Good evening. I'm Rick Mancini, chairman of the historic commission for the city of Fall River. It is 5 uh 60:05 Tuesday, July 21, and we are meeting at one government center on the first floor in the hearing room. Pursuant to open
meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium. Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and
permissible. Our recording clerk this evening is Felicia Parker. She's sitting at my right and the meeting is being televised and recorded by Greg Salvador of the Forum of Government TV. Present this evening are Commissioners
Jonathan Lemur, Commissioner Ken Shagdek, Commissioner Joyce Rodri, Commissioner uh Caroline Auburn, and Commissioner Ryan Klene, and our clerk for this evening again is Felicia. Felicia, have all petitions been
properly advertised and all interest parties been notified in advance with the rules and regulations of the historic commission? >> Yes. >> Okay. I hereby declare Tuesday, July 21st, a regular scheduled meeting of the historical commission for the city of
For River open for such business and shall resume before us. Okay, let's get started this evening. It's a rainy, cold, chilly night. Unexpected, huh? Uh, first order of the business today is open meeting law notices. We have
received none. Can we have a roll call? Jonathan, would you stop, please? Jonathan Lima present. >> Ken Chhattic present. >> Joyce Rodri present. >> Caroline Aubin present. >> Ryan Klein present. >> And Rick Mancini present. Could I have
an approval of the minutes of June 16th? >> Motion to approve minutes June 16th. >> Second. >> I have a first and a and a second. We'll take a vote. Jonathan, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Joyce, yes. >> Caroline, yes.
>> Ryan Klein, yes. and Rick Mancini. Yes. Next would be uh citizens input and I believe we have Jason Kimetti who wants to uh talk about [snorts] the Bedford Street properties. One moment, Jason. I'd like to in
advance have a motion that we extend the time frame from 3 minutes to whatever is [clears throat and snorts] necessary because this might be on the lengthy side. Do I have a motion? I move that we extend the time frame. >> Do I have a second? We have a first and a second. Do we take a quick vote? Jonathan,
>> yes. >> Yes. >> Joyce, yes. >> Yes. >> Ryan [clears throat] Klein, yes. >> Rick Manseni, yes. Introduce yourself. Uh, Jason, >> good evening. My name is Jason Camiti. I live at 544 High Street in the Historic Highlands and I previously served on the Fall River Park Commission. Uh, for over
a century, 158 Bedford Street was home to the Forever Police Department. Generations of officers started their shifts there and walked out the door to answer the city's calls. Some of them never returned. Developers had decades to do something with that building. They they delivered nothing. Now it's coming
down and taxpayers are paying $1.4 million to do it. The city the city said the building was an emergency. That's fine. The building was an emergency. The lot is not an emergency. So the question tonight isn't whether the building comes down. It's what goes in its place. And
so far, nobody has said. I think that the site should become a memorial green for the first responders of for police, firefighters, EMS, and emergency management. A small green space, a simple memorial with names of those who served, a few benches, some shade, and a sign in and the pillar from the old
building kept right there, not dropped in a warehouse where they'll disappear. There's a debt worth remembering here. When the current station on Pleasant Street was built, the city took about three acres of Britain Park. That land was never replaced. This law is only a third of an acre. It wouldn't square
that debt, but it would be a start and it would be put the ground back to public use. I know this commission cannot create a park, but I but it can ask. I am asking for one more thing that this commission request that no permanent decision about this parcel be made without public process. The public
pay to clear it. The public should have a say in what comes next. Forever has a habit of letting things decay until the decision gets made for us. Let's at least make the right call this time. Thank you. [clears throat] >> Okay. Do we have any questions? Any comments?
>> Chief Shots. >> Okay. Uh there was a request made that we should uh notify who would you feel should be notified? Administration, city councilors? >> I don't know. Um
>> Okay. >> Certainly the I've I've notified the city councilors. I've let them know that this is something that I've asked for. >> Okay. they have been made aware. >> Yeah, probably the parks department would be the next place, but uh or the park chair rather, the commission. The um the issue is that when it's not a
building anymore, I don't know how much control you have over it, but it is a historic ground and it has been used for centuries or century to uh to house police. So, it's something that I'd like to see be used again for something >> that's not a parking lot.
>> Uh okay. Would would there be would a [snorts] motion be in order that uh we present uh either either the chair or chair and and few of the members uh to
the park board? Is that something that you think would uh >> is that who makes the decision? >> The park board. >> No, but the park board has a lot of input into construction and maintenance of parks. >> Okay. >> Uh you know, >> creation of parks. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah, this would end up going
eventually through the city council and everything for full public process. >> All right. Uh is is the historical commission in favor of creating or does it need further discussion?
>> Well, I think I don't think anyone would be opposed to creating a a park there. I just don't know that there's any uh jurisdiction, for lack of a better a term, with the historical commission, especially once the building's down. I
mean, you could try to write a letter to someone and see if you have some weight with them, but there's no official correlation between the historical commission and a vacant lot of property. So would a letter of support be a
[snorts] suggestion to administration, city council, and park departments >> from the historical commission? >> Is that what I'm hearing a motion for? >> A park as opposed to probably any other
number of unsavory like parking lot. We we don't know uh speculation, but we don't want to go in speculation as to what's being proposed, but u this isn't this sounds like an excellent choice for
for a piece of property. It's that area is is growing quite a bit. A lot of apartments coming up in that area and they have no green space. So this might be a nice adjunct to the >> I I will forward a motion that we as a
board endorse the proposed idea in a letter to uh a the mayor's office and b the city council. >> I would >> knowing that it has no binding weight but it is an endorsement by this body. >> Exactly. >> I would second that.
>> Okay. First and seconded. Can we have a vote on that? >> Jonathan Le. Yes. Ken Shhat, yes. >> Joyce, yes. >> Caroline Alen, yes. >> Ryan Klein, yes. >> And Rick Mancini, yes. >> Okay. Thank you very much.
>> Thanks a lot. >> All right. Next, we have notice of intent to demolish uh 15 Robersonson Street. There was a letter of non-applicability for demolition. in the property is not listed on the significant structures list, so that was
not an issue. Uh we did receive a call from the contractor at the Diamond Vocational High School property and they were looking for uh uh I guess a letter of non-applicability to take down the older schools. And
again, that's not on a historic list of any sort. It's not on the significant structures nor state or national register. So again, a letter was issued of non-applicability for that. Uh any questions on either one of those?
Okay. Uh correspondence. Congratulations to Commissioner Joyce Rodri and Commissioner Connie Soul, who was absent this evening uh for for your reappoint. So you're all set again for a few more years. Thank you. Welcome for staying on on board.
Um, there was a uh any questions about that? Any No, nothing. Congratulations, Joyce. Uh, a Michaela Luina from the Roger Williams University. Uh,
she was putting together a letter uh and we all have a copy of that uh which was rather rather nice. Uh what it did is it it highlighted um the Roger Williams University and it highlighted Fall
River. U so uh I guess would anybody want that want to have that letter read or or are you pretty >> pretty well satisfied with the information? >> Very satisfied. It was beautifully done.
>> Any highlights in there that you thought were striking? None. Okay, that's a good letter. >> All right, it was just a good letter. It was talking about the Steepbrook area and how they've worked with us for a number of years and how they're going to
continue to support us and u working on a lot of our historic sites and historic endeavors. And they also jumped into the last uh uh area that they were working on was the lower cultural district, waterfront cultural district. So they
did mention that also. All right, we have the uh man murals that are situated in the old Bippy Tech building. Um, and I guess Joyce, you might want to talk about that. >> Uh, I avoided I don't mind if you want
to move me down to number four so that the uh other issues uh can proceed me. >> No, this is this is correspondence and you sent that to me. I'd like you to just discuss that and we'll move on to new business.
>> Shall I take the table? >> Uh, you you might. Sure. Sure. You may. >> Well, I just want to add a little bit. I >> You just want to discuss the status and and uh
give us a brief update. >> Yeah, I will be brief. Again, I believe in your packets you all have that memorandum in there. All right. I just want to um I will be
brief. I know this is a long project. I've been working on saving the man murals for 11 years. Um, what you have in your package is a summary of what's been going on. Um, it
all started with a letter that I wrote to the editor of the Herald News in 2015. Um, we have a lot of new members on the board. So, I'm not sure if you're
familiar with the topic, but um, I'll briefly tell you a little bit about it. The only other issue would be uh, Jonathan, did you graduate before 1978 from Dery High School? >> No, I wasn't born before 1978.
>> Okay. [laughter] Okay. So, you're not familiar? No, >> with what I'm going to talk about. So, if you um graduated from Dery before 1978 and after 1940,
uh which doesn't put me there, uh you're familiar with the man murals. If you see in your package this page, the man murals are in the tech auditorium which is located on Rock
Street across the street from the Dery building. They are extremely valuable. Um, they tell the story of Fall River from the Wampenogians all the way
through the textile period. They are the only contiguous collection of WPA morals in thei murals in the United States. Okay, I'm going to
say that again. They are the only contiguous collection of WPA murals. You can go anywhere else and you can talk about WP murals, but they're usually in post offices or they're here or they're there. They're not in a contiguous story
like you see in this picture. You're also going to see the fact that when I got in there, I noticed that they were subject to water damage. So my efforts initially were to stop the
water damage which the city of Fall River did and the school department did. So in this summary that you have on the back sheet there is a commitment there from the school department to correct
the issue of water damage and they did that beautifully. uh they actually replace the roof. Uh so that was the first issue. Correct the water damage so that damage would
not happen to this valuable collection. The second thing at the top of your summary sheet is the examination that was done by Peter Williams who is the state of
Massachusetts authority on WPA murals. He conducted a survey of the murals and he found that they could not be moved and they could not be peeled off the wall because they are adhased
part of the adhesive to the wall is hazardous material. So there his um recommendation was to clean them or copy them and that's where we are at this point.
Uh two theories uh about cleaning and or copying them. Um then we then we ran into uh limitations on working this due to COVID. you couldn't get in the building. You
couldn't see or do anything with this um project. Um superintendent came and went. We have a new superintendent who's not familiar with this project. Um that was another issue. Uh so the
operating officer Ken Petrio who has been responsible for the building and replacing the roof he and I have had long discussions. I've sent this email to him um asking him to give us a status
on the project. I have not heard back from him, but today I did call his clerk and I have to tell you that clerks are running uh very effectively in the school department and in the city hall.
Uh she made a commitment to me that she would speak to him directly and um ask him to reply to this letter [snorts] to this email. And that's where we are right now. Um, the school committee has
committed $7,200 for a test run of digital images of these murals. if the digital copies work and they produce copies that
will be clear and precise and I'm under the impression that the um artists have told me that high resolution digital photography will be accurate. We don't know until we try it.
So the commitment right now from the school department is to assess whether or not [snorts] digital photography will work in making making copies. If that doesn't work, uh the CPC and I I think
you monitor that, Mr. Chairman. Uh the CPC is interested in cleaning them in cleaning them or uh making them available to the public uh maybe through um frack or tourism
so that that at least they can be appreciated and seen. Right now they're in the auditorium. Nobody sees them. They've been locked in there since 1978. Uh, it's part of the triage,
Jonathan, of of the new Dery building. So, when Dery was built, they had the bells, they had the chimes, >> stick to the murals, >> but they didn't have the murals. >> Stay on subject.
>> And, and I can understand that because where were they? They were locked away and nobody was even aware of them. Nobody even thought of them. They left the building and they just turned the key. Uh, right now the the auditorium is kind of like um a storage area. So, I'm
waiting to hear from Ken Pacho and you will see me again. >> You will see me again. I hope it's not 11 years from now. >> Thank you. >> I'll be able to give you a a clearer view of where the school department wants to go. >> Good. Thank you for that presentation.
And uh I have someone that might be able to do that digitizing for a >> I I did I do we've um over over the years >> we've investigated that carefully. Okay. >> Uh it's a specialized
>> kind of photography and we have two companies in mind but it is a bidding process so that has to be um someone who knows how to do that not me. I don't know how to do the bidding process. >> Okay. Well, thank you very much for your
>> presence. I'll be available in the lobby. I don't want to interfere with the rest of the program because um it's a pending issue, but I want to keep it visible right now and make sure that we're going to um follow through on what
the school committee wants. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, next we're going to go into new business and uh, Mr. Ed Haman from Mass Canan
Capital, I guess, is going to present. He's looking for a letter of support for the Globe Mills property. Ed, are you available? >> Uh, this is Michael Laflash. Uh, I'm on the project team with Ed here on his
behalf. >> Okay, Mike. Well, welcome aboard. Can you just give us a little >> Thank you. >> give us a little background again on the Globe Mills and where your [snorts] process is and where the progress is. >> Of course. And I'll ask forgiveness as we start here. The internet has been
cutting in and out on my end, which is why I'm not on camera. Forgive me. Um, but I am the historic preservation consultant on the project team. Um, working on all the historic tax credit applications, things of that nature. Um, presently there have been no design
changes recently to the project, but some good news is that we are on target to um start construction in the fall. Um, and that's our tenative schedule. And hopefully um, you know, as we get to the next letter uh, request letter in
around December, we can say that um, shovels have been in the ground and construction work has commenced. >> Okay. Any questions from the board? Any concerns? Uh, Michael, that was originally
proposed for somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 apartments. Am I correct? >> Yes. >> Yeah. And there were there was an out building that you were concerned with. You were going to make a decision as to whether it was going to be part of the
complex. Is that still part of the complex or is it going to be um eliminated? Uh there are no outbuildings at Globe. Um at least our building at Globe. Um the Globe Mills complex does cut a
little bit further down on both Globe and Griffin Streets. Uh there is a second mill building in there as well as an engine house and boiler house, but those are not under um Ed's control and are not part of our project. >> Okay. Thank you.
All right. Well, do we are we ready for a vote? No questions. >> All right. Could I have a motion to accept and support a letter of support? >> Motion to pro uh provide a letter of support. >> Okay. Do I have a second? >> I'll second that.
>> We have a vote. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Joyce. Yes. >> Yes. >> Ryan Klein. Yes. >> Rick Mancini. Yes. Okay. Michael, thank you very much. Within the next day or two, we'll get a letter out to you for support of the Globe Mills project.
Thank you. Thank you all very much. >> All right. Next, Mr. Caravo, if you could just give us your name and your address and proceed. >> Okay. [clears throat] >> I'm Don Carivo from 690 County Street.
And this is Michael from Seabberg Construction out of Johnston, Rhode Island, who we're working with and coming up with some plans. Uh be before actually beginning, I can sense a real strong interest and appreciation for
history in this room. So I want to take two minutes just to tell you a little history about 690 County Street. >> Certainly. In the late 1800s we had several granite quaries in the city as you may know and one of them was owned
by a Mr. Israel Pecard. His ledge, as they called some of the quaries at the time, was on the bottom of Eastern Avenue approaching the overpass going to Breton Avenue
[clears throat] directly across from Agawwin Street. So it was on the other side facing McGawan Street. That was his ledge. So he decided to b build a showcase out of granite
and the building was built between 1897 and 98 and he had 10 kids and lived in the building for about 10 years. He then sold the building to a Mr. and
Mrs. Tado and they had that for approximately 10 years. In the 20s, it was owned by the Zease family who had a little notoriety because one of the children
when he became an adult was a five-star general. So that's a little bit of the background. Next, my family's involvement. My paternal grandfather
and his two sons were, as I understand it, the first to use a home as a funeral home. Now, it wasn't the first funeral home in the city,
but it was the first one that was an actual home. The others were like storefronts. And in the early 30s, so in 1932, they rented 624
Eastern Avenue. It's a white building you might have seen, and use that as a as a funeral home. And also around that time, most people did not use funeral homes. They use funeral directors, but many time the
majority of cases people were laid out in their own home. So the funeral directors own the equipment to go into the home and to set up things for the week. So in 1938,
my grandparents purchased 690 County Street and turned it into a funeral home. Um, [clears throat] my father and his brother were assistants. My uncle actually moved to Rhode Island
and and worked for big funeral company. But it was um my grandparents, my father who lived there. And it was my grandparents [clears throat] who built the second floor porches and
sunpila of the building. So that is what brings me here today because the second floor porches and sunpa are deteriorated. There's some design flaws we could but
it lasted a number of years nonetheless. But as the bike might attest, it's almost impractical to rebuild it the way that is which requires bending beams and uh [clears throat] it would be very very
expensive. So that's one of my limitations is the expense. So, what I'd like to share with you is that the original house is what we're aiming to
accomplish in terms of data. It's in the application. Um, but I found two sources of proof of evidence regarding what it looked like. one. It actually came from this book here.
And my son found this one. It's in the application, but this is the book Fall River Pictorial History. And then this picture here is a picture of the rolling rock. >> Incidentally, this was a giant
uh quarry where this leaned right across a big big opening. But in the left hand side here is a building and if you blow it up you'll see it only has a onestory >> correct >> porch.
And the second one is also interesting because years ago uh descendants of both the owner and the second family that lived there have visited and my mother was
helpful in allowing them to enter the house and see what it was like. So I have to date you. So in 2017, a lady came with the h to my house and wanting to see my mother who had passed
and she had with her a photo and a xerox copy of the photo and this and this is it that's in the applicate >> application. So [cough] she left this with my son. Now the I
would have preferred the photo. I don't know who it was. It sounds like it was the TBO. My son who accepted this, not the son. Another son said it was a T-Bo, but I think that was >> T-Bo.
So [clears throat] in the application, what I did is to take this picture and I did a couple of things. I asked [clears throat] AI that could it describe the model of the
car and it did to it said it was a 1913 Ford Model Terra plus or minus one year. So that's pretty accurate. So, [clears throat] I worked with that and I did use AI to take the
car out and and to clean things up for a better picture. Was the picture clear enough? Cuz I got more copies. I brought more copies. >> Great great presentation on all of your product line in my opinion. Yes. >> Yeah.
>> I guess that's where we stand. >> Well, I thank you for the presentation. That was excellent. Thank you for the history. That was good. And as I stated earlier, I lived right in that area when I was back in the 40s and early 50s. So, uh,
we all have had this documentation for a few weeks now and had plenty of time to research and and and look at it. Are there [snorts] any comments? >> I think first of all, I was there today with Don and Don was good enough to give me a brief review of everything. And I
see the house will be very thankful to be free of this addition in my pe in my view. I think it's it's horrible. [laughter] Uh what was missing in the application was what the details of what would what would go on to return the porch and the
porch roof to its original look. I didn't see anything about that. I I didn't see any any detail. Were you looking for a specific material list or were you looking for more this >> design design? Yeah, a design a design of it and I didn't see that. I saw I
mean it's you can make out the original photo so you can see how the original porch looked but I didn't see anything in the application about how we're going to get there. >> So that is actually the plan is to restore it back as closely as possible to the original design. So >> So the details of that are what I think are missing. [clears throat]
>> Okay. So what as far as so a drawing to scope it out just a drawing >> drawing with with specific with the specifics of an architect's drawing or a draft's drawing I mean my for for me personally I may the the board may disagree but for me personally I think
getting rid of that bravo because it just like you look at the original house and then you look at that mess that was >> it's fallen into a state of disrepair. >> Yeah. Even if it wasn't even if it were frankly I think it would be worthwhile getting rid of. >> Yeah. But it's just bringing it the details of bringing it back to that
original state, I think, is what I would like to see. >> Okay. >> Yeah. A drawing and I would think some materials for windows that are going to be used to replace it. Are they going to be >> No, no windows. There's no windows on it. >> Yeah, it's a basic it's a very simple
roof structure that would be going back in place because time period correct for that. That is a simplistic. >> Can I pass these around these copies? Yes. >> That's a fairly simplistic design of roof. So, we would recreate the same hip structure roof that is there right now.
So, we would essentially just be mirroring that roof line. In fact, we plan on reusing the original line where it was cut into the granite to reestablish the roof line down. So, it would essentially be that roof again. The plan is to use domestic standard
lumber as is to code now to properly support the weight and compliance with load, you know, for snow and things of that nature. Um, but from a from an aesthetic standpoint, it would closely match that design. That is the detail that we're going for. We didn't have architectural plans on it because quite
honestly, architectural plan adds an exorbitant amount of cost, you know, to the project. And >> but for approval, I think for us to be able to to give approval for that, we would have to see what we were what we're approving beyond the demolition. >> So it you could reference that picture
and that is the plan. >> So the details of this picture, I guess, would be what would I would personally like to see. Okay. The the specific the specifics >> so that we knew so that we know clearly so when it's done, >> we know what we we know ahead of time
what it's going to look what it's going to look like prior to it. Could I share that we're really going through our budget to >> I'm sure >> bring this back to the historical significant it has and hiring an
architect is another several thousand dollars that I would prefer. >> I don't think an AR this is a pretty simple thing so I don't think an architect is necessarily necessary. this. >> Yeah, the >> I'm sorry, Jeremy, his son. >> I can just put one detail in here. What
you're saying makes complete sense and I understand that a drawing or design would be useful like this, but just to be specific when we're talking about this design, like Mike mentioned, we're talking about really just the design of the roof of the porch. Our plan is to
keep the ra the posts and all of the first floor railings as they are. So that would not change. >> Yeah. The only thing is from the ceiling up. So the ceiling up, we would be removing that and we would just be reestablishing that existing roof line. So essentially it would be a series of
rafters with a support beam structure underneath and then the standard plywood on top combined with flashing and the shingles. That would be the roof structure. Are you able to match the roofing material >> as far as Yeah, I mean, we're going to
try and match as closely as possible, but obviously something that was built at that time compared to the current materials, >> you know, and also we want to make sure that it's properly weathertight and that the porch itself in the front doesn't get damaged. So, we are going to go with an architectural shingle to it. Um, we
are using domestic spruce lumbering, right? >> Yeah. >> Any other comments? Um, are the Sorry, I'm sorry. Um, the windows that were originally there before the roof, before the sun porch
was added, >> um, >> they're still there. They're still there inside the structure. >> Yeah. This is like a sticker on the outside. >> Okay. >> Yeah. This is essentially a sticker on top of that beautiful building. So, we're peeling it off. >> Okay.
>> Yeah. >> That's what I was going to ask. >> Yeah. [laughter] So, originally this window >> Mhm. >> was turned into a door. >> Okay. >> That led to the sump hole in the front with each a door going to the porch on each side.
>> Mhm. >> So, this is going to go back to being a window like it was >> right. >> Same roof line. Yeah. It's following the same slope, you know, matching up to those existing posts out of there.
So there will be one new window >> where the door was correct. >> Yes. So that's going to have to be something that matches in kind to >> what was it? >> The existing windows. Yeah. The windows in the property.
>> And was what was what where was what was how was the door inserted where a window was? What was removed? >> The granite. >> The granite beneath. So what's going to happen now when you're the door is returning to a window. What's replacing >> the bottom? It'll be a granite
>> back to the granite. >> Okay. Matching. >> Mhm. >> Yes. >> Yep. >> Okay. See, those are the details. Those are some kind of details that I personally for for an approval process would like to make subject to those details. Subject to seeing those details ahead of time so we can say this is what
we're approving. This is what it's going to look like. >> Rather than saying, you know, this is what it's going to look like. That's probably not quite good enough. But I mean, I I applaud what you're doing and I don't want to make it I wouldn't want to make it, you know, more expensive. And we're not talking about an architect necessarily. It's just some kind of
drafting >> of of a the uh your contractor can very easily give us some hand drawings of >> what you intend to do. That's not an issue. We'll take a hand drawing. So
would a would an AI generated drawing work in L of because you've never seen my handwriting. So [laughter] >> an AI that's >> AI is pretty hard. Takes a lot of work these days. So >> I could do an AI with it. Yeah, not a problem. >> That would be that'd be wonderful. Uh
are you pressing in time to get this constructed going? Are you because you're running out of summer? There is an element to that for sure because the demolition to it, we would prefer not to be doing the demolition in the fall. Yeah. >> Um because there's a lot of protection
that needs to occur on this property as well. So with the incremental weather, we'd prefer to do it during the summer, you know, when we have longer days and you know, better weather conditions. >> School. >> Do we have any other comments or
questions? >> It's a great project. Seeing it today and seeing that seeing that this and then seeing what was there and just how how dreadful that looked [laughter] compared to what was originally was
originally built there. I applaud you. I mean I even though you're doing it because you have to we're very happy you're doing it. [laughter] Uh yes, it's be you to be commended for this really. Truthfully, it it's it's
really really good to see people taking the effort to restore in, you know, the system. >> That house is the star of the neighbor. I mean, as you know, that house is the star of the show. >> That's why we're salvaging as much material as we can. We plan on harvesting as part of the demolition
project, saving all of the post, saving as much of the beam structure as we can. So any material that can be repurposed and reused, that is the plan to do so. You know, it's to respect the property. >> I I would uh I would favor a proposal
from the board uh and a motion made that we release this building for construction through the building department with the contingency that we get within a stated amount of time. some
sort of an AI drawing, but we'll release through the building department to allow this to to pursue their >> and I would say even that drawing would just we could make it easily subject to the chairman's, you know, so you don't have to bring you don't have to wait till the board meets again or whatever
just subject to approval >> by the chairman. Exactly. >> Yeah, it's reasonable. I can get that back to you in a real good time. >> That's great. >> Thank you. So, let's let's do we have a motion to that effect?
>> I move that we approve the project subject to the final drawing and specifications approved by the chairman. >> I'll second that motion. >> Okay. Do we have a vote? >> Yes. >> Ken Shannon, yes. >> Joyce, yes. >> Caroline, yes.
>> Ryan Klein, yes. >> And Rick Mancini, yes. >> Thank you very much. >> Good to go. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Excited to see it. >> See this house back. >> Yeah. [laughter] As I was walking my dog the scale >> home just right in time to see you.
>> Yes, you did. As I was as I was about to walk on the property, I think [laughter] >> once that's removed the scale and scope of it, it's going to make it pop because removing that is just, you know, carving up the building. >> You see for the the big granite in terms of the front stairs, [laughter] those
are two humongous pieces of granite, you know. So this that's not going to move. It's going to be a showpiece again. >> Yes, it is. >> We love that. >> There we go. >> You do. I can see that you do. >> Most of my life. >> I can see that you do. And thank you so much for putting the time and effort into it and coming before us. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Well, that was good. U next is this is going to be another interesting discussion. Uh we have city councelor Christopher Peekom here and uh he's
going to talk about a stone marker that's been uh discovered by councelor Pekham. Uh and he's going to uh I'm I'm going to stop at this point. I don't want to take away all your thunder. If you could just introduce yourself.
>> You would do me better dressing up than I do myself, Rick. [clears throat] >> Good evening. Christopher Peekham City Council. So, I want to I want to start this by actually mentioning we've had this conversation, Mr. Caravo's property. I went to Talbet Middle
School. I've always been into history, my parents, my father, my grandmother. That is one of my top three favorite homes in the city. So, to sit here and watch that it's going to go back to its original state is actually exciting. >> Um, I want to preface this by thanking
the commissioners. You, Mr. chair uh co-chair Lima. I'm a firm believer that Fall River is only going to get ahead of itself by harnessing its history. I say it all the time. We look around the city today becomes unrecognizable.
And when this city was at its best in its heyday was our textiles, our manufacturing, we provided jobs. People came here and worked. Why I say that is is I believe this stone that I've come across could be a great segue into big
things within the city of Fall River. I would go on the market rate housing rant as to how I want to see jobs and industry back in back in our mills because that's what's going to be beneficial for the city, but that's a conversation for later on down the road. Um to touch upon this stone, back in
2020, Mike McHugh from Freetown had reached out to me. He had known that I was a history buff, for lack of a better term, and he reached out to me and he told me about this mocker and begged me to save it. So, in 2020, I
went up, I checked out where this mocker is. Um, I would like to leave the location undisclosed at this time. Um, for obvious reasons, we don't need it to disappear. But he I was notified as to where the stone was and I went up and I
located a property that needed taken care of by the city of Fall River. Uh me and my son went up. We took care of the property and we had we located the stone. The stone was placed there in 1659. And I don't know if you have the history that I had sent you, Rick. >> We do.
>> I'm going to pull it up here. So on April 2nd of 1659, a group of 26 proprietors purchased approximately 16,000 acres from the Wampao St. James Wata Alexander and Tatony. I had to look that up on how to
pronounce it. Um, which was Weedo. The land became what we know know today as the Freeman's Purchase. Um, and later formed much of present day Freetown and Fall River. Um, to my understanding, >> recording in progress.
>> Fantastic. Um, [clears throat] to my understanding, the 26 plots of land ran down towards Rodman Street and then we're further up north towards Freetown. I would like to save this monument because in my opinion, this is one of
the most important pieces of our history um that describes our settlement here. I go to Plymouth Rock and I don't know if that's the rock that everybody stepped off of the boat and I really don't know but I can tell you that William
Brewster, Love Brewster, Mr. Gage, all people that actually stepped foot off this Mayflower and settled here and created what we enjoy today placed that stone in the ground. Um I know Rick, you have reached out to the state um to get their opinion on it.
I want to move on this ASAP. I think it's a great thing for the city and again I think this is a piece of history that will bring Fall River to the forefront again to get back to where it was. I commend you guys for what you do. I
really do because the history of the city is everything to me. I've probably bored Rick over the past couple of weeks with many of stories that I have about the city. Um but I love it and I love what you do. I love the architecture. We need to harness that. We do. We have to
get people in here and show them our architecture in the north end because there's no other place in New England or the United States that's similar to Fall River. Um, but I think this stone is is the starting uh piece to that. So, whatever you guys can do, and I know
we've been working very closely on this, um, whatever you can do to help me and get that to the for historical society would be fantastic. That way, people can enjoy it. That thing's been in the ground for hundreds of years and nobody's really seen it. I think when you put your eyes on it, you you feel um
the excitement of the history of this area. And for myself, I go back to that time in my head to where everybody was a Koopasmith or a Clover um a blacksmith. That was grit and determination. That's what No, my cane didn't like that. It was grit and determination that built
this city and that rock is that monument is an example of that. So, I appreciate you guys. Thank you. >> Okay. I I think you could be free to say that the city is now actively helping us to remove that and move that and it's going
to occur. We're not divulging the location, but it should occur on Friday morning >> and that the historical society is going to store the monument and arrange some sort of a an arrangement. Maybe you can
relay that. uh you're going to put display it of some some sort of display. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So, it it is working and thanks for uh being informed. Uh councelor Peekham called a few weeks ago
and said, "Rick, I got this thing. Maybe we should look at it. Let's see if we can work at retrieving it and we should have it in our hands on Friday morning." >> Yeah. I'm just waiting for one email. I will reach out tomorrow morning to that person for that email which would give
us the go-ahhead. >> Yep. >> Um I do want to add this would have gotten done in 2020 but CO hit and everything got shut down. So I wasn't able to get to it and I had a little stink off the council in between and this has been on the top of it's been on
my mind ever since 2020 to get it out of there and and save it and preserve it. So I appreciate you guys. Thank you. >> Okay. Great. Thank you. >> Well, thank you very much for the presentation. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Have a great day. Thank you. Have a great day.
>> Okay. Well, no further comments. Move right along. Okay. It's been a long evening, huh? We'll just uh very quickly, we'll go over the old business. Um the uh status of the historical commission's annual
reports all being taken care of. I personally have been having problems getting through to the Mass Historical Commission. Whenever I send anything in bulk, I think they have a tremendous I'm thinking a series of firewalls. If I
send a quick email, it gets to them. If I send any document, they never seem to to get it. So, uh, Felicia is going to take care of this for us. Uh I I spoke to them uh within the last week and I've tried twice and it's just not getting
through. So it just might might be my inability to handle the computer. [laughter] Uh little theater uh that's moving along very well. The contractor is uh taking care of the roof. Uh he's uh made a request for a few payments for materials
only. Uh uh he's got quite a bit of the roof completed. He's got probably two more months of work. Uh but as he stated, uh it's going to be good for another hundred years once he's finished with it. So uh
any questions? None. Move along. Okay. Uh Central Fire Station. I know that the project went out for bid uh and the bids were due. I have not heard. Uh hopefully I'll I'll have some information tomorrow, but I do not know what's going
on. And that's just the Bedford Street side at this point. The drawings and and uh documents have not been completed for the remaining portion or the interior of the building. The only documents that didn't go out for bid was the Bedford
Street uh front. Okay. Uh let's see. Um on the Anowan Fire Station, I was by there yesterday. They've got uh probably half of the windows are in. There were windows that
on the first floor that have sort of an arch on the top and what the company did is decided to send or to send the arch through in plastic. So the contractor is well aware that it's being watched closely and they sent
the windows back and the manufacturer is going to redo the windows that as per the specification. So contract is really helping us here. This is really working well. Uh let's see the Bank Street Armory. We're moving right along. Uh
there's a meeting uh tomorrow at 3:30 uh with Mr. Deco from the uh historic commission. Uh if there's anyone that wants to attend invited to uh we just can't not have more than three me myself and two others otherwise we'll have a
meeting. So if you two other commissioners want to show up there that's fine. What we're going to do is just go over the the armory uh the interior what it needs because we have this funding now from the state and from CPC to do a complete study on the
property total study. That's good. Uh the 40 any questions? None. All right. the 40C project. Uh, ironically enough, there was some interchanging of uh uh uh emails uh between the
preservation society and the PLA, public archaeologist laboratories. And uh the final commitment from preservation, we from the historical societ uh at the
historical commission found no real issues with with the uh drawings and with their form B's. Uh but they I guess they hadn't made them hadn't gotten together I guess the the preservation society. So they did they had a little
discussion and they've agreed that the commitment is made and the form B's are satisfactory. So now it's a matter of getting together uh between the historical commission. We'll get a presentation that in the next month or
so hopefully and you know we'll move right along with the 40C expansion. There's a lot to do with that. We've got to go before the historical commission massive historical commission. Uh we also have to do a lot of public uh meetings.
>> Who is the Wii, Rick? >> Uh we being preservation society and historical commission. >> And historical commission. >> Yeah, we're working as a team on this. >> Okay. And is the state look at both? I'm just I'm so familiar with Rhode Island's process that I and I understand
masses is somewhat different. Does is it the historical commission that makes the application going forward? They I know they do it with the preservation society but I mean as far as governmentally. >> Yes. >> Is the preservation society just there
as an advisory capacity and it's the historical commission that is in fact >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And uh what what has to again it goes to the mass historical commission >> but the city needs a commission which we
are >> okay >> to uh to move this along and to put it together. So what it is, it's a team effort between the two. The original 40C program that we have was put together primarily by the preservation society 14
15 years ago. [clears throat] Uh and so they're they're working uh in concert with us to to get this accomplished again. >> And the final say so the final approval is done by the city council. >> It's by the city council. Twothirds vote. Yes. >> Twothirds vote of the city council.
>> Of the city council. So, we need seven members of the city council to give it a blessing in order for the expansion to take place. >> Okay. >> And we're looking at this point an additional 50 dwellings >> within the same district. >> Um within >> Is it going to be a different district?
The same district. The same district. >> Just an expansion of the same district. Okay. >> Yes. Okay. >> All set. >> Yeah. Thanks >> with that. Good. All right. Uh let's see again uh if there's anyone here that
wants to volunteer for any of these projects that we're doing or any that we have anything we have uh significant structures of this uh you mentioned earlier you want to get on the 40C. >> Yeah I I was involved with that in Rhode Island and so I I would like to just
>> Absolutely. We'll get you involved. >> Okay. Uh, anything else want to any other old business or any discussion on any any item? Okay, then let's have a um a motion to adjurnn.
>> Motion to adjurnn at 7:02 p.m. I second. >> Okay, we have had a motion to adjurnn and adjourn.