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Brookings Historic Preservation Commission
February 28, 2007
A meeting of the Brookings Historic Preservation Commission was held on Wednesday, February 28,
2007 at 4:00 p.m. in City Hall. Members present: Mary Bibby, Carrie Van Buren, Wayne Hexem, Jerry
McCollough, Alice Pittman and Stephen Van Buren was absent. Shari Thornes, City Clerk, was also
present.
Chairman McCollough called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
Agenda. A motion was made by Bibby, seconded by Van Buren, approve the agenda. All present
voted yes, motion carried.
Next monthly meeting. Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 4:00 p.m.
Discussion with First United Methodist Church representatives regarding their additional
expansion plans to the north (Boever House).
The following church representatives were present: Tom Becker, Building Committee Chair, Mark
Lindquist, Committee Vice-Chair and Pastor Teri Johnson.
Becker started by giving a briefing. The Church's Master Plan is to stay in downtown area. At the time
of preparing the Master Plan, the ‘red house’ wasn’t for sale. Parking for the church will remain as it is
currently. Unfortunate events has brought the church to the ability to purchase the ‘red house’. They
did so with the intention of moving the ‘red house.’ They are building a Community Life Center –
youth activities, elder activities, Harvest Table, Head Start (gym-like facility). The ‘red house’ doesn’t fit
into their plans.
McCollough gave a briefing from a year ago when the BHPC was first presented with the Church’s
plans. He reiterated that the Boever House is an important structure in the downtown entryway.
Becker stated he had talked to their architect about the land/building. Their architect doesn’t see how
the ‘red house’ fits in to the plan. The Church has 3 Phases to their Master Plan:
1) existing building remodeling
2) move out houses and build Community Life Center
3) extend classroom building to the West (where one house had been moved out)
Pastor Teri talked about how they started the Master Plan eight years ago and never would have
imagined it would have changed so in such a short time.
McCollough reminded them that the house is listed and it can be a quite complicated process to move a
historic fixture.
Becker commented that they are hoping for help from BHPC on what they need to do and to whom
they need to talk to.
Stephen Van Buren asked about landscaping plans. Pastor Teri commented that there will be some, as
they want it to ‘fit in’ to the area.
McCollough stated they should certainly study what the bank has done citing that they did a very nice
job with concerns to the neighborhood and ‘fitting in’ despite being so large.
McCollough asked the name of the firm. RDG (Renaissance Design Group out of Omaha).
Pastor Teri answered Bibby's question about alley usage. Johnson responded they are hoping in the
future to vacate the east portion of the alley, from a safety standpoint, though the alley will still be there
with the sewer/electrical.
Bibby asked about the church moving the house or the purchaser of the house? Johnson responded
that the church will sell the house and the purchaser would be responsible for moving costs.
Pittman asked about time frame. Pastor Teri responded they would like to sell the ‘red house’ as soon
as possible – hopefully in 2007.
McCollough restated that the Commission has some strong feelings about the ‘red house’. Hexem
clarified that the review could take up to 6 months.
McCollough stated that the BHPC will want to see a rendering of the site plans with landscaping.
DOORS OPEN WORKSHOP. Pittman talked to Doris Roden about the gardening workshop.
Norm Evers has agreed to do this. Pittman didn’t know how long the workshop should be. Bibby
commented in the past they’ve been approximately 1 hour.
Pittman clarified that BHPC could cover some copying costs. However, she is running into some snags
as Roden wants Pittman to go thru her and not directly work with the presenter.
Pittman did hear back from Roden stating that Norm and Colin Evers are going to do a landscape
design for her house as part of this workshop and maybe another house of historic classification.
Stephen Van Buren wondered if they could talk to First Lutheran Church about doing some
landscaping with their new sign as part of this workshop. The animated sign doesn’t state the church’s
name and the old letter box that is still standing doesn’t say the church's name and they took down the
only sign that said the name of their church.
McCollough thought it would be good to keep moving on this and to definitely talk to Roden about
Van Buren's idea.
Pittman said their next planning meeting is March 7th.
SIGN COMMITTEE. McCollough received the packet for the next Planning Commission and the
minutes from the subcommittee are in there. In reading through the minutes he stated he was quite
disappointed in that several comments that were made were taken out of context, not complete and /or
misrepresented. Another concern was the minutes were marked as approved, and in fact they are NOT
approved as they were never sent out to the Sign Committee members to review.
McCollough said that the night the vote took place, he was gone and so were the two downtown
representatives. The downtown representatives sent a memo to the Planning Commission that the vote
shouldn’t’ have taken place and stated some reasons, a couple being: bias, and concerns of not
following the City’s Conflict of Interest Policy.
McCollough has talked to the City Manager about the confusion taking place.
PRESERVE AMERICA. Van Buren said the project is gaining momentum. Packets are almost
ready to send. They have a meeting with Deb Garbers yet this week. Van Buren and Pittman will visit
with each person suggested to be on the committee and will have the first meeting of all in April.
The committee will develop a RFP for BHPC approval, develop a plan and execute that plan.
Objectives will be identified as this project grows.
Thornes arrived at 4:45 p.m. Prior to this minutes were taken by Bonnie Foster)
Photographic historic survey project. Van Buren suggested that Eagle Scouts may be interested in
this as a project. He is going to pursue a DAR grant for an intern.
Pioneer Park Band Shell. After further research it was determined that the Pioneer Park Bandshell is
not listed on either the State Register or National Register of Historic Places. Thornes recommended
that the Commission immediately pursue a State Register listing since it takes less time. A motion was
made by Stephen Van Buren, seconded by Carrie Van Buren, to support a State Register nomination of
Pioneer Park Bandshell.
Calendar/Announcements/Correspondence/Communications.
City Manager - The Commission asked that the City Manager be invited to the April 12th meeting.
Barns & Rural Landscapes - The National Barn Alliance is sponsoring a workshop in May on
preserving barns and rural landscapes.
Mayor's Awards are scheduled for the April meeting. Members asked that suggestions be sent
ahead of the meeting to allow for time to drive by the nominees.
Meeting adjourned at 5:07 p.m.
Submitted by Shari Thornes