Minutes of the Stratham Heritage Commission
Tuesday, 8 May 2007
EOC room, Municipal Building

OPENING BUSINESS

Members present: Becky Mitchell, chair; Bev Connolly, Nancy Hansen, and Sara L. Kellner, members.

Meeting: The meeting was opened at 6:40 and was completed at 8:35 pm

Minutes: The minutes of 10 April were approved as written.

Next meeting: Tuesday, 12 June, 6:30pm EOC room, Municipal Center

TREASURY REPORT
Town budget: $5724.37 remains. $32.99 was spent for supplies; $.66 for postage; and an estimated $550 for engraving (invoice anticipated before month’s end).
Heritage Fund: Heritage Commission’s fund balance, $2168.22; Stevens’ fund (SF) balance $207.12.
Discussion: It was discussed that the Heritage Fund (HF) would be used to support the historical resources survey through the purchase of capital equipment necessary to store/display relevant items (including file cabinet and folders) and will be stored in the Historical Society building. It was further agreed, without official vote, that the $3500 in the town budget would be applied to hiring a consultant to work on a small portion of the historical survey.

OLD BUSINESS:
Rules of Procedure: Those present continued completion of these except for the section on funding; Bev Connolly will reduce our work to two pages as soon as we have completed the process.
Demolition Review Committee: The chair announced that Dana Dowling will be the first of two alternates on the review committee. Other members are Rebecca Mitchell, MJ Werner, and Peter Wiggin. The chair asked members to let her know if anyone knows of a person in real estate who might serve as the second alternate on this committee. Additionally, that Pete Wiggin met with the Sapienzas and arranged to have a set of photographs of the old fire station placed on file at the Historical Society.
Historical Resources Survey: Becky reported that she and Sara visited the Division of Historical Resources (DHR) in Concord and scanned many files of surveys completed previously in Stratham. There are still more to scan. It was recommended that Sara purchase a memory stick and transfer the files, so that if her hard drive goes down, the scanned material will not be lost. The chair informed the membership of several goals proposed by the survey group:
(a) By September, to produce a brochure that will briefly explain the survey effort
(b) By the end of the summer, get maps totally organized
(c) By the end of the summer, purchase files and file cabinet
(d) By late September, hold a public meeting to brainstorm which nonresidential sites in the community should be included in the survey.

Two proposals, made by the survey group, were mentioned:
#1 – Five time periods: “Presettlement” - Through 1640 (grey); 1640-1699 (dark brown); 1700-1799 (blue); 1800-1899 (yellow); 1900-present ( ).

#2 - Priorities: (a) Portsmouth Avenue, (b) by age, starting with the Merrill map or before or eligibility for the state register; (b) Barns & Other Agricultural structures; (c) All Others.

Planning Board: Becky reported that she was asked by the Planning Board chair to serve on the re-zoning subcommittee to look at and determine what to do with the commercial zone from the Stratham line to the new police station.

Other Old Business: None

NEW BUSINESS

Master Plan Revision: Becky handed out and reviewed the primary portions of relevance to the HC and asked members to read and be prepared to discuss at the next meeting. It was discussed using, pending the conclusion of the survey, the Historical Society list in the present Master Plan as a list of designated historical buildings.

Publicity: Bev Connolly is returned and ready to go to work. She reviewed some contacts she had made with local media.

Other New Business: None

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