The Scarborough Town Council is expected to approve the creation of a new committee this week that would work to preserve historically significant properties, particularly those felt to have special value.
The council was scheduled to meet on Wednesday, after the Current’s deadline, but last week the Planning Board gave its overall stamp of approval to the new preservation effort and it also received general support from the council during an initial presentation earlier this year.
The overall goal is to create a system of incentives to encourage developers and private property owners to preserve historic structures instead of tearing them down or renovating them past recognition, according to Craig Friedrich, chairman of the town’s Ad Hoc Historic Preservation Committee.
The idea is not to prevent allowable development, Friedrich told the council in January, but to find ways to work with developers to make it financially viable to preserve an historic structure, even one that’s run down.
To that end, the Committee has created a list of 48 structures in town that are most at risk. The list consists of two buildings from the 1600s, 13 from the 1700s, 23 from the 1800s and 10 from the 1900s.
The oldest buildings are the Hunnewell House and the Manson Libby House. Other well-known structures on the list include the Southgate house and barn in Dunstan, the West Scarborough United Methodist Church in Dunstan, the North Scarborough Grange, the Higgins Beach Inn, the former Bessey School on Route 1 in Oak Hill and the Winslow Homer studio in Prouts Neck.
The Ad Hoc Historic Preservation Committee was established in 2013 when the historic home known as the “Widow’s Walk” in Oak Hill was torn down to make way for the new Bellavita at Scarborough, a senior assisted living and memory care facility.
In addition to amending its code of ordinances to include various incentives in support of preserving historic structures, the committee’s final report includes a variety of other recommendations, including the creation of the new Historic Preservation Implementation Committee.
The duties of this group include providing an annual report to the Town Council, maintaining an up-to-date watch list of important historical properties, and to “oversee, encourage, coordinate and carry out preservation efforts and activities.”
The new committee would consist of five members, one of whom would be a town councilor. The implementation committee would also have the responsibility of ensuring the recommendations made in the final report of the Ad Hoc Historic Preservation Committee are carried out.
The immediate goals of the new Historic Preservation Implementation Committee would be to continue with plans to relocate the Danish Village arch from Route 1 to a public site, such as Memorial Park in Oak Hill.
Other immediate goals include reviewing the initial list of 48 properties, in order to make additions. The ad hoc committee would also like the town to consider creating an historic preservation overlay district that could be used in various areas of town, particularly in Dunstan.
The ad hoc committee’s report also encourages the town to make the Hunnewell House open to the public several days per year, such as Memorial Day, and to create a self-guided tour of important historic sites that could be downloaded onto a cell phone app or used on a tablet.
Future preservation efforts would also include creating a working group to assist public works and private property owners in the upkeep and preservation of Scarborough’s more than 50 cemeteries.
The final report of the Ad Hoc Historic Preservation Committee also encourages the town to purchase significant historic properties, as appropriate, and that the town create an online historic data repository.
In addition, the committee says the town should create a public access route along Sprague Way in Black Point to allow people to visit the site of the old Scottow Fort. And, the report calls for the creation and placement of “modest, well-designed identifying signs” for historic sites and neighborhoods.
In the resolution creating the new Historic Preservation Implementation Committee, the Town Council acknowledges the “importance of historic preservation within the town of Scarborough” and the importance of preserving “the historic quality of the town for future generations to learn about and enjoy.”
Prior to the meeting Council Chairwoman Jessica Holbrook told the Current she supports the new preservation effort in town. “It’s important for Scarborough to find ways to work with property owners in order to maintain the charm and character of their historic property. Otherwise, buildings will continue to be lost in favor of new construction,” she said.
Holbrook added that the new rules regarding historic preservation also “achieves a great mechanism for encouraging preservation and supporting property owners. The ordinance is the back bone for the historic preservation effort, it creates a local list of properties identified as unique and of significance.”
Holbrook, who was the council liaison to the Ad Hoc Historic Preservation Committee, also thanked the group for its work. “They worked diligently on the goal to explore solutions to encourage preservation rather than to force, demand or require preservation. I believe they have achieved that goal.”
This story was updated to add comments by Jessica Holbrook, chairwoman of the Scarborough Town Council.
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