Date: Fri 05-Jan-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

historic-district-Main-St

Full Text:

Meeting On Historic District Rescheduled For January 8

A meeting to determine whether Main Street residents are interested in a

scaled-down version of the proposed historic district has been postponed until

next Monday evening, January 8.

Kathy Jamison, chairman of the Historic District Study Committee, said the

meeting scheduled for January 2 in the Mary Hawley Room at Edmond Town Hall

had to be cancelled because the building was closed due to the weather. The

meeting was rescheduled for Monday at 8:30 pm at the home of James and

Stephanie Gaston, 18 Main Street.

"We plan to hold it rain, shine, snow or sleet," Mrs Jamison said. "It was

unfortunate that we had to cancel Tuesday's meeting because the town hall

closed. We all live close enough to walk so we decided to move it to a

commission member's home instead."

The meeting is open to the public, she said.

In recent months the committee sent property owners two letters exploring the

sentiment for forming a historic district which would be composed only of

those properties of owners who want to participate. This is possible,

according to the State Historical Commission, as long as the properties are

contiguous, a feat which can be accomplished in Newtown by designating Main

Street and Church Hill Road as historic roadways.

Mrs Jamison said the committee members intend to look at the responses and

plot them on a map to see what the smaller district would look like.

"We want to take a good, hard look at it to see if it is worth pursuing," she

said. "If there are no big holes, we may decide to go ahead. If there is a big

gap, such as two or three properties separated from the others, we would have

to figure out how to deal with that."

Mrs Jamison said that favorable responses had been received from owners of

about half of the eligible properties. Last year a proposal to create a larger

district failed by just a few votes to get the two-thirds majority required

for passage.

If the committee decides to go ahead, it must follow a timeline that is set by

the state. The timeline would include a public hearing followed by ballots

that would sent to all property owners within the proposed district.

Some property owners including Stan Verry, the former committee chairman, and

Linda Shepard, the former committee secretary, have withdrawn their support

for the proposed historic district. They said a district that does not include

all of the properties is not the same as the original concept for which they

worked so hard.

But Mr Gaston, an attorney who is a member of the committee and of the Borough

Board of Burgesses, said that having some protection for Main Street is better

than doing nothing. Forming a smaller district still will make the borough

eligible for federal "Certified Local Government" status which makes available

special preservation grants that could be used for antique lighting,

sidewalks, or for preservation projects involving such buildings as the

Meeting House and Edmond Town Hall.

The historic district also would provide a tool to be used against the

pressure of commercial development on Main Street once sewers are installed,

he said. And including Main Street in the historic district will provide more

effective local input into state decisions regarding any significant

modifications of the roadway, he added.