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Home My WebLink About2001-10-22; Historic Preservation Commission; MinutesITEM ## 2 1 MINUTES MEETING OF: HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION DATE OF MEETING: October 22,2001 TIME OF MEETING: 530 PM PLACE OF MEETING: City Council Conference Room CALL TO ORDER: Vice Chairman Christiansen called the meeting to order at 531 PM. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Christiansen, Jones, Muth and Trejo, Absent: Commissioner Bizieff rc Also Present: Assistant Library Director, Geoff Armour Council Member Ramona Finnila Landscape Architect Mark Wisniewski APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the meeting held July 9, 2001 were approved as submitted. HERITAGE TREE SURVEY: Mark Wisniewski reported that the survey has expanded considerably since he began. He has identified 165 trees in the study area representing 94 different species. He recently attended a conference on Heritage Trees organized and held by the California Urban Forest Council in Santa Cruz and noted that over 120 people attended, many of whom were not arborists but City Planners and commissioners proving it to be a popular topic statewide. He was able to get a copy of the City of Santa Cruz Heritage Tree program document dating back to 1977, as an example. This particular program allows the residents to nominate trees to be designated and only have about 40 trees listed. There is no formal marking of the trees in their inventory, just a list of locations. He also had obtained a copy of the Tree Technical Manual from the City of Palo Alto that contains all sorts of information on the selection, planting, and care of trees within the city. Mr. Wisniewski pointed out that the City of Palo Alto did not copyrite the e 1- HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION Page 2 Minutes of October 22, 2001 document which would enable this commission to use portions from the book to create a similar document for the City of Carlsbad. Based on information received at the conference, Mr. Wisniewski reported that he has been trimming specimens from his original list. Carlsbad does have some trees that are very unique, a couple of screw pines and a pencil tree, but relatively small specimens. Both these specimens are located on private property but easily visible from the street. The Commission discussed whether or not to include trees on private property in the Tree Management Plan and Mr. Wisniewski pointed out that it would serve simply as a method to first identify that they were unique specimens and also to provide some advice on the care and maintenance but in no way would the City try to exercise any jurisdiction over the specimens. Another unique specimen that he has found is the Dragon’s Blood Tree that has a large trunk that resembles the skin of an elephant and the sap is a dark red color. The sap was used to create the stain for the Stradivarius violins. In an effort to reduce the number of trees in the study, he suggested removing from the list all but the extraordinarily large specimens of the more common trees in the area, like the Eucalyptus and Torrey Pine. He also reported that there is a possibility that Carlsbad has the largest Torrey Pine in the state as well as a Pittosporum in Holiday Park. + The Commission discussed placing markers of some sort to identify the unique specimens. Mr. Wisniewski reported that different cities use different criteria to identify heritage trees and the Commission discussed whether the basis for including a particular tree in this study should include its uniqueness or the rarity of the particular species. Assistant Library Director Armour announced that Phase II of this project would extend into next year and covers the remainder of the City. For the most part the heritage trees are located near the older structures and then at outlying locations adjacent to the adobes. Identifying singular trees located throughout the City would present a challenge and it had been suggested that once the trees in the older portions of the City had been inventoried we open it up to the public to nominate additional trees. MAGEE PARK PROJECTS: Barn renovations - Assistant Library Director Armour mentioned that the progress on the barn had gotten bogged down due to a lack of coordination between the City staff and the volunteers involved in the project. He was not sure if the paid contractor, Tom Sears, could proceed with his work before the footings and foundation work had been rc HI~TORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION Page 3 Minutes of October 22, 2001 F. done. The Carlsbad Historical Society has voted to provide funds previously earmarked for painting towards the foundation work to get the project underway. Magee house - Assistant Library Director Armour has a list of repairs that need to be made including leaks, loose and damaged siding and window sills that need replacement. He has spoken to City Facilities staff working on the restrooms at the park and has been assured that they will take care of the repairs to the house as well. CARLSBAD CITY LIBRARY HISTORY PROJECTS: Self-auided tour brochure- Assistant Library Director Armour announced that we have already distributed all 5,000 of the historical self-guided tour brochure first printing. The second printing will be funded through the 50th Anniversary Budget sometime after the first of the year. The brochure won a public relations award from the California Library Association recently. Commissioner Muth suggested that we frame the award and hang it in the Magee House once the brochures are available again. She also suggested we provide copies to the Chamber of Commerce and the Flower Fields. 50th Anniversary Book - This book will cover the last fifty years, more focused on the City since its incorporation, since there are already books about the earlier history. Library employee Susan Gutierrez is doing the research and putting it all together with some of the historic photographs in the library collection. The title of the book will be “Windows on the Past: An Illustrated History of Carlsbad, CA”, and will be available for advance sales in January 2002 with the book delivered in July around the anniversary date. - Assistant Library Director Armour also brought the commission up to date on the status of the Ledgerwood plaque. Negotiations are still ongoing between the owner and the developer with no definite time for the construction of the wall where we want to locate the plaque. The Commission agreed that if there is not a relatively quick resolution, Assistant Library Director Armour will contact our public works to have a monument erected to contain the plaque, similar to the one at St. Michael’s Church. CARLSBAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY ACTIVITIES: Oral History project- Newest member of the Society, Patricia Meehan, has a special interest in collecting oral histories on tape and then transcribing the interview into a book complete with photographs. Assistant Library Director Armour had a preliminary list of participants. Commissioner Trejo is collecting additional names from the Barrio for the project. Annual Meetinq - Assistant Library Director Armour announced that the annual meeting was held at the Raintree last week. Photographer James Phenicie had received a grant through the Arts Office for a collection of photographs of the Carrillo i HI~TORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION Minutes of October 22. 2001 Page 4 Ranch and gave fifteen of the framed photographs to the Carlsbad Historical Society for display at the meeting and then at the Magee House. The main speaker was Shelly Caron from the Marron adobe. Museum plans - The board has taken field trips to Temecula, Fallbrook and Escondido to visit their historical museum spaces. The historical park in Escondido most closely resembles what they are trying to do at Magee Park. The society has contacted several consultants for museum design ideas. Council Member Finnila reported that there is an Oceanside resident who is an expert in this field. Shari West worked on the Museum of Making Music and is currently working on the Children’s Museum. Strateaic Plan - The Society has developed a draft for the strategic plan for the next five years which contains the vision, mission and goals. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Council Member Finnila reminded the Commissioners to please RSVP to the Boards and Commissions dinner at Legoland on Wednesday night. Commissioner Trejo reported that the fiesta was a huge success and attracted visitors from all over the world. ADJOURNMENT: By proper motion, the meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m. Administrative Secretary