Historic Preservation Committee Meeting: September 9, 2025
The Historic Preservation Committee met at 7:30pm on Tuesday, September 9, 2025 at the Phillip L. Pittore Justice Center.
Present were Lisa Easton, Debbie Kelly, Michelle Farro, Lou Toboz, Michele Glassburg, Stewart Palilonis, and Crystal Lawton (Secretary).
The minutes were not ready to be approved.
44 N. Main Street (city records)
TCB Realty, LLC applied to reconstruct an existing deck on back of the building. The committee thought the proposed plan looked good. The apartment has access during the construction via a set of constructed stairs. The committee accepted the plan.
113 Clinton Street (city records)
Gary R O’Connor, Architect was present. The applicant Mr. Robert Weiesnborn, wanted to rebuild a new porch in the same footprint as the old one, but now with copper roof gutters and leaders. The committee accepted the plan.
Open Meeting
The committee members discussed a county survey, which they hope to have complete by the end of September. They talked about an application for CLG.
They had a chat about expanding the historic district. They talked about if residents were for or against it. They discussed doing historic districts in a thematic manor, such as the industrial area, and the Victorian area, because neighborhoods in the city are currently independent of the city as a whole.
The committee talked about wanting to show residents the benefits of having a historic designation so that people don’t think it just means they “can’t do things” [to or with their homes]. Lisa expressed the desire to have citizens be involved in the whole historic designation process. Lou noted that having a historic designation can make a property more valuable. Another committee member said residents were looking to the HPC to stop the hotel.
Lisa wanted to make the HPC’s role clearer. She said, “We’re not against development, but we want appropriate change.“
They know people will wonder what the historic district designation will mean for homeowners, and it was mentioned that SHPO has some handouts that help explain it. They said that people worry that the HPC will regulate taste, but that is not the case. A committee member pointed out that the entire city is already on the National Register of Historic Places.
A committee member advised the other members to let homeowners know about the HPC if they see something happening in the Historic District.
The meeting adjourned at 8:06pm.
Keep things interesting. Please donate today.