HomeMy WebLinkAbout075022 HPC PrioritiesJune 29, 2022
Historic Preservation Committee
City of Port Townsend
250 Madison Street
Port Townsend, WA 98368
Richard Berg, Chair
Historic Preservation Priorities:
As the Chair of the HPC, I highly recommend that City Council prioritize tackling the housing
shortage issue. The current housing situation negatively impacts the economy of Port Townsend
in numerous ways, including that there are available jobs in town going unfilled since potential
candidates can't find a place to live. If the economy suffers, then I believe that the ability of the
town and its residents to maintain and improve our historic building inventory and associated
cultural milieu, also suffers.
As far as HPC priorities go, there are two unfinished pieces of business that have been hanging
around this Committee for some time.
We have unfinished guidelines regarding windows, solar panels installations, landscaping
walls, and exterior lighting. These sets of guidelines have been drafted and almost
finished for several years now, and it would be helpful to get them completed and added
to our other guidelines that are available for use by the public. I believe that all it would
take would be some staff time allocated to finish up these guidelines, and then to usher
them through the City Council approval process.
In addition to the unfinished guidelines, other sets of adopted guidelines are becoming
dated in various respects, and some staff time devoted to working with the Committee to
update all of our guidelines would be helpful.
2. The Historic Property Inventory work that was undertaken some time ago was completed
and mapped inside the Historic District. That map is available on the City website, and is
very useful. Some additional Inventory work was done in neighborhoods adjacent to the
Historic District, with the thought that work would continue and eventually historic
properties throughout the entire city would be inventoried and mapped. However that
effort has been stalled for several years. I believe it would take grant funding and hiring of
an intern to continue and complete this work, as that's how it was undertaken previously.
The goals and work of the HPC would benefit greatly from the completion of this
initiative.
In addition to that unfinished business, we understand ourselves to be a Committee that has been
charged with overseeing compliance with the Secretary of the Interior's Guidelines, and other
local Historic Preservation guidelines, in the City of Port Townsend. From time to time, items
come before us that bring to mind the disconnect between historic preservation review at Fort
Worden, which is inside the City Limits of Port Townsend, and historic preservation review in al
of the rest of the City.
In order to bridge over that gap in a small way, we suggest that arrangements be made with the
preservation office at State Parks such that the HPC is notified when applications are made to
their office for Historic Preservation review, and that we also be notified of decisions that are
made by their office. This would serve to keep us informed with regard to projects and
preservation review at Fort Worden, and also familiarize us with State Parks' methods and
interpretation of Guidelines in their review and decision-making process. This would give us a
better understanding of the full scope of Historic Preservation work that takes place in our City.
would imagine that negotiating such an arrangement could take some staff time, and perhaps
volunteer time for committee members as well.
Thank you for this opportunity to offer input!
Richard Berg, Chair
Historic Preservation Committee