pulling information from that contained in Bristol’s master plan. Dorcas and Sandra would put together a simple inventory form for this (one that could become more complex at a later date, if need be, but for now needed mainly to be able to provide a snapshot of the number and types of structures in the district). Additional properties beyond the CBD would be inventoried when the commission determined the boundaries of the proposed historic district. Clay Dingman mentioned that he and Sandra Heaney would be meeting the next week with a student from Boston College, and that this person might be able to help with the inventory process, among other things.

Clay Dingman and Larry Douglas reaffirmed their commitment to work on proposed regulations. Clay said that in his conversations with Ms. Farrar she had indicated that initial regulations – those proposed at the time the district ordinance was put before the voters – could be relatively simple and basic, and could be modified and made more detailed at a later date.

The commission then discussed how to go about getting town support for the proposed district. Clay Dingman read from correspondence from Ms. Farrar about suggested steps for this process, including making a presentation at a town selectmen’s meeting, securing local press coverage of the HDC and its plans, and making presentations to local groups using a revised version of the PowerPoint presentation created by the Keene Heritage Commission. Clay reported that Town Administrator Bob Veloski had created space on the Town of Bristol website for the HDC to have its own website. In addition, Clay continued, he had rough sketches to show the commission for a proposed HDC logo for the website. The sketches were circulated and one of the three received unanimous support for revision and rendering as final logo artwork. Clay felt that later in the fall he could have a four- or five-page site up and running. It was hoped that the site might be able to feature a section highlighting historic Bristol properties that were no longer in existence due to urban planning or neglect. This section could contain content that could be expanded into an HDC column/section for one of the local newspapers, one that would show how Bristol used to be, but no longer was.

Discussion continued about creating a budget for the HDC for 2006, and that the town’s Budget Committee was beginning work on the town budget. Items to consider for the HDC budget would be postage, printing, forms, and money to hire someone to record/distribute minutes. Clay Dingman said that he would look in to the possibility of getting grant money from the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance that might cover some of this.

Clay Dingman spoke to the commission about the Bristol Capital Improvements Program meeting he had attended the night before. The town would, sometime in November, solicit input on capital improvements to be made over the next five years – this could include work done to the town square to enhance the appearance of the historic district and make it more pedestrian-friendly (landscaping, new streetlights, brick sidewalks, etc.).

NEXT MEETING: will be held on October 11.

With no further business, Dorcas Gordon made a motion, seconded by Sandra Heaney, to adjourn at 8:30 p.m. The motion carried.