Those present were:      
William Christmas

Paul Figueroa

Oscar Palacios

Marika Choma

David Henry

Also present were:  

Richard Bellis, Town Manager - Interim Planning Director

Commissioner Figueroa asked to add Item 8. Matters from the Historic Preservation Commission B. Questions he has on prior Commission Meetings concerning murals in the Downtown Historic District and Acequia Preservation.

Commissioner Christmas made a motion to approve the Agenda as amended.
 
Commissioner Henry seconded the motion. The motion was Passed. Those voting AYE were: Commissioners: Henry, Choma, Palacios, Figueroa, Christmas

Mr. Richard Bellis arrived.

Commissioner Choma made a motion to approve the Meeting Minutes from the July 9, 2014 Historic Preservation Commission Meeting.

Commissioner Henry seconded the motion. The motion was Passed. Those voting AYE were: Commissioners: Henry, Choma, Palacios, Figueroa, Christmas

Commissioner Choma made a motion to approve the Meeting Minutes from the August 13, 2014 Historic Preservation Commission Meeting.

Commissioner Henry seconded the motion. The motion was Passed. Those voting AYE were: Commissioners: Henry, Choma, Palacios, Figueroa, Christmas

Councilwoman Judi Cantu stated she has the perfect place for a mural and would like her tenant Moises Salcedo, one of the greatest chicano artists in the world, to do it.  His murals are all over the United States and this summer had a color layout in Low Rider Magazine.  Councilwoman Cantu asked if the sign code in the Historic District was complete.

Vice-Chairman Palacios informed Councilwoman Cantu that the murals have not been acted into law and he doesn't think they have completed the verbiage on the sign code and added they were brought up recently but there has been changes in staff. Vice-Chairman Palacios added he thinks Councilwoman Cantu and her artist need to bring a presentation to the Historic Preservation Commission on what they propose to do and the Commission will consider it at that time.

Mr. Bellis added for every procedure that a Municipality puts in place there always has to be an appeal process or a variance process.  If the rule was that they don't permit murals there has to be a process to hear on a case by case basis.  Typically in Historic Districts there isn't a rule for or against but since it is a Historic District in the case of murals and the case of signage they reserve the right to review that.  Mr. Bellis believes what Vice-Chairman Palacios is saying is if it was to be considered as an official action it would need to be provided to the staff in time to be included in the package for that meeting so that the public had the opportunity to review it on the internet in case anybody wanted to comment and get it on public record at that time.

Commissioner Choma had some concerns about the sign code not being specific.

Mr. Bellis stated he spoke with staff and visited the site and added it was the recommendation of staff that they concurred with the applicant that the preference is to have repairs done rather than demolition but further evidence should be presented by the applicant as to whether appropriate cost effect repairs can be done to preserve the structure.  Staff did agree that it is of an emergency nature and relief needed to be granted. 

Barnard Voorhees, agent, gave a presentation on the repairs to the wall on 108 La Loma Plaza.  Mr. Voorhees stated they can't just emergency repair it, the interior adobes are are rotting and pushing it out and the way to do it correctly is to take the plaster off and rebuild the wall as an adobe wall and then plaster it.

Vice-Chairman Palacios informed Mr. Voorhees that he thinks it is a State Plaque Building and the State would have jurisdiction on preserving that.  Vice-Chairman Palacios stated they can approve for them to restore it if one of the options is to modify it, they would make a recommendation but the State would want to know about it.  Vice-Chairman Palacios stated to repair and restore it would be great if they wanted to alter, take it down or move it then they would have an opinion on it.

A discussion ensued between the Commission and the applicant concerning the type of materials that need to be used to repair and restore the wall.

Mr. Voorhees stated he will put together a plan.

Commissioner Figueroa made a motion that the Historic Preservation Commission  after hearing testimony and examination of the documents presented  and the finding of facts finds the applicant meets the provisions of sections of the Town of Taos Land Use Development Code and approves the request of Certificate of Appropriateness to repair the front wall at 108 La Loma Plaza with the condition that they reference the standards in B5 and share those plans and procedures with the appropriate staff  at Town Hall.

 
Commissioner Choma seconded the motion. The motion was Passed. Those voting AYE were: Commissioners: Henry, Choma, Palacios, Figueroa, Christmas

Nominations for Chair were:

Oscar Palacios was nominated by Commissioner Christmas

No other nominations were made.

Vice-Chairman Palacios closed the nominations

Commissioner Christmas made a motion to Appoint Vice Chairman Palacios as Chairman.
 
Commissioner Henry seconded the motion. The motion was Passed. Those voting AYE were: Commissioners: Henry, Choma, Palacios, Figueroa, Christmas

Nominations for Vice-Chair were:

Paul Figueroa nominated by Commissioner Christmas

No other nominations were made.

Chairman Palacios closed the nominations.

Commissioner Christmas made a motion to Appoint Commissioner Figueroa as Vice-Chairman.

Commissioner Henry seconded the motion. The motion was Passed. Those voting AYE were: Commissioners: Henry, Choma, Palacios, Figueroa, Christmas

Commissioner Figueroa was wondering what the status of the discussions items were concerning the Murals in the Downtown Historic District and the Acequia Preservation.  Commissioner Figueroa would like staff to look at the murals as art and not signage.

The Historic Preservation Commission and Staff had a lengthly discussion on art, murals and signage.

The Commissioners would like to meet with Staff when they come on board concerning the Sign Ordinance and public art as being an important part of the Historic Preservation Commission in it's review of items that are in the Historic District.

Mr. Bellis informed the Commission he would email them a copy of the revisions Ms. Perkins made for their review and when the Commission is ready it will be placed on the agenda for approval.

Chairman Palacios stated he is not sure of the procedures of the rewrite of the codes, the Commissioners are non paid citizens here to interpret the code and stated they need guidance on how to go about making the changes. 

Mr. Bellis suggested to the Commission when they forward recommendations for changes or action to the next level that it is part of the motion that they direct staff to report back to the Commission what the outcome of that action was.  Mr. Bellis stated one step he would like to add to the process is that the Historic Preservation Commission that is created under the guidance of the States statutes and the State Historic Preservation Office that by agreement we are responsible to report changes to our guidelines to the State for comment.  Mr. Bellis stated it was probably one of the first steps the do before they engage the Planning and Zoning Commission or the Governing Body just in case they have abjections.

Commissioner Figueroa would like to add a section in the code concerning the Acequia System. 

Chairman Palacios stated the Acequia Commission came before the Historic Preservation Commission and they informed the Acequia Commission they were all for reinstating the Acequias and added they are not well regulated or written down and they put the burden back on them.  The Acequia Commission is welcome to come back and present to the Historic Preservation Commission what they have come up with and the Historic Preservation Commission will honor that.

Mr. Bellis informed the Commission that at the next Town Council Meeting they will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Taos Soil and Water Conservation District.  They have already mapped the current and the historical Acequias and ditches, and it is the Towns goal to have them guide the Town in what is realistic in being reinstated or preserved going forward versus those that are just impractical. Mr. Bellis suggested once they have the map from the Taos Soil and Water Conservation District, staff would bring if forward to the Historic Preservation Commission make a determination as to wether or not they want to offer that layer of protection.

Chairman Palacios stated he would like to see a map with buildings that are significant to the community in the historic fiber that they can help protect.

Mr. Bellis informed the Commission the Town was awarded a State Historic Preservation Office Grant, Originally one of the things Mr. Bellis asked for is to expand the identifications of significant Historically and Culturally Historically significant Buildings beyond the list they have and for the consideration of eligibility for protection and also to give the Historic Preservation Commission the ability to say no to modifications or demolition, if they are not on that list then the Historic Preservation Commission has no control and neither does the Planning Department.  Mr. Bellis stated the grant was readjusted to pay for a staff person and a walking map.  Mr. Bellis would like to go back, his goal was to make the Historic District and the Arts and Cultural District border the same and to expand them. Mr. Bellis stated the grant was for a study to compliment what Mr. Henry did with the Court House and to expand that study out to the Plaza to document historically what the Plaza has been used for and what periods improvements were made to it and to come up with a design that would restore it to a more workable and historically accurate configuration but he does not think there is enough money to do it.

Mr. Bellis informed the Historic Preservation Commission when they have business on the agenda that might require legal advise he will have the Town Attorney present for appropriate guidance and continuity. Mr. Bellis assured the Commission the new administration has a very serious commitment to rebuild the Planning Department and apologized for the break with three of five staff leaving at the same time. 

Mr. Bellis gave a brief history on the cemetery at Kit Carson Park.

A discussion ensued between the Commission and staff concerning a map showing the buildings in the Historic District.

A motion was made by Chairman Palacios and seconded by Commissioner Henry to adjourn the meeting.  The motion carried unanimously and the meeting adjourned.