Historical Commission
Princeton Historical Commission
Minutes for January 21, 2021
Attendees: Matthew Lindberg - chair, Carl Soderberg - vice-chair
Larry Todd - clerk, Jane Morrisson, Joyce Anderson, alternate
The meeting was held online and opened by Matt at 7:00pm.
A Motion was made and approved unanimously to accept the meeting minutes from 12/28/20.
Matt said he had no communication from Jeff Yaglou, who joined our last meeting.
Matt spoke with Karen Cruise and asked if our commission could see the plans for the proposed public safety building, but they are not available at this time. The commission agreed we support a review of options to retain the facade of the center school building. There was additional discussion and Jane suggested the architects might produce a design for a completely new building with some design elements of the face of the building to evoke the look of the old building.
Civil War plaques: It seems the ball is in our court as far as looking for funding to replace the plaques. Larry mentioned he found a group on the web, the Massachusetts Civil War Monuments Project and he asked Jane to help him do more research and see if this group can offer suggestions. They will report back to the commission.
Matt has been reviewing the money the commission has and was reminded by town hall that whenever we decide to spend funds we need to formally make a motion and vote on it.
Town common: recently there was a suggestion to place a permanent sign on the common to inform town residents of current town news. This is not what the commission supports and there are many other ways to get information out to residents. We were unable to review Matt’s latest draft of the town common policy we support as not everyone had a copy; we will vote on it at our next meeting.
Worcester Road Historic District: Joyce sent around information regarding our current money in 3 different accounts and noted we have enough funds to pay the full cost, estimated at $ 4800. She said no other National Historic District in Princeton was funded by the property owners in the district. Carl suggested we look at the two properties individually but Joyce pointed out that the house owned by doctor Howard was originally a part of the Boylston property so they really belong together. Carl suggested the commission write to the property owners and let them know we would like to formally inventory their property as part of the process for creating a National Historic District and we would do this at our expense. The commission felt this was a good approach and Carl will draft a letter.
Temple-Stuart mill street: This property will not be included as part of a grant proposal by parks and rec. Matt does have a contact at DCR; any proposal by us would also include access to property under DCR management.
Matt said there is a public hearing scheduled for February 8 regarding discontinued roads in Princeton. Matt will ask Karen Cruise if the Temple-Stuart mill street can be taken off the list at this time because our commission is looking at a future use for this as access to the historic mill site.
The question regarding a demolition permit has not been answered.
Matt presented his annual report for the commission for 2020 and it was approved by the group.
The commission approved a motion to recommend Joyce Anderson be appointed as a regular member of the commission (she is currently an alternate member).
The meeting was adjourned at 8:37pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Larry Todd, clerk