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Historical Commission 1 Tuesday, April 23, 2019 4:00 PM 2 2300 Virginia Ave, Fort Pierce, FL 34982 3 Planning & Development Services Department 4
Conference Room One 5 6 7 CALL TO ORDER Vice Chair McAfoos called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM 8 9 ROLL CALL 10 11 Richard McAfoos .............................. Vice Chair 12 Betty Starke ...................................... Commission Member 13
Mike Middlebrook.............................. Commission Member 14 Melanie Trewyn ................................ Commission Member 15 Mike Menard ..................................... Commission Member 16
Krissta King ...................................... Commission Member 17 18 ANNOUNCEMENTS 19 20 Resignation of Chair Freeman 21 22 MEMBER ABSENT: 23 24
Brian Freeman .................................. Chair 25 26 STAFF PRESENT 27 28 Kori Benton ....................................... Historic Preservation Officer 29 Vanessa Desnoyers .......................... Recording Secretary 30 Gary Stepalavich .............................. Building Official 31 32 OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE 33 34 Denise Buchmeyer ........................... 3405 Midway Road (SL01276) 35 Ronald Buchmeyer ........................... 3405 Midway Road (SL01276) 36
37 1. Public Comment 38 39
None 40 41
2. Review and Approval of Minutes 42 43 Vice Chair McAfoos called for a motion to approve the minutes from the January 15, 2019 44 Historical Commission meeting. Betty Jo Starke motioned to approve the minutes as 45 submitted, Mike Menard seconded. The motion passed unanimously. 46 47 48
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1 3. Member Matters 2 3 A. Vote for Chair and Vice Chair 4 5
Vice Chair McAfoos opened the floor to vote for Chair. Ms. Starke nominates Vice Chair 6 McAfoos and the motion is seconded. 7 8
Ms. Trewyn submits her name for Vice Chair. 9 10 Ms. Starke makes the motion to nominate both Vice Chair McAfoos as Chair and 11 Melanie Trewyn as Vice Chair. Mike Menard seconds the motion, and the vote passed 12 unanimously. 13
14 Vice Chair McAfoos is now voted in as Chair and Melanie Trewyn as Vice Chair. 15 16 4. Items for Consideration 17 18 New Business 19
20 A. Structure Demolition request - 3405 Midway Road (SL01807): Single-family 21
Residence c1949 22
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Mr. Benton presented the background of the home before the commission. Mr. Benton 24
stated that the home is from a historic period or the background associated with the 25
structure is WWII & Aftermath. Mr. Benton stated that the deterioration of the structure 26
was subject to complaints, which brought it to the attention of the Code Enforcement. 27
The structure was prevalent in the late 1940s in Florida. There was an alteration in the 28
1950’s and another alteration in the 1980’s. St. Lucie County’s Building Official had 29
the opportunity to survey the structure and determined that the building was unsafe. 30
Mr. Stepalavich stated he did not feel comfortable walking through the structure. 31
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Mr. Ronald Buchmeyer stated that the house is not in good shape. The home was 33
damaged during the hurricane in 2004 and was costly to repair. Mr. Buchmeyer stated 34
that after the damage the cost to repair was too much for it to be worth it. He stated 35
that he applied for a demolition permit a few years ago and was told by code 36
enforcement that he could not receive the permit until neighbors complained about the 37
damage. Mr. Menard questioned if Mr. Buchmeyer felt that any of the materials could 38
be salvaged in any way possibly given to a historical bank. Mr. Buchmeyer stated that 39
he has a desire to do so, but in unsure of how to proceed without causing further 40
damage to the home. 41
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Chair McAfoos question staff as to if there was a mechanism in place to request that 43
Mr. Buchmeyer begin the preservation process and questioned the liability of the 44
Commission. Mr. Benton stated that there are certain opportunities that the 45
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Commission has to make a motion or recommendation to the applicant or for the 1
property owner to salvage materials where possible. The challenge is that the county 2
does not have a place to acquire these materials to hold and preserve them in a 3
warehouse. Informally what we have done is put out a notice to the St. Lucie County 4
Historical Society, local architects and contractors that have experience in historical 5
rehabilitations and provided them a timeline in which they could salvage materials, or 6
participate in the demolition action working with the property owner. 7
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Chair McAfoos stated that as we move forward to considering approval for demolition 9
then we would add that salvaging materials would be a condition of approval or 10
encouragement that the property owner do so. Chair McAfoos asked Mr. Benton to 11
submit a draft motion to for the commission to entertain. 12
13
Mr. Benton stated that if the commission were to entertain the demolition today, it 14
would be on the premise that the property owner is encouraged to provide a 30-45 15
day timeline in which announcements would be made highlighting that there are 16
salvageable materials from the structure. The demolition is pending, and opens the 17
opportunity to local contractors, architects, engineers and design professionals at the 18
discretion of the owner who would assume liability to acquire and attain materials for 19
re-use for renovations and rehabilitation projects. 20
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Chair McAfoos inquired as to whether commission members were amenable to 22
moving forward with the approval of the demolition request. Chair McAfoos sought a 23
motion rearding the demolition of the structure located at 3405 Midway Road with the 24
caveat of salvaging materials. Ms. Starke made the motion and Ms. King seconded 25
the motion. 26
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Ms. Starke questioned if we could collaborate with habitat for humanity to salvage the 28
materials from the property. Vice Chair Trewyn stated, that she has a contact further 29
south that may be interested. Ms. Starke asked how the commission could be more 30
proactive in preservation of structures by collaborating with local contractors or 31
schools in the community. Mr. Menard asked for clarification of the commission was 32
giving the applicant a mandate, or recommendation. Chair McAfoos confirmed it was 33
a recommendation. Vice Chair Trewyn questioned if there was a timeline for the 34
motion and Mr. Benton responded that the 30-45 day timeline was a suggestion and 35
would give applicants time to distribute announcements to potential interested parties 36
and that timeframe should be considered as a minimum. 37
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Mr. Buchmeyer stated that he could wait for an interested party. He is in no hurry. Mr. 39
Buchmeyer also inquired as to whether he would be applying for the building permit 40
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through the county or through the historical commission. Mr. Stepalavich stated that 1
time is of the essence for the building department being that the structure is unsafe. 2
Mr. Stepalavich stated that the building department will work with the applicants to 3
attain the permit and highly recommended the applicant apply for the permit now 4
because it is an extensive process. With no further discussion, the motion passed. 5
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B. Structure Demolition Request- 5021 Christensen Road (SL01276): 8 Accessory Structure to Raised Single-family Residence c1950 9 10
Mr. Benton presented the background of the home before the commission and 11 stated that the principal structure on this property has been demolished and an 12 accessory structure remains. The structure does not display any historical value to 13 our community, culture or heritage and is deemed unsafe. Staff recommends that 14 the demolition be released for this structure. Mr. Benton believes that there are no 15
materials on site that would warrant a recommendation of salvage activity or 16 retention. 17 18 Ms. Starke made the motion to approve the structure demolition request for 19 the property at 5021 Christensen Road (SL01276). Mr. Middlebrook seconded 20
the motion. With no further discussion, the motion passed. 21 22 23 C. Structure Demolition Request- 1408 Angle Road (SL01520): Single-family 24 Residence c1945 25 26 Mr. Benton presented the background of the home before the commission 27 Mr. Benton stated that the applicant hired a design professional to estimate costs for 28 reconstruction of the property. The applicant determined that the cost estimates to 29
fix the structure exceeded original cost to replace the structure. After meeting with 30
the applicant Mr. Benton was informed that, the applicant had plans to replace 31 structure with a mobile or modular home. 32 33 Mr. Benton requested photographs or write-ups from contractors, design 34
professionals to engage in their review of the structure and costs to rehabilitate the 35
structure. In review of the structure, Mr. Benton noted that it does have architectural 36 integrity from the 1940s date of construction as well a non-original elements that 37 staff has not viewed due to lack of access. Staff’s recommendation would be to 38 consider release of demolition permit request or request additional information from 39
applicant inclusive of pictures and cost estimates for the option of rehabilitating the 40
structure and proposed re-use of structure. 41 42 Mr. Menard stated that he is the design professional that inspected this property and 43 stated that is unsafe by any means. Mr. Menard stated that the applicant that tried to 44
do unsuccessful quick fixes. Mr. Menard explained to the applicant that repairs 45
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would be costly on the structure and would exceed the costs originally paid for the 1 property. Mr. Menard suggested the applicant explore additional structures and uses 2
for the property such as modular or mobile homes and structures. Mr. Menard stated 3
that he could handle any additional questions from the commission due to his 4 familiarity with the structure. 5 6 Ms. Starke asked for clarification of the damage to the home. Mr. Menard responded 7
that essentially there is no floor. All of the joists are rotted out, and there are no wall 8
sidings to cover the asbestos. Mr. Benton stated that the applicant has the option of 9 a mobile or modular home would meet building code standards and have a 10 traditional construction type and could assimilate and potentially enhance the 11 neighborhood. 12
13
Vice Chair Trewyn moved that the commission release the demolition request for 14 property located at 1408 Angle Road (SL01520) with the encouragement to the 15 property owner to redevelop this site with at minimum a manufactured home or 16 traditional construction home as architectural elements consistent with structures of 17
this time-period, or would assimilate with the neighborhood. Mr. Menard personally 18
inspected this property. Mr. Menard seconded the motion. With no further 19 discussion, the motion passed. 20 21 22 1. Member Matters 23 24 A. Next meeting date July 16, 2019 25
26 2. Discussion 27 A. Change of meeting time from 4:00pm to 3:30pm 28
29 Mr. Benton commented that in reflection of the meeting’s efficiency in pushing through 30 all meeting items within allotted time frame, it may be feasible to keep meeting time. 31
Mr. Menard stated that he would not be able to make that time. The meeting date is 32 maintained. 33 34
Mr. Benton asked for input from Commission’s members in regards to letter being sent 35 to Board of County Commissioners reflecting support of the City of Port Saint Lucie. 36 Vice Chair Trewyn made a motion that the Commission defer to the edits that Chair 37 McAfoos and Mr. Benton decide on behalf of the commission when presenting letter 38 of support to the Board of County Commissioners. 39 40 3. Adjournment 41 42 Vice Chair McAfoos called to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned unanimously 43 at 4:59pm. 44 45
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