Action Items.

1. The owners of the Grier House property have responded to the Commission’s offer to purchase the house. The Commission will need to discuss this issue and determine what it wishes to do.  Staff recommendation:  do not modify your offer on the property.  The property is endangered.  However, it setting would be severely damaged by the proposed project, and the economic viability of the project is questionable.

Information Items.

1.  The joint public hearing to consider removing land from the Cedar Grove Historic Landmark shall occur with the Town Board of Huntersville at 6:30pm in the Huntersville Town Hall on September 17, 2001. State statute technically requires that a majority of the Commission be present. Please advise the HLC Office as to whether you will attend.

2.  There have been several developments with respect to the Charlotte Trolley Barn issue. Meetings with public officials suggest that the most acceptable way to provide funds to the HLC for purchase of the building might be for the Board of County Commissioners to consider making a special allocation from Land Bond money to the HLC’s revolving fund. Also, there appears to be support in the City for giving serious consideration in its 2002 Budget process to a request for money to upfit the building. The Survey Committee did visit the building on September 6^th and will be making a recommendation to the Commission concerning this matter.

3.  I did meet with Bruce Parker, owner of the former East Avenue Tabernacle A.R.P. Church, now known as the Aunt Stella Center. It was a productive session. I explained the consequences of historic landmark designation and stated that the Commission was most interested in advancing the cause of preserving the building.

4.  I have not yet met with the Mallard Creek Presbyterian Church regarding the prospective designation of the Mallard Creek Schoolhouse as a historic landmark, but I will be contacting the Church this week.

5.  Ron Kimble will be arranging a meeting with me and City officials to discuss the issue of the prospective designation of Elmwood/Pinewood Cemetery as a historic landmark.

6.  The Commission’s survey of industrial and institutional buildings of the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries is nearing completion. David Gall Architect will be preparing the final report by the end of September.

7.  Paula Stathakis and Stewart Gray have applied to conduct the survey of African American resources in Mecklenburg County. The Division of Archives and History will be interviewing them and will make a determination as to whether they are suited to perform the project.

8.  Progress continues at the W. T. Alexander House. The rock wall along the driveway is being repaired. The interior of the garage apartment is being painted. Don Yelverton is under contract to advise us as to what immediate repairs need to be done to the house and the garage apartment, to develop a design for the reconstruction of the barn as condominiums, and to develop a site plan for the property. The Projects Committee is scheduled to meet in the house on October 1^st. A graduate UNCC historic preservation course that I am teaching has been meeting in the house. The History Department at UNCC is continuing to explore how the University might move toward making some sort of permanent use of the house.

9.  The Charlotte Cotton Mills project continues to evolve. Demolition of non-historic interior elements of Building B (the HLC’s portion of the property) is 90 percent completed. Jack Copeland, architect, is reviewing a contract to prepare plans for repairs to the roof and to the skylights. Paul Fomberg is scheduled to visit the property this week to advise as to whether windows can be placed in the western face of Building B and still satisfy the Secretary of Interior’s Guidelines.

10.  Paul Fomberg of Archives and History will be visiting the Oehler property, McAuley House, W. T. Alexander House, and the Charlotte Cotton Mills to advise as to what procedures will be necessary to assure the availability of investment tax credits for all of these projects. The moving of the McAuley House will occur after Mr. Fomberg’s visit.

11.  Contracts for architects Donny Luke (Rozzell House) and Joseph Opperman (McAuley House and Oehler House) are being reviewed by the architects.

12.  The closing for the Rozzell House is scheduled for September 19^th. Pat Nystrom will be preparing lease agreements for the tenants for the two houses on the property. Arrangements have been made for removal of hazardous or unsightly materials from the property.

13.  Patricia Nystrom continues to negotiate with attorneys representing the owner to acquire the lot across Rea Road to which the Grier-Rea House will be moved. If those negotiations are not successful, the Commission will have to consider whether it wants to seek alternative locations to which to move the house.

14.  Bryan Turner is overseeing the construction of bathroom at the Rural Hill Schoolhouse. Bryan is seeking competitive bids and is also obtaining prices for a well. Work should begin in the next couple of months.