Historic Preservation Commission - Regular Meeting

We will call the May 19 meeting of the historic preservation commission to order at this time, 06:18PM. We have the roll call.

Okay. Commissioner Conrad? Commissioner Ellum? Here. Commissioner Simmons?

Yes.

Commissioner Wolf? Here. Commissioner Peterson? Vice chair Whitaker? Here. Chair Parson?

Here. Stand with the pleaders. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it

stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty to justice for all. Honor the Texas black. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God and one in individuals.

Do we have any citizen communication? It doesn't appear as anyone is here, right? Item e, approval of the minutes. E one, consider approval of the minutes of the 04/21/2026 historic preservation commission meeting. If there aren't any additions or corrections, we could entertain a motion to approve the minutes.

I so move. I so move. I'll second it.

Moved and seconded. Moved.

Commissioner Ellum? Yes. Commissioner Simmons? Yes. Commissioner Wolf? Yes. Vice chair Whitaker? Yes. Chair Parson?

Yes. Item f, tax exemptions. F one, consider a recommendation regarding applications for the 2026 partial tax exemptions for historically significant sites.

Good evening, commissioners. So, it's an overview of the program. As you know, the, historic tax exemption program was adopted in 1982, and it rewards timely and appropriate maintenance to prevent the loss of historic resources. Approval of the application is based on meeting specific maintenance criteria, through inspections that are listed in the ordinance, and identify items that if left unrepaired will cause structural damage or compromise the historic integrity of the property. The exemption exempts 75% of the city's portion of property taxes, and the savings are encouraged to be reinvested into property maintenance.

Applicants or owners are required to apply each year that they wish to participate. That property must have historic overlay zoning, and it must have a structure. They must have owned the property as of January 1, and they must apply every year they wish to be considered. As processes evolve, staff completes the inspection as applications are received between March and April, and commissioners are assigned a set of inspection reports to rate. The inspection reports and photos are uploaded to SharePoint as they're received.

And at this meeting, we vote on a recommendation to counsel for which properties the commission feels meet the conditions for the exemption, and the council must adopt the ordinance by July 15. The first reading right now has been it's been moved up. It will be on June 11. That will include a public hearing. The as for outreach, the twenty twenty five inspection reports were sent to owners in July.

The owner had until August 31 to appeal items that they to be completed by this year. We did not receive any appeals. WCAD sent applications in January to everybody who participated in 2025. In early twenty twenty six, staff sent application information to owners of eligible properties that had not applied in 2025 and postcards to owners reminding them to address maintenance items from the 2025 inspections. There was one new property owner who received information about the exemption program in an application form in fall of twenty twenty five.

And of course, when we have a public hearing, there's required notice for the hearings at the city council. The 16 criteria that are listed in the ordinance are listed there. They're all listed in the inspection forms. So each of the 16 maintenance criteria is checked either pass or needs maintenance on the inspection form. Pass means there's no maintenance issues needed to be addressed in the following year, which maybe is something may be noted there would be something to keep an eye on as but that doesn't necessarily need to be addressed this year.

I think items that are marked need maintenance are expected to be addressed by the following year, either by completing repair or making progress on complex repairs. This year we received 51 total applications. 18 of them are currently rated pass, 30 are currently rated needs maintenance, and three are currently rated fail. If all 51 are awarded the exemption, I. E, if the three fails are up or if HBC decides to change the rating from fail to needs maintenance, the total exemption to the city is $179,100 $179,800 If all three stay as fail, and then we're only awarding 28 exemptions, then the total is 170,588.

Ratings for each application are shown in exhibit A, which will be the HPC's recommendation of the city council. In its motion, the HPC should condition any changes to ratings in exhibit A and why, and the reasons for any fail rating in exhibit A. So the first case we have is 802 East Liberty Avenue. The commissioner who evaluated the inspection form rated it an F for exposed wood that hadn't been primed until being painted that had been noted for several years. Several screens on the 2nd Floor need repair.

There are repairs needed to the porch, to the columns, staves, bases, warped balcony on the Northwest side, and applied for a certificate of appropriateness for removal of a pergola in 2022. As backstory, the property was the last failing rating the property received was in 2021, and the owner created a work plan and has made progress between 2022 and 2025. In the 2022 inspection report, they received a certificate of appropriateness for a metal roof. Staff met twice with the owner and their insurance adjuster, and staff received email regarding the proposed paint color scheme. And there were still other items there, other items to be completed.

In 2023, the inspection was rated needs maintenance. By then, the roof had been replaced. Some of the test areas in the back wall had been primed. Stone skirting had been repointed. A column on the upper porch had fallen out of alignment.

It was being repaired. The porch floor was repaired to put a column back in place. And some of the columns' bases had been repaired, but there were others that still needed it. In 2024, the property received a needs maintenance rating where wood that had rotten in the porch soffit had been removed and was in the process of being repaired. In 2025, the porch soffit had been repaired, and the fence the fence had been damaged by a hit and run driver, and so that had been replaced.

And that kind of took precedence over some other repairs. And in inspection report, we still have the, again, the priming, the exposed wood until the house is painted. Several screens on the 2nd Floor need repair. Repairs to the porch columns, bases, staves. Replace the warped Northwest balcony. Some minor repairs to other railings. And then apply for a certificate of appropriateness for the removal of the back pergola. And photos. This is a photo of the east side. On the south side there, the yellow circles are columns that need repair, then the pink circle is just paint that is needing paint where the soffit was replaced.

Here's some repairs to the railing and a couple places where some of the columns, the staves are separating, mostly due to moisture, but need to be repaired. And this is the balcony mentioned and a couple of the spots on the where the windows need some repair. So the reviewing commissioner recommended a failed rating based on the maintenance issues that hadn't been addressed over five years, the porch columns, spaces, staves, warped railing on the Northwest balcony, and repainting siding or at least priming to protect the wood and has not supplied for a certificate of appropriateness for demolition of the back pergola. The owner emailed, was invited to comment and, emailed, earlier today and said that he has hired a window restoration company that has completed repairs on four windows that are not easy to see from the outside. They are currently working on the back door.

The completed repairs include reglazing. The cracked glass panes were replaced with like for like with historic glass. After the window putty was set, the windows were primed but not painted. And in several places, it wasn't entirely clear on how he was describing it, but some of the sashes had fallen and needed to be boosted up to stay in position. When the back door is repaired, it'll be painted.

And he has found someone after several years of searching, he has found someone with the skills to address the problems with the columns, bases, and railings. But they haven't had time to come in and do a full walk through and give an estimate yet. And this here, it's showing on the left is the photo that I took when I was there, and the right is the photo of the same it's circled so that it's the same window. But it's not needing to be braced up there. So this is the photo he sent.

And also, I believe the upper it's hard to tell about whether what's been done to the upper story because it's behind a screen and it's kind of dark. With 107 South Main Street, here's one. In the current inspection, I found that most windows need repair. Some need paint and or putty. And in some places, it's progressed to wood rot.

They need individual evaluation and a recommendation to evaluate the holes under each west window. The holes appear to have been made long ago, but there some are chipping and possibly spalling, so they likely need repair. These also go back a number of years. Some of these were first noted in 2021, where, especially on the east side, paint coatings were noticed as covering rot on the windows. There are many layers of paint that need to be stripped and given proper surface preparation.

In 2022, the same issues were noted. There were also a street sign on the ground by the east wall. Following year, in 2023, the street sign had been cleared. Most of the maintenance issues were still present. 2024, cleaned up some graffiti.

Most of the other items relating to the windows and the and the holes in the stone were still there. 2025 inspection, same items were noted, and the commissioner who rated it said the windows must be addressed in order to pass next year. And this year, the the same items were still there. So this is the lower right window on the east side with problems with moisture getting into the wood and getting trapped underneath the paint and bubbling. There's a couple other windows on different other parts of the building.

And this is on the front side. The two you can see the hole at the bottom just above the arch. It's a hole that's been there for a long time, probably to put it was probably made for lights or something. But it's also cracking and chipping out there. So it looks like there may be some spalling going on and perhaps it should be, filled.

So the reviewing commissioner recommended a fail rating based on the condition of the windows and window frames and the holes and stones that hadn't been assessed. The owner emailed last week that they did not address the twenty twenty five items because they're con they were considering selling the building. However, they've decided not to sell and plan to get estimates for replacing the windows this spring summer. They concluded that it's necessary to replace the 2nd Floor windows and frames on the back and sides. Staff has advised that a certificate of appropriateness and Texas Historical Commission review are necessary.

For 307 East Main Street, this is, a case that's a relatively new owner. They've had it for a year and a half, and this is their second tax exemption application. And I met with them in January to discuss repairs possible future addition or a second building on the site. And when that's when I learned that there the northwest part of the building is having some serious foundation problems, which will require major work on the porch. So under the previous owner up to up through 2024, the porch porch capstones were chipped where the handrail joins them.

It's probably relating to expansion contraction of the handrail. It was first noted in 2022. And later, the porch capstones were painted green without a certificate of appropriateness, was first noted in 2023. Last year, the inspection report noted the porch railing and columns needing paint touch up, that there was a bent middle bent metal window screen on the west wall that they kept wanted to check that the capstones had been properly patched before they were painted and that the capstones were painted without a C of A. And since painting is not an appropriate treatment, we're not going to ask for a C of A, but we're consulting with staff about ways to remove it.

This year, these same items were noted, but touching up paint on the porch railing and on the north and south rake boards, straighten the bent screen. The stucco skirting was starting to slip and the porch steps were separating from the wings. Those are related to the foundation problems, and that was new this year. Assess damage to the capstone and handrail attachment points and then consulting with staff about how to remove the paint. This is a case these are most of the paint things are that are circled are pretty pretty mild and morsel.

It's mostly a touch up job. But you can also see on the lower right, there is the bent screen. And on the left, you can see that the column is kind of bent over, but it's kind of out of alignment, which, again, is related to the foundation problem. This is the you can sort of see here. There's the crack that's kinda got painted over.

It's hard to see because it's dark. It's a dark color. And here's where the porch steps are separating from the step wings. And the skirting is also separating from the rest of the house. And he said that when they had it assessed, they may need to rebuild the entire right wing, the column column base and wings, so to get a different foundation under the brick.

And I said, yes. You have to you have to reuse the brick. You can't do it different. But again, he was planning on dealing with that as part of a larger project. So the reviewing commissioner recommended a failing rating based on the unaddressed damage to the porch capstones and painted recently and the bent screen bent bent window screen and paint touch up.

And the owner emailed earlier today that the foundation repairs are significant, and they intend to do them at the same time they do a larger remodel of the property. Staff recommendation is, it's not really a staff recommendation. This is a the exhibit A compiles all the, ratings of the that the commissioners gave for their properties as to which applications meet the requirements for the 2026 historic property tax exemption. Modifications to the recommendation may include, if you want to change any of the ratings in exhibit A, the change must be noted as a condition of the motion. If any of application ratings in exhibit a are to be included in the in the recommendation as a fail rating, the the three that we discussed, it's necessary to include specific findings for the failing rating.

And if a failing rating has changed to who needs maintenance, then allowing property to qualify for the exemption this year, we need to specify what they need to complete by next year. And this is just a summary of the reasons that the three properties that are currently rated as failing were these are the reasons that were given by the reviewing commissioners.

Well, commissioners, do you have any discussion? Yours doesn't work.

Can you hear me?

Yeah. On

307 East Main, Mhmm. This is the home that was been just purchased in 2024.

Late twenty twenty four. Yeah.

So this particular owner has had less than two years to make these repairs.

Yeah. They've had one inspection form. They applied last year, so they got an inspection report then. Then this is the first year that they would be expected to do something.

I would recommend with 307 East Main that we change that to needs maintenance and give them one more year to repair these items.

But that's outside of the realms of the program.

Okay. Can you turn your mic on?

That's outside of the realms of the program. And in looking, I did quite a few of them this year. And I've done them all at different times. And so many of them, we're rewarding them for not doing the work that's to be done. And part of the application and part of the agreement when they apply for this special rating for their taxes that they get in the money that they save, is that they're supposed to make whatever we recommend work, and that's what the money is given to them. And we're not giving them money, but we're saving them money. And, you know, when they've been five years of not doing something and

I understand what you're saying when they're

two years, but even in two years, that's a lot of time to get them done. And I it's been eight years

the I'm sorry. One year since the since they got the previous inspection report. So

But we're rewarding them for not doing what they're supposed to do is my opinion.

Well, have to kind of agree with Sharon because once we start, as we can tell, we've been gracious up to five years.

Yeah, There's five years on a lot of them.

I I agree wholeheartedly on 802 East Liberty and 107 South Mains. Both of those are five years. I was specifically referring to 307 East Main, which I believe was a year and a half under this owner.

But they've had two years, and they bought the house knowing the repairs that were needed, and they accepted the responsibility. Once again, just my thoughts. And

if we give them one more, that'll be three years next year.

And some of it is so basic, a bench screen and touch up paint that can be done in one afternoon.

Any other discussion? Would the commissioners want to make a motion to approve exhibit A as presented on page 17. And on page 17, there are all the reasons why which have to be included in the motion for the failures. If you agree to the failures, To approve exhibit a would mean that you would approve of the eight zero t eight zero two East Liberty failing, 107 South Mays failing, 307 East Main failing, and the reasons are thereby listed.

I'll move for the initial recommendations of the rating. I'll second it.

Okay. Commissioner Ellum? Yes. Commissioner Simmons? Yes. Commissioner Wolf? Yes. Vice Chair Whitaker? Yes. And Chair Parson? Yes. Okay. We have a planner report. Consider oh, sorry. I'm reading that one.

Plenary report. Okay. Item G. G. One, consider a monthly update by staff and commissioners relating to historic preservation projects, goals, events, and activities. Kirsten, take

it away. Okay. A little update on events and preservation months so far. Richard and Audrey attended the proclamation along with some people from Round Rock Preservation. Some stills from Pioneer Day had camels from a group recreating there was a camel corps in the US Army camel corps in Texas for a while in the nineteenth century.

And the jail door earlier this year, actually just a couple months ago, the city was cleaning out its storage area and found the old jail window, the bars from the jail window that had been in storage, and offered it up. And Round Rock Preservation took it. And Randy and Old Settlers made a booth out of it so people can go Instagram pics behind it. So apparently was a hit of Pioneer Day. For the exhibits, there's the art exhibit in Bacca, Celebrate Round Rock, an exhibit of items from the Palm Museum, the Palm Valley Pioneers exhibit on the 3rd Floor of the library.

And there's a still from Mark Moody's presentation on the twelfth for Lunch and Learn. And the Cemetery Association also had a volunteer cleanup day last Saturday. So the things that we have that are still coming up are some booths of Music in Maine on the twentieth and twenty seventh, And the exhibits continue through the end of May. Local legends, of course, nominations are due June 30. It's got another month.

Application forms and instructions are on the local legends web page. Spread the word and help encourage nominations. Presentation will be in October or November. And you'll be voting on which one's at your work session in September. For training, all staff and commissioners were registered for May 14 NAPC webinar, Making the Case Economic Impact Studies for Historic Preservation. So that was a good one, there's a recording available. Also, the National Trust heads a couple webinars. They have one on building performance standards. And I registered everybody, but only one person so far seems to have actually received an invite. So we need to check into that.

They are also having some on decarbonization and how preservation's role in decarbonization. And any other evidence?

Hearing no other announcements, we could go to item H, adjournment. Thank you all so much.