Landmarks Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. This is the City of Waukesha, and we are the Landmarks Commission. Today is Wednesday, August 5th. Oh, you mean my theater voice isn't enough? Which one do I want? Here we go.

There we go.

Can you hear me now? Check, check, check. All right. Good evening, everybody. This is the City of Waukesha, and we are the Landmarks Commission. Today is Wednesday, August 5th, 2026. I'm calling this meeting to order, and we shall start... with a roll call, and Marty is gonna kick it off.

Marty Larson.

Andrea Durantes. Carmen De La Paz.

Mike Vercine. Matt Ratsek. Tony Lonza.

Thank you. We'll start out with any public comment, if there's anybody here for public comment today. Going, going, gone. And we'll move on then to approval of minutes. I'm looking for a motion, please.

Mike Racine will make a motion to approve last month's meeting minutes.

And a second?

I'll second.

Thank you. Yep.

Aye.

You can vote if you've read the minutes. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Great. Our meeting minutes have been approved. And that's item 26-04066. We are moving on to Landmarks Commission Paint and Repair Grant Funds, item 26-04078. Charlie will give us a summary of the paint and repair grant funds as they stand today.

All right, so as you know, paint and repair grants are approved on an increasing scale of roughly 15% of the cost of a project, up to a maximum of $3,000. But the Landmarks Commission can use discretion to change award amounts based on project scope, overall impact, fund availability, or any other circumstances. So this year we had $25,000, and we have had all of the projects from last year completed, and those funds have been dispersed as of, I believe that's as of this month. The last one was... Was finished So we are at zero dollars left over from last year and for this year You've approved grants totaling thirteen thousand twenty seven dollars and fifty cents So we have eleven thousand dollars eleven thousand nine hundred seventy two dollars and fifty cents available for additional grants and as always approvals will need to be conditional on approval from walkers our County and the ship of compliance and

Perfect. Thank you so much. We'll start with old business for the Landmarks Commission Paint and Repair Grant for 311 McCall Street. We held last time.

All right, yep. So this is 311 McCall Street. It's on the south side of McCall Street, right between Charles and James Street in the McCall Street Historic District. And this is the Charles H. Howard House. It was built in 1890, and it has a front-gabled architectural style, and it is a contributing house in the McCall Street Historic District. It has a stone foundation, which you can see here, on both sides of the building. It doesn't extend to the porch, but it does include the entire house. And it was in need of some tuck pointing to repair the mortar. The applicants had noted that the new mortar will match the hardness and texture of the existing mortar, and it will match the color as closely as possible, and there were a couple spots where the mason believed that stone replacement would be necessary. So that was noted as well. And that the certificate of appropriateness was approved on July 1st, but the applicant wasn't able to be here, so the paint repair grant was held at that time. So the estimated project cost is $2,860. And 15% of that is approximately $450. I'm rounding to, with all these 15% estimates, I'm rounding to the nearest 50.

Great. Do we have the homeowner here today? Hi. Do you mind coming up to the microphone and stating your name and address? And that's just for the record of the meeting. And welcome.

Thank you. I'm Wendy Muller at 311 McCall Street. Hi.

Is there anything else that you'd like to add to what Charlie shared with us?

He's very thorough with what he always shares with you, as far as I can see. The contractor I've looked at just recently did the Lillian's home on the corner of Charles and McCall on the south side. So I think he does really good work. It's always... It's always a challenge to find somebody who's willing to mix the right mortar for you. And they were right out front saying, yep, we would use a softer mortar for this foundation. So I was very pleased when I talked to this people from Milwaukee Mason RV.

Perfect, does anybody else have any questions? Any suggestions on this paint repair grant?

I motion to approve a paint and repair grant for 2603978 in the amount of 450. I'll second that. I.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

There you go. Thank you so very much. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. Moving on to new business, item number 26-04062, Landmarks Commission Certificate of Appropriateness for 517 Madison Street. Review a request to replace the cedar shake roof sections. This is the Madison Street Historic District.

All right, so this is 517 Madison Street. It's at the corner of Madison Street and 3rd Street, kind of as Madison Street curves in the Madison Street Historic District. And this is the Captain Elihu Anos House. It was built in 1885 and has Queen Anne-style architecture. And as you can see, the main roof has asphalt shingles. But the roof over the porches, which are wraparound porch that go around the whole north and east side of the house, and then also a section connecting the two porches, It has cedar shake shingles, and the applicants believe that the shingles are in need of replacement. They've taken some close-up pictures. You can see some deterioration. so they would like to replace the shingles. The new shingles will be cedar-shaped to match the existing. They'll also replace some of the metal valleys and some of the other waterproofing sections, like the one you can see there, as well as the gutters. Here you can see a section where they've already removed the shingles where they were in place. bad enough shape that it looks like they had to take them off already. And then, again, they will be replacing the gutter. The existing gutter is a half-round gutter, which is a historic style, so they will be replacing that with a half-round to match. So again, they're replacing just the cedar shake roof sections, and the new shingles will be cedar shake to match the existing, new waterproofing and ridge caps in the valleys, and replacing the gutters and the new gutters will be half round as well.

Perfect. Thank you, Charlie. We have the homeowner here? Yes. Hi, if you'd come up and join us, state your name and your address, please.

I'm Richard.

I'm Ann, 517 Madison Street. We've seen you guys before. Yes. Welcome back.

I'm here for you guys. Yes. Cool. Does anybody else have any questions?

If we have the top half being asphalt, is there a consistency? Does it make more sense to have that be asphalt or to do cedar since that's what's there?

Technically, because of historic, it should be the same material that was there to replace it. But ultimately, we, as the commission, can recommend, and it's up to the homeowner to make those aesthetics decisions. Right, Charlie? Did I get that right?

Yeah, I think with a roof... It's typically, the roof is a section of the house that is, it's considered appropriate to replace it with shingles if that's preferable or with asphalt. And if that's done, it's just supposed to not be something that stands out as an extremely different look. I think in this case, probably it was a choice in the past to use asphalt on the, the upper section of the roof and then to keep the more decorative section consistent with the original. So I guess the homeowners are looking to do that for this replacement.

Yeah, it's their aesthetic choice.

I don't know if we were allowed to replace the roof over the veranda with asphalt when we spoke to the Historical Society in Madison. They wanted us to keep it cedar. I don't know why the asphalt was approved at one time, but we were told to keep it cedar if we could.

Yeah, that's why I said to Tony, normally, like the historic, if they, they would want you to do what was there. Right.

Right. Right, and I think because of the aesthetics and in having that octagon around the two verandas, between the two verandas, I think would do it not justice if we didn't replace it with the cedar. And I have no problem replacing it with the cedar shingle. I think it kind of just gives it a nice look, nice finish.

Yeah, I mean, it suits the house.

Right, I think so.

Any other questions, comments? No? I'm looking for a motion.

Okay. It's Marty's motion tonight.

Thank you.

That sounds like a series.

So I motion to approve as stated, ID 2604062 on Madison Street as stated. Second.

Second. 2nd, thank you.

Hi.

Hi, hi. Hi. All right.

You're approved.

Thank you. Thank you. Sure. And we're going to move right on to item 26 dash 04075 paint and repair grant for 517 Madison street.

All right. So the total estimated cost of this project is $6,242. My understanding is the applicant has a roofing company and they'll be doing the work. You can include labor cost if you're paying somebody, even if you own the company. So again, that's $6,242, and 15% of the cost is $950.

I have just a suggestion, that since they have the option to, in a sense, go another direction, but are willing to do it in the wood to keep within, I think that's worth, when somebody's gonna go the extra mile, maybe a little bit more than what the 15% is on such a house that has a big impact of anybody driving up there to go to the hospital. It showcases Walker Shove very well. So I motion to approve $1,000. It's not a great deal more, but I just want to show that we do care, that you care, for the 2604075 paint repair grant with Waukesha County and Schiphol approval.

Mike Christine will second.

Second. Perfect. We'll vote for that. Seriously, you guys have done a great job with the house. It's beautiful. It looks beautiful.

Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Thank you very much. Come back and see us again soon.

Sure we will. Okay, good.

Moving on to item 2604056, Landmarks Commission Certificate of Appropriateness for 218 North Charles Street. We are going to review a consultation request to paint the wood siding. And this is the McCall Street Historic District.

All right, so this is 218 North Charles Street. It's just a couple houses north of Wright Street on the west side of Charles Street, and it's in the McCall Street Historic District. And it was built in 1912. It doesn't have a historic name in the record, but it is considered to be contributing. And it has a front gabled architectural style. And the applicant would like to repaint the siding. The plan is to use the existing colors. So it'll be white with green trim. I have not asked the applicant whether they're planning to paint the window trim on the sides or any of the corner boards or anything like that green. But they have said they will match the existing colors. So they plan to repaint the siding and the colors will match the existing. This is a consultation request since it wouldn't have to come for a certificate of appropriateness if they weren't applying for a paint and repair grant.

Great. We have the homeowner here? Aye. If you would join us and state your name and address, please.

Hi. Nice to meet you.

I'm Carol Ann Kaye.

And I'm Larry Barthen, and we live at 218 North Charles Street.

for more than 40 years now. Wow.

Is there anything else that you'd like to add to what Charlie has already shared with us today?

I think the house looks good on that picture. It is an American foursquare is what I understand, and I have gone to the registry and have looked through some of the history of the house, and it really is pretty amazing the number of people that have lived there prior to us. And that's about all I'd like to say. When you mentioned the historic district, I believe, unless that has changed now, we're part of the overlay of the historic district, not actually right on the historic district, so. Great.

Will you be painting the windows, or is it just the siding?

No, it'll be the whole house and the garage.

Great. What composite, what material is your siding?

As far as I know, it's a wood clapboard. Okay.

Great. Questions, any other questions? Okay, I'm looking for a motion for this, please. Marty's motions.

Marty's motion. I motion to approve the COA 2604056 for 218 North Charles Street as stated.

Second please. Second. Thank you.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. You've been approved. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

We're going to move right on to item 2604057, Landmarks Commission Paint and Repair Grant for 218 North Charles.

All right, so the total estimated cost of the project is 10,500 dollars. And 1 interesting thing to note on this application, the. The contractor did note that they should that they should contact the city related to. Both historic preservation approval and the paint and repair grant. And they'd said this is real money that the city offers and we want you to have it so. That's just wanted to. Note that that contractor had. Helped put them in touch with us. The again $10,500 is the total estimated cost. And 15% of that is approximately $1600 and again that the.

for wood siding It is necessary to keep it painted to prevent rotting and other damage Great if anybody has any comments or questions, otherwise, I'm looking for a motion, please I Will motion to approve the paint and repair grant for twenty six oh four oh five seven at sixteen hundred dollars with approval from Walker-Ciccone and Shippo.

Thank you. Second, please?

Second, ma'am.

Thank you, Matt.

Sorry.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Great. You've been approved for $1,600. Thank you so much. Moving on to item number 2604058, Landmarks Commission Certificate of Appropriateness for 124 Windsor Drive. Review a request to repair and repaint the wood siding. And this is the Capels Park Historic District.

All right, this is 124 Windsor Drive. It's on the north side of Windsor Drive, right between East Avenue and Charles Street, the Capels Park Historic District. And this is the Edward J. Burns House, which was built in 1929, and the architectural style is described as vernacular. It has this is not a consultation request even though the primary work that will be done is repainting the siding Because in this case there is pretty significant wood repair that will be needed You can see there's a section a trim section missing underneath the window and some other sections where there's deterioration also some deterioration around the windows on the second floor and There's a section missing. They pointed out a couple spots in the rear where there will be some work needed. Also under the soffit here, and this is just a little further out picture of the rear so you can see what it looks like there. So there will be a pretty significant repair and replacement of the routed or damaged wood and any new wood will match the dimensions of the existing wood. And they will then be repainting the wood siding and the new paint will match the existing colors.

Great, so we are. Looking for the homeowner. Come on up and say state your name and your address please.

Okay has to mention she's in memory care right now, so My name is Deanna O'Connell. I'm here on behalf of my aunt Karen Calhoun And her previous address was 124 Windsor Drive now. She's at memory care, but it's still her home Perfect

Is there anything else you'd like to add to what Charlie has shared with us?

It's sad to see it in the state that it's in. My uncle Bob bought that for the two of them. And it was the love of their life since 1985. And when Bob passed away, Karen got depressed. And she was never quite the same after that and was not able to keep up with stuff. So now we're here. And she doesn't... Recall any of what's going on with the property and it's just my kids like grew up and had their Christmas is there and it was like a big family place and it's just Hard to see it like it is right now. So I don't know it means a lot to our family and We'd like to get it back up to what it should look like.

Yeah. Well, I'm really sorry you're going through everything you're going through and Thank you for stepping up for your for your aunt. Mm-hmm Does anybody have any questions

Okay, I motion to approve COA 2604058 for 124 Windsor Drive as stated.

Do I have a second, please?

I will second with a comment. Thank you for stepping up to take care of your family's memory and your family's home. It means a lot, so I will second. Aye.

I I I I I.

Great you've been approved and we're going to move on to item 2, 6, 0, 4, 0, 6, 4, landmarks commission paint and repair grant for 124 Windsor drive.

All right, so totally total estimated cost of the project is. 16,600 dollars. And again, this is the same as the last application. Painting and, of course, wood repair as well is needed to prevent further deterioration and rot and to keep the siding in good shape and prevent blight. So the, again, total estimated cost is $60,600. 15% of that is $2,500.

I guess I do have a question. What's the plan with the shutters?

The shutters are actually in pretty good shape.

Some of them need some repaint. I think they need to be remounted. The brackets seem to be a little bent in some places, but it would be to keep them intact. That's

Okay. Yeah, I imagine they'd have to come off to scrape the wood siding behind them.

Yeah, that's it. I know Karen and Bob, when they had their house painted previously, they took them down but then put them back up.

Could we talk him to leaving them off?

Sure. Why do we not like them?

Well, I just, I mean, architecturally, you know, just, you know, a shutter is visually sized to, when it's closed, cover a window. You're right. You know, it's a decorative kind of stuck-on detail element. You know, it just, it takes away, I think, from the original design. architecture and aesthetic that was intended. So maybe save a few bucks and have them painted at all.

And have it make it look more historically appropriate.

More original.

Yeah.

It wouldn't have been an original detail.

Sure. Absolutely. That would be wonderful.

Just trying to save you some money.

No, no. Thank you.

Okay.

But otherwise.

Okay. Yeah, no, we'll leave them off. That's okay.

Great. So we're... We are looking for a motion for this paint and repair grant.

I motion to approve ID 2604064, 124 Windsor Drive for $2,500 with final approval by Walker Shipp County and SHPO.

I'd second that.

Aye.

Hi hi hi hi hi. Great you've been approved $2500. We're going to move on to 2604073 Landmarks Commission certificate of appropriateness for 818 NE Avenue request. Review a request to repair siding and windows Saint Joseph's Church.

All right, so this is the St. Joseph Catholic Church complex, which is at the intersection of East Avenue and Arcadian Avenue. And this is an individually designated local landmark. The whole complex is locally designated, including the church, the former convent, and the building to the east, which I believe was the offices. And Marty could probably give a little more detail on what it is now. It has... High Victorian Gothic architectural style with a rock-faced, randomly-coursed limestone exterior. So you can see that from a different angle. And some of the mortar has deteriorated and some tuck-pointing needs to be done. They've experienced some water penetration into the inside, which has caused some damage, so they'd like to repair that. and also repair the mortar on the outside. So you can see some of the damage to the interior there around the windows. It looks like it's primarily on the side, this would be the north side of the church. So they'll be tuck pointing the exterior mortar where it is damaged, and the new mortar will match the hardness and the texture of the existing mortar, and it'll match the color as closely as possible.

Great.

You may step forward now, sir. Thank you so much. If you could state your name. Yes.

Andy Dieske.

Hi, Andy. Before you leave, I'm going to ask you to sign our registration for the day so that we, on top of the fact that we have you on record video, is there anything else that you'd like to add to what Charlie has stated?

Nope.

Hi, Charlie. No, he stated it very well. That's all we plan on doing at this time.

Great, anybody else have any questions?

I'll just clarify, right, I think when we talk about the windows, it's more just clocking properly between the window and the stone and the frame, and then obviously tuck-pointing.

Yeah, we're not doing work on the windows themselves, we're replacing windows.

Any other questions? Okay, I'm looking for a motion for this COA, please.

Would I be a conflict here?

Let's keep with the theme.

Keep with the theme. Okay, I will motion to approve the COA for the tuck pointing and window caulking, I'm going to say, at 2604073, 818 Northeast Avenue. I'll second that.

I. I I I I I.

Thank you so much. You're approved. Thank you, thank you. Moving on to item 26-04076 Landmarks Commission Certificate of Appropriateness for 202 West College Ave. We're going to review a consultation request to repaint the wood siding and this is the Carroll Ave Historic District.

um so this is uh 202 west college avenue it's at the the northwest corner of barstow and barstow street and college avenue um it isn't it's actually the college avenue historic district This was a property that was owned by Carroll University, and last year it was sold to the current homeowners, and they realized that they needed to do some siding repair, so they worked with the Landmark Commission over a period of several months. to repair the siding and they ultimately decided on repairing it uh repairing the existing wood siding rather than replacing it so they have completed that work the house was built in sorry i skipped that it was built in 1927 and has colonial revival and georgian revival style architecture So you can see some of the sections where they've replaced it. They've just added the white primer there. The siding itself and then also around the windows here. Under the deck section. And then there are several sections on the backside of the house where you can see there's been replaced wood. That's all been painted white so far. So that work is completed and now they'd like to paint the siding so the new color will be this light blue on the left side and then they will have a couple of different trim colors which will both be different shades of gray which are in the in the center and on the right so they're repainting the exterior wood siding and the color will be light blue with gray trim great thank you charlie if we could have the homeowner join us please

What did he say? What'd she say? Oh.

Hi there, I'm Nick Vasek, homeowner of 202 West College Avenue.

Welcome back.

Thank you.

Say hello to your wife for us.

Yeah, I will.

For sure. Is there anything else that you'd like to add to what Charlie has already stated?

No, no, that's a pretty good summary.

Perfect. Well, that's gonna be a dramatic color change, isn't it?

Yes.

Cool.

Yes.

I look forward to seeing that. Does anybody have any questions? Yes, Mike.

thank you for fixing this up i hope i hope you got a handle on uh trying to stop some of the water because i know that was the last couple times you were here that was one of your main goals yes yes so far so good um from what we've seen we haven't gotten much rain thankfully too but uh so for all those repairs seem to be holding up thank you for doing this work on a great house

Any other comments? Yes. Of course. Go for it.

Shutters. Yes. Just again, I mean, I think a singular window with shutters, I mean, that feels correct. A three-wide window with shutters, not necessarily. Or inappropriately scaled would be the only architectural comment.

yes the shutters are definitely not new or are not original they are plastic which we discovered uh earlier this summer um but i don't want to make any promises without talking to the missus that's fair as long as you seriously consider it yes cool and tell her that it's not right i'm just kidding i'm not kidding tell her it's not right that'll persuade her um so do we have any other comments concerns

There is another shutter on the other side. Oh, you're talking about which one? Oh, yeah. Yes. They like shutters. Whoever put them up there really liked them.

Yeah. Anything else?

we got that we were partly inspired by that we saw some pictures of that house from the 80s and that's the color that it was so i don't know how far back it was a similar color but we were told by neighbors who had lived in the area for a while that it used to be look more like that cool yeah i think it'll be nice um all right so i'm looking for a motion please

I will motion to approve the COA 2604076 for 202 West College Avenue as stated.

I'll second.

Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Great, you're approved.

All right, thank you very much.

We're going to move right on to 2604077 Landmarks Commission Paint and Repair Grant for 202 West College Avenue.

All right, so total estimated cost of the project is $22,360. I think I may have put down $11,180 in something on the agenda that was, I had misread it initially, that was the deposit plus the balance, so the total is $22,360, and 15% of that exceeds $3,000.

comments thoughts well again this is a project that has a lot of impact because the location and that somebody willing to instead of putting different sighting you know and bring it bring it back and do a lot of extra repair and that it's, do we have, if we grant the 3,000, do we have, I'm sure we have the 3,000 left from the 11, right. So we could go a little higher if we so choose. So I'm bringing it out. So I'm gonna let somebody else motion with that all in mind.

Anybody else like to make a motion? I see Matt doing some calculating over here. I nominate you. Yeah.

I will make a motion.

All right.

Thank you. Thank you, Linda. I will make the motion to consider a paint and repair grant of $3,200 with the conditional approval of Waukesha County and Chippewa. for 202 College Avenue.

Do I have a second?

I'll second that.

Thank you, Marty.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. You've been approved. We can't wait to see the blue.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on to item 2604079, discussion of mitigation options for possible demolition of the water utility building at 445 West Newhall Avenue.

All right. So this is the former water utility pump house and reservoir building at 445 West Newhall Avenue. It's a one-story concrete structure, which is an art deco style that's characteristic of the water utilities construction. in the i believe the 1920s and 30s and with the construction of the new water utility headquarters building and the transition to lake michigan water the water utility doesn't have a need for the building so they've they're considering the possibility of demolition we've had pretty extensive discussion of this over the past few months and obviously all of you have had a chance to to make your opinions on this known, including to Kelly at the water utility last month. They would like to go forward with the mitigation, whether or not it's brought forward, or with the negotiation with SHPO, whether or not it's actually brought forward for demolition. If that does happen, it would have to be approved by the water utility board and ultimately by the council. So there will be plenty of opportunity for input on that. But they would like to go forward with the negotiation to understand what would be asked of them, basically, as part of a demolition. So I guess just sort of as a reminder this isn't a local landmark but it is on the National Register and when a publicly owned building that's on the National Register is when the entity that's owning it is proposing demolition or any significant alteration to the building it has to go to the State Historic Reservation Office for review and And if they determine that there's an adverse impact of the work that's being done, it has to be, there's mitigation that they ask for. They can't require, they can't prevent demolition or prevent the work from being done. Only a local board could do that if it's locally designated. but they can't ask for something to be done sort of in exchange. So sometimes if there's a similar building that is eligible for the National Register that could be nominated, they'll ask for that as a nomination as mitigation. In this case, there really aren't any similar buildings. there is another water utility building that is on the national register uh another pump station building that they don't have any uh any plans to do anything with the existing water utility headquarters building has been surveyed and found to be not eligible and the other the other buildings are uh that the water utility owns are also not historic um There are not really other locally, other similar buildings within the city either. So most likely the best option would be an interpretive exhibit. This is something that's been recommended for some other demolitions of historic buildings. An interpretive exhibit describing the history of the water utility and its expansion in the 1920s and 30s. That's something that could be suggested. It could be either digital, you know, on the city website or somewhere else or in a physical location could potentially be a, you know, historic marker sign. On that, you know, I'm the right of way adjacent to that property. It could be. located in city hall in the water utility building they don't really most they don't have a lot of public uh access or traffic at their building but it could be there or it could be in in city hall or in the library If the County Historical Society was open to it, it could be at the museum. So they're looking for some, the state will want some input from the Landmarks Commission on what would be preferable for the mitigation. So if you have opinions one way or the other about what sort of options would be best. If you have other ideas for mitigation specifically that you want to suggest, now would be the time, and then we can convey that on to the State Historic Preservation Office.

Artie?

Well, I think I made it somewhat known the last meeting that If we're talking about mitigation, I would like to see, since I understand it's a public utility and they don't need that, and it's a cost which goes out to the taxpayers as a burden to keep the property up, but then before tearing it down, which is going to cost lots of money, because it is a bomb shelter in a sense, that at least if they go to a RFP or what?

Request for Proposal.

Right. To see if there is anybody who'd be willing to take on this property. We have somebody here who's taken on some city property that wasn't needed anymore. And you get a little bit, you know, probably enough just to pay for the reason to make the transfer. But You know, there's this significance to the property, and since the water utility doesn't need it, if they tear it down, they're going to want to get rid of that land anyways because they really would want to put it back on the tax rolls. So why not just do it with the building on it?

In full transparency, I have purchased 223 Southwest Avenue, which is one of the water utility buildings. that was up for request for proposal last year. It was a nine, 10 month process from the time that, I think it was almost a year process really from the time that they put out the requests for proposals for all the people to submit. I submitted my proposal and bid mine in the end after a couple of rounds was accepted. It was a very long, long, long, long process. And I know firsthand that it costs the city a lot of money to ultimately do that transaction, regardless if it was me or anybody else, it is what it was. So in some ways I understand that the city is a business and we gotta run a business. And I also understand from Marty's perspective, it's a neat building. So I just know that the city would be at probably a bigger loss if they went through the RFP than if they knocked it down, I think. Now, in retrospect, this is only learning from my experience. Would I love to see somebody have it? Absolutely. Is it a neat building? Absolutely. But I also... know that it will cost our taxpayer money, our taxpayers probably more. That's just being honest.

From the alderman side of things, I've been watching this and talking about it with fellow alders, including, this is in District 7, Daniel Mannion, and he'll weigh on this at a future Common Council meeting. This is scheduled to come to sometime this fall, is what I've been talking to City Administrator Anthony, Tony Brown about this for a couple of months, and it is scheduled to go to discussion to comment council. But before it gets that far, I do believe we still have to let the city of Waukesha water utility, which is separate from the city of Waukesha. They need guidance before it comes actually to comment council. And I think that is what we're here tonight.

yeah so this is this is really about in the event that it is demolished what you know what is the mitigation that's asked for the whether or not it's demolished or how it's uh how that happens is sort of a separate discussion that you know ultimately landmarks commission can and individual landmarks commissioners can express opinion about but you know it won't really come come to the landmarks commission to decide

So, really, really, we're just talking about what would we like to see for the mitigation of this building? In other words, for the loss of this building, what would we like to see? Commemorate it.

I'm a big historical marker. I like walking around that is something that I. Appropriate when. You're talking about a loss of a building or something like that. If there was like a picture, an explanation on the site, that seems like that would be appropriate.

Yeah, I completely agree. I mean, just it's to be buried in another building in another spot. I mean, there's not a whole lot of meaning to that, I feel, but someone riding their bike or wandering through the neighborhood to see a sign and a photograph and an explanation of the the water system would, I think, be the most meaningful, should it come to that.

Being a media person, I think the City of Waukesha has an interesting relationship with water, being Spring City and whatnot. And you mentioned some type of a digital presentation or something. I think it would be really neat to do a kind of historical overview of the water process that Waukesha started with the Spring City, the hotels, and then into the water utility system. And these buildings are beautiful. These are Art Deco, really cool buildings. The one on Moreland is absolutely stunning. And I think it would be neat to see some type of a digital production that gives us an overview of Waukesha's history. And I'll put my hat out there to say that I would help produce it.

And it would be appropriate for you guys if you feel that it's reasonable to suggest both a digital and a... No, I think it should be both.

I think for the site, but I think for those people that don't go there, but perhaps go to our website. Facebook gets a lot of traction. We get it on YouTube. I mean, it could have a lot of visibility, and I think it could be really cool. There's a lot to be said about the history of water in Waukesha.

I just noticed more and more, there's more walking groups and bike groups that go through the city, so I think the more that we have markers out for people to stop and take notice is a cool thing.

Right, and maybe too, is what you're saying, this is how robust are we gonna make it, but the website from the city could have, all the history with where they are now. So if somebody wanted to do some kind of tour, they could just pop this up, get on their bike or walk, and know, go Dunbar and everywhere else that the water and the history,

I think that as a group, we just feel like the commission would like to suggest mitigation of historical representation, both in signage and some type of a possible walking tour or even a digital media production. That's our suggestion.

And since that bridge is there, I always thought that bridge was neat. As a kid, as a semi-truck driver, I'm terrified of bridges like that. But we also could include, if there was a sign on site, it could also include this bridge. I think that would be also fascinating for the railroad buffs out there or bridge buffs.

So, do we make a motion on that's our request or how do we do this?

You can, if you'd like to, but I think just, you know, I, I can. Also, just pass that the sentiment on to the. To the ship.

Oh, just just snippet this part of the. Presentation and send it to him. Right?

Great, so let's move on. That was handled. Moving on to the Alderman's report. You're on, Mike.

thank you uh there is still time it goes till eight o'clock tonight on our uh county uh fairgrounds it is uh uh the night uh waukesha night out national night out uh there's a ton of free stuff there uh all the police dogs are there the county dogs motorcycles trucks cars boats uh dump trucks there's a lot of municipality things that goes on until eight o'clock tonight hope you can make it i was there before and i got to Dunk some of Waukesha's finest and the dunk take I missed the chief for about 30 seconds. So maybe next year I can dunk the chief and Tuesday August 25th is Our city of Waukesha Finance meeting we kind of consider this an open house. So it's at the city garage at 6 o'clock Tuesday the 25th You know if kids think this stuff is neat or adults think it's neat. They'll have buses there front-end loaders graders Tree trimming equipment. Basically, it's kind of like a open house to look at some of the things that the city Park rec fire police look are upgrading and kind of talk about some of their Equipment where they're going that's at no charge at City Garage Tuesday the 25th something neat everyone knows about hopefully know about the The traveling wall, Vietnam wall, they're starting something new, and Waukesha is hosting the traveling wall on war of terror, history of the terrorism and how to combat that. I'm just reading the press release, but that goes from Wednesday, August 19th to August 23rd, and that's at the Schutze Center, and that'll be open up pretty much year-round, with the exception of whenever darkness falls, but they have some special visitors on site that Saturday and Sunday, and of course, just continually talking about Waukesha Unlocked, and there's more and more homes, and I do believe some of the springs will be open up that weekend in October, the 10th and the 11th, Waukesha Unlocked, end of Alderman Report.

Thank you so much. Moving on to the Springs Report.

All right, so I don't have anything new to report other than that we will have to schedule a springs cleanup. Probably sometime in September. I still have to look at weekends and figure out when that's available. And I know Tony may or may not have a group that would be willing to help, but we are hoping to do that at some point this fall.

So I have, I did talk to them. We have 22 students that would help. It could be October 5th or October 7th that they said that they would be able to commit to that.

All right, I will, yeah, we can talk more and figure out details on that.

So it'd be 22 high school students and then two to three adult instructors. Great.

That's great to hear.

Good, yep, Springs report. Alright, moving on to communications and publications.

I have two things. It's basically the same as last month. Wisconsin Local History and Historic Preservation Conference is happening in Milwaukee this year. So that's October 15th and 16th. And the city can pay registration fees. I did forward an email on that earlier today to your city emails. So that had the agenda there's it's a big conference that's put on by the state historical society. It's there's kind of a 2 tracks to it. It's a local history. So, like, museums and. Historical historical sites, that's like the bigger portion of it. And then historic preservation is smaller, but there are always I've gone. A number of years, there are always valuable sessions on historic preservation, so it's always worth going. And it's in Milwaukee, so it's not like you'd have to spend a night at a hotel or anything. So if you are interested in going, please let me know. The deadline for the early bird registration is sometime in August, so let me know as soon as possible. And then Walk John Locke is October 10th and 11th. There will be a lot of tours and other sites open both of those days. And on the 11th, we are planning to have the Springs tours. So if any of you would like to volunteer to sort of be, to lead those tours.

Ride the bus is what you're saying.

Yeah, to ride the bus and lead the tours, let me know. Marty's done it in the past, and it's actually quite enjoyable.

Great. Thank you so much. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you, everybody.